Free Drat! You Copycat! by Nancy Krulik Page B

tomato slices.
    “Okay guys, it’s tomato time!” Kevin announced happily.
    Everyone watched as Jeremy threw one of Kevin’s cherry tomatoes up in the air. Kevin opened his mouth wide—and caught it easily. Some of the kids clapped. Kevin took a bow and chomped away.
    “Kevin’s going for the world record,” Katie explained to Becky. “He’s already eaten two hundred thirty-seven tomatoes this month!”
    “I love tomatoes,” Becky interrupted. She smiled at Kevin. “One time I ate a tomato this big.” She held her arms in a circle the size of a pumpkin.
    Kevin rolled his eyes. “Tomatoes don’t grow that big,” he told her, “not even prize-winning ones. You can’t fool me. I know all about tomatoes. I’ve read books on them and everything.”

    Becky blushed tomato red.
    Suzanne didn’t want to discuss tomatoes. She wasn’t finished talking about Cleopatra.
    “You know, I asked my mother to get me a cat,” she told the other girls.
    “Did she say yes?” Katie asked excitedly. “It’s so great having a pet. You know how much fun Pepper and I have together.” Pepper was Katie’s chocolate-brown-and-white cocker spaniel. She adored him.
    “Well a cat is different than a dog,” Suzanne said. “I mean, dogs are fun and all, but cats are smart. The ancient Egyptians worshipped them—even Cleopatra.”
    “ Pepper’s smart,” Katie insisted. “I taught him a new trick the other day. When I hold up a treat, he dances on his hind legs.”
    “Pepper is smart,” Suzanne assured her best friend. “For a dog, anyway,” she added under her breath.
    “I used to have a dog,” Becky told Katie. She turned to Suzanne. “But now I have a cat. Her name’s Fluffy. She’s white and cuddly. And she’s really smart.” She turned to Suzanne and smiled. “Maybe you’ll want to come over and play with her one day.”
    Suzanne ate a forkful of lentil beans.
    “Hey Kevin, what do you call a pet tomato?” George asked.
    “What?” Kevin asked between bites of a tomato wedge. Red tomato juice dribbled out of his mouth and onto his chin.
    “Call it anything you want,” George laughed. “It can’t hear you!”
    Jeremy laughed so hard at George’s joke that milk came out of his nose.
    George smiled. “Jeremy, you’re the best audience. You’ll laugh at anything.”
    Becky looked at Jeremy and smiled. “I know a good joke,” she told him.
    Suzanne rolled her eyes. “I’m finished eating,” she said, before Becky could tell her joke. “Let’s go play double Dutch.”
    “I love double Dutch,” Becky said. “Back in Atlanta we used to have contests to see who could jump the longest without missing.
    I was always the winner.”
    Miriam, Mandy, and Zoe Canter were impressed.
    Suzanne wasn’t. She turned to Becky. “I’d ask you to play, but you’re wearing a dress ... unless you’ve got shorts under there.”
    Becky shook her head. “I never thought to do that.”
    “All the girls in our class wear shorts underneath their dresses,” Zoe told her. “That way you can play and no one sees your underpants.”
    “Wow!” Becky exclaimed.
    “It was Suzanne’s idea,” Miriam said.
    “Suzanne is definitely the fashion expert around here,” Katie agreed.
    Suzanne laughed. “Everyone needs a hobby.”
    Becky looked at Suzanne’s leopard-print shirt. It had fake fur on the cuffs. Her pants were glittery-black.
    Katie had hoped Suzanne would have wanted to do something else at recess. But it was clear that wasn’t going to happen. Sometimes Suzanne could be so stubborn.
    But Katie didn’t want to argue with her in front of everyone. That would just make Becky feel bad. “You guys go ahead and jump rope,” she told the others, finally. “Becky and I can do something else. Maybe play foursquare.”
    “It’s okay, Katie,” Becky said. “If you want to jump rope, I can just watch for today.”
    “No way,” Katie told Becky. “There’s always lots of fun stuff going on during