Welcome Dear Reader,
This isn’t an ordinary story. This is a story about forest creatures and magical creatures and a little skunk named Sally. Join her on her first day at school on a day that starts off perfectly normal and leads to an adventure she will not soon forget...
Sally Skunk’s First Day of School
It was Sally Skunk's first day at Emerald Elementary and she was nervous as she walked to the school that day. You see, Sally had always been home schooled and never attended school with other students before. She was nervous that she might be teased or not make any friends. Would she be welcomed? Sally wasn’t sure and this preoccupied her mind as she walked to school that day.
Emerald Elementary was across the street from her house. It wasn’t very impressive as school houses go. It was a one-room school house, only one window for looking out and a small red door set against the wooden frame. It was a simple school. As Sally reached out a paw to open the door, she thought, please just let this day go well.
Inside Emerald Elementary about fifty or so students sat at small wooden desks. Students from first through fifth grade all sat together in one large room. Miss Amina, a barn owl with big purple glasses and a pocket watch around her neck, was teaching the class. It was eight o’clock in the morning and school was supposed to start at eight o’clock, but Miss Amina could not seem to get the class's attention. Everyone was talking loudly, too preoccupied with their own stories and games to notice. It was at that moment the classroom door opened. The class quieted down immediately and everyone turned to see Sally, the little skunk, standing alone in the doorway.
She had on a short yellow dress with matching bows on her ears and red shoes with yellow flowers on them. Her legs were shaking and she was so small that to the students, she looked like a kindergartener.
Sally looked at the class. The class looked at Sally strangely, wondering why such a small child was in their classroom, but Miss Amina smiled at Sally and greeted her warmly. “Come on up, sweetheart.” Legs shaking, Sally walked up to the front of the classroom. She stood just below the chalkboard the bottom of which barely brushed the top of her head. Miss Amina looked back at the class, “Class we have a new student today. Say hello to Sally.”
The class's response was almost automatic.’Hello, Sally.”
Miss Amina smiled. “Does anyone have any questions for Sally?”
A hedgehog wearing a black shirt and shorts glared at Sally. Six other hedgehogs sat around her in a strange formation, forming what looked like a shield. She looked like a big kid and when she spoke, her voice was a sneer.“Why are you here skunk? Go back to kindergarten.”
Miss Amina’s feathers ruffled then she went back to her usual smile, which is hard to do if you are a bird. “Marie, Sally is in first grade and is staying with us.Will you please help her find a seat?”
Sally did not need help finding her spot though. There was only one spot open and it was by the window. Already bored, Sally sat down and began picking birch bark off her desk. It was a satisfying distraction on a day that was already off to a bad start. She only looked up when she heard Miss Amina clear her throat. She looked up to see Miss Amina pick up a piece of paper from her desk. What is going on now? It was only a few minutes into the school day and school was already confusing. Having been homeschool, Sally wasn’t familiar with the practice of taking attendance.
Miss Amina cleared her throat again, to get everybody’s attention. “I will now be taking attendance. When I say your name, please confirm you are here.” This sounded simple enough to Sally. But then she remembered there were about fifty other kids in class. This was going to take forever. Sally stayed awake through the As and Bs, but after that she began to nod off.
“Manice,” called Miss Amina. Sally shook herself fully awake. She heard someone say, “here” in response. “Marie?” called Miss Amina. Sally heard Marie’s sneer of a voice say “here” before she fell asleep again.
Sally woke up to someone tapping her shoulder gently. Her eyes were groggy. She did not know where she was or what time it was or the gray squirrel in the green shirt who was tapping her shoulder gently. The squirrel looked at her. “You are getting called soon, Sally,” he said. Sally was still confused about what was happening. “Where am I? Who am I? Who are you?” she asked, groggily.
The squirrel seemed to know the answer to all these questions. “You are at Emerald Elementary. You are Sally and I am James.”
“Hi, James,” said Sally.
“ How do you know that I am going to get called?’
“She just finished doing the R names,” he said.
“Sally,” called Miss Amina.
“I’m here,” Sally replied. She turned back to James. “Whoa, that went by quickly.”
James chuckled. “Yeah, that was easy, but now you have to do it every day.” James told her that he had joined Emerald Elementary just last year and it was hard for him, too. “You’ll get used to it, eventually.”
Sally wasn't so sure. Miss Amina finished her attendance then picked a piece of chalk up from the chalkboard and wrote: LEARNING LESSON on it. Sally chuckled. Miss Amina cleared her throat. “Class, please take out your notebooks and pencil. We are starting the lesson.”
