Ella Exaggerates

Ella Ambrose wasn't exactly a liar. She didn't say things that were completely untrue. She just liked to exaggerate a little. Well, okay maybe a lot. She wouldn't say she had a lot of books. She would say she had thousands of books. She wouldn't say she could jump high. She would say could jump higher than anybody else.

"I'm the best reader in the world." she told her mother.

"The best in the whole world?" asked Mommy. She frowned. They were trying to teach Ella not to exaggerate so much.

"Well, maybe not the best in the whole world." Ella corrected herself, "but the best in the whole school."

"Ella .." said Mommy still frowning.

"Well, maybe not the best in the whole school, but the best in my class."

"Ella..." repeated Mommy.

"I'm one of the best readers in my class."she admitted finally. "I'm in the highest reading group."

One night after a really big and  really filling spaghetti dinner, Ella said she was never going to eat again as long as she lived.

"Never?" said Daddy. "Are you sure about that, Ella? Never is a long time."

"Well, not for a long long time" corrected Ella.

"Ella..." said Daddy frowning.

"I'm not going to eat again until breakfast."admitted Ella.

One afternoon, Ella came home from school and tossed her backpack on the floor. "Guess what!" she called out excitedly to her mother. "I have the most exciting news in the whole world! " She looked around but didn't see her Mom only her older sister Erin.

Erin was sitting at the table eating a snack of yogurt. She raised her eyebrows at Ella. "The most exciting news in the world?" she said. "Did you find a way to achieve world peace? Did you discover a cure for a deadly disease? I don't think so. There's no way  your news is the most exciting in the whole world." she scoffed.

Ella glared at her sister.  "Guess what, mommy" Ella repeated.

"Backpack, Ella!" said Mommy coming in from the other room and pointing to Ella's backpack on the floor.

Ella sighed. She picked up her backpack and put it on the table. Didn't anyone care about her great news?

"Now, what's your news?" asked Mommy as if reading Ella's thoughts.

"I'm the best speller in the whole school!"

Mommy frowned. "Ella..." she said.

"No, really I am." repeated Ella.

Mommy frowned even deeper. "Ella..." she said

"I am Mommy." insisted Ella. Erin gave Ella a look that said she didn't believe Ella either. Ella glared at her. "I am the best speller in the whole school."

"Ella," said Mommy calmly and quietly. "I know you're a good speller, but you have to stop this exaggerating."

"I'm not exaggerating. We had a spelling bee in school today, and I won. I beat all the kids in my class, and all the other kids in the school too.  I get to go to the county spelling bee, and if I win that I get to go the state spelling bee. If I win that, I get to go to the national spelling bee."

"Really, Ella?" asked Erin in disbelieve.

"Really Ella?" repeated Mommy but she said it more with surprise than total disbelieve.

"Really." insisted Ella."I am telling the absolute truth. I won the school spelling bee. I am the best speller in my school."

Mommy threw her arms around Ella. "Oh sweetie." she exclaimed genuinely excitedly for Ella.  "I'm so proud of you."

Ella frowned. "Why didn't you believe me at first?" she asked her mother disappointedly.

"Oh come on." butted in Erin. "You exaggerate all the time."

"I wasn't talking to you." replied Ella angrily.

"You do have a tendency to exaggerate." admitted Mommy.

Ella frowned harder. She did not like that Mommy had not believed her at first. "I'm never going to exaggerate again." she swore.

"Ella..." said Mommy.

"Well, I am going to try not to exaggerate anymore." said Ella.

"Now, that I can believe." said Mommy.

Can I Phone a Friend?

Celia Humbert was bored. She went looking for her older sister, Gordanna. As usual, Gordanna was on the phone. "Do you mind?" Gordanna exclaimed angrily as Celia approached. She practically slammed the door in Celia's voice. For lack of anything better to do, Celia hung around outside her sister's door. She put her ear to the door and listened to Gordanna's half of the conversation. Gordanna laughed into the phone. Celia was jealous. She couldn't wait until she was old enough to call her friends and spend hours on the phone with them too just like Gordanna.

