Just Grace and the Super Sleepover

by Charise Mericle Harper

  THE MOVIE

  I was hoping that we would get to watch the movie from the trampoline, but we couldn’t, because the only place to hang up the big screen was on the garage, and that was at the back of the house near the tent. Pretty much everyone except Grace L. had seen the movie before, but that was okay, because it was a good movie and no one minded watching it again. Plus it was about being at camp, so it was perfect for a camping sleepover. The only bad part was that we had to keep telling Marta to shush, because she is one of those people who like to talk during a movie and tell you what is going to happen next. Even if you’ve seen the movie before, that kind of thing can be annoying. And if you haven’t seen the movie before, it can totally ruin it for you.

  Stephanie finally came up with a great way to keep Marta quiet. She sat beside her and every time Marta opened her mouth to talk, she offered her another taffy candy. It was Marta’s favorite candy, and it worked perfectly to keep her mouth busy. It’s hard to eat sticky candy and talk at the same time.

  After the movie Grace F.’s dad came out and started a fire so we could make’s’mores. The fire was nice, but hardly anyone was hungry. We were all too full.

  WHAT I WAS SURPRISED ABOUT

  That there wasn’t a birthday cake, or even birthday cupcakes. Grace F. said that instead, we were going to have a birthday pancake cake for breakfast in the morning. I had no idea what a birthday pancake was, but it was a relief not to have to stuff down a piece of birthday cake.

  WHAT I DON’T HAVE TO SAY

  Grace L. left after the movie, but she said she was sad about missing the pancake birthday cake, so her mom promised to bring her back in the morning. Grace L. didn’t say why she was going home, but after she left Marta said, “Grace L. only likes to sleep in her own bed.” Her saying that made me suddenly miss Mr. Scruffers and wonder where she was going to sleep. Dad said, No dogs on my bed, but after he’d said that Mom had winked at me. Dad didn’t know it, but Mom’s wink was probably stronger than his no.

  WHAT I HAD NEVER DONE BEFORE

  Heard a spooky story while sitting around a fire. Grace F.’s dad said he didn’t think a spooky story was a good idea, but when he went to the bathroom Stephanie told us one anyway.

  It was more funny than scary, because we all knew that she was making it up. There’s no such thing as a raccoobat, and the snorting noises she made were really funny.

  When we finally went into the tent I was pretty sleepy. Grace F. had been saving her birthday presents for bedtime, so the first thing she wanted to do was open them. I usually love watching people open their presents, but this time it was hard to stay awake. She got jewelry, fun clothes, and lots of art supplies. She was super excited about the art supplies—Grace F. loves art. When she got to my card she looked at it for a long time, and then said thank you. Right away I knew one thing—her thank-you was real.

  The only present she didn’t open was the present from Grace L. She said she was going to wait until Grace came back in the morning. That was a nice thing to do. It’s not easy to resist opening a present.

  THE LIST

  My eyes were having a really hard time staying open, but before Stephanie let anyone go to sleep she gave us each a flashlight and read us three rules. It was easy to promise to do everything on the list, which was good, because I could tell that she was serious about it.

  WHAT FEELS AMAZING

  Putting your head down on your very own pillow when you are super tired. We all talked for a while, but I don’t remember what we were talking about. I wasn’t paying very much attention. Mimi said she was still going to try to wake up in the middle of the night to look at the stars, but I had a feeling that wasn’t going to happen. When your body is super tired, it’s not easy to wake up in the middle of sleeping.

  WHAT I WAS NOT SCARED OF, EVEN THOUGH I THOUGHT ABOUT THEM FOR A FEW SECONDS

  Beetles.

  WHAT WAS A SURPRISE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

  Mimi shaking me, but it wasn’t because she wanted to look at the stars. It was because she, and everyone else in the tent, was scared of the raccoobat!

  “She’s calling the raccoobat,” whispered Grace F. “What if it comes?” whispered Lisa. I shook my head. “There’s no such thing. She made it up.” Everyone nodded and agreed with me, but still it didn’t matter. In the middle of the night, things that you know are not true can suddenly seem true. Hearing Stephanie make that sound was definitely scary. “Let’s wake her up and make her stop,” said Marta. “Or we could just poke her,” said Mimi. Mimi put out her hand, but Grace F. grabbed it away. “We can’t wake her up,” she said. “It’ll be worse than the raccoobat. She’ll be mad. Remember the list?” Everyone was quiet for a minute, thinking about the list. Grace F. was right. We had promised. “But maybe this is an emergency?” whispered Marta. We all shook our heads. It wasn’t one of the emergencies from the list. Suddenly I had an idea. It didn’t break any of Stephanie’s rules, and it got us away from Stephanie and the raccoobat.

  At first no one liked my idea, but after Stephanie made three more raccoobat sounds, everyone agreed to do it. The only hard part about getting out of the tent was walking through all the piles of papers from the presents. We finally pushed them to the side so no one would trip.

