Read My Last Best Friend Online

Authors: Julie Bowe

My Last Best Friend (9 page)

BOOK: My Last Best Friend
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Rachel gives me a knowing nod. She unzips Joyce and puts the picture inside her backpack. Then she zips Max twice.

When I get to school, I leave my note in the secret stone. I slip my newspaper message under some graded papers Mr. Crow has put on Stacey's desk.

After our first recess, I see Stacey in the coat-room, digging around in her lunch box. She pulls out a juice box of Hi-C, carries it into the classroom, and sets it on the edge of her desk.

"What's that for?" Jenna asks her.

Stacey does a fake cough. "Scratchy throat," she says, pointing to her neck.

But the Hi-C just sits there, so I know it's really a secret message to me.

Later, when I check the secret stone, I find this note from Anastasia:

Dear Cordelia,

Jenna wants me to go to the parade with her, but I know my grandma will be there. If we run into her I will have to explain to Jenna that she isn't my rich aunt. And then my grandma will feel Sad that I told lies about her. And Jenna will be mad that I lied to her, too.

Maybe I'll pretend to be sick so I don't have to go.

Anastasia

It's cold and drizzly as I walk home from the bus stop. A bike is parked by our door, and when I get inside I hear some kid plunking on the piano. The notes don't match at all.

I head to my room and close the door tight, shutting out the sound. George gives me a grateful look from my bed.

I just shake my head at him. "Too lazy to get up and close the door?"

No response from the monkey. I walk over to George and pick him up. "You have to learn to do some things for yourself, you know."

George just stares at my left ear. But I can tell he's listening. "If you sit around and wait for me to solve your problems, you will start to collect dust. And dust attracts
moths,
George. Big ones."

I sit down at my desk and set George on my lap. I pull out some paper and start writing.

Dear Anastasia,

I think if Jenna were a real friend, she would want to know the truth about you Living with your grandmother. And she wouldn't be mean about it. Besides, you can't pretend to be sick forever. And you can't Lie forever, either.

Cordelia

I plan to hide my note in the secret stone the next morning, but it's pouring rain. It's still raining when our first recess rolls around, so Mr. Crow says, "I suggest you use this time to finalize
your plans for the Potato Pageant windows. We'll be painting them the day after tomorrow."

Since Jenna tore up my first design, Mr. Crow gives my cluster a new piece of paper. And since nobody in my cluster mentions the first design, I figure they weren't that crazy about potato pirates after all.

We stare blankly for awhile.

"Any ideas?" I finally ask.

"Nope," Rusty says. "My brain is fried."

Randi snickers. "French fried?"

"With ketchup on top," Tom adds, poking a finger at Rusty's red hair.

Rusty makes a fake frown. "Knock it off," he says. "Or I'll
mash
you!"

Tom makes a sly grin. "Like I'm afraid of a potato brain," he says.

Rusty grabs Tom in a headlock. "You asked for it!" he shouts, and pretends to pound Tom. Tom howls. Randi snorts. I laugh.

"Keep it down over there!" Jenna yells from her cluster. "You sound like a bunch of bawling babies."

I turn to Jenna. "Not babies," I say. "Tater Tots."

Tom finally escapes Rusty's headlock, but we still can't think of anything to draw on our paper.

"Finish up, please," Mr. Crow says. "It's almost time for art."

"You think of a design, Ida," Tom says. "You're the best artist."

"I am?" I ask.

Tom nods. Randi and Rusty nod, too.

I fidget a little and glance around the room, wishing Elizabeth would magically appear. She'd think of a clever design in about three seconds. But the only people I see are Rusty, Randi, Tom, Quinn, Dominic, Zane, Mr. Crow, Brooke, Joey, Meeka, Jolene, the Dylans, Stacey, and, of course, Jenna.

I look at the paper again. "Maybe we should draw us," I say.

"Us?" Randi, Tom, and Rusty say together.

"You know, our class." I think about the potato people I drew in my sketchbook. "We can draw potatoes ... a bushel of them," I say. "And then we can draw everyone's faces on them."

