Stitches and Stones Read Online Free PDF Page B

didn’t want to lose all that, just because some people she didn’t know were being mean.
    â€œN-no,” she said. “Everything’s fine.”
    Her dad and Marcus exchanged glances.
    â€œWhat?” Zoey asked.
    â€œWe’re not buying it,” Marcus said. “Come on, what is it?”
    There were pros and cons of having a family that knew you really well. Zoey didn’t want to tell her dad about the comments, so she had to come up with something else.
    â€œOh, it’s just Spirit Week hasn’t been as much fun as I thought it would be, that’s all,” she said.
    â€œWhy not?” Mr. Webber asked.
    Zoey told them about the hat prank. Marcusdidn’t always read her blog posts, but she thought her dad would have seen it.
    â€œI’m pretty sure it was aimed at me, but Libby ended up going home a little early because she was so upset,” she said. “It was really unfair.”
    â€œThere’s nothing fair about kids being mean to one another, honey,” her dad said.
    â€œI’ve been looking forward to Spirit Week so much,” Zoey said mournfully.
    â€œIt’s not over yet,” Marcus reminded her.
    â€œWhat’s on tap for tomorrow?” her dad asked.
    â€œBackward Day. You have to wear your clothing back to front.”
    â€œThat seems like it could be very uncomfortable,” Mr. Webber said.
    â€œYeah, especially if you have to go to the bathroom in a hurry,” Marcus quipped.
    That got a giggle out of Zoey.
    â€œThat’s why I designed a special dress that looks like it’s backward but isn’t!”
    â€œThat’s my girl,” Mr. Webber said, smiling. “Always one step ahead of everyone.”
    She wasn’t one step ahead of the meancommenters, though. By the time she sat down to write her evening blog post, there were even more comments, some from the same users and some from even more new users.
    Zoey knew she was going to have to do something, but the problem was she didn’t know what. She thought about talking to her friends, but they hadn’t said anything about the comments, and since she knew they read her blog regularly, maybe that meant she was just overreacting.
    When she finished the blog post, Zoey went to her worktable to look over her outfit for the following day. It had a collar on it—backward, of course—but Zoey felt like it needed a little something extra to finish it off. She looked in her sewing box at her collection of ribbon and other trimmings, but nothing was speaking to her.
    Just when she was about to give up and go to bed, Zoey’s eyes fell on the little tin she used to store buttons.
    â€œThat’s it!” she said, taking it out of the box. She sifted through the tin until she found four big brightly colored flat buttons. Taking a needle andthread, she sewed them onto the back of the dress.
    â€œPerfect,” Zoey said, observing her handiwork. It always made her feel good to find just the right touch to finish off her designs, like putting in the final piece of a jigsaw puzzle.
    She couldn’t let the people making bad comments take that away from her. But how could she stop them? Zoey decided she’d sleep on it, and maybe she’d figure something out by the morning.

- - - -   CHAPTER 4   - - - -  
    Looking Forward to Dressing Backward!
    Spirit Week continues with Backward Day, and then tomorrow will be Decades Day! It’s backward to the future. . . . Get it? Anyhoo, I’ve made an outfit with a backward collar and buttons in the back instead of the front. Pretty crafty, huh? I’m going to wear a long stringof beads down my back, although I’ll probably have to swing them to the front when I sit in class or else I’ll feel like the princess in “The Princess and the Pea,” with all those knobbly things distracting me.
    I love thinking about clothes being backward.