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  “My head is killing me. My stomach feels icky. My eyes are blurry and my hangnails are hurting!”

  “Wow!” Dad exclaimed, surprised at how sick I was. “We’d better get your mother to come check on you.”

  Mom’s a nurse, as you know, so she was gonna be much harder to fool than Dad.

  “You’re not feeling well, baby?” Mom slid into bed next to me.

  I squinted my eyes and hugged my knees as I listed my symptoms again. This time, I threw in a cough and a couple moans and groans for effect.

  “Looks to me like you’ve got a severe case of Gooblety Gash.”

  “Sounds serious,” said Dad.

  “Is she gonna die?” Gardenia asked.

  Maybe I really was sick with Gooblety Gash. I was too young to die! My head started to pound. My hands shook and my stomach twisted and turned. I was sick!

  “We need to take you right to the hospital and get you into surgery or this could be fatal,” Mom said.

  “I don’t want to have surgery!” I yelled. I hopped out of bed and jumped up and down.

  “All you’ve got is a severe case of I Don’t Want to Go to School,” Mom said, laughing. “You’ve got to be strong and face your fears.”

  “Whoa . . . wait a second,” I said, but then I got it. “Fine.” I pouted as I stomped to the bathroom to get ready for school.

  Chapter 12

  It’s Hard to Say I’m Sorry

  When we got to school, that sick feeling came back, right in my stomach.

  “I have to stay after school today to work on a science project. Wait on the playground till I get there to pick you up. Okay?” Rose said.

  I was scared to face Carla. I shook my head no and held Rose tight.

  “You’re gonna be fine,” she said when she finally pried herself loose. “See you later.”

  I watched Rose disappear, then walked straight to Ms. Sullivan to apologize, but nothing seemed to come from my lips.

  “What is it, Bean?” she asked.

  “I, um . . . well, see, sorry . . . ’cause, you know.” The words got all jumbled and nothing made sense. She just stared down at me like I was crazy, patted me on the shoulder, and told me to go line up. I decided to try again tomorrow when the thoughts in my head weren’t so scrambled.

  I spotted Carla. Her nose was all red and swollen and there was a big pink Band-Aid on her face. I tried to think of the right words to say as I got closer, but I couldn’t seem to find them. I looked at my toes as I walked past her.

  All day, I tried to stay as far from Carla and Sam as I could. I wanted to say I was sorry, but I didn’t know how.

  Tanisha was being extra mean to me too. She tripped me in the hall, broke my pencil, and knocked all my books on the floor. I knew she just wanted to be friends again, but she sure had a funny way of showing it.

  At lunch, I had no one to sit with. Gardenia was at a crowded table full of giggling fifth graders. I walked up with my lunch bag, but she just turned her back to me and kept laughing with her friends. Gardenia is probably the worst sister on planet Earth.

  I scanned the room for another seat. I spotted an empty table right by the door, but just as I was about to plop myself down, Gabrielle shimmied onto the bench. I stopped. I hadn’t said one word to her since the muddy-water incident, and I still felt really awful.

  “Hello, Bean,” she said, like she wasn’t even mad at me.

  “Hello,” I said tentatively, in case this was a trick or something.

  “Would you like to sit with me for lunch?”

  “Okay,” I said, but I was confused. Why was she being so nice?

  “I’m not mad at you anymore,” Gabrielle said. “My mother said that forgiveness is next to godliness, so I let it go. But you better not do anything like that again or I may not be so godly.”

  “I promise,” I said sincerely. “I really am sorry.”

  I slid into the seat across from her and pulled out my ham sandwich, red Jell-O, and juice box. Gabrielle pulled out a plastic bowl of icky green salad with stinky pink fish on the top.

  “Ugh!” I scrunched up my nose. “I don’t eat anything green and definitely nothing smelly from the ocean.”

  “Green things are good for you and so is fish,” she said, but then I saw her glance at my food hungrily. “My mom won’t let me eat anything unhealthy.”

  I watched her stab her fork into her lettuce as I chowed down on my sandwich, which was superdelicious, with orange cheese and mayonnaise. I felt bad that she had to eat that nasty green stuff.