"What are you doing, Celia?" asked Mommy as she walked by holding a load of laundry.

"Nothing, mama." said Celia quickly moving away from her sister's door. She followed her mother off down the hall. When Mommy put the laundry down on her bed, Celia sat down beside it. "Celia!" exclaimed Mommy giving her an unhappy look. Celia bounced off the bed and landed in front of the wooden night table. She starred at  the cordless phone lying on the table.  She thought about how much she wished she was old enough to spend hours on the phone like Gordanna and sighed heavily.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" asked her mother with concern.

"Nothing." replied Celia. Her mother gave her a look that said she knew something was going on. Celia sighed again. She never could keep anything from her mother. "When am I going to be old enough to talk on the phone with my friends like Gordanna does?"she asked finally.

Mommy smiled. "Don't be in such a rush to grow up." she said. "It'll happen before you know it.

Celia frowned. That wasn't much of an answer. She wanted to grow up now. She went off into her own room and picked up her little pink toy princess phone from out of her toy box.  She pushed a bunch of buttons and then, put the phone to her ear. "Why,  Hello Maryellen." she said into the phone "It's me, Celia."  Maryellen was her pretend friend. After a minute or two, she got bored. Real friends were better than pretend friends and real phone conversations were better than pretend ones too. It was no fun just talking to herself. She frowned and disappointedly threw the phone back into her toy box. She wanted to phone a friend for real.

Celia went back to her mother's room. Mommy smiled when Celia entered the room. "Are you feeling better?" Mommy asked cheerfully.

"I want to talk on the phone with my friends like Gordanna does!" insisted Celia. "Can I? Can I please call Bianca?" she begged. Bianca Tate was her best friend. They'd grown up together since they were babies.

Mommy still didn't think Celia was old enough to talk on the phone with her friends. "Maybe, when you're a little bit older." she said.

Celia frowned and wandered off unhappily.

Every day, after that, she asked her mother. "Am I old enough now?"

Her mother constantly put her off until one day, she finally wore her mother down. "Okay." she said as Celia was sitting down to lunch  and asking for the hundredth time when she could call Bianca on the phone. "after lunch, you can call Bianca."

"Yeah!" cried Celia excitedly. She gulped down her milk and practically swallowed her peanut butter and jelly sandwich whole. As soon as she was done, she jumped out of her seat. "I'm ready now, Mommy." she said.

She went into the living room and sat down on the couch. She made herself comfortable. Mommy helped her dial Bianca's number. The phone rang twice and was picked up by Bianca's mother. "Hello, Mrs. Tate." Celia said politely into the phone. "Is Bianca there?" Mommy nodded approvingly at Celia's polite manner.

After a minute or two Bianca came to the phone. "Hello?" she said.

"Hello, Bianca. It's me, Celia."

"Oh hello, Celia. How are you?"

"I'm fine." answered Celia. "How are you?"

"I'm fine too." replied Bianca.

After that, Celia didn't say anything. Seconds went by and then minutes. Still, Celia did not say a word. Mommy couldn't believe Bianca was doing that much talking. She was usually quite a shy and quiet little girl. Mommy put her ear near the phone. She didn't hear anything. Apparently, Bianca wasn't talking either. It was just dead silence. Celia was so happy though and so proud of herself. She sat there with the phone to her ear not saying anything and not hearing anything but with a huge wide smile on her face. Mommy couldn't help smiling too.

Just then, Gordanna stormed into the room. "Who's on the phone?" she asked accusingly as though the phone were her private posession.

"What happened to your cell phone?" asked Mommy.

