Free Time's Up by Annie Bryant Page B

“We could.”
    â€œOkay.” Betsy pointed to Maeve’s shelves beyond the poster. “Is that a Magic 8 Ball, by any chance?”
    â€œYes.” Maeve was afraid Betsy would think it was sort of silly.
    â€œI had one too. I used to be obsessed!”
    â€œI totally was!” Maeve practically shouted. She couldn’t believe she had this in common with Betsy too. Orlando and the Magic 8 Ball. Who would have guessed?
    â€œDon’t tell anyone this, but I used to ask mine if I’d be the first woman president,” Betsy said. “I’d ask about once a day until I got the answer ‘Signs point to yes’ or ‘Without a doubt.’”
    â€œI asked if I’d win an Oscar for Best Actress!” Maeve exclaimed. “That’s my number-one dream.” She smiled. “Should we ask it a question now?”
    Betsy looked at her watch again. “Maeve, we have to get back to work. Time is flying, and we’ve barely gotten anything done!” Betsy straightened the piles of papers in front of them. “I haven’t been very professional. I haven’t even taught you anything yet!”
    Maeve looked guiltily at her math homework. “Number three.”
    Betsy frowned and tapped her pencil nervously. “Do you think we could move to the kitchen to study? I can’t seem to concentrate with all this, um, pink in here.”
    â€œThat’s funny. Pink totally relaxes me. In fact, I think I’d do much better in school if all the school walls were painted pink,” Maeve said. “But sure, we can move if you think it’d work out better.”
    In the kitchen, the girls spread their papers and books out on the wooden table and got down to business. It was a great place to work. They went through Maeve’s math homework until it really started to make sense. By the end, she was actually doing each problem on her own with Betsy’s encouragement. Betsy was almost as good a tutor as Matt.
    Maeve smiled when they finished. “You know, I actually hope the Crow calls on me tomorrow.”
    â€œMr. Sherman?” Betsy asked.
    Maeve wrinkled her brows and flapped her arms until Betsy was laughing. “Okay, you’re right! He does look like a crow.”
    Next, they made a list of everything Maeve needed to do to organize her Romeo and Juliet project, including a visit to the library after school the next day. Betsy had seen the movie version, too. “It’s really amazing that this play has been remade so many times,” Betsy said. “It never gets old.”
    â€œIt’s so totally romantic. Love doesn’t change!” Maeve swept her hand across her heart.
    â€œYes,” Betsy agreed. “Language changes, clothes change, hairdos change, but human nature doesn’t. That’s why Shakespeare’s plays are done over and over again.”
    â€œI could perform the Maeve version!” Maeve decided right then. “Do you think Ms. R would go for it?”
    â€œShe’s pretty open. I bet she would. It might help to type out your idea now so you can present it to her on paper. Also, then you can just keep going when you go to write your version of the play. Just getting a couple sentences down always helps me.”
    â€œGood idea.” Maeve opened her laptop and started typing her ideas for Romeo and Juliet , starring who else but Maeve and Orlando. It was her fantasy, right?
    Sam walked into the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and stared into the snack drawer.
    â€œSam,” Maeve reprimanded, “you’re interrupting us!”
    Sam ignored her and pulled out the peanut butter from the cabinet. “That’s why people spend so much time reading history, you know,” he said.
    â€œWhy exactly is that?” Maeve asked, annoyed.
    â€œHistory repeats itself. Like what you were talking aboutbefore. What changes and what doesn’t. But I didn’t mean the