by MJ Ware
Amy and Patch led Megan and Ole Molly back to the others. The boys had lined up along the fence to watch the chaos they’d created.
Becky rode over to Megan. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," Megan said with a tremble still in her voice. "Patch and Amy saved me."
Becky smiled at Amy. "They sure did." She reined her horse around and headed back up to the front of the line.
Amy glanced over at the boys. Justin was looking at her. "That was pretty cool, Amy," Justin called over the fence.
"Thanks." Amy leaned over and patted Patch’s neck again. Those new boots had been magical after all.
About the Author
Tess Oliver is an author and teacher. She lives in California with her husband, kids, and a herd of spoiled pets. Tess loves horses, hiking, and fudge brownies. She’s written a science book for Barron’s Educational Publisher and also writes Young Adult fiction.
Read an excerpt from Tess Oliver's The Mortal Enemy List.
Starboard Academy - The Summer Before: Maddie’s Story
By Laura Keysor
"Oh, wow! I can’t believe it! Eeeee!" I couldn’t contain my squeal of excitement as I read the cast list posted on the bulletin board hanging just inside the parlor of Orchard House. Squealing was not a normal thing for my level-headed self. I seriously sounded like Katie’s five-year-old sister, Sophie, but I couldn’t have cared less about how immature I sounded at the moment. I had actually gotten the part!
"Nice work!" Katie high-fived me while I squealed and brought her into a bouncing hug, totally unable to keep our feet on the ground as we celebrated my good news.
Emily, our other BFF since the 1st grade, heard our squeals and trotted down the staircase behind us. "What’s going on?"
"Maddie got ‘Jo’!" Katie yelped through the bouncing.
Emily smiled. "Uh… congrats," but I could tell something was off as she came up with the hurried excuse of being starved to death and made her way to the kitchen where we would be learning how to make corn cakes and flap jacks this morning for breakfast. I stopped bouncing, confused by our retreating friend. "That was weird."
"Seriously, weird. I wonder what’s wrong." We watched as Emily rounded the corner and entered the kitchen. This really wasn’t like Emily at all, and I was definitely worried about her strange behavior.
A confused sigh escaped me. There really wasn’t much we could do about our friend except join her in the kitchen and try to be as fun and compassionate as possible. "C’mon Katie, let’s go be Little Women," I said just a tad sarcastically, feeling much less enthusiastic than just moments before, and we scampered down the hallway to cheer Emily up.
We had read Little Women last year in school and the three of us had become obsessed with the book, the era of the Civil War, and the author, Louisa May Alcott. Orchard House was her home and she had written Little Women while living here with her own beloved sisters.
Katie’s mom had done some digging for us and found out that Orchard House was just a half hour from our hometown in Massachusetts and signed the three of us up for a week long Little Women experience to be held here in the home that inspired the book. I would be leaving my home and my friends in a few weeks to start middle school aboard Starboard Academy, and I couldn’t thank her enough for trying to make our last few weeks of summer together a memorable one.
Of course, I was excited to be going to Starboard Academy. I felt so incredibly lucky to be going to boarding school on a cruise ship and exploring the world with other kids my age, but I couldn’t help feeling a little sad that I would be leaving Emily and Katie behind. I knew the school year wouldn’t be the same without them, and I would miss them a ton. I gave Katie a little squeeze, hoping that she knew how much she and Emily really meant to me.
Emily was already picking out ingredients from the side table when we walked into the kitchen after her. She looked up, giving us a half-smile, "I have everything we need here," she said handing us a few of the ingredients we would need to make our breakfast.
We took the items and settled into cooking our meal. Katie, as usual, was cracking jokes to ease the tension we were feeling from Emily. I had no idea what was wrong, but Emily hadn’t looked at me the entire time we had been cooking in the kitchen. Something was definitely up.
I reached over Emily to get the milk to pour into the batter. The butter on my fingers was a little more slick than I had thought it would be, and the glass of milk slipped through my fingers, spilling all over the front of Emily’s muslin dress and down the apron tied around her waist. She was totally soaked.