Rusty laughs. "Yeah, and we can call it
A Bushel of Buttheads.
"

"Not that," Tom says. "Something nicer, like
A Bushel of...
"

"
Friends?
" Randi suggests. "Yeah, that's good," Rusty says. "
A Bushel of Friends.
"

Tom nods. "Let's do it."

And before I know what's happening, Tom, Randi, and Rusty are drawing potatoes on our paper. So I start drawing, too. And then we decide which potato looks like which person in our class. And we add the details. And goofy names like
Tom Tater, Mashed Meeka,
and
Stacey Spud.
And we joke around and laugh and I actually have a good time.

After we draw our whole class (including
Mr. Scare Crow)
, I write
A Bushel of Friends
along the bottom of the paper, and it almost seems like it's true.

Randi grabs our design and holds it up for everyone to see.

"Impressive," Mr. Crow says.

Almost everyone agrees.

Chapter 16

By the time lunch is over the rain has stopped. During second recess I hide my note for Stacey. Then I leave the letter
A
on her desk so she will know to check the secret stone before she goes home after school.

That night I tell George all about my cluster's design for the Potato Pageant window. "Even if it doesn't win, it was still fun planning it," I say.

I roll over and hug George tight. "Actually, I hope Stacey's window wins. Even if that means Jenna wins, too. I bet winning the contest would make Stacey happy. And her grandma would be proud. And maybe her mom and dad would come to see the window. I know that would make Stacey
really
happy."

I close my eyes and imagine Stacey standing in
front of the winning window, a sack of potatoes slung over her shoulder. She's smiling and the cameras are flashing.

Just thinking about her feeling happy makes me feel happy, too.

When I get to school the next morning, I check the secret stone for a note from Stacey. But there's nothing there. "She must have gotten my note yesterday," I say to myself. "Which means I better get out of here before she shows up with a note to hide."

I hurry into the school. But when I get to our hallway, I'm surprised to see Stacey is already there, talking with Brooke and Jenna outside our classroom. I wonder why she didn't leave a note for me.

I plan to walk past them, like always, but as soon as Stacey sees me she stops talking. Tears fill her eyes and then roll down her cheeks. She takes off running to the girls' bathroom.

I turn to Brooke and Jenna. "What's wrong with Stacey?" I ask.

Brooke shrugs. "Beats me," she says. "One minute we were talking, and the next minute she was crying."

"She's probably just upset because she can't come to my sleepover tomorrow night," Jenna says.

"Why not?" I ask.

"She was about to tell me, but then she saw
you
and started bawling," Jenna says. "You have such a way with friends, I-
duh.
First Eliza
butt
moves away and now Stacey
runs
away."

I'm too worried about Stacey to pay any attention to Jenna's insult. "What should we do?" I ask.

"Stay out of it," Jenna tells me. "I'll fix everything so she can come to my sleepover. In the meantime,
leave her alone.
"

Jenna shoves past me and heads into the classroom. Brooke follows her. But I just stand there, trying to decide what to do. All I can think of is to run after Stacey.

Stacey is sniffling by one of the sinks in the girls' bathroom. I walk over to another sink and start washing my hands while I build up my courage to ask her why she is crying. It doesn't take me long, because I don't have much courage to build up.

"Um ... why are you crying, Stacey?"

Stacey's bottom lip starts to quiver and her eyes fill up with tears again. "I'm crying because I have to move away. Again."

"Move away? What? Why? Where?"

Stacey wipes the tears from her cheeks and says, "My parents aren't really traveling, Ida. They don't even have important jobs. The truth is, they got divorced. My dad and my brother moved away. My mom has been staying with friends while she looks for a new place to live. She called last night to say that she found one. She's coming to get me this weekend."

Suddenly, I realize. This is the emergency Stacey wrote about.

The next thing I know, I'm running down the hallway. I run all the way to the nurse's office.

"I have to ... have to go home. Don't feel good," I say between sobs.

Twenty minutes later, my mom is there to pick me up and take me home.

As soon as we get to our house, I run to my room and shut the door. I fall onto my bed, pull George close, and cry and cry and cry.

By the time I hear my mom knocking on my door I'm crying so hard I can't tell her to come in. She comes in anyway. She sits next to me. She doesn't say a word. She just strokes my hair and rubs my back while all my tears sink deep into my pillow.