All the other students were taking out their books and pens from their desks, but Sally did not have any writing implements. She felt a small tap on her shoulder. James passed a red notebook and pencil to Sally. “Here, you can use mine.” Sally smiled.
The lesson was three and a half hours long and split into five different chunks of different subjects. Sally knew some of the stuff, so it was not that hard and before she knew it she had filled 30 pages of her notebook with entries.
Miss Amina cleared her throat and said, “ It is now time for lunch you may put your supplies away. You will be going to the cafeteria to eat lunch. And class, as a surprise, we will have an end of the day treasure hunt. Have fun!”
Sally Skunk followed the rest of the class outside. The students were walking toward a small hill, but this was not any normal hill. This one had a little wooden door cut into it. As she got closer to the hill, Sally caught the amazing scent of food emanating out the door. She realized that this must be the cafe. The door opened and James was holding it for Sally. She took this time to look around.
They were in a big dimly lit cave with tunnels branching off on each side. The rest of Sally’s class had somehow disappeared. James led her through a tunnel to her left. He led her through more twisty turny tunnels. Sally tried to keep track of where they were going, but the tunnels were so twisty and turny and they moved to different tunnels so often that Sally soon forgot.
James led Sally through a few more tunnels and Sally realized they were gradually going down. Eventually, the tunnel they were in began to grow larger and and higher until it opened into a large, brightly-lit cave. The cave had eight long rectangular tables running down the center. Off to the left wall there was a long table with a row of delicious-smelling large bowls running down the center. A stack of bowls and spoons rested on a platform next to the table. Their classmates were all in a long line next to the table. James grabbed Sally’s arm. “Come on, we don't want to miss this,” he said.
“Why?” Sally asked.
“Miss Margaret comes out at twelve o’clock. Anyone who is not in line by then does not get lunch.”
Sally did not think this was fair but just then, a plump mouse in a chef’s coat and hat came out from a hidden door behind the long table. Her beady eyes swept the room. A rabbit in a pink dress was talking to her friend, a bluejay. Miss Margaret spotted them standing against a far wall. The friends felt Miss Margaret's hot glare and immediately turned around, knees shaking. When she spoke, Miss Margaret's voice was filled with mad glee. “You two are not in the line. No lunch for you! And when your classmates are done, you will clean up after everybody.”
“But we did not know that we did anything wrong!” exclaimed the rabbit.
“We did not know that the line was there. Please! Just let us have lunch today,” the bluejay pleaded.
“Well, next time,” said Miss Margret, “Get in line!”
This was cruel. Sally could not stand this anymore. She had to speak up. “Excuse me, Miss Margret.” The mouse walked over. He was shorter than Sally, but she had a certain air of importance that seemed to give her more height.
“Go on,” Miss Margret sneered. “What were you going to say?” she said glaring at Sally.
Sally took a deep breath, then began. “It is not fair that those two classmates…I’m sorry, what are your names?
“My name is Serafina,” said the bluejay, “And this is Angela," she said, motioning to her friend, the rabbit.
“It is not fair,” said Sally, "that Serafina and Angela do not get lunch just because they are not in line, and that they have to clean up everyone's mess! Ma'am, I know that you try very hard to keep everything organized, and that you have been here longer than I, but it is not right to do that.”
Miss Margaret stared at her with anger and disbelief. “Well,” said Miss Margaret, “They can have some lunch and YOU will have to clean up after everybody!”
“I am perfectly fine with that,” said Sally Skunk pleasantly.
Miss Margaret stared back at her in shock.
“Wow,” said James, gaping at Sally and tail twitching. “You are the very first person to argue with Miss Margaret.”
Lunch was a pleasant meal of warm acorn soup with dandelion salad and sweet rolls. Miss Margaret might be mean, thought Sally, but she sure is a good cook.
Sally was sitting at one of the eight eating tables with James, Sreafina, and Angela which was right next to the food table. Every few minutes or so, one of Sally’s classmates would stop to talk to her, introduce themselves, and congratulate Sally on what she had done. Marie and her gang sat as far as they could from Sally and glared at her.
“Sally, are you excited for the treasure hunt after lunch? asked James. It's twelve fifty-five this afternoon and I can't wait!”
“I’m not sure,” said Sally. “What is it like?”
