Fifth Grade Adventures

By Mischa Fellner (Age 12)

Written in 2019 Published in 2020

Chapter One: Perfect Spot- Emma

Today is my first day of school. At a new school, a new town and a new state. Holy Banana Pants! This morning I try to wake up early, but I am not an early bird! I wake up at 7:30 and quickly get ready for school. I picked out a blue sundress last week when I went back to school shopping with my mom. Usually, I would go shopping with my BFF Annie, but I’m on the other side of the United States. Boo Hoo.

I bike to school with my two other siblings who are in elementary. Jack (my twin) and Kylie (3rd grade age 8) I also have a younger brother Lucca (preschool age 4) and an older brother Brian (7th grade age 12). Anyway, we speed to school and get there a little early: 8:20. (School starts at 8:30)

I have never seen this school before. It’s pretty cool. There is a kickball court and four square and basketball, but no grass field. And half the school is under construction! I head over to one of the buildings and go inside. I’m in room 10 this year, with Ms.Garcia I go up the hall, and bump into someone while I’m turning, How embarrassing!

“I’m so sorry!” the person says. “No, I’m sorry!” I say, helping them gather their fallen belongings. A book, iPhone, and a pack of Icebreakers. “My name is Emma,” I say “I just moved here from Colorado a few weeks ago.” “My name is Isabelle, but you can call me Izzy, all my friends do.” Does that mean we are friends? I wonder.

“Are you looking for your classroom?” Izzy asks, “What room are you?” “I’m room 10,” I say “Ms.Garcia?” “Over here!” Izzy says. I follow her to a classroom that says 10 on the side. “Thanks a bunch.” I say “I might have been stuck learning 3rd-grade stuff if it weren’t for you. Are you in Ms.Garcia’s class?” I ask hopefully. “No.” Izzy says “I’m in Ms. O’brien’s class, but I’ll see you at recess.” We say bye just as the first bell rings and I head inside the classroom.

Our teacher is standing at the head of the room. She has long blonde hair and is wearing jeans and a cute shirt. I love her style! We start off the day by introducing the new kids-including me. When Ms.Garcia calls on me, I get really nervous. I know these are just kids my age, and they don’t really care what I have to say, but for some reason, I feel like I’m giving an important speech in front of the whole school.

“Um, my name is Emma Quinn.” I say quietly, “I moved from Boston, Massachusetts and I uh-love soccer, playing the flute, ballet and hanging out with friends.” When Ms.Garcia starts handing out “Getting to know You” sheets, I’m so glad I’m done. There are no other new kids beside me. Jack’s in the other class.

At recess, I spot Izzy and dash over to her. “Hey Emma!” she exclaims when I get to her. “Emma this is Gia, Kiki, and Addison.” I wave to her other friends, I hope they are nice too. I recognize Addison and Gia from my class. “Do you guys want to play basketball?” Izzy asks. “No, let’s play kickball! That cute new boy Jack is playing.” Gia says. I giggle as we run over. They don’t know Jack is my brother.

We play kickball, it’s fun. In Boston, I used to play it with Annie, Jack and Jack’s best friend Cole all the time. I’m also pretty good. It’s just annoying because Gia keeps flirting with my brother. We get out early, at 12:00, and Izzy invites me over to her house for lunch with Gia, Addison, and Kiki. I call my mom and she says it’s okay. Also, I’m super surprised when Izzy shows us her house and it’s right next to mine! Turns out Kiki is a great dancer, Addison is super good at sports, and Gia, well she loves fashion and makeup.

Around 5:00, Izzy’s mom (Ms. Jackson) invites my family over for dinner. Kylie, Jack, Lucca, Brian, and my parents show up and Izzy and I head to her room. “Jack is your brother?” Izzy asks me, shocked. “My twin brother, actually,” I say. “You’re a twin too?” Izzy asks. I’m confused for a second until a boy sticks his head in the room and says, “Hey Emma. My name is Parker, I’m Izzy’s twin.” This explains so much!

We head home (Walk around the corner) at 9:00. I’m so happy! If we HAD to move, of all the places we COULD’VE moved, we landed right in the perfect spot.

Chapter Two: A New Best Friend-Izzy

Hey! I’m Izzy. I’m 10 years old and I’m in 5th grade. Today is a Saturday and Parker had this “great idea” to have a lemonade stand. No thank-you! First, of all-It’s boiling hot outside and second, I wanted to go shopping today. But somehow, he convinced me. So my younger sister Scarlet, Parker and I mixed together a sticky lemonade substance to make an icy cold treat.

While we were slaving away-pulling down the big table to the corner, I had a REAL good idea. Emma! I’ll invite Emma. Nothing is boring when Emma is around. I dash up to her pale brown house and knock on the door. Her younger sister, Kylie shows up at the door. “Hey, Izzy,” she says, “Need Emma?”

I nod and she runs inside to get her sister. She leaves me by the door with the Quinn’s adorable dog Buddy. He has curly strawberry blonde fur and hazel eyes. He’s a beauty. Emma comes rushing to the door. “Can you help with our lemonade stand?” I ask “You would get a fourth of the profit, and we can go down to Broadway after.” “That’s a great idea! Lemonade and Shopping Combined! I’m in!”

We go back to our little spot on the corner, and help put on the finishing touches….. VOILA! A perfect neighborhood lemonade stand! People start coming quickly. It’s a hot day and I think Parker might have put two and two together. Or he just wanted Money. Anyway, soon there is an actual LINE! People are coming and coming. I spot lots of people from our school too. Even Ms.O’Brien!

By 3:00, we decide to wrap up and head to Broadway. In total, we earned $60.82! Fifteen dollars for each of us! (And Parker insisted HE keeps the 82 cents because it was HIS idea.) First, we got ice cream at Prestons. After all that hard work, we deserve a treat. I get peppermint dipped in chocolate! #delish! We also go to this little candy and toy store called Nuts for Candy.

Then, my cell rings. “Hey, mom,” I say, picking up my phone. “Izzy, I wanted to remind you that you have a sleepover with Gia tonight. You should come home and pack your bag, she’s picking you up at 4. You guys are going to a movie, remember?” my mom says at the other end. I look over at Emma. “Can Emma come too?” I ask my mom. “I’ll ask Gia’s mom but you guys have to come over now ok?” “Okay,” I say and hang up the phone.

“Emma, my mom said we gotta head home now and you might be able to come with me and Gia to a movie and have a sleepover,” I say. “Sounds fun,” Emma says. The two of us head to our houses and I go into my room to pack my bag. I get a text from Gia: #Super Excited!!!! I text back: I know right! I don’t tell her that Emma may be coming just yet. Sometimes Gia just gets a little, Gia.

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“What movie are we watching again?” Emma asks me. “I think we’re watching Incredibles 2. It’s supposed to be really good.” I say. I’m so glad Emma could come, she’s so nice and I want her to feel welcome.

“Alright girls I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning at 9 am because we have church.” my mom says. “Okay” we echo and we hop out of the car and jog to the place where Gia and her mom are waiting. “Hey girls! I’m so glad you could join us, Emma!” Gia’s mom says, “Here are some coins, you girls can play some arcade games while I get popcorn, candy, and Icees.” I love Gia’s mom, she’s so nice. Gia and I have been best friends since we were in First Grade when Ms.Colleen asked me to be her “Happy Buddy” after her dad passed away.

The three of us head over to the arcade room and insert our coins for tokens. “Izzy, come play me in PacMan!” Gia says and heads over to the Pacman table. I follow her and put in two of my tokens. “Emma, you can play the winner,” I say, grasping the handles and chasing after the little ghost things and eating all the cherries I can.

“Girls!” Gia’s mom calls “Let’s go!” We follow Gia’s mom into the theater and she hands us each some popcorn, Icees and a little box of sour patch kids. “Come sit next to me, Izzy,” Gia says, patting the seat between her and her mom. I look over at Emma who is forced to sit next to Gia’s mom. “Here Emma.” Gia’s mom says, moving over a seat “sit next to your friends” I spot Gia glaring at her mom. Is she trying to block Emma out?

After the movie, we go to Pizza my Heart then Yogurtland. I get my usual, Cherry and Plain tart with sprinkles and chocolate syrup. Don’t forget the cherry on top! When we get back to Gia’s house, Gia’s older sister Kayla greets us at the door. “Hey Girls.” she says, smiling at Gia and I “And you must be Emma”- she nods at Emma-“Come in.” Gia has three older sisters, Kayla (13) Sasha (15) and Alexis (18). Also, she has two adorable kittens named Coco and Cutie.

“So, I was thinking we could watch a movie, and then bounce on my trampoline around nine, then make some glow in the dark slime, and talk until we drop, okay?” Emma and I both nod we go to Gia’s room. Sometimes Gia is a little bossy, but Emma is super nice! Lately, I’ve been considering a new best friend.

Chapter Three: Basketball Pro- Jack

“You trying out for the Basketball team?” Parker asks me, nodding to the poster on the board.

Basketball Tryouts!

Tuesday, September 13th, 4 pm, Gym

-Coach Detroit

“Probably,” I say, shrugging. I used to play Basketball back in Boston, with my best bro friend (BBF) Cole. Parker is really lit though. He’s an All-Star, just like me, and the cool thing is that we both have a twin sister! Nobody will replace Cole though. I’ve known Cole since we were in diapers.

Parker and I walk towards the gym at 4 pm after school. A bunch of other boys has huddled around, shooting hoops. TWEET!!! Coach Detroit blows the whistle. “Listen up boys.” he says “How this will work is, we will practice certain situations, do offense and defense drills, and at the end, we will do a scrimmage. The results of the tryouts-the team and the runner-ups will be posted on the office board this Friday. Now, form groups of two. Lets’ go!”