Katie burst into laughter as Emily stood there completely shocked and wet. I fully expected Emily to join in Katie’s laughter, and a fit of giggles erupted from me, but Emily still wasn’t laughing. She looked at me and pursed her lips. Emily pursing her lips was never a good sign, and my giggles abruptly stopped while Katie’s laughter faded as she saw the impending storm that was about to hit us.
"Awesome, Maddie, just awesome," Emily huffed as she dried herself with a towel. "You never care about what happens to me, and everything is always about how great your life is. Yeah, laugh. Who cares if I’m the one that gets soaked, just as long as it wasn’t you, huh?"
I reeled back confused by her attack and blinked twice before replying thoughtfully, "Emily, I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mean to spill on you," I apologized, "I thought we were just having fun, but we really shouldn’t have laughed at you. I’m really, really sorry!"
"Yeah, me too, I shouldn’t have laughed. I’m sorry, Emily," Katie interjected quickly.
Emily huffed again, "I need to change," and stormed out of the kitchen, leaving us gaping in shock behind her.
"Uh, what just happened?" Katie asked completely confused by Emily’s angry reaction.
"I have no idea, but that’s not like Emily at all."
Katie shook her head. "Yeah, totally not."
Shrugging my shoulders, I hoped Emily would be fine in a little while. Maybe we could do something to cheer her up, but it really didn’t seem like she wanted my company at all. I was stumped.
* * *
"Does this look okay?" I was kind of freaking out. Okay, really freaking out. Tonight would be my first time dancing with a boy, and I wanted to look great. It would be Katie and Emily’s first time too, and we had been frantically trying to make ourselves appear to be lovely young ladies of the 19th century for most of the afternoon. The dresses we were given to wear out of the costume closet were seriously amazing. Katie’s dress was a robin egg blue satin and perfectly fit her happy, spunky personality. Emily had been given a pink taffeta dress to wear that was a little too big, but the costume matron had helped pin it to fit her better, and it ended up being totally cute. I had been given a light green dress with a bustle that I absolutely loved because it matched my eyes. Our hair had been curled and pinned up, and I had to admit we looked pretty good despite the freaked out state of my nerves.
"You’ve been standing in front of the mirror for like ten minutes freaking out. Seriously, you need to stop." Emily rolled her eyes. "You always look great. Does my dress look weird with it pinned like this?"
I shook my head and smiled at her reflection next to mine, "It’s cute, I promise."
Even though it had been two days, Emily still wasn’t my biggest fan. I had tried my best to pretend like everything was fine and ignore her attitude towards me after I had made her cookies to apologize. She just seemed more annoyed by the gesture rather than wanting to make up with me. I knew that there really wasn’t much else I could do, except be the best friend I could be to her and hope that whatever was bothering Emily would just blow over soon.
We looked out the window from our room and were ecstatic to see that the grounds around Orchard House had been decorated and lit by tiny sparkling lights. The place looked amazing. There were orchestra musicians setting up to play the music instead of a DJ, and the entire backside of the house was flanked by table after table of punch
and treats. The boys would soon be coming from their Civil War reenactment camp from across town to be our escorts to the ball and I was more than excited for the ball to begin.
We scampered down the stairs as daintily as we could in our excitement to meet our escorts. While we waited impatiently for the boys to show up, we talked nervously with the other girls on the front drive of Orchard House.
"Oh! They’re here!" Katie gushed seeing a bus pull up and stop on the side of the road in front of the house.
"Wait, is that Matt Jackson?" Emily asked as the boys filed out of the bus. Matt Jackson was the cutest boy in our grade, and we all had a huge crush on him. How could we not? Emily though, had the biggest crush of us all and she was seriously head over heels for him. She clammed up every time he talked to us, and had been trying to overcome her shyness around him for the last year of school. She could, at least, now say hi to him without blushing.
The Orchard House Director, Ms. Walker, handed us our dance cards as we followed the boys behind the house where the ball was to be held. I opened the folded card and gasped, "I have Matt for the Waltz!"
