The Valentine Star
Page 1
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OTHER YEARLING BOOKS YOU WILL ENJOY
by Patricia Reilly Giff
The Beast in Ms. Rooney's Room
Fish Face
The Candy Corn Contest
December Secrets
In the Dinosaur's Paw
The Valentine Star
Lazy Lions, Lucky Lambs
Snaggle Doodles
Purple Climbing Days
Sunny-Side Up
Pickle Puss
Beast and the Halloween Horror
Emily Arrow Promises to Do Better This Year
Monster Rabbit Runs Amuck!
Wake Up, Emily, It's Mother's Day
With love Therese Rooney
Emily Arrow raced across the schoolyard.
“Come on, Uni,” she said. She held the little rubber unicorn up high.
She jumped over a clump of snow.
“Faster,” she yelled. “Faster.”
“Wait up,” said a voice behind her.
“Fastest in the world,” Emily said.
“Hey,” said the voice.
Emily looked back. It was Sherri Dent.
“How about playing something?” Sherri yelled.
Emily shook her head. She wanted to run with Uni.
She raced to the highest snow pile. It was the one near the schoolyard fence.
They weren't supposed to climb on it.
But she was running fast. Too fast to stop.
She galloped to the top of the pile.
Then she raced down again.
Just then Ms. Rooney blew her whistle.
Recess was over.
Emily dashed across the yard to her line.
Sherri Dent was there ahead of her. She stuck her tongue out at Emily.
Her tongue was as pointy as her face.
Emily stared at her.
She opened her mouth.
Then she closed it with a pop.
‘‘Fish face to you, Sherri Dent,” Emily said to herself.
Sherri's hand shot up in the air.
“Let's hurry,” said Ms. Rooney. “I have a surprise.”
“Ms. Rooney,” said Sherri. “Emily was playing on the snow pile.”
Ms. Rooney frowned at Emily.
Emily ducked her head. She hated it when Ms. Rooney frowned.
Ms. Rooney led the line toward the door.
Emily poked her head around Jason Bazyk.
She could see Sherri in front of the line.
Too bad she wasn't closer.
She'd like to give Sherri a kick in the shins.
She'd like to pinch her skinny neck that looked like a pole.
Inside Emily hung up her jacket quickly.
She put Uni inside her desk.
“Is everybody ready?” asked Ms. Rooney.
Emily sat up straight. She remembered Ms. Rooney's surprise.
“This is February tenth,” Ms. Rooney said. “Who can tell us what happens in four days?”
Dawn Bosco raised her hand. So did Emily.
“Dawn?” asked Ms. Rooney.
“Valentine's Day,” said Dawn.
“Right,” said Ms. Rooney.
Ms. Rooney pulled out a box from underneath her desk. It was covered with shiny pink paper. It had a big red heart on it.
‘This is our Valentine mailbox,” said Ms. Rooney. “I'll leave it in front of the room.”
Emily raised her hand again. “Are we going to make Valentine cards?”
Ms. Rooney smiled, “We've worked hard on rhyming words. We'll make cards with poems.”
“I know a poem,” Matthew Jackson said. “Roses are red. Violets are blue. If I were you I'd go to a zoo.”
Everyone laughed. Even Ms. Rooney.
“I know one too,” Dawn said. “You are the best. Of alUhe rest.”
“I think she means me,” Emily's friend Rich ard Best said. He made believe he was falling out of his seat.
“I did not,” said Dawn. Her face was red. “I said it because it rhymes.”
Emily laughed. Richard was a funny boy. Everyone called him Beast.
“You'll make wonderful cards,” said Ms. Rooney. “But don't sign your names.”
“Just ‘Guess Who,’” Emily said.
“Right,” said Ms. Rooney.
Next to Emily, Dawn took out her pencil box.
Dawn had the best pencil box in the class.
“I have a box of stick-on stars,” Dawn whispered. ‘Tm going to make a great card for Ms. Rooney.”
Emily looked out the window.
She wished she had some stick-on stars.
The kind Dawn had. Red and green and gold and silver.
Dawn was a lucky girl.
Dawn pushed the box over toward Emily. “Take some.”
Dawn was really a nice girl, Emily thought. She reached for the box.
She took four red stars and two gold ones.
Sherri Dent looked back at Emily and Dawn.
She raised her hand. “I can't think with all this noise,” she told Ms. Rooney.
Ms. Rooney shook her head at Emily and Dawn.
Emily waited for Ms. Rooney to sit down at her desk.
Then she stared at Sherri.
She couldn't wait for Sherri to turn around.
She'd make a fish face at her.
She'd stick out her tongue and cross her eyes.
While Emily waited she took out paper.
She'd draw a Valentine card for Mrs. Paris, the reading teacher.
She'd put a nice red star on top.
After lunch Ms. Rooney pointed to a picture.
“This is Abraham Lincoln,” she said.