Finally, she quietly says, "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?"

And even though it's hard to do, I tell her. I tell her how much I miss Elizabeth. And how I never even said good-bye to her. I tell her how much I like Stacey. And how she is moving away, just like Elizabeth did.

"What do you think we should do?" she asks.

I just take deep quivery breaths and shake my head.

My mom smiles softly and wipes away my tears. Then she says, "You did a very brave thing, Ida. Telling me how sad you feel. Do you think you're brave enough to tell Stacey how you feel? To tell her good-bye?"

I don't say anything. I just sit there, wondering if I am. Brave enough.

I look around my room. It doesn't look like the
room of a particularly brave girl. No bold colors. No shiny trophies. No gold crowns.

I look at my bulletin board and see a picture I drew of Elizabeth and me.

Then I look at my nightstand, see the little wishing cup Stacey gave me, and think about the last wish I put inside it.

I take a deep breath.

And pour it over my head.

Chapter 17

It takes me all morning to write the note.

Telling someone your real name just when they are moving away is hard to do. And it's even harder to imagine being best friends with someone you can't even see. But, in fourth grade, you have to start doing the hard stuff.

Dear Stacey,

I'm really glad you get to move back with your mom. I'm sure she misses you ten times more than you miss her. But I'm really sad, too. Because I don't think there's a times table big enough to figure out how much I'll miss you.

I was wondering if maybe we could be friends?

Not just secret friends but best friends?

If the answer is YES, please check the YES box below. If the answer is NO please check the NO box.

___YES ___NO

Ida May

After my mom and I eat lunch, I convince her that I feel good enough to go back to school for the afternoon. As soon as she drops me off, I run to the playground. I crawl behind Bessie and stick the note in the secret stone.

Only it doesn't seem so secret anymore.

Even though Mr. Crow is glad to see that I'm feeling better, everyone else is too busy hanging around Stacey to notice me. Everyone except Jenna, that is. Stacey must have told her the truth about why she's moving away. Now Jenna knows Stacey lied to her. She's sitting at her desk, steaming.

When it's time to line up for music, I scribble the letter
A
on a scrap of paper. But I can't toss it on Stacey's desk because Jenna's eyes are glued to me. A moment later she's in my face.

"Did you know about this?" she hisses at me.

I know she means Stacey. I don't want to lie to Jenna, but I don't exactly want to tell her the truth, either. So I just shrug and say, "She told me this morning."

Jenna's jaw tightens and she gives Stacey a hard glare. "Why would she tell
you
and not
me?
" she asks.

"Maybe because I asked," I say, and get in line.

For a second I don't think I will be able to get the letter
A
to Stacey. But then I notice Tom is standing right in front of me, so I give him a nudge and whisper, "Will you give this to Stacey for me? But don't tell her who it's from, okay?" I fold the scrap of paper in half and hold it out to Tom.

On the way to the music room I see him catch up to Stacey and stick the paper in her hand.

When I get home that afternoon, I go straight to my mom's sewing basket. I need some embroidery thread so I can make a friendship bracelet for Stacey. I decide if she answers
yes
to my note I'll give it to her.

But if she answers
no
I'll use it to tie my lips shut. That way, I will never be able to ask anyone to be my best friend again. Ever.
I dig to the bottom of the basket. I find five spools of thread, eight buttons, and one very sharp needle. Ouch.

But no embroidery thread.

I go to find my mom. I ask her if she has any thread. And a Band-Aid.

She wraps a Band-Aid around my finger and tells me to look in her sewing basket, but to be careful of the needles.

I decide to search the house instead. George comes along as backup.

We look in every drawer. We look under every bed. We look in every closet. We find three socks, one baby tooth, and lots of lint. But no embroidery thread. Not one single strand.

"Oh well," I say to George. "No thread, no bracelet. That's that."

George gives me a very serious look.

"Stacey might say no," I point out. "And I'm pretty sure getting turned down feels a lot worse than giving up."

George just grits his teeth.

I stare at those monkey teeth. They give me an idea.

BOOK: My Last Best Friend
5.61Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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