The next day was Tuesday. Since I wasn’t really sick, I had to go to school. Zoey’s mom drove us. We got there on time. I sat down at my desk, which is in between the wall and a boy named Spencer. I didn’t talk to Evie until it was snack time.
Mom always packs the same snack for me—apple slices and a little piece of candy. Usually it’s something from the Penny Candy Wall, but today it was a sliver of Stella’s Fudge, which was named after me.
I ate the apples first and then I opened my lunch box to put the apple slices away and get the fudge. The reason it was just a sliver and not a bigger piece is that Mom packed me dessert too, for when we had lunch. It was two cookies. She’d made them the night before, when Penny and I were at Batts Confections.
“Pardon,” a voice said. I knew it was Evie before I even looked up, because she was the only third grader I’d ever heard use that word.
“Yeah?”
“Are you contagious?” she asked.
“What?” I asked.
“Can we catch whatever you have? Is that why you’re staying at your desk instead of coming to talk to us?”
“No, I’m all better,” I said.
“That’s good,” she said.
I shut the lid of my lunch box. “Wait,” Evie said. “Can I have a biscuit?”
“I don’t have any biscuits,” I said.
“You don’t have to lie about it,” she said.
“I’m not lying,” I said.
There was a knock on the door. I turned to see Mrs. Blank coming into the room again. “Evie,” Mrs. Finkel called. “Do you mind coming over so we can talk about the schedule?”
“Oh, bother,” Evie said. Which I guess is the London way of saying, Yes, I do mind. But she had to go, because you can’t say that to a teacher.
I popped the fudge into my mouth and sucked on it instead of chewing, so it would last longer. I wondered what subject Evie had to go to learning lab for. It made me feel just the eensy weensiest bit bad for her. If I were the new kid, I wouldn’t want everyone thinking I wasn’t smart enough and I had to go to the learning lab.
When Mrs. Blank left, Mrs. Finkel clapped her hands. Kids raced around to get back to their desks, but I was already at mine. I clasped my hands together and lifted my arms up over my head. Then I turned my palms upside-down so my knuckles would crack.
“Is anyone done eating?” Mrs. Finkel asked.
I raised my hand. Down the row, I saw Evie raising her hand, too.
“Mrs. Blank left her planner behind, so I need a volunteer to take it back to her room.”
Behind me I heard Joshua saying, “Oooh, oooh, oooh,” which is the sound he makes when he’s waving his hand around.
“Yes, Joshua?” Mrs. Finkel asked.
Joshua said something that sounded like, “Whoomp whoomp whoomp.”
“It looks like you just stuffed the rest of your snack into your mouth,” Mrs. Finkel said. “It’s hard to understand you.”
“I said I’ll take it,” Joshua said.
“I saw Stella’s hand first.”
Joshua slammed his hand down on his desk, which is what he does when he’s upset about something. “That’s enough, Joshua,” Mrs. Finkel said. “Stella, will you take the planner for me?”
“Sure,” I said. It’s cool to run errands for your teacher.
“And Evie, was that a hand up saying you were done?”
Evie nodded.
“All right, Stella, take Evie with you, so she can see Mrs. Blank’s office.”
I guess that sort of made me Evie’s buddy. The thing is, I didn’t want that job anymore. But I said okay, because you can’t say no to a teacher, either.
Mrs. Finkel handed me the planner and Evie and I walked out to the hall. “I already finished my snack because I forgot to bring one,” she told me. “We didn’t have snack time at my old school. That’s why I asked for a biscuit.”
“I really didn’t have any,” I said.
“But I saw them,” she insisted. “If you sit next to me at lunch today, I’ll prove it to you.”
“Don’t you have other people to sit with?” I asked.
“You just want me to sit with other people because you have the biscuits and you don’t want me to see.”
“That’s not true,” I said. “You picked other people to sit with yesterday, so I thought you wouldn’t want to sit with me.”
“That’s because I didn’t know those kids and I already knew you. When we first moved here, I didn’t want to make new friends because I missed my old ones so much. But then I met you, and you were really nice, so I wanted to meet more people. Now I know everyone, and I’d like to sit with you. If that’s okay.”
“Yeah, that’s okay,” I said. I smiled, just the eensy weensiest little bit. Now she knew everyone–and she was picking me.
We got to the learning lab. I gave Mrs. Blank her planner back. “Thanks,” she said. “Au revoir, Evie. À lundi.”
“Au revoir,” Evie said.
I happen to know that “au revoir” is French for “goodbye,” because once on Superstar Sam, Sam had a gymnastics meet in France. But I didn’t know the other words.
“What did Mrs. Blank say to you?” I asked, once Evie and I were back in the hallway.
“That she’d see me on Monday. I’m starting French lessons in the learning lab.”
“But we don’t have language classes until fourth grade,” I said. Fourth grade is still a year away. Then we get to pick French or Spanish.
“I know,” Evie said. “But we already started French at my old school in London. My parents don’t want me to skip a year.”
“Oh that’s cool,” I said. “I wish I could learn French now.”
“I’ll teach you some if you want.”
“How do you say, ‘See you at lunch’?”
“Je te verrai à midi,” Evie said.
I tried to repeat it, but I don’t think it sounded quite right.
We got back to our classroom. Mrs. Finkel had already started our social studies lesson, so Evie and I went straight to our desks.
An hour and a half later, it was lunchtime. Evie sat in the seat next to me and I opened up my lunch box. “You see,” I said. “All I have is a turkey-and-cheese sandwich, a juice box, and—”
“And biscuits!” she said.
“Those aren’t biscuits,” I said. “Those are chocolate-chip cookies.”
“That’s not what we call them in London,” Evie said.
All of a sudden I thought of something. “Last week, when I saw you outside Man’s Best Friend and you were going to eat at Brody’s Grill, you said you wanted a ‘plate of chips,’ but you didn’t really mean chips, did you?”
“They’re called something else in America,” Evie said. “I can’t remember the name. But they’re made of potatoes and they’re long and skinny. You get them with burgers.”
“Oh, you mean French fries!” I said.
“That’s it,” Evie said.
“I have an idea,” I said. “I’ll teach you the American words for things, and you can teach me French.”
“Yeah,” Evie said. “And I can teach you British words too.”
“But then you’re teaching me two and I’m only teaching you one,” I said.
“I don’t mind,” Evie said.
She held out her hand. We shook to make it official.
