The day after the garage sale, I spotted Sam hovering near my homeroom. I waved, and he smiled and said, “I’ve got something for you.” Then he pulled the most awesome present ever out of his backpack.

“Mr. Bananas!” I cried. “You found him!”

Sam grinned and said, “I spotted him as I was leaving. Your grandmother charged me three bucks for him.”

“But the tag says a dollar fifty,” I noticed.

Sam shrugged. “She could tell I really wanted it, so she jacked up the price.”

I hugged my stuffed monkey to my chest. With Mr. Bananas, my room would be mostly back to normal. I had all of the important stuff, anyway. I reached into my backpack. “Let me give you the three dollars.”

“Are you kidding? No way!” Sam’s eyebrows drew together. “I wanted to surprise you.” He looked down at the floor and said, “I hope you like it.”

The walls of my throat swelled—I was so touched, I was practically choking on my own spit. I couldn’t talk, so I just smiled and tried to look grateful.

“So… uh….” Sam shuffled his feet and rattled the change in his right-hand pocket.

I managed to find my voice and said, “What is it?” I was sure he was going to say I had something on my face or I smelled weird.

“Well… there’s this dance coming up….” Sam looked at me.

“Yes?” My voice was a whisper.

“Um, would you like to—you know—dance? At the dance? Together?”

No, just kidding. Of course, I played it cool.

“Okay, then,” Sam said with a smile after I agreed. “Awesome. Well, see you later.”

I stood there for a minute. Was that real? I wondered. Did that just happen? It seemed highly unlikely, but I was still holding Mr. Bananas. That was evidence. I didn’t even care that kids in the hallway were starting to stare at the girl clutching a stuffed monkey. Mr. Bananas could take them any day.

Maybe middle school was starting to look up.