I get teamed up with some dude named Cory and he tells us to practice defense and offense drills one at a time. When Cory and I go up, he’s the offense and I’m defense. I swipe the ball from him the second Coach Detroit blows the whistle and shoot a hoop. “Wow, you’re good,” Parker says when the next team goes up. “Real good.” I shrug, “It was nothing.” “It totally is.” Parker says, “Cory is the best man on the team. He’s been captain three years in a row. Nobody could ever beat him.”

After Practice Coach Detroit calls me to the side. “Hey, you!” He says, pointing at me, “Come ‘ere.” I jog over to the coach, who towers over me like the Empire State Building. “What’s your name?” he asks me. “Jack Quinn,” I say, “I moved from Boston.” “You’re good. Real good.” he says, “I would like to make you captain this year Jack, can you handle that?” I nod. “Alright kid, see you next week on Tuesday. It’s our first practice.” “Yes, Coach,” I say, and jog towards Parker.

“What’s up?” Parker asks as we walk out of the gym. “Looks like I’m Captain of the Basketball team,” I say. “No way Bro! Cory will be so mad.” I look over at Cory, who is glaring at me. He knows I’m the captain. Uh oh.

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“Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!” Coach Detroit yells from the sidelines “Defence!” The other team-the Bulls-have the ball but I swoop in a steal I pass to Parker, who back to me and I shoot a clean, crisp hoop. “Another three points to the Tigers!” the commenter yells as the other team dribbles down the court and shoots a lousy two-pointer. TWEEEEEET!!!! The whistle blows to signal the end of the third quarter.

“Come on Boys.” Coach Detroit says when we hustle over to the bench. “You’re looking great out there. Now let’s go win our first game!” “Yeah!” we all shout. “Alright Captain” Coach says “let’s hear your cheer!” “Tigers on three, tigers on me!” I shout. “Go tigers!” the team echos. We all run out on the court.

The whistle blows and the game resumes. I pass the ball to Cory, and he shoots a three-pointer. “Another three points for the Tigers!” the Commenter shouts, “The score is now Tigers: 23 Bulls: 22!” When there are just two minutes left on the clock, the score is tied- 25 to 25.

We run back and forth, but the score remains tied. With just 10 seconds left on the clock, the ball is in my hands. I dribble over to our hoop, going for a crisp 3 points. “7,6,5,4” the crowd chants. I bend my knees, aiming the ball right towards the middle of the hoop. “3,2” SWISH! The ball falls through the hoop just as the whistle blows. The crowd cheers, my team yells and the Bulls sulk to the sidelines, congratulating us.

“Great Job Jack!” my mom says when Parker and I leave the stadium. “Coach is taking us to pizza and yogurtland for dinner, kay?” I tell my mom. “Then Ms.Jackson said I could sleepover.” “Okay mister All-star.” my mom says and I hop into Ms.Jackson’s car. She drops us off at Pizza my heart where the rest of our team is waiting.

“Cheers to Jack!” Coach Detroit says and we all clink our sodas together. I take a huge bite of my pizza. “You think we’ll make it to the finals?” I ask. “With you on our team, yes!” Parker says, and Cory looks at me, annoyed. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t captain so he wouldn’t glare at me all the time.

After dinner, we go over to Parker’s house. Emma is sleeping over too. “Nice job out there, Jack,” Izzy says when we all sit on the couch to watch a movie. “Thanks,” I say, smiling. Izzy is really nice and sweet. Don’t forget pretty. Maybe I sorta kinda like her a bit. But I shouldn’t get too excited. There’s no way she likes me.

Chapter Four: Halloween Party-Parker

“Parker! Parker! Parker!” they shout, as I aim my ball at the little target. “Come on Parker,” Emma says from up on the little stool above the freezing water. “You don’t really want to-” SPLASH! The ball hits the button and Emma falls into the water. “Omigosh!!!!!” she says, stepping out of the dunk tank, soaking wet. “Get in there!” she says, “I want revenge!” but before she can even pick up the ball, I dash into the house.

Gia Loren’s Halloween Party is the best party in town. Her mom basically gives her whatever she wants, so it’s really fun. There’s a dunk tank, food trucks, ice cream sundae stand, trampoline, gamer truck, games, photo booth, and every year there’s a costume contest. This year, I think I’ve got the trophy in my hands.

My costume is homemade, a Parker original. I ripped up some old clothes of mine and splattered them with red paint to look like blood. The best part is the half of a basketball I stuck on my head, and it really looks creepy! I head over to the snack area and pop some chips in my mouth and spot Jack.

“This is Amazing!” Jack says, stuffing his mouth with jelly beans. “I know right!” I say, “Hey, let’s hit the photo booth. I gotta have a picture of my totally cool costume!” Although I’m pretty sure I’ll win this year, there’s one more person who I think might win- Jack.

His costume is so Cool! He’s a zombified Stephen Curry, he’s got the whole uniform- including socks and shoes, and it’s totally creepy with all the red paint and bruises temporary tattoos. We actually designed ours together in my backyard. I wonder who’ll win.

We sit on the “blood” covered chairs and the photographer says, “Say ‘Zomboleen!’” We do, and our photo turns out great. Next, we hit the gamer truck, and Emma eventually finds me and forces me to sit on the chair and she hits the target and I get soaked.

By 7:30, everyone is ready to start trick-or-treating. We grab our biggest pillowcases and stop at each house until our bags are too heavy to carry. “Hey, you wanna spook the girls out at the Witch House this year?” Kaden asks us, smirking. “What’s the ‘Witch House?’” Jack asks. “OH, you don’t want to know,” Kaden says.

“Just tell me,” Jack says. “Fine” Kaden says, “The witch house is a very spooky house where a creepy old witch lives.” “Come on guys, you don’t really believe that junk,” Jack says. “No really,” I say, “Every year on Halloween, she comes out and grabs a little trick-or-treater that is brave enough to come up to her door, and knock.” Jack shivers. “Okay, what’s the plan?”

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“I don’t want to do it!” Gia screams “Why don’t you do it, Jacky?” Bleh. Everyone knows Gia has a crush on Jack Quinn. There’s no way he likes her back, though. Finally, Emma steps up. “I don’t really care, anyway.” she says “So I’ll knock, and if no one answers, we leave right?” “Yep,” Kaden says.

I hear Emma’s footsteps walk up the steps, and then the doorbell rings. “What are you kids doing?” I yell, coming out from behind the bush, “Why are you on my lawn? Scram!!!” I can tell Izzy knows it’s me because she just rolls her eyes, but Emma and Gia scream at the top of their lungs and run like the wind.

“Losers!” Jack calls and I pull off the black cloak I had draped over me. Kaden, Jack, and I fall over laughing our socks off. Emma, Gia, and Izzy walk over to us. “Oh my gosh.” Gia says, “Why couldn’t I tell?” The five of us leave the spooky house and head back to Gia’s for the big costume winner reveal.

We all huddle around in her backyard, crossing our fingers. The prize is three JUMBO size bags of candy. No parent will be happy with that, but the kid hopefully me) will be jumping for joy. If I get it though, I’m gonna give it out to people when I run for President. “The winner of the 2018 Halloween costume party is….” Gia says, “Jack!”

Chapter Five: Political Campaign- Emma

“It sounds great!” Izzy tells me, “You’ll win for sure.” “I’m not so sure.” I say, “Gia is so popular, everyone will be circling her name the moment she says ‘Hello’” “It’s not about popularity.” Izzy says, “It’s about what people think of your speech. And yours is Awesome.” I bite into a Cheeto puff and stare down at my paper. I’ve never run for a spot on student government before. It just never interested me.

“One more time.” Izzy says, “Elections are tomorrow, you gotta have it memorized” I take a deep breath. “Hello, Students of Roosevelt Elementary school. I have come here today to tell you how much I would like to be the Vice President of your school. With me as V.P, I would work hard to think of ways to help our school. I would also make sure every day is fun and we would have great spirit days. I would work together with the Student Council to help not just our school, but also our community, state, country, and even the world. So vote Emma, and you’ll have no Dilemma.”

“Woo-Hoo!” Parker shouts, walking into the room. “Your speech is ALMOST as good as mine.” I roll my eyes. Parker is running for President. His slogan is: “Parker 4 Prez, just cuz.” He was so upset he didn’t get that huge amount of candy, that my brother just gave it to him. Izzy and I-she’s my co-worker- are giving out slime. It’s super popular this year and way better than what Gia’s giving out- pins that say “ Vote Gia” and “Gia 4 V.P”

Gia’s running for vice prez too. Things between Izzy and Gia have been a little rocky ever since Halloween night. Gia didn’t invite me to her Halloween sleepover, so Izzy didn’t go. Gia was really mad. I feel like this whole thing is all my fault, but Izzy keeps telling me it’s not and it was her decision to not go to the sleepover.

The next day, I’m so nervous that my hands are sweaty all day long. Izzy and I give out more slime and we rehearse my speech Twenty-million times. Finally, 1:00 comes and the whole school huddles in the auditorium for the speeches. First up are the people running for Green Team: AJ, Julia, Max, Chloe, Mia, and Sophie.

They each explain why they would like to be in the green team, and so on and so forth. Next up is Secretary, and the runners are Alia, Karmen, Lea, and Mark. Finally, “Vice President” is announced and my palms start sweating. First, Gia goes up.

“Good Evening, students.” she says “I would like to be the Vice President. Here are my reasons: I would like to help the school in any way I can to make it even better than it is already. I would like to make fun and creative spirit days, such as Color Day, Wacky Wednesday, or Eco Green day. I think I would be a good Vice President because I am very loyal, kind, generous, helpful and I am as very good Leader. So vote for Gia!.”

