Spirit Week Showdown Read Free

room. We call it awesome! This extra room has a rainbow-shapeddoor with “The Cubby Cave” written above it. We just call it the Cave, because no fourth grader in their right mind would use the word “cubby.” Inside the Cave, each of us has a long wooden cabinet with our name on it. They look like lockers only way better because they have tons of space and they’re all different colors instead of the ugly gray ones they have in middle school.
    Inside each cabinet, there’s a square at the top for books, a hook for our coat and backpack, and a drawer at the bottom for supplies and lunchboxes. It’s boo-yang cool, and a fun place to hang out before the bell rings. By the time Naomi and I get to our cabinets, the place is packed with our classmates.
    Suddenly the Cave goes from rock-concert loud to dead-people quiet. Students freeze. Even the air conditioner cuts off. I’m scared to look, but I have to know what’s happening. A tall girl, taller than most teachers, stands next to me. I slowly back away from my cabinet.
    It’s Mean Connie Tate.
    There are fifteen rumors about Mean Connie, and all of them are true. Rumors like breaking her brother’s fingers, stealing boots off a homeless lady, and trashing the Bluebonnet Bakery because she ordered chocolate doughnuts and theyaccidentally gave her lemon filled.
    She glares at Naomi. “Get your grimy hands off my door.”
    â€œI hope I didn’t get any of your bully germs on me,” says Naomi.
    It only takes two seconds for the Cave to empty. I’d leave, too, if Naomi wasn’t my best friend, because it’s going to get ugly in here. I think there’s going to be blood. Lots of blood.
    Mean Connie steps closer to Naomi. “Stay away from me, Jackson.”
    Naomi shrugs but doesn’t seem scared at all. “You stay away from me, too!”
    Mean Connie gets her books and stomps out of the Cave. Naomi and I wait for her to get far enough away before we talk.
    â€œAre you okay? She really scares me,” I say.
    Naomi rolls her eyes. “We used to go to the same private school in second grade. Mean Connie tried to bully me, but I told on her and she got kicked out.”
    Naomi holds her cell phone up high. “Before we walk into class, let’s take a picture for my portfolio in case I ever need one of me and my best friend in the Cave on a Thursday.”
    I put my face to hers and we smile so big that it takes up the whole picture screen. Click.

Chapter Three
    M rs. Davis makes us sit boy, girl, boy, girl, because she thinks that will stop us from talking. She’s right. Even the twins have a boy between them. Michael Silsbee sits in front of me. He’s got big ears and hears everything, but he talks about as much as my stuffed animals, which means not at all. Kenyan Tayler sits behind me, and I wouldn’t talk to him if he was the last boy on earth because he’s always pulling my braids. I ka-clunk over to Naomi’s desk with her.
    â€œI love your vest, Mya,” she says.
    I look down at it. “Annie Oakley wore one justlike it. Cowgirl Claire has one, too.”
    Naomi frowns. “Who are they? What grade are they in? I don’t think I’ve met them.”
    I giggle. “They’re famous cowgirls.”
    Mom bought my vest at Billy Bob’s dollar store, even though I tell everyone she got it in the gift shop at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. There’s only one teeny-weeny difference between the two. I bet all the labels inside the vests at the gift shop say Made with Genuine Cowhide . Billy Bob’s label just says size small .
    I point toward the door. “Here come the twins.”
    I’ve been friends with Starr and Skye Falling since first grade. I’m not sure where they came from. They just showed up in class one day like aliens, and for the longest time, that’s what I thought they were. The longer I knew them, the more I believed