Amber Brown Is Feeling Blue Read Free Page B

remember that my teeth aren’t brushed.
    It’s not my fault that Mom and I overslept.
    It just happens sometimes to everyone.
    Mrs. Holt looks at Hannah. “No, I really want Amber to show Kelly around … but I’m sure that there will be time for you, on your own, to talk with Kelly. It would be NICE of you to be helpful.”
    I, Amber Brown, swear that Mrs. Holt put extra emphasis on the word NICE.
    It definitely would be nice if Hannah were nice.
    I don’t think Hannah Burton has a nice bone in her body.
    Actually, she does have nice hair, though …. which she is always fluffing and telling everyone is so nice.
    I run my fingers through my hair and then put my hand over my mouth to hide my morning breath, and I say, “I, Amber Brown, would love to show Kelly Green around the school.”
    Kelly smiles at me. “And I, Kelly Green, would love to have Amber Brown show me around the school.”
    Kelly Green not only has a colorful name, but she has just talked the way that I, Amber Brown, talk. That’s a little weird.
    I, Amber Brown, am the only one I know who says things like “I, Amber Brown.” And I, Amber Brown, am getting a headache.
    This is not a good day. I can’t believe that so much stuff is happening. Oversleeping ….. not combing my hair … forgetting my homework.
    This day is turning into a nightmare.
    Maybe I’ll get lucky and this will really be a nightmare.
    Maybe I didn’t oversleep this morning. Maybe I haven’t gotten up yet, and this is all just a very bad dream.
    I, Amber Brown, pinch myself really hard and hope that this is just a nightmare and that my mom will soon wake me up forreal. And I won’t have overslept. And I will have combed my hair. And I won’t have morning mouth. And I won’t have left my homework at home. And Kelly Green will only be part of a very bad dream.
    The pinch hurts. It really hurts, really really hurts.
    This is not a bad dream.
    This is my life.

Chapter
Six

    I, Amber Brown, am giving Kelly Green a minitour, the one from the classroom to the lunchroom.
    She is telling me about herself. “I just love my parents. My daddy is a lawyer, and my mom is an accountant …. but she’s staying home to take care of my little sister, Linda.”
    I’m glad that they didn’t name her sister Lime …. Lime Green.
    “And,” she continues, “we have a new baby brother. He’s so cute, and I help take care of him.”
    I ask her if his name is Oliver, Olive Green, for short.
    She giggles. “No, silly. His name is Joey. Do you have brothers and sisters?”
    “Nope,” I say. “I’m an only child.”
    “That’s so sad,” Kelly says.
    “I don’t think so.” I don’t know why, but I want to step on Kelly’s shoes, which look brand new. “I like being an only child.”
    I don’t think Kelly should say that it’s sad that I’m an only child.
    I don’t tell anyone that sometimes I do wish I had a younger brother or sister but that I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.
    Next she tells me about her sheepdog.
    I, Amber Brown, tell her that my mom is allergic to dogs …. and probably to sheep, too.
    “Oh, that’s so sad. Your mom would probably be allergic to our cat, Fluffy, too.” She frowns.
    I don’t tell her that I think Fluffy is a stupid name for a cat.
    I don’t know why Kelly Green is annoying me, but she is. She’s got two parents who are still together, a sheepish dog …… a fluffy cat ….. probably her brother and sister are fluffy, too. Her life sounds so perfect…. I bet she never oversleeps … or has morning mouth.
    I bet she thinks her name is so perfect, too … but I don’t.
    I continue giving the tour to Kelly as we walk to lunch. “And this is the nurse’s office. If you don’t mind, I need to stop here for a minute.”

    “Sure.” Kelly giggles.
    Kelly Green giggles a lot.
    Sometimes I don’t know why.
    She just giggles.
    I rush into the nurse’s office and beg Mrs. McDowell for an “emergency toothbrush.”
    She hands