Everyone claps for Gia, and then I hear my name. “Next, Emma Quinn.” I walk up to the stage and everyone applauds. I take a deep breath and look at Izzy, who is smiling at me and giving me a thumbs up. I hold up the microphone and recite my speech. In the end, everyone claps and cheers. Now all I have to do is hope for the best.

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On Friday morning, I wake up at the crack of dawn and quickly get ready. I meet Izzy on the corner at 8:00 exactly and we rush to school, crossing our fingers all the way. When we get to school, we rush up the hall and look at the paper that has been stapled to the wall.

“One. Two. Three.” Izzy says, and this is what we see:

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL RUNNERS!

PRESIDENT: PARKER JACKSON

VICE PRESIDENT: EMMA QUINN

SECRETARY: LEA MOLLIN

GREEN TEAM LEADER: ADDISON OPALINE

GREEN TEAM MEMBERS: AJ, CHLOE, AND SOPHIE

“NO WAY! NO WAY! NO WAY!” Izzy and I exclaim, jumping for joy. “Gia will be totally upset.” Parker enters the hall and looks at the paper, too. “Told you I would get it.” he says, “Those other guys didn’t have a chance. “Congrats, Emma.” he says, “I knew you would get it too.” Izzy and I walk down the hall and out into the blacktop and spot Gia walking through the gate. We try to contain our smiles. We watch her walk down the hall, and then back outside, furious.

Chapter Six: Birthday Surprises- Izzy

I tap my pencil on the paper, thinking. Should I invite Gia? Or should I not? “We’re gonna be 11! We’re gonna be 11!” Parker exclaims, walking into the living room. Our birthday is coming up- tomorrow! “I can’t believe it.” says our mom, joining Parker, Emma, Jack and I in our Birthday Party planning session with cookies and milk.

“How’s it going?” she says, “Do you both have your guest lists?” “I do.” Parker says, “Kaden, Jack, Marco, David, and Kyle.” Of course, he’s already done. Boys have no drama, no fights, no nothing. “What about you, Izzy?” my mom asks “I want to send out the invitation this afternoon.”

Our Birthday party is going to be amazing. First, we’ll go to Dave and Busters, next we’ll go out to dinner, then come home for a movie and sleepover. I shrug. “Not Quite,” I say. Emma peers over my shoulder and reads, “Emma, Kiki, Addison, and Lea. Plus an erased Gia.” “Oh come on Izzy,” my mom says, “Give Gia and second chance, she’s been your friend since first grade.”

I sigh and write down Gia’s name. Let’s hope for the best.

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“Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to Parker and Izzy! Happy Birthday to you!” my family chants and we blow out the candles on our breakfast cupcakes. It’s our family tradition to have birthday cupcakes for breakfast.

After breakfast, I run to my room and put on the cute dress Emma helped me pick out at the mall on Friday. Then, I do my best to curl my hair. I wish I had the cute, curly, brown locks that Emma has. Then, I put on a tiny bit of makeup and put on the finishing touch- the golden dangling earrings grandma got me for my birthday.

I walk downstairs just as the doorbell rings. Emma and Jack are standing at the door, we’re driving them. “Wow Izzy you look fabulous!” says Emma who put on the short yellow dress she got at the mall. “You too,” I say, smiling. Emma and I go into the kitchen and help my mom with the goodie bags. Each one has some candy, a mini slime leftover from the elections, a squishy, a pack of Oreos, and a Dave and Busters gamer card.

At 5:00, we all hop in the car and drive to Dave and Busters. When we pull into the driveway, I already see Gia’s mom’s tesla parked in the parking lot. “Clarence! Gia! So nice to see you two!” my mom says, giving Gia’s mom a hug. “Well, you can pick Gia up at 11:00 am tomorrow morning.” “Thank you so much, Lisa.” Gia’s mom says, “See you tomorrow! Have fun Gia.” We walk into Dave and Busters as more people start arriving and we head for the games. I try to avoid Gia as much as I can, which is easy because she’s so interested in Jack. She has a total crush on him.

So Emma, Kiki, Addison and I just hang out the four of us. Altogether, we get 2,186 tickets and buy a bunch of candy and some cute stuffed animals. Throughout the party, I keep catching Jack looking at me though, weird. We go out to Petro’s Pasta Palace for dinner and Sweet Sweet Divine Ice Cream Shoppe for dessert. Then, we go back to my house for the movie. We watch “Afterworld”. It’s a really good movie that Emma suggested. My mom makes us popcorn and soda with licorice straws.

After the movie is over, we all stay up until 2:00 am chatting. “Izzy, Jack totally likes you,” Kiki says. “You really think so?” I ask, smiling. “Oh yeah.” Emma says, “Totally.” We finally fall asleep, exhausted. We wake up at 10:00 am and my dad brings donuts.

“Who’s ready for presents?” my mom asks, leading us into the living room. Parker opens his first. First, he gets a skateboard from Kaden and a huge lego set from Kyle. Next is a racer XBOX game from Jack, a basketball from David and a bunch of candy and gum from Marco. Parker thanks them all and then it’s my turn. I get a makeup kit from Gia, a bunch of stationary from Lea, a speaker from Kiki, some cute headbands from Addison and a gift card to Starbucks from Emma. “Thanks guys!” I say, smiling.

It’s almost 11: 00 am, but my mom says she has one more present for Parker and me. She goes into the garage. “I wonder why she keeps it in the garage?” I say. Parker shrugs. “Maybe it’s a big, scary monster!” he taunts. I just shake my head. Parker is so crazy and annoying.

Finally, my mom comes back up with a big, brown box in her hands. It looks like it’s moving around. “It’s alive!” Parker says, “Told you it was a monster.” I look at the box for a minute, trying to figure out what it is. “Open it already!” Jack says, “I want to see what’s inside!” Parker and I walk over to the box. “On three, we open it,” I say. Parker nods. “One, two, three!” A furry animal explodes from the box. “A Puppy!”

Chapter Seven: Lost- Jack

“Snowball fight!” Cole shouts. Annie, Emma, Cole and I start throwing snowballs like crazy. Annie’s dog Rocky chases after the ball and kicking snow behind him. He may be old, but he’s really fast. I pick up some snow, shape it, then throw. Repeat. Soon, my clothes are caked with snow and we all run inside Gram’s house for Hot Cocoa and the delicious sugar cookies Emma and Gram made this morning.

“Wipe your feet!” Gram says, pointing to the little towel on the floor. “Thank you so much, Mrs.Quinn,” Annie says. “Yeah, thanks,” Cole says, taking a big sip of hot cocoa. Gram brings us a plate of sugar cookies and a bowl of sprinkles. “Don’t put too many sprinkles,” she says.

Kylie and Lucca walk into the kitchen. “Ooh! Cookies!” she exclaims, grabbing two for her and Lucca. Kylie was really sad when she heard her old best friend Sophie was in Mexico. It’s really nice to hang out with Cole, though. I missed him a lot. And I missed the snow, it doesn’t snow at all down in California.

“Who’s ready to go Skiing?” my dad says, coming into the kitchen. Every Christmas Eve, our tradition is to go to Blackbird Mountain and go skiing. “Me!” I shout, stuffing the last piece of my cookie into my mouth and hop off the stool. We all load into Gramp’s big truck and drive to the mountains. Colorado is the perfect place to ski in winter, It’s so fun.

We take the gondola up the mountain and hop off with our skis. My dad trails ahead of us, as we all glide down the mountain like penguins on ice. We curve around the mountains as the cool winter breeze hits our faces. Then, we stop at a little cafe for lunch. We get macaroni and cheese with little apple juice packs.

Then Dad, Brian, Emma, Annie, Cole and I wait in the black diamond line while Mom, Gram, and Gramps, Kylie and Lucca go back to the easy slopes. When we get to the front, we get on two separate chair lifts with Cole, Annie, Emma and I on one, and Dad and Brian on the other. When we get to the top of the mountain, we ski down a little easy run, then head towards the Black Diamond: Dynomite.

We go on a few jumps follow my dad through little paths in the trees. Then, we get to a really, really, steep hill. My hands get sweaty inside my gloves and my whole body gets shaky as I look down the death slope. The butterflies start kicking in. “You ready guys?” my dad says, smiling.

“I guess,” I say, biting my lip. “One, two, three, go!” I point my skis down and then start turning, following in dad and Brian’s path. I look back to see where the others are. Big Mistake. I go whooshing towards a tree, but Dad and Brian are too far ahead to notice.

The other three go flying over the same bump I did and crash beside me. We go bumping down the hill, and into the middle of some tree-filled area. There are no ski or snowboard tracks insight. “We’re lost” Emma whispers, looking around, “Didn’t dad say there were bears up here?”

“Calm down,” I say, darting my eyes back and forth between the shadows. “We should take off our skis and try walking back up.” Annie says, “We’re not far from the top. I think….” I click my snow boots out of my skis and stand up. “Anyone have their phone?” I ask, reaching into all my pockets, finding nothing.

“I left mine at the lodge,” Cole says. “Me too,” Emma says. We all look at Annie, hoping she brought hers. She puts her hands in her pockets and pulls it out. “Yeah Annie!” we all cheer. But stop when she tries to turn it on a says, “It’s dead.”

“Now what?” I say, looking around for anyone who might be able to help. But it’s just us. Alone. “Let’s try re-tracing the path.” Emma says, “We must have left one when we came crashing in here.” But unfortunately, we find nothing, because of the fresh snow coming down.

