Best Friends Read online

  For Jane, sister extraordinaire

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Map

  Dedication

  Chapter 1 Happy Birthday, Camden Falls!

  Chapter 2 In the Country

  Chapter 3 Sincerely Yours

  Chapter 4 Aunt Allie

  Chapter 5 A Peek in the Windows

  Chapter 6 Conversations — Part I

  Chapter 7 Surprise!

  Chapter 8 Dress Rehearsal

  Chapter 9 Conversations — Part II

  Chapter 10 A Stitch in Time

  Chapter 11 Welcome, Baby!

  Chapter 12 Conversations — Part III

  Chapter 13 Murphy’s Law

  Chapter 14 The Grand Opening

  Chapter 15 Flora on Parade

  Chapter 16 Prizes

  Chapter 17 Starring Ruby J. Northrop

  Chapter 18 Best Friends

  Chapter 19 The New Old House

  Chapter 20 Congratulations!

  Chapter 21 Summertime

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  Whenever Flora Northrop looked back to that spring, she thought of it, rather dramatically, as the time of endings and beginnings. It was the spring in which she ended sixth grade, which was both her first and her last year at Camden Falls Elementary. It was the spring of graduations. It was the spring in which the Fongs had their baby. It was the spring in which two Camden Falls citizens got their very first jobs. It was the spring in which the town celebrated its 350th birthday, ending more than a year of preparation and anticipation. And it was the spring in which Flora and her sister, Ruby, ended their first year in Camden Falls and began the next one.

  Flora’s first winter in her new home had been long, cold, and very snowy. Flora had enjoyed it (school had been closed six times since December — four times for snow and twice for ice), but on a late March day when warm breezes brought signs of spring, she breathed in deeply and found herself thinking of blooming flowers and buzzing bees and Popsicles from the ice-cream truck. Unfortunately, she was so busy thinking of these things that she didn’t realize that Mr. Donaldson, her teacher, was looking her way. He’d been saying something, but she wasn’t sure what, and now he was waiting for some kind of response from her.

  “Um,” Flora said, drawing her breath in sharply. This was a very un-Flora-like moment, and she could feel herself blush.

  The good thing about Mr. Donaldson, which had made him a popular teacher in the few months since he had taken over Flora’s class, was that instead of becoming impatient with her, he said, “It’s hard to concentrate on a day like today, isn’t it?”

  Flora let out her breath. “Yes,” she agreed. Her eyes strayed to the windows again and then to the door near Mr. Donaldson’s desk, the one that led to the courtyard. Mr. Donaldson had opened it wide, and Flora knew she wasn’t the only student in her class whose thoughts were on flowers and bees and Popsicles.

  “That gives me an idea,” said Mr. Donaldson, glancing at the clock. “Tonight’s homework is a composition. I was going to ask you to write about pets, real or imaginary, but why don’t you write about summer vacation instead. Today is a good day for thinking about that. It isn’t really so far off.”

  When class ended, Flora leaped from her seat, eager to catch up with her friends Olivia and Nikki. On her way to the door, she paused by Mr. Donaldson’s desk and whispered to him, “I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention.”

  “No problem,” he replied. “I suspect you were daydreaming about the weather. Weather will be good material for your composition.”

  In the hallway, Flora linked arms with Olivia and Nikki and said, “Ruby has a play rehearsal now. Let’s watch for a few minutes before we go home. You’re coming with us today, right, Nikki?”

  Nikki nodded. “Yup. I’m not taking the bus. Tobias is going to pick me up at Needle and Thread later.”

  Arm in arm, Flora and her friends hustled through the halls toward the auditorium, and Flora thought, as she had many times in the months since school began, how very lucky she was to have two friends as wonderful as Olivia Walter and Nikki Sherman. She and Olivia and Nikki were not popular kids. Not by a long shot. But they weren’t unpopular, either. They were just themselves — and lucky to have found one another.

