Ship of Dolls Read Online Free PDF

shouldn’t have sneaked you in there. I’m not going to let you take the punishment. It was my fault, and that’s what I’m going to tell Miss Tompkins.”
    “But Jack . . .”
    He stepped inside as the bell rang, calling everyone to class.
    “Jack, wait! It’s not a punishment . . . .” As she started after him, others crowded through the doorway, shoving her aside.
    “Jack!” she called over their heads. “I
want
to do it!”
    He didn’t turn around.

L exie wriggled into the classroom past two girls in the doorway comparing buckles on their shoes. She looked for Jack and saw him in the midst of a group of laughing boys.
    In Lexie’s mind, the doll slipped farther and farther from reach. If she interrupted while Jack talked with his friends, he was sure to make her the joke of his story. She felt cold inside just thinking how everyone in class would act if they learned she had sneaked into Miss Tompkins’s room in the boardinghouse to see the doll. So she kept watching Jack, hoping he would feel her eyes on him and come over.
    Miss Tompkins rang her handbell. As everyone settled into their seats, Jack eased into his desk across the aisle. Lexie leaned toward him, whispering, “Jack!”
    He whispered back, “Don’t worry!” and opened his desk to take out his math book. A warning glance from the teacher burned across Lexie, drying another whisper on her tongue.
    As the morning dragged on, she wasn’t able to concentrate on fractions. Instead, she tore a corner from her paper. In small letters, she wrote,
I don’t want you to do it.
    She waited until the teacher turned to the blackboard before leaning across to put the folded paper on Jack’s desk.
    As he began to unfold it, Miss Tompkins turned. “Jack. Please stand and read your note aloud.”
    Lexie wanted to melt into the floor. She clenched her pencil so tightly in her fingers, she thought it might break. Jack was good at making up stories. Silently, she urged him to think fast.
    He stood slowly, unfolded the note, and read aloud, “‘I don’t want you to do it.’”
    Someone giggled. Two others snickered. One boy laughed. Miss Tompkins asked, “Do what?”
    Lexie stared at her hands, wishing herself anywhere but here. Miss Tompkins must think they were planning something else.
    “Kiss her,” Jack answered the teacher. “She doesn’t want me to.”
    Lexie’s head shot up. She stared at him while her face began to burn. Several of the boys whooped, and all the girls began to whisper and giggle.
    Louise called, “You can kiss
me
, Jack . . . in your dreams!”
    “In my nightmares,” Jack answered back.
    The whooping and giggling got louder. Miss Tompkins rang her bell. “Class! That will be enough. Jack, you may move to this empty desk in front for the remainder of the day.”
    Her secret was still safe. Lexie knew she was going to face a lot of teasing. She didn’t care. She was more worried that Jack might talk to Miss Tompkins and take the blame about Emily Grace. Looking hard at him, she tried to warn him in silence while he gathered his books and moved to the desk in front.
    The rest of the morning blurred past. It wasn’t possible to whisper to Jack. And from the front of the room, he could easily confess when Miss Tompkins dismissed them all for recess.
    She hoped he understood her note. The dread inside her said it wouldn’t make a difference if he did.
    At recess, she waited impatiently while Jack joked with friends at the front of the room. The girl who sat ahead of her turned around. “I didn’t know you were sweet on Jack.”
    “I’m not!” The words burst from Lexie. They sounded too loud, as if she was trying to hide that she did care.
    Someone else spoke to her. She had to turn to answer, which meant no longer keeping an eye on Jack or Miss Tompkins.
    Finally, she saw him leaving the room with some of his friends. She hurried toward the door, but Louise stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Jack’s
my
boyfriend,