Diary of a 6th Grade Ninja (a hilarious adventure for children ages 9-12) Read Online Free PDF Page B

switched from his clump of desks to the one Zoe was at.
“Did you hear about the food drive money?”
    I had only gotten to school so I hadn’t heard about anything yet. “No. What about it?”
    “It’s gone ,” Brayden said.
“The container is completely empty .”
    “What are you talking about? That thing was filled with cash
and sitting in the front office! Somebody stole it?”
    “ Just the money. The container’s still there, and
nobody knows who did it,” Brayden said.
    I felt that same sick feeling roll around in my guts. I had
to take a seat and breathe slowly through my nose. I didn’t know what it meant,
but I had my suspicions. And from the looks of it, Zoe did too.
    “Anyway,” Brayden continued.
“That’s that, so you’re all caught up in case you see a mountain of cash
sitting somewhere.”
    I watched in silence as he returned to his seat.
    “Happy with your new friends?” Zoe asked. She wasn’t even
trying to hide her sarcasm.
    I didn’t want to make excuses. “I’m sorry about yesterday. Really .”
    “ Really ?”
    “ Really !”
    Zoe tapped the water off her paintbrush and set it on a wet
paper towel next to her canvas. “So you quit then, hmm?”
    I didn’t answer.
    “You’ve quit, and you also returned Emily’s purse, right?”
Zoe asked. The way she rose her voice grated on me.
    “Well, no ,” I whispered.
    “Of course not,” Zoe said. “You know how I know? Because she called me last night wondering if I had seen it
anywhere. You know what I had to do then?”
    I took a breath. I remember it being the longest pause in
the history of all pauses. “What?”
    She leaned over and whispered. “I lied to her.”
    That was it. If she was going to give me a guilt trip, I
didn’t have to take it. “I didn’t ask you to lie! You could’ve told her
the truth!”
    “That I helped you steal it?” she whispered coarsely.
“Yeah, right. And commit social suicide? Forever to be branded as a klepto ?”
    “Whatever, Zoe. You knew what you were doing.”
    I could hear her teeth grinding. “That I was helping my
cousin fit in at a school he was new at? That I felt so bad for him because
he’s such a dork that I couldn’t stand to watch him be alone ?”
    I nodded my head, destroyed by what she said. “ There it is.”
    “There what is?”
    “The truth. You’ve finally revealed how you really feel
about it,” I said, surprised by the shaking in my own voice. “Well you don’t
have to worry about it anymore. I guess I’ll leave you alone forever then.
Happy?”
    Ah, the classic guilt trip. I was good at those. Now I only
had to a wait a few seconds for her apology. And in three… two… one…
    “ Good !” she said as she stood from her desk. She
stormed up to the art teacher. He handed her a hall pass, and she disappeared
out the door.
    And there I sat, smug smile on my face, waiting for an
apology that wasn’t going to be delivered anytime soon.
    I’d never felt so stupid in my life.

 
    Friday. 10:35 AM. Gym class.

 
    I wasn’t sure what to do in gym. Zoe had already gathered
with her group of friends, which included Emily. They stood just outside the
girl’s locker room, gossiping and talking loudly to one another.
    I was on the other side of the gymnasium, standing alone
until Brayden joined me.
    “Where’s Zoe?” he asked.
    I nodded my head in her direction.
    “Oh,” he said. “I heard you guys arguing in art class.”
    Staring at the floor, I made sure not to make eye contact.
The fact that he heard us talking meant he might have heard about Emily’s
purse. “What did you hear us say?”
    “ Everything ,” he sighed.
    I took a breath and continued studying the gymnasium floor.
    “Kind of shady to steal a girl’s purse like that,” Brayden said. “Kind of shadier to put that pressure
on a family member.”
    I feigned a large smile. “ Thaaaaaanks .
I’ll be sure to remember that next time.”
    “Told you those were the bad guys,”