My hand flies into the air on its own.
“Simone and…” Ms. Boyd looks around the class.
Normally some friends would volunteer as a group. But that’s not going to happen in my case.
Eventually Fiona raises her hand. Fiona is not a Runway Girl, but she looks like she’s waiting for the perfect moment to rush into their glamorous world.
Ms. Boyd then “volunteers” two other kids—Luka and Davis. We are about to leave the classroom when Aaron’s hand shoots up. I notice the Runway Girls have edged their desks closer to him. “Do you need anyone else?” he asks.
Ms. Boyd nods. “Actually, I could use one more volunteer.”
I’m not surprised when the Runway Girls start coaxing Ms. Boyd to let them go too.
“Come on, Ms. Boyd,” Miranda says. “I really want to work with Brendan today.”
“How fascinating,” Ms. Boyd says in a dry tone. “Especially since your Kinderbuddy is named Braden. Not Brendan. Now sit down and forget about leaving this class.”
When we get to the kindergarten room, I take Lily’s picture from the pile first. Yuri sees Aaron, and he tumbles over too. The four of us work in the same spot as last time.
Lily and I finish coloring her veterinary coat. Aaron tries to help Yuri decide on his career choice. Yuri still cannot get past the idea of being a monster.
“How about a police officer?” Aaron says. “You’d be really good at it.”
“Okay, okay. But only if you draw me with seventeen guns. And a big stick for smacking bad guys.”
“Okay,” Aaron says. “But you’ll have to be extra sneaky to fool the bad guys. We’ll hide the guns in secret pockets on your uniform.”
Yuri actually slows down long enough to help draw.
Now that we have finished Lily’s picture, she is checking out my necklace.
“I like this.” She touches each bead.
“Thanks. I made it last week.”
“Really?”
I nod. “My mom used to make jewelry. She taught me how.”
“Could you make one for me too?” Then Lily covers her mouth with her hands. “Oops! It’s not polite to ask.”
“That’s okay. I love making necklaces. I could make you one and bring it next class.”
Lily’s eyes light up. “Do you know how to make rings too?”
“No. Only beaded necklaces and bracelets,” I say. “Do you want me to use pink beads for your necklace?”
Lily shakes her head. “No. My mom always gets me pink things. But I’ll tell you my real favorite color.” She leans over and whispers into my ear. “Green.”
“Really? Are you saying that because my necklace is green?”
Lily shakes her head.
“Okay,” I say. “I have lots more green beads. I’ll bring your necklace next class.”
Lily gives me a cute little-kid hug. Unfortunately, it attracts Mrs. Mankowski’s attention. “Now that you have finished, Lily, you need to pick a new activity. Simone needs to help some of the other Kinderbuddies.”
Lily reluctantly walks over to the paint center. I’m sure it is no accident that I am working right beside it.
For the rest of the class, I help cut out nurses’ uniforms, hockey sticks, fishing rods, and garbage pails for the trash collectors. I have barely finished when the kids start getting ready to go home. It takes them ages to tie their shoes and zip up their jackets. I had no idea home time was such a big production for kindergarten kids.
Lily breaks away from the group. “Simone, can you play with me outside after school?”
“Okay. Once I’m done at my locker.”
Lily gives me a quick hug. “I’ll be at the pirate ship!”
Later, as I’m walking toward the playground, I hear “Simone! Simone!”
The Runway Girls are cutting across the schoolyard. They imitate Lily calling me. I drop my backpack at my feet and pretend I’m looking for something inside. It’s clear to the world that I’m not as cool as the Runway Girls. I’m not even sure that I want to be. But still, I wait for them to leave.
Thank goodness they are too cool to hang around for long. Once they are out of sight, I join Lily and her friends on the wooden pirate ship. We have a good hard stomp on the gangplank. Their moms eventually collect them and herd them into their vans to go home.
Chapter Four
Mrs. Mankowski pulls me aside the next time the leadership class is in the kindergarten room. “Simone, would you consider leaving your last class ten minutes early each day? I could use some help getting the kindergarten students ready for dismissal. It’s a big job, especially when they’ll need snowsuits and boots and mittens in another month.”
I am about to say yes when Mrs. Mankowski’s smile vanishes. I turn. Ms. Boyd is standing behind me.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Ms. Boyd says. “Simone could use that time at the end of the day to meet more kids her own age.”
I feel like Ms. Boyd has kicked me in the stomach. Sure, what she said is true. But I like helping the Kinderbuddies. It gives me something to do other than feel awkward around the Runway Girls and their friends. I try to think of something to say. The only thing that pops into my head is a complete lie.
“Actually, I have tons of friends at my old school. We message each other all the time.”
Ms. Boyd stares straight into my face for what feels like an hour. I try not to think about the real story. About how I checked Facebook again last night and my so-called friends still hadn’t messaged me.
I can’t tell if Ms. Boyd believes me or not. She finally nods. “Then if Simone would like to help, I am fine with that.”
Mrs. Mankowski smiles. “Thanks, Simone. That will be great.”
