The More the Merrier (6 page)

“I
talked to my mom and dad last night, and they changed their flight so they can be home for the spelling bee,” I told Erin. “They might be a little late, though, so I can't get out too early.” We were hiding under her umbrella, waiting for the start-of-school bell. If it had been raining just a little bit harder, they would have opened the doors early and let us in. This was just a little bit of rain, though, that we call dribbly-spit, so we were stuck outside.

“Did you study last night?” Erin had loaned me her big book of spelling words so I could keep practicing.

“Yep,” I said. “I had my aunt quiz me for almost a half hour, and I started reading my mom and dad's big, huge dictionary too. I'm up to
academic
.”

“Great,” said Erin. “You have just got to win that spelling bee!”

The bell finally rang, and we were first in line.

Charlie got in line behind us. “I forgot to ask you yesterday; how's the purple?”

I pushed the sleeves of my raincoat and sweatshirt up. “I'm almost back to normal.”

“You could never be normal.” Jack got in line behind Charlie.

“She means a normal color,” said Charlie. “You should have seen her on Saturday after the Purple Potion disaster.”

“What potion disaster?” Rosemary T. and Rosemary W. got in line behind Charlie and Jack and of course butted into our conversation.

I pulled my sleeves down and faced forward.

“The potion disaster she had with her aunt,” said Charlie. “Tell her, Cinderella.”

“I happen to be ignoring Rosemary T. and giving her the silent treatment at the moment,” I said.

“Why?” asked Rosemary T.

I kept facing forward.

“Why are you?” asked Charlie.

“It's a long story,” I said, “so I don't even know where to begin.”

“Tell me!” demanded Rosemary T.

“She can't tell you,” said Jack, “because she's giving you the silent treatment.”

I gave him a thumbs-up.

“Does this have something to do with your aunt?” asked Rosemary T.

“What does Flora have to do with anything?” asked Charlie.

“All this weird stuff started when her aunt came,” said Rosemary T.

“It started way before that,” said Erin.

I gave Erin a thumbs-up. It was a vexylent thing that she wasn't giving Rosemary T. the silent treatment 100 percent of the time, because sometimes it was almost impossible to do.

“The Rosemarys are getting on my nerves,” said Erin.

We looked over to where they were eating at the other third-grade lunch table. Even though we were sitting as far away from them as we could, we could still see they were whispering and staring at us.

“I guess it's getting a little awkward,” I said. “Maybe giving Rosemary T. the silent treatment isn't helping her get back to normal.”

Erin dipped a Tater Tot in ketchup and handed it to me. I made a cheese cracker sandwich and handed it to her.

“Thank you,” we both said at the same time.

“Does anyone want to trade a pretzel for something?” asked Kristy.

“How about an apple slice?” said Olivia.

“How about a cheese and cracker?” I said.

She handed us both a pretzel, and we handed her back an apple slice and a cracker sandwich.

“To ignore someone and give them the silent treatment is one of the worst things ever!” Rosemary T. said very loudly. “It's babyish and childish.”

I looked over and saw she had a crowd of girls all around her. Hannah and Abby got up from the table and walked over.

“Rosemary T. sent us over to ask you why you're giving her the silent treatment.”

I sat there and felt very, extremely awkward and embarrassed and didn't say anything.

“Are you giving us the silent treatment too?” asked Abby.

“Oh no,” I said.

“Good,” said Abby. “So what's going on?”

“It's a long story,” I said.

Abby sat down, but Hannah ran back over to the Rosemarys. Kristy and Olivia and their friend Casey, who also loves horses, scooted closer.

I swallowed. “I don't even know where to begin.”

Hannah marched back over. “Rosemary T. demands to know the whole long story.”

“Once upon a time,” said Erin.

Hannah made a big
harrumph
noise and ran back to the Rosemarys.

“There's that unicorn again,” said Kristy.

We all started laughing.

“Well, I don't have time to deal with this babyish nonsense right now. Please tell Cinderella that I'm giving her the silent treatment too!” Rosemary T. stood up. “My daddy, the special visitor, is on his way.” She marched out of the lunchroom, and Rosemary W. and some other girls followed. Hannah walked back over to our table.

“Rosemary T. said to tell you . . . ,” said Hannah.

“I heard her,” I said.

“She might not be talking to you,” Erin said, “but she talks so loud it doesn't matter.”

Hannah's mouth popped open, and she raced out of the lunchroom.

Abby stood up and looked like she didn't know what to do for a minute. Then she finally followed after Hannah.

A
t school on Wednesday, while we waited for Jack's grandpa to get there, we wrote thank-you cards to Rosemary T.'s dad for coming to visit us.

“Try to win the spelling bee, Cinderella,” said Logan.

“Yeah,” said Trevor. “Whatever your party is, it will be way more vexylent than a unicorn party.”

I gave him a thumbs-up for using my word.

“If Rosemary T. wins, she'll probably make us swear allegiance to all unicorns before we can start the party,” said Christopher. “If we refuse, she'll probably send us into the hall.”

“And then some people would start to cry again,” said Trevor.

“That would be awshucksible,” I said.

“What's that?” asked Logan.

“Aw, shucks, that's terrible.”

Logan nodded, and we started back working on our cards.

“If Zachary wins,” said Trevor, “his party would probably be okay.”

“Except he might forget to plan it,” said Logan, “like he always forgets his homework and his lunch.”

