Free Love Stinks! by Nancy Krulik Page B

cardboard box in her hand.
    “It’s a package from Cinnamon’s Candy Shop,” Suzanne announced. “And it’s addressed to me!”
    “Oh, yummy,” Becky said. “Who sent it?”
    “I don’t know,” Suzanne replied as she looked at the box.
    “Is there a card or anything?” Emma W. asked.
    “Maybe it’s on the inside,” Jessica suggested. “Open it.”
    “Okay, okay, don’t rush me!” Suzanne exclaimed excitedly. She carefully began to open the box. “It’s one of those giant candy hearts!”
    Katie looked down at the sugary pink heart. It looked just like the little pink candy message hearts Cinnamon sold at the store. But this heart was the size of a small cake! Cinnamon had etched a picture of a bumble bee and the word MINE onto the heart. “Be mine,” Katie realized.

    “A candy valentine!” Jessica squealed. “Who is it from?”
    Suzanne picked up a small white envelope from the bottom of the box. “It says, ‘Happy Valentine’s Day from your secret admirer.’ ”
    “Wow!” Becky exclaimed. “A secret admirer. I wish I had one of those.”
    Suzanne laughed. “Come on, Becky. It’s no secret who you‘ d like to get candy from.”
    Becky blushed while all the girls giggled.
    All except Katie, that is. She was getting really tired of hearing about how much Becky liked Jeremy. After all, Jeremy was her best friend. And Becky was making him really unhappy.
    “So who do you think the admirer is?” Emma asked Suzanne.
    “Maybe it’s a boy in our class,” Jessica suggested.
    “It could be an older boy. Like in the fifth grade,” Emma W. thought out loud.
    “I don’t know,” Suzanne said. “It’s a mystery.”
    “We’ll figure out who it is,” Jessica assured Suzanne. “Starting tomorrow, we’re all going to look around and see if any of the boys are paying special attention to you.”
    “Maybe he doesn’t go to our school,” Suzanne quickly suggested.
    “Then where would he be from?” Becky asked.
    Suzanne said with a shrug, “He could be from anywhere.”
    Katie rolled her eyes and looked over at her best friend. Suzanne was clearly enjoying all the attention. But she didn’t seem as excited by the candy heart as Katie thought she might be.
    There was something weird about this whole secret admirer thing. Katie just couldn’t figure out what it was.

Chapter 3
    First thing Thursday morning, Katie and most of the girls in the fourth grade gathered on the playground. But Katie wasn’t happy. All anyone could talk about was Suzanne’s secret admirer. Emma, Becky, and Jessica must have been on the phone all night telling people about it. Katie really didn’t care about Suzanne’s secret admirer.
    When Kevin Camilleri walked by, Jessica turned her attention to him.
    “Hey, Kevin,” Jessica called out. “What do you think of Suzanne?” she asked.
    Kevin frowned. “I think she’s a snob.”
    “So you’re not her secret admirer?”
    “If I am, it’s a secret to me!” Kevin ran off to kick a soccer ball with Andrew Epstein.
    “We can cross Kevin off our list,” Jessica said.
    Emma W. nodded. “You can cross George Brennan off, too. I called him last night. He doesn’t like Suzanne very much.”
    “Do you think it could be Jeremy?” Jessica asked Katie. “He’s your best friend, so you should know.”
    Katie shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
    “That’s a relief,” Becky said.
    “I’ve already talked to Andrew and Kadeem,” Emma W. told the girls. “They didn’t even know Cinnamon was making big candy hearts. So neither of them could be the secret admirer.”
    Katie sighed. She really didn’t want to talk about this anymore. Katie was tired of hearing about all the mushy, lovey-dovey stuff. She was already sick of Valentine’s Day ... and it hadn’t even come yet!
    At just that moment, Suzanne strolled onto the playground. She was holding a small white envelope in her hand.
    “Hi, everyone,” she greeted the crowd of girls.
    “Hi,