To my auntie Wawie, the most adventurous spirit and traveler
—G. S.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Park Day!
Chapter 2 The Wishing Well
Chapter 3 The Wish List
Chapter 4 Mom’s Not-So-Little Pony
Chapter 5 Princess Gabby
Chapter 6 Wish Disaster!
Chapter 7 Turn It DOWN
Chapter 8 Oops!
Chapter 9 One Last Wish
Chapter 10 NUTS!
Posey, The Class Pest Excerpt
About the Author and Illustrator
Park Day!
Today is Friday, and that means it’s park day!
My best friends and I go to the park every Friday after school. Today we head straight to the basketball court.
I love the court because it’s the best place to ro-o-oll on my skateboard. Lily loves it because it’s the best place to play basketball. And Jasmine loves it because it’s the best place to draw on the smooth surface with sidewalk chalk. It’s the perfect place for us. Obviously.
I slalom around Lily. ZOOMIE! ZOOM! ZOOM! She dunks a three-pointer or whatever.
I whiz past Jasmine. ZOOMIE! ZOOM! ZOOM! She’s drawing a picture of Posey.
“Hi, Posey!” I shout as I fly by.
The picture of Posey pops to life—as in, real life.
“Hi, guys!” he shouts back.
I’m so distracted that I skate right into Lily.
WIPEOUT!
Lily and I bumble-tumble to the ground.
“Oopsy-daisy!” I cry. Lily and I untangle ourselves and check for scrapes.
“Are you okay?” everyone asks at the exact same time!
“JINX!” we shout, and then we crack up. We are definitely best friends.
“I’m fine,” Lily says, “except my basketball flew way over the fence!”
I jump to my feet and brush myself off. “Well, I’m okay too,” I say. “I’m sorry I crashed into you.” Then I reach out my hand and help Lily. “Come on. Let’s go find that basketball!”
We race around the fence to search through the bushes and check behind trees.
“Found it!” Jasmine cries.
Lily’s basketball is sitting beside the old town well.
“Wow!” Posey exclaims. “I haven’t seen one of these in years!”
“Seen one of what?” Lily asks. “A basketball?”
“No, that!” He points to the well. “Do you know what that is?”
“It’s an old water well,” I say, like no big whoop, because that well has been sitting here my whole life and probably two lifetimes before that. It’s made of stones and has a worn-out roof with weeds growing over it. I’m pretty sure the world forgot it existed.
Posey looks shocked. “It’s not just any old well. It’s a magic wishing well!”
Jasmine, Lily, and I stare at the old well and shrug. It sure doesn’t look like anything special. But one thing is for sure—when Posey thinks something’s magic, it usually is!
Obviously.
The Wishing Well
Posey whips out a coin, and it gleams in the sun.
“Watch this!” he says. Then he closes his eyes, kisses the coin, and flings it into the well.
PLINK! It plops into the water.
Posey opens his eyes and looks this way and that. Then he runs around the well twice and stops in front of us.
“That’s really weird!” he says. “I made a wish, but my wish didn’t come true!”
Jasmine covers her mouth to muffle a laugh. “Silly Posey!” she says. “The wishes don’t actually come true!”
Lily and I nod in agreement.
“The best part of a wish is wishing it comes true,” Lily says. Then she picks up a pebble and tosses it into the well.
Posey crosses his arms and looks upset.
“You didn’t really expect your wish to come true, did you?” I ask.
“Of course I did!” he says with a little sass in his voice. “It’s a wishing well! That’s what wishing wells do!”
I peer down the old well. “Hmm . . . maybe this one’s broken.”
Posey’s face lights up. “That’s it!” he says, and before any of us can stop him, he starts kicking the outside of the well.
“POSEY!” I shriek. “You’re going to break something!”
“No, I’m going to fix something!” says Posey.
Now my wacky imaginary friend is floating around the well, inspecting every stone. Then he flies into the woods with his eyes fixed on the ground. After a moment he picks up a small stone.
“Aha,” Posey says with a grin. “This mystery is solved!”
He takes the stone and fits it back into the side of the well like a puzzle piece. Then everything around us begins to shudder and shake. I’m pretty sure the well is going to erupt. Lily, Jasmine, and I grab hold of one another. And then—KER-FLOOSH!
A gushing rainbow fountain blasts out of the well!
“POSEY, WHAT’S GOING ON?” I yell over the roar of magic.
He stands triumphantly and cheers, “I FIXED THE WISHING WELL!”
The Wish List
We stare inside the rainbow. It’s a rainbow of wishes! And we can actually see the wishes! Or at least, we can see the shapes of the wishes. I spy a pony, a tiara, tons of kittens and puppy dogs, several dolls, a trampoline, skateboards, swings, swimming pools . . . and much, much more.
“Wow!” Posey exclaims. “I’ve never seen so many ungranted wishes in my imaginary life!”
I tap my goofball of a friend on the shoulder and ask, “Um, what do you mean, ungranted wishes?”
“These are all the wishes people made that never came true because the well was broken,” Posey says. “But it’s not broken anymore! See?” Posey pulls an enormous butterscotch lollipop from behind his back and licks it. “I got my wish!”
And that’s when I hear someone scream my name.
“DAAAAAIIIISSSSYYYYY!”
I whirl around, and OH. MY. GOSH. Lily is still Lily, but she is standing next to a grown-up. And it isn’t just any grown-up. Because though she’s taller and has some gray in her hair, I could never forget those kind eyes and face. There’s no doubt—this grown-up is one of my best friends. “JASMINE? What happened?” I ask. “What did you wish for?”
Jasmine looks down at herself. “I’m not sure!” she cries. “I haven’t wished for anything
