Free Girls Only! by Beverly Lewis Page B

get to skate in the local competition. I should have learned my lesson back then.
    She stopped writing. Someone was staring at her. Livvy was sure of it.
    Slowly, she looked up. There stood Diane.
    The spiteful girl glanced at the chair across from her. “Mind if I sit down?”
    Livvy tried to cover the letter, but she folded it instead and pushed it down into her sock.
    “Look, I’ve been a jerk,” Diane said, her clear eyes holding their gaze.
    Livvy nearly choked. “Excuse me?”
    “Your best friend just filled me in and—”
    “ Jenna talked to you about me?”
    Diane nodded her head up and down. “I decided the day you enrolled for school that I didn’t like you. I heard you were a star skater or something.”
    “A novice.”
    “Well, that’s supposed to be really good . . . for a sixth grader, anyway.”
    Livvy didn’t know whether to say “thanks” or “get lost.”
    But Diane wasn’t finished. “I didn’t want to get squeezed out of my chance at cheerleading. Or anything else around here. It’s a small school and . . . and I was jealous of you.”
    “What did Jenna say about me?” Livvy asked.
    “Just that you’re the coolest friend ever. And that your mother died last summer.” Diane’s eyes blinked awkwardly. “I can’t imagine not having my mom around . . . and I can’t think of going off somewhere new to live, where kids like me act like morons.” She stopped to find a tissue in her pocket. “What I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry, Livvy. I never should’ve called you on the phone like that. It was a cruel thing to do.”
    Livvy shook her head. “You didn’t scare me—not really. I was mostly just mad.”
    “So . . . can we be friends?” Diane’s eyes were pleading.
    Out of the corner of her eye, Livvy spotted Jenna. She was smiling that winning smile of hers. “Friends? Sure.”
    After Diane left, Jenna wandered over. “You shouldn’t be eating alone over here. You know better than that, girl.”
    “Yeah, so?”
    “I see Diane talked to you.” Jenna pulled her hair back, then let it float free.
    “Very funny . . . you set it all up.” She gathered up her trash. “You’re a real peacemaker, aren’t you?”
    “That’s what friends are for.”
    Livvy took a long drink of her pop while Jenna picked at her pretzel sticks. She told her about being tardy for homeroom. “Now I have to write a long letter to someone as an assignment. I picked you, but you’ll never read it.”
    “That’s what you think!”
    Livvy took another sip of soda and felt something tickling her leg. “Why you!”
    Jenna had reached down and pulled the letter out of Livvy’s sock.
    “Give that back!”
    “No way.” Jenna pretended to scan the letter, holding it high, out of Livvy’s reach.
    Mrs. Smith strolled by just then.
    Livvy didn’t want to chance another humiliating scene with her homeroom teacher. “Oh, so what. Go ahead and read it,” she said, giving up.
    Surprisingly, Jenna returned the letter, eyes smiling. “I know what tardy means, silly. I wasn’t too late with Diane, was I?”
    “Somehow, you knew it was time.”
    Jenna glanced up. “It helps to talk things over with Someone who knows all things.”
    “I figured you’d say that.”
    “He’s never too late, Livvy.”
    “I know.”

Dreams on Ice
    Chapter Seventeen
    The table at Jenna’s house was lit with several tall candles in a floral centerpiece. Jenna’s mother insisted on serving each person. And Livvy was amazed at the way the Saturday night supper was presented. The dishes were ornate with Oriental themes and swirling, colorful designs.
    “It’s wonderful to finally meet our Jenna’s pen pal”—Reverend Song smiled at Livvy—“and her father.” Then he turned to engage Livvy’s dad in small talk.
    Livvy worried that her father might clam up and make things awkward all evening. She honestly didn’t know what to expect. As quiet and withdrawn as he was, Livvy could only hope that her dad