Natalie and the Bestest Friend Race (2 page)

“Don’t be sad, Laurie,” I say. On account of her sad makes me sad. “I’ll only be a little away from you.”

Laurie doesn’t even look at me. She stares at her shoes. Then she gets up and shuffles to the Goldfinch group.

Jason and Farah and Bethany come to the Robins, which is now the Mockingbird group. I am wondering how real birds can keep this stuff straight in their tiny heads.

Jason plops next to me, where Laurie was sitting. “Hey, Teacher!” Jason never says “Miss Hines.” “Hey, Teacher! Our group wants to be Cuckoo!” he shouts.

“Your group
is
cuckoo!” Peter shouts back. He and Sasha are Woodpeckers. Sasha laughs way too loud at what Peter said.

I think Sasha’s buddy, Peter the Not-So-Great, could also go by the name Peter the Not-So-Funny. That’s what.

Miss Hines passes out reading books to all of us birds.

“I like this new bird name,” Farah whispers. “Mockingbirds can sing two hundred songs.”

“I didn’t know there
were
that many songs,” I admit.

Farah smiles without showing her teeth. “Many of the mockingbird’s songs come from other birds, and even other animals and machines. They repeat the sounds they hear around them. My grandmother told me this.”

“You are a very smart kindergarten girl,” I tell Farah. And this is a true thing. My two best friends who are girls, Laurie and Farah, are the smartest kindergarten girls I know.

Farah grins. “I am glad to be in your group, Natalie.”

I smile back at Farah. I’ve told her a gazillion times that she can call me Nat, like Laurie and Jason do.

I try to see if Laurie is still leaking tears. But she has her face down, and I can’t tell.

When school is over, Laurie and I walk outside, where our moms pick us up.

“Want to come over to my house?” I ask Laurie. “My mom said it was okay if your mom says it’s okay.”

Laurie shakes her head in the no way.

This is a strange thing. Laurie loves coming over to my house. Her house has too many people in it.

“How come you can’t come over?” I ask.

“I have homework,” she answers.

“We don’t have homework.”

“I have reading homework,” Laurie says.

“Goldfinches got homework?” Maybe it’s a good thing I got to be a Mockingbird. I like school but not at home.

“There’s Mom,” Laurie says, taking off for her car. She really is a fast runner.

“Bye, Laurie!” I shout after her. “Call me later!”

“Nat! Over here!” My granny is waving her arms like she’s showing airplanes where to land.

I run to Granny and give her a big, fat hug. “Granny! How come
you’re
here?”

Granny hugs me back. “Can’t I come pick up my
granddaughter when I’ve got a mind to? You think I’m too old for kindergarten?”

“Kinda,” I admit. I love seeing my granny. But I look around for my mom, on account of she picks me up every day in Buddy. “Where’s Mommy?”

“Your mother had a meeting.”

“Again?”

“Again,” Granny says. “I asked her if I could be the one to get you from school. You got a problem with that?” She grins at me. “Up for a walk? Too gorgeous to ride.”

Granny and I walk. Plus also, we talk.

“Granny, guess what. I’m not a Robin anymore. I’m a Mockingbird.”

“You are?” She looks down at me.

“Laurie is a Goldfinch. Only I don’t think Laurie likes that bird.”

“That so?” Granny says. We hold hands to cross the street. “Mockingbird, huh?” Granny says. “Never thought I’d have one of those for a granddaughter.”

“Jason wanted to be a Cuckoo,” I tell her.

Granny laughs her head off.

When we get home, we go straight to the kitchen. Percy, my cat, comes too. I get the bag of chocolatechip cookies, and Granny pours the milk.

“Your mom said Laurie might come over this afternoon,” Granny says.

“She has homework,” I tell Granny. I feel sorry for my bestest friend missing out on my granny and cookies.

“Homework?” Granny says. “In kindergarten?”

“Reading homework,” I explain.

“Do
you
have reading homework?” Granny asks.

“Nope. But I might read anyway. I like that reading, Granny.”

