Always, Abigail (18 page)

1.
I was SOOOO nervous. I went to the bathroom six times before we started. Gabby was ready to kill me. She thought I was going to chicken out on her.

2.
Mrs. Carwell, the kindergarten teacher, introduced us like we were somebody important.

“Boys and girls, we are so lucky to have two wonderful guest readers with us today.”

The kids clapped like we were celebrities. To get them to stop clapping, Mrs. Carwell had to flick the lights on and off three times.

Then she went on. “Let's be good listeners and keep our hands and feet to ourselves.”

It was amazing how she could smile the entire time she was talking as if her cheerfulness could will the kindergartners to behave.

3.
When I announced the title of our story, one skinny kid in the back yelled, “I have that book!”

Then the girl sitting next to him said, “You do not!”

Then the boy punched her in the arm.

“Stanford, we do not hit. Especially girls,” the teacher said, separating them.

I looked at Gabby, wondering if we'd made a big mistake volunteering to do this.

4.
Finally, the teacher calmed everyone down again, and we started the story.

5.
The kids gasped and laughed in all the right places. And when we said, “The end,” they clapped and cheered and yelled, “Tell it again! Tell it again!”

1.
Gabby and I hugged each other and jumped up and down. I never knew it would be so much fun to tell a story to little kids. I shouldn't really have been surprised because it kind of reminded me how much I loved babysitting—I guess I hadn't realized how much I missed it.

2.
As we hurried to our lockers so we wouldn't be late for first period, I heard someone call out, “Hey, Abigail!”

It was AlliCam. They were standing by the drinking fountain outside the library.

“You're not going to believe this!” they said, sprinting toward me. “Guess what we just found out in homeroom?”

3.
When they got to where Gabby and I were standing, they each grabbed one of my arms.

“Alicia Brenton broke her leg last night at gymnastics class,” Cami said.

“Jackie told us that her sister Janay, who's friends with Alicia's sister, said that Alicia's probably out for the rest of the season,” Alli continued in a rush.

“You know what that means?!” Cami asked.

“You're a pom-pom girl!” they both squealed, jumping up and down.

4.
At first I only jumped along with them because they were still squeezing my arms. But as their excitement pumped through my body, the words sunk in: “You're a pom-pom girl!”

I
was a pom-pom girl! For real. This was it! I wasn't an alternate anymore. My dream had come true!

1.
Gabby said, “Congratulations, Abigail.”

2.
AlliCam rolled their eyes.

3.
I cleared my throat and felt a Gabby Guilt migraine coming on.

1.
I practiced each pom-pom routine in the bathroom in front of the mirror exactly six times, which is exactly half of the number of times that my mom yelled at me to turn down the music and get to bed.

By the time I actually did get into bed, my heart was pounding faster than the beat of the music. I was wired.

2.
So I got out of bed and tried on my pom-pom uniform
again
. I had picked it up from Ms. Jenson's office immediately after finding out about Alicia. I couldn't believe how great it felt standing in front of the mirror looking at myself in that uniform.

But while I was admiring myself, I heard my mom coming upstairs to check on me, so I switched out the light, jumped into bed with my uniform on, and pulled up the covers. By the time she peeked in, I lay in bed with my eyes closed, breathing hard, since I had just done the ten-yard dash into bed. It looked like I'd been asleep for hours.

3.
Once my mom left, I got up and practiced my smile in the dresser mirror. I wanted it to be perfect for the pom squad yearbook photo.

4.
Finally, when my cheeks were tired from all that smiling, I took off my uniform and put on my pj's again. By this time, I was more wide awake than a rooster at five a.m.

5.
That's when the headache that had started earlier that day in the hallway at school came back in full force. My head hurt so bad it felt like that five a.m. rooster was inside my brain trying to peck its way out.

6.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw myself jumping up and down in the hallway. Sometimes I was jumping up and down with Gabby. Sometimes I was jumping up and down with AlliCam.

7.
One thing I was worried about. Now that I would officially be a pom, would J&M be nicer to me?

8.
Every time I opened my eyes, I looked at my alarm clock. Each minute that blinked by was closer to seven a.m., when my alarm would go off. Each minute closer to seven a.m. made me feel further and further away from sleep.

Hey Abs,

Congrats about poms!

There's a celebration doughnut in your lunch.

Love,

Dad

1.
How exciting it was that I was finally a real pom-pom girl!

2.
Ditto

3.
Ditto

4.
Ditto

5.
Ditto

6.
Ditto

7.
Ditto

8.
Ditto

9.
Ditto

10.
Ditto

“Ms. Jenson's out sick, so pom squad practice is canceled for today.”

My DESTINY would be delayed one more day.

Dear Gabby and Abigail,

Thank you so much for coming to our class. The children have not stopped talking about you. One of them asked me if you two are Dr. Seuss's kids.

(Of course his whisper was loud enough for a few kids nearby to hear, but not quite loud enough for Old Hawk to hear.)

“Dr. Seuss maybe. Dr. Stupid for sure.”

If I hadn't been so tired, I would have punched him, but I barely had the strength to get mad about it.

“Is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class, Mr. Dawber?”

The boys and girls drew pictures to thank you for spending time with us. We do hope you will come back soon.

Love,

Mrs. Carwell's Kindergarten Class