We all decide to call for help. We yell we scream, we shout, we yelp, anything we can do to get a skier or snowboarders attention. Nobody comes to the rescue. “We’re gonna die,” Emma says, panicking. “Oh shut up.” I say, “They must have noticed we were gone and sent out a search party.” But to be honest, I’m pretty scared as well.

We are all silent, listening to the whooshing of the wind. We are all scared to death. All of a sudden, there are bustling sounds in the trees. A bear? A kidnapper? I’m scared to look. Then the thing says, “What are you doing here? I was worried sick!”

Chapter Eight: New Years Party- Parker

“Come on Coco,” I say, tugging on our new dog’s leash. Coco struts along beside me on the path to our house. Her golden ears flapping in the wind. Coco is a golden labrador and she’s only 6 months old. Our parents rescued her from the shelter last month and she was Izzy and my birthday present.

Coco and I walk up the stairs and go inside our house. I let her leash go and she runs into the kitchen, jumping up at the food on the counter. “Parker, go ahead and take a shower, people will start coming in an hour!” my mom says, shooing me upstairs. I run upstairs and take a quick shower then change into some nice clothes.

When I get downstairs, all the appetizers are set up and the food is in the oven. Every year my family hosts a new years party. We have tons of food, games, and at 9:00 pm, we watch the town fireworks at City Hall. It’s so fun. “Too bad the Quinns can’t make it.” my dad says, taking the cupcakes out of the oven and placing them on the counter to cool. “Yeah,” I say, sneaking a dollop of chocolate frosting.

Eventually, more and more people come and we start the games and the appetizers start disappearing. I hang out with Kaden and Kyle and we enter the basketball competition. My dad splits everyone who wants to play into two groups- he’s in charge of all games- and tells us to start. Kaden passes to me, and I pass to Kyle, who shoots a hoop. Or a lousy two-pointer as Jack calls it. I wish he was here.

We end up taking the win and everyone on our team gets a ticket for the arcade games. This is the signal to head there next, and we all try and get the rings around the hoops for more tickets. I end up with a total of 43 tickets and get a dog stuffed animal from the prize table that was actually mine already.

When it’s time for dinner I’m almost nearly stuffed with appetizers- nuts, candy, cheese and crackers, fruit, and bread- but I still can’t resist the grilled steak burgers my dad cooked up, with homemade fries. I take a sprite as well, I swear, At New Years I eat more food than any other holiday. Well, except for Halloween, if candy counts as food.

“Don’t forget dessert!” my dad exclaims, coming outside with the chocolate cupcakes- which are now covered in frosting and sprinkles- that I’ve been eyeing all afternoon. My dad puts on some cool sparklers on top to make it look really cool. I eat the cupcake slowly, eating one sprinkle at a time.

Next, we head out to the Town Hall to see the fireworks. We bring Coco along, and she’s super excited about all the people. We try to get a good spot before all of them are taken. “Over Here!” Izzy says, pointing to a clear spot over by a group of people.

We stay there for a while, talking, while we wait for the fireworks to start. “You’re new puppy is adorable!” Gia Says, petting Coco’s furry back “Mind if I take him for a walk?” “Sure,” I say and watching the black sky for fireworks to start.

Finally, A little explosion of light bursts into the sky. Everyone cheers and looks up at the sky. The fireworks are all types of different colors and shapes, and it looks like a party is going on in the sky. Hearts, circles, all different types of fireworks, it looked so cool!

Finally, 8:59 came as the big firework finale dissolved in the sky. People started chanting, “10,9, 8,” I join in at the “3,2,1. Happy New Year!” Everyone cheers and whoops even though it’s technically not even New years yet. It’s only 9:00 pm. We head home and do our yearly tradition of watching a movie and staying up late.

As all the guests head home, my family all gathers in the living room on the couch with some popcorn. We decide on the classical Parent Trap because it makes us all laugh every time. After the movie, we’re all super exhausted and go to bed around 11:30. But I lay in bed, thinking.

Then, just as the clock strikes 12:00am, I notice something. I jump out of my bed and rush into Izzy’s room. “Izzy, Izzy!” I say, shaking her awake. “What?” she says, bolting up straight in her bed. “Where’s Coco?” I say. “What are you talking about?” she says, “downstairs in her crate, obviously.” The two of us rush downstairs to check. We peek into Coco’s crate. She’s not there. We search all over the house. “Didn’t you get him?” Izzy, says, worried. “No, I thought you did,” I say. We both stare at each other, in silence. “Happy New year?” I say. What a horrible way to start the new year.

Chapter Nine: PJ Bday- Emma

I hop out of bed, not bothering to get dressed-it’s pajama day!- and dash into the kitchen. The smell of chocolate pancakes fills my nostrils with chocolatey goodness. It’s our family’s birthday tradition to have chocolate pancakes for breakfast on someone’s birthday.

“Happy Birthday Em!” my mom says when I come into the kitchen. I smile. When all four of my siblings are at the table, a pile of pancakes is topped with eleven candles and everyone sings to Jack and I. “Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Emma and Jack, Happy Birthday to you!”

Jack and I blow out the candles and we each gobble down our pancakes. Next, my mom brings out the presents. In my pile is- One from Annie, One from Lucca and Kylie, One from Brian, and one from Jack. I open my presents and get a bag of candy, a new dress, and a game called: Pie Face! Then, mom comes in with the present from her and dad.

I carefully open up the wrapping paper and inside is: An apple watch!!!! “Oh thank you so much!” I say, giving my mom and dad a big hug. When we’re all done with breakfast we head to school, and I get a text from Annie: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BFF!!!!! HAPPY 11!!!!! MISS YOU :) -ANNIE Before we get to school, I text her back: THX! HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY! YOUR BFF-EMMA:)

“Happy Birthday Emma!” Izzy says when I greet her at the school gates. It’s nice to see Izzy a little more cheerful this morning. She’s been really down ever since Coco got lost on New Years. It really hasn’t been helping with her friendship with Gia either, she thinks when Gia took Coco for a walk she tied him up wrong and he escaped.

Of course, Parker’s really sad too, but he’s not showing his feelings as much as Izzy. She hands me a present wrapped in blue and purple wrapping paper. “Open it!” she says, smiling. I open the wrapping paper and inside is a gift card to Starbucks. Plus, a really cute T-shirt that says: Just Chic. “Thanks so much!” I say, giving her a hug.

“Nice watch by the way,” she says, pointing to my apple watch. “Thanks.” I say, “It’s from my parents.” Next, Addison and Kiki come and wish me a happy birthday as well. “I’m so excited for the party!” Kiki says “It’ll be so fun!” I’m having a sleepover tonight since it’s a Friday, and we’ve decided to have Jack’s and my special dinner tomorrow when nana and papa come over.

School is pretty fun since it’s pajama day and raining outside. We watch a movie at recess and do fun things like art and coding. At the end of the day, the class sings me Happy Birthday and I hand out cupcakes and little containers of slime.

After school, Addison, Kiki, Izzy and I head over to my house- I decided not to invite Gia because we were never really close friends. We hang out in my room and make up a cool dance for the talent show at the end of the year. We make up the dance to “I don’t know my name.” by Grace Vanderwaal.

We go to get some snacks from the kitchen and then watch TV for a little. Then, my dad takes us out to Pizza my Heart for dinner. We all split a cheese pizza and get sodas. Then, when we get back, We have a huge red velvet cake. Next, we play some fun games like Tag, Lava monster, and Balloon Pop.

Then, we put on a movie and eat candy and popcorn. We watch the Greatest Showman and sing along to all the songs. When it’s over, my mom turns out the light and tells us to try and fall asleep. We don’t, of course.

“Let’s play truth or dare,” Kiki says. “Sure,” I say “I’ll go first.” “Truth or dare?” Izzy asks me. “Dare.” “Okay, go into your brother’s room and scare the boys.” Addison says. My brother and his friends are having a sleepover as well, but they are sleeping in their room.

I tiptoe down the hall and come to a halt at Jack’s door. They’re talking quietly about how strict our P.E teacher is. “I mean, why do we have to take a fitness test in P.E?” I hear Kaden whisper “And why do we have to do more push-ups than-” “BOO!” I bang the door open, and all the boys scream.

Addison, Kiki and Izzy start laughing like crazy and so do I. “Scaredy cats!” I say, and we all rush back into the living room to play more truth or dare. “I’ll go next,” Izzy says. “Okay.” Kiki says, “Truth or dare?” “Truth” “Okay…Do you have a crush on my brother?” Izzy’s face reddens. “Maybe…yeah.” She says, and we all burst into fits of giggles. “Girls!” my mom says, “Time for bed!”

But we keep talking until we finally fall asleep around 3 am.

Chapter Ten: The Secret Admirer- Izzy

I grab my backpack and the bag of goodies and head out the door. “Bye Mom!” I yell, rushing down the front stairs and stopping at the corner. “Happy Valentines Day!” I say to Emma, who’s already standing there with her younger sister Kylie. I hand her the little bag of chocolate I found at Nuts for Candy the other day.

“Thanks!” she says, “And this is for you.” Emma hands me a box of sour patch kids candy, My favorite! “Thank you!” We all head to school and I say bye to Emma as we head to our classrooms. “Happy Valentines Day!” says Ms.O’brien when we come into the classroom, “We’ll have a normal day until after lunch, where we’ll have our party and then we’ll pass out valentines. First, we’ll start with Morning Circle.”

The beginning of the day drones on and finally, noon comes. When we come back from lunch, there is pink punch and cupcakes on the table, along with popcorn, chips, and sweethearts candy. We watch the movie “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and then play bingo with sweet tarts candy. Throughout the party, I notice Jack keep looking over at me. I hope Emma didn’t tell Jack about what I said at her birthday party.

