Like Carrot Juice on a Cupcake
Read Like Carrot Juice on a Cupcake Online
Authors: Julie Sternberg
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sternberg, Julie.
Like carrot juice on a cupcake / by Julie Sternberg ; illustrations by Matthew Cordell.
pages cm
Sequel to: Like bug juice on a burger.
Summary: “A new girl at school throws nine-year-old Eleanor’s relationship with her best friend Pearl into disarray” — Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-4197-1033-9
[1. Novels in verse. 2. Best friends—Fiction. 3. Friendship—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction.] I. Cordell, Matthew, 1975– illustrator. II. Title.
PZ7.5.S74Lg 2014
[Fic]—dc23
2013023276
Text copyright © 2014 Julie Sternberg
Illustrations copyright © 2014 Matthew Cordell
Book design by Jessie Gang
Published in 2014 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Amulet Books and Amulet Paperbacks are registered trademarks of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
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FOR MY PAUL
–J. S.
CONTENTS
I did a mean thing.
A very mean thing.
To a new girl AND
to my best friend.
I HATE that I did it.
But I did.
This is worse than
carrot juice on a cupcake
or a wasp on my pillow
or a dress that’s too tight at the neck.
I hope you never do anything that mean.
I really do.
It all started one Monday morning in April
when our fourth-grade teacher,
Mrs. Ramji,
made a special announcement.
She was standing near her desk,
beside a girl I’d never seen before.
That girl wore sparkly clothes
and a headband with a big bow.
“We have a new student!” Mrs. Ramji said.
“This is Ainsley Biggs.
She just moved here, from Orlando!”
“Orlando!”
my best friend, Pearl, whispered to me,
from the desk beside mine.
“How
magical
.”
I heard other kids whisper, “Disney!”
And then the boy who sits behind me,
Nicholas Rigby,
started humming the Disney song
“It’s a Small World.”
He hummed and hummed,
just loud enough for me to hear.
“Shh!” I told him.
I turned and glared at him, too.
Because Nicholas Rigby is always
getting us in trouble.
Plus, I knew I’d never get that song out of my head.
“Doesn’t Ainsley look like a present?”
Pearl whispered to me.
“A shiny present, too pretty to unwrap?”
(Pearl talks like a poet sometimes.)
“She
does
look like a present!” I whispered back.
I started wondering
whether
I
ever wanted to look like a present.
Before I could decide,
Mrs. Ramji turned the lights off
and on again
to get our attention.
“Class 4A!” she said.
“Please settle down!
You’re not behaving your best for Ainsley.
We need to make her feel welcome!
It’s not easy,
starting a new school so late in the year.”
Then Mrs. Ramji said,
“Pearl!”
Pearl sat up straighter,
and I did, too.
Because maybe she was in trouble.
But Mrs. Ramji told Pearl,
“I would like you to move your desk
closer to Eleanor’s, please.”
“
Closer
to Eleanor’s?” Pearl asked.
“Yes,” Mrs. Ramji said.
“Actually, everyone in that row,
move a little
to make space for Ainsley’s desk,
on the other side of Pearl.”
“Yay! Closer to you!”
Pearl whispered to me,
and we grinned at each other
as everyone in our row
started making space for Ainsley.
After we’d finished
and I’d sat back down,
a wadded-up ball of paper flew
through the air
and landed on my desk.
I knew exactly
what that flying paper was.
I opened it up
and smoothed it out.
Sure enough, Nicholas Rigby had drawn me a picture.
This one showed me on a roller coaster
in Orlando,
with my arms in the air
and my hair blowing in crazy directions.
