Read Twice As Nice for Free Online

I try going to Truth Tellers with Sammie and then decide how I was feeling. So, I promised Sammie that I would try it, that I would be open and accepting. But already I could feel myself closing up at the thought of entering the room.
    Ms. Carew walked over to the doorway.
    â€œCharlie, are you coming in?” she asked. “You are more than welcome, but I need to close the door for privacy.”
    That sounded like an easy enough question.
Are you coming in or staying out? Yes or no.
But I didn’t answer. What was my problem?
    I hadn’t told anyone except Sammie that I was going. I certainly didn’t mention it to Lauren. All I told her was that I had to ask my dad if it was okay to join the Junior Waves and that I would let her know today. At lunch, I went to the one place you’ll never run into Lauren: the library. When I saw her in PE, she asked if we could meet at the Sporty Forty after school and work on the application. I told her I had a dentist appointment.
    â€œCharlie?” I heard Ms. Carew saying. “Are you in or out?”
    â€œI’m in,” I said, stepping into the room and shutting the door. “At least, for now.”
    â€œThat’s fine,” she said. “We all welcome you. Come be part of our acceptance circle.”
    The chairs in Ms. Carew’s classroom had been pushed back against the wall so there was room for everyone to stand in a big circle. They joined hands and started to hum. I stood between Will Lee and a girl named Etta, who had spiky green tips on her short black hair. Will gave me a big smile as he took my hand. His hand was pretty clammy.
    â€œYou’re very attractive,” he whispered.
    â€œYou’re only in sixth grade. You shouldn’t say stuff like that.”
    â€œWhy not? It’s what I feel.”
    He might have winked at me, but I’m not totally sure because I quickly turned away and focused my eyes on Sammie, who was standing between Alicia and a redheaded boy named Bernard. Everyone, except me, was humming.
    â€œWe hum to get used to hearing the sound of our own voices,” Ms. Carew explained, as if she could sense my confusion. “The human voice is powerful when it speaks the truth. More powerful than any weapon in the world.”
    I gave the humming a shot. I wasn’t sure what song I was supposed to hum so I did a little version of “Happy Birthday” until I realized that I was the only one humming a song. Everyone else was just humming a single note.
    After we were all hummed out, Ms. Carew gave an introduction to the meeting.
    â€œWe welcome everyone here into our acceptance circle,” she said, “where each of us is free to be exactly who we are and know that no one will judge us. In this circle, in this room, we are free to speak our truths without fear.”
    I had to admit, that sounded pretty good.
    â€œThe subject today is Secrets,” Ms. Carew said. “Who here has a secret?”
    Everyone’s hand shot up into the air, including mine. She looked over at me and smiled.
    â€œSometimes we keep secrets because we want privacy; that is, we want to keep something all to ourselves. And that’s fine,” she said. “But there are other kinds of secrets we keep out of fear. We are afraid to show this part of ourselves, for fear we’ll be made fun of or appear to be different. What I have learned,” she went on, “is that when we share these kinds of secrets, we find out that we are not that different from one another. Deep down, we’re all afraid of—and want—the same things.”
    Ms. Carew sat down on the floor cross-legged in her beautiful African-print skirt, and slipped off her sandals. As the rest of us sat down, I noticed that her toenails were painted the same lime green as my fingernails, which looked really beautiful against her brown skin. You don’t often find a teacher with hot-green nail polish on her toes.