Friends of a Feather Read Online Free PDF Page B

miss?”
    â€œI asked what a weenis is,” I say.
    â€œThe tip of your elbow,” he answers.
    Mom and the girls swivel their heads toward him.
    â€œFor real?” I say.
    â€œFor real,” he says.
    Winnie scrunches her nose. “Weenis means the tip of your elbow?”
    â€œJoel, how on earth do you know that?” Mom says.
    â€œSweetheart, I know everything,” he says. He winks at me. I grin.
    Sandra puts down her phone, which she’s been tapping on. “Holy moly, it does. I just looked it up.”
    So now I’m armed with my giant lollipop, my broken arm, and my weenises. Two of them, since I have two elbows.
    I’m prepared for anything.

CHAPTER FIVE
    I want to give Joseph the giant lollipop right away, but when I get to school, Mrs. Webber has already started morning meeting and I have to scurry to sit down with the others. The kids sit on the floor and Mrs. Webber sits in the chair from her desk, which she rolls to the center of the room. These days, she asks someone to crawl forward and lock the wheels, because last week her chair rolled out from under her. She fell backward, and her wooden clog flew off her foot and hit Lexie smack in the head. That’s how Lexie got her bruise.
    Mrs. Webber launches into her “Here’s what we’re going to do today” speech, and I scooch toward Joseph.
    â€œ
Look,”
I whisper, holding out the arm with the cast on it.
    His eyes widen. He reaches out to touch the bandage, then changes his mind and draws back his hand. “Are you okay?”
    â€œI bruised my bone.”
    â€œYour
bone
?”
    I catch Mrs. Webber glancing at us, so I sit up taller and put on my Good Listener face. “I’ll tell you later,” I say out of the side of my mouth. “Be sure to sit with me at lunch.”
    He gives me a thumbs-up.
    After morning meeting, we do math. Then comes reading time. I sit at my desk and read
Sink or Swim
, which is about a brother and sister who fall into fairy tales and do funny things. Joseph is at his desk reading
Darth Paper Strikes Back
. Taylor is at the computer and taking one of the tests that says either yes, you really did read a certain book, or no, you didn’t and you only said that you did.
    â€œI passed!” he says when his score flashes up on the screen. He sounds amazed. “Mrs. Webber, Mrs. Webber, I passed!”
    â€œTaylor, that’s wonderful,” Mrs. Webber says. She gives him a smile, because reading isn’t easy for him. She says, “Class?”
    â€œHooray, hooray, hooray!” everyone cries. That’s what we do when anyone passes a reading test.
    Taylor beams. I’m glad for him. Then something hits my cheek, and my fingers go to my face.
Ow
.

    What was the thing, and where did it come from?
    I hear a whistle. It’s Lexie, who jerks her head to say,
By your feet, dumb-dumb.
    I reach down and scoop up a small paper airplane. It’s a good one, with sharp creases, equal-sized wings, and a pointy nose that’s pointy even after crashing into me.
    I’m impressed, because I am not the best at making paper airplanes. Instead of zooming through the air, my paper airplanes do nosedives or sad, floppy loop de loops. I’m good at other things, though. I can fling a playing card so fast that it slices through a Kleenex. Also, I can make George Washington’s head turn into a mushroom by folding a dollar bill a special way. And I know
how
to make paper airplanes. They just never turn out right.
    Lexie whistles again. She pretends to open a book, which is her silent way of saying,
Unfold the note, stupid-head
.
    Oh. Okay. I unfold the paper airplane. It says,
What happened to your arm? xxx, Elmoneyfreshdogg
.
    Right away a second paper airplane zings me. This one says,
Is that your fake bandage? We’re not allowed to bring toys to school, you know. xxx, Moo Moo
.
    My ribs tighten and I don’t look her way. I forgot