At the end of the day we pass out valentines and I get a bunch of candy. Sour Patch, PB cups, airheads, lollipops, almost as much as Halloween! When Ms.O’neil dismisses us, I head outside with Kiki to meet up with Emma and Addison. “Who wants to go to Broadway?” I say. “I’m in!” Emma says. “Who said, Broadway? I’m coming!” Kyle says. “Same!” Kaden says. “More Candy? I’ll come!” Parker says. Soon, almost the whole fifth grade is heading down Main Street to get to Broadway.

We all go to Prestons and Jack buys one for me! “Here you go.” He says, “Happy Valentines Day.” I smile and say, “Thanks.” “Omg! He totally likes you!” Kiki says. “It’s just a kind gesture,” I say, but even I know it wasn’t. When I get home I empty out my bag to find a note:

ROSES ARE RED, VIOLETS ARE BLUE,

I WANT TO LET YOU KNOW I REALLY LIKE YOU.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

-YOUR SECRET ADMIRER

Oh my gosh! I quickly take a picture of the paper and send it to Emma. I text: IT MUST BE FROM JACK!!!! OMG!!! Soon, she texts back: TOTALLY FROM JACK! IT’S OBVIOUS. I head upstairs to my room and put it in my desk under a bunch of papers. I just can’t believe it!!!

At 5:00 pm, Emma and her mom pick me up to go to dance. “Hi Izzy, How are you?” Ms.Quinn says when I get into the car. “Well Thank you,” I say, smiling. I close the car door behind me and sit beside Izzy. “Let’s play two truths and a lie,” Emma says. We always play a car game to pass the time when we go to dance.

“Alright, I’ll go first.” I say, “The first thing is, today we played bingo with conversation hearts. Second, I’ve never been out of this country. And third, my cousins live in Texas.” “I’m guessing the second one is a lie,” Emma says. “Nope,” I say. “Third one?” she asks. “Yeah, my cousins live in Florida.” I say “Your turn.”

When we finally get to dance, we say bye to Emma’s mom and head to the dance room. “Hey Emma, Hey Izzy,” Kiki says. “Hey.” we echo. All throughout dance, I try to concentrate, but I just can’t stop thinking about the note. I mean, it might not ACTUALLY be from Jack. It might be from Parker or Kaden as a joke.

At the end of class, Ms.Jessie-our dance teacher-tells us to all sit around her for a special announcement. “So girls,” she says, “As you know, the next level of dance is much more intense than this one. I’m going to announce the people going into the next level this coming autumn. “All the girls in the class start talking excitedly and I look over at Emma and Kiki and show them my crossed fingers.

When Ms.Jessica quiets us down she says, “The people going into the next level are Kiki, Sophie, Lanie, Emma, Jasmine, and….” My heart starts beating like crazy as she finally says, “Izzy! Congrats to all of the other girls, you have done a fantastic job this year. Class is dismissed.” There is a bustle and rustle and everyone starts talking. “Yeah!” Kiki says to Emma and me “Great job guys!” “You too!” I say, “It’ll be so fun!” “I know right,” Emma says.

My mom drives us home and instead of playing truth or dare, Emma and I chat about the upcoming level. “I heard they have performances and competitions!” I say. “Fun!” Emma says. Then, just when this day can’t get any better, it does. “Bye Emma!” I say, “See you tomorrow!” “Bye!” Emma says, hopping out of the car and heading into her house.

My mom and I get out too, and head over to our house. Just as we’re heading up the front stairs, I see something furry move in the bushes. Can it Be? “I’m gonna check something real quick,” I tell my mom and I head over to the bushes. I peer over, hoping for the best. Then I cry out, “Coco!”

Chapter Eleven: The Finals- Jack

“Go Tigers!” We all shout and head out on the court. “Pass!” I call to Cory, but he ignores me and continues down the court, shooting a crisp 2-pointer. I have to admit, Cory is pretty good. But he can be a real jerk. Parker steals from one of the Lions and passes to me, and I dribble around a defender and pass it to Cory, maybe if I pass it to him more he’ll pass it to me.

The first quarter zooms by and before I know it, I’m sitting in a circle with the rest of my teammates chugging down my Gatorade. “You’re looking good out there guys.” Coach Detroit says, “We have a chance at winning. Focus on their weak spots. Their best shooter is a weak defender and their best defender is not very fast. Cory, you’ll be out this quarter and help me find weaknesses. Now go get out there and show those Lions who’s boss!”

“Yeah!” we all yell and head out on the court. Parker passes me the ball and I shoot a quick three-pointer. The crowd cheers loudly. By halftime, the score is- Lions: 23 Tigers: 20. “I want to see you all work your hardest out there,” Coach Detroit says as we all take big gulps of water. “I believe in you all.” The third quarter zooms by, with the Lions still in the lead. But in the fourth quarter, we just manage to catch up. The score is tied: 37 to 37 with less than a minute left on the clock.

“Tigers Tigers!” the crowd roars and cheers as I race down the quart, the ball in my hands. “10,9,8,” I pass to Cory, who takes a shot but misses. I get the ball and go for a rebound shot. “3,2,1” The ball goes in. I fall to the ground. The crowd cheers. Everything goes BLACK.

*******************************************************************

When I open my eyes, I’m lying in a hospital room that smells like peppermints and medicine. Oh no. Am I hurt? Did I break any bones? I feel okay, but my ankle feels really weird. I spot my mom sitting in a chair beside me. “Jack!” she says when she sees I’m awake, “Are you okay? How do you feel? Does anything hurt?” “I’m fine mom, really.” I say, “Just a little dizzy. What happened?” My mom tells me everything.

After I made the shot, my team took victory. I made the winning shot! Then, they couldn’t wake me up, I must’ve knocked out. Apparently I hit my head on something when I fell. They rushed me to the hospital and here I am now. The rest of my family comes in along with Parker, Izzy and Coach Detroit.

“Dude are you okay?” Parker says, rushing to my side. “Yeah, I guess,” I say. “I’ll go check if the doctors figured out if you broke anything.” my mom says, leaving the room. After a ton of talking, my mom comes back in with an answer. “So,” she says, sitting beside me on my bed, “They said you have a twisted ankle. You’ll need to rest your foot for the next few weeks..” “A twisted ankle?” I exclaim, “But Outdoor Ed is next week!”

My mom bites her lip. “Outdoor Ed is a once in a lifetime experience!” I say, “I can’t miss it!” Every kid in the whole school has been waiting for Outdoor Ed since they were in Kindergarten! And I’ve been waiting ever since I came here! But still, I just can’t miss it. “You can be a Cabin Leader.” my dad suggests, “Although I expect you’ll be playing pro basketball by then.” I try not to smile. This really sucks.

My team comes to have the celebration in the hospital room after the doctor wraps my ankle in gauze. We have cake and punch and it is actually really fun. But I can’t stop thinking about Outdoor Ed. That night I lay in bed, thinking, and listening to the sounds of the birds outside. My ankle is burning with pain, even though I took some medicine and I wrapped in ice. These are the things that go through my head:

1. Does Izzy know I sent her the note?
2. Is it better to win and be hurt or loose and be fine?
3. Will I be able to go to Outdoor Ed?
4. Why does this have to happen?
5. Why do hospitals smell weird?

When I wake up in the morning my ankle feels a bit better, and I struggle to get out of bed and get to my crutches. Unfortunately, we still have to go to church even though my ankle is twisted. Afterward, I have to go home and rest my leg. But, I get to watch LOTS of TV and eat LOTS of chips and candy. Parker comes over and the two of us play video games.

Then, at dinner that night my mom tells me exciting news. “I got a call from the doctor today,” she says, “and he said you can go to outdoor ed.” “Yeah!” I exclaim. “But on one condition.” my mom says. I stop cheering. On one condition? This must be bad. “As long as you have one hour of rest every day, doctor’s orders.” What? Naps? I’m not a baby! Maybe I’d rather just stay home.

Chapter Twelve: Outdoor Ed- Parker

“Baaaa, Naaaa, Naaaa, Slug! Slug! Slug! Slug! Banana slug! Banananana!” the whole class sang and it echoed all around the big, yellow bus. I look out the window at the rain pitter-pattering on the window. “We’ll be there in 5 minutes!” Says the bus driver from upfront. I look over at Jack, who’s laying down with his foot resting on a pillow. “You’re so lucky!” I say, “You get to lie down!” “I have to take a nap every day!” he says. “You GET to take a nap every day!” I say.

When we finally arrive we put all our luggage in this big oval room and get sorted into cabins. I’m with Kaden, Marco, Jack, and a bunch of kids from other schools in Live Oak cabin. We head out to lunch and I sip my Capri Sun quietly while Kaden goes on and on about whether he’s going to kiss a banana slug or not. “I’m definitely going to.” says Marco, “I mean, it’s not a big deal.” “Yeah, but you might get rabies or something,” Kaden says. “Ooooh! Chicken!” Marco says, “BA-Kaak! BA-Kaak!”

After loading our luggage into our cabins we go out on a hike. Well, everyone except Jack, who stays with our cabin leader to rest. Our Naturalist Duff takes us through a really muddy path and we find like, 15 banana slugs. Then, we go to dinner, PIZZA! I get loads of it and don’t bother touching the salad. Jose, our “hopper” takes like 5 trips to the food table to get more. By the end of dinner, the cooks run out of Pizza.

For our evening activity, we have night hike, but Jack can’t come. I used to think he was lucky, but now I just feel bad for him. He’s totally missing out! “One at a time, you’ll walk forward until you see me.” says Duff, as we line up for the Solo walk “ Remember, no flashlights, and if you get lost just clap twice and we’ll come get you. Ready?” “READY!” we all exclaim, and we start walking to where Duff is, one by one. It’s a bit creepy, but not all that bad.