Lily, meanwhile, is practically waving her hand off trying to get my attention. I couldn’t possibly miss her pink-flowered dress and matching hair band and tights.
Lily and I go to our usual place. Yuri rolls across the carpet to join us. I notice the jealous looks from the Runway Girls as Aaron sits down beside me.
I reach into my pocket and take out the necklace I made for Lily.
“Oh, Simone! It’s exactly like yours!” Lily is wide-eyed.
“Yes. Except yours is Kinderbuddy-sized.”
Lily hugs me. “I knew you wouldn’t forget. I brought something for you too.” She pulls a paper from the pocket of her dress and unfolds it. It is a picture she has drawn of kittens and puppies.
At that moment, Mrs. Mankowski starts to talk.
“I have something else for you too,” Lily whispers. “I’ll give it to you later.”
“Today, the Kinderbuddies need help with another important job,” Mrs. Mankowski says. “We have talked about how knowing their phone numbers and addresses can help keep them safe. Most of them know their phone numbers already. So today, the Big Buddies need to help them learn their addresses.
“I have written each Kinderbuddy’s name and address on a slip of paper. When the Kinderbuddies can correctly say their address three times, they can come get a card and an envelope. The Kinderbuddy’s job is to decorate the front of the card. The Big Buddy’s job is to print a message inside the card and print the address on the envelope. I will put stamps on the envelopes and take them to the post office. The Kinderbuddies will soon get their special letters in the mail.”
This is almost more excitement than Yuri can stand. He is hopping like a frog as he calls out numbers.
“What did you say?” Aaron asks.
Mrs. Mankowski walks by. “Yuri already knows his phone number and address. He might get a little bored this period.” She smiles. “Good luck.”
Aaron unrolls the slip of paper that Yuri is clutching. “Say your address for me again, Yuri.”
Yuri shouts out a string of numbers.
“Yuri, you’re a star! Go get the card and envelope.”
Lily is having a harder time. “The numbers are confusing.”
“I know,” I say. “It’s hard because your address only has numbers in it. Do you know what the different numbers look like?”
“Most of them.”
“Okay. Let’s read them together.”
Lily reads the numbers with me. But she mixes them up when she is not looking at the paper.
“I don’t remember those numbers from my house,” she says.
“I’ll check that Mrs. Mankowski wrote the right numbers on the paper. Maybe she made a mistake.”
Lily looks longingly at the card that Aaron and Yuri are drawing. Mrs. Mankowski pulls out a binder that says Emergency Contact Info.
“What did I write down for Lily?”
“One-one-four-zero-nine Seventy-First A Avenue.”
“Yes, that’s the correct address,” Mrs. Mankowski says. “Lily needs to practice more.”
Lily plops down on the carpet. Suddenly her face lights up. “Remember I brought something else for you?”
She reaches into the pocket of her dress. “I know you make necklaces and bracelets. And I want you to have a pretty ring too.”
The ring that Lily drops into my hand is all bent and scratched. I smile and slip it on my finger.
“Thanks, Lily. I love it. And I’ll keep my hand right here so I can look at it while we practice your address.”
Yuri and Aaron have almost finished Yuri’s card.
“You’re great with numbers,” Aaron says. “You should get a cell phone. You won’t even have to program your friends’ numbers into it.”
“Okay. I’ll ask my mom for one tonight,” says Yuri.
“She might think you’re a bit young,” I say. “I don’t even have a cell phone yet.” I don’t mention that I’ll probably never get one. I’m sure it would cost too much money.
“Do you have a cell phone, Aaron?” Yuri is wide-eyed.
Aaron nods.
“Teach me your cell-phone number. I can phone you later.”
Aaron hesitates, but he eventually gives in.
I listen as Aaron tells Yuri his cell-phone number. I’m pretty good with numbers too. Aaron’s cell number is soon dancing through my head. Not that I will ever actually phone him.
Lily’s lips move as she practices the last few numbers of her address. “There! I did it!”
“You know the whole thing?” I ask.
“Pretty sure.”
“You have to say it three times exactly right,” I say.
The first time, Lily gets everything right except for the last number. She gets it perfectly after that. I tuck the slip of paper into my pocket as she gets the card and the envelope.
“Do you like your ring, Simone?”
“Yes. It’s really pretty. Where did you get it?”
“It’s been at my house for a long time. I use it for playing dress-up.”
“Are you sure you won’t miss it?”
“Nope.” Lily’s mind jumps to something else. “Can you play after school today?”
“Of course,” I say. “Remember I told you I would?”
Lily nods. She always asks me over and over. I guess that’s a little-kid thing.
I have fun playing Eagle’s Eye and Red Rover with the Kinderbuddies after school. Lots of their moms stand around and chat while we play. Some of them have even asked for my phone number so they can call me to babysit. Nobody has phoned me yet, but I think it’s going to happen sometime.
The moms are nice, but Lily’s mom is hard to get to know. And she’s the one I see the most. She often shows up at Lily’s class when I’m helping the Kinderbuddies get ready to go home. I can’t figure her out. Last week, she was really nice. She told me to call her Rachel instead of Ms. Warnicke. But every day since then, she has ignored me. Some days she acts so angry that I wonder if I offended her and need to apologize for something.
