EllRay Jakes Rocks the Holidays! Read Online Free PDF Page A

things.
    “I thought we were just supposed to figure out what to call the
assembly
,” I say. “That’s what mydad told
me
. But maybe we should leave the word ‘snow’ out of the assembly title, too, like with ‘Christmas,’ since it never snows in Oak Glen, California.”
    “It did once, I think,” Kry says, tapping her chin and looking up at the sky through her bangs as if the answer might be written on today’s puffy white clouds. “In the olden days.”
    “Dang! And we missed it,” Corey says, kicking some leaves that look like little gold inside-out umbrellas.
    “Hey,” I say, giving him a friendly shove. “When did you get here?”
    I look around for Kevin, but he’s not on the playground yet.
    “There’s a real good song called ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland,’” Emma says, like she’s thinking aloud. “So maybe we should call the assembly that. Because you can have a ‘winter wonderland’ without any snow.”
    “How?” Jared asks, his hands on his hips. “The
whole entire song
is about how much fun it is knocking down some dude’s snowman. So
duh
.”
    Okay, two things. First, it’s like we are brainstorming without a brain, me included. And second,I’m pretty sure that’s not the only thing the song ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland’ is about, but it’s too early in the day to argue.
    Especially with Jared.
    It’s like Jared eats arguments for
breakfast
, he loves them so much. Arguments give him energy, like a vampire slurping up blood.
    Not that that’s a very Christmassy comparison to make.
    But in fact, even when everyone is happy and things are going great, Jared sometimes likes to get mad in advance.
    Just in case!
    “I like that idea,” Kry says thoughtfully, her dark brown eyes shining. “Because ‘winter wonderland’ can also mean sparkly decorations and fun. Without the snow. So that would be a good thing to call the assembly. We just won’t sing the song,” she adds, probably to make Jared feel better.
    “If you say so,” he mumbles.
    Kry’s about the only kid Jared won’t take on. I think he kind of likes her.
    “She just
did
say so,” Emma tells him, fake-innocent.
    “So, we’ll tell Ms. Sanchez that ‘Winter Wonderland’ is our suggestion for the assembly title,” Cynthia says, like she’s been taking notes. “But what song are we gonna sing?”
    “We’d better figure something out,” Heather says, sounding gloomy. “Or they’re gonna make us sing ‘Jingle Bells’ again, like last year. While we JANGLE those old
bells.
”
    “And while the boys sing all the wrong words,” Cynthia says, shaking her head in disgust.
    I forget the wrong words, except for “Batman smells.”
    Maybe this won’t be so bad after all!
    “Let’s do that one again,” Stanley says, laughing.
    This reminds me to look around for Kevin again. Is he here yet?
    Sort of. He has appeared out of nowhere and is sitting on the boy’s lunch table, pawing through his lunch sack, even though school hasn’t started yet.
    Us guys do that. That’s why we’re always starving by the time we get home from school.
    Kevin is continuing to ignore me—because I embarrassed him in public last Thursday. Accidentally, but what difference does that make?
    I don’t blame him for being mad, now that I think about it. Someone can
accidentally
knock you over during recess, can’t they? And it can hurt just as much as if they aimed themselves at you with a giant slingshot.
    “C’mon,” Emma says through a tangle of wind-blown curly hair. “We have to come up with something
good
to sing this year. We don’t want to just stand there shaking a bunch of rusty old bells. That’s so babyish.”
    “Yeah,” Annie Pat says, seconding her. “And the assembly is this Friday, in only four more days. And we want to look good,
whatever
we do.”
    “We should dance,” Kry says, inspired.
    Yeah.
That’s
gonna happen.
    Jared makes a few hurling sounds, and Stanley pretend-dances to