By the time we get back to the Cabin, I’m exhausted and I fall asleep the second my head hits the pillow. I dream of talking pepperoni pizza hiking through the woods.

*******************************************************************

There are Eggs for breakfast with sausage and cereal and orange juice. I eat as much as I can until I can’t eat anymore. I have to admit, the food is pretty darn good here. Today we go to the garden, which is pretty boring, but then we go on a really cool hike by the waterfall. Unfortunately, Jack can’t come to the Waterfall hike, which is really sad. At “Apple time” and “Teacher time” we write about our days in journals and then we go back to the Cabin for showers.

“We need to start thinking about our skit.” says our Cabin Leader, Jordan. “We’ll show them to the whole camp on Thursday at Campfire,” he adds. “Maybe we could do one about a zombie apocalypse.” says one kid named Miguel, “We could have aliens too, and dragons and devils!” so that’s what we end up doing. Jack and I come from planet earth to planet Saturn, where Jose and Kaden-the devils- try to eat us. But Marco and Sean- the dragons- save us. Then, Ricky, Cole, Dean, and Leo-the zombies and aliens- allow everyone to stay and live happily ever after. ( We were going to have the zombies and aliens eat everyone, but there are no “eating people” allowed at outdoor ed)

After dinner that night we have Ocean odyssey since we’re going to the beach tomorrow. I dress up as the starfish that tries to eat the clam. It makes everyone laugh when Jack dresses up as a bird on crutches. The next day, we head off to the beach and go on hikes, see seals, and eat lunch by the rocks. “How about you guys show me your skit,” Duff says, and we show him the whole alien, devil, dragon, zombie skit. We decided to name it: A trip to Saturn.

At Pebble Beach, I get buried in pebbles by Jack and Marcus and then we go to the tidepools and find lots of cool shell crabs. One even crawled around on my hand! We go back to the camp for dinner and then go to World Dance. When I get back to my cabin, I can’t sleep and neither can Jack. Luckily, we’re bunkmates and I climb down to his bed and we talk about stuff.

The next morning we head off on another hike to see Big Red and Dead Fred. Then, Jack goes back to the cabin and we go to an animal museum with fake animal statues with real fur and stuff. After apple time and teacher time, we practice our skit many times to get ready for tonight’s Campfire. At dinner, we get cake and turkey and mashed potatoes and then head off the Campfire- which is actually inside with a fireplace. There is a stage set up and we all sit with our cabins.

“Welcome, Fifth-grade students” Solar Steve-the director-says, “to our Outdoor Ed campfire!!!” We all whoop and cheer as all the naturalists start singing camp songs. “Baaaa-Naaa-Naaa, Slug! Slug! Slug! Slug! Banana Slug! BANANANANA! Banana slug! BANANANANANANA!” they yell, “ It starts with an S and it ends with a T! It comes out of you and it comes out of me! The FBI! Whenever something’s dead, the FBI! They’re always on the crime, that’s Fungus, Bacteria, Invertebrates, the FBI!”

Then we all go up one at a time to present our skits. When we go up, everyone laughs when Jack says, “Holy Guacamole! Oh, my Hippo pie! Look at those Devils coming from the sky!” When everyone has shown their skit, the naturalists sing us a goodbye song. When I get back to my cabin, I fall asleep to the sound of rain, wind, and crickets. This is a memory I will remember forever.

Chapter Thirteen: Dad’s Club Camping Trip- Emma

“Emma! Jack! Kylie! Let’s go!” my dad yells from the car. I quickly grab my backpack and hiking boots and trek out to the car. “Dad’s Club Camping trip here we come!” my dad exclaims. “Quiet dad! You’ll embarrass us.” I say. “So you don’t want to go?” he asks. I shake my head as we head onto the highway. I put in my earphones and play my favorite music mix as I start coloring in one of the “Magical Forest” coloring pages I got for my birthday.

In no time at all, we’ve arrived at the campsite. Many families are already here because some left early from school. Apparently everyone loves the Dad’s club camping trip and I’m really excited. We’re sharing a campsite with Izzy, Jack and their younger sister Scarlet.

Once we get to the campsite we set up our tents and sleeping bags. Izzy and I begged our dads for a tent of our own, so the two of us are sharing a mini tent all to ourselves. “You’re going to love it!” Izzy says as we settle into our tent, “We get to do whatever we want, except for after lunch, when the dads take us on a hike. And we stay up super late and have s’ mores and tell spooky stories.”

Once we’re all set up, we head over to Addison and Kiki’s campsite and the four of us go out to explore the area. We bring Oreos and have a little “picnic” by a big, shaded tree. “Hey!” I hear Izzy yell and turn around to see her soaking wet. A few seconds later, I feel a splashing on my head, too. But I turn around to see the person who dumped had already run away.

“Who was that?” I say, shaking as much water off me as I can. “Probably one of our brothers trying to play a trick on us,” Izzy says. I stare down at the soggy oreo in my hand and frown. “Why didn’t they splash Addison and Kiki?” I ask. “I don’t know, but I’m glad they didn’t.” Kiki says, “I’ll go get you two a towel from the campsite.

That night, we all huddled around the campfire and made s’mores and told spooky stories. When we finally got back into our tent we talked for a while and finally fell asleep. The good thing about the Dad’s club camping trip is that there are no clocks. So I had no idea what time we went to bed. It could’ve been 10 pm, it could’ve been 3 am.

When I wake up in the morning I smell pancakes! I slip on my flipflops and head outside, careful not to wake Izzy. “Morning Em!” my dad says from the grill, where he’s sprinkling chocolate chips on the pancakes. When he sees the disgusted look on my face he says, “Don’t worry, I wiped the grill since making burgers last night.” I pour my glass of orange juice and sit down on the bench.

When we all ate breakfast Izzy suggests we go down to the little junk shop over the creek that has candy, ice cream, snacks, and little trinkets. But when I head into the tent to get my wallet, I can’t find it. “Do you have my wallet?” I ask Izzy. “No,” she says “And I’m guessing you don’t have mine?” I search all over, and I can’t spot my wallet anywhere.

“Let’s go ask my dad if he can lend us some money,” Izzy says. “That’s so weird.” I say, “Do you think someone stole it?” “Maybe the boys,” Izzy said, “but even my brother wouldn’t pour icy water on my head AND steal my money. I know lots of things that he doesn’t want me telling our parents” “Same.” I say, “It looks like we have a mystery to solve.”

Izzy’s dad lends us 20 bucks, and we head down to the shop to buy some candy, chips, and friendship bracelets. Then, we all meet up in Addison’s tent because she has a fan and it’s REALLY hot. “I love mysteries.” Kiki says, “So, did you see anything unusual last night?” “Well,” Izzy says, “Not…really.” I shake my head as well. “Then,” Kiki says, “Let’s go investigate.” but as we head over to our campsite, we’re interrupted.

“Hike time!” my dad exclaims, “I’ve got PB&J, juice, apples, and cookies! Who’s ready?” “Looks like we’ve got to go hiking first,” I say, and we head to the tent to get our hiking boots. We head off to our hike and it’s actually pretty fun. I take tons of pictures, and by the time we get back, I am exhausted. “Guess we’ll have to wait a little longer to find our thief.” Izzy says, “Let’s take a nap.”

I wake up, soaked. “What happened?” Izzy says, “I THINK we got squirted with a water gun.” “It’s totally our brothers,” I say. We march over to Parker and Jack, who are playing soccer on the big field. “We know it’s you,” Izzy says. “What?” Parker protests. “Pranking us!” I say, “Dumping us with icy water, stealing our money, spraying us!” “THOSE pranks?” Jack says, “I saw who did that.” “WHO?” we ask. Parker and Jack both say, “Gia.”

Chapter Fourteen: Talent Show- Izzy

“Okay, that was good, let’s do it again.” Kiki’s older sister Caitlyn tells us. “Please can we have a quick break?” Kiki says. “Fine.” she says, “But make it quick, we have homework to do.” The four of us- Kiki, Emma, Addison, and I sit at a spot as far away from Gia as we can possibly get. Yes, Gia. Caitlyn agreed to choreograph a dance for us on one condition, that Gia can be in the dance too. Of course, Caitlyn HAD to be best friends with Kayla, Gia’s older sister.

I take a big chug of my Gatorade and grab a handful of chips. We practice every Monday and Friday for a whole hour, and it gets really tiring. Luckily, Kiki’s mom allowed Emma, Addison and I to sleep over tonight since it’s Friday. And luckily, she didn’t invite Gia. I never thought I’d be saying these things about my “past BFF” but, things change.

“You ready,” Kayla says, who’s helping out too. “Yep,” I say and get onto the dance floor. Kiki and her family are really into dance, and she has a whole studio downstairs with mirrors and bars. “From the top,” Caitlin says. We go through our dance of turns, cartwheels, rolls, jumps, and round offs. Along with dance, Kiki also does Gymnastics, so she’s really good at flips and stuff.

When practice is over, Gia and Kayla leave and the four of us head up to Kiki’s room. “What are we going to do about Gia?” Kiki says, “We can’t do the dance with her, she’s our enemy.” “We could just wait until they teach us the whole dance, then ditch them,” Addison says. “Doesn’t that seem a little harsh?” I say. “Yeah.” Emma says, “We should do something that’s harmless, but works.” Then, I get a perfect idea. “I got it!” I say, “Payback.”