Emily glared at me. "He’s not on mine at all."
Uh oh, the storm was about to hit again, "Here, we can switch cards." I offered trying to calm my friend.
"Don’t bother."
Emily stormed off around the corner and I ran after her with Katie following quickly behind. She had made it into the house and almost up the stairs when we caught up to her.
I grabbed her arm. "Emily, wait. What’s wrong? You’ve been mad at me all week and we need to figure this out."
She turned around, yanking her arm from my grip. "Just forget it. Go have fun with Matt. I’m calling my mom to come get me. I don’t want to be here anymore."
"What? Don’t Emily!" Katie pleaded, "Will you just talk to us? Please?"
Emily sighed and shrugged. "Fine."
"Okay, so why are you so mad at me?" I asked.
"Isn’t it obvious? You get everything handed to you, and I don’t ever get anything at all when you’re around."
Her confession stung, but I could kind of see where she was coming from. I had gotten the part of Jo for the play, true, and I did have a dance card that included Matt’s name for a dance and she didn’t, but it seemed like what she was talking about had started before those things had actually happened. It was like getting the part of Jo was the last straw and she had just been tolerating me since then.
"Okay, I can kind of see that, and I’m sorry I haven’t been more sensitive to you and your feelings when I get things. I don’t want our friendship to be a competition."
"I know. I don’t either. It just seems like you’ve been getting everything you’ve wanted since finding out that you’ll be going to Starboard Academy instead of staying here with us. Like, all your dreams are coming true and you’re leaving us behind without a second thought."
Oh, wow. This was deeper than I had thought. "Emily, I’m not going to forget you guys. You’re my best friends!"
"Well, you’re going to be going to all these amazing places and meeting a ton of new friends to replace us when you go."
I sat down on the stairs bringing Emily and Katie with me, putting my arms around each one of them. They were my best friends, and I was not going to let them think I was just going to forget them when I left.
"Okay, yeah, I’m going away and meeting a ton of new people, so I think we need to make a pact and actually do something so we can stay in touch. I want you guys to totally be a part of all the exciting things I’ll be doing."
Katie nodded thoughtfully, chewing on her lower lip and gasped, "Oh my gosh, you guys! We can make a blog!"
"That could work," I agreed.
I could see Emily mulling over the idea in her head. "Okay, yeah. Maybe we could each write an entry every week about what we’ve been up to, so we know what’s going on with each other?"
Emily was smiling now and I could tell her sadness about me forgetting them when I left was fading fast. I was relieved. I gave each of them a squeeze, and we wrapped our arms around each other for a group hug. I loved my friends and I knew we could get through anything, even though I would be leaving them for boarding school.
"All right, let’s go dance with some boys!" Katie exclaimed.
Laughing, we helped each other up from our perch on the stairs and made our way out to the ball. Matt was standing next to one of the food tables, but sauntered over when he saw us emerge together from around the corner.
"Hey, Maddie! Can I talk to you real quick?" I looked at my friends totally confused and shrugged.
We walked to a nearby tree away from my friends. "What’s up?"
"Well, umm, I know we’re supposed to dance the Waltz together, and I think you’re awesome, but I was wondering if maybe you’d let Emily dance with me instead?"
I have to admit I was shocked by the question. "Uh, sure, but why?"
"You won’t tell her why if I tell you, right?" he asked. I couldn’t believe Matt Jackson was blushing.
"I won’t," I agreed.
"I kind of like her. This whole year I’ve been trying to talk to her, but I keep chickening out. If I can dance with her tonight, then maybe I’ll be able to talk to her finally," he confessed.
I couldn’t help my smile. He liked Emily! She was going to freak. "Wow, OK. The Waltz is starting, so go get her!"
"Thanks, Maddie. I owe you."
"No problem, anything for my friends."
I watched as he walked over to Emily and asked her to dance. She spotted me and I nodded happily confirming that it was okay. She beamed up at Matt and took his outstretched hand to lead her out to dance. I glanced at Katie who gave me a wink and thumbs up before following her own partner to the dance floor.