  Olivia was small for her age and had skipped a grade to boot, making her the youngest and tiniest kid in the entire sixth grade. She was also the smartest, brimming with enthusiasm for everything school offered, especially science. Sometimes Flora found it hard to muster excitement over fishers (mammals that apparently had nothing to do with fishing) or milkweed pods or monarch butterflies. But she tried for her friend’s sake.

  Nikki, whose mother struggled to hold the Shermans together, lived in a lonely and run-down house in the country. She often showed up at school wearing clothes that were faded and baggy, having previously belonged to Tobias, her brother, who was so much older than Nikki that he could drive. Her classmates paid little attention to her other than to poke her occasionally in the hallway or stick a nasty, anonymous note (usually full of misspellings, which Nikki pointed out to Olivia and Flora) in her locker.

  Flora was shy — so shy she dreaded being called on or asked to read in front of the class or (worst of all) having to stand before the class to make a speech. She would blush to the very roots of her hair. Furthermore, Flora had become an orphan, an actual orphan, the year before, and her classmates did not know what to make of this. So mostly they left Flora to herself, which meant that Flora and Olivia and Nikki had formed a small but impenetrable group.

  Ruby Northrop, fourth-grade celebrity, was part of this group, too, but she was nothing like the others. She was not a particularly good or enthusiastic student, she had a flair for style, she was far from shy, and she had made many friends since moving to Camden Falls. She sang, she danced, and she had been tapped to perform in the school play, which was to be an important part of the upcoming town birthday celebration.

  Flora, Olivia, and Nikki came to a halt outside the door to the auditorium. Olivia opened it silently and the girls slipped inside.

  “There she is,” whispered Flora, pointing to her sister, who was sitting in the first row of seats. Flora studied the kids on the stage. “This isn’t one of Ruby’s scenes,” she added.

  The play, The Witches of Camden Falls, was based on an unfortunate period in the history of Camden Falls, during which ordinary (and very unlucky) citizens, thought to be witches, had been persecuted and punished. Ruby was the star of the play.

  “Then let’s go,” said Olivia. “I don’t want to hang around unless we can watch Ruby.”

  So as silently as they had entered the auditorium, the girls left it and then left their school.

  “Ahh!” said Nikki, breathing in deeply as they turned onto Aiken Avenue. “Spring.”

  “What a great spring this is going to be,” said Flora. “The Fongs will have their baby.” (The Fongs lived at one end of the Row Houses, in which Flora, Ruby, and Olivia also lived. Flora was making a dress for their baby.)

  “My parents will open our store,” said Olivia.

  “Really? So soon?” said Nikki.

  “Yup,” said Olivia, who didn’t think it sounded soon at all. Her father had lost his job way back the summer before, and it had taken months for him and Olivia’s mother to decide what they were going to do next.

  “We’ll finally have the big celebration,” said Nikki as they passed a sign reading HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAMDEN FALLS! JOIN US MAY 24TH–26TH FOR THE BIGGEST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER! PARADE, CARNIVAL, FIREWORKS, CONTESTS.

  “You know what else is going to happen this spring?” asked Flora.

  “Yes,” Olivia replied g
lumly. “We’ll graduate from Camden Falls Elementary.”

  “Don’t you want to graduate?” asked Nikki.

  “Well, I don’t want to flunk out,” said Olivia, “which would be impossible anyway. But I don’t want to leave, either. It’s the only school I’ve ever gone to, except for preschool. I’ve been at CFE since kindergarten. This is my seventh year there.”

  “Mine, too,” said Nikki.

  “Seven years of walking to school,” Olivia went on dreamily. “Seven years along this same route. Day after day after day.” She turned her face to the sun. “I wonder how many walks that is. Let’s see. Seven times … how many school days are there in a year? I need my calculator.” She looked at Nikki. “Don’t you mind that we’ll be leaving?”

  “I don’t know. I’m kind of excited about the central school,” Nikki replied. “Even though Tobias will graduate in June, so we won’t get to be there together.”

