said. âNot for real.â
âOkay, okay,â said Monty. He sat down cross-legged on the grass. âBut remember, Leoâs my official Buddy. Where is he, anyway?â
Kieran plunked herself down beside him. âHeâs not in school today.â
âAbsent,â said Winnie, sitting down on his other side.
Jasmine and Lagu and Sierra sat down, too. Great, thought Monty. Everybody was waiting to hear a storyâhis sister, two unofficial kindergarten Buddies
,
and twoâwhat? Monty didnât know what to call Jasmine and Lagu. Friends? Except friends didnât blab. Friends didnât call names.
âRead!â commanded Kieran.
âRead!â echoed Winnie.
From his back pocket Monty pulled out the book he had brought, but he didnât get any further than the title, â
Chicken Soup with Rice
,â when the fence he was leaning against started shaking. A kid was walking toward them, banging a stick against the fence. Step and
bang
. Step and
bang
. Step and
bang, bang,
bang
. It looked like he was walking all the way around the edge of the playground. In a few seconds he had reached the place where Monty was sitting, with Kieran and Winnie and Jasmine and Lagu and Sierra
in a semicircle around him. The kid had curly blond hair and a Band-Aid arching across his nose.
âHi, Finn,â said Kieran.
âHi, Finn,â said Winnie.
The curly-headed kid called Finn didnât answer. He just hit the fence with the stick again.
âCan you go around?â asked Monty. âPlease?â
Finn didnât say yes and he didnât say no. Monty didnât know what to do. Maybe he should just move and let the kid go by?
âFinnâs in our class,â said Kieran.
âHe didnât get a Buddy, either,â said Winnie.
âHow come?â asked Monty.
Nobody answered. The girls didnât know where Finn had been during Reading Buddies, and Finn wasnât saying. Monty figured that wherever Finn was being sent for extra help, it wasnât anywhere fun. Extra help usually wasnât. For a minute, Monty went back and forth, trying to decide what to do.
The last thing he needed was another Kindergarten Buddy.
But how much harder could it be, reading to three kids than two?
A lot harder, maybe. Finn didnât look like the kind of kid teachers called
cooperators
. He looked more like he was ready for a fight.
But it would be mean to leave him out, and Monty wasnât into being mean. He knew how that felt.
âHereâs the deal,â he said. âLeoâs my official Buddy, but these guys are my unofficial Buddies, and you can be, too. Want to?â
Silently, Finn dropped his stick and plopped down on the grass, and Monty began reading.
ââIn January itâs so nice
While slipping on the sliding ice,
To sip hot chicken soup with rice.
Sipping once, sipping twice,
Sipping chicken soup with rice.ââ
He knew the rhyme by heart, so while he read the words out loud he could think about other things. Like how heâd felt like such a bigshot king when he offered to be Kieranâs Buddy. He wasnât feeling much like a king anymore, unless king of kindergartners counted. He was feeling more like a guy with three extra reasons why Mrs. Tuttle was going to be mad at him. And three reasons why Leo was going to beâwhat? Would Leo be mad, too? And what was Montyâs mom going to say when she saw that his âbuddyâ was five years old? At least Monty didnât have long to wait. His playdate with Leo was tomorrow.
â¢Â â¢Â â¢
Saturday morning at his momâs house meant pancakes. Bob was making the pancakes. Montyâs mom was putting plates and forks and a big jug of maple syrup on the table. Sierra was sitting on a blanket with Aisha, who was playing with her plastic rainbow cups. And Monty was hanging out with the rat perched on his shoulder, when there was a
âOkay, okay,â said Monty. He sat down cross-legged on the grass. âBut remember, Leoâs my official Buddy. Where is he, anyway?â
Kieran plunked herself down beside him. âHeâs not in school today.â
âAbsent,â said Winnie, sitting down on his other side.
Jasmine and Lagu and Sierra sat down, too. Great, thought Monty. Everybody was waiting to hear a storyâhis sister, two unofficial kindergarten Buddies
,
and twoâwhat? Monty didnât know what to call Jasmine and Lagu. Friends? Except friends didnât blab. Friends didnât call names.
âRead!â commanded Kieran.
âRead!â echoed Winnie.
From his back pocket Monty pulled out the book he had brought, but he didnât get any further than the title, â
Chicken Soup with Rice
,â when the fence he was leaning against started shaking. A kid was walking toward them, banging a stick against the fence. Step and
bang
. Step and
bang
. Step and
bang, bang,
bang
. It looked like he was walking all the way around the edge of the playground. In a few seconds he had reached the place where Monty was sitting, with Kieran and Winnie and Jasmine and Lagu and Sierra
in a semicircle around him. The kid had curly blond hair and a Band-Aid arching across his nose.
âHi, Finn,â said Kieran.
âHi, Finn,â said Winnie.
The curly-headed kid called Finn didnât answer. He just hit the fence with the stick again.
âCan you go around?â asked Monty. âPlease?â
Finn didnât say yes and he didnât say no. Monty didnât know what to do. Maybe he should just move and let the kid go by?
âFinnâs in our class,â said Kieran.
âHe didnât get a Buddy, either,â said Winnie.
âHow come?â asked Monty.
Nobody answered. The girls didnât know where Finn had been during Reading Buddies, and Finn wasnât saying. Monty figured that wherever Finn was being sent for extra help, it wasnât anywhere fun. Extra help usually wasnât. For a minute, Monty went back and forth, trying to decide what to do.
The last thing he needed was another Kindergarten Buddy.
But how much harder could it be, reading to three kids than two?
A lot harder, maybe. Finn didnât look like the kind of kid teachers called
cooperators
. He looked more like he was ready for a fight.
But it would be mean to leave him out, and Monty wasnât into being mean. He knew how that felt.
âHereâs the deal,â he said. âLeoâs my official Buddy, but these guys are my unofficial Buddies, and you can be, too. Want to?â
Silently, Finn dropped his stick and plopped down on the grass, and Monty began reading.
ââIn January itâs so nice
While slipping on the sliding ice,
To sip hot chicken soup with rice.
Sipping once, sipping twice,
Sipping chicken soup with rice.ââ
He knew the rhyme by heart, so while he read the words out loud he could think about other things. Like how heâd felt like such a bigshot king when he offered to be Kieranâs Buddy. He wasnât feeling much like a king anymore, unless king of kindergartners counted. He was feeling more like a guy with three extra reasons why Mrs. Tuttle was going to be mad at him. And three reasons why Leo was going to beâwhat? Would Leo be mad, too? And what was Montyâs mom going to say when she saw that his âbuddyâ was five years old? At least Monty didnât have long to wait. His playdate with Leo was tomorrow.
â¢Â â¢Â â¢
Saturday morning at his momâs house meant pancakes. Bob was making the pancakes. Montyâs mom was putting plates and forks and a big jug of maple syrup on the table. Sierra was sitting on a blanket with Aisha, who was playing with her plastic rainbow cups. And Monty was hanging out with the rat perched on his shoulder, when there was a
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