  WHAT WAS AMAZING

  Lying on the trampoline all cozy in my sleeping bag looking up at the stars. Mimi said it was perfect, and much better than just standing outside looking up at the sky. We set up our flashlights all around us, and then huddled together in the middle of the trampoline. I was glad about two things.

  That Dad had helped me be not scared of camping.

  That the trampoline had a net around it.

  Thinking glad thoughts and looking up at the stars is a good way to fall asleep.

  WHAT ARE BAD SOUNDS TO WAKE UP TO

  SCREAMING AND YELLING!

  When we first heard the screaming we were really scared, but then after a few seconds, we couldn’t help it—we all had to laugh.

  WHAT STOPS A PERSON FROM SCREAMING

  Hearing people laugh. As soon as she heard us, Stephanie came running around the corner to the trampoline. At first she was really mad, but then when she finally believed that we hadn’t done it on purpose to scare her, she sort of forgave us. She said she would forgive us 100 percent if we were quiet about it and didn’t tell Grace F.’s mom and dad what had happened.

  She was lucky that we were fast at promising, because two seconds later both her mom and dad came running out of the house to see what was going on. “Just fun on the trampoline,” said Stephanie. “Well, you should know better than to let everyone be screaming so loud at six o’clock in the morning!” said Grace F.’s mom. She had her hands on her hips. I snuck a look at everyone standing next to me, and we all had our heads down. It’s no fun to get yelled at, especially when you don’t deserve it. After the parents left, Stephanie promised to paint all our nails as a special thank-you. Grace F. was super excited about that. “Wait until you see how good she is,” she said. “She can even draw little pictures.”

  While we waited for Grace F.’s mom to make the birthday pancake, Stephanie painted our nails. Grace F. was right—she was really good at it.

  Grace L. came back for breakfast, and even though Grace L. wasn’t there for the promise, Stephanie still painted her nails too. Everything that was happening made me feel happy that I had Mimi as a best friend, because if I didn’t, I’d definitely be adding another thing to my list, and it was something Mom and Dad were probably never going to get me.

  THE BIRTHDAY PANCAKE CAKE

  When something is amazing and your tongue has never tasted it before, it is hard to talk, and when you do finally talk, all your mouth can say is stuff like “Mmmm, mmmmm, mmmmmmm!”

  After breakfast we all went to jump on the trampoline again. That was a good idea for most of us, except for Grace L. She said jumping around after eating the pancake was making her feel sick. When she got off the trampoline I did
n’t pay any attention to where she went, but about two minutes later, we heard her screaming. Of course we all went running to find her. She was inside the tent, squished up against the back wall, and right in between her and us was a small beetle.

  I am definitely not a beetle person, but for some reason, even though it was Grace L. screaming and saying help me, I felt sorry for the beetle. It was almost like it was saying help me too. Suddenly my empathy power was working. I had to save the beetle before someone squished or stepped on it. Without thinking, I grabbed an empty plastic cup left over from the party, ran into the tent, and scooped the beetle into it. Everyone was surprised—even me!

  WHAT I DID WITH THE BEETLE

  Just because you save a beetle doesn’t mean you want to keep a beetle. I was going to put it in the bushes, but Mimi asked if she could have it. “I’ll take it home as a surprise for Robert,” she said. “He can keep it for a day, and then we’ll let it go tonight.” I nodded and gave Mimi the cup. Robert was lucky—she was a good sister.

  WHAT MIMI SAID THAT SURPISED ME

  Mimi, the beetle, and I were all sitting on Grace F.’s front steps waiting for Mimi’s mom to come and get us. Except for us, Lisa was the last person to leave. It was sad to think that we weren’t going to see her again, so Grace F. promised to invite Lisa, Mimi, and me over again really soon. I was glad about that, because when you meet someone you like, it’s kind of weird to say goodbye forever.

  After Lisa left, Grace F. went inside to get something. As soon as she was gone Mimi said, “You were really brave.” At first I was confused. "About the beetle?” I asked. Mimi shook her head. “Sure,” said Mimi, "but mostly I meant about the raccoobat.” I nodded. It was nice to have a compliment that I didn’t have to try to give back. I don’t know why, but it suddenly made me think about Augustine Dupre’s saying again—Practice makes perfect. Maybe it was time to practice being brave.

  WHAT I WAS GLAD ABOUT

  That I didn’t have to do anything for the whole rest of the day except play with Mr. Scruffers and then rest. Sleepovers can be exhausting.

  BEING BRAVE

  The next morning when I got up I decided that as soon as I saw Mimi, I was going to tell her everything. I was going to tell her about the card and the lie, and then ask her a million times to forgive me.

  WHAT I TOLD MIMI WHEN I SAW HER ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL

  I told her that today I was going to start getting rid of the ghost by using the good deeds idea. It would have been better to tell her the truth—that there wasn’t a ghost—but being brave is not as easy as I thought it would be. I needed to practice more.

