“Oh look!” I crept toward it. Its blue body shimmered like the special metallic paint Mrs. Patel let us use on our Mother’s Day cards last year. “Its wings look like spider webs.”
The dragonfly darted toward the street. We followed. When we reached the sidewalk it flitted into the trees and disappeared.
“Come back, dragonfly,” Irma called.
“Want to ride with me?” said a voice.
I looked up into the tree to see if the dragonfly was talking to us. But instead Jonas rode out from behind the tree.
“Hi Jonas,” Irma said. “Remember Lauren?”
“Did you bring your bike this time?” he asked.
I wanted to say no, but that would be lying, so I didn’t say anything.
“It’s over there.” Irma pointed to the front of the house.
Jonas sped to my bike and screeched to a stop. “Nice tassels.”
“I can’t ride on your ramp. I have training wheels.” I turned my back and waited for him to make fun of me.
“I can make a wider ramp if you want,” Jonas said.
I turned and stared hard at his face to see what it was trying to tell me. He was smiling, but it looked like Irma’s kind of smile, not the smile Dan made when he was laughing at me.
“See,” Irma said, taking my hand. “I told you he was nice.”
“I can’t ride over a ramp even with my training wheels,” I said.
Jonas was already pulling a big, wide piece of wood onto the street. “This is perfect.”
“I’m not riding a ramp.”
Jonas put the board flat on the ground. “This is how my dad taught me. I was scared of ramps, too. Ride over the board on the ground a bunch of times. You can’t fall off.”
Jonas had been scared of ramps? He looked like he was born brave. Maybe that was why Irma was his friend. What if she didn’t want to be my best friend anymore because I wasn’t brave? What if she chose Jonas over me?
Chapter 8
Irma handed me my helmet. Jonas pushed my bike into my hands. I stood holding my bike, wearing my helmet, and not moving.
Jonas shrugged and turned his bike around. He rode toward a big jump. He pedaled hard as he approached it, and his bike wobbled a bit from side to side. As he went over the jump he gave a little hop and landed on the other side.
Irma followed him. She was able to do the big jump too, only she didn’t do any fancy hopping.
I stood over my bike, worrying.
“Come on, Lauren!” Irma called as she biked by me. “You can do it!” She spun around and followed Jonas back over the jump.
I tried to do some square breathing. But pictures of Jonas taking Irma away from me kept getting in the way. I waved my hand in front of my face. Maybe going with the flow would help. Except the pond was turning into an ocean. I wished I had an eraser to squeeze.
Jonas stopped in front of me. “What’s wrong?”
I meant to say that I didn’t want to ride over the board. But instead, my mouth blurted out, “Is Irma your best friend?”
Jonas squinted at me. He turned to look at Irma, who was doing another lap. “Irma is one of my friends. But she’s not my best friend. That’s Jeremiah. Do you know him? He’s in fifth grade too. Isn’t Irma your best friend? You’re all she ever talks about.”
Suddenly I didn’t need to do any square breathing or squeeze an eraser. The ocean turned back into a pond. Jonas’ words were like Irma giving me a hug. I climbed onto my bike and faced the board.
It was still scary. But my best friend Irma started cheering me on. So I did it. I rode right over the board. It wasn’t hard. My training wheels didn’t fall off.
“You did it!” Jonas said. “Now do it a bunch more times.”
Irma followed me over the board and we rode in loops.
Then Jonas said, “Lauren, it’s time.”
“Time to go home?” I asked.
“No. Time to put something under the board.”
My insides went squirmy. Jonas put a small piece of wood under my board and turned it into a teeter-totter.
“I’ve made you a mouse-sized teeter-totter ramp,” Jonas said.
It was smaller than the jump Jonas and Irma had been riding, but it didn’t look mouse-sized to me. It looked like it was built for a dog, or a gorilla.
Jonas stood beside it and waved Irma over to stand on the other side. “We’re going to spot you so you can’t fall over.”
I lined my bike up with the gorilla teeter-totter. I thought brave thoughts. I closed my eyes. But that made me wobble on my bike, so I opened them again. I rode toward the ramp. I rode onto the ramp.
I got stuck halfway up the ramp.
“Pedal harder!” Jonas said. He shoved my bike seat.
I pushed on my pedal, and my bike wheeled over the ramp.
“Hooray for Lauren!” Irma yelled.
“You know,” Jonas said, “it would be easier without training wheels.”
I rode my bike to Irma’s yard and sat on her stairs. That was enough being brave for one day.
Chapter 9
Lexi was working on her stair climbing. She loved going up the stairs. She loved going down the stairs too, but Mom and Dad didn’t let her, because she liked to go head first. We had gates at the top and the bottom of our stairs. But sometimes we opened the bottom gate and let her climb up. Like now.
“Can babies be brave?” I asked Dad.
He stood behind Lexi as she pulled herself up the stairs.
“Good question,” Dad said. “Do you remember what I said it takes to be brave?”
“You have to be scared and do it anyway.”
“Right. I don’t think Lexi is scared of very much,” Dad said.
“Why not? She should be scared
