EllRay Jakes Stands Tall Read Online Free Page A

plastic horse barn we don’t even own.
    4. Finally, take away the best goodie bag ever, one that does not yet exist.
    5. And do all these mean things so Suzette can’t be mean to Alfie first.
    â€œHas Suzette been mean to you at daycare?” I ask, frowning. Because Suzette Monahan can be mean. Bossy, anyway. And not only at daycare! The first time she came over to our house for a play date last fall, Suzette told my mom they had to go to McDonald’s when it was snack time.
    And Mom had made cookies and everything!
    There was lots of noise when Mom said no to Suzette, too. In fact, when she’s talking about Alfie’s friends to Dad, Mom secretly calls Suzette “Uproar Girl.” I’ve heard her say it.
    â€œSuzette hasn’t been mean
lately
,” Alfie admits,scowling in the gloom. “Not to me. But she’s gonna try to boss me around next year . . . I just know it. But if you’re mean to people before they can be mean to you, then they can’t be mean to you first. Because you already did it. And then maybe she’ll leave me alone in kindergarten.”
    Like— ta-da!

    â€œBut—but that’s just wrong, Alfie,” I sputter. “And maybe it’s the same thing as being a bully,” I add, already knowing she won’t get what I’m trying to say.
    Alfie thinks she is making perfect sense.
    And that unicorns are real.
    â€œSuzette’s the bully,” Alfie informs me.
    â€œMaybe
usually
she is. A little bit, at least,” I half-agree. “But this time, you’re kind of the one who’s being the—”
    â€œ
She’s
the bully,” Alfie insists. “And I’m the nice one. And you’re the brother of the nice one. And you’re gonna get Mom and Dad to have my kindergarten party here at our house, because—”
    â€œBecause you already told Suzette she can’t come,” I say, finishing her sentence.
    â€œSo she can’t be mean to me first,” Alfie says, correcting me.
    Correcting me being one of her favorite things to do.
    â€œI’m sorry to tell you this,” I tell my elf-like little sister, who is in danger of turning into a preschool thug. “But your kindergarten party is flat-out not gonna happen.”
    â€œFor reals?” Alfie asks, her eyes wide.
    â€œMom already told you,” I remind her. “Sorry, Alf.”
    â€œBut don’t tell Mom about Suzette, okay?” she says. “Because that’s my secret—with you.”
    This, on top of my own problems.
    Lucky me!

7
    GOSSIP
    â€œGuess what?” Cynthia Harbison says the next morning before school. We are all out by the picnic tables. “I heard some gossip,” she announces. Cynthia takes off her pink plastic headband, smoothes back her hair, then puts the toothy headband back on so tight that it looks like her hair hurts.
    As usual, the girls are at one of their own picnic tables, and us boys are at one of ours. But we can hear each other talk.
    â€œWhat’s gossip?” Major asks Marco.
    â€œIt’s like when you tell a lie,” Marco says, keeping his voice low.
    â€œNaw,” Jared says, louder. He shakes his head. “Gossip is when you talk smack about someone.”
    â€œTalking smack” means putting someone down. Like,
“He’s so little you gotta put rocks in his pocket when it’s windy out, or he’ll blow away.”
Jared said that about me once, so I guess he’s the smack-talking expert around here.
    It was supposed to be a joke.
    â€œYeah. It’s talkin’ smack,” his sidekick Stanley agrees. Big surprise.
    Jared is only eight years old, like the rest of us. And he lives in Oak Glen, in a very nice house. But one of his favorite things to do is talk like some tough guy in a rap video.
    â€œThat’s not even right,
boys
,” Heather calls out from the girls’ table. Her skinny little