  WHAT KIDS ARE GOOD AT

  Kids are great about spreading information, and they can do it much faster than teachers. Kids don’t need to hand out flyers for everyone to know what is going on. But I made one up just in case. This time it was easy for me to draw in secret, mostly because the secret was only from one person, Miss Lois. Keeping a secret from Miss Lois was a lot easier than keeping a secret from both Mimi and Miss Lois. I can listen and draw at the same time, so I wasn’t completely ignoring Miss Lois. I got a lot done this morning—I learned about the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere, the Eastern Hemisphere, the Western Hemisphere, the equator, and how to use a compass, and I also made twelve flyers. If Miss Lois had known she would have been mad but also probably a little bit impressed too.

  WHAT WAS HARD

  It was hard to wait for lunch. Both Mimi and I couldn’t wait to do a good deed and then throw the paper into the recycling bin. Mimi wanted to see if it would make the ghost go away, and I wanted to see if it would make people think the ghost went away. They were kind of the same thing, but different, too. As soon as the bell rang, we ran out into the hall and Mimi helped me give out the flyers. I thought people might have lots of questions, but it was not like when Miss Lois handed out an assignment—no one said anything.

  After the flyers were handed out, Mimi and I looked around for some good deed opportunities. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Mimi picked up a candy wrapper off the floor and threw that away, but I couldn’t find anything. I was just about to give up when I saw Mr. Harris’s secretary, Mrs. W., walking down the hall. Mrs. W. probably does other stuff, but her main job is to sit outside Mr. Harris’s office and stare at you while you wait for him to be able to see you. She is very good at that job, and her eyes can make your body feel very nervous.

  Mrs. W. was carrying a huge stack of paper and about five or six boxes of markers. She looked like she was having trouble, so I ran over and helped her with the markers. It’s not something I would usually do, but I really needed to do a good deed, and she needed help. I guess she thought it was unusual, too, because she looked really surprised. People probably didn’t help her very often. When part of your job is making kids feel nervous, you’re not a very popular person. I carried the markers for her all the way to the art room, which was perfect, because that’s exactly where the recycling container was.

  For the whole way down there neither one of us said anything. Mrs. W. wasn’t a talking kind of person, and I couldn’t think of anything to say. Mimi followed behind us, but she didn’t say anything either. The only two words that Mrs. W. said were thank you, and that was after I put the markers on the counter in the art room. I looked up to see if she was giving me her evil eye, but she wasn’t—she was smiling. I’d never seen her smile before. It made her eyes kind of sparkly and less scary-looking. I gave her a smile back, and then I went out to the hall to find Mimi. It’s funny, but a little thing like a smile can kind of change the whole way you think about someone.

  GHOST BE GONE

  Mimi was waiting for me by the recycling container. She had two scraps of paper and two pencils ready. She gave me a pencil and paper, and we each wrote out our good deeds. “You go first,” said Mimi. She pointed to the recycling container. “Yours is better than mine.” I nodded, took a few steps forward, threw in my good deed, and then stepped back so Mimi could do hers. We waited for a few seconds, both watching the recycling bin to see if anything would happen, but, of course, nothing did. I don’t know why, but I suddenly had a strange feeling about this whole thing, and not the strange feeling I’d had before. This was a new one.

  When we got to the lunchroom, everyone wanted to know why we were so late. All Mimi said was “good deeds,” and instantly everyone knew what we were talking about. It was kind of exciting. I had a feeling that more good deeds were going to get done in our school today than ever before in history.

  After we’d finished eating, Mimi wanted to go back to the art room to check on the recycling container. I was glad that she didn’t want to do another good deed. I had the feeling that good deeds were not going to be very easy to find anymore. When we got there, there was a line of kids waiting for their turns to throw pieces of paper into the recycling bin. I know I shouldn’t have, but I felt kind of proud to have started so many people doing good deeds. I looked over at Mimi. She was smiling too. “I think it’s going to work,” she said. I nodded. I was almost too shocked to speak.

  WHAT SAMMY SAID TO ME IN CLASS

  Nothing, but he smiled and nodded. And I was pretty sure I knew what that meant. This time I wasn’t too embarrassed to smile back at him.

  THE SURPRISING FUN THING WE DID IN THE AFTERNOON

  Sometimes even if you know someone, they can still surprise you. Miss Lois was being like that about our earth project. Ever since we started it, she had stopped acting like her normal self. Suddenly she was a lot more fun and filled with surprises. If anyone wanted an answer as to why, I knew what it was. It was love.

  Miss Lois had everyone get together with our earth partners, and then she split us up into three groups. Mimi and I got picked for group one. At first I wasn’t sure if I should be happy about that, but when Miss Lois said, “Okay, group one, follow me outside,” I knew it was good. Groups two and three didn’t get to go outside. Instead they had to go to the library to do
research on their assignments.

  When we got outside, Miss Lois gave each partner team a compass and a list of instructions. Then she took us to a special starting point and told us to use the compass and the instructions to find our treasure. Even though we all knew that the treasure was only going to be a piece of paper, it was still exciting. And it was even more exciting when she said that the first team back with the treasure would get a special prize.