"It needs a charge." replied Gordanna. She looked around and saw Celia on the phone and looked at her mother in surprise. Then, she waited a minute or two impatiently stamping her foot. "Is she really talking or what?" asked Gordanna angrily when Celia still hadn't said anything.  She went over to Celia and leaned over and put her ear near the phone. There was  still no sound coming from the other end of the phone either. "Mom!" she whined. "She is not even having a conversation!"

Celia gave her a nasty look. "Do you mind?" she hissed in a whisper. It was something Gordanna had often said to her.

"I think it's time to say goodbye." said Mommy.

Celia gave her mother disappointed look, but did as she was told. "Goodbye, Bianca." she said into the phone.

"Goodbye." replied Bianca.

"It's about time." exclaimed Gordanna instantly grabbing for the phone as soon as it slipped out of Celia's fingers.

"How long was I on the phone, Mommy?" asked Celia.

"For about ten minutes." replied Mommy.

"Next time, I am going to be on for twenty minutes." declared Celia.

"Next time, you might try talking." said Gordanna.

The Lost Puppy

It was mid December. Dulcie Wilcox and her mom and her older sister, Diandra were out shopping in the middle of the holiday rush. The mall was packed. Dulcie had never seen so many people or heard so much noise. She was scared, and she was tired. She held tightly to her favorite stuffed puppy Spot.

Dulcie had Spot since she was 2 years old. Grandma and Grandpa gave it to her for her birthday. She loved the little brown fluffy dog from the moment she saw him. "Doggy Spot!" she exclaimed excitedly as soon as she opened the brightly wrapped package and saw him.

"Spot?" replied Diandra opening her eyes wide in surprise. "That dog doesn't have a Spot on it."

"Spot!" repeated Dulcie stubbornly. Spot it was and Spot it stayed. From that moment on Spot was Dulcie's favorite toy. She slept with him every night, and she took him everywhere with her.

Now,  it was 2 years later, and Spot was still Dulcie's favorite toy. She didn't care that by now his brown color was faded and he was missing one eye. She still took him everywhere and slept with him every night. She wouldn't even let Mommy have him long enough to fix his eye. She barely let Mommy keep him long enough to wash him but when the smell of him became to strong, Mommy insisted on it.

Dulcie felt like she was surrounded by giants. She looked up and found herself  lost in a sea of strangers. She opened her mouth to cry. Just then, Diandra yanked her out of the crowd. "Come on." she said. "You're going to get lost." Diandra picked up Dulcie and took her to their mother who was standing by the mall entrance. Dulcie was so relieved to see her mother that she burst into tears anyway.

"It's alright, baby." Mommy soothed gently as she eased Dulcie out of Diandra's arms and into her own. "We're going home now." She carried Dulcie in one arm and a bunch of packages in the other and headed out of the mall. Diandra followed closely behind with her arms full of packages as well.

At the car, Mommy buckled Dulcie into her car seat. She was so tired from the ordeal of being at the mall that she immediately fell asleep. She awoke as they pulled up in their own driveway and started looking around worriedly. "Spot!" she cried. "Mommy where is Spot?"

"Help her please." Mommy said to Diandra as Mommy herself was busy carrying packages in the house.

Diandra sighed unhappily. She hated that stupid spotless dog and the last thing she wanted to do was help look for it. Nevertheless, she did as she was told and started searching the back seat of the car. The stuffed puppy was nowhere to be found. Next, she searched the trunk. It wasn't there either. She searched around the car in case it fell out when they were unloading but still no stuffed puppy.

She went in the house. Dulcie stood by the door eagerly awaiting the return of her toy. She frowned when she saw Diandra's empty hands. "Where's Spot?" she asked anxiously.

Diandra shrugged. "I couldn't find him anywhere."

A huge tear rolled down Dulcie's face, followed by another and then another until she was full blown crying.  She ran off to find her mother. She continued crying all the way. "Mommy! Mommy!" she cried sadly. "I need Spot."

"Where's Spot?" Mommy asked Diandra.

