Free Natalie and the Bestest Friend Race by Dandi Daley Mackall

Chapter 1
Me First!
    “Me first!”
    “ Me first!”
    Laurie and Sasha holler this at the same exactly time. Laurie is my bestest friend who is a girl. And Sasha is not.
    In case you don’t know this already, my name is Natalie 24. My friends, like Laurie, can call me Nat. Only not Sasha. Plus, my other middle name is Elizabeth. Only I don’t like that one on account of you can get teased and called Lizard Breath if you’re not careful.
    I am running as hard as I can to the swings. But it’s not hard enough.

    “You lose again, Natalie!” Sasha shouts.
    “Sorry, Nat,” Laurie says. “I wasn’t fast enough to save you a swing. You can have mine soon as I’m done.”
    There’s another swing, but a girl from the other kindergarten class is sitting on it. Their class always gets out to recess first, some of the times.
    “That’s okay,” I tell my best friend ’cause I don’t want her to feel bad. “I like to watch.” Only watching is boring. As soon as a swing is empty, I will fill it with me.
    Sasha turns her back on me and says to Laurie, “You’re a pretty fast runner.”
    “So are you,” Laurie says back.
    “I know,” Sasha agrees.
    “I guess I have to be fast around our house or I’d never get to the bathroom before Brianna hogs it,” Laurie explains.
    I laugh ’cause I know this is a true thing. Laurie’s big sister is a bathroom-hogging girl.
    Laurie makes a smiley face at me ’cause she knows I know about Brianna.
    “Laurie,” Sasha says, acting like I’m not here. “I hope we get to be on the same team in Kindergarten Olympics.”
    “In what?” I ask. “I never heard about Kindergarten Olympics.”
    Sasha keeps herself backwards to me, like Laurie is the only kid on this playground and Laurie is the one who asked about the Olympics and not me. “Oops. I’m not supposed to tell,” Sasha says.
    “Tell what?” Laurie demands.
    “I know all about the Kindergarten Olympics because my mother is a volunteer parent. She’s in charge of everything. I’m not supposed to tell anybody about it. But I guess I can tell you. Only you have to promise not to tell anybody else.”
    Laurie shrugs up her shoulders. She doesn’t promise anything. That’s what.
    I shrug up my shoulders too. Only Sasha’s back of the head doesn’t see me do this.
    Sasha goes on anyway. “Okay. We’ll have races and jumps and contests and trophies even.”
    “Cool!” I shout. I saw some Olympics on TV. And Daddy and I cheered for the team that goes by the name of USA. They ran in circles. And other USA girls walked on boards and did tricks and jumped.
    If I’m not a movie-star girl when I grow up, I might be an Olympic USA girl. I have very fast shoes. Sometimes. Sort of.
    Sasha keeps talking to Laurie. “We should be on the same team, Laurie. We’re both super fast.”
    Laurie leans around Sasha and gives me a great smile. “Nat, wouldn’t it be cool to be on the same team? I can ask Sarah all about it.”
    Sarah is Laurie’s old sister, who knows everything and doesn’t hog bathrooms. Next year she can drive. Plus, she is mostly nice and wears lipstick.
    “Hi, Farah!” Laurie calls, looking past me.
    That’s how I notice that Farah is standing behind me in the waiting-for-a-swing line. “Hi, Farah,” I say too.
    “Hello,” Farah says back. She is a nice girl. Plus, she has aunts and uncles who live in other countries.
    “Time to change swings,” Laurie says. She hops off of hers and hands it to me.
    Sasha hops off her swing. But she doesn’t hand it over to Farah, so Farah has to grab the swing herself. It takes her two grabs.
    By the time Farah sits on her swing, I’m already swinging. Her hair is so long she has to sweep it in front of her so she won’t sit on it. I would love to wear Farah’s hair. My hair is too short to sit on.
    Farah and I try to get our swings to go up together and back together. Only this is harder than you think it’s going to be.
    Across the playground I