  “Want my Jell-O, Gabrielle?” I asked, even though it was a little hard to let it go. I love red Jell-O, but I knew she would really like it too.

  “Really? I’ve never had Jell-O before.”

  “You’re kidding!” I nearly shouted. “Everyone eats Jell-O.”

  “Not me,” she said. “I have always wanted to try, but I’m not allowed.”

  “Wow!” I said, still in shock.

  “Thank you so very much,” she said as she dug right in and scooped a wiggly spoonful. “Mmm . . . that is so good!”

  “I know! You should try the purple one too! It’s grape flavored.”

  “Refried Bean and Goony Gaby sitting in a tree!” Terrible Tanisha said as she threw a balled-up dirty napkin right at us.

  I don’t know what I was thinking being friends with that girl. She is m-e-a-n MEAN! I ignored her because I was way too busy telling Gabrielle about all the yummy flavors of Jell-O and all the other sweet and sugary bad stuff she just had to try! Afterward, we threw out our trash and skipped back to the classroom chatting the whole way about Cheetos, Sour Snakes, Slurpees, and cookie dough.

  In the afternoon, Ms. Sullivan took us to the computer lab. I chose a computer all the way in the last row, next to Gabrielle. I was about to open up the word games, which are my favorite, when I had a great idea! I decided to send Carla an “I’m sorry” email!

  To: [email protected]

  From: [email protected]

  Subject: Im sooooooooo soory.

  Carla--

  Im so sorry u got hurt. It was not me tho. Tanisha is mean and pushed the door and blamed me. Im sorry. Dont b mad at me.

  Bean :)

  I watched Carla from the corner of my eye to see if she had read my email yet, and while I waited and waited, I went back to playing word games, making words from letters floating across the screen. Sure enough, after a couple minutes, Carla turned around in her seat and stared right at me. She must have read my email. I smiled my biggest “I’m so-o-o-o-o-o sorry” smile and I thought she smiled back. I mean it was kinda a smile, like a half smile.

  When the bell rang for the end of the day, we grabbed our backpacks, lined up, and headed out to the playground. I couldn’t go home yet, though, since Rose had to stay after school. While Gardenia ran around with her friends, I just sat and leaned against the fence with my eyes closed.

  It was fun when me and Carla used to play after school. We would act like monkeys and try to swing all the way across the jungle gym without touching the ground. My hands would burn and my arms would ache, but we still had so much fun because we were together.

  I snapped out of my daydream when a basketball bounced between my legs. I opened my eyes. Sam was standing right above me.

  “Um . . . hi,” I said, holding the ball. She just stood there with a sort of angry, give-me-my-ball-back kinda look, so I continued, “I didn’t do it, you know. It was Tanisha and I feel really bad. I would never hurt Carla. Never!”

  “I know,” she finally said, softening her glare. “Tanisha is so mean.”

  “I don’t know what I was thinking hanging out with her,” I said. I threw the ball back to Sam.

  She caught it easily and started dribbling it with her left hand. Then she switched to her right hand mindlessly, like she was thinking something over before answering me. Finally, she said, “Do you wanna shoot some hoops?”

  “Really?” I asked. “You’re not angry at
me?”

  “I was mad, but I believe you, Bean. I know you would never do something that mean. That’s the work of Tanisha for sure.” Sam threw me the ball. “So, you wanna play or not?”

  “Okay,” I agreed, of course.

  I dribbled the best I could, which was not very good at all. I had to use two hands instead of one and stare right at the ball. I threw it back to her and we ran over to the hoop.

  “Let’s play Pig,” she suggested.

  Pig is a fun game! Here is how you play: One person shoots the basketball, and if she gets it in the hoop, then the other person has to stand in the exact same spot and try to get it in too. If she misses the shot, then she gets a P. If she misses it again, she gets an I and then a G and then you lose because P-I-G spells pig, you know.

  Sam got her first two shots in, but I missed mine, of course. I’ve never been too good at basketball. Then Sam did a layup and got another one in. I ran and leaped just like she did, but my ball swirled around the rim and fell to the side. I got PIG pretty quick, but I didn’t care. It was still fun to play.