Emily looked at Abraham Lincoln. He had on a big black hat.
“He was a president,” Linda Lorca said.
“Right,” said Ms. Rooney. “His birthday is February twelfth.”
Emily could see that her friend Richard was drawing a picture of Abraham Lincoln.
“Who can tell us more?” Ms. Rooney asked.
“He's on a penny,*’ Wayne O'Brien said.
“What about his life?” asked Ms. Rooney.
Timothy Barbiero put his hand up.
Emily wished she could put her hand up too.
But she didn't know one thing about Abraham Lincoln.
Just then the door opened.
It was Mr. Mancina, the principal. “May I see you a minute?” he asked Ms. Rooney.
“Finish your boardwork,” Ms. Rooney told the class.
Everyone sat up straight.
Emily tried to sit up straighter than everyone else.
She hoped Ms. Rooney would call on her to be the monitor.
Ms. Rooney looked around. “Emily,” she said.
Emily rushed up to the front of the room.
Ms. Rooney pointed to the chalkn her desk. “If anyone is not doing his work,” she said, “write his name down.”
Ms. Rooney went outside.
Emily looked around at everyone.
The whole class was working.
All except for Matthew Jackson.
He was playing with his pencil.
He dropped it on the floor.
It rolled under Beast's desk.
Matthew leaned out of his seat to ge
t it.
Emily thought about putting his name on the board. But Matthew wasn't really fooling around.
Emily sat down at Ms. Rooney's desk.
It was a wonderful feeling to be sitting there.
She picked up Ms. Rooney's pen.
She made a little check mark bn a piece of paper.
Maybe she'd be a teacher when she grew up.
It was probably a lot of fun. Easy too.
She looked back at the library corner.
If she were a teacher she'd have lots of good books in the classroom.
She spotted a big blue book.
It had a picture of Abraham Lincoln on the cover.
Maybe it would tell about Abraham Lincoln's life.
She stood up. She'd look through the book. She'd know all about Abraham Lincoln by the time Ms. Rooney came back.
Just then Sherri stood up too.
“You're not supposed to—” Emily began.
“I have to get something from the library comer,” Sherri said.
Emily looked at the big blue book.
She hoped Sherri wasn't looking at the big blue book too.
“What do you have to get?” Emily asked.
Sherri didn't answer.
She was hurrying over to the library corner.
Emily rushed down the aisle.
She got to the library corner a second ahead of Sherri.
She grabbed the big blue book.
Sherri pulled the book away from her.
“Hey,” Emily said.
Sherri raced back to her seat with it.
“You're supposed to be doing boardwork,” Emily said.
But Sherri didn't answer.
She was looking at the big blue book.
Emily wanted to race down to Sherd's seat.
She wanted to take the big blue book away from her.
She went back to Ms. Rooney's desk.
Then she saw the piece of chalk.
She went to the blackboard. She wrote Sherri D. in big white letters.
The chalk screeched across the board.
But Sherri wasn't paying attention. She was still reading the big blue book.
She was going to know all about Abraham Lincoln.
And Emily wasn't going to know anything.
Not one thing.
The class was quiet when Ms. Rooney opened the door.
“I'm proud of you,” she said. “You can hear a pin drop in here.”
She looked at the blackboard. “Oh, dear,” she said. “Not everyone was working.”
Ms. Rooney went to her desk. “Thank you, Emily. You may go back to your seat.”
Then Ms. Rooney frowned. “I'm disappointed in you, Sherri,” she said.
Emily went down the aisle to her seat.
She took a quick look at Sherri.
Sherri's face was red. She looked as if she were going to cry.
“Time to write our spelling words,” said Ms. Rooney. “Three times.”
Emily took out her spelling book.
Ms. Rooney looked up again. “As soon as you're finished we have things to talk about.”
Emily wrote the first word. “Bean,” she said under her breath. “B-e-a-n.”
She wondered what Ms. Rooney was going to talk about. Maybe she was going to talk about Sherri.
Emily wrote bean three times. “Bean, dean, fean, green,” she whispered.
Mean, she thought Mean to Sherri.
Quickly she wrote the next word. S-t-e-a-m.
She didn't want to think about being mean to Sherri.
Then Sherri stood up. She took the pass for the girls’ room. She went outside.
“1 have some exciting news,” Ms. Rooney said.
Everyone sat up straight.
“We are getting a student teacher,” said Ms. Rooney.
“Neat,” said Dawn,
This was really exciting news, Emily thought.
The first grade had had a student teacher all year.
Her name was Ms. Martin.
She wore purple nail polish and ggld eyeliner.
Emily hoped their student teacher would be just like Ms. Martin.
“When is she coming?” Dawn Bosco asked.
“Tomorrow,” said Ms. Rooney.
Good, thought Emily. She'd wear her almost-new yellow blouse. The one with the green kittens on the collar.
The new student teacher would love it.