"Lost." she replied. "I couldn't find him anywhere."

Mommy sighed and nervously put her hand to her cheek. This was not good. This was not good at all. Even when she washed Spot, Dulcie stood by the washing machine and waited for him to come out. She didn't know how they were going to get by with him missing. "We'll go back to the mall and look for him tomorrow."

"Spot! Spot!" exclaimed Dulcie painfully. She wouldn't stop crying so finally Mommy loaded them all back in the car and headed back to the mall. At the mall, they retraced their steps. This time it was even worse. The mall was even more crowded. They were all tired. Mommy and Diandra took turns carrying a crying Dulcie. When they were finished, they were completely wiped out with nothing to show for it. They still hadn't found Spot.

Mommy loaded them all back into the car, and they headed home. Dulcie cried all the way home. It broke Mommy's heart. Even, Diandra actually felt bad for her sister by now.

When they got home, Mommy gave Dulcie a bath. She put on Dulcie's pajamas. She tucked Dulcie into bed with a kiss. All the while Dulcie continued to cry.

Diandra felt even worse. She wanted to do something for her sister. She offered to let Dulcie sleep with any of her stuffed animals, but Dulcie didn't want to. Diandra decided to go outside and look one more time.  She was just about to come in the house when she spied a brown fluffy ear sticking out of the rosebushes next to the front steps.  She went over and looked more closely. Sure, enough it was Spot.  He must have fallen out of one of the packages when they came in the house. Diandra  picked him up, dusted him off, and carried him excitedly into the house. "Dulcie!" she cried rushing into the house.

"Sh!" said Mommy appearing at the top of the steps. "I finally got her to go to sleep." She smiled when she saw that Diandra was carrying Spot. She let Diandra sneak into Dulcie's room and stick Spot in her arms. Dulcie's stirred and opened her eyes for a minute. "Spot." she whispered happily hugging him tightly to her before closing her eyes again. Mommy and Diandra smiled.

Who Will Play With Pippa?

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon and Pippa Mitchell was bored. She wanted somebody to play with her. She went in to her big sister, Darla's room and flopped herself down on the edge of her sister's bed. Amelia as usual was on the phone. "Amelia, will you play with me?" Pippa asked hopefully making her best wide eyed pouty lipped puppy dog face. Surely, even Amelia wouldn't be able to resist that.

"Pippa!" hissed Darla angrily pointing toward the door. "Can't you see I'm on the phone?!"

Pippa slowly dragged herself out of her sister's room and off to find somebody else.  She found her brother,  Grayson in the den watching TV. "Play with me Gray." she pleaded plopping herself into her brother's lap. Grayson let her stay in his lap but he didn't take his eyes off the TV.  "What are you watching?" asked Pippa cheerfully.

"Car Auctions." replied Grayson.

"Car Auction?" repeated Pippa in horror as if he had said he was watching a scary monster show or something.

"Yes." said Grayson. "Look at that!" he exclaimed excitedly pointing to the screen. There was a car on the screen that looked to Pippa like any old red  car. "It's a classic 67 Mustang!" explained Grayson.

"Oh." replied Pippa quietly sliding out of her brother's lap and slipping out of the room. 'A show about cars? How boring' she thought to herself. She was already bored. She didn't need help with that.

She went into the kitchen. Her Mom was sitting at the table with a stack of cookbooks. "Mommy, will you play with me please?" begged Pippa leaning over her.

"Not now, honey." said Mommy. "I'm looking for something to make for Grandma's birthday dinner this weekend."

"I'll help." offered Pippa excitedly. She flopped into a chair and started looking through cookbooks too. "How about this?" she asked eagerly pointing to a recipe for macaroni and cheese.

Mommy gave Pippa a half smile. "Macaroni and cheese is your favorite meal not Grandma's." Pippa smiled back. She closed the cookbook she'd been looking at, put it in a pile of books,  and picked up another."Pippa, please." said Mommy looking up again from the book she'd been looking at. She had a not very happy expression  on her face. "You are mixing up the piles." she said to Pippa. "Why don't you go find something to do?"

