by Susan Hughes
Suddenly Kat understood. The mean look meant Grace was sad and upset. It meant she was trying to stop herself from crying.
That’s what she had done yesterday. And that’s what she was doing now. She just looked angry and mean, because she didn’t want to cry. Maybe she was a nice person, after all. Maybe she was just unhappy about being at a new school.
Kat had planned to apologize to Grace or to tell her a joke. But now she knew she had to do more than that. Even if it made Maya upset.
At the end of the afternoon, Kat turned to Grace. She was about to speak, but the bell rang. Grace jumped up, grabbed her backpack, and hurried out of the classroom. She must have been waiting to make her escape.
I have to catch her! Kat thought. I have to talk to her now!
She ran after Grace. But, to Kat’s surprise, Maya was right outside the door, waiting for her.
“Kat, I want to tell you something,” Maya blurted out. She looked embarrassed. “I wasn’t really sick at lunch. I was just angry. You’re my best friend, and I like looking after the puppies with you. And I like doing it alone, with just you.”
Kat tried to interrupt, but Maya kept going. She looked sad. “But I was thinking at lunch that you’re my best friend because you’re so nice. You’re kind and thoughtful. And if you think Grace needs a friend—” She stopped. “I mean, if you think she needs two friends, then that’s okay with me.”
A big smile spread across Kat’s face. “Maya, you’re the best. I mean it!” She threw her arms around her friend and hugged her. “I do think Grace needs two new friends. I’ve got to catch up with her and tell her that,” Kat said. “Even though I’m nervous!”
“Kat-Nip, I’ve got your back!” Maya grinned. “That’s what friends are for.”
The girls spotted Grace right away. She was standing near the fence. She kept glancing at the road, as if she were waiting for someone. Her face looked hard as stone.
Kat stopped in front of the new girl and took a deep breath. “Grace, can we talk to you?”
“About what?” Grace replied. She tossed her head, flipping her braids onto her back. “You didn’t seem to want to talk to me in the park yesterday.”
Kat turned red. “I know,” she said. “I want to say I’m sorry.”
Grace didn’t say anything. She just pulled on the end of her braid.
Kat continued, “Grace, this my friend Maya. She’s in the other fourth-grade class.”
“Hi,” said Maya, smiling at Grace.
Grace looked at Maya, but didn’t say anything. She didn’t even smile.
Kat took a deep breath and plunged ahead. “Grace, I just want to say that I know you copied my poem, and it made me angry. But I’m sorry I didn’t let you pet Riley yesterday.”
“What? I didn’t copy your poem,” Grace blurted out. Now she looked directly at Kat. She folded her arms. “I can write my own poem. I don’t need to copy yours.”
Kat considered. She had seen Grace looking at her poem, but she hadn’t actually seen what Grace had written. “No? Okay,” she said with a shrug. “My mistake.”
“And you’re the one to talk anyway, sending me that rotten note.” Grace glared at Kat. Her brown eyes flashed.
“Hey, I didn’t write that note,” Kat said, her hands on her hips. “I don’t know who wrote it, but it wasn’t me.”
For a moment there was silence. The girls looked at each other.
“Okay. I believe you,” said Grace.
Kat nodded. “And another thing. I wanted to say sorry for what I said at recess on your first day. Maya and I were talking by the big tree, and we didn’t know you were there—”
“That’s okay,” Grace said quickly. “I didn’t hear anything.” But her face had turned red. She was pretending she hadn’t heard.
Then Grace hoisted her backpack higher on her back. She looked down the street again. It seemed like she was about to walk away.
“Wait, Grace,” said Kat. “I want to tell you about Riley. The puppy you saw me with in the park. The one that you wanted to pet.”
Grace stopped. “She’s sweet,” she said.
“She’s so sweet,” Kat agreed.
“Totally,” Maya added.
Grace didn’t speak for a moment. Then she said, “You’re so lucky to have a dog. I used to have one. Bella. But she died a few months ago.”
“Oh, that’s terrible,” Kat gasped.
“Mom says it’s for the best. Bella was a farm dog. We had to move here, to town. Bella wouldn’t have liked it,” Grace said. “Mom said maybe it was better we didn’t have to put her through that big change.” She swallowed hard.