“Tess forgot her pants the other day,” I said.

The smart boys started laughing very hard.

“Mr. Harrison,” called Rosemary T. “We are working on something very important right now, and I think everyone should be serious.”

“Oh, I think a little levity is always a good thing,” said Mr. Harrison.

“What's
levity
mean?” asked Logan.

“It means ‘humor, lightheartedness,'” said Mr. Harrison.

“Really, really try to win the spelling bee, Cinderella,” Logan whispered. “If Rosemary T. wins, she'll probably make a rule that there can't be any levity at her party.”

“Five more minutes, class,” said Mr. Harrison.

“I think hearing about firefighting from Jack's grandpa will be way more vexylent than hearing about banks,” said Christopher.

I smiled big. My word was starting to get used a lot, and I was very, extremely happy about that.

“Yeah,” said Logan. “But I did like the penny roll thing Rosemary T.'s dad gave us.”

That reminded me. I wanted to ask Aunt Flora if she could bring in some kind of party favor thing to class too. Those penny rolls had been a big hit.

And then Jack's grandpa got there, and it was time to give him a warm welcome. He clomped into the classroom wearing big boots and a helmet, and right behind him was his dog!

I could not stop myself from staring at that dog. For one thing, I love dogs. But for two things, he was all black, not white with black spots. I started to worry that he'd gotten his fur burned in a fire; and even though it wasn't time for questions, I almost had to raise my hand and interrupt.

Luckily, quiet Zachary interrupted instead. “He doesn't look like a firefighting dog.”

“You're right,” said Jack's grandpa. “His name is Ashes, and he's a black Lab.”

“Phew,”
I said out loud on accident.

Jack's grandpa laughed. “Firefighters have all kinds of dogs now, not just Dalmatians.”

“How come?” asked Charlie.

“When firefighters used to get to fires in horse-drawn wagons, Dalmatians were good at keeping the horses calm,” said Jack's grandpa. “But we don't use horses anymore, and we don't bring dogs to fires. Now we can have whatever kind of dog we want.”

Ashes had been sitting quietly by Jack's grandpa's feet, but he started whining and pulling on his leash.

“Ashes likes to explore new places,” said Jack's grandpa. “Is it okay with everyone if I let him wander around?”

“I'm allergic to dogs,” said Rosemary T.

“You're not allergic to our dog,” said Abby.

“Only big ones,” said Rosemary T.

“Why don't you sit at my desk,” said Mr. Harrison. “I'll make sure Ashes doesn't get too close to you.”

Rosemary T. circled wide around Ashes and sat in Mr. Harrison's chair. As soon as she was settled, Jack's grandpa let go of Ashes's leash, and he started roaming around the classroom. He walked around tables and sniffed at people's backpacks and let them pet him when he walked by. I tried to pay attention to everything Jack's grandpa was saying, but Ashes kept distracting me. He took a long time getting to our table; but when he finally did, he got very interested in my clogs. He sniffed and sniffed and licked the one that was covered in puppy teeth marks from when Ralph, our neighbor's dog, had stolen it. Finally he plopped down right next to me and stuck his nose into my clog as far as it would go and let out a big sigh.

The whole classroom laughed, and I looked up. I had been so busy watching Ashes that I didn't realize that everyone else was watching him too.

“It looks like he found a good spot,” said Jack's grandpa.

I reached down and gave Ashes some rubs.

“It looks like he's in love with Cinderella's smelly shoe,” said Jack.

“Or maybe he's just in love with Cinderella,” said Jack's grandpa.

The class made a big
Ooooh
noise, and I decided to set the record straight.

“He's not in love with me. I bet he just likes the warm heater, and he thinks my clog is a dog toy. My aunt's cat has been staying with us this week, and she likes warm places and toys too.”

“So does my hamster,” said Zachary, so I guess his quietness is maybe going away.

“So does our dog, Fletcher,” said Abby.

I looked over at her and smiled.

“My snake likes warm places,” said Trevor, “but he doesn't like toys.”

Half the class said “Awesome” about Trevor's snake and the other half said “Ooh, yuck.”

“Order! Order!” called Mr. Harrison.

Which we did, but then it was time for Jack's grandpa to go. And it was very sad, because Ashes had to leave and he did not want to one bit. Jack's grandpa had to sort of drag him out by his leash, and he almost made it out of the classroom with my clog in his mouth. Luckily Charlie noticed and got it back.

“Parting is such sweet sorrow,” said Mr. Harrison. “But we'll have another exciting visitor tomorrow, right, Cinderella?”

“Right,” I said.

“Will your aunt pick you up today in her Flying Machine?” he asked.

“Yep,” I said. “She's picking up me
and
Rosemary T.”

I heard a big gasp from the Rosemarys' table, so I guess Rosemary T. didn't know Aunt Flora was driving to dance class today.

“I'd be gasping too, Rosemary T., if I got to go for a ride in that car.” I guess Mr. Harrison couldn't tell that was a bad gasp and not a good one.

I myself did not care one little bit that Rosemary T. didn't want to carpool with me. I didn't want to carpool with her either. I figured since Erin was starting dance class, she and I would carpool together instead. But because Rosemary T. and I lived right down the block from each other, the carpool had to stay the way it was. And that was way bigger than an
Alas!
or an Awshucksible. That was a YUCK-ICK-BLECH! All in capitals.