  “Ahem,” said Flora. “I wasn’t talking about graduation.”

  “What?” said Nikki and Olivia, looking puzzled.

  “I asked you guys about what else is going to happen because I wanted to tell you that I found out last night my friend Annika is coming for a visit.”

  “Annika Lindgren from your old town?” said Olivia. “Coming here?”

  Flora nodded. “She and her parents want to come for the weekend of the birthday celebration. That is going to be so cool. I haven’t seen Annika since last June, since the day Ruby and I moved here with Min.”

  Nikki started to speak, hesitated, then finally said, “Was it Annika’s mother who came to the hospital to get you and Ruby after, you know … ?”

  “It’s funny, but I’ve never been able to remember who came that night,” Flora replied slowly. “It was either Mrs. Lindgren or Min. I remember giving the police officer both of their phone numbers. Mrs. Lindgren must have come since she was so much closer.”

  It was on that January night — the night of the hospital and the police and the phone calls — that Flora and Ruby had become orphans. An accident on a snowy road had taken the lives of their parents and changed Flora’s and Ruby’s lives in ways they couldn’t have imagined. Min, their grandmother, had traveled from Camden Falls (along with Daisy Dear, her beloved golden retriever) to the town in which Flora and Ruby had grown up and had stayed with them until things settled down. In June, when the school year ended, she had packed up their belongings and moved them back to Camden Falls, into the house in which both Min and the girls’ own mother had themselves grown up. The last year (more than a year now since the accident, Flora reminded herself with mild surprise) had been difficult and sad. It had also been a year in which Flora and Ruby had made new friends — not only Olivia and Nikki but all their neighbors at the Row Houses (just for starters). And a busy year full of school and projects and classes and events.

  Really, Flora thought, if she had to leave her home and start a new life, she couldn’t be much luckier than to move in with a grandmother who co-owned a sewing store (the other owner was Olivia’s grandmother Gigi). Flora’s passion was needlework and crafts, and now she spent frequent afternoons at Needle and Thread, working on projects that Min and Gigi displayed in the window, learning new techniques, and sometimes even helping to teach classes.

  “So Annika will be here for the whole weekend?” Olivia asked, and Flora reeled her mind back to her friends and their conversation.

  “Yup. The whole weekend.”

  There was a short silence and then Olivia said, “Annika was your best friend, right?”

  Flora nodded. “We met in first grade. We were always having sleepovers and —”

  “Did she live next door to you?”

  “No. She lived a few streets away.”

  “But she was your best friend?” said Olivia again.

  Flora glanced at her. “Yes. Just like you and Nikki are my best friends now.”

  “Cool,” said Nikki.

  Nikki was about to ask Flora if she missed her old town when Flora said, “Hey, Olivia, let’s go to your store before we go to Needle and Thread.”

  Olivia grinned. “My store. That sounds so, I don’t know, important.”

  “It is!” said Flora. “And it’s really exciting.”

  The girls turned right onto Dodds Lane and then right again, this time onto Main Street. They walked along the west side of the street, passing Needle and Thread (Flora and Olivia waved to their grandmothers through the window), then Zack’s hardware store and Heaven, the jewelry store, before reaching the old building that was slowly being transformed into Sincerely Yours. The girls peeked inside. The kitchen in Sincerely Yours was being renovated so it could be better used to prepare Mrs. Walter’s specialties — jams and baked goods and candies of all kinds — and in the front of the store a counter was being installed at which the food would be sold, and shelves were being built to hold all the items that could go into the custom-made gift baskets the store would also sell.

  “I see Mom inside talking to the contractor,” said Olivia, nose to the glass. “I think Dad’s at home waiting for Henry and Jack to come back from school. We’d better not bother Mom now. Let’s go see Min and Gigi.”