Pippa stuck her lower lip out in a pout and slowly dragged herself out of the room. 'If I had something to do I'd be doing it.' she thought miserably.

She went to find her Dad. She found him out in the garage sawing wood. "Hi Daddy." she greeted him warmly. "Will you play with me?"

"Sorry, kitten." he replied. "I'm building shelves for Darla's room."

"Can I help?" asked Pippa eagerly. "I'm a good helper."

"I know you are, kitten. " replied Daddy, "but I'm working with tools, and I don't want you to get hurt. Go on and play." He ushered Pippa away from his workspace.

'He thinks I'm a baby.' thought Pippa angrily. She went back into the house. She took out  her Monopoly  game and began moving the pieces around the board. Soon, Darla came in. "I'll play." she said sitting down beside her sister.

"What happened to the phone?" asked Pippa. "Did you have a doctor remove it from your ear?"

"Very funny." replied Darla not really finding it funny at all. She started dealing out the money.

Just then Grayson walked by. "Deal me in." he said coming in the room and sitting on the floor beside them.

"What happened to your car auction?" asked Pippa.

"It's over." he replied.

Mommy came up the stairs and came to see what they were all doing in Pippa's room. She sat down and decided to play too. "Did you find a recipe?' asked Pippa.

Mommy nodded. "I decided to make Shepard's Pie." she said. "It's Grandma's favorite."

Daddy poked his head in the room. "Is there room for one more?" he asked.

"How are the shelves coming, Daddy?" asked Pippa.

"I will need to get some more nails tomorrow." replied Daddy. He sat down between Mommy and Pippa.

"Hmm." said Pippi thoughtfully. "Nobody wanted to play with me before. You all were busy. Now suddenly you're not busy and everybody wants to play?" She frowned  at her family and then she quickly smiled. "I'm okay with that." she said. "Let's play!"

Rhianna Learns to Read

Rhianna Dupre was 4 years old. Her sister, Jacinda was 8. Rhianna adored her older sister. She wanted to be just like her. Jacinda loved to read. "I read a whole chapter book." she said proudly to Grandma one afternoon when Grandma was visiting.

"Good for you!" exclaimed Grandma hugging her and giving her a smudgy lipsticky kiss."I'm so glad that you like to read. We'll have to take you to the bookstore and get you some new books."

Jacinda smiled happily as she wiped the lipstick stain off her cheek. "Thanks, Grandma," she said truly grateful. She loved books, and she was always happy for the opportunity to get more.

"I want to get a book too!" cried Rhianna jealously. "I can read too!"

"No, you can't." replied Jacinda shaking her head.

"Yes, I can." said Rhianna angrily stamping her feet.

"Then, why don't you read for us?" asked Jacinda. She went into Rhianna's room and grabbed a book. She handed it to Rhianna. It was Clifford the Big Red Dog. "Here," she said, "why don't you read this? It's one of your favorites." She looked at Rhianna as if she were going to burst into laughter at any minute.

Rhianna glared at her sister as she reluctantly took the book. She flipped the book open and  silently prayed for the words on the page to pop into her brain.  She starred at the book for a minute and pretended she was concentrating. Then, she began reciting the words as best as she could remember them.

"Those aren't the really words!" exclaimed Jacinda in an I-told-you-so voice. "I told you you can't read."

"Don't worry." Grandma said to Rhianna. "You''ll learn to read before you know it, and you'll be reading as well as your sister."

That didn't make Rhianna feel any better. She wanted to read now.

For the next week, at every opportunity Rhianna begged to be read Clifford the Big Red Dog. Mommy read it to her. Daddy read it to her. Jacinda read it to her. Grandma read it to her. Even Jacinda's friend read it to her.

