“I don’t want to talk about it.” I stomped down the sidewalk.
“Lexi learned a new sound today,” Mom said. “Lexi, what does a cat say?”
“Mao, mao,” Lexi said.
I turned around. “Say it again.”
Lexi just smiled at me.
“What does a cat say?” I asked.
“Mao, mao!” She tried to crawl forward in her wagon.
“You look like a cat, too!” For a whole minute I forgot about my day.
But when we got home I emptied my backpack and there was a new permission form in my agenda. “How did that get there?” I asked.
“Ms. Allen called. She told me you had a tough afternoon. She put the form in your backpack because she really hopes you’ll take part. She thinks it will be good for you to try something new, and to be part of a whole-class activity.”
“I’m NOT GOING!” I stomped up the stairs. I wouldn’t be taking part in a whole-class activity, because I would be the only one with training wheels. And just like Ravi said, you couldn’t mountain bike with training wheels on your bike.
Mom came into my room later, holding her phone. “Irma wants to video chat with you.”
I looked up from the paper I was ripping into very small pieces. “Why?”
Mom shrugged and handed me her phone. Irma’s face smiled at me.
“Hi, Irma.”
“You didn’t come back to class today. Where did you go?”
“I flipped my lid,” I said. “Ms. Lagorio let me stay in her room all afternoon.”
“I missed you,” Irma said. “I had to think-pair-share with Alyssa.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Tomorrow you will come to my house after school.”
I looked down at my pile of paper pieces. I knew Irma was asking me a question even though it didn’t sound that way. She had learned a lot of English since second grade, but she still had problems with questions sometimes. “Do we have to ride bikes?”
“We don’t have to, but I’d like to. I want you to know Jonas. You’ll like him.”
“I don’t think so.”
Irma brought her hands into the picture and clasped them together. “Please come over and play! Please! Please! Please!”
A nice hot-chocolate feeling took over my heart. Irma was the best at making me feel better. “Okay.”
Irma lifted her hands over her head and cheered. “I will see you at school for partner reading tomorrow.”
Chapter 7
At school the next day everybody was talking about our mountain-bike day. I put on my headphones and pretended I couldn’t hear them.
I wasn’t allowed to wear my headphones outside for recess, though, because one time I forgot I had them on, and they got caught in the monkey bars and broke. Today at recess all anyone could talk about was mountain biking. And even worse, I discovered that it wasn’t just our class who would be biking. All the third graders would be. Which meant that Dan would be there too.
Dan sat with his bum wedged in between two of the playground ladder rungs. A group of kids stood around him, like he was a king and they were his servants. “I ride with my dad every weekend. We ride black diamond trails. They’re the hardest.”
I stomped over to the sandbox and crouched beside it with my back to Dan. Ravi was there. He had his arms crossed and was making a mad face. “Why are you angry?” I asked. “You’re a good mountain biker.”
“Dan and I went to bike camp together last summer. He’s not that good.”
“Are you going to go yell at him?”
“Nope. I don’t want to get in trouble from the duty teachers.”
“But he thinks he’s king of the playground.”
Ravi laughed. “You’re funny, Lauren.”
I stood up, close to Ravi. “What do you mean?”
Ravi took a step away from me. “I mean you’re right. He looks like he’s sitting on a throne.”
“You should be king instead.”
Ravi shook his head. “I’d rather make bike parks in the sand. Want to help?”
“No, thank you.” I didn’t like the feeling of sand on my hands. But I did stay to watch Ravi for the rest of recess.
Mom picked up Irma and me at the end of the day to take us to Irma’s house.
Lexi was in her car seat. “Mao, mao,” she said to Irma.
“Lexi,” I said, “this is Irma. She isn’t a cat.”
“Baa, baa,” Lexi said.
“She’s not a sheep either.”
“Moo, moo.”
“Stop showing off,” I said.
Irma laughed. Lexi clapped and gurgled.
“Babies are funny,” Irma said.
“Sometimes. And sometimes they are a big, messy pain.”
Mom pulled up to the curb in front of Irma’s house. I leaped out of the car.
“What did you forget?” Mom called.
I turned around. “Bye, Lexi. Bye, Mom. Thank you for driving us.”
Lexi waved and smiled at me. Irma kissed her forehead, which made Lexi gurgle and wave even more. Irma didn’t know how much food Lexi smeared on her forehead, or she never would have let her lips touch it. I never did that. I didn’t need another ketchup snack.
Mom got out of the car and opened the trunk. My bike was inside.
“Why did you bring that?” I asked.
“Just in case,” Mom said.
I tried to go with the flow, but waves started to build on the pond.
Irma pulled on my arm. “Let’s check the ant colony.”
I ran with her, and the pond calmed down. Mom could take my bike out of the trunk, but I’d pretend it didn’t even exist.
The ants had a huge mound of sand in the crack. It looked like a volcano crater. Then Irma’s mom came out with a tray of meatballs. She put the plate down in front of us and went to talk to my mom.
“Do you have meatballs every day?” I asked.
“Only when you are here. You should come every day!”
We laughed and laughed and popped meatballs in our mouths. I wished Dad would make meatballs instead of cheese and crackers for my after-school snack.
As I finished the last meatball, a dragonfly zoomed over