“Well,” said James, “We have treasure hunts instead of recess and our usual afternoon lesson. Miss Amina hides real coins and gemstones. We hunt for them in groups of two or three. The gemstones and coins are worth points. The team that gets ten thousand points wins and receives a prize. Last year it was cupcakes! They were HUGE! If you don't stay in your group though, something terrible will happen to you. Last year there was a kid who did not like the group he was in and he left it. That was a terrible mistake, because later that day he got gobbled up by a dragon.”
Sally gasped. She had heard about dragons. They were big and red with scaly skin and evil yellow eyes. They could even shoot fire from their mouths. The dragons lived high up in the mountains of Emerald Forest, but if someone disturbed them, they would chase after that animal until it was found, then they would eat it. And burn whole villages. Barely anyone wanted to mess with them. It was scary to even think of dragons. Sally definitely did not want to be eaten.
“Hey, James,” she said.” Who are you going to be in a group with?”
James smiled nervously. “Sorry, Sally. But I’m going to be with Katie and Alicia,” he said motioning to a chipmunk and a mouse sitting a few tables away. Then James saw Sally’s face, and his smile vanished. “Oh, I am sorry. Maybe I can talk to Miss Amina about this.
“No, it's fine,” replied Sally softly. “I can figure out something myself.”
Sally got up from the table and went around asking kids if she could be in their groups, but everyone seemed to have figured their groups out already and if Sally could not find a group to be in she would be eaten by a dragon. As the clock struck twelve-thirty and her classmates cleared away their lunch and filed back out the room, Sally heard Miss Margaret calling her name and wondered with a chill: Will I ever find a group to be with?
Sally’s dress was soaked and smelled like acorn soup and wildberry soap and her arms were very sore. Miss Margaret had her scrub everywhere in the lunchroom, even in places that were clean. And to make matters worse, Miss Margaret did not even help! She just sat and watched Sally with her angry beady eyes. With her work complete, Sally started trudging back to the tunnel, ready for work to be over but before she could enter the tunnel, Miss Margaret pulled Sally towards a hidden door on the far side of the cave that opened…
Right next the first door Sally had come in! All the other students were lined up in front of Emerald Elementary. Miss Amina stood facing them. She looked impatient. Then her eyes met Sally. She lifted her pocket watch and showed Sally the time. It was twelve-fifty-seven. Sally gasped. Oh no! She was two minutes late. What if she ruined the treasure hunt? What if the dragons ate everyone? Maybe Sally could fly somewhere far away, somewhere could never be found. She could go away and….
“ SALLY!” shouted Miss Amina, shaking Sally out of her daydreaming.”Please get in line. Mr Draco needs everyone here by one o’clock, but it seems like he, too, is late.”
“Sorry, Miss Amina,” said Sally as she walked to the line, head down.
“Sally, it is not your fault that you are late,” Miss Amina said softly. I heard that Miss Margaret held you back to clean the cafeteria. You’re lucky you made it here at all. Be grateful that you are even here.”
Suddenly, the wind began to blow and the sky got a lot darker. Sally thought that she was imagining things, but she saw some of the other students looking scared or confused. Miss Amina looked at the sky, then at her watch. “All right, class, let’s circle up.”
She led the class out onto a big field in front of the school and the class formed a circle. The wind blew harder. The sky got darker. Miss Amina looked up, this time, so did the rest of the class. Sally gasped. She could not believe her eyes. In the sky, circling above the field,was…. a dragon. It had a long, bony body, and enormous scarlet wings, tipped with razor-sharp claws. Its yellow eyes seemed to look right at Sally. Every time it flapped its wings, the dragon flew lower and the winds blew harder.
The dragon flew lower still, its amber gaze never leaving the circle. Then suddenly, it dived. Sally was so surprised by this that she fell over. Most of the class did too though, so Sally was not that embarrassed. Next to her, Marie and her goons laughed.
“Look at the little skunk. Is she scared?” they said, mimicking baby voices. “Maybe this class is too big for you, Sally. Go back to kindergarten, skunk.”
Sally was mad. She was tired of letting these big bullies boss her around. She tried to stand up and face Marie, but Marie held her down. “Oh, trying to fight me, are you, skunk?” she sneered.
“Well little skunk, I’ll let you go… when I’m finished with you.” Marie sneered at Sally and continued to hold her down.
Sally looked around searching for anyone to help, her eyes landing on James. James was standing a few feet away. He smiled sadly at Sally.
“Sorry, Sally, but I don't think I can get you out of this. When the bullies come, you don't fight back. You leave.”