On Friday when Grandma came again, Rhianna ran over to her. "Grandma! Grandma!" she exclaimed excitedly, "I can really read now!"

Jacinda still didn't believe it. She came over to listen too.

They all sat down on the big comfy living room couch. Rhianna opened the book and began reading. She read the whole book word for word and then closed it and smiled proudly at Grandma.

"Why Rhianna! I'm so proud of you!" exclaimed Grandma hugging Rhianna. Rhianna's eyes sparkled and her smile lit up her whole face.

Jacinda was still doubtful. Something did not seem quite right. She went up to Rhianna's room and grabbed another book. She handed it to Rhianna. It was The Cat in the Hat. It was another of Rhianna's favorites.

Rhianna sighed. She reluctantly took the book and opened it. She slowly began to recite from the story as best as she could remember it.

"Aha!" exclaimed Jacinda. "I knew you weren't really reading! You memorized that other book from hearing it so much." She flitted off out of the room happy to have been proven right.

Rhianna started to cry. Grandma tried to comfort her. "There, there, sweetie." said Grandma gently patting her on the back. "Don't worry. You'll learn to read before you know it."

That did not make Rhianna feel one tiny bit better. "But I don't want to read soon!" she cried. "I want to read now!"

"Then, you shall." said Grandma. She opened the book and pointed to a word. "What word is this?" she asked.

Rhianna gave Grandma an angry look. Now, Grandma was being mean too. She knew Rhianna couldn't really read.

"What letter is this?" Grandma asked pointing to an M.

"m." replied Rhianna.

"What sounds does M make?"asked Grandma.

"mmm." replied Rhianna. Grandma nodded.

"What letter is this?" asked Grandma pointing to another letter.

"e." said  Rhianna. Grandma nodded again.

"What sounds does that make?"

"e."

"Now put them together and what do you get? " said Grandma.

"m e." said Rhianna pronouncing the letters separately, "m e." she said again. "me." she said finally. "me!" she repeated excitedly. "Grandma!" she exclaimed happily. "I read a word!"

"Yes, you did." said Grandma hugging her. "I'm proud of you."

"Teach me more!" begged Rhianna. "Teach me more! Teach me to read!" They sat down on the couch and Grandma worked on teaching Rhianna to read.

After that, every afternoon, when Rhianna came home from preschool,  but Jacinda was still in school, Grandma came over. She and Rhianna worked on Rhianna's reading.

Finally, one day Rhianna was ready. "Jacinda," she said. "I'm going to read a story. Do you want to listen?"

Jacinda couldn't help smiling. "Sure. I'll listen." she replied. 'Here we go again.' She thought.

Rhianna opened Clifford the Big Red Dog. She read it from cover to cover. Then, she closed the book smiling proudly.

It seemed like Rhianna was really reading but Jacinda didn't believe it. After all, she had memorized Clifford the Big Red Dog before. She went into Rhianna's room and took out another book. It was a Dora the Explorer book. Rhianna would never have memorized that. She hated Dora. She only had the book because she got it for a birthday present. "Read this!" demanded Jacinda handing it to her sister.

Rhianna didn't seem worried at all. She took the book, calmly opened it,  and began reading. When she finished it, she closed it and looked up at her sister and gave her an I-told-you-so smile.

Jacinda was amazed. Her eyes opened as wide as two chocolate chip cookies. "You really can read." she said with surprise.

"Yes I can!" said Rhianna.

I'm Gonna Marry Jake Jones

Carlie Bufford had a fancy blue velvet  dress with white satin sleeves. She had inheirted it from her older sister, Calista. Calista had worn it when she was flower girl in a wedding when she was Carlie's age. Now Calista was 11 and Carlie was 5. Carlie loved her blue dress but Mommy would never let her wear it. Carlie was always begging and begging. "Can I wear my pretty blue dress, Mommy?" she asked yet again as she was getting read for a birthday party one day.

