Amy stared across the classroom at the group of giggling girls. One of them peeped over the shoulder of another girl to stare back at Amy for a moment before popping back into the little circle with a suppressed laugh.

“Shush, she’s looking!” The girls all covered their mouths to muffle their giggles.

Amy’s cheeks reddened and unconsciously, her hand snuck up to finger her newly shorn hair. Her mother had taken her to the salon only a few days ago, Amy’s first time. She remembered the kind smile of the hairdresser as Mrs. Mizuno untangled Amy’s hand from her skirt and helped her climb up upon the rocket ship chair. Amy’s wavy hair had once tumbled down her back to her waist, and had never been cut until that day. The hairdresser pronounced that Amy had the perfect pixie shaped face and therefore needed a pixie cut. Amy had watched as her lovely locks fell in clumps to the floor. She wasn’t quite yet used to her new haircut and reached up often to toy with the ends of her hair.

            “Yes, Amy?” Ms. Kenichi knelt down in front of Amy’s desk, mistaking Amy’s slightly raised hand as a question for the teacher. “Did you have a question, dear?”

Amy’s shyly shook her head. “No, Ms. Kenichi.” Amy said softly as she averted her eyes and returned to her workbook. Amy didn’t entirely miss the eruption of laughter that came from the group of girls and closed her eyes momentarily to block it out.

            Ms. Kenichi patted Amy’s shoulder affectionately and followed the young child’s gaze across the room to where the group of girls sat. Poor dear, Ms. Kenichi thought sympathetically, it must be so hard for her to be new here in the middle of the year after all of the other girls have formed their little cliques. She’s been here for a few days already and I haven’t seen her speak to any of the other children at all. And she’s such a sweet, smart girl, too. With a sad sigh, Ms. Kenichi left Amy alone to work. 
            Amy watched as Ms. Kenichi walked back to her desk and organized her papers. Amy tried to concentrate on her workbook but it was no use. She had finished the day’s work hours ago and was trying to work ahead in her mathematics but the numbers that had once easily and logically come together in her head now simply floated across her mind. She could only think of what had happened earlier that morning.

 

            Amy had arrived and hung up her coat without speaking to anyone. She sat at her assigned desk and took out a book. Ms. Kenichi spotted Amy sitting demurely at her desk while the rest of the class chatted excitedly to one another.

            “Amy, honey,” Ms. Kenichi said, “would you like to go talk to some of the other girls? I could introduce you to some of them.”

            Amy stole a glance at them and shook her head. “No, arigatou, I wouldn’t want to bother them.” Amy went back to her book, hoping to finish before the day’s end. Ms. Kenichi paused, hoping to change Amy’s mind but