Riley (2 page)

“Come on, Kat!” Aidan called. “You're so slow. We'll be late.”

Kat hurried to catch up with her brother.

She was old enough to walk by herself now, but they still walked to school together every day. They didn't really talk much. Aidan was always listening to his music. But Kat didn't mind. Somehow it was just a nice way to start her day. The bell rang as Kat and Aidan hurried through the fence that circled Orchard Valley Elementary School.

“Later, alligator!” Aidan said, heading to the eighth-grade entrance.

“Bye, bye, horsefly!” Kat replied. She could see her fourth- and fifth-grade class lining up outside the school. But instead of hurrying there, she ran over to Maya's line.

Kat and Maya were both in fourth grade, but this year Kat was in one split class and Maya was in the other. This was the first year they weren't in the same class. It was hard to get used to.

Still, the girls always tried to say hello before school. And share a joke.

Kat ran up to Maya, who was smiling.

“Joke of the day: What did the tree say to the squirrel?” Kat panted.

Maya thought hard. “That has to be an easy one.” Her class line began moving. “Oh, Kat, you never give me enough time,” she complained.

“Take as much time as you need! See you at morning recess,” Kat teased.

“No way! You always do this. Tell me the answer now!” Maya demanded. But her line was moving away. “Oh, Kat, you're the worst!” Maya turned with a flounce and followed it in. But she lifted her hand, and she gave Kat a quick backward wave to show she was joking.

Kat hurried to catch the tail end of her own line. Even though school had started only a few weeks ago, Kat had a feeling it was going to be a long year. She liked her teacher, Ms. Mitchell, but she really missed having Maya in her class. She was trying to make the best of it, but it wasn't the same without her.

Today, however, there was a surprise for the class.

Ms. Mitchell was standing at the front with a girl beside her. The girl had red hair in long braids. She was wearing a dress with red flowers on it. Her knees had Band-Aids on them. She wasn't smiling. Her arms were straight down at her sides.

“Please sit down on the carpet, everyone,” Ms. Mitchell said.

The teacher bent down and spoke to the girl. The girl just stared straight ahead.

Everyone had already guessed, but Ms. Mitchell said it anyway. “We have a new girl in our class. Her name is Grace.”

The girl looked up. She had beautiful soft-brown eyes. But her face was stony. And she stared at everyone, one by one. Kat wouldn't be surprised if the new girl was scared about starting a new school. But she didn't look scared at all. She looked…mean.

Megan and Cora were sitting next to Kat, whispering and giggling.

“Say hello to Grace, class,” Ms. Mitchell said.

“Hello, Grace,” said everyone except Megan and Cora.

Kat said it too. And, right then, Grace looked at her.

I hope she doesn't think I want to be her friend.
The thought popped into Kat's head, and she quickly looked away.

“We're happy to have you with us, Grace,” Ms. Mitchell went on in a friendly voice. “Would you like to tell the class anything about yourself?” She waited, but Grace didn't say anything.

Megan and Cora laughed. Grace frowned.

“Well, maybe later,” Ms. Mitchell said with a smile. The teacher began to talk about the plans for the day.

Megan nudged Kat. She had finally stopped giggling. “The new girl. What's her name?” she whispered, pointing at Grace.

Megan never listened. Ever.

“It's Grace,” Kat answered, annoyed. And, of course, just at that moment, Grace was staring right at them. Great. Now she would know that Kat was talking about her. What if she thought Kat was making fun of her? Just great.

Kat got a bad feeling in her stomach. And then, before Kat could look away, Grace opened her eyes wide. She lifted one lip and made a face at Kat. A really mean face.

Kat gulped and quickly looked at the floor.

If she were in a new class at a new school, she'd be nervous. She was sure of it. Grace was new, but she didn't look at all nervous. She just looked angry.

“Okay, class,” said Ms. Mitchell. “Go to your seats, please. Get out your math workbooks.”

Kat went to her desk. Ms. Mitchell followed her. As Kat sat down, the teacher stood next to her.

“Josh,” Ms. Mitchell said to Kat's seatmate. “Would you mind moving to one of the long tables? There's a seat in between William and Angela. I'd like Grace to sit here, next to Kat.”

“Sure, Ms. Mitchell,” said Josh.

Kat watched unhappily as Josh grabbed his things from inside the desk and hurried away.

“Grace, you'll sit here for now,” Ms. Mitchell said.

Grace didn't speak. She just dropped into her seat.

“Here's our math textbook and a workbook,” Ms. Mitchell said. She left the books on Grace's desk when she didn't take them.

Kat glanced over at Josh. He was talking happily to William and Angela.

It wasn't fair! Why did Grace have to sit here, beside
her
?

“Grace, I'm sure you and Kat will get along,” Ms. Mitchell said. “Kat always seems to have a good joke to share!”

Oh, great. Ms. Mitchell had put Grace here because Kat liked to tell jokes.
That's a good reason to never tell a joke again
, Kat thought to herself.

