Free My Last Best Friend by Julie Bowe Page A

fried."
    Randi snickers. "French fried?"
    "With ketchup on top," Tom adds, poking a finger at Rusty's red hair.
    Rusty makes a fake frown. "Knock it off," he says. "Or I'll
mash
you!"
    Tom makes a sly grin. "Like I'm afraid of a potato brain," he says.
    Rusty grabs Tom in a headlock. "You asked for it!" he shouts, and pretends to pound Tom. Tom howls. Randi snorts. I laugh.
    "Keep it down over there!" Jenna yells from her cluster. "You sound like a bunch of bawling babies."
    I turn to Jenna. "Not babies," I say. "Tater Tots."
    Tom finally escapes Rusty's headlock, but we still can't think of anything to draw on our paper.
    "Finish up, please," Mr. Crow says. "It's almost time for art."
    "You think of a design, Ida," Tom says. "You're the best artist."
    "I am?" I ask.
    Tom nods. Randi and Rusty nod, too.
    I fidget a little and glance around the room, wishing Elizabeth would magically appear. She'd think of a clever design in about three seconds. But the only people I see are Rusty, Randi, Tom, Quinn, Dominic, Zane, Mr. Crow, Brooke, Joey, Meeka, Jolene, the Dylans, Stacey, and, of course, Jenna.
    I look at the paper again. "Maybe we should draw us," I say.
    "Us?" Randi, Tom, and Rusty say together.
    "You know, our class." I think about the potato people I drew in my sketchbook. "We can draw potatoes ... a bushel of them," I say. "And then we can draw everyone's faces on them."
    Rusty laughs. "Yeah, and we can call it
A Bushel of Buttheads.
"
    "Not that," Tom says. "Something nicer, like
A Bushel of...
"
    "
Friends?
" Randi suggests. "Yeah, that's good," Rusty says. "
A Bushel of Friends.
"
    Tom nods. "Let's do it."
    And before I know what's happening, Tom, Randi, and Rusty are drawing potatoes on our paper. So I start drawing, too. And then we decide which potato looks like which person in our class. And we add the details. And goofy names like
Tom Tater, Mashed Meeka,
and
Stacey Spud.
And we joke around and laugh and I actually have a good time.
    After we draw our whole class (including
Mr. Scare Crow)
, I write
A Bushel of Friends
along the bottom of the paper, and it almost seems like it's true.
    Randi grabs our design and holds it up for everyone to see.
    "Impressive," Mr. Crow says.
    Almost everyone agrees.

Chapter 16
    By the time lunch is over the rain has stopped. During second recess I hide my note for Stacey. Then I leave the letter
A
on her desk so she will know to check the secret stone before she goes home after school.
    That night I tell George all about my cluster's design for the Potato Pageant window. "Even if it doesn't win, it was still fun planning it," I say.
    I roll over and hug George tight. "Actually, I hope Stacey's window wins. Even if that means Jenna wins, too. I bet winning the contest would make Stacey happy. And her grandma would be proud. And maybe her mom and dad would come to see the window. I know that would make Stacey
really
happy."
    I close my eyes and imagine Stacey standing in
front of the winning window, a sack of potatoes slung over her shoulder. She's smiling and the cameras are flashing.
    Just thinking about her feeling happy makes me feel happy, too.
    When I get to school the next morning, I check the secret stone for a note from Stacey. But there's nothing there. "She must have gotten my note yesterday," I say to myself. "Which means I better get out of here before she shows up with a note to hide."
    I hurry into the school. But when I get to our hallway, I'm surprised to see Stacey is already there, talking with Brooke and Jenna outside our classroom. I wonder why she didn't leave a note for me.
    I plan to walk past them, like always, but as soon as Stacey sees me she stops talking. Tears fill her eyes and then roll down her cheeks. She takes off running to the girls' bathroom.
    I turn to Brooke and Jenna. "What's wrong with Stacey?" I ask.
    Brooke shrugs. "Beats me," she says. "One minute we were talking, and the next minute she was crying."
    "She's probably just upset because