We are playing tag when Lily spots her mom. As usual, Lily does not call out hi. Instead, she says, “Mom, Simone needs to babysit me sometime soon.”
“You go play now, Lily. Simone and I can talk about that.”
Wide-eyed with hope, Lily scampers off. “You know, Simone,” Rachel says, “I’d love to have you babysit, but I don’t often leave Lily. It’s been hard for her since her father and I divorced. She needs to know I’m near at hand.”
Rachel looks closely at me. It’s like she’s measuring my reaction carefully.
I don’t know what to say, so I just nod. Thankfully, Lily calls me. I go sit on top of the monkey bars with her.
“Almost time to go home,” Rachel calls.
“But there’s no school tomorrow. I won’t see Simone for a whole weekend.”
“Five minutes more,” Rachel says. “That’s all.”
We dangle from the monkey bars, bounce on the walkway and play at being pirate-ship queens before Lily leaves with her mom. As they drive away in their van, the last thing I see is Lily’s face pressed against the glass. She is waving madly at me. I wave madly back at her, then start walking home.
Chapter Five
I sit down at the computer once I get home from school. There’s probably no point in checking Facebook, but I log on anyway. Maybe this is the day that Danielle and Lauren will have messaged me.
Once again, there’s nothing. Not a single message from either of them. My whole body goes limp. I don’t want to believe they don’t care about me, but it sure looks that way.
I scroll through my message history. It’s like I thought. I sent the last three messages to Danielle and the last four messages to Lauren. But I haven’t heard back from either of them. Tears burn my eyes as I make my decision. I am not going to message them again until they send me a message back. If they ever do.
Just then, I hear the front door open.
“Hi, Simone.”
“Mom, you’re home!” I wipe my eyes quickly.
“Don’t sound so shocked.” Mom smiles as she appears in the doorway.
“Well, you’ve been working a lot lately.”
“I know. I’ve missed seeing you after school. These oddball shifts are getting to me. Hopefully, I’ll get more regular hours soon.”
Neither of us says a word, but we’re probably thinking the same thing. That this job at the deli isn’t what Mom wants at all. It’s the only job she could find after the jewelry store shut down. That job didn’t pay much either, but at least Mom liked working there.
“It’s okay though,” Mom says. “Somehow things always work out. This will too.”
I don’t answer.
“Like with this house,” Mom continues. “This fell into our laps, right? I love that we’re finally living in a nice house in a nice neighborhood.”
We got this house because the Evans family needed someone to house-sit while they are working overseas this year. Mom seems so happy that I don’t mention how we’ll have to move again when they return from Saudi Arabia.
“And think about how everything is going so great at your new school.”
I swallow hard. I’m extra glad I didn’t tell Mom about not making any friends yet.
“Come on.” Mom motions for me to follow her into the kitchen. “So what happened at school today?”
Mom pulls a pizza crust and toppings out of a grocery bag. While we put pepperoni and cheese on the pizza, I tell her about the Kinderbuddies. “The moms even want me to babysit for them sometime. That would help bring in extra money, right?”
Mom looks serious again. “You are way too young to have to worry about that.”
I don’t want to get into that now. Instead, I te
ll Mom about the life-sized ballerina-vet picture and about teaching Lily her address. I reach into my backpack and pull out a stack of pictures. I pass them to Mom.
“Did Lily make all of these?”
I nod. “She’s constantly drawing me pictures.”
Mom smiles as she flips through them. Most of the pictures have hearts and balloons and ponies on them. And they all say the same thing at the bottom. Hi Simone. I love you. From Lily.
“You could wallpaper your bedroom with these,” Mom says.
“I know. I already taped some up in my locker too. Oh, and I made Lily a beaded necklace earlier this week. She gave me this ring.” I hold out my hand.
“Can you take it off for me?” Mom asks.
She examines the inside edge. “Simone, this is real gold. It looks like a wedding band.”
“It can’t be. Look at all the scratches. It’s bent too.”
“Gold is quite soft. It scratches easily.” Mom peers inside the ring again. “This is fourteen-karat gold.”
“Seriously?”
Mom nods. “Look. It says so right here.”
I have to squint to read the markings. Sure enough, it says 14 K.
“I’ll run it over to Lily’s house first thing in the morning.”
“Good idea,” Mom says. “I think it can wait until then. Especially since we have a delicious pizza dinner to enjoy tonight.”
The whole time I’m eating my pizza, I’m looking at that ring. I keep wondering where Lily got it. Or who she got it from.
Those thoughts distract me enough that I nearly forget—at least for now—about Danielle and Lauren having forgotten all about me.
Chapter Six
I can tell the house is empty when I wake up the next morning. Mom must have left early to open the deli.
It’s almost noon by the time I finish breakfast. I’d planned to go to Lily’s house earlier than this. Then I remember seeing a bike in the shed. Riding would be faster than walking.
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