*******************************************************************

“You almost done?” Kiki says, “she’s coming back.” I quickly finish writing the words “BRAT” on the back of Gia’s shirt. “Perfect,” I say, capping the white sharpie and tucking it secretly in my pocket. “You girls ready?” Caitlyn says, “It’s almost our turn.” Gia comes back and slips her shirt on. I smirk at my friends. But as I do, I feel a little pang of guilt. Am I a mean girl? Should I have done this? But it’s too late now.

“Everyone, please welcome Kiki, Addison, Emma, Izzy and Gia with ‘Shining Stars!’” We all walk off stage and take our places. As the music starts we start to dance. I hear giggles from the audience. I glance at my friends, who are wearing worried faces. Do they regret the payback? Then, it hits me. My smile slowly turns to a frown as I spot the fact that the audience is silent when Gia’s back faces them and erupts with laughter when my back faces them. Did the shirts get swapped? I must’ve put on Gia’s shirt instead of my own!

As the dance finishes and I head off stage, I find that my theory was true: I’m wearing the BRAT shirt. I try to stop the tears from coming as I dash outside to getaway. This is so humiliating! Then I realize that this is how Gia would have felt if she had worn the shirt. Then, I hear a voice.

“BRAT! BRAT! BRAT!” I turn around to see Kaden coming towards me. “BRAT! BRAT! BRAT!” “Oh, be quiet.” someone says. I turn around expecting to see Emma or Addison or Kiki, but it’s not any of them. It’s Gia. “She is NOT a brat, so just leave her alone.” Kaden just chuckles and walks off. “It’s because he likes you,” Gia says. I smile, “Did you see how he just ran when you-” I stop mid-sentence. We’re supposed to be enemies. Why am I talking to her?

“Um, never mind,” I say, wiping away my tears and standing up to walk away. “Izzy, wait.” Gia says, “I miss this. You and me. BFFS.” I stop and think about all the time Gia has comforted me. In second grade when I fell off the swings and skinned my knee, In third grade when I forgot my line to the play and just stood there on stage( my line was: “Wow!”), In fourth grade when I spilled by grape juice on my shirt on the first day, and so, so many more times.

“Me too,” I say quietly, and she wraps her hand around my shoulder. “Friends again?” she says. “Hold up.” I say, “I didn’t forget about the pranking, crush-stealing, all that stuff.” “I know.” she says, “And I really want to make it up to you. Anything is worth your friendship.” I smile. “Okay.” I tell her, “I want you to do one thing.” I lean over and whisper something in her ear. She nods. “I can do that.”

We head back inside and everyone showers us with “Well done’s” and “Congrats”. Everyone pretty much forget about the incident because of Parker’s funny skit. Sorry, not funny-Hilarious. He imitates a bunch of famous people in a really funny way. I have to admit, my brother is pretty funny.

Instead of just Emma, Addison and Kiki sleeping over, I invited Gia too. Because 4 best friends are better than 3 right? You know what they say, The more the merrier.

Chapter Fifteen: The Dance- Jack

“Remember, we have a quiz on Monday so be prepared and STUDY.” Ms.O’brien says as we’re leaving the classroom, “Have a nice weekend, and I hope to see you at the fifth-grade dance.” We all shuffle out of the classroom and grab our backpacks. “Dude, you gotta ask Izzy out,” Parker says to me when I meet him by the corner. “There’s no time.” I say, “The dance is tomorrow.” “I can fix that,” he says.

“Ice cream at Preston’s!” He announces to all the fifth graders around us- Izzy, Emma, Gia, Kaden, Kyle, and Marco, “Jack’s paying!” Everyone erupts in cheers. “Seriously?” I whisper to him, “Jack’s paying? What kind of a friend are you?” “Just go with it.” he says, “I’ve seen this in movies.” We all walk down to Broadway, and head over to the ice cream shop we all grew up to know and love. Well, most of the kids have grown up loving it. I’ve done that in less than a year.

We all order and I pay- eighteen dollars! There are two benches outside and the boys sit on one and the girls sit on the other. All of a sudden, my palms get sweaty. “Are you gonna do it?” he whispers to me, “Cause now’s your big chance.” I take a deep breath a look at Izzy. Her long, strawberry blonde hair is pulled back into a braid that’s shining in the sun like gold. Then, I do it. I literally stand up and do it.

“Hey, Izzy,” I say. “Yeah?” she says, looking up from her ice cream cone. “Will you…. go to the dance with me?”

*******************************************************************

“Jack! Jack! Jack! Jack!” Parker cheers, “Come on, dude. You’re the one who asked her, you guys have to dance together.” I look over at Izzy, Who’s on the other side of the auditorium chatting with Emma and Gia. The girls are on one side, and the boys are on the other. The teachers are in the middle egging everyone on. There’s no way I’m going over to Izzy and asking her dance. I mean, we’re in 5th-grade people! Not college!

“I’ll give you 20 bucks,” Parker says. THAT gets my attention. I’ve not been doing many chores around the house when I was on crutches and not getting my chore money. When I finally got my cast off, I realized I was pretty much BROKE. (Not my leg, my lack of money. Sorry bad pun) “Yeah, like you’ll really give up 20 dollars,” I say. “I’ll give up pretty much anything to see one of my friends dance with my sister,” Parker says. “How about fifty?” I say. “Don’t push it,” Parker says, taking a crumpled 20 dollar bill out of his pocket. “Take it or leave it.”

I snatch the money and head over to Izzy. Everyone turns around to look. Come on, Jack. I say to myself. You can do this. I take a deep breath and hold out my hand. “May I have this dance?” There’s a long moment of silence. Then Izzy says, “Why not?” We head out into the dance floor as the DJ starts a new song. “Let’s Go! Let’s Go! Let’s Go!” The DJ says, “Join them!”

Everyone gathers around and starts to dance. Izzy and I just dance near each other, we don’t actually do some romantic dance like the Waltz. Which is okay with me, because like I said before, we’re only in 5th grade. The DJ goes through a bunch of amazing songs. I fill myself full of jelly beans, goldfish, chips, Oreos, and other snacks that are laid out. “Wanna hit the photo booth?” Izzy asks. “Sure,” I say.

We head over and take a few photos, then the DJ yells to everyone, “Come on into the dance floor, for our last song of the night!” We all head into the middle and start to dance. The song is Sunflower, My favorite song. Everyone does a bunch of crazy dances, and it’s really fun. “Who wants to do some LIMBO!” the DJ shouts and he turns up the music. The teachers come in with a big bar and we each go under one by one. Kiki wins. I mean seriously, she did a backbend!

When the last song finally comes to an end, that means it’s time for the balloon drop. There are about 100 balloons in a big net at the top of the gym. Ms.Garcia climbs up to a ladder with a pair of scissors and cuts the net. The balloons spill all over the floor and people pop them and throw them back up in the air.

Loads of noise fills the hall until they finally shoo us out of the gym. The four of us walk home together. “I’m gonna miss this,” Izzy says. “Why? Are you moving?” Emma says. “No, it’s just we’ll all be so busy next year. I’ll go on pointe in ballet with Emma.” “And Parker and I will do basketball,” I say. “You guys, you guys.” Parker says “We still have the whole summer, let’s not waste it.”

Chapter Sixteen: Graduation- Parker

The class is abuzz with noise when I get inside. “Quiet down, Quiet down.” Ms.Garcia says, “I know today is a very exciting day and we are going to have lots of fun, but first let me tell you our schedule. Everyone sit in your desks, please.” We all shuffle to sit down and all eyes are on Ms.Garcia. “Today is a very busy day.” she says, “First, we will have our class party. Our class moms have put together a very fun party. We will play games, have snacks, and watch a movie. Afterward, we will go to Graduation. After the speeches, we will go to recess and then have a graduation party. We will have an early dismissal, at 12:00”

The class is quiet for a few seconds and then Ms.Garcia says, “First row, you may go to get food. Second row, you’re next. Now third row, go ahead.” I head over to the table full of snacks and fill my plate with Oreos, berries, and lots of other little snacks. Then I grab a cup of fruit punch and find a spot for the movie. “Dude, can you believe we are going to middle school next year?” Kyle says as I sit beside him. “I know right.” I say, “It’ll be so different.”

We watch the movie “Middle School”, which I think is perfect because we’re going there next year. Then, we all head into the Auditorium for the graduation ceremony. Principal Walker is standing on the stage. She clears her throat and everyone looks at her. “Good Morning, fifth graders.” she says, “You may all practice your speeches AFTER you help set up the chairs. Parents will be coming in 30 minutes, so hurry up!”

We all shuffle outside and help unfold chairs and set them up in front of the portable stage Principal Walker brought in. In 30 minutes, the chairs are filled with happy parents waiting to see their kids. We all are in a clump inside the auditorium, peering outside the door to see if our parent is there. Which they all are. My parents are there with my younger sister Scarlet by their side. I spot Jack and Emma’s parents beside them, along with Gia’s mom. I also spot Kaden and Kyle’s parents, and his grandparents too.

“Alright, I want you all to go out there and be you.” Principal Walker whispers to us, “Go out there and show those parents that you are the amazing, brave loyal person that all of us know you as. Good Luck.” And with that, she walks outside onto the stage. “Good Morning family and friends of our fifth-grade students,” she says, “I hope you have had a great experience at this school, your children have all worked very hard to get to where they are today and I am proud of all of you for making such wonderful kids out of them.”

“Now, onto their big moment. We will do Ms.O’brien’s class first. Please welcome Kaden Apache.” Kaden comes out and does his speech. After a lot more, out comes Izzy Johnson. “Hello, family and friends,” she says into the microphone, “Out of all my years at Roosevelt I have realized three things: First, that friendship is not just a random thing you can play around with, and if you choose the right ones, you’ll have friends you can keep for a lifetime.” she smiles at Emma and Gia. “Secondly, if you try hard and don’t give up you can accomplish anything.” this time, she looks at me. “And finally, if you help the ones you care about, it feels really good. I want to thank all my teachers and family and friends for helping me get this far, thank you all.”

