Best Friend Emma Read Online Free PDF Page B

I’m divorced. Well, not me, but you know what I mean.
    And Cynthia would have learned an important lesson. (Not to mess with me.)
    “Who are you looking for, the Easter bunny?” EllRay Jakes asks me, teasing. He hops up onto the picnic table the girls usually use, but I don’t even tell him to scram—partly because Jared Matthews and Stanley Washington are on their way over to the table, too. And there aren’t any other third-grade girls around to help defend it.
    “Yeah. Even though it’s almost Thanksgiving, I’m looking for bunnies,” I say, pretending to be bored. “And here come some now.”
    “Yo. What’s happenin’?” Jared bellows, flinging his grimy, skate-stickered backpack onto the table. Yuck.

    “Nothin’,” EllRay mumbles, because he’s a littlebit scared of Jared, I think. Like I said before, EllRay is the littlest kid in the third grade, and Jared is the biggest. “Emma’s just waiting for—”
    “I
know
who she’s waiting for,” Jared interrupts. “Kry Rodriguez, that’s who. Her new best friend,” he jeers. “Only Cynthia wants her, too.”
    Even the
boys
know about our battle for Kry? I thought they never noticed anything!
    “Who cares what Cynthia wants?” I say—under my breath, of course.
    “Ooh!” Stanley says, pretending to be shocked. “I’m gonna tell Cynthia you said that.”
    “Go ahead and tell,” I say, since he’ll probably do it anyway. “I’m just trying to be nice to the new girl, that’s all.”
    “Well, now’s your chance,” Jared says, pointing.
    It’s true. Kry Rodriguez is heading toward the picnic table! She waves hello at me from across the lawn, then swings her shiny hair back over her shoulders. She is wearing a red fleecy top, black Levis, and black ankle boots.
    I really, really, really want a pair of boots like those.
    “Hi,” I say, jumping off the table so I can meet her halfway—without those nosy boys listening in on every word. “I have to talk to you, Kry. It’s important. In fact, I was going to call you last night, only I don’t have your phone number yet.”
    “I wanted to call you, too,” Kry says, peeking at me through her long bangs. An
I’m-sorry
lookis already spreading across her face. “Because it turns out that we have relatives coming on Saturday. They’re staying for a whole week, until after Thanksgiving. So my mom says I can’t go out to lunch with you.”
    I instantly decide that there’s no reason to un-invite Kry for Saturday, since she can’t come anyway. Why tell her what I almost had to do? “Lunch and a movie,” I remind her, because I want Kry to realize just how special Saturday was going to be.
    “And a movie,” Kry echoes, looking even sadder. “Oh, and by the way,” she whispers, “she’s divorced, too. My mom, I mean.”
    Huh?
    Hooray!
    “Oh. That’s too bad,” I say with a grown-up-sounding sigh.
    Kry shrugs to show me that yeah, it’s too bad, but no big deal. She’s okay with it. “Where’s that girl with the red hair?” she asks, peering aroundthe filling-up lawn area as she changes the subject. “She looks really nice. Maybe you can ask
her
to go with you.”
    “Her name’s Annie Pat. And she
is
nice,” I say gloomily. “She used to be my best friend, in fact.”
    “Used to be?” Kry says, blinking her surprise.
    “It’s a long story,” I tell her as Fiona, Cynthia, and Heather come swooping across the lawn, heading in our direction. They are all dressed in various shades of pink today. Even Cynthia’s headband is pink. With sparkles in it.
    No sign of Annie Pat yet. I think my headache just got a whole lot worse.

    “Kry,” Cynthia squeals, giving her a little hug. “You look so cute today. Love your boots!”
    “You look cute, too,” Kry tells her. “You guys look very—
pink.
”
    “We are,” Cynthia exclaims, as if looking pink is a good thing. She twirls around and then pauses to rearrange her glittering headband. “And next time we dress