It’s the first week of October. We have only been in school for one month. Babies are brand-new when they are one month old, but there is nothing new about school. Maybe school months are like dog years—all I know is this is going to be an extra-long day.

 

“Hi, Gene!” I say. I sit behind Nora and tap her sweatshirt shoulder. “I was thinking, do you want to come over today, on purpose? We can do homework, if you want.”

“Popcorn?”

“Definitely.”

Nora walks Brooke and me to our lockers.

“Robin saw her with the horse at field hockey,” I tell Brooke. “Now she thinks Nora stole it.”

“Ta-da! I’m innocent!” Brooke slams her locker shut. “Sorry. What’re you going to do?”

“Tell Nora the truth. She’s coming over after school.”

“Ooh, bet you can’t wait!” Brooke says.

“Morning, girls! New seating chart today! Upside-down horseshoe—it’s a symbol of good luck!” Mrs. Block greets us at the door. It takes a minute to find my desk. “You’re with your colonial buddy—perfect for today’s presentations!”

Colin and his mother walk in next, lugging his colonial project. “OH NO!” I say.

I go to Mrs. Block’s desk. “I left my project at home. Can I please call my dad?” Our school has a strict policy about kids forgetting assignments. “I know, it is my responsibility and I have to accept the consequences, but Hui Zong should not. It’s her project, too. Please?” Mrs. B. hands me the phone.

I have a hard time concentrating on everyone else’s report until Mrs. B. gets the call from the office.

Mrs. B. skipped Maryland while I was gone, and Brooke and Colin are literally in the middle of Boston’s Freedom Trail when I return.

I kind of want to laugh. Everyone else is, but I can’t see Brooke’s face. Then I hear her snort, and I can’t help myself. Mrs. Block helps the two of them up. “Hui Zong and Kate, you’re next. Why don’t you get ready while I make some repairs to the Freedom Trail,” she suggests.

Our report begins well. The Lord Baltimore and Kit parts go exactly like we practiced them.

Then on Lord Baltimore’s cue: “Ahh, this port we call Baltimore …”

I take off the lid and hold up the port.

“How does it feel looking out on all of this, all … all ruined by my dog?!” I am considering crying when I hear Brooke snort again.

Hui Zong is very professional. She doesn’t miss a line. And Mrs. B. is very professional. She says, “I am impressed with how my fifth graders are rolling with the unexpected this morning.”

We change into our regular clothes. “I am so, so, so, so-to-the-thirty-ninth sorry, Hui Zong,” I say.

“That’s okay, Kate. It doesn’t change my opinion of your dog.” She makes a bad face. “And it doesn’t change my opinion of you.” She puts out her right hand and we do the Maryland handshake.

After Thomas and Eliza wrap up their Virginia report, we go to lunch.

 

Brooke is removing the soggy “lettuce” from her sandwich. Eliza is buying chocolate milk. My to-do list is running through my head.

“If I invited the whole pod to my birthday party, do I still need to send invitations?”

“Totally,” Brooke says. “If you want presents. Or else the parents might think it’s a Junior Guide thing, like a Fall Camp-In or something.”

“Maybe that’s what we should do, camp for my slumber party—”

“Nora?” Brooke says.

“I thought she was off the list,” Eliza says. We spot Nora eating her lunch at her usual table.

“We’re trying to get her back on.…” Brooke stops and looks at me. “Aren’t we?”

I nod. It kind of depends on what happens this afternoon, but Eliza doesn’t know anything about the horse project.

“Then we should ask her to sit with us,” Eliza says. “She is actually funny. I like being her partner in Junior Guides.”

The Nora I know would sit with us if she felt like it, but I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

Brooke returns to party planning. “I think you’ve got to go with a Halloween theme, Kate.” And that’s as far as we get because our table is dismissed for recess.