Free Just as Long as We're Together by Judy Blume

asked.
    "Since the second week of school," Rachel said, quietly, looking at the floor.
    "The second week of school!" I said, my voice growing louder. "Well, isn't that interesting! Were you ever going to tell me?"
    "I wanted to," Rachel said, "but I was afraid you'd be mad."
    "Mad!" I said. "Why should I be mad? Just because Jeremy Dragon knows your name and you tell me you don't know how? I should be mad over a little thing like that? Just because I'm supposed to be your best friend and you keep a secret like this from me?"•
    "I wasn't sure I would like the class," Rachel said. "I didn't think there was any point in telling you until I'd made up my mind. And I didn't know, until last night, that he knew my name."
    I felt this huge bubble of anger rising from my stomach. When it got to my throat I shouted, "Oh . . . who cares!" and I marched away from Rachel, holding my books tight against my chest.
    "Look," Rachel said, keeping up with me, "I didn't ask to be born this way."
    "What way?" 1 snapped. "The way I am." "What way is that?"
    "Smart." Rachel practically spit out the word.
    "You're not just smart," I told her. "Okay . . . so I'm not just smart. It still isn't
    my fault. It just happened. It's not something I work at, you know. It's not something I especially like about myself. Most of the time I wish I could be like everyone else. . . like you!"
    "Thanks a lot!"
    "I meant that in a friendly way, Steph."
    I didn't respond. I didn't know what to say. I didn't even know what I was feeling. All I knew was this was the first time Rachel had ever kept a secret from me.
    "Does this mean you don't want to be my friend anymore?" Rachel's voice broke, as if she might cry any second.
    "No," I said. "It doesn't mean anything except you should have told me about that math class yourself."
    "You're right," Rachel said, "I know that now." The second bell rang. I ran to my next class and didn't realize, until I got there, that I still hadn't given Mrs. Godfrey the note from Mr. Burns. So I ran all the way back to Mrs. Godfrey's class and was late getting to my own.
    19.
    Confessions.
    I know, deep down, it's not Rachel's fault she's so smart or that she was switched to enriched math. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. How can you be best friends with someone who keeps secrets from you? Important secrets, like being in enriched math.
    I didn't say anything to Alison about Rachel that afternoon. I didn't say anything because I didn't have the chance. Leon picked us up after school and drove us to town. It was raining. The three of us had to go to the library to look up information for our first social studies report. All the seventh graders have the same assignment: to do a report on someone who has made a major difference to the world.
    Leon dropped us off at TCBY, the frozen yogurt place. The letters stand for The Country's Best Yogurt. Alison is really into frozen yogurt. She says everybody in California loves it. Rachel likes it, too. I used to think it was gross but now I'm getting used to it. I ordered a hot fudge sundae which the menu describes as swirls of french vanilla yogurt with hot fudge and whipped topping sprinkled with pecans. Alison and Rachel ordered Smoothies. A Smoothie is a yogurt and fruit juice drink.
    When our order was ready we carried it to a table. As soon as we sat down Rachel said to Alison, "I have something to tell you." She took a long sip of her Smoothie. "Remember those math tests we took the first week of school?"
    "Uh huh," Alison said. "That's how Mr. Burns found out I'd lost my skills."
    Mr. Burns is always telling Alison she's lost her skills. Alison keeps trying to explain she never had those skills in the first place.
    "Well . . ." Rachel said, glancing at me, then turning her attention back to Alison. "After those tests I got transferred to another math class." She paused and took another sip of her Smoothie. "I got transferred to a more advanced math class."
    "I'm not surprised,"