Read Online My New Best Friend by Julie Bowe - Free Book Online

goddess of the Earth, and how she saved her grandson, Zeus, from being eaten by his father," Jenna replies. "I've still got my Gaia costume from Brooke's party, so I'll be her." She makes another note on her clipboard.
    "His father wanted to
eat
him?" Brooke says. She wrinkles her nose like a bug flew up it.
    Jenna gives Brooke a look. "Don't you
ever
pay attention in class? Old lady Eddy told us that myth when she subbed for Mr. Crow. First, Zeus's dad ate his five oldest children, then he got tricked into eating a goat and a stone. He would have eaten Zeus, too, only I came along and saved the day."
    Brooke shrugs. "Sounds like a fantasy."
    I snort. "Sounds like a stomachache."
    Randi looks up from dribbling ants. "I'll be Zeus!" she shouts.
    Jenna shakes her head. "In this myth Zeus is only a baby. I need someone smaller." Jenna thinks for a moment. "Tom Sanders is the smallest kid in our class. Plus, he knows how to dance. I'll tell him to be Zeus." Jenna makes another note on her clipboard.
    "Then I'll be his father!" Randi says. She picks up her basketball, brushes off the squished ants, and stuffs it under her shirt. She groans like she just ate five children, a goat, and a rock. "See?" she says, poking her belly. "I got
my
costume, too!"
    Everyone laughs. Except Jenna. "Fine," she says. "You can be the father. Wear a toga over your basketball."
    "What's a toga?" Brooke asks.
    "It's Greek for bedsheet," I reply.
    "What about me?" Stacey asks.
    Jenna turns to Stacey. "You'll be a nymph." Then she looks at Brooke, Meeka, and Jolene. "So will you. After I hide baby Zeus in a cave, you have to take care of him."
    "But I'm allergic to mold," Brooke says, swatting at a fly. "And caves are famous for it." She gives Jenna a sideways sneer. "Or don't you
ever
pay attention in science?"
    Jenna rolls her eyes. "Not a
real
cave, Brooke. "We're going to use—"
    "What about Ida?" Randi cuts in, drumming her basketball belly. "She still needs a part."
    Jenna grins. "That's what I'm getting at. I have the
perfect
part for Ida."
    I gulp.
    "What?" the others ask, even though I'm perfectly happy not knowing what Jenna has in mind.
    "Ida will be the
place
where I hide Zeus!" Jenna replies.
    I give Jenna a very serious squint. "The
place?
"
    Jenna nods. "I hide Zeus in a cave on
Mount Ida.
Isn't that perfect?"
    "I can't be a
mountain!
" I say.
    "Of course you can," Jenna says back. "All you have to do is stand still while we dance around you."
    "Won't people wonder why she's just
standing
there?" Stacey asks.
    "Of course not," Jenna replies. "It will be obvious she's part of the scenery when they see her costume."
    "Um ... excuse me," I say. "I'm all out of mountain costumes."
    "No, you're not," Jenna says. "Just paint a mountain on a box. Put it on. You're Mount Ida."
    "I have to wear ... a
box?
"
    "Yes," Jenna says. "Like you wore to Brooke's party, remember? Only bigger, so Zeus can fit inside, too."
    "Huh?"
    Jenna taps her pen impatiently on her clipboard. "I hide Zeus in a
cave
on Mount Ida," she
explains. "That's why Zeus has to be someone small, like Tom. He has to fit inside the box with you."
    I jump up and punch my fists into my hips. "I am
not
wearing a box with a boy!" I shout.
    I hear a gasp from the other girls.
    Jenna's jaw tightens and her eyes narrow like fishhooks. "Fine," she says. "I'll make Rachel be Zeus. She's small and she's a girl."
    "Rachel isn't in our class," I say. "And this is a clas—"
    "My mother is still the PTA president, even though she's had to miss some meetings lately," Jenna interrupts. "If I say Rachel will be Zeus, then Rachel will be Zeus."
    Jenna goes back to her clipboard.
    I sink down on the bench and think about the box costume I wore to Brooke's party. I think about being mistaken for an end table and having punch cups piled on me. Then I think about wearing a box that's painted like a mountain. And standing there in front of my whole class. And all of our parents. And of Rachel