Who's Afraid of Fourth Grade? (8 page)

Katie wasn't the only one having a difficult time making her instrument sound right. The band room was filled with beginning musicians, and everyone was struggling with their new instruments. They were all having a tough time of it.

Becky was trying to cover the holes on her French horn while blowing at the same time. She wasn't being very successful.

Emma W. had picked the flute as her instrument because it always sounded so pretty. But today, Emma's flute didn't sound very pretty. It just sounded squeaky.

Instead of getting her own saxophone, Miriam Chan's father had given her one of his old ones. Unfortunately, it was too big for Miriam. She had to stand to play it and blow very hard. Her whole face was beet red.

Kevin
looked
very professional holding his trumpet. It was obvious his brother Ian had shown him how to do that. Too bad Ian hadn't taught Kevin how to keep his spit
inside
the instrument. The way Kevin moved his lips to play the trumpet made him spray all over the place.

George's tuba was huge. It was also very loud. George played louder than anyone else in the beginning band. Unfortunately, he couldn't play the notes at the same time as everyone else. His timing was completely off. And Kadeem . . .

“Whoops!” Kadeem shouted as his trombone slide slipped off its track and flew across the room.

Mr. Starkey jumped out of the way just in time to miss being hit by a flying trombone slide.

“Sorry,” Kadeem said as he scrambled to pick up the slide.

Mr. Starkey smiled at him. He didn't say a word. He just stood in the front of the room moving his arms back and forth as the children played.

It didn't sound much like music to Katie—just a lot of squeaks and squawks with an occasional banging from Jeremy on the drums. She never would have recognized this as “Hot Cross Buns.” But Mr. Starkey seemed to like the way the children had played it.

“That was very nice,” the music teacher said at the end of class. “Pack up your instruments carefully. I'll see you all next Monday. Don't forget to practice.”

As the kids packed up their instruments and got ready to go back to class, Mr. Starkey adjusted his tie, and slipped into his sport jacket. It seemed odd to see a teacher dressed so nicely after Katie had spent so much time in Mr. G's classroom. Mr. Starkey was nothing like Mr. G. The band director had short, neatly cut blond hair. His shirt was pressed, and he wore slacks instead of jeans. Mr. Starkey was a normal teacher. Except he taught music, of course.

“That was fun!” Emma said as she placed her silver flute in its case. “I can't wait to go home and practice.” She sighed. “I'll just have to make sure the twins aren't taking a nap.”

Becky Stern turned around and smiled at Jeremy. “Your drums sounded great,” she told him. “You have really good timing.”

Katie laughed. She knew Becky had a major crush on Jeremy.

Jeremy blushed. “Thanks,” he said gruffly.

“This is harder than I thought it would be,” Katie admitted. “I had trouble just getting my mouth to stay in the right shape around the reed.”

“Me too,” Kevin said. “I have to keep my lips buzzing all the time. All this drool comes out.”

“We know,” Katie, George, Becky, and Emma said at once.

Katie gently placed her clarinet in its case, and began to walk back toward class 4A. There was still a half an hour before it was time to go home. The kids who weren't taking band were still in the classroom having free reading time.

“Hey, Katie, wait up!” Jeremy called after her.

She stopped and turned around. “What's up?”

“The most exciting thing ever!” Jeremy exclaimed. “The coach said I can start in Sunday's game.”

“That's so cool,” Katie said sincerely. She knew how much he'd been looking forward to being a starting player.

“My mom said I could bring one friend to the game. Do you want to come and watch?”

Katie was so happy. It was nice to know that she and Jeremy were still best friends even though they were in different classes. “You bet!” she said excitedly. “I'll even bring the snacks. We learned how to make the most delicious sandwiches in last week's cooking class!”

“Awesome!” Jeremy replied. “We'll pick you up at around eight-thirty. Then after the game, my parents will probably take us for ice cream.”

“Great!” Katie said excitedly. “It'll be just like the old days.”

“I jump high, I jump low. Touch my shoulder, touch my toe. Spin around, jump real high. I reach straight up and grab the sky!” Emma W. leaped up as she finished her jump-rope rhyme.

“That was great, Em,” Jessica told her.

“Thanks,” Emma said. “Now I'll take your end so you can jump.”

“Okay,” Jessica said. “Then, when I miss—and I always do—I'll take Katie's end.”

It was recess time on Tuesday afternoon. Katie, Emma, and Jessica were all playing jump rope together. Emma and Jessica knew lots of rhymes Katie had never heard before.

Katie and Suzanne had always jumped rope to the same three rhymes—“Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear;” “A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea;” and “Tell Me the Name of My Sweetheart.” It was fun to learn some new ones for once.

Jessica leaped into the turning rope and began to jump. “I went to the store for something sweet, along the way, who did I meet . . .” she began. Within seconds, she tripped over the rope. “See, I told you. I stink at this,” she groaned as she went over and took Katie's end of the rope.

“But you're a great ender,” Emma assured her.

“That's because I get lots of practice,” Jessica joked. “I'm always on the end.” She began to turn the rope.

“Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around,” Katie sang as she jumped. “Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground. Teddy bear . . .”

“Hey, there's Suzanne,” Jessica called out. She waved to her. “Suzanne, you want to jump rope?”

Suzanne shook her head. “I was going to kick around a soccer ball,” she called back. “Why don't you come over here and play with me?
Just the two of us
.”

Jessica looked at Emma. “Sorry, gotta go,” she said, dropping the rope before Katie was finished jumping.

Katie and Emma stared as Jessica raced off.

“I don't believe Suzanne!” Katie shouted angrily. “That was really mean.”

“Jessica's changed so much now that we're in fourth grade,” Emma sighed sadly. “She used to be a lot of fun. She had the best ideas for things to do. Now all she does is follow Suzanne.”

“Yeah,” Katie agreed.

Emma turned to Katie. “So I guess you and Suzanne aren't best friends anymore, huh?”

Katie shrugged. She was mad at Suzanne, but she wasn't willing to give her up as a best friend. At least not yet. They'd been friends for a long time. Besides, Katie didn't think this was all Suzanne's fault. “Her mom wants her to play with the kids in her new class for a while, so she can get to know them. I guess that's what she's doing.”

“But that's silly,” Emma said. “You can have new friends and still play with your old ones. It's like this song my mom sings to Matthew and the twins. ‘Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other's gold.' ”

“That's a nice song,” Katie told Emma. “It's kind of like you, Jeremy, and me. You're a new friend. He's an old friend.”

“I don't know Jeremy very well,” Emma said. “We haven't been in the same class in a while.”

“Maybe one day we could all hang out at my house together,” Katie suggested. “You could bring Matthew. I bet he'd love having a
big
boy to play with.”

“Wouldn't Jeremy mind playing with a first-grader?” asked Emma.

Katie shook her head. Jeremy was an only child, just like her. He'd love having a little kid around . . . for a while, anyway. The best part about Matthew was that after you were done playing with him, he went home with Emma. “He'd like Matthew, I'm sure.”

Emma smiled, a little. But she couldn't seem to keep her eyes from where Jessica and Suzanne were.

“Come on,” Katie urged her new friend. “Let's go ask Mandy and Emma S. if they'll jump rope with us.”

“Okay,” Emma said slowly.

“It'll be fun,” Katie assured her. “Class 4A girls rule!”

When Katie got to school the following Monday, there was a big surprise waiting for class 4A. There was a large glass cage on the table in the back of her classroom. They had a class pet!

Or did they?

The thing inside the cage wasn't exactly a pet. At least not yet.

“It's an egg,” Kevin announced to everyone.