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does she not like me ? And if so, is it because Chuck and I are…friends?
    Well, I couldn’t just poke my head out, so I had to stay hidden until the coast was clear. And it was awkward sitting there, trapped. Plus, Mrs. Hamshire gets mad if you’re even two seconds “tardy.”
    Finally Zara and Kelli must have had to pee, because they went into the stalls on either side of me. The second they closed the doors, I made a run for it—and a beeline to math class.
    At lunch, Kelli announced that she was having a Valentine’s party, and now that’s all anybody can talk about. It’s our grade’s first boy-girl party—if you don’t count all the ones we had when we were little.
    I wish the party weren’t at Kelli’s.
    I also wish I had the guts to give Chuck a card—or collage.
    But he’s not my valentine, so that would be inappropriate !
    AVA, APPROPRIATE

2/12
3:30 P.M.
    DEAR DIARY,
    Taco Cat and I were on the sofa, and Pip was on the floor working on her new book, Z Is for Zinnia . She’s made three pages: A is for azalea, B is for buttercup, and C is for chrysanthemum. (Note: chrysanthemum is a hard spelling word, which is one reason most people just say “mum.”)
    Anyway, P-I-P was filling in the petals of her M-U-M and making them R-E-D-D-E-R and R-E-D-D-E-R (palindrome alert!), and I asked if Tanya had said anything about getting a valentine.
    Pip said, “No, but she did ask me a personal question.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œShe said, ‘Didn’t you used to be shy? Like really shy?’” Pip looked at me. “I didn’t answer right away, but she kept asking how I got less shy, so I ended up telling her the whole story about how you and Bea made those five Pip Pointers to help me get braver.”
    â€œYou told her about the five Pip Pointers??”
    â€œYes. And you know what she said? She said she wished she had ten Tanya Tips to help her lose weight because she knows she’s not ‘the prettiest flower in the garden.’”
    â€œShe said that?” I made a sad little “Oh” sound. It just came out. “What did you say?”
    â€œI didn’t know what to say! I objected and everything. But Tanya said that all her relatives—except her grandmother—used to say, ‘Look how big you are!’ like it was a compliment, and then one day she noticed that, without any warning, that sentence went from being a good thing to a bad thing.”
    â€œThat’s awful!”
    â€œI know. So I said I’d ask you.”
    â€œ Me ? ”
    â€œYou and Bea.”
    I scrunched my face and pointed out that Bea and I don’t know anything about losing weight. “Bea only knew about shyness because her brother Ben used to be shy.”
    â€œHe’s not anymore,” Pip said and smiled to herself. Then she added, “Oh, c’mon, Ava. You told me Bea wants to be an advice columnist.”
    â€œYeah, but someone who wants to be a pilot can’t fly an airplane,” I protested. “And someone who wants to be a doctor can’t perform an operation. And someone who wants to be a boxer can’t—”
    â€œCan’t you and Bea just give it a try?” Pip asked, interrupting. “I bet it took a lot of guts for Tanya to ask.”
    â€œLet me think about it,” I said.
    AVA, CORNERED

2/12
BEDTIME
    DEAR DIARY,
    At dinner, I told Mom and Dad that I got another 100 on our Friday spelling test. Dad said, “Way to go!” and Mom said, “Good for you!” (They used to forget to say things like that.)
    What I didn’t say out loud is that when we graded the tests, Chuck and I traded papers—and this was the highlight of my whole day.
    One of the words was handkerchief , and Chuck wrote Kleenex . I thought that was really creative and he should get at least partial credit. But Mrs. Lemons said to mark it wrong. He also got earnest