My New Best Friend Read Online Free PDF Page A

Three sinks. One paper towel dispenser. "So what are we going to do?"
    "Anything we want!" Stacey says, scooting up onto a sink and swinging her legs like she's sitting on the edge of a million possibilities.
    I look around again trying to see things the way Stacey sees them. "I never noticed how much there isn't to do in here," I say.
    "Yeah, but it's still fun not doing anything with your best friend!" Stacey replies.
    "That's true," I say.
    I walk over to one of the sinks and try to think of all the fun things it can do. I turn on the cold water faucet. Then I turn on the hot water faucet. Then I pump soap straight down the drain.
    Stacey hops off her sink and turns on the water.
Then she turns on the water in the next sink, too. Pretty soon the whole place sounds like Niagara Falls.
    A cumulus cloud of suds starts creeping up out of my drain. I pump in more soap and the suds cloud crawls right over the sides of the sink and plops onto the floor. "Hey, look!" I say to Stacey. "Suds-O-Rama!"
    Stacey giggles and pumps soap into the other sinks. It isn't long before the floor is so foamy you'd swear we have a bad case of rabies or something.
    A big glob of suds falls right onto Stacey's shoe. She does a fake scream. I fake-scream back. Each time a new glob falls, we fake-scream together. Again and again and again.
    "
What
is going on in here?!" someone suddenly barks.
    Stacey and I whip around.
    Mrs. Madson is standing in the doorway of the girls' bathroom with a big frown on her face. Apparently, she doesn't realize what a fun place this is.
    I quickly turn off the water in my sink. Stacey turns the water off in the other sinks. We stand
there staring at the foamy floor. The only sound I can hear is the popping of soap bubbles. And the tapping of Mrs. Madson's blood-red shoe.
    "Um ... we got dirty ... playing dodgeball," Stacey says quickly. "And so our teacher told us to come in here and get cleaned up."
    "I guess we got a little carried away," I add.
    Mrs. Madson sucks in a long, deep breath. When she lets it out again I'm pretty sure I see flames flickering from her nose. "Clean. Up. This.
Mess.
"
    I start cranking the paper towel machine like I'm an organ monkey. A moment later, I'm down on my hands and knees sopping up suds. So is Stacey.
    "Go back to your classroom
immediately,
" Mrs. Madson says when the mess is gone. "The next time I catch you goofing around in here I will send you to Principal Stevens!"
    "Thank you," I say.
    We squeeze past Mrs. Madson and bolt out the door.
    Everyone is back from recess when we get to the classroom.
    "All done helping Mrs. Madson?" Mrs. Eddy asks as we zoom to our desks.
    "Yes, we're very fast alphabetizers," Stacey says.
    "Not to mention cleaners," I add.
    I flip open my desk and take out a notebook and pencil.
    I write
I will never goof around again
five times.
    In cursive.

Chapter 5
    "I'd rather touch worm guts than get caught goofing around again," I say to Stacey as we walk through the park on our way to the Purdee Good after school. "Maybe even
eat
them. Next time, let's ask the mermaid not to let us have
too
much fun."
    Stacey laughs. "My dad says you can never have too much fun
or
too many friends."
    My toe catches on a tree root and I stumble a little. "But one
best
friend is enough, right?"
    Stacey smiles. "One best friend is plenty," she says. "But it doesn't hurt to have a few back-up friends, does it?"
    "Back-up friends are okay," I say. "I like Randi and Meeka and Jolene. And even Brooke, when she isn't showing off her latest pageant crown."
    "And even Jenna?" Stacey asks.
    "Um ... I like Jenna when she's out of town," I offer.
    We walk out of the park and turn the corner on to Main Street, which leads right past Miss Woo's Dance Studio. The studio is on the first floor of an old brick building, and Miss Woo's apartment is on the second floor. Stacey says Miss Woo grew up, tragically, in a Chinese orphanage and then ran away to fulfill her dream of becoming a ballet