THE CLASS ERUPTED. MAYA GRABBED on to Frankie’s arm and cried, “No way!”
Lila said, “We have to get a girl pet so that we have equal boys and girls.”
“A dog? Can we get a dog?”
“A dog can’t live in an aquarium. It has to be a fish.”
“Or a hermit crab.”
Frankie was an island of calm in all this madness. She sat, as still as a toadstool, with a big smile on her face. She knew exactly what should go in that case. A rodent. They were going to get a pet rodent.
Ms. Cupid held up her hand so that her thumb pressed her middle two fingers against her palm and her pointer and pinky stood up like ears. “Quiet coyote is asking for calm.”
The class settled their voices.
“It is very exciting news,” Ms. Cupid agreed. “But we have a lot to do before it can happen. We need to research different kinds of pets and prepare arguments. We’ll have to convince Principal Flower that we can take care of a pet. We have to figure out how much things like food and supplies will cost.”
Frankie nodded as Ms. Cupid spoke, but she was busy thinking of all the different rodents she had seen with Aunt Gina. Since they couldn’t get anything as big as a capybara, Frankie thought she might like a rat. Aunt Gina had told her they were very smart. Even a simple mouse would be great, but she bet Maya would like a guinea pig. It had big eyes and a cute face. Maya loved cats, and since of course they couldn’t get a pet cat for school, a guinea pig would be the next best thing since it was kind of roly-poly like a kitten.
“For now, though,” Ms. Cupid continued, “we need to finish up morning meeting, and then we will have our reading block.”
Frankie kept her eyes on Ms. Cupid, but she had a hard time listening, and she almost missed the direction to go back to her table. She grabbed Maya’s hand. “Let’s choose Read Together, okay?”
Maya stopped at her own table and glanced at the thick novel that sat at her place. “I was thinking about choosing Read to Self, but sure, okay. What do you want to read?”
Waiting at Frankie’s seat was a book her aunt had given her: All about Rodents.
“Oh,” Maya said. “That looks interesting.” Maya had dark hair that went halfway down her back. She twirled the ends around her fingers. “Want to sit in the beanbags?”
Frankie agreed, and the two friends huddled together on one beanbag. “Isn’t this so exciting?” Frankie asked. “A class pet!”
Maya brightened. “I know! I’ve never had a class pet before. My mom told me her nursery school had a guinea pig and it bit her!”
“Girls, let’s get reading,” Ms. Cupid reminded them.
So Frankie opened the book. “ ‘Rodents,’ ” she read out loud, “ ‘are mammals. They are chara—charac—’ ” The word stopped her.
“ ‘Characterized,’ ” Maya finished for her. Then she said it again, more slowly. “ ‘Char-ac-ter-ized.’ ”
“ ‘They are characterized by incis—’ ”
“ ‘Incisors,’ ” Maya finished for her.
“Right.” Frankie pointed to her own two front teeth. “These are your incisors. They are your cutting teeth.” Frankie knew what a lot of words meant, but sometimes she had trouble reading them when they were down on paper. She started reading again. “ ‘Rodents are mammals. They are characterized by incisors that never stop growing. Rodents are the largest group of mammals.’ ”
“Wait? Their teeth just keep getting bigger and bigger?” Maya asked.
“Yeah!” Frankie answered excitedly. “That’s why they always need something to chew on. Otherwise their teeth can get too big for their mouths!” She held up two fingers in front of her mouth like they were long rat’s teeth.
Maya wrinkled her nose and turned the page of the book. “ ‘There are many different kinds of rodents,’ ” she read. Frankie loved to do Read Together with Maya, and not just because they were best friends. When Maya read, it was like the words danced out of her. It was almost like listening to a teacher read. “ ‘Some rodents, like mice, are very small. Others can be very large. The marmot, for example, can grow up to two feet long, not including its tail!’ ”
“Huh,” Frankie said. “Do you think something that big would fit in that aquarium?”
Maya glanced up at the aquarium that still sat on the table at the front of the room. “That can’t be bigger than three feet across. I think that wouldn’t be very nice for the marmot.”
“You’re probably right. I guess we’ll have to get a smaller rodent.”
“For a class pet, you mean?”
“Yeah. It’s okay. There are lots and lots of smaller rodents. Mice, hamsters, gerbils—all sorts of things. I’m sure we can find one that will fit.”
Maya twirled her hair again. It was what Frankie’s mom called a nervous habit, but Frankie had no clue what Maya might be nervous about. “What if we don’t get a rodent?” Maya asked.
“Of course we’re going to get a rodent! All the rodents at my aunt’s university live in aquariums just like that. Well, I mean, the bigger ones live in bigger cages, but like I said, we can get a smaller rodent.”
Maya chewed on her lip. “I guess I just hadn’t considered a rodent.”
Frankie wrapped her arm around Maya’s shoulders. “It’s good that we’re such great friends, then. I thought of it for both of us!”
“Right,” Maya said, and gave Frankie a small smile.
“Go on,” Frankie urged. “Read me more about the marmot. I want to hear about it even though we can’t get one.”
So Maya kept reading about how marmots build burrows under boulder fields and rocky cliffs. Then they read about how some rodents had pouches in their cheeks to carry food back to their homes. They learned that rodents had been around for almost fifty-six million years. Together they read most of the book before the reading block was over. When they were finished, Frankie was more certain than ever that a rodent was the perfect pet for Ms. Cupid’s third-grade classroom.