Free EllRay Jakes Rocks the Holidays! by Sally Warner Page B

friend problems would be over if I did.
    But my grownup problems would be just beginning.
    Also my me problems. They count, too.
    Because shouting out the swear would just be
wrong.
    Poor Kevin, I think, feeling sorry for him in advance. I mean, he got me into all this. But when I don’t yell out the swear, Jared and Stanley won’t be friends with him anymore. For a while, at least. It will blow over, though.
    But—I already did three challenges, right? And I
told
Kevin no dares!
    Anyway, Kevin didn’t even come up with this one. It was Jared and Stanley all the way.
    Oops. The pre-recorded “Grinch” music is finishing up, even though each kid seems to be singinga different line. But at least it’s coming to an end.
    And the audience WHOOPS , claps, and yells like crazy while the second-graders bow funny, fist pump, or curtsey, depending on the kid.
    I peek out from behind the curtain and see Ms. Sanchez trying to get our class lined up in the aisle, so they’ll be ready to sprint up to the stage after I announce the final song. The girls are tying the bell straps to their ankles as quietly as they can.
    Which isn’t very quietly.
    Miss Myrna jabs me between my shoulder blades with a surprisingly sharp finger, which means it’s time for me to do my emcee thing again. I get to my feet and stagger Frankenstein-like to the microphone standing in the middle of the stage.
    Talk about not blending in!
    “And now,” I say into the mic, “I present to you Ms. Sanchez’s awesome third grade class singing ‘Jingle Bell Rock.’ Come on up, third-graders!”
    I’m supposed to join them after they’re all onstage, and then step forward when we’re done, so I can tell the audience good-bye.
    Time
finally
seems to switch into slow motionas my classmates stomp and jangle their way up to the stage. Miss Myrna quickly wrangles the boys—including me—into a line in the back, and she herds the jingly girls to the front. Then she scurries backstage to start our music.

    And some little Anza-Borrego earthquake fault splits open in my brain, and I see that this is just one of probably a million times in my life when I will have to make a decision like this.
    And each decision I make will belong
only to me
, if I have anything to say about it. Which I will.
    My decisions won’t belong to my mom and dad. Not to Corey or Kevin, either. And for sure, not to Jared.
    Also, some of those decisions—like this one, maybe?—will be very important.
    But the weird thing is, I have a feeling that you can’t always tell at the time how important a decision will be. You can only see it when you look back! So you gotta make each one
on purpose
.
    And I have made the right decision.
    I wriggle in next to Kevin, changing places with Corey. “Listen, Kev,” I whisper to Kevin. “I want us to be friends again, but I’m not gonna yell out a swear. And you shouldn’t have asked me to, because I already did three challenges.”
    Kevin gapes at me. “But EllRay. You have to do it, or else—”
    “And this last one wasn’t even your idea,” I interrupt. “And—and
Alfie’s wearing a brand-new angel sweatshirt
,” I say, the words tumbling out of nowhere. “She was dancing in the aisle during thelast song, dude! She thinks she’s at a
rock concert
.”
    Kevin has a soft spot for Alfie. Don’t ask me why.
    “
Shhh
,” a few girls say, half-turning to glare at us as we wait for the music to begin.
    “I just wanted to give you a heads-up, Kev,” I tell him. “Out of my complete and total respect for you.”
    But he just looks at me like all hope is lost.
    Sorry, Kevin. It’s been fun being friends with you, dog. And I was looking forward to teaching you
Die, Creature, Die
, so we could all play it together.
    Our music starts.

18
A NOT-SO-PERFECT CHRISTMAS
    “Hey, buddy,” Dad says, poking his head into my room at ten-thirty p.m. on Christmas Eve. “Too excited to sleep? I can hear the wheels turning in here.”
    This means