“Maybe,” Kat agreed. “But still. You must miss her so much.”
Grace nodded. “I do.” Then her face went hard. Her eyes sort of bunched up.
Grace looked angry, but Kat knew she was trying not to show her real feelings.
She was trying not to cry.
“Riley isn’t my puppy,” Kat explained. “Or Maya’s. Neither of us has our own dog. But my aunt just opened a dog-grooming salon. She’s really busy, so she asked Maya and me to help out. We get to exercise any dogs she boards. This week, it’s Riley. Her owners can’t keep her because their daughter’s allergic.”
“You are so lucky,” Grace said again softly.
Kat looked at Maya. Should she do it?
She didn’t have to.
Just because Ms. Mitchell put Grace in the seat next to hers. Just because Grace was new and unhappy. Just because she had lost her dog. None of those things meant she had to do this.
But Maya was nodding. She even gave Kat a nudge with her elbow.
“Actually, we wanted to ask you something,” Maya said.
Grace stared down at the sidewalk. Again she pulled on the end of one of her braids.
Kat started talking. “Grace, I know I haven’t been very nice to you. You probably don’t like me very much. I don’t blame you. But would you like to come with us to play with Riley? We’re on our way to see her now. It would be lots of fun.”
Grace frowned. “Really? You want me to come with you?”
“Yes.” Kat nodded.
“Yes,” said Maya.
Grace was quiet for a moment. Slowly her frown disappeared. Her face brightened. “Well, I can’t come today. My mom is picking me up and taking me to get my hair cut.” She bit her lip. “But maybe I can come tomorrow. I’ll ask.”
“Well, I hope she says yes,” said Kat. “Because, well, you know, when someone’s new and you don’t know her… Sometimes you may think you know right away what someone is like—just by the way she looks or acts—but actually you might be wrong.”
Grace looked confused. Kat glanced at Maya for help. “What Kat means,” said Maya quickly, “is that we want to be your friends.”
“Oh,” Grace said. And then she smiled. Her whole face lit up.
“But, listen, there’s one thing I need to warn you about, new girl,” said Maya. She had on her sassy grin. Her eyes twinkled. “It’s Kat. She thinks she’s a comedian. She can’t stop telling really terrible jokes that she thinks are hilarious.”
Grace grinned. “Uh-oh,” she said, going along with Maya.
“Yeah, uh-oh is right,” said Maya, nodding.
“Hey, they aren’t all so bad!” complained Kat, also grinning.
“Okay, Kat-Nip, prove me wrong. Tell one,” challenged Maya.
“Yeah. Go for it,” said Grace.
Kat thought for a minute. “How is a puppy like a penny?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” said Grace.
Maya shrugged. “Me neither.”
“Each has a head and a tail!” Kat shouted. “Get it? A head and a tail?”
“Oh, that is such a bad joke,” said Grace, but she was laughing.
“So bad.” Maya was shaking her head and clutching her stomach as if she was in pain.
“I know. So bad,” agreed Kat, smiling happily.
A short time later, Kat and Maya were playing with Riley in the park.
Just like the day before, the girls stood a big distance apart and took turns calling to Riley and running with her. Riley loved the game. Her ears flew out as she bounded happily across the grass, first with one girl and then the other.
Kat tried to hold the leash out from her body when she ran. She wanted to keep Riley from coming too close to her legs. But all at once Riley zigged and Kat zagged, and both of them fell down in a heap.
Riley took the opportunity to jump on Kat and cover her in wet dog kisses.
Click! Click!
Maya had brought her camera along. “This will be a nice photo for our Puppy Collection. We can label it Kat and Dog!”
“Nice one,” Kat said with a grin.
“We can add it to the drawings we’ve made of Riley,” Maya said. She snapped a few more pictures of Kat lying on her back. Kat smiled up at her and hugged Riley close.
A best friend, a new friend, and a sweet puppy to walk for a few more days! Kat thought to herself. I am so lucky!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Award-winning author Susan Hughes has written over thirty books—both fiction and nonfiction—for children of all ages, including Earth to Audrey, Island Horse, Four Seasons of Patrick, Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools around the World, and Case Closed? Nine Mysteries Unlocked by Modern Science. She is also a freelance editor and writing coach. Susan lives with her family in Toronto, Canada, in a house with a big red door—and wishes it could always be summer. You can visit her at susanhughes.ca.
