Dare to Be Different Read Free

doing, I can’t help guide you in the process. But even without my help, you’re still responsible for every part of the project in order to get a full grade.”
    “No problem, Mrs. Portney. Thanks!”
    The bell rang, and it was time to head off to their separate classes. Kelly had English, Macy had math, Lindsay went to social studies, and Sam headed off to PE.

    “Ugh! What happened to summer?” Kelly lamented to her friends as they slumped toward the cafeteria for lunch on Wednesday during the second week of school.
    “I know exactly what you mean,” Lindsay replied. “I thought they had to give you a few weeks before they started piling on the homework, but I think I already have two hours of homework for tonight, and the day is only half over.”
    “So much for eighth grade being so great,” Sam laughingly agreed as she collapsed in her seat with her lunch tray.
    “What’s with you?” Lindsay asked Macy when she noticed that Macy had hardly said a word since they met up by their lockers a few minutes before.
    “Oh, nothing really,” Macy moped. Her friends just looked at her, waiting, not about to let her off the hook that easily. “Well, it’s just thatmy math class is much harder this year, and I barely made it through last year’s class. My mom has been talking about a tutor, and I don’t want to have to do that.” She slumped her shoulders and dropped her head onto her arms after pushing away her lunch tray.
    “Can we help?” Lindsay offered. “We could help you study. I have the same class as you, and Kelly is ahead of both of us.”
    “Yeah,” Kelly jumped in. “If all of us help, you should be able to pull out of this, no problem.”
    “I don’t know.” Macy wasn’t convinced. “I already failed my first quiz. I just don’t have a math brain, I guess. I think I’m prepared, but then the test starts, and I can’t remember anything about the formulas and the order of the steps. You can help me study, but I think my memory is the problem … or something like that.” Macy looked defeated.
    Sam jumped up with an idea. “I know!” she shouted.
    Lindsay and Kelly were startled by her outburst and almost knocked over their drinks.
    “What’s gotten into you, silly?” Kelly asked, laughing.
    “Well,” Sam continued, “Saturday is onlythree days away. Let’s have a sleepover at my house. We’ll celebrate making it through the second week of school by eating some junk food, watching some movies, and staying up late. What do you say?”
    “Oh, count me in!” Kelly jumped at the chance.
    “Me, too!” Macy quickly added.
    “Well, you guys know my mom won’t let me stay out on a Saturday because of church on Sunday, so you’ll have to count me out,” Lindsay replied.
    “Oh no!” Sam shook her head. She held up a finger so she could finish chewing her bite of food, swallowed, grabbed a quick drink of milk to wash it down, and said, “No way are we leaving you out. We’ll do it Friday.” To a chorus of agreement from the other girls, Lindsay agreed to the plans, and the girls were relieved to have something fun to look forward to.
    “Now let’s make a list,” Macy, ever the planner, suggested, excited to be able to move on from the depressing talk of her math class. “What should we do, and what should we bring?”
    “Definitely a movie,” Kelly suggested.
    “Okay. And we can’t do a movie without a pizza.” Macy wrote M ovie and P izza on the list.
    “What about a game?” Lindsay asked.
    “Oh, girls, I have a game for us, but it’s a surprise. You’ll have to wait until Friday night to find out what it is,” Sam teased.
    “Sounds mysterious.” Macy wrote down: S am’s S ecret G ame . And all of the girls giggled. They made their plans for Friday night and agreed that it would be a nice diversion to what was shaping up to be a tough year.
    Macy, who was watching her weight as usual, picked the sausage and pepperoni off her pizza. Kelly, who never worried