Dawn leaned over. “I have a brand new sweat suit,” she said. “Purple stripes. I think I'll wear it tomorrow.”
Emily tried to smile at Dawn. “Nice,” she said.
“I'll wear my ladybug earrings too,” Dawn said.
Emily looked out the window.
That Dawn was the luckiest girl in the world, she thought.
She looked toward the door.
Just then Sherri opened her classroom door. Her eyes looked red.
She walked past Emily's desk.
She dropped a piece of paper on top.
Emily picked it up.
She opened it carefully under her desk so Ms. Rooney wouldn't see.
In big black letters Sherri had written:
YOU'LL BE SORRY.
The next morning Emily wore her look-like-real fur jacket.
Underneath she had on her yellow blouse.
It had green kittens on the collar.
She wanted to look perfect for the new student teacher.
She rushed down the hall with Richard.
Sherri Dent was ahead of them.
“Come on, Beast,” Emily said.
She quick-stepped to get ahead of Sherri.
Sherri looked over her shoulder.
She began to quick-step too.
She dashed into the classroom.
Emily dashed into the classroom right behind her.
“Everyone's in a hurry today,” Ms. Rooney said.
Someone was standing next to Ms. Rooney.
It had to be the new student teacher.
She didn't look anything like Ms. Martin.
She didn't have long purple nails.
She didn't have gold eyeliner.
She didn't have any eyeliner at all.
She was wearing a puffy pink coat. And she was ten times prettier than Ms. Martin.
Emily took off her look-like-real fur jacket.
She straightened her Blouse.
She hoped the new student teacher would see the kittens on the collar.
“This is Ms. Vincent,” Ms. Rooney said.
“Wow,” said Matthew Jackson.
Ms. Vincent smiled at him.
“Ms. Vincent will sit with you this morning,” said Ms. Rooney. “She has to get to know everyone.”
Ms. Vincent took off her puffy pink coat. She hung it in Ms. Rooney's closet.
Then she sat in an empty chair near the science table.
“Time to work, class,” said Ms. Rooney. “You can talk with Ms. Vincent when you finish your boardwork.”
Quickly Emily took put her pencil. She'd try to be the first one finished.
She was dying to talk to Ms. Vincent. She was dying to tell her about the Valentine box.
She opened her notebook.
Inside was the You'll be sorry note from Sherri Dent.
Emily had forgotten she had put it there.
She looked at Sherri Dent.
She wondered how Sherri was going to make her sorry.
She crumpled up the note.
She shoved it into her desk.
She wasn't going to spoil her day.
She wasn't going to think about that mean Sherri.
She wasn't even going to look at her. Emily looked up at the board. She had to do health, Fill in the blanks. Emily hated health.
She never knew the exact right answer. She wrote the first sentence.
Take a bath____times a week.
She closed her eyes:
Her mother made her take a bath every day.
Six. No, seven times a week.
Ms. Vincent looked clean. Very clean.
Emily opened her eyes.
She wrote 13 in the blank.
That should be enough baths for anybody.
She copied the next sentence quickly.
Drink____glasses of water every day.
She tried to think of how many glasses of water she drank.
She drank one when she was brushing her teeth.
But that didn't count. It was only a swallow.
She thought for a long time.
She didn't drink any water.
No. Sometimes she did. When she wanted to get out of the classroom, she'd … ”.
She looked out the window. Sometimes it helped her to think. She heard Sherri say, “Easy. Simple.”
Emily looked down at her paper. How many glasses of water?
Maybe two.
She took a little peek at Dawn's paper.
Dawn had written 6.
Six glasses of water every day.
Too much. You'd probably be ready to drown.
Emily erased her 2. She wrote 4.
More than two, but less than six.
Probably just right.
She looked up. Sherri Dent was staring at her.
Entity's face felt hot.
“I think someone is cheating,” Sherri said^
“I hope no one is looking at anyone else's work,” said Ms. Rooney.
Emily ducked her head.
That Sherri Dent, she thought. She was getting to be the biggest tattletale in the world.
Emily hoped Ms. Vincent didn't think she was a cheater. She certainly wasn't a cheater.
She erased 4 and put 2 back on her paper.
She started the third sentence.
Name two yellow vegetables.
She knelt up a little. Sherri had turned her paper over. She was writing fast.
Emily tried to think fast too.
Two yellow vegetables. Corn, of course.
She could think of string beans, and lettuce.
Too bad Ms. Rooney hadn't asked about green vegetables.
Maybe Ms. Rooney had made a mistake.
Maybe there weren't any more yellow vegetables.
Maybe she should tell Ms. Rooney.
Ms. Vincent would think she was very smart.
She raised her hand.
“Yes, Emily,” Ms. Rooney said.
“I think there's a mistake,” Emily said.
“Really?”
“Didn't you mean to say, ‘Name one yellow vegetable'?” Emily asked.
Ms. Rooney shook her head.
“I don't think …” Emily began.