The All-Stars made their way to the rectangular tables Mr. Havens had placed around the room the first day of school. Five kids sat at each table.
When school first started, Alfie had really wanted to have her own desk and not sit at a group table. A desk seemed more grown-up, more like second grade—or like “the bigs,” as Mr. Havens called it, using a sports term, of course.
But now, four weeks in, sharing a table with Arletty, Hanni, Scooter, and a shy new kid named Alan Lewis wasn’t so bad after all, she had to admit.
Even though Scooter and Alan were boys.
At the table behind her, Lulu was whispering to Bella—as if she had simply moved her secret conversation inside for a while. “Best sleepover ever,” Alfie heard Lulu say to Bella. Bella’s eyes were wide.
“Miss Marino,” Mr. Havens’s voice boomed. “I was not asking a question when I told everyone to settle down. There is no need for any random comments at this time. Save your words for shared reading discussion, please.”
The funny thing about shared reading was how good Mr. Havens was at it—reading aloud, and pointing out interesting things in a book, Alfie thought, wriggling her chair closer to the table. He could turn his boomy “Coach” voice into just about anything or anyone. An old lady, a spooky tree, a little kid, a penguin, a monster.
He could even sound like a nature scientist, which was probably the voice he would use today as he read The Awesome Hummingbird.
“This will be our shared reading book for the entire week,” Mr. Havens told the kids, holding up his copy so everyone could see. “Five whole days. And when we’re done, you guys will be All-Star hummingbird experts.”
Next to her, Alfie could almost hear Scooter Davis grumbling—without making a sound. “Yo, who even wants to know about hummingbirds?” he was probably thinking. “Lame! They’re the littlest birds in the world. Girly-birds. Like bugs, almost. Let’s hear about vultures! Or pterodactyls.”
Alfie considered herself to be an expert on what—and how—boys thought. She’d had a lot of experience with her big brother EllRay, after all. Living with a brother was like having a student from another country living in the same house, Alfie sometimes thought. She had seen a movie about that once.
“Remember, no Velcro sneaker noises during shared reading,” Mr. Havens warned everyone, though he gave Scooter Davis an extra-sharp look. “Or the noisemaker will be asked to perform a little dance for us all.”
Behind Alfie, Lulu had continued to whisper through Mr. Havens’s instructions. Almost everyone in class was still a little scared of Mr. Havens at times. But Alfie guessed that Lulu’s excitement about her sleepover was bigger than any fear.
Her sleepover was going to be that good.
“Miss Marino,” Mr. Havens boomed again. He did not sound pleased. “Is there something very urgent that you need to share with everyone in the class? Something important enough to interrupt the learning process of your fellow students? I cannot imagine what that might be. But speak.”
“It’s not for everyone,” Lulu said, sounding more excited than sorry. “Just the girls. For a few of them, I mean. But only a few.”
Lulu was talking about the girls she was going to invite to her famous-but-secret sleepover, Alfie thought, sitting up extra straight.
And every single girl in class knew exactly what Lulu was talking about.
“Then we’re not interested,” Mr. Havens announced.
And he went on to read aloud the first two pages of the hummingbird book.
But she, Alfie Jakes, was very interested in what Lulu Marino had to say! In fact, Alfie was barely able to pay attention to the awesomeness of the “little jeweled wonders,” as the book called the hummingbirds on the very first page.
Who was Lulu going to invite to her sleepover?
And why was it going to be the “best sleepover ever?”
And what could she do to make sure she got invited?
Finally, what was she going to wear?
She and her mom were going to have to go amazing-jammie shopping, and soon.
4 Like a Wasp at a Picnic Table
“I’m glad you didn’t get in trouble for being late to school,” Alfie said to Arletty. They were in the cubby room digging in their backpacks for their lunches.
Oak Glen Primary School had a cafeteria, but Mr. Havens’s second graders liked to eat outdoors when the weather was nice. And it was perfect today, so that’s where most of the kids were headed. Phoebe was already outside, in fact. She was saving places for Alfie and Arletty at the second grade girls’ picnic table they liked best.
“Yeah,” Arletty said, keeping her voice low as she looked around. “I got here just in time. But what if I had started crying if Mr. Havens yelled at me for being late? ‘Crybaby, crybaby, pants on fire,’” she chanted, copying the pretend kids who might tease her if that ever happened.
“I think it’s supposed to be liars whose pants are on fire,” Alfie said, frowning because even that seemed wrong, didn’t it? No matter how much you wished it might be true? Unless it was you doing the fibbing, of course.
“And it’s not like I can boss my mom around when she’s driving me to school,” Arletty said as if Alfie hadn’t spoken. Arletty emerged from a crouch, holding her lunch high in the air. Victory!
It was true, Alfie thought, picturing Mrs. Jackson. Arletty’s mother was not the kind of mom to put up with any nonsense. Mrs. Jackson was “the human dynamo at every meeting,” Alfie’s mother had said more than once.
That meant Mrs. Jackson had a lot of energy, she explained to Alfie.
But Mrs. Jackson was nice, and she made very good brownies.
“Come on, Alfie,” Arletty said, laughing. “We’re missing out on all the fun.”
Yeah, fun, Alfie thought with a pang as she remembered Lulu, and Saturday