  Flora, Nikki, and Olivia ambled back to Needle and Thread. When Flora opened the door and stepped inside, breathing in the particular smells of the store, it seemed that she was walking into the heart of her world. Her home at the Row Houses was special, that was true, but Needle and Thread sometimes felt like the center of everything. Here was where she and Min and Gigi were helping with the costumes for Ruby’s play. Here was where they were working on the Needle and Thread float for the parade in May. Here was where Flora had gotten the idea for the dress she was making for the Fongs’ baby. And here was where the important people in Flora’s new life often congregated.

  Just now, for instance, she found not only Min and Gigi but Mr. Pennington and his dog, Jacques, who had stopped in for a visit; Sonny Sutphin in his wheelchair, also visiting; and Mary Woolsey, working away at her sewing machine in the back of the store. Flora felt like shouting, “I’m here, everybody!” as Ruby might have done, but instead she just smiled, happy to find so many of her favorite people close at hand.

  She called hello to Min and Gigi, and they waved back, Min in a hurry, which made Flora smile. “Min” was short not just for Mindy but for “in a minute,” since she was such a busy person.

  Flora sat on the couch and patted Jacques, while Mr. Pennington, who lived next to Olivia at the Row Houses, said, “The first true day of spring!” and then told Flora that he planned to plant his vegetable garden soon.

  Flora greeted Sonny, who was on his way out of the store, and he replied, “Happy news, Flora. I’ve decided to look for a job.” For as long as most people in Camden Falls could remember, Sonny had spent his days roaming town in his wheelchair, a cheerful presence, a fixture on Main Street, but somehow unconnected to his very own world.

  Next, Flora spoke to Mary (known to many of the local children as Scary Mary but now Flora’s friend), who said, “I had a good idea for your research project. It occurred to me that you should get in touch with Mrs. Jacob Fitzpatrick. She’s one of my sewing customers and she’s lived here all her life. She’ll have some interesting stories about the Great Depression.”

  “Thank you,” said Flora.

  And then she thought about the changes that were looming — graduation and the new baby and the opening of Olivia’s store and Sonny’s job and what she might learn from Mrs. Jacob Fitzpatrick — and she felt as she did when she stood on the beach, the ocean sweeping away from her, and put her foot out to stick one toe in the chilly water.

  Min and Gigi were closing Needle and Thread for the day when Tobias Sherman cruised down Main Street and pulled up in front of the store.

  “There’s Tobias!” Nikki called. “I have to go!”

  “Bye! See you tomorrow,” said Olivia and Flora.

  Nikki hesitated just briefly before climbing into Tobi
as’s car. The car, like many things in Nikki’s life, was run-down and shabby. Tobias had once complained to his mother that the kids at school teased him about the condition of the car, and Mrs. Sherman had replied, “Then tell them it’s a work in progress.”

  This was true. Tobias was frequently painting it, tuning it up, tinkering with it. Nikki herself didn’t care too much what the car looked like as long as it ran. And the fact that it ran at all was due to Tobias, who had taken a wreck and made the engine purr like a kitten.

  “Hi!” said Nikki as she fastened her seat belt.

  “Greetings,” Tobias replied, and Nikki giggled. Then she looked at the clock on the dashboard. “Just in time to pick up Mae,” she said. Mae’s afternoon day care center closed at five-thirty, and Tobias and Nikki, who sometimes picked up their little sister at the end of the day, knew better than to be late.

  “What time is Mom coming home tonight?” asked Nikki.

  “Let’s see. This is Wednesday? She works at both places today, so six-thirty.”

  Nikki was silent.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Tobias.

  Nikki scowled. “Did Dad ever send us a single penny?”

  “Nope. And let’s not get off on that subject again. It’s just going to make both of us mad. Look. Here’s Happy Days.” Tobias rolled his eyes. “What a lame name for a day care center. Couldn’t they come up with anything better?”

  “Even Mae thinks it’s silly,” Nikki agreed.

  “There she is.” Tobias pointed to the playground, where their six-year-old sister was hanging upside down from the monkey bars, her open jacket falling from her shoulders.

  “Mae!” Nikki called, climbing out of the car. Then, “Hi, Mrs. Mines!”