“I am not going to be scared,” I said to Moosie.
But by the time I finished breakfast, I felt two little butterflies in my stomach.
I called Hannie.
“Hi,” I said. “Can I walk to the bus stop with you this morning?”
Hannie and I held hands the whole way. When we got to the bus stop, all the kids were really happy to see me.
“Way to go, Karen,” said one kid. “You will not have to worry about Hadley any more.”
I was not so sure.
“Here comes the bus!” called Linny.
Linny got on first. I climbed on right behind him.
The first thing I did was look for Hadley at the back of the bus. I did not see her there. I looked all around.
Guess where Hadley was sitting. Right in the very first seat. That was Mr. Wilson’s surprise. The other big kids were up front, too. I knew that Mr. Wilson could keep an eye on them there. He would make sure they did not make any more trouble.
Mr. Wilson smiled at me. Hadley turned and looked the other way.
“Your seat is at the back of the bus now, Karen,” Mr. Wilson said. “I have assigned seats to all my riders. No one is allowed to change.”
I walked with Hannie to the back of the bus.
“It is fun being back here,” said Hannie. “It is like it used to be when we sat at the back of Ms. Colman’s class.”
“You are right,” I said. “I wish Nancy were here, too. We will invite her to stay over one night. Then the Three Musketeers can ride to school together.”
“Good idea,” said Hannie. She thought for a moment. “Guess what. When we get to school today, we will find out how much money we made at the Fall Festival. I think we made a lot.”
“We will be able to buy a lot of new books for our library,” I said. “I have an idea. We can make a list of the books we think they should buy. We will give it to Ms. Colman when we get to school.”
I took out my notebook and a pencil. We wrote down the names of our favorite books. Some of the other kids told us books they liked, too.
It was a very good bus ride. There were no butterflies in my stomach. Nobody bothered us the whole way.
On the way out, I stopped to thank Mr. Wilson.
“I am going to like riding on your bus from now on,” I said.
“I am very glad, Karen,” said Mr. Wilson. “That is the way it should be.”
I waved good-bye to Mr. Wilson and skipped all the way into school.
About the Author
ANN M. MARTIN is the acclaimed and bestselling author of a number of novels and series, including Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), A Dog’s Life, Here Today, P.S. Longer Letter Later (written with Paula Danziger), the Family Tree series, the Doll People series (written with Laura Godwin), the Main Street series, and the generation-defining series The Baby-sitters Club. She lives in New York.
Copyright © 1994 by Ann M. Martin
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
First edition, 1994
e-ISBN 978-1-338-05716-4
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