Once Upon a Toad Read Online Free

noooo, not Olivia.
    I turned away quickly so that she wouldn’t catch me blinking back tears. As I moved through the cafeteria, it struck me that it wasn’t all that different from the one back home in Texas. It’s strange how once you get to middle school, everybody splits up into different groups. In elementary school nobody cares whose table you sit at, but the minute you hit sixth grade— wham ! I spotted the table with all the jocks rightaway because they were the loudest, and I already knew where the popular kids sat—with my stepsister, naturally. Drama kids (green fingernail polish, weird hair), check. Nerds (busy trading Elfwood cards), check. Skateboarders (baggy shorts and hoodies), check. Finally I spotted my people: the band kids.
    The only bright spot in my morning so far had been band. When I’d walked into the music room, I’d instantly felt at home.
    Mr. Morgan, the band director, practically swooned when I played my bassoon for him.
    â€œNow, that,” he exclaimed when I finished, clasping his hands to his chest dramatically, “is music !”
    I could tell right away I was going to like Mr. Morgan. He was young and energetic and funny. Whenever anyone hit a sour note, which was pretty often—this was middle school band, after all—he’d cry, “Oh, my delicate, shell-like ears!” and clap his hands over them protectively. Then he’d smile right away, to show us he wasn’t really mad.
    After band practice Mr. Morgan took me aside and asked what kind of musical experience I’d had back in Texas. His eyebrows shot up when I told him I played with the Houston Youth Symphony.
    â€œToo bad you got here so late in the year,” he said. “The Portland Youth Philharmonic is just finishing up their season. We sure could use you in Hawkwinds, though.”
    â€œWhat’s Hawkwinds?”
    â€œA wind ensemble I started last year for some of the more advanced musicians,” he explained. “They’re playing in the talent show next week. The trio could happily become a quartet, if you’dlike to join. We could use a talented bassoonist.”
    I signed up right then and there.
    â€œYou’ll like the other kids in the group,” Mr. Morgan told me. “Rani Kumar plays the flute, and her brother, Rajit, is our oboist. They just moved here last summer, so they’re still pretty new to the school too. And Juliet Rodriguez is our clarinetist. You should get to know them.”
    I spotted the three of them at the band table and crossed the cafeteria to where they were sitting.
    â€œYou’re Cat, right?” said a pretty, dark-haired girl, smiling up at me.
    I smiled back. The little knot in my stomach that Olivia and Piper Fleabrain had put there started to untie itself, and I took a seat. “And you’re Rani and you play the flute, right?”
    â€œUh-huh.” She pointed across the table at a boy who could almost have been her twin. “This is my brother, Rajit. He’s in eighth grade, so he thinks he’s better than the rest of us.”
    A glint of mischief danced in Rajit’s eyes. “That’s because I am.”
    The girl sitting on the other side of Rani started to laugh. Leaning forward, she waved and said, “Hi! I’m Juliet Rodriguez.” Her shiny hair was dark like Rani’s, but she wore it really long instead of to her shoulders. My hair was somewhere in between theirs in length, and plain old boring brown by comparison.
    â€œAre you going to join Hawkwinds?” Juliet continued. “I saw Mr. Morgan in the hall a few minutes ago, and he said you played with the Houston Youth Symphony.”
    I nodded shyly, taking my sandwich out of my bag.
    â€œCool.”
    â€œSo you’re from Texas?” said Rajit.
    I nodded again. “I came to live with my dad. I’m Olivia Haggerty’s stepsister.”
    The table fell silent. Rani’s smile