Frazzled #2
Page 4
Logan and Mira’s invention was the best one in school. It was so good that Mr. Walters cried. He also submitted it to some national competition, which meant Logan was just one step closer to becoming a world-famous kid genius.
Our invention presentation may not have gone the way we expected, but things worked out for Jess and me.
When it came down to it, we actually made a very good team, and that seemed like something worth celebrating.
Somehow celebrating turned to talking about lockers. When we asked Jess about her new one, she said—
Her new locker was so far away that she had to sprint in order to make it to class on time!
It made me think about all the problems that I’d been having ever since we got our own lockers.
Even though it was what I had wanted from the very beginning, was it really better? Was it possible that things were actually better for both of us when we were sharing?
Maybe being partners had somehow caused our brain waves to sync up or something because, at that moment, I knew Jess and I were thinking the EXACT SAME THING.
We had gotten so used to sharing ONE locker—why not share BOTH?
For once, it just made sense. The only thing we needed to figure out was what to do with the other locker. . . .
We’d figure it out eventually.
For now, it was fun just being at Antonia’s together.
Maxine, Logan, and I were there often enough to be considered regulars, but it was new to Jess, and that made the whole thing feel a little different.
Different, but good.
Still, being a regular at the bakery had definite perks. Before we left Antonia’s for the day, Istvan brought over another round of pastries to congratulate us.
Istvan wasn’t just any bakery owner. He made a point of knowing everyone who came into his shop. He was probably so used to seeing the three of us that it was hard NOT to notice a fourth person hanging around all of a sudden.
“New one, eh?”
When I said it, it just felt right.
I guess, when you think about it, some things really do work out.
A few weeks passed. By then, most of us had stopped thinking about the Invention Convention and moved on to the next crazy thing happening in middle school.
Something crazy was ALWAYS happening in middle school.
But the FEED-IT 5000 was still on my mind!
When Mr. Walters needed space in the science lab, Jess and I played ROCK PAPER SCISSORS to figure out who was in charge of taking it.
I lost.
I should’ve gotten rid of it, but after all our hard work, I just couldn’t bring myself to throw it away.
So the FEED-IT 5000 ended up at MY house, gathering dust in the corner of our living room.
Until one day . . .
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
At its core, this book is about dealing with change and finding something great in the unexpected. I wouldn’t have realized that without so many of you, so here goes:
Thank you to my editor, Margaret Anastas. You bring so much joy and heart to everything Frazzled, and this book is better because of it. As always, thank you to Steve Malk for being a brilliant agent and constant source of wisdom, and Hannah, for helping me figure my way to the heart of Abbie’s story.
I’m especially grateful for my publishing family at HarperCollins Children’s Books:
To Amy and Andrea, for working tirelessly to transform all my ideas into an actual book and for being the designers of my dreams. To Bethany and Veronica, for reading (and rereading) my work with such astounding focus and care. To Josh and Mark, for managing the madness and somehow not killing me. To Luana, for always keeping things running.
To the unparalleled Caroline Sun, thank you for all the things and more. To my flawless publicity team, the wonderful School & Library squad, and the amazing Megan Beatie, I appreciate you beyond words.
To marketing powerhouse Ann Dye and Team Middle Grade, I always say “you’re the best,” and I stand behind that. Also, to Tom for creating all the best swag, Jace for making me look cooler than I am, and Elena for keeping Abbie Wu on trend. To the incredible sales team for getting Frazzled out into the world and to everyone at Harper who has been cheering for Abbie from the very start.
Thank you to all my family and friends who simultaneously embrace my craziness and keep me as sane as possible. A special thanks to Meg for providing unexpected inspiration via Szabi the cat. And, I guess, thank you to Szabi too.
Most important, thank you to my Frazzled readers. These books are always for you.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo credit Kamolpat Trangratapit
BOOKI VIVAT is the New York Times bestselling author of the Frazzled series. She has been doodling somewhat seriously since 2011 and not-so-seriously since childhood. She grew up in Southern California and graduated from the University of California, San Diego. She currently works in publishing and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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BOOKS BY BOOKI VIVAT
FRAZZLED
Everyday Disasters and Impending Doom
CREDITS
Cover art © 2017 by Booki Vivat
Cover design by Whitney Manger
COPYRIGHT
FRAZZLED #2: ORDINARY MISHAPS AND INEVITABLE CATASTROPHES. Copyright © 2017 by Vissra Vivatnamongkon. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2017934812
ISBN 978-0-06-239881-9
EPub Edition © September 2017 ISBN 9780062398826
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FIRST EDITION
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