My New Best Friend (3 page)

I nod. "So it's for real, right? Me wishing an evil spell and Jenna ending up with permanently green hair? I mean, it
can't
be. But just look at Jenna!"

"The only way to know for sure is to do another spell," Stacey says.

My heart jiggles inside my chest. "on who? Jenna? Because I was thinking red spots would go good with her green hair. Sort of an early Christmas present."

Stacey narrows her eyes, thinking. "I know," she says all mysterious. "Quick! Follow me."

I follow Stacey down the hall and into the girls' bathroom. She heads to the last stall, pulls me in, and locks the latch. "Take her out," she whispers.

I pull the mermaid from my backpack. "Don't we need to plug her in?" I ask.

"Did you plug her in last night?" Stacey asks.

I nod.

"Then she's good to go," Stacey says. "As long as we plug her in every night, she'll help us during the day."

I nod again. "How do you know so much about this stuff?" I ask, handing over the mermaid. "I mean, sometimes it seems like you've been nine a lot longer than me."

Stacey shrugs. "I just do," she says. "I even know stuff my mom doesn't know."

"Like what?"

"Like my dad has a new girlfriend. Tanya. She's always around when I stay with him. But my brother isn't. I guess Jake doesn't like her as much as my dad does."

"Do you like her?" I ask.

Stacey shrugs. "She's okay. But you can't tell Kelli. It would make her sad if she knew about Tanya."

"okay," I say. "I won't tell."

Stacey gives me a nod. Then she looks at the mermaid again.

"So, what are we going to make her do?" I ask.

Stacey gets that far-off look in her eyes. Then she gives me a sly smile. "What's the worst thing about school?" she asks.

"Um ... dodgeball? Salisbury steak? Times tables?"

"Bingo," Stacey says. She puts her hand on the mermaid's head and closes her eyes. "Dear Mermaid," she says. "Make today's math quiz go away. Make Mr. Crow spill tea all over it. Make him use it to line the hamster cage. Make him accidentally run it through the
paper shredder.
"

Stacey opens her eyes and blinks at me.

I blink back. Then I put my hand on top of hers. "only don't let him shred his hand or anything."

The bell rings as soon as we get to our coat-room. Everyone hurries to hang up their stuff. I walk to my desk, sit down, and glance at Stacey. She's sitting across from me in the next row. Jenna sits right behind her in perfect shoulder-tapping, note-passing distance. I feel my stomach squirm.

When we first started fourth grade, we sat in clusters. But Mr. Crow likes to change things around so now instead of staring at Rusty's, Tom's, and Randi's faces, I get to stare at the back of Zane Howard's shaved head. This may sound like a bad view, but actually it's coming in handy. That's because Zane had an accident with a bunk bed when he was little. His top-bunk double flip got him seventeen stitches in the back of his head and a scar that's shaped like New Jersey. New Jersey is one of the states I can never name on the map, so as long as Zane Howard sits in front of me I'm going to do a lot better in social studies.

Mr. Crow is at the board. He writes math quiz today in big, bold letters. I glance at the coat-room. I swear I see my backpack jiggle.

As soon as everyone takes their seat Mr. Crow sits down at his computer to do attendance. It takes him a while to get started because he's busy rubbing his forehead like he has a headache.

"Is Dylan Adams here?" he asks.

"Right here!" Dylan says back.

Mr. Crow nods and rubs his head again. "How about Dylan Anderson?"

"Here!" the other Dylan replies.

Mr. Crow clicks his mouse and then wipes his hand across his forehead. He takes a sip of tea and makes a face like he swallowed sawdust. "Joey Carpenter?"

"Here!" Joey replies.

Mr. Crow nods and clicks again. He pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket and leans his face into it.

"Is Jenna here?" he mumbles through the handkerchief.

"Yes, Mr. Crow, I'm right here," Jenna says.

I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around and
see Quinn's goofy grin. "Henna Jenna's hard to miss!" he whispers loudly.

Randi gives us a glance. "
Henna
Jenna?" she asks.

I poke a thumb toward Jenna. "She used something called
henna
to dye her hair. Now it won't wash out."

Randi grins at Jenna. "Hey, Henna Jenna," she whispers loudly. "Did you dye your hair or is that a turtle sleeping on your head?"

Randi cracks up.

So does Quinn.

Jenna does not. She gives us a sneer. I pull my chin inside my collar and grin.

