The next morning Abby was way calmer she was no longer nervous. Now she knew what to expect and could prepare. She quickly ate up all her cereal and packed her bag. She couldn’t wait to tell sophie about her cousin coming  not to visit but to stay! Abby happily finished her breakfast and packed her lunch. This time when she waited for the bus her stomach was no longer in knots. With a warinng glance to jack she hopped on the bus. Quickly she easily found Sophie and told her the great news.

Just like Abby she met it with enthusiasm “That’s great!” then she paused and said but what is your cousin like?”

Abby paused, thought about it and then said “Alice is really nice. She’s fun and adventurous and especially likes to explore. She also likes to play fun tricks like once she sent me a package that when opened a whole bunch of snakes popped out!” Sophie smiled and giggled. “Alice comes to visit every summer then goes back when school comes you see lives in another town that is 2 hours away so every minute together is important.” Suddenly the bus stopped at the school and kids rushed out. “I bet Alice would like to meet you”, Abby said,. “she’s always ready to meet a new friend. As they went through the hallway talking and laughing they didn’t notice that Jack Tyler was placing himself between them and the classroom.

Abby glared at Jack. Jack glared at her. For a while, they played glare tennis until Abby said fiercely but calmly

“Move”

“Move?” said Jack clearly irritated by her boldness.

“Yes, move,” then she pushed her way through with Sophie quickly following behind. As soon as they disappeared he said to himself “that girl is ruining everything. Everyone feared me and did what I said, but now everyone sees how she stands up to me no one will even notice me.”

Back in Abby’s class  Abby was sure she would soon die of boredom so instead of finding out how many cookies jack has if he has 2 more than Jill Abby tried to save her life by thinking about Alice. Her thoughts were soon interrupted when Mr Armstrong asked her to solve the problem up front. The last thing Abby wanted to do was to make a fool of herself if she got it wrong but Mr Armstrong insisted. Abby slowly picked up the chalk and tried to write the problem when she finished she surprised herself by actually knowing the answer. Hours seemed to pass until lunchtime. The Cafeteria lady Mrs. Grump looking at the students with as much enthusiasm as someone who has to kiss an octopus.

“Hurry up and line up” she said In her shrill voice she almost reminded Abby of her next-door neighbor, Mr. Jones, who made it perfectly clear that he would be happy to live anywhere else there.”. Even Mr and Mrs. Perce  had given up trying to be nice to him. Abby’s thoughts were cut short when she heard

“Are you going to tell me what you want to eat or what?” Abby jumped she didn’t realize that it was her turn. Abby looked at the strange woman Ms. Grump was right! Abby was trying to figure out what to say to this woman she was almost tempted to get out of the lunch line but then what would she eat? She had told her mom that she wanted to eat something from the cafeteria but now she was having second thoughts.

“Well?” Mrs Grump said making it clear that if she made her wait any more Abby would end up lunch.

Abby trying to be polite she couldn’t tell  what was infront of her. It looked like something between tuna surprise and eggplant pasta  said “what is it? You see I’m allergic to milk and-”

“Well You should  have said it before!!!” Mrs. Grump was now really worked up. The whole  cafeteria was now taking notice. Sophie tapped Abby on the shoulder

“I brought an extra peanut butter and jelly sandwich would you like to share?” Abby nodded staying in this lunch line would probably be toxic to her health. As they picked a table Abby saw a group of girls sitting at a table they were giggling and making jokes.

“Who are they?” Abby asked Sophie pointing towards the girls. Sophie squinted and frowned.

“That’s Emma Lopez she’s the most popular girl in school.

“What makes her so popular?” Abby inquired. Sophie shrugged then said

“Well she won the school spelling bee last year and her family is pretty wealthy.”

“Cool!” Abby said “I love spelling do you think that we could go over there and talk to her?” Sophie frowned again

“We can try” Sophie replied “I’ve talked to Emma before she’s not the meanest person in the world but she’s also not the friendliest. Abby didn’t let this stop her some one who was even someone who was even half as nice as Sophie still had to be good besides how bad could she be I mean if Abby could take on Jack she could take on any one. With sophie lagging behind Abby walked to the table.

“hello” Abby said with a big grin “I’m Abby mind if we sit with you?”

“Sure, whatever” said Emma hardly even looking at the girls instead she went on giggling with the other girls. Abby was a bit disappointed at Emma’s behavior on how ignored herself and Sophie but sometimes it can be hard to meet someone new so she didn’t say what was on her mind.  

“Never say the first thing on your mind.” Mr. Perce always said  “say the second or even third.” Abby thought about what her dad said. The first thing on her mind was that Emma was being very unfriendly the second thing was that she could do much better at greeting people so she said the third thing on her mind.

“I like your blue eyes they’re very pretty” Emma gave Abby a weird look then went back to her friends. Now Abby was starting to get a little uncomfortable Sophie on the other hand was getting a lot uncomfortable Emma was the most popular girl at school she could easily start a bad rumor about them like she had done before. Sophie gave Abby a let’s get out of here quick look Abby didn’t hesitate they quickly went to another table without even being noticed