Puppies were scampering across the grass. There must have been over twenty of them!
Some puppies were brown, some were black, some were brown with white spots. Some puppies had perky ears and some had floppy ears. Some had big, wide paws; some had little dainty paws. All the puppies had sparkling eyes and wagging tails.
Kat was in her classroom, sitting at her desk.
Her eyes were closed. She was having her favorite puppy daydream.
Her mother and father smile at her.
“Of course you can have a puppy, Kat,” her mother says.
Her father sweeps out his arm. “Have any one you want!”
Kat smiles too. She looks at all the puppies, and she tries to choose. The little red Irish setter puppy gazing up at her with the dark-brown eyes? The black-and-white dalmatian puppy tumbling across the grass? The adorable Wheaten terrier pup with the brown face and the black muzzle?
Suddenly the bell rang. School was over for the day, and the dream ended. But that was okay. Kat had puppy plans this afternoon.
“Let’s go!” Kat said to Grace, who was at the desk next to hers. The girls jumped out of their seats, grabbed their things, and made a beeline for the classroom door. But before they reached it, they heard their teacher’s voice.
“Katherine, Grace, where are you off to in such a hurry?” Ms. Mitchell stood at the front of the classroom. She was smiling.
Kat liked her fourth-grade teacher a lot. For one thing, Ms. Mitchell knew how much Kat loved puppies—and her teacher liked puppies too.
“You won’t believe it, Ms. Mitchell!” said Kat. “Remember how I told you my aunt opened up a dog-grooming salon? We get to help her with a puppy today!”
Ms. Mitchell smiled. “How wonderful!”
“Her business is doing really well,” explained Kat. “She thought it would take some time to get going, but she was swamped with customers all last week. So she asked Maya and me to help out after school. Did you know that Grace loves puppies, just like me?”
“I had an idea that she might,” Ms. Mitchell confessed, her brown eyes sparkling.
Grace chimed in, “When Kat found out, she asked me to help out at Tails Up! too!”
Grace was new to the town of Orchard Valley. She was slim with brown eyes. Grace often wore her long red hair in braids. She reminded Kat of Anne of Green Gables.
It had taken a few days, but Kat and Grace had become friends. Not best friends, like Kat and Maya—they did almost everything together. Maya liked to tease Kat and make her laugh. She said, “You love puppies, but your name is Kat? That’s crazy!” In return, Kat helped Maya with school projects and told her silly jokes. They had been in the same class since kindergarten, but not this year.
But now Kat had a new friend: Grace. And Maya had agreed to try to be friends with Grace too, even though the girls didn’t know each other at all, even though they didn’t seem to have much in common. Grace was quiet. Maya wasn’t. Grace had trouble saying how she felt about things. Maya did not.
Kat was keeping her fingers crossed that her two friends—her best friend and her new friend—would get along. This was the first time they were going to hang out together. They were going to Tails Up! together, and Kat had invited both girls to come over for dinner after. Maya had been to Kat’s house at least a million times, but it would be Grace’s very first time.
“Well, how lovely!” Ms. Mitchell looked pleased. “Any puppy would be very lucky to have you three looking after him. Have fun, girls!”
Kat and Grace hurried out of the school and across the playground. They stopped to look for Maya. They were all walking to Tails Up! together.
“Sorry I’m late.” Maya ran up, trying to catch her breath. “Okay, let’s go. But just tell me one thing: did I miss the answer to the joke?”
“Oh, right, the joke!” Grace said grinning. She rolled her eyes. Every morning, Kat told a joke. Today it was, “Why are dalmatians not good at hide-and-seek?” As usual, she made her friends wait forever before she told them the answer.
“So tell us, Kat-Nip,” Maya demanded. “Answer.”
“Are you sure?” Kat teased. “You don’t want to guess again?”
“Oh, please. Put us out of our misery,” Maya said. “Right, Grace?”
“Right!” Grace chimed in.
“Here goes: dalmatians aren’t good at hide-and-seek because they’re always spotted!” Kat said.
“Agh!” moaned Grace and Maya.
“Worst joke ever!” Maya complained happily, as they all rushed toward Tails Up!
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