Read My Forever Friends for Free Online

Meeka, and Jolene. “Send me a postcard.”
    Brooke rolls up her flyer like a baton and taps it against her chin. “You talk big, Jenna Drews, but if I wasn’t here, you’d be nobody.” She points the baton around the room. “Randi . . . Meeka . . . Jolene . . . all the girls. They like me best. If I go, they go.”
    I look around. Randi is joking with Rusty. Meeka and Jolene are playing with the hamster. Stacey has gone back to doodling on her math book.
    Do they like Brooke best?
    Maybe.
    Do I ?
    No.
    In fact, lately, I like her worst.
    â€œSo are you coming to the pigpen at recess, or are you turning in your crown now?” Jenna asks her.
    Brooke taps her chin again and thinks for a moment. “I’ll play along for today. But only because I get to say good riddance to that stupid scary -go-round. Who would ever invent a ride that ties your hair and stomach in knots? Some boy, probably.”
    â€œBrooke’s right,” Tom says, walking past us just as the bell rings. “The earliest version of a merry-go-round was used by soldiers to train for battle.”
    â€œSee?” Brooke says, shaking her baton at Jenna. “I’m no tinsel brain. I’m as smart as Tom. Smarter even, because he was dumb enough to be a boy.”
    Brooke laughs at her own funniness.
    Tom frowns.
    â€œNow who’s talking big?” Jenna says to Brooke. “Tom’s smarter than you. Everyone knows that.”
    â€œThank you, Jenna,” Tom says. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
    Jenna fidgets. Her face goes red. “I wasn’t talking to you, Tom,” she mumbles. “I was talking to Miss Smartypants over there.”
    â€œStill,” I say to Jenna, “you think Tom is the smartest kid in our class, don’t you?”
    I know it’s a tiny bit mean to put Jenna on the spot, especially when Tom is her secret crush. But maybe if I get her thinking about something else, she’ll stop fighting with Brooke.
    Tom blinks and waits for Jenna’s answer.
    Jenna turns even redder. “If you don’t count me, then . . . yes. He’s the smartest.”
    Brooke snorts. “Hide your scissors, people. We wouldn’t want to accidentally pop Jenna’s ginormous head.”
    Tom gives Jenna a smile and walks to his desk.
    I finish folding my flyer into an airplane and sail it to Randi’s desk just as Mr. Crow gets ready to teach us something new.
    Randi unfolds the airplane, reads it, and gives me a thumbs-up.
    I give her one back.
    Randi is the best at playing along, even if it involves wearing crepe paper.
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    â€œThe merry-go-round good-byes were great,” I say to Jenna as we sit down at my kitchen table after school. “I loved how our crepe-paper streamers waved like mermaid hair when we really got spinning. Too bad Randi’s crown went flying. Tree branches and crepe paper don’t mix.”
    Jenna nods, spreading old newspaper out in front of her. “I’ll make her a new one over the weekend. She’ll need it for our final ceremony on Monday. It’ll be my best one ever. You’ll see.”
    Jenna pulls our afternoon activity chart out of her backpack and looks it over. “So far we’ve made wind chimes, seed collages, sun catchers, and dandelion necklaces. Today we make noodle frames.”
    The back door slams open. Rachel walks in wiping her wet hands on her jeans. She’s been watering the sandbox since she planted her collage seeds there on Tuesday.
    Jenna glances up. “Oh goodie,” she mumbles. “Miss Beanstalk is back.”
    â€œNo flowers yet,” Rachel announces, shutting the door and sliding in next to me.
    I give Rachel a smile. “Sometimes it takes sandbox flowers a long time to grow.”
    Jenna snorts. “As in for never .” She pulls out three squares of red tagboard and a box of craft sticks from her