This story explores the possibility that Calvin might meet Miss Zarves, who supposedly teaches the class on the nineteenth story. Before we dive into the fan‑fiction, let’s take a look at what Chapter 7 in Sideways Stories from Wayside School is all about.
CHAPTER 7. CALVIN — SUMMARY
Mrs. Jewls asks Calvin to deliver a note to Miss Zarves, who teaches the class on the nineteenth story. The strange thing is that the nineteenth story doesn’t exist. The builder accidentally skipped that floor, which means Miss Zarves has no classroom. Calvin wanders around Wayside School searching for a nonexistent teacher, only to return to the thirtieth story and discover that Mrs. Jewls never intended to meet Miss Zarves in the first place.
When school finally ended that day, Calvin felt worn out. He had spent hours looking for Miss Zarves, even though he knew she didn’t exist. His legs were tired, his head was tired, and even his tired was tired.
He stood in line for the school bus with the other kids. They were laughing and telling jokes, but Calvin didn’t feel like laughing. He just wanted to go home and rest his fried up brain.
The bus always surprised everyone because it came from behind the building. You couldn’t see it until it was already there. There was a traffic mirror across the street that showed the road around the corner, but everything in it looked a little strange, like the world was pretending to be itself.
Calvin peeked at the mirror and saw a tiny bus crawling along the road. But before he could blink, the real bus rolled up right in front of him. The doors whooshed open.
Calvin climbed on first, plopped into the seat behind the driver, and fell asleep right away. His mother always told him not to nap on the school bus, but today he felt like a wrung out sponge.
When Calvin got home, his mother noticed something was off. Usually, he was sharp and quick. On bad days he was cranky. But today he was slow and foggy, like a cloud that forgot how to float.
“Are you okay, Calvin?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” he said quickly. He didn’t like it when adults worried about him. He dropped his backpack in the hallway. “I think I’ll go to bed early.”
But going to bed early didn’t help. Calvin tossed, turned, flopped, rolled, and twisted. He woke up again and again. He barely slept at all.
Finally, just before morning, he drifted into a peaceful dream.
In the dream, he met Miss Zarves. She was very pretty and very nice, maybe even nicer than Mrs. Jewls, which was impossible, because Mrs. Jewls was the nicest teacher in the world.
Miss Zarves taught the class on the nineteenth story. And in Calvin’s dream, Wayside School was normal. The eighteenth story came first, then the nineteenth, then the twentieth. Everything was neat and modern. There were big elevators everywhere, so nobody had to climb stairs to go to recess.
Calvin stood inside one of the elevators while Miss Zarves waved goodbye. He felt sad. He didn’t want to leave.
“Calvin, are you okay?” His mother shook him awake. “You were moaning in your sleep.”
Calvin rubbed his eyes. He felt like he hadn’t slept at all. “What did I say?”
“You said you didn’t want to go,” she answered. She touched his forehead. “I think you have a fever. Maybe you should stay home today.”
“I’m fine,” Calvin said again. He really, really hated it when adults worried about him. “I’ll wash my face.”
But washing his face didn’t fix anything.
He took the first bus to school, so early that even the sun wasn’t sure it wanted to be awake yet. He tried to skip up the stairs but ran out of breath almost immediately. He stopped to rest beside a big round mirror on the wall. It was there so kids wouldn’t bump into each other on the narrow stairs.
Calvin stared into the mirror. It looked just like the traffic mirror outside. And just like that one, it made everything look a little unreal.
On the left side was something else.
“What if I take the stairs on the left?” Calvin wondered. “What will happen?”
He stepped onto the left staircase and climbed. At the top, he almost bumped into a pair of big double doors. A sign above them said 19.
Calvin squeezed through the doors and found a long hallway with elevators on both sides. At the very end was a classroom door.
He knocked.
“Come in,” said a warm voice.
Calvin stepped inside. Miss Zarves sat at her desk, writing in a little notebook. She looked just like the teacher from his dream.
“You’re early today,” she said. Then she looked up. “Oh! You’re not one of my students, are you?”
“My name is Calvin,” he said. “I’m in Mrs. Jewls’s class. She teaches the class on the thirtieth story.”
“The thirtieth story?” Miss Zarves gasped. “Everybody knows the thirtieth story was never built.”
“It wasn’t?” Calvin blinked.
“No,” she said. “The builder said he was very sorry.”
Calvin frowned. “Hold on. I come from the real Wayside School.”
“The real Wayside School?” Miss Zarves laughed.
“Yes! In the real Wayside School, the nineteenth story was never built, and you don’t exist. And Mrs. Jewls teaches the class on the thirtieth story.”
Miss Zarves squinted at him. “But that doesn’t make sense. If the nineteenth story was never built, then your school only has twenty-nine stories. Are you sure Mrs. Jewls is real?”
“Of course she’s real!” Calvin cried. “And so am I! I’ll prove it to you!”
He dashed out of the classroom and ran to the elevator. He was going to check Mrs. Jewls’s mailbox in the administration office.
He pressed the button. When he turned around, Miss Zarves was standing outside the elevator.
“I promise you this is the real Wayside School,” she said. “Maybe you should stay here.”
Calvin shook his head. “I have to go.”
Miss Zarves nodded and waved goodbye. Calvin didn’t wave back. He felt sad about leaving, but he didn’t have a choice.
The doors slid shut.
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