“But I thought that you were my friend,” said Sally.
“I thought I was,” James said. “But now you seem pretty useless since you can't even defend yourself from a thick-headed bully like Marie.” He looked back at a small group of kids standing a few feet away. They all nodded. James turned back around. “I am sorry, Sally,” he said as he turned back around to the kids. Then James and his friends walked away. He did not look back.
. . . .
Sally was angry! James had just betrayed her. He didn’t really care about her. He just wanted to take advantage of her and Sally hated him for that. Sally’s anger was now bubbling up inside her. She could feel herself breathing harder and her arms shaking. She was mad at mean Marie! She was even more angry at James. She was mad that she had to go to this freakish school, she was just so MAD.
Without even realizing it, Sally wiggled out of Marie’s grasp and launched herself at Marie, hitting and clawing and biting. Marie fell backwards in surprise. Even her goons looked scared. Sally’s paws were covered in quills, but she was so angry she did not care. Fists raised, she ran at Marie again. This time, though, Marie was prepared. As Sally ran at her, Marie raised her foot… and KICKED! Sally shot through the air and landed on her side.
Marie and her goons walked over to where Sally lay in the grass. Maire glared down at Sally and smirked, “looks like it’s over, skunk.”
Sally was incensed. Her anger exploded out of her and she jumped on to Marie and bit her. At that moment Sally jumped down to the ground and pointed her tail at Marie. A terribly foul smell went up into the air. Sally had sprayed Marie and she fell backwards onto the ground. Her goons laughed.
“Huh-ha-a-ha! Marie, she really got to you! Now you stink! Bye, Marie….we’re done with you.” They sneered as they walked away. “We thought you were cool! And now, you let the skunk get the better of you. She’s just a kindergartener.”
Marie looked heart-broken and angry.
“ B-b-but after everything I did for you?”
“Well, Marie, " said the goons, “this group is for cool kids and you are obviously not a cool kid.”
They turned around and walked away.
Marie glared at Sally as she stood up. “You stink.,” she said, her voice slightly quivering. It was true, Sally smelled, but Marie smelled even worse. The air around them also smelled bad and Miss Amina and the others seemed to sense this, too.
When Sally looked up she noticed that the dragon was standing next to Miss Amina. They seemed to know one another. The dragon looked down at Miss Amina and whispered something to her, then Miss Amina said something Sally couldn’t hear, to the students who were standing all around her. At that moment, the dragon laid down on the ground and all the students and Miss Amina climbed on top of it. Then, out of nowhere, the dragon stood on its feet and flew up, up, up and away.
Having missed the ride, Sally and Marie prepared and made to walk back towards the school house but before they could get very far, the dragon swooped down and snatched them up.
The dragon lifted some dust from a brown leather pouch around its neck and sprinkled some on Sally and Marie. It smelled like flowers. Once the dust got on them, Sally and Marie did not stink. Instead, they smelled like… flowers. “There,” said the dragon. His voice was comforting, not scary and it made Sally feel a little better. Just a little.
They flew until they reached a short stretch of grassy field. In front of the field was a forest. On the right side of the forest, tall, healthy trees with bright and colorful red-orange-yellow leaves towered over the field. The left side of the forest was another matter. There were tall, dead, crooked pine trees and the forest was so dark that Sally could not see anything inside.
They landed in the field, just before the forest line. Everyone got off the dragon and started running around. Miss Amina looked frustrated. “Children,” she said, some of the frustration coming through in her voice. When the students heard this everyone got in line but did so far away from Sally and Marie.
Marie seemed annoyed by this, but Sally did not care. Nothing any of her classmates did mattered anymore. Not after James betrayed her. Miss Amina looked at the dragon, who was now standing up. “Children, this is Mr. Draco.”
“Hello, children,” said Mr. Draco. “Welcome to the Emerald Treasure Hunt. Please split up into groups. Once you are in your group of two or three students, you may hunt for treasure. All of it is hidden in the woods. Treasure in the red forest is easier to find, but there is less to find. In the black forest treasure is harder to find and more dangerous, but there is more treasure to find. Choose your path carefully. You may begin.”
. . . .