"Zane How...
How
..." Mr. Crow pushes away from his computer. "Excuse ... me, everyone. I'm not ... feeling ... very well." His voice sounds spongy. And his face looks like my Grandma May's green-bean casserole. He clutches his stomach and stumbles out the door.

"What's wrong with Mr. Crow?" Meeka asks.

"Looks like a bad case of indigestion," Tom says.

"Barf-O-Rama!" Rusty shouts.

"
Eeeeewwww!
" the whole class chimes in.

Some of the boys start staggering around, making barf sounds.

Some of the girls stagger around, making barf sounds back.

Brooke groans. She looks like she could be the next Barf-o-Rama contestant.

Jenna marches to the front of the classroom. "Take your seats!" she shouts. "Just because Mr. Crow left doesn't mean you can start acting crazy!"

Everyone keeps fake-barfing on each other's shoes.

"Make them ... stop..." Brooke moans. She clutches her desk like it's the safety bar on a Tilt-a-Whirl.

Jenna's eyes dart around at all the barfers. "I am a junior Girl Scout!" she shouts. "Do what I say!"

"What're you gonna do if we don't?" Randi asks. "Toss your
cookies?
"

Randi laughs and fake-barfs on Dominic's desk.

Jenna shoots a scowl at Randi. She grabs Mr.
Crow's ruler and starts waving it around. "Zane, get down from the bookcase! Rusty, take your finger out of your throat! Meeka, stop moaning!"

But no one listens to her. That's because it's hard to take orders from a person with green hair. Even if she is a junior Girl Scout.

Jenna is in the middle of listing her qualifications to be in charge
("I earned my Safety Sense Brownie badge last year and I'm just three good deeds away from my junior Girl Scout Model Citizen pin, and..."
" when a large dark shadow creeps through the doorway. It's followed by the large dark body of our music teacher, Mrs. Madson.

Mrs. Madson steps into the classroom. She crosses her meaty arms over her black dress. She scans the scene from behind her bat-wing glasses while tapping the toe of one blood-red shoe. When she spots Zane on top of the bookcase her black eyebrows arch up until they almost touch her equally black hair.

"Zane Howard!" she shouts. "Get. Down.
Now!
"

Zane freezes. His eyes lock with Mrs. Madson's and he melts to the floor.

"Everyone, back to your desks!" she barks. Half a second later, everyone is back in their desks.

This concludes today's Barf-O-Rama,
I say to myself.

Jenna sets down Mr. Crow's ruler and marches over to Mrs. Madson. "They're all yours," she says, shaking back her green braids.

Mrs. Madson studies Jenna over the top of her glasses. "Thank you," she says.

Jenna gives her a quick nod and marches back to her desk.

Mrs. Madson steps to the front of the classroom. "Ladies and gentlemen," she says. "I regret to inform you that your teacher has gone home unexpectedly. I have been asked to step in until Mrs. Eddy, your substitute, arrives." Mrs. Madson scans the room slowly. "Are there any questions?"

Tom raises his hand. "What about our math quiz?"

Everyone shoots a look at Tom.

"Math quiz?" Mrs. Madson replies.

"We were supposed to have one this morning," Tom blabs some more.

Mrs. Madson smoothes her large hands over
her black dress, thinking over this information. "Due to the unexpected circumstances," she says, "your math quiz has been
canceled
for today."

I do a gasp and glance at Stacey.

She gasps and glances back.

"
The mermaid,
" we whisper at the exact same time.

You might think casting a spell that makes your teacher come down with a sudden case of the upchucks would be all an evil mermaid could dish out for one day. The truth is, evil mermaid night-lights are a lot more powerful than they let on. I know because all day yesterday the mermaid kept making bad things happen.

Me and Stacey didn't even have to wish for a spell on Rusty Smith, but the mermaid still made him get caught sticking a kick me sign to our principal's back.

Then Joey Carpenter tied one of Jolene's shoelaces to her desk and when her big brother found out Joey got stuck inside a sixth-grade locker for almost all of art.

And best of all, Jenna Drews got kicked out of the cafeteria for throwing her tomato-tofu
sandwich at Quinn. She said she did it because Quinn poked her ear with a fork. But Quinn claimed he thought Jenna's green head was the Salad of the Day and shouldn't be held responsible for his actions.