I smiled to myself watching my friend’s elated faces and knew, without a doubt, that we were going to be okay.
About the Author
Laura Keysor is the author of the middle grade series Starboard Academy. When she’s not writing about the adventures of Maddie and her friends around the world, she’s hanging out at the beach with her face buried in a good book. Some of her favorite things include cool stories she discovers in history, archaeology, Indiana Jones, and warm chocolate croissants. Laura is a prolific traveler and has had her own amazing adventures in most of the places she writes about in her books! She hopes the Starboard Academy series will inspire a love of history, people, and places in future travelers... and an adventure, or two, of their own. You can find out more about her and her book at: starboard-academy.blogspot.com.
Squamata’s Rumble: Certain Results of Biker Attitude
By KJ Hannah Greenberg
From the book Don't Pet the Sweaty Things
Johnny was a good boy. He regenerated his tail in champion time and made sure to eat both leaves and flies. Days off, he obeyed the speed limit, usually.
Summer’s sensual airstream had tickled him awake, moaning gust and heat, in turn. He had tried to ignore that tempestuous summons, willing each of his limbs to sleep, concentrating only on the smell of jasmine and aloe buds, counting the scales on each of his clawed feet. The warm season, unhurried as a sated cockroach, endeavored otherwise.
A new zephyr puffed at him, introducing enticement by first name. Squamata approximated a groan and reached for his goggles.
Lean in body, dexterous, and fleet, Johnny was the sovereign of the mirpesset tetrapods, his taunt centimeters assuring mortality for other leaseholders. Only July’s breeze ever beguiled him away from his chopper-earned safety.
Johnny listened. No one else was chirping or whistling. No one else had donned gloves.
Again, the puff of air became insistent. Johnny swallowed, subconsciously, flicked out his tongue and then retracted it to his vomeronasal organ. No other chasse had been mounted. Eagerly, Johnny reached for his cruiser.
Counting himself down, Johnny leapt over the rail, his short neck sailing Earthward before his tail hit orbit. He surpa
ssed his best elapsed time as well as his best terminal speed, his thirty foot free-fall toward cement having been fueled by those lusty atmospheric gases.
So marvelous was his sprint that the crows did not pick up Johnny’s pieces until morning.
About The Author
When not playing tidily winks with plot lines, Hannah blogs for The Jerusalem Post and for Kindred, and reviews manuscripts for Bewildering Stories and for Bound Off. Although both a science writer and a rhetoric professor by training, Hannah prefers to think of herself as a banshee whose wailing causes: her sons and daughters to consider the merits of cleaning their rooms, makes her husband suddenly remember the plus points of the espresso served at the neighborhood cafe, and her editors to shrug, to mutter something about wacked-out midlife hormones, and then to publish her work, anyway.
Sister's Keeper
By Chris Eboch
Some people swore that the house was haunted. Yeah, right.
My sister pulled on my arm. "Let’s look around. Mom and Dad will be busy for a while."
"Whatever." None of my friends were there to see me, so I followed her up creaking stairs and through musty rooms hung with cobwebs. I thought about sneaking away and hiding somewhere, to give her a scare.
Tania paused at an open doorway. I started to sneak past, down the hall.
She gasped. I looked back. She swayed in the doorway, eyes wide and face white. "What?" I asked.
"The ghost!" she hissed.
My stomach gave a flip. I pushed next to her and looked into the room. Nothing but dust floating in the light from grimy windows. Just for a second, she’d gotten me. But I couldn’t let her know that. I rolled my eyes. "Nice try."
She kept staring ahead. "Don’t you see it?"
I snorted. "You can give it up now."
"He’s right there!" She stepped into the room, slowly. She moved in a half circle, like she was skirting something. She reached out a hand to the empty space in the middle of the room. It was creepy. Does that sound stupid? Well, you weren’t there.
"Hello," she whispered. "Can you hear me?" Her hand passed into a beam of light, looking dead white and almost translucent. She gasped and jerked back, like she’d touched something painful.
