Lone Bean (10 page)

“That would be wonderful, baby,” Mom said, finding her smile again.

It felt so much better to not be mad at Mom. I gave her one more hug, then went back to meet up with my friends.

We all ran down the block to Swirl Ice Cream Parlor. Stanley and Tanya got vanilla and chocolate swirled onto cones. Gabrielle got strawberry in a cup. Sam got a double scoop of pink bubblegum ice cream, and I ordered a double scoop of chocolate chunk and cookie dough in a waffle cone. Carla got the very same thing because it's our favorite.

Just as me and all my friends were about to pile around a picnic table outside, I spotted Tanisha kicking up dirt by the alley.

“Oh, no,” Sam said. “Trouble's here.”

Now I know Tanisha is a meanie and a bully, but something in my insides made me feel bad. I mean, she had no friends and no sisters and no ice cream. I got up.

“What are you doing?” Carla whispered, but I just kept walking.

“Umm . . . Tanisha,” I said softly. “I was wondering if . . . um . . . you might wanna come join us.”

“Why would I want to hang with you guys?” she said, still kicking dirt and staring at the ground. “Plus, I ain't got no money for ice cream.”

“You could share mine,” I said with a smile. Tanisha looked right at me, and—guess what? Her hard glare turned just a little softer, and without a word, she followed me to the table. I grabbed an extra spoon and we all dug into our creamy, cold, yummy ice creams.

I looked around the table and saw Tanya laughing with Carla and Gabrielle. Stanley and Sam sharing their ice cream and Tanisha . . . Well, she was shooting spitballs through a straw across the table at Stanley. Whatever!

I felt a happy feeling all over. It's funny, because while I was so busy whining about not having Carla and missing Tanya, I didn't realize that I had made so many good friends.

I smiled so big, my cheeks hurt. Then I licked my spoonful of ice cream.

About the Author

CHUDNEY ROSS
is a writer, educator, entrepreneur, and TV host. After graduating Georgetown University, she became a teacher with AmeriCorps's Teach for America. Chudney's love of children's literature and her advocacy for children's causes motivated her to open her first business. Books and Cookies, a children's bookstore, bakery, and enrichment center in Santa Monica, California, brings the fun and excitement back to reading while promoting literacy to children of all ages.
LONE BEAN
is Chudney's first children's book.

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Credits

Cover art © 2012 by Erwin Madrid
Cover design by Andrea Vandergrift

Copyright

Amistad is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Lone Bean

Copyright © 2012 by Chudney Ross

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ross, Chudney.

       Lone Bean / by Chudney Ross. — 1st ed.

          p.   cm.

     Summary: Third grade starts off badly for eight-year-old Bean as she faces teasing from her two older sisters, learns that her former best friend wants nothing to do with her, and has to start taking music lessons.

     ISBN 978-0-06-166011-5 (trade bdg.)

     [1. Family life—Fiction. 2. Schools—Fiction. 3. Sisters—Fiction. 4. Best friends—Fiction. 5. Friendship—Fiction. 6. Violin—Fiction. 7. African Americans—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.R19626Lon 2012

[Fic]—dc22

2011019973
CIP
AC

Epub Edition © JUNE 2012 ISBN: 9780062114402

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FIRST EDITION