Read Online Cassie Comes Through by Ahmet Zappa - Free Book Online Page B

tea,” she said, correcting her.
    Vega arrived next and sat on the other side of Cassie. She was followed by Astra and Clover, who sat on the other side of the table.
    â€œLast night was so much fun,” said Clover.
    Vega nodded. “We did our nails, had snacks, and more.”
    Clover nodded. “Yes, we did!”
    â€œIt certainly was not a bore,” Vega finished.
    The Bot-Bot waiter arrived and began to take their breakfast orders. Cassie ordered a bowl of druderwomp flakes with starberries.
    Moons and stars, that was a good order,
Cassie thought. She addressed Adora, who sat across from her. “I hope you don’t have breakfast envy!”
    â€œI think I’ll like mine better,” said Adora.
    â€œStarscuse me?” said Cassie.
    â€œI think I’ll like mine better,” repeated Adora.
    â€œUm…what?” said Cassie.
    â€œI said I think I’ll like mine better,” Adora said patiently.
    â€œUh…that’s great,” said Cassie, who still couldn’t understand what the girl was saying but was too embarrassed to ask her to repeat it a third time.
    When it was Leona’s turn, she thought for a moment and ordered starcakes and tinsel toast with a slice of mooncheese.
    Sage giggled. “I thought you said you weren’t hungry!”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” said Leona.
    Breakfast arrived in record time. Tessa took a bite, then got a confused look on her face. “Starscuse me,” she said politely to the Bot-Bot, “but I asked for starberry waffles. These are moonberry.”
    â€œStar apologies,” said the Bot-Bot waiter. “That is highly irregular. I’ll fix that right away.” He zoomed back to the kitchen and returned a few starmins later.
    Tessa dug in to her new breakfast excitedly, took a bite, then shook her head. “Moonberries again!” she exclaimed. “How…”
    â€œDelightful,” finished Piper.
    â€œNo, how odd,” she said.
    â€œI hate moonberries,” said Sage disgustedly. But she punctuated her statement with a delighted laugh.
    Sage’s giggle is really annoying,
thought Cassie.
It would be so much less annoying if she had a sweet, tinkling laugh. Kind of like…
She thought for a minute.
Kind of like mine,
she decided. She practiced it, putting her hand over her mouth and tittering. She nodded. It was musical and quite pleasant.
    Cassie’s day went on starmendously. She felt emboldened enough to raise her hand in every class, even when she wasn’t quite sure of the answer. And when every eye in the class was focused on her, somehow it didn’t feel intimidating at all.
That was some pep talk Lady Stella gave me yestarday,
she thought.
    At the end of the day it was time for their Star Darlings lessons. Cassie settled into her usual seat in the soundproof classroom. She was starprised to see a new, unfamiliar teacher in front of the room. She was one of the youngest teachers Cassie had ever seen, with super-short magenta hair that stuck up from her head in tiny spikes. She wore swirly leggings in shades of pink, red, and orange, a fitted jacket (which the Star Darlings would soon discover, as the class went on, changed color every ten starmins), and shiny orange boots.
    â€œHello, class,” she said, standing and walking up and down the aisles as she spoke. “I am Kiri Lillibelle and I am thrilled to be your guest lecturer today. You may not know me, but I am certainly familiar with each and every one of you. I am the researcher who hand-selects all of your—”
    â€œOutfits,” offered Piper.
    Kiri gave her a quizzical look. “No, Mirror Mantras,” she said. “A Mirror Mantra is a very important part of a successful Wish Mission. By repeating your Mirror Mantra while gazing into a mirror, you will receive strength and centeredness. When you recite it together with your Wisher down on Wishworld, you can bring