"Oh sweetie." Mommy said sadly as she didn't like to have to disappoint her daughter. "That dress is kind of fancy. I don't really think it's appropriate for a birthday party at Build-A-Bear."

"Oh!" pouted Carlie. "I'll never get to wear it!"

"Don't worry squirt." teased  Calista. "Maybe, someday you'll get invited to a wedding."

Carlie glared at her sister, but an idea was planted in her head. She just kept thinking about weddings. A wedding would be a  the perfect place to wear her pretty dress. She couldn't exactly just find somebody to get married and invite her to their wedding though. She would just have to get married herself. It was the only way she was going to get wear her dress.

"I'm getting married." Carlie announced  suddenly at dinner that night.

"Yes.  I'm sure you will some day. "replied Mommy, "and so will Calista."

"Yes," agreed Daddy. "A long time from now."

"No daddy." she replied. "No, I'm going to get married now."

"In the middle of dinner?" asked Daddy.

Calista burst out laughing. Mommy gave her a warning look, and Calista buried her face in her napkin to stop herself but she still  couldn't stop smiling.

"Not right now." admitted Carlie, "but soon." She glared at her sister who was still smiling behind her napkin.

"Why do you need to get married now?" asked Mommy. "You have plenty of years before you need to think about things like that. Why don't you just enjoy being young for now?"

"I don't want to be old." said Carlie frowning. "I just want to get married. I need to get married!"

"You need to get married?" repeated Mommy. She looked very confused and so did Daddy. Calista just thought it was funny. She burst out laughing again.

"Yes. I need to get married so I can wear my blue dress." explained Carlie.

Mommy nodded thoughtfully. "I see." she said as she suddenly understood what this was all about. "So who are you going to marry?"

Carlie shrugged. She hadn't thought about that yet.

"How about Kenny Harris?" suggested Calista with a smile. Kenny was their next door neighbor. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was always teasing Carlie. "I think he has a crush on you."

Carlie turned up her nose in disgust. "I hate him he's mean. I would never marry him."

"Then what about Tad Murphy?" suggested Calista. Mommy gave her a look again. Calista was having entirely too much fun with this.

"Tad Murphy?" said Carlie shaking her head. Tad Murphy was in her class.He was cute. He had light brown hair and green eyes. He was nice too but he was really quiet. He hardly talked to anybody especially not the girls in the class. She didn't think she would marry Tad Murphy. She shook her head.

"I know!" exclaimed Calista. "How about Jake Jones?"

"Jake Jones?" said Carlie, but this time she said it with interest. Jake was also a boy in her glass.  He was cute too. He had red hair and green eyes. He was pretty nice to Carlie too. He was her friend. "Yes." she said. "I"m going to marry Jake Jones."

"Does Jake know your going to marry him?" asked Daddy.

Carlie wasn't worried about that now that she had decided. "I'll tell him." she said confidently. She couldn't wait for school the next day so she could tell Jake that she planned to marry him. She just knew he would be pleased that she had chosen him.

The next afternoon after school, Calista smiled when she saw her little sister get off the bus. "So how did it go?' she asked gleefully as Carlie and Mommy stepped into the house.

Carlie smiled happily. "It went good." she said. "I asked Jake if he wanted to marry me and he said okay because I have a Wii."

"Ah yes, a Wii. What every man looks for in a wife." teased Calista. Carlie ignored her. She was so happy she was going to get to wear her blue dress. She couldn't wait to marry Jake.

"How are the wedding plans coming?" asked Calista  the next day after school. Carlie gave her a look of disgust. "I'm not going to marry Jake Jones anymore." she said. "I hate Jake Jones. He is not my friend anymore. He only wants to hang around with Misty Gordon now. She is getting a Wii U.  I'm gonna marry Tad  Murphy instead. He already has a  Wii U."