Granny gives me a big smiley face. “Me too. Nothing better.” My granny reads the Bible every single day. She reads it so much that those pages aren’t stuck to the covers anymore.

We eat another cookie and dip it into our milk. Laurie loves to do this trick. “Granny, can I call Laurie and see if she can come over now? Maybe she did her homework already.”

“Good idea,” Granny says. She hands me her cell
phone.

I push the number eight button. Granny has my bestest friend’s number in her phone. All you do is punch
8
to get it out. “Crazy eight,” Granny calls it.

“Hello?”

I can tell two things by this
hello
: (1) This is Brianna, Laurie’s not-so-nice sister, who is in the fifth grade. (2) Brianna is probably going to be not so nice when she finds out I’m the one calling.

“Hi,” I say.

“Oh, it’s you,” Brianna says, like I should be somebody she likes better than me. “Just a minute.” Away from the phone, she shouts, “Laurie! Your annoying friend is on the phone!”

I wait a gazillion minutes. Then Brianna comes back. “Laurie says she’s busy. Homework.”

“Still?” I ask.

Only Brianna already clunked the phone off.

Granny and I put three puzzles together. But I really want to play outside with my bestest friend. “Can I see if Laurie can come over yet?” I ask Granny.

She hands over her cell phone, and I punch crazy eight.

This time Sarah answers. “Hello?”

“Hi.”

“Hi, Natalie.” Sarah doesn’t sound like she hates me for calling her sister. She is a very pretty and nice sister. “You’re waiting to play with Laurie, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I tell you what, Natalie,” Sarah is talking at me like we are the same oldness and maybe friends. “I can’t get that friend of yours to stop studying. Why don’t you come over here and get her to go outside?”

I think this is a super idea. I never get to go to their house very much. “Okay! I’ll be right there.”

Granny walks with me to Laurie’s house, which is on our street, only across one little street and up more.

Sarah is waiting at the door when we get there. “Laurie’s still at it.” She opens the screen door.

I tell Granny “bye” and walk on in.

Laurie is sitting at their eating table. Brianna is plopped on the couch, watching TV. And talking on the phone. Plus listening to music.

“Hi, Laurie!” I call to my bestest friend.

Laurie looks up from her reading book. “Hey, Nat. Sorry I couldn’t come over.”

“Are you still doing homework?” I ask.

“I’m trying,” she says.

“You should tell Miss Hines it’s not fair. We didn’t have to do homework in the Mockingbirds. She’s not playing fair with Goldfinches. That’s what.”

“Yeah,” Laurie says.

“You shoulda stayed with me,” I go on. “You shouldn’t have changed groups.”

Laurie’s eyes turn to little lines. “Did I ask to change groups?” Her voice gets loud. “Did you see me ask to change groups, Nat?”

I shake my head. Laurie is a little bit scary.

“Did you see me ask if I could go and be a Goldfinch?” she demands. Before I can answer, she shouts, “No! I didn’t! Nobody asked
me
if I wanted to be in a different reading group!”

I am so surprised, that I can’t talk. Laurie never yelled at me before. I don’t know what I did. But it must have been really bad to make her this mad. “I didn’t mean it, Laurie.” I just wish I knew what I didn’t mean. So I wouldn’t do it again.

Tears are leaking out of Laurie’s eyes. She shoves her reading book away. “You didn’t do anything. I’m sorry, Nat.”

“Are you mad at me?” Tears are trying to leak out of me too. “’Cause maybe Miss Hines will let me be a Goldfinch. I could ask her.”

Laurie’s mouth tries to smile at me, but her eyes are still leaking. “Never mind, Nat.” She stares down at a reading book page my Mockingbird group did today.

“Is that your homework?” I ask. “We did that one and the next page already.”

Laurie slams the book shut. “Let’s go outside and play.”

I think this is a very good idea. “Cool!”

Laurie’s backyard doesn’t have swings like mine. Or Frank. But there are always fun things back here. Like a big hole. And a mole that digs tunnels.

