Ellray Jakes the Dragon Slayer Read Free Page A

care, though,” Alfie says, not backing down. “
I’m
invisible at day care. Suzette says so.” She looks down at her golden brown arm like she’s making sure it’s still attached to the rest of her.
    “Suzette Monahan’s not the boss of the world,” I tell Alfie. “You should tell those other girls she’s just
wrong
. Who else is your friend over at Kreative Learning?” I think my friend Corey’s little sister goes there, and Jared’s brother does, too.
    “Mona is my friend, kind of,” Alfie says, giving her arm a couple of experimental pokes. “And Arletty. But Suzette is my
best
friend there.”
    Mona and Arletty are probably those other two girls I saw that day. “Why do you keep saying Suzette’s a friend?” I ask. “She’s mean to you.”
    “I wish Suzette would start picking on someone else,” Alfie says, ignoring my question. “Then we could
all
start picking on someone else.”
    “No! That’s a terrible idea,” I tell her. “Why do you guys have to pick on
anyone
? I mean, how would Suzette like it if kids started picking on her?”
    I wish they would! Just to teach her a lesson about leaving Alfie alone!
    “Mona and Arletty would never do that, EllWay,” Alfie tells me, her eyes wide in the mirror as she meets my gaze. “They’re nice. Anyway, bullying’s not allowed at day care. There’s a poster next to the sink and everything.”
    “What do you think
this
is?” I ask, trying not to shout. “Saying you’re invisible?”
    “She’s not hitting me,” Alfie points out. “Or even calling me names. She’s just teasing me sometimes. And saying I’m not there.” She pokes herself again.
    “You should tell her to stop,” I say. “Or I will. Want me to call her?”
    What am I
saying
? How did I suddenly get so involved in this mess?
    “What would you say?” Alfie asks, curious.
    “That it’s mean for her to treat you like that. Or
you
could tell her,” I say, sounding eager, because it would be better coming from Alfie, wouldn’t it?What does Suzette Monahan care what I think?
    Anyway, Alfie should be the one who’s mad at Suzette, not me. Why doesn’t Alfie have the same getting-mad ingredient in her that I do? What’s
wrong
with her?
    “I guess I could ask Suzette to make it stop,” Alfie says, like the idea just POPPED into her brain with no help from me. But whatever.
    “Good idea. Why don’t you do it?” I say. “Tomorrow?”
    “What day is tomorrow?” Alfie asks, picking up another doll and waggling it really close to the mirror, watching carefully for any random changes “over there,” I guess.
    “Thursday,” I tell her, thinking about the now-banished pink jacket.
    “Hmm,” Alfie says, like she’s really thinking. “Maybe I’ll do it Fwiday.”
    Which is Alfie-speak for “Friday.”
    “Promise?” I ask.
    “I promise I
might
,” she says.
    “You should at least hang up your new jacket,” I tell her.
    “Maybe I don’t like it anymore,” she says, not looking at me.
    “Huh,” I say. And that’s about as good as it’s gonna get, I tell myself, jumping to my feet and making a quick escape from Alfie’s extremely frilly, pink and purple room.
    That’s enough Alfie Jakes for one night.

4
BUSY BEES
    “Stop buzzing, all you busy bees,” Ms. Sanchez calls out to get our attention. It is now the next day, a cold Thursday morning, and pretty soon we will go outside for nutrition break. My nutrition will be raisins and little square cheese crackers, but mostly I just want to run around with my two best friends at Oak Glen Primary School, Corey Robinson and Kevin McKinley. My legs are already itching, and I just sat down!
    “ BZZ, BZZ ,” Kry Rodriguez says with a big smile on her face as she settles back into her seat.
    Nobody ever gets mad at Kry, not even Ms. Sanchez, who is the prettiest teacher at Oak Glen. I can prove that, because the kids in my class voted once. Kry is the nicest person in our class. She came in late, way after