Busby Takes a Bath

Chelsea Emerson loved cats. She loved them more than anything. She was always begging her Mom and Dad for a cat of her own. "One day." they would promise, but Chelsea didn't think that one day would ever come. She was wrong.

They were out one day for a mysterious drive. It was mysterious only to Chelsea. Mom and Dad knew exactly where they were going but they wouldn't tell Chelsea. Finally after about an hour of driving, they pulled up in front of the animal shelter, Chelsea's mouth flew open and her eyes opened wide. "Is today the day?" she asked excitedly.

"Today is the day." replied Mommy smiling brightly at her eager daughter.

Chelsea hurried out of the car and practically ran into the building. Mommy and Daddy could barely keep up. When they all got in the building and were taken to the area where the cats were, there were cats and kittens of every size, shape and color. Chelsea was completely overwhelmed. She walked up and down the rows of cages and couldn't decide which cat to pick. Finally after she had walked back and forth several times, she heard a particularly sad mewing sound as she passed one of the cages. Chelsea went right up to the cage where the sound was coming from. Inside were 4 little gray kittens.  One of them came up to the front of the cage and mewed softly. "It's okay little, kitty." Chelsea assured the kitten. The little kitten licked Chelsea's finger. Chelsea couldn't help smiling. "This is the one!" she said happily pointing to the little kitten that had licked her finger. "This is the kitten for me."

"Are you sure?" asked Mommy and Daddy. Chelsea nodded. Mommy and Daddy filled out the necessary paperwork. In the car on the way home, Chelsea sat with  the little kitten in its carrier on her lap. The kitten was a little bit frightened. He had never been in a carrier or ridden in a car before.  He mewed scaredly.   "Don't worry little kitten. " Chelsea assured him. "I am going to take you home with me, I'm going to take care of you, and I'm going to call you, Busby." she said as she reached into the carrier and petted him.

When they got home and went in the house, Chelsea took Busby to her room and let him out of the box. He started running around the room as fast as his little legs could carry him. He was so excited to be out of a cage and out of a box and free. Chelsea sat on her floor and watched her little kitten run in excited circles around her. Finally after a few minutes of running around, Busby was completely tired out. He climbed up in Chelsea's lap and went to sleep. From that moment on, Busby was Chelsea's baby, and he was totally devoted to her.

Every day, Busby followed Chelsea around. Every night, he slept in her bed. Whenever, she went away to school or anywhere else, Busby rubbed up against her legs and meowed and purred excitedly as soon as she got back. Even if Chelsea was home, and Busby just couldn't  see her, he would cry so sadly until he saw her face again.

One evening Chelsea was getting ready for her bath. Busby was sleeping on her bed. Chelsea took her towel and her pajamas and went into the bathroom quietly so as not to disturb him. As soon as she left, Busby was startled by a noise and woke up. He looked around for Chelsea and when he didn't see her he started to cry. He wandered around looking for her. When he found the door to the bathroom slightly opened, he pushed his way in. He still didn't see Chelsea, so he started mewing sadly again. Chelsea's heart broke for her poor little kitten. "I'm right here, sweetie." she said poking her head out from behind the flowered curtain. Busby was so excited to see her. He hurried over to the tub. By then, Chelsea had disappeared back behind the curtain again where Busby couldn't see her. He started crying again. "I'm right here." repeated Chelsea but this time she didn't poke her head out. Busby hurried to the sound of her voice. He came right to the edge of the tub and then climbed up and peeked behind the curtain. When he saw Chelsea, he got so excited, he leaned over and fell right into the tub next to her. Chelsea laughed. "Do you need a bath too, Busby?" she asked. Busby, however didn't think it was so funny. In fact, he was horrified to suddenly find himself submerged in the water. He didn't like water. He didn't like it at all. He quickly scrambled out of the tub and shook himself off. He still loved Chelsea as much as ever, and he still liked to follow her around, but from then on he never got that close to the bathtub again.