Chapter 43

Lucy's POV

I remember the first time I met Penny. It was last week, when she came to our class as a new student. Her mommy had pretty red hair just like Ariel,and Penny was wearing a sparkly blue hairband that made her look like a princess.

Ms. Mitchell told her to sit at the empty desk next to mine. Most new kids look at me funny when they find out I don't talk, but Penny was different.She just smiled and whispered, "I like your butterfly necklace! It looks like it's about to fly away!"

That made me feel allwarm inside, like when Annie gives me goodnight hugs.During snack time that day, Penny shared her animal crackers with everyone, making funny voices for each cookie before eating them. Her lion cookies went "RAWR!" and her elephant cookies made trumpet sounds.She even left a giraffe cookie on my desk with a note that had a smiley face drawn on it.

Now, a whole week later, Ms. Mitchell was writing words on the big whiteboard. I like watching the letters appear - they look like tiny dancing friends holding hands to make words. Some kids were whispering and giggling, but I stayed super quiet, like always.

"Who can spell 'butterfly'?" Ms. Mitchell asked in her happy voice.

Lucy's POV

I remember the first time I met Penny. It was last week, when she came to our class as a new student. Her mommy had pretty red hair just like Ariel,and Penny was wearing a sparkly blue hairband that made her look like a princess.

Ms. Mitchell told her to sit at the empty desk next to mine. Most new kids look at me funny when they find out I don't talk, but Penny was different.She just smiled and whispered, "I like your butterfly necklace! It looks like it's about to fly away!"

That made me feel allwarm inside, like when Annie gives me goodnight hugs.During snack time that day, Penny shared her animal crackers with everyone, making funny voices for each cookie before eating them. Her lion cookies went "RAWR!" and her elephant cookies made trumpet sounds.She even left a giraffe cookie on my desk with a note that had a smiley face drawn on it.

Now, a whole week later, Ms. Mitchell was writing words on the big whiteboard. I like watching the letters appear - they look like tiny dancing friends holding hands to make words. Some kids were whispering and giggling, but I stayed super quiet, like always.

"Who can spell 'butterfly'?" Ms. Mitchell asked in her happy voice. Lots of hands shot up like rockets, with lots of "Me! Me!" but Penny's hand was the highest. Her pigtails were bouncing up and down like they were doing a happy dance too. They remind me of the ribbons Annie uses to tie my braids. Penny's been really good at spelling since her first day-she told everyone it's because she reads lots of storybooks with her mommy every night.

"B-U-T-T-E-R-F-L-Y!" Penny got it right! She's really good at spelling.When she gets something right, she doesn't act all show-offy like some kids do. She just smiles like sunshine.

After class, Penny came to my desk. Usually when kids come close, I get that icky scared feeling in my tummy. But Penny was different. She had a special kind of smile, like Annie's.

"Hi Lucy!" she whispered, like she knew loud noises sometimes make me jump. Then she did something super sneaky - she pulled a candy from her pocket! It was wrapped in pretty red paper that sparkled in the sun.

"It's strawberry flavored!" she said. "It makes your whole mouth happy!"

Dr. Marshall says it's okay to accept nice things from nice people. But candy still feels a bit scary, so I shook my head just a teeny bit. Instead of getting mad like other kids do, Penny just kept smiling!

"That's okay!" She put the candy back in her pocket like it was no big deal.Then her eyes got all sparkly. "Oh! Do you like Disney?"

Before I could even think about nodding, she started twirling around like a princess! "I know ALL the songs from 'The Little Mermaid'!" She tried to stand like Ariel on her rock, but she looked more like a baby duck learning to walk. It was so silly I couldn't help smiling!"Wanna play princess at recess?" She was bouncing like a happy bunny now. "The jungle gym can be our castle! I'm usually Ariel, but sometimes I'm Mulan 'cause she knows kung fu!" Then she started doing these funny kicks that made her almost fall over.It was the silliest thing ever! My smile got even bigger.

"We can pretend we're under a magic spell, just like Ariel when she couldn't talk!" Penny said.

That made my heart feel warm and fuzzy. Penny didn't think I was weird for not talking - she made it into a fun game instead!

When exercise time came, the sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds.

We all lined up on the playground like ducks in a row. Our gym teacher

was at te front, showing us how to stretch like tall trees.

Then the principal came rushing over like she was in a big hurry. She whispered something in our teacher's ear, and his face got all serious.She bent down to whisper something in our teacher's ear that made his happy face turn all serious and worried - the same way Uncle Howard's does when he gets important phone calls.

"Keep following the music, children! I'll be right back!" our teacher said in that fake-cheerful grown-up voice they use when something's wrong. Then he hurried away with the principal, their shadows dancing on the wall as they disappeared down the hallway.

The peppy exercise music kept playing through the big speakers,but everything felt different now. Tommy, with his wild orange curls that always reminded me of the carrots in Uncle Howard's garden,started doing robot moves instead of stretches, his arms moving all jerky like a broken toy. Emma and Jenny, the twins who always wore matching butterfly clips in their dark pigtails, huddled together in their special corner, giggling behind their hands and pointing at how silly everyone looked. David, whose glasses were too big for his face and kept sliding down his nose like a tiny sled on a snowy hill, spun in wobbly circles until he got so dizzy he almost crashed into the wall. His untied shoelaces flew around like jump ropes as he twirled.

Penny was right next to me, turning our normal exercises into a beautiful ballet dance. Her ponytail swished back and forth as she twirled,reminding me of the way Annie's hair moves when she's painting. Every few seconds, Penny would spin around to make silly faces at me - puffing out her cheeks like a chipmunk storing acorns, or scrunching up her nose like she'd smelled something stinky. A tiny bubble of laughter wanted to escape from my throat, but it got stuck like always.

"Lucy, watch out!" Penny shouted suddenly.

I turned around just as Max came running toward us, his face all scrunched up mean. But before he could reach me, Penny jumped between us, her arms spread wide like a shield.

"Leave Lucy alone!" Penny's voice was loud and brave, even though she was smaller than Max.

Brian, who was exercising nearby,saw what was happening and ran over too."Stop being mean, Max!" he said, standing next to Penny.

Max looked at Penny and Brian, then at all the other kids watching.His face got all red like a tomato, and he stomped away making angry elephant noises.

"Are you okay?" Penny asked me, her eyes big with worry.I nodded,touching my butterfly necklace from Annie. "Max is just a grumpy gus," Penny declared,going back to her silly exercises. "Let's pretend we're dancing butterflies instead!" She started twirling around, making her arms flutter like wings. Some other kids joined in, including Brian, though he said he wanted to be a dragon butterfly because that was cooler.

When we did our exercises again, I had Penny on one side doing her butterfly dance, making everyone giggle with her silly moves. She kept making up new animals to be - a jumping kangaroo, a wobbly penguin, a stretching giraffe. Each one was funnier than the last!

Later,when we lined up to go back to class, I touched my butterfly necklace from Annie. Penny was still making silly penguin waddles next to me, and I could feel giggles wanting to bubble up in my throat. Not just giggles - words too! Big words and little words, happy wwords that wanted to jump out and play with Penny's penguin sounds.

My throat felt tickly, like when you want to sneeze but can't. I opened my mouth a tiny bit, just to see what would happen. Nothing came out yet,but that was okay! Maybe tomorrow I could try making penguin sounds with Penny. Or maybe the next day I could tell her that her monkey faces are the funniest ever!