  We shot hoops till Sam’s big brother, Marcus, came to get her. Marcus is in middle school with Rose. He is so cute! His skin is like caramel. He’s tall and has perfectly cornrowed hair. His eyes are the most gorgeous shade of green, and even though I h-a-t-e HATE the color green, I like it in Marcus’s eyeballs. I don’t have a crush on him or anything. . . . Okay, well, maybe just a little.

  “Hey, little Bean,” Marcus said with a wink.

  “Hi,” I said, trying to stay calm while pretending that butterflies weren’t going crazy in my tummy. Rose came up, and I could tell she had butterflies too.

  “Oh, hey, Marcus,” she said.

  “Hi, Rose,” he said as he motioned for Sam to follow him. “See you guys later.”

  “Yeah. Sure. Yes. That would be great,” Rose said.

  “See ya tomorrow, Sam!” I shouted behind them.

  “See ya!” Sam called over her shoulder.

  “Rose has a boyfriend! Rose has a boyfriend!” Gardenia ran up, singing, when Sam and Marcus were gone. She didn’t stop teasing Rose the whole way home.

  When we walked in the door, I gave Dad a squeeze.

  “How was today?” he asked.

  “I didn’t get in any trouble,” I said, and then I headed straight up to my room without even being told. I was gonna be a good girl from now on, for sure!

  I finished my homework and practiced my violin all before dinnertime. After dinner, I practiced some more. I was getting much better at the violin. Dad said he would teach me the song “Twinkle Twinkle” to play at the recital, which was great because I already know how it goes.

  When Mom got home from work, she came and tucked me in. “Dad said you did well today.”

  “Yep,” I let her know. “And I’m gonna be good from now on.”

  “I like the sound of that!” she said as she turned out the lights.

  Even though Carla still wasn’t my friend, I felt like everything was getting a little bit better. It was fun playing with Sam after school and I liked having lunch with Gabrielle and Ms. Sullivan didn’t hate me anymore and I was getting excited about the recital and . . . zzzz. . . .

  Chapter 13

  Black-and-Blue

  The next day during recess, I was sitting on the bench with Gabrielle. We were just swinging our feet and watching Sam, Carla, and some of the boys running around, when—guess what? Sam asked us if we wanted to play with them.

  Gabrielle said, “No, thank you,” of course, because she never plays at recess, but I agreed . . . even though Carla gave me a dirty look.

  “Let’s play dodgeball,” Sam suggested.

  I didn’t want to be the target for balls being thrown a million miles an hour, particularly coming from Carla, who still hadn’t forgiven me, but I helped gather balls anyway.

  John drew a long white line with chalk across the cement, and then we counted off. One, two, one, two, one . . .

  “Two,” I said, which put me on a team with Jerry, John, and Carla, who did not look happy to be on my team.

  “Okay, go!” John yelled at the top of his lungs, and balls started flying through the air.

  I grabbed a big red ball and tossed it at Mark, but it just bounced in front of him.

  “Ha-ha!” he laughed as he picked it up and threw it at me. I tried to jump out of the way, but it slammed me right on the leg. Oww!

  Since I had gotten hit, I was out. I had to sit on the sidelines and wait for someone on my team to catch a ball. I rubbed my leg while I waited. It was gonna turn black and blue, for sure.

  I think Carla dropped a ball on purpose so I would have to stay out of the game. But Jerry finally caught one and called, “Bean, you’re in!”

  Just as I hobbled back to the game, a ball flew past my ear, missing me by a hair. I grabbed another one and hurled it as hard as I could. I hit Sam right in the knee. “Yes!” I shouted as I jumped in the air, but as I came down, a ball slammed me right in the side of my head. OUCH!

  I trudged over and sat on the sidelines again.

  John caught a ball right away. I didn’t want to play anymore, but I dragged myself into the game. When I got to my spot, Mark, who is the tallest and strongest boy in the class, pulled back his arm like a slingshot, and the huge, black ball was pointed right at me! I closed my eyes and covered my head to protect it, but luckily I was saved by the bell, which rang just before I would have gotten clobbered.

  “Good game,” everyone said as they high-fived, but not Carla.

