Amber Brown Goes Fourth Read Online Free PDF Page B

was so hard not having a best friend, so I tried to be friends with Hannah. I stayed with her family for a week at the shore. She was really mean to me, saying things like, ‘No one else would be your friend.’ It got so bad that I called my parents and they came down and picked me up early. Then when my parents and I went to California for a while, I got to spend sometime with my cousin, Daniela. She’s fifteen and she’s really nice. We talked about a lot of stuff. It made me feel better. Then when school started, I thought we could be friends, but it was like you wanted another Justin around, not me, Brandi.”
    Brandi looks sad.
    “But I always thought you were nice. I didn’t know you felt so bad.” I look at her.
    Softly, she says, “Well, I did.”
    Poor Brandi.
    I didn’t know that she felt that way, but now I really do know how she felt.
    I say, “Brandi, I’m sorry you felt so bad. I’d really like it if we can be friends.”
    “Me too.” She gets up and starts my second braid.
    “And not just because Justin moved away.”
    “Thanks.” She tickles my nose with my hair. “And I want to be friends with you not just because I moved away from Sandy.”
    I think about how Brandi and I do different things than Justin and I did.
    Somehow I don’t think that hair braiding is something he would be interested in.
    And Brandi likes to read books more than he did.
    And she talks about how she feels. That’s not something that Justin likes to do.
    I do miss him a lot though.
    There will never be another Justin.
    But there would never be another Brandi, either.
    Brandi says, “If some new kids move here, let’s be nice to them, even if we do become best friends.”
    I nod and think about all of the kids who have best friends move away. I think about all of the kids who have to move away.
    I bet it’s hard for all of them.
    I wonder if it’s hard for grownups when their friends move away.
    I think about how Justin’s mom was mymother’s friend, and she moved away . . . . and how my dad moved away . . . . and even though my mom and dad were definitely not best friends when they split up, I wonder if my mom needs a new best friend too.
    I wonder if Max is that new friend. It’s not something easy for me to think about right now.
    Brandi finishes the second braid.
    I think about how she said we might become best friends.
    I guess that’s something that doesn’t always happen right away . . . by snapping your fingers.
    Oh, well, I learned to snap my fingers. . . . It just took practice. So I, Amber Brown, can learn how to be a best friend. . . .
    Thwip . . . snap . . . I hope.
    Brandi hands me the mirror. The two braids look wonderful.
    “I love them,” I say.
    Then I pretend to stick the bead up my nose, even though I don’t really do it because I know it could be dangerous.
    “Perfect in every way.” I continue, “Now, let’s practice the burping. I really want us to win that mermaid.”

Chapter
Fourteen

    I press the stone on the mermaid’s stomach and she makes her strange sound.
    It makes me laugh.
    I look at her long, thick blonde hair and wonder if Brandi and I should give her braids, with thread and beads, too.
    I wonder what Gregory Gifford is doing with his mermaid, the burping trophy one.
    That boy burped ninety-two times to win it.
    Then he burped the alphabet.
    He is definitely the Burp Champion of our school, if not the whole world.
    I didn’t even come close to his score.
    I burped thirty times and then I got the hiccups.
    When Gregory got the mermaid, he pretended she was Karate Mermaid and had her make chopping motions at all of the boys.
    Then he drop-kicked her and the boys played touch football with her.
    I really wanted that mermaid.
    When I got home, I told my mom that I’d lost.
    She didn’t seem too upset and said that she hoped that now my burping days were over.
    I burped at her.
    And then that was it . . . . . . . . until