Friends for Never (4 page)

“Her name’s
Ocean,
remember?”

“That’s so Suzanne,” Mrs. Carew laughed.

Katie groaned.

“The thing is, you won’t
always
be mad at her,” Mrs. Carew continued.

“Yes, I will,” Katie insisted.

“I doubt it,” Mrs. Carew assured her. “You two have been friends for a very long time and are always having fights. And you always make up.”

“Well, not this time. And I’m not going to that dumb fashion show,” Katie told her mother.

“Yes, you are,” Mrs. Carew said firmly. “Suzanne has worked hard in this class. You need to be there to show your support for her.”

“Why?”

“Because Suzanne cared enough about
you
to invite you,” Mrs. Carew reminded her.

Katie had a feeling that Suzanne’s mother had sent the invitation. But she knew better than to tell her mother that. It would be a waste of time. Once Mrs. Carew made up her mind about something, there was no changing it.

Katie folded her arms and slumped back into her chair. She was going to have to go to Suzanne’s dumb old modeling show.

But that didn’t mean she had to like it.

On Monday morning, Katie got to school just before the morning bell rang. Most of the fourth-graders were already in the yard, running around and playing tag.

Suzanne and Jessica were standing all by themselves. They were putting on lip gloss and fixing their hair.

As Katie walked by, she heard them talking.

“Dabba-id yabba-oo sabba-ee Babba-ecky’s jabba-eans?” Suzanne said.

“Yabba-uck!” Jessica answered.

Katie looked at them strangely. “Did you say something?” she asked.

Suzanne shook her head. “Not to you. You wouldn’t understand.”

“It’s our secret code,” Jessica answered. “Just for people in our club.”

“So you two are the only ones who speak the language?” Katie said. She knew she was being mean, but she couldn’t help it.

Jessica ignored Katie. Instead she turned her attention to Ms. Sweet, who had just walked onto the playground. “My mom gave me a note to give to
our
teacher,” she told Suzanne. “I’ll be right back.”

“We’re the only two members of the club for now,” Suzanne told Katie as Jessica ran off. “But we’ve invited other people to join.”

“You have?” Katie asked. “Who?”

“No one you know,” Suzanne admitted. “We’ve sent invitations to all the top modeling agencies. We want real models in
our
club,” she explained. “I’m sorry we couldn’t invite you, but we don’t want kids to be members.”

“But you two
are
kids,” Katie reminded her.

“Only for now,” Suzanne replied. “We’re growing up quickly.”

Katie frowned. “Yeah, well, your new language isn’t so hard. All you did was stick the sound ‘abba’ in after the first letter of every word.”

Suzanne gasped. Katie had figured out their code!

“I know what you said,” Katie continued. “You asked, ‘Did you see Becky’s jeans?’ and Jessica answered, ‘Yuck.’ You guys are really, really mean!”

“We’re not mean,” Suzanne told her. “We’re just fashionable. Can we help it if we’re so much trendier than the rest of you?” She flipped her hair and turned her back on Katie.

“I can’t believe we were ever best friends,” Katie snapped. “Suzanne, you and I are FRIENDS FOR NEVER!”

Suzanne turned around quickly. “I think that’s a
great
idea!” she responded angrily.

“Well, at least we agree on something!” Katie said as she stormed away.

Katie wanted to try and cool down after her big fight with Suzanne. But she wasn’t going to be able to do that in her classroom. It was hot—
really hot
—inside the classroom. The air was very steamy. There were fake trees and flowers all over the place. The sounds of birds chirping and rain filled the room. As usual, something really strange was going on in there.

“Here we go again,” Kadeem said with a laugh.

“I guess we aren’t studying Europe in world geography anymore,” Emma S. added.

“Good guess!” Mr. Guthrie exclaimed as he jumped out from behind a big plastic tree.

“Ah!” Katie gasped. “You scared me.”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of here,” Mr. Guthrie said.

“Where’s
here
?” Kevin asked. He looked up at a monkey-shaped balloon in a plastic tree.

“We’re in the Brazilian rain forest!” Mr. Guthrie announced.

Katie looked up and spotted the monkey-shaped balloon in the tree. Then she saw the vines that hung from the ceiling. The room really did look like a rain forest—except for the blackboard, of course. Suddenly, she wasn’t all that jealous of Suzanne and Jessica anymore. All they had was a dumb modeling club. Katie and her class were traveling to Brazil! (Well, sort of.) She smiled for the first time that day.

“It’s really hot in here,” Mandy said, fanning herself. “I’m sorry I wore a sweatshirt today.”

“I can fix that,” Mr. Guthrie said. He reached into a big plastic bag and pulled out a pile of T-shirts. They were all different colors. Each one said Welcome to
Brazil
.

“Girls, go change in the girls’ locker room. You guys can put your shirts on in here. Then we can start talking about ways you can decorate your beanbags, so you fit into the rain forest landscape.”

“Boy, Slinky sure looks happy,” Kevin said as he looked into the snake’s tank.

“This kind of warmth is perfect for a reptile,” Mr. Guthrie explained.

Emma W. laughed. “It isn’t great for hair, though,” she said. “Mine’s getting all limp.” She wiped her bangs away from her forehead.

“And mine’s curling up,” Emma S. added.

All that talk about hair made Katie remember Suzanne again. Katie knew exactly what she could do to get back at her for being such a snob. “We should get Suzanne to come in here,” she told the others. “She hates it when her hair frizzes.”

“The rain forest just isn’t fashionable,” Emma W. joked.

“No, but it sure is fun,” Katie agreed. She took a bright pink shirt from the pile. “I love these T-shirts.”

“But, Katie, those shirts aren’t in style.” George imitated the snooty way Suzanne had been talking lately.

“They are in class 4A,” Katie answered. “Everyone’s wearing them!”

Class 4A’s week in the Brazilian rain forest zoomed by. Before Katie knew it, it was Saturday—the day of Suzanne’s modeling show.

“I have to work today,” Mrs. Carew told Katie as they gulped down a quick breakfast. “And Dad’s playing tennis. So I’ll drop you off at the fashion show. You can meet me at the store after the show is over.”

Katie nodded. Her mother was the manager of the Book Nook, a bookstore in the mall. The store was right next to Katie’s favorite restaurant, Louie’s Pizza Shop.

“Can I get a veggie slice at Louie’s after the show?” Katie asked her mother. “I’ll have earned it by then.”

“Sure.” Mrs. Carew smiled kindly at Katie. “You never know, today could be more fun than you think.”

“I doubt it,” Katie said as she put on her jacket and headed out the door to the car.

When Katie got to the mall, she saw that a big stage had been set up in an open area. In front of the stage, Katie spotted Suzanne’s parents sitting in the second row with Suzanne’s little sister, Heather. Katie figured she should walk over and say hello.

“Hello,” Katie said to Suzanne’s parents.

“Hi, Katie,” Mrs. Lock said.

“Hey there, kiddo,” Mr. Lock said.

“Katieeeeeeeeeeeeee!” Heather squealed. She took her thumb out of her mouth and gave Katie a big wet kiss.

Katie grinned as she wiped the baby spit from her cheek. She’d kind of missed Heather.

“We haven’t seen you in a while,” Mrs. Lock said. “How do you like fourth grade?”

“It’s fun,” Katie said.

“Suzanne’s having a good time, too,” Mrs. Lock said.