Sally and Marie were in a group. Everyone knew it was going to be this way, after what they did. Mr. Draco passed Sally a gold piece of paper. “This is for counting your points. There are instructions on the back of the paper,” said Mr. Draco as he left. Sally read the instructions: Simply touch your paper to any coin, and it will count that point. Remember, you cannot touch any one coin or gem twice, for once you touch a coin, that coin or gem will disappear. You may also get points by stealing another kid' s papers. Gemstones are 10 points. Gold coins are 25 points. Silver coins are 75 points, bronze coins are 100 points each. And finally, there are 5 diamonds, each worth 1000 points each. Red forest to your right, black to your left. Remember- don 't split up.
Once they finished reading the instructions, Marie snatched the piece of paper from Sally’s paw and shot off into the red forest. Sally followed her. When Sally got into the forest, she could not believe her eyes. Coins and gemstones lay on the ground everywhere. Marie was frozen in shock, gaping at all the treasure, but Sally took charge. She snatched the paper from Marie and began tapping all the treasure around her. She could see her opponents doing the same. The number on Sally’s paper went up and up: 10, 20, 40, 50, 100, and so on, but as Sally got more points, she noticed treasure disappearing before her eyes, treasure neither her nor her opponents had even touched. This was a trick to get the kids to move around to different woods. Soon Sally had 860 points and all the treasure was gone. Marie tapped Sally’s shoulder. “Sally, we have to go into the black forest.”
Sally wasn’t looking forward to going to the black forest. If there was one word Sally could use to describe the black forest, it was creepy. Unlike the red forest, the black forest was dark and eerily quiet. The difference was clear. As soon as Sally and Marie stepped in, the temperature dropped, it got a lot darker and a lot colder, and there were no jewels in sight. As they walked further, it got darker and the trees were closer together. No matter where they looked, there was no treasure. Frustrated with their bad luck, Marie stamped her foot in anger.
“ WHY AREN'T THERE ANY COINS!” She snatched the paper from Sally. “I will get all the points we need, Skunk, you wait here.”
“ B-b-b-ut,” stammered Sally, “We are not supposed to spli-” but before she could finish her sentence Marie cut her off.
“That old Draco doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” And with that, Marie left.
Sally was furious at Marie! After it seemed like they were just getting along, Marie left her! Just then, Sally heard footsteps off to her left, and she turned around, thinking it was one of her classmates. But it wasn’t a classmate. A creature emerged from the trees that was not an animal at all. It was about her size and had thin gray skin stretched across its canine-like skull. It had large red glistening eyes, elongated limbs with needle sharp claws, and tall red spikes running down its back. It flicked a slimy black tongue around its rotten mouth. Before Sally could react, it charged. Sally barely had time to think before the thing began chasing after her.
She dodged around the trees in the darkness. It was even darker here and she could only think about the glowing red eyes following here. At last she seemed to have gotten away from the creature. But not a moment later, she saw the crimson of the creature's eyes behind her and had to keep running. After running for what felt like an eternity, Sally soon no longer saw the scarlet glow, but she kept running just in case. Everything was going fine until...CRASH!
Sally ran head first into a tree. As she tried to get her bearings, she turned around and smacked her head into the tree again. This time, a diamond fell from the tree into her paw. But Sally was too preoccupied with finding her way out of the forest to notice. Looking around, she noticed she was in a small clearing with a circle of trees in the center. Red light was glowing from the center of the circle of trees. It was then that Sally noticed the diamond in her hand and felt a burst of happiness. She pocketed the diamond, then went to check out the tree circle, for it intrigued her.
The red light seemed to be coming from the center of the tree circle. Sally peeked around one of the towering pines. In the center was a pit, a pit so big it should not have fit in the tree circle. At the bottom of the deep pit, were hundreds of the red-eyed creatures whose eyes filled the pit with a crimson glow. Also in the center of the pit were four diamonds. The creatures circled around them. Just then, Sally saw Marie standing a few trees away, at the edge of the hole with the gold paper in hand. Sally ran carefully over, and saw that they now had five thousand points on the paper.
“ Marie,” she yelled.
Marie put a paw over Sally’s mouth. “ Shh. I’m trying to figure out a way to get those diamonds.” Marie picked up a stone and chucked into the pit in frustration.. The creatures turned away from the diamonds and all pounced on the rock. It was then that Sally noticed that gnarled roots lined the pit and she had an idea.
“Marie, do you have another stone?”
“ Uh, sure,” said Marie. She gave Sally the rock.
“Great,” replied Sally. This had to work. She passed the diamond to Marie and watched the hedgehog’s face light up with glee. They now had 6,000 points. Sally told Marie her plan. She would throw the stone and they would use the roots to climb down and retrieve the diamonds without the creatures noticing. We can do this.” she told Marie
Marie huffed a bit, but agreed to the plan. “Fine, let’s just do this so we can get out of here.” grumbled Marie.