  I went back and grabbed Gabrielle and headed into the building

  When we got to the classroom, Ms. Sullivan said, “We are going to do a fun math project today.”

  I like when we do cool projects instead of just solving problems and equations in our workbooks. Ms. Sullivan explained that we were going to glue macaroni to a piece of construction paper to show the six multiplication table. Then she broke everyone up into groups of two and—guess what? Ms. Sullivan put me with Sam.

  “But Sam and I are always partners,” Carla whined.

  “I know,” Ms. Sullivan said. “Sometimes it’s good to work with someone else to get a new perspective on things.”

  Carla slumped down in her seat. She got paired up with Gabrielle, which is actually pretty good, because not only is Gabrielle a goody-two-shoes, she is also a smarty-pants.

  Me and Sam were a good team, because I am good at multiplication tables and she is really good at gluing macaroni.

  On Friday, I spotted Sam hanging out on the playground after school, alone again.

  “Where’s Carla?” I asked.

  “Her mom picked her up. She had a dentist appointment.”

  “Oh,” I said. “I hate the dentist.”

  “Me too.”

  “Hey, maybe do you want to come over my house and play?”

  “Are you sure? Your sister told my brother you were grounded,” she said.

  “Not anymore,” I said. And boy, was I happy the week of being stuck in my room was over.

  “Okay, then, I just have to ask my brother.”

  When Marcus walked up, Rose was skipping along right beside him. She was giggling and I could tell she was in l-o-v-e LOVE!

  “Hey, Marcus, can I go over to Bean’s to play?” asked Sam.

  “Maybe you could come by too,” Rose said with a flip of her hair. “My birthday’s tomorrow, and some of my friends are going to Joey’s Pizza tonight to celebrate.”

  “I guess that would be cool,” Marcus said.

  On the way home, Rose and Marcus trailed way behind, and she totally forgot to hold my hand when we crossed the street. I know the rules, though, so I held on to Sam instead.

  When we got home, Rose, Gardenia, Marcus, and Mom all left for Joey’s Pizza to meet up with Rose’s friends. Dad stayed home with me and Sam.

  “Wait here,” I said to Sam. I ran as fast as I could up to my room and grabbed all my dolls and Barbies and shovel
ed them under the bed. I didn’t want her to think I was a baby or anything. Then I rushed back downstairs.

  “Wanna go play in my room?”

  “Sure,” she said, and followed me.

  We bounced on my bed and laughed as we threw the pillows in the air. Then Sam had a great idea. She said, “Let’s build a fort!”

  We yanked all the pillows and blankets off the beds, making a huge pile in the middle of the room. I ran to the linen closet and got more pillows and sheets and comforters.

  “Stand the pillows up like this,” said Sam. She leaned the big ones against the bed to make walls.

  I spread the sheets across the top to make the roof. We kept building and building until the fort was so big, it filled up the whole room.

  I got down on my hands and knees and crawled through the halls of the fort. Sam followed.

  “What’s this?” she asked as she held my doll Cindy by her leg in front of my face. “You play with dolls?”

  “No . . . um . . . not anymore . . . um . . . not really,” I stuttered. “Those are old.”

  “Dolls are for babies.”

  “I know,” I said with a laugh.

  “Dinnertime, girls,” Dad called from downstairs.

  We both stood up and broke through the ceiling of the fort. The walls of pillows and sheets crumpled around us. We climbed out of the mess and headed downstairs.

  Dad had ordered a pizza for us. It was fun having the whole table to ourselves and the whole yummy cheesy pizza too.

  Just as we finished dinner, everyone burst through the door and into the living room. Rose and all her friends were n-o-i-s-y NOISY, but they looked like they were having a lot of fun. I want to have my next birthday party at Joey’s too, but I have to wait till summertime because my birthday is in June, you know.

  Marcus said good-bye to everyone, then came into the kitchen to get Sam.

  “We gotta get home,” he said.

  “That was fun, Bean,” said Sam with a wave. “Thanks.”

  “See you Monday.”

  Once Sam was gone, Dad said, “Why don’t you go clean up and get ready for bed?”

  “But I don’t want to go to bed. I want to hang out with Rose.”