Actually, I might have been responsible for the tofu-throwing spell a tiny bit because right before it happened I mentioned to Stacey that I wouldn't mind if the mermaid did something to make Jenna lose a few Girl Scout badges.

"I can't believe all the stuff the mermaid did yesterday," I say to Stacey when we meet at the broken water fountain before school on Tuesday morning.

Stacey pulls the mermaid out of her backpack. "Time to trade her back," she says. "I plugged her in extra early last night so she could do even bigger stuff today."

"What could be bigger than Rusty getting afternoon detention? or Jenna having to eat her lunch in the office?" I tuck the mermaid into my backpack.

Stacey thinks for a moment. Then she gets that far-off look like she did yesterday when she
asked the mermaid to make our math quiz go away. She puts her hand on my backpack and says, "Dear Mermaid, make something extra
good
happen for Ida and me today!"

Stacey takes her hand away and smiles. "Now we just have to be on the lookout for something extra good to happen. Just for the two of us!"

I pick up my backpack and slip it on. "Are you sure an
evil
mermaid can make
good
things happen?" I ask.

Stacey nods. "She's only part evil," she says. "Like most things."

The bell rings and we head to our classroom. I smile the whole way, even though there's a mermaid poking me in the back.

When we get to the classroom our sub from yesterday, Mrs. Eddy, is sitting at Mr. Crow's desk.

"Hi, Mrs. Eddy," I say. "Is Mr. Crow still sick?"

"Yes, he is," Mrs. Eddy replies. "He must have caught that flu bug that's been going around."

"Or that
spell,
" I mumble to myself and head to my desk.
All morning, I'm on the lookout for something extra good to happen. Unless you count Tom Sanders not mentioning our canceled math quiz again, only regular things happen. Reading. Social studies. Math. Jenna making us play dodgeball at recess. Salisbury steak for lunch.

In the afternoon, things aren't much better. Mrs. Eddy makes us write each of our spelling words ten times. In cursive. Even our extra-big bonus word:
mythological.
Plus, she reads a myth to us during snack time about a guy named Argus who had a hundred eyes all over his body. That might sound like an extra-good thing, but Jolene brought grapes to share. Eating grapes while listening to a story about a guy who has a hundred eyeballs is not the greatest. Trust me.

By the time recess rolls around, I've decided the mermaid has taken the day off. Just then, while everyone else is heading out the door, Stacey gives me a sly smile, gets up, and walks over to Mrs. Eddy, who is erasing the chalkboard.

"Mrs. Eddy?" Stacey says. "I have a question."

Mrs. Eddy sets down her eraser. "Yes?"

"Yesterday, when Mrs. Madson was here, she said she could use some help ... um ... cleaning
the music room and ... um ... alphabetizing her songs. So I said I would love to help her. Plus, she told me I could bring along a friend."

"I see," Mrs. Eddy says.

"So I was wondering if Ida and I could help Mrs. Madson during our afternoon recess?"

Mrs. Eddy thinks for a moment. "I don't see why not," she says. "Let me double check with Mrs. Mad—"

"I just saw her on the way back from lunch," Stacey interrupts. "And she said today during recess would be
perfect.
" Stacey gives Mrs. Eddy her biggest smile.

"Well, then," Mrs. Eddy says, smiling back. "It sounds like a fine plan."

Stacey grins at me as she clears off her desk.

I grin back even though alphabetizing and cleaning are not my best subjects.

"This is extra good, huh?" I say to Stacey as we head to the music room. "Even though Mrs. Madson
is
a little scary. And I hate cleaning, but I'm sure it will be fun to sweep with y—"

"Ida," Stacey interrupts. "We're not
really
going to help Mrs. Madson."

I stop. "We're not?"

"The mermaid just put that idea into my head so we can do something extra fun. Just the two of us!"

"Oh," I say, fidgeting a little.

Stacey pulls me along to the girls' bathroom. She checks all the stalls. "No one here!" she says, smiling.

I give her half a smile back and look around. Four stalls. Three sinks. One paper towel dispenser. "So what are we going to do?"

"Anything we want!" Stacey says, scooting up onto a sink and swinging her legs like she's sitting on the edge of a million possibilities.

I look around again trying to see things the way Stacey sees them. "I never noticed how much there isn't to do in here," I say.

"Yeah, but it's still fun not doing anything with your best friend!" Stacey replies.

"That's true," I say.