Destined to Succeed Read Online Free

nervous.
    He told me his name was Cade Walker and I felt like we were gonna be friends. Thank goodness I would at least know one person in my class. That would take some of the fear out of the first day of school.
    The next day my mom dropped me off at school and didn’t even walk me into my classroom. Luckily I knew where to go after seeing Cade yesterday. Well, I figured that was our class he was sitting outside of. I had my Strawberry Shortcake backpack and my few pencils and supplies I had from my old school. My mom wasn’t real big on buying school supplies for me, or clothes, or food, or anything really. She was more about Melinda Mallory, than anyone else. Thank goodness my dad was there to make sure we had dinner every night. I really think she would make food for her and let us starve.
    Cade met me at the door to our room. “Mornin’, Suzanna. I brought somethin’ for ya.” He had the biggest smile on his face when he turned around to grab something out of his backpack. “My momma gives me one of these every year on my first day of school. My cousin Cord makes fun of me, but I don’t care. I asked Momma to make ya one. I hope ya like it.”
    He handed me a long skinny purple pencil box. It had my name written in really fancy letters on the front. It had lavender lace all around the edges and it was pretty heavy.
    “Momma told me she liked makin’ one for a girl.” Cade was pretty proud of this present.
    It was so beautiful. I opened the pretty purple box and it was filled with stuff. Everything I would need for my first day of school. It had a little package of tissues, erasers, tons of pencils, a pack of sugar-free gum, a ruler, scissors, a protractor, and some pretty stickers with purple flowers on them.
    “I love it, Cade. Tell your momma I said thank you.” I couldn’t quit smiling. My mom never gave me stuff like that for school. I always got the cheap, generic school supplies - nothing special or pretty. The only reason why I got any school supplies was because my dad would take me to pick them out. Usually the day before school started. So we wouldn’t have many choices.
    “I’ll tell her, but…well, it’s kinda from me, Suzanna. I mean, I asked her to make it for ya.” Cade put his hands in his pockets and looked down at his shoes. He looked hurt. I hadn’t meant to hurt him. I just wanted to thank his mom for such a sweet present.
    “Thanks, Cade. I love it.” I leaned over and pecked his cheek. I still couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face. I had to look like such a dork. I wasn’t sure, but it looked like Cade was blushing.
    Cade whispered to me, “Mrs. Merritt can seem a little scary, but she’s really okay. Just don’t ever put a frog in her desk. Whew...she don’t like that.” He sounded like he was speaking from experience.
    I nodded and started over to Mrs. Merritt’s desk.
    “Good morning, Miss Mallory. Are you ready for your first day of school?” She asked with a sweet smile on her face. Well, she did have a sweet smile on her face, until Cade peeked out from behind me. “Mr. Walker, take your seat please,” she ordered sternly through gritted teeth. She definitely wasn’t smiling anymore.
    “Yes, ma’am,” Cade replied as he headed back to the far back corner of the room to his desk. I really hoped I could sit close to my new friend, but Mrs. Merritt put me in the front row. Guess she wanted to see what kind of student I was.
    I took my new pretty pencils to the front of the room to the old silver pencil sharpener attached to the wall beside the chalkboard. It was really old and super loud. Everyone was staring at me. My face was burning and bright red. I decided I would just sharpen one pencil for today. I could save the others for another day.
    When it was time for our morning recess, I walked outside as the rest of the class ran out in all different directions across the playground. The swings were always my favorite part of recess. I loved to swing back