Best Frenemies Read Free

thought. They’ll keep joking around without me.
    As if reading her best friend’s nervous thoughts, though, Cassidy handed the notebook back to Alice.
    â€œI wrote down my locker combo in it,” Cassidy explained with a smile. “So you can put the notebook in there when we can’t meet up. Write down yours so I can give it back to you after you write to me.”
    â€œThanks,” Alice said, grateful that she already had a little something from Cassidy to get her through her first class.
    The second bell rang, but instead of feeling brave with Cassidy’s locker combination in her hand, Alice felt a surge of panic, especially as she saw April, Evie, and Xia start to drift to the classroom across the hall from where she would be.
    â€œI’m nervous,” Alice whispered into Cassidy’s ear, decorated by a gold-pink shiny ball. She caught a whiff of the delicious-smelling coconut oil that Cassidy put in her hair.
    â€œYou’ll be great!” Cassidy said. “Awkward mom high five?”
    The girls performed the weird stiff-armed high five they’d seen their own moms do a million times. “Yeah!” Cassidy cheered, and gave a double thumbs-up. Alice laughed. Her best friend always knew how to cheer herup on the outside, even if she was still a little uncertain on the inside.
    Unlike out in the school yard, the kids in Ms. Garrity’s homeroom looked a lot more like Alice felt—nervous and unsure—which made her feel better. Plus, she spotted a few kids in her class who she knew from elementary school, like Christy Gillespie, with her short blond springy curls. Alice had always admired her for being supersmart but incredibly friendly. “I love your earrings, Christy!” Alice said as she passed by Christy’s desk, complimenting the little panda-shaped studs with tiny pink hearts on their bellies.
    â€œBears are so in right now!” Christy said, nodding at Alice’s backpack.
    Okay, Alice thought. So maybe this won’t be so bad.
    Alice didn’t want to look picky, so she grabbed the first empty desk she saw and pulled out a (regular-size) notebook and pen. A dark-haired boy seated next to her smiled uneasily.
    â€œCan I confess something?” he leaned over and asked after a moment.
    â€œSure,” Alice said.
    â€œI’m totally nervous,” he said. “I kept having dreams all week that they put me in the wrong class and I failedeverything. Do you think that’s normal?”
    Alice nodded. “None of my good friends from last year are in this class, and I’ve been freaking out about not knowing anyone.”
    He smiled. “I’m Aaron Woolsey.”
    â€œAlice,” she said. “Alice the nerd.”
    Aaron laughed. “And you can call me Aaron the geek. Tell me something I don’t know—oh, wait, you can’t, because I’m so smart !” he joked.
    Alice grinned as the final bell rang and Ms. Garrity stood at the front of the class to read attendance.
    Christy’s nice, Aaron is funny, so maybe it’s all going to be okay, Alice thought. She let her eyes wander around the room, relaxing into the idea that in a few weeks she’d know everyone’s names, even the people she’d never seen before. Everyone seems pretty normal, she thought. But then her eyes landed on the mean-looking girl from the bus. She looked up at the same time, making eye contact with Alice. Her frown deepened.
    Maybe she was just nervous, like everybody else! Alice smiled, newly full of confidence after cute and nice Aaron’s friendly conversation, but the curly-haired girl just narrowed her eyes and pointedly looked ahead at Ms. Garrity. It was if her eyeballs had said, “Don’t even think about it.”
    Oh no.
    â€œYou guys probably know all this stuff already, but we’re going to go over it, just for fun,” said Ms. Garrity sarcastically as she flipped open a manila