“You better tell your mom,” Grace told Nikki.
Ava’s mom came and picked her up.
Posey and Nikki and Grace were very quiet after she left.
“Ava will be happy as soon as she gets home,” Nikki’s mom told them. “Some children aren’t ready for sleepovers yet.”
“When will Ava be ready?” Posey asked.
“When she feels it inside,” said Nikki’s mom.
She made them popcorn. Then it was time for bed.
Nikki’s room was dark. Posey missed the streetlight outside her own bedroom window.
She missed her mom a little, too.
She put out her hand and touched Grace’s sleeping bag. It was right next to hers.
She felt her tooth space with her tongue.
She would see her mom tomorrow.
Gramps Is Back
Gramps’s truck was in the driveway when Posey and her mom got home the next day.
“Where’s Mrs. Romero?” her mom asked.
“She’s taking the train back,” said Gramps.
Posey ran over and hugged him. “I thought you weren’t coming home until the weekend,” she said.
“And miss the chance of doing something special with my number one granddaughter?” said Gramps.
“Special like what?”
“How about looking for frogs’ eggs in the pond again?”
“I want to!” Posey shouted.
Gramps lived in the country. Last spring, he and Posey found frogs’ eggs and put them in a plastic jar. Posey watched them for weeks.
She saw the tiny black dot inside each egg grow into a squiggle. Then the squiggles started to move.
When the polliwogs hatched, she and Gramps put them back in the pond.
“What do you say we bring your bike along?” said Gramps.
Posey shook her head. “I don’t want to ride it today.”
“We’ll bring it in case you change your mind,” Gramps said.
“Okay. But only if I want to,” said Posey.
“You’re the boss,” Gramps said.
“Wait just a minute!” Posey ran up to her room. She put on her tutu and stood in front of her mirror.
Princess Posey was brave.
She would get on that bike again. Even if she was afraid, she would.
She would at least give it a try.
Riding Like the Wind
They found the net and jar in Gramps’s garage. He put them in a plastic bag.
Then he took Posey’s bike out of his truck.
“What do you say?” He patted the seat. “I’ll hold on to you.”
Posey had a feeling inside. Maybe she could do it.
“You better not let go,” she warned.
“I won’t,” said Gramps.
Posey got on her bike. She gripped the handlebars hard.
“Ready?” Gramps asked.
“Ready.”
Posey pushed down on the pedals. The bike started to go.
“Don’t let go of me,” she said.
“I’m right here,” said Gramps.
The bike felt steady with Gramps holding on. Posey pedaled faster.
“Don’t let go!” she called.
“I’m right behind you.”
The road was straight and clear. Fields of tall grass were on both sides. Birds flew up when Posey rode past.
A squirrel dashed across the road ahead of her.
“You’re doing great!” Gramps called.
The pedals went around and around. The tassels on the handlebars fluttered in the breeze.
Posey felt like she was flying.
She felt like she could do anything.
She felt . . . exhilarated!
When she came to a path, she rolled to a stop and put her feet down.
“Is this where we turn?” she asked. She turned around.
She was on her own.
Gramps was far behind. He was jogging to catch up.
“Why did you let go of me?” Posey shouted.
Gramps caught up to her. “Let go of you? You took off on me!” He panted.
“What if I fell?” Posey yelled.
“Not you,” said Gramps. “You were going like the wind.”
Posey looked back. She rode all that way by herself.
“It was so easy,” she said.
“Let’s go find those eggs, speedy.”
Posey spotted a clump of eggs under a log in the pond. Gramps scooped them up with the net and put them in the plastic jar.
They started back to his house.
Posey hopped on her bike.
“You need me to hold on to you again?” Gramps asked.
“I can do it.” Posey started to pedal. “Try to keep up with me this time, slowpoke.”
She rode like the wind all the way.
A Crazy, Lazy Vacation
The next morning, Posey rode up and down her driveway. She wanted Tyler and Nick to come out.
They finally did.
“Look at my new bike,” Posey said.
They got their bikes out of their garage and came over to her.
“Pretty cool,” said Tyler.
“Can you do a wheelie yet?” Nick asked.
“What’s a wheelie?” said Posey.
“It’s this.” Nick rode a few feet. Then he jerked up on his handlebars. His front tire lifted into the air before it bounced back on the driveway.
“I can’t do that,” Posey said.
“Too bad.” Nick and Tyler headed for the street.
“I can do it when I’m in second grade!” Posey shouted.
On Saturday morning, Posey practiced turning. It was the only time her bike got shaky.
Her mom came outside with Danny. He climbed into his sandbox and started to dig.
Woof! Woof!
Posey saw Mrs. Romero walking Hero on the sidewalk.
“I want to show Mrs. Romero my bike,” she said.
“Go ahead,” said her mom.
Posey rode down her driveway and stopped at the end.
“I got a new bike!” she called.
“So I see.” Mrs. Romero and Hero came up to her. “And you already know how to ride it.”
Hero’s tail went whap! whap! whap! against Posey’s leg.
“It’s so easy,” Posey said. “Gramps couldn’t even keep up with me.”
“You lost a tooth, too!” Mrs. Romero cried.
“It fell out when I had my bike crash.”
“A bike crash! What else happened while I was gone?”
Posey told her. She showed Mrs. Romero what the delivery man looked like.
“Zombies, a lost tooth, your first sleepover, and a bike crash . . .” Mrs. Romero laughed. “Your mom told me you were having a lazy vacation. It sounds more like a crazy one to me.”
“It was a crazy, lazy vacation,” said Posey.
“You Know What’s Impossible?”
Everyone wrote their stories in class on Monday morning. They shared them in the afternoon.
Luca wrote about his sister throwing up on a roller coaster ride.
Henry’s story was about how he broke his arm by falling off their porch. He had a cast up to his elbow.
In Rashmi’s story, she and her nani went to the top of the Empire State Building. “We were up so high. The pigeons were flying below us,” she read.
Finally, it was Posey’s turn.
“I crashed on my new bike and lost a tooth,” Posey read. She opened her mouth wide so they could all see.
“My mom had a blue face,” she went on. “It scared the delivery man so much. He looked like this.” Posey did her zombie imitation.
Everyone laughed.
&n
bsp; Miss Lee collected the stories when they finished reading.
“Your stories were filled with interesting details,” she said. “Best of all, I learned something. You know what’s impossible?”
“What?” the class asked.
“It’s impossible for a first-grader to have a boring vacation.”
Watch for the next Princess Posey book!
Princess
Posey
First Grade Play
Posey wants to be the Queen Bee in the class play more than anything. When another girl gets the part, Posey is so upset! She does something that makes her feel better, but very soon realizes it was a terrible idea. Princess Posey and her tutu end up facing the toughest problem she has ever had to fix.
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