After a few more people, Jack comes out. “I know I have only been at this school for one year, but that doesn’t mean I won’t remember this school and all of you. I have made many, many, friends that I will never forget. I have encountered many adventures. I played an amazing year of basketball and broke my leg, but I still went to Outdoor Ed the next week. I got lost in the mountains at Winter Break and went to a dance with all my friends. And now here I am, my brain way fuller than it was at the beginning of the year, about to head to Middle School.”

I catch Jack and Emma’s mom sniffling and grabbing a tissue. After Ms.O’Brien’s class is done, and a few of my classmates have gone, Principal Walker calls my name. I step on stage, clear my throat, and talk. “What an amazing year!” I say, “I’m Class President, Class Clown, and I’ve got a bunch of amazing friends to go with it.” This gets a laugh, “This year, I have had lots of adventures big and small. I joined the basketball team with superstar Jack, ran in a campaign with Emma, Got a new dog who just lost and found by my sister Izzy, and went to Outdoor Ed, the Talent show, Dad’s club camping trip and the fifth-grade dance with everyone. This year is truly one worth remembering.”

After a few more people go, Emma comes up. “I know I could’ve come up here and go on and on for hours about how great this year has been. I could’ve told you all every single adventure I encountered and every single friend I made. But I’ll just say this: Thank you to all my friends and family for making this year awesome. Thank you for guiding me through the path of adventure. Thank you all for all the adventures you have brought me on, all the places we went, all the lessons we learned, all the times we laughed and talked and ventured on. Thank you, everyone, for making this year really, truly, special.”

By the time everyone had gone, the crowd exploded with applause. We let them come up and take pictures, but the teachers had to pull us away for our graduation party. We had tons and tons of candy and chocolate and treats. At 11:59, we all did the countdown to when we would become sixth graders. “10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1!” we all shout, “Happy New year!” I exclaim, which gets a laugh. We all go over to Hoover Park for yet another party. I wasn’t lying when I said my speech. This is a year I will remember forever.

Chapter Seventeen: Summer!!!- Emma

I can’t believe it’s summer!!! I sleep in until 9 am and then facetime Annie because I promised her I would. “Happy summer!” I say when her face pops up on the screen. “You too!” she says, “I can’t believe it’s finally here! And I get to visit in 2 weeks!” I’m counting down to the day.” I say, smiling, “By the way, I asked Izzy and she said she’s not going to France until July 19th, so you’ll be able to meet her! I’m not sure about Gia though….”

“I’m super excited.” Annie says, “Also, I’ve been meaning to tell you that Mckenna is going to UCLA so when we visit her we’ll be able to visit you too!” Mckenna is Annie’s older sister and she’s going to college in the fall. “That’s amazing!” I say. “DONUTS!” my dad calls from the kitchen. “I’d better go,” I say, “Talk to you later?” “Definitely.” Annie says, “But is there any chance you could FedEx me a chocolate donut?” “I will if Jack doesn’t eat them all,” I say and we both laugh. “Bye,” I say. “Bye.”

I close my laptop and head into the kitchen where the delicious donuts are waiting. I grab a glaze one and head outside with my phone. The day is sunny and breezy, the weather I love. I see a text from Gia and open it. It says HEY EM! I WAS WONDERING IF U AND IZZY WANT 2 COME OVER 2 HANG OUT AND THEN HAVE A SLEEPOVER? ;) GIA I finish my donut and then go inside to ask my mom if I can, and she says yes. I pack a bag: Money, phone, pajamas, outfit for tomorrow, toothbrush and toothpaste. Then I meet Izzy on the corner.

“Hey!” she says, “I haven’t seen you since…last night!” Last night after the party at Hoover park, both our families went to Pepe’s Pizzeria and then Yogurtland after. “Did Gia tell you what we’re gonna do?” I ask her as we start walking over. “No,” Izzy says, “But Gia always has something fun planned.” And boy is Izzy right.

Once we get to Gia’s house we first go summer shopping. We get sundresses, rompers, cute shirts, and swimsuits. Then, we go to Annabelle’s for lunch. After lunch, we go to Sky High, the trampoline place. We spend all our quarters on tiny candies and Japanese eraser collectibles from the tiny vending machines.

Then the three of us head back to Gia’s house and bake brownies and watch a movie. At 6:00 pm, the doorbell rings. Gia runs to answer it. “Pizza!” Gia says after she pays the pizza man and comes back in. We stay up telling spooky stories, eating leftover Graduation candy, and playing truth or dare. “I dare you to go up to Sasha’s room and scare her,” I tell Izzy. “No going upstairs!” Gia says unexpectedly. When we look at her with puzzled expressions, she adds, “My mom is probably sleeping.”

I glance at the clock, it reads 9:30 pm. If I know one thing about Gia’s mom, it’s that she doesn’t go to bed early. “Can I use the restroom?” I ask. “Totally.” Gia says, “Right down the hall.” But instead, I sneak up the stairs. I’m amazed at what I see. Moving Boxes. LOTS of Moving boxes. The shipping stamp on the boxes says 1154 Saint Rd. New York City, NY.

I come back downstairs and into the TV room, where Izzy and Gia are still playing truth or dare. I sit down beside them on the couch. Then I say, “This is why you wanted us to come over and hang out. This is why you didn’t want us to go upstairs, there are moving boxes up there. You’re moving to New York.”

*******************************************************************

What follows this is silence. “I was going to tell you later.” Gia said, “I’m sorry.” Izzy and I are still silent. “It’s just that, Alexis goes to college at NYU, and my mom got a job in new york that’s better than her job here. This way, she’ll have a better job and we’ll be closer to Alexis.” Still silent. Finally, Izzy bursts into tears. I get it, she’s known Gia since first grade, just like Annie and me.

After a lot of tears, laughing, smiling, and hugging, the three of us fall asleep. In the morning we have pancakes and fresh fruit. I go back to my house to go to the beach. It’s nice and sunny and I play in the ocean with my siblings. As I lay on my beach towel I think about the year. I thought about the first day when I was worried I wouldn’t make any friends. I think about going to my brother’s first Basketball game of the year and he made the winning shot. I remember Halloween, Student Council, and Izzy getting Coco. I remember getting lost in the mountains, New Years, my birthday, Valentine's day, the basketball finals, Outdoor ed. The camping trip, talent show, dance, and graduation. Then I think about next year and all the adventures coming with it. Sixth grade, Here I come!

Table of Contents

Emma: The perfect spot

Izzy: A new best friend

Jack: Basketball Pro

Parker: Halloween Party

Emma: Political Campaign

Izzy: Birthday Surprises

Jack: Lost

Parker: New Years Party

Emma: Pajama Day

Izzy: The Secret Admirer

Jack: The Finals

Parker: Outdoor Ed

Emma: Dad’s Club Camping Trip

Izzy: The Talent Show

Jack: The Dance

Parker: Graduation

Emma: Summer!!!

Sixth Grade Adventures: COMING SOON!

Chapter One: MIDDLE SCHOOL!!- Emma

“Emma hurry up!” Jack shouts, “We’re gonna be late on the first day of school.” I roll my eyes. “First of all, I’m sorry, I want to be healthy and eat a good breakfast. Second of all, it’s only 7:50, and third of all, since when have you been worried about being On time?” I say, heaving my backpack over my shoulders. “Let’s just go,” Jack says. “BYE MOM!” we echo and the door shuts behind us.

“Emma! Jack! Over here!” Izzy yells, I look over and see Izzy and her brother standing on the corner. “Hey, guys!” I say, and Jack and I run over to them. “Do you think middle school is gonna be different?” I ask as we start walking down the sidewalk. “Uh, yeah.” Jack says, “They have a REALLY good basketball team that I might not even make.”

“Oh, you’ll make it,” Izzy says. Parker makes a heart with his hands and I laugh. “It’ll be totally different.” Izzy says, “Gia told me her sister told her there are SO many people.” “I miss Gia,” I say. “You mean the person you hated last year?” Parker asks. “Yeah, but it was also the person I was best friends with for 4 years!” Izzy says. “You guys are SO confusing,” Parker says.

“I think we turn left here.” I say, staring down on the map on my phone, “According to Google Maps.” We turn left and a huge school appears in front of us. Hundreds of students are huddled around it chatting with friends, on their phones, or flirting with each other. “See ya!” Parker yells as he and Jack run off to greet their friends. Izzy and I spot Addison and Kiki and run over to them.

“Hey, guys.” I say, “Kiki, how was Hollywood?” “A-MAZING!” Kiki exclaims. Kiki got to go to Hollywood to dance in a performance. She even got to see some famous dancers like the Ziegler sisters. “And how was France, Izzy?” Addison asks, “As they say in Paris It was ze best!!” Izzy says, “I felt like I was in a movie the whole-” “Um, excuse me?” We turn around and a girl with long, silky blonde hair is standing there with her hands on her hips, and a bunch of girls trailing behind her, “Can you like, move?” Addison, Izzy, Kiki and I step out of the way. “Oh BTW.,” she says to Izzy, “Cute shirt.” “Thanks,” Izzy says, smiling.

About the Author:

Mischa Fellner is 11 years old and in the 5th grade. She goes to Roosevelt Elementary School and lives in California with her mom, dad, and two younger brothers. She enjoys dancing, reading, baking, running, soccer, and writing. In her free time, she likes to spend time with family and friends, bake a homemade treat, or curl up with a good book on her beanbag chair.

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