“Ugh, but how are we getting out of the forest once we get the diamonds?” Sally asked.
“Never mind that,” said Marie. “Look Sally, they are in position. Go…NOW!”
Sally threw the stone as hard as she could and as she expected, all the creatures ran toward it. This gave her time to easily climb down the root covered wall and with luck, get to the diamonds. Sally crept quietly to the center of the bottom of the pit. She had one minute before the creatures found out about the rock.
In all the commotion, the creatures caused three of the diamonds to roll towards the wall. They were only a few steps away. Sally snatched them up and pocketed them. Unfortunately for her, the fourth diamond was still in the dead center of the pit. Sally looked over her shoulder at Marie who mouthed,”Thirty."
She only had thirty seconds to get the diamond. Sally dashed across the pit. She was almost there but at the last moment she tripped over a root protruding from the ground. Sally crashed to the ground with a loud THUD. The creatures at the other end of the pit turned their heads around in unison at the sound of Sally crashing into ground and hissed. Then they ran straight at Sally.
Realizing the danger she was in, Sally jumped to her feet and jumped over the root, ran across the pit, and climbed up the wall.
She needed to get out of this place but before she could figure out how to get out, she crashed into a tree trying to get out of the forest. At that moment, though she didn’t realize it, her luck was about to change. When she crashed into the tree, a lemon fell. Why was there a lemon in the black forest? Sally wondered. Maybe somebody had lost it? Sally was certain the lemon was special, so she picked it up. It was at that moment she felt her paws leave the ground.
“Marie!” she called
Marie ran over and saw Sally floating above the ground. Marie grabbed onto Sally’s legs and they both floated up, up, and up. Sally looked down and the last thing she saw before the trees blocked her view was the last diamond glinting in scarlet light—and then it was all gone.
Marie and Sally were floating high above the grassy field now. Sally could see Miss Amina and Mr. Draco, but they both looked like tiny ants. Sally realized that they were going higher and higher into the sky. If Sally could not find a way to get down, then she and Marie would float away into space.Maybe we can jump, thought Sally, but if they fell from this height, they could get seriously hurt. Sally thought hard. If they could use the lemon to get up then maybe they could use it to get down. It was worth a try. Sally squeezed the lemon and she felt herself going down, down, down.
Sally saw Marie’s paws touch the soft grass and soon after she herself fell to the ground as well, just in front of Mr. Draco, who was pacing angrily.
“WHERE IS MY LEMON, AMINA!?” his voice was now a lot louder and sounded scary.
Miss Amina looked concerned. “But, surely, sir, you don't need the lemon that much, do you?”
“Amina, you obviously don't know how important this fruit is! I need that lemon to make the prize for the winner. That lemon is more powerful than you realize! I will give one thousand points to whoever gives me my lemon!”
Marie heard this and instantly shot her hand up.” I have your lemon, sir.”
Mr. Draco smiled. “Can I see your paper, young lady?” Mr. Draco tapped Marie’s paper and it glowed with the gold numbers 10,000. Miss Amina saw it too and made a loud hooting noise.
Soon all of their classmates were coming out of the red forest. Miss Amina cleared her throat and the class quieted. “ Class,” said Mr Draco,” I present to you the winners of the Emerald Treasure Hunt: Sally and Marie.”
Everyone clapped and cheered. Mr. Draco pulled out his lemon and two cups from the brown leather bag around his neck. He squeezed some juice from the lemon into the cups and handed them to Sally and Marie. It tasted delicious. It was the best lemonade Sally had ever tasted.
“Congratulations," he said.
The students then dispersed to go back to the school. Sally saw James standing back. He walked up to her and said, “Sally, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have treated you that way. I was just scared of Marie and I acted without thinking. I know I don't deserve it, but will you forgive me? Please?” James looked at Sally sadly.
Sally looked at James but she was not smiling. “Well, then you should not have done that,” Sally said coldly as she and Marie walked away. James just stood there, mouth dropped in shock.
As Miss Amina’s class packed up for the day, Marie came over to Sally’s desk. “Do you want to come over to my house today?”
“Sure,” said Sally.
“What do you want to do?” asked Marie
“I don't know,” said Sally. “But I’m sure we'll figure something out because when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
Marie laughed and they walked off together to have what was sure to be a wonderful day.
