We Don’t Eat Our Classmates

**We Don’t Eat Our Classmates**

Penelope Rex was nervous. Today was her first day of school, and she wanted to make lots of new friends. Her parents had packed her a tasty lunch, her backpack was stuffed with school supplies, and she was ready to learn. But there was one tiny problem—Penelope was a dinosaur. And her classmates? They were children.

As soon as Penelope walked into the classroom, she felt excited but also a little hungry. The moment she saw her new classmates, she did what any hungry little T. rex might do—she ate them! Chomp! One gulp and they were all inside her belly.

"Penelope Rex!" her teacher, Mrs. Noodleman, gasped. "We don’t eat our classmates! Spit them out right now!"

Blushing, Penelope opened her mouth wide and *plop, plop, plop!* Out came all the kids, covered in dinosaur drool. They did not look happy. In fact, they looked quite disgusted.

"Oops," Penelope muttered. "Sorry!"

The other children did not want to sit near her. They whispered and pointed, and no one wanted to play with a dinosaur who might snack on them at any moment. Penelope felt terrible. She didn’t mean to scare them—she just got carried away!

During lunchtime, she sat alone at her table, poking at her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. No one wanted to sit next to her. She tried waving and smiling, but her classmates just stared at their food, avoiding her gaze. Penelope sighed. Making friends was hard when everyone thought you might eat them.

Then, she spotted the class goldfish, Walter, swimming in his bowl near the window. Maybe Walter would want to be her friend! She reached out and gently lowered her snout toward the water. "Hi, Walter!" she whispered. "Do you want to be my friend?"

But before she could blink—CHOMP! Walter lunged forward and bit Penelope right on the nose! "OW!" she yelped, stumbling back in shock. The whole class turned to look.

"Walter bit me!" Penelope cried, rubbing her sore nose.

The other kids started giggling. "Now you know how it feels!" a boy named Ralph said. "It’s not fun to get bitten, is it?"

Penelope thought about that. It was true—it *wasn’t* fun to get bitten. It was surprising, a little scary, and definitely not a good way to make friends. She suddenly understood how her classmates must have felt when she tried to eat them.

The next day, Penelope made a promise: *I will not eat my classmates.* No matter how delicious they might look.

At recess, she watched as the other kids played on the swings and climbed the jungle gym. She wanted to join them, but she didn’t know how. Then, she saw a girl named Molly struggling to reach the monkey bars.

"Need some help?" Penelope asked.

Molly hesitated, but then nodded. Penelope knelt down and let Molly climb onto her back. "Wheee!" Molly shouted as she swung across the bars.

Soon, the other kids came over. "Can we have a turn?" they asked.

"Of course!" Penelope said happily. One by one, she helped them swing, climb, and even take gentle dinosaur-back rides. For the first time, she felt like part of the class.

At lunchtime, a boy named Henry walked over and sat next to her. "Want to trade snacks?" he asked.

Penelope grinned. "Sure!" She gave him a cookie, and he gave her a cheese stick.

By the end of the week, Penelope had made lots of new friends. She learned that making friends wasn’t about eating them—it was about helping them, playing with them, and being kind. And, most importantly, she learned a very valuable lesson: *We don’t eat our classmates!*