We find a rusty silver baton in a stickery bush. “This was Bri’s,” Laurie says, knocking dirt out of it.

We take turns trying to twirl it until Brianna comes flying out of the house.

“That’s my baton!” she screams. “Gimme that!” She grabs it out of Laurie’s hand and twirls it. Only she’s not so much better than we were.

Laurie’s dad drives up. Then Sarah hollers out at us, “Natalie, your mom called. She’ll be by to pick you up in a few minutes.”

Laurie and I slow-walk in.

“This was fun, Laurie,” I tell her. I’m already forgetting about the yelling part.

“Yeah,” she says. Only her voice sounds frowny.

Inside, we sit at the table to wait for my mom. Brianna is sitting across from us. Her schoolbook is open, but she’s just drawing hearts on a piece of paper.

“Is that your homework?” I ask her. On account of if it is, maybe homework isn’t so hard in the fifth grade.

“Mind your own business,” Brianna says.

Laurie opens her book to that page the Mockingbirds already did. She copies a word on a sheet of paper with many copied words on it. “Brianna, what’s H-O-U-S-E?” Laurie spells those letters out loud.

Brianna doesn’t even look. She keeps drawing her hearts all over the place.

“House,” I answer. I know this on account of the Mockingbirds learned that word. “Only your
S
is turning funny. And your
E
is backwards.” I pick up a pencil and draw those letters facing the right way.

“How come Goldfinches didn’t do this page today at school?” I ask.

“Because Goldfinches are in the dumb group,”
Brianna says without looking up.

“Brianna!” Sarah snaps. She bursts to the table, bonks her sister on the head, and sits down with us. “What’s the matter with you, Bri?”

Brianna shrugs and keeps drawing.

“She’s right,” Laurie whispers.

“No she’s not!” I shout. “There aren’t any dumb groups in our kindergarten. Miss Hines says we are her smartest-ever class.” This is a true thing. She has said this to us many times.

Brianna snickers. “Did she give you the bit about the birds? How it’s time to migrate to your summer homes?”

“Yes.” I am amazed that Brianna knows this.

Laurie is drawing snakes on the paper with her backwards
S
. “I’m in the group with all the kids who can’t read. The dumb group. So I’m dumb.”

“No, sir!” I shout. “You’re the smartest kid I know. You know more stuff than me about everything. Plus also, you are the best colorer in our whole entire class. That’s what!”

“If I’m so smart, then why did I get moved to the dumb group today?” Laurie asks.

“It’s not a dumb group.” Sarah scoots closer to Laurie. “I was in that group. I ought to know.”

“You were in the du—?” I stop before that
“dumb” word makes it out of my mouth.

“Everybody learns to read at a different pace,” Sarah says. “Some of us, like Laurie and me, take our time.”

I turn to Brianna. “Did you take your time in that group?”

“Not me,” Brianna says.

“Bri also missed out on the good looks in the family,” Sarah says. “Right, Laurie?”

Laurie doesn’t answer.

I smile at Sarah. She’s right. She and Laurie are both full of beautifulness.

“At least I don’t write backward,” Brianna mutters.

I glance at Laurie’s backwards letters. “Do
you
write backwards?” I ask Sarah.

“I used to. Sometimes. Not now. Reading used to be hard for me too. Now I read more than anybody in this house. I love to read. Laurie will get the hang of it. It’s just harder for her than it is for you.”

“But why is it harder?” I ask.

Brianna blurts out the answer, “She probably has dyslexia.”

’Slexia?
This word makes my neck chokey and my stomach twisty. “What did you say?”

“Dys-lex-i-a!” Brianna shouts.

I look at Laurie, hoping she’ll shout back, “I do not!”

Instead, she mumbles, “It’s true.”

I cannot believe this true thing. My bestest friend in the whole world has ’slexia.

Tears make my eyes burny. “Laurie?” My voice is crackly on account of tears are leaking in my neck too. “Are…are you going to die?”