Ms. Mitchell returned to the front of the classroom. She began to explain how to do the math problems written on the board. Kat tried to pay attention. She liked math. But Grace was distracting. The girl put her pencil on one finger, like a teeter-totter, and she used another finger to rock it back and forth. It clicked on her desk each time it hit.

Kat wanted to ask Grace to stop playing with the pencil. But, more than anything, she didn't want to talk to Grace. Grace made her feel uncomfortable. So Kat decided to try to ignore her.

Finally it was recess. Kat and Maya met at their usual spot, under the oak tree by the school gate.

“Okay. Spill. What did the tree say to the squirrel?” Maya said, hands on her hips.

Kat smiled. “Leaf me alone.”

Maya smacked her forehead with her hand. “You call that a joke?” she moaned. Then she grinned. “My brother will love that one. Tonight. Dinner table.” Then Maya asked, “So, did you bring the Puppy Collection with you?”

“Right here,” Kat said. “Voilá!” She presented it just like a magician. She'd been holding it behind her back, hidden in a black bag. She and Maya didn't want anyone else to see it. They worried the other kids might laugh at them. Like Megan and Cora. Kat knew for sure that they'd tease her. For some reason, they liked to try to embarrass her. Of course, they had been better lately. Ever since Kat had told them to leave her alone.

Kat and Maya sat down and opened their scrapbook. Puppies were the best things in the world. But neither girl was allowed to have one. So they did the next best thing: they collected photos of their favorite puppies or drew pictures of them. They gave each puppy a name and wrote a description about it. It was like having their own collection of puppies. Usually they found the pictures online or in magazines, but they'd also decided to add puppies they met.

Maya turned to the latest page, and a black, curly-haired puppy looked up at them. “Don't you wish we could really meet Lollie?” she said. “She looks so cute! Look at her tiny black nose.”

Kat read aloud: “
Lollie is a toy poodle. She has so much energy! You can't hold her back for even a minute. She jumps so high, it's as if her back legs are springs. She is very smart too.
”

Maya turned to another page. “Here's sweet little Bailey,” she said. She was looking at a photo of a golden-yellow puppy. Bailey had been a guest at Tails Up! a few weeks ago, and the girls had helped take care of him.

“It was so much fun playing with Bailey,” said Kat. “Remember how soft his fur was? Remember how he'd shake his chew toy in his mouth?”

Maya smiled. “Here's what we wrote:
Bailey is a Labrador retriever puppy. He is eight weeks old. He is being housebroken, and he is doing well! Bailey likes to chase toys and shake them. He is very gentle. He likes to give us kisses.
”

Then Kat sighed. “Oh, I miss him. But now we have Riley to play with! Won't it be great to see her after school?”

“I can't wait,” said Maya. “She's so pretty. Such a beautiful golden color.”

“Hey, did you notice that Riley's ears were darker than the rest of her coat?” Kat asked. “I was reading about golden retrievers last night. They can be any color from cream to gold. If you look at the ears of a golden retriever pup, you can tell what color her adult coat will be!”

“Einstein! That is so cool,” said Maya. She looked at Kat admiringly. “You know a lot about different dogs.”

“All thanks to the magic of the Internet,” Kat said, spreading her hands wide.

The bell rang to end recess, and Kat closed the scrapbook.

“Hey,” said Maya. “Our teacher told us that you have a new girl in your class. That's great, right? You're lucky.”

Kat lifted her eyebrows. She put the Puppy Collection back into the bag. “Not great. And I can already tell that she isn't very nice.”

“Seriously? You can already tell? You just met her.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” Kat said.

“How?” Maya asked, surprised. “What did she do?”

“Well, nothing really,” Kat said. “She just looks mean. And I have to sit beside her.” Then she said firmly, “I don't like her.”

Suddenly someone moved.

Someone who had been standing on the other side of the oak tree. Someone they hadn't seen there.

Kat turned. That someone was Grace.

Oh no! Kat's face turned red. She felt terrible. Had Grace heard her?

Kat opened her mouth to speak, but Grace turned and walked away. Kat jumped to her feet. She knew she should follow the new girl. She knew she should speak to her and say she was sorry.

But she didn't move.

“Who was that?” Maya asked. Her large brown eyes were concerned. “What's wrong, Kat?” Then, a moment later, her face cleared. “Oh, that was her, the new girl. Right?”

Kat nodded. “Yeah, it was Grace. Do you think she heard me say I didn't like her? And that she looks mean? She may have seen the Puppy Collection. What if she tells everyone about it, just to get back at me?”

“Well, we'll just have to hope for the best,” Maya said with a shrug. “Maybe she didn't hear or see anything. Plus, you only just met Grace. You don't really know what she's like yet.”

The teacher on recess duty was ringing her hand bell and walking toward the girls.

“Come on, Kat-Nip, let's go.” Maya gave Kat's hair a gentle pull. “Hey, you can apologize to her when you get back to class. You sit beside her, right?”

“Yeah,” Kat said. Although she was really confused. She didn't know what she wanted to do. Grace had started it all by making that mean face. Hadn't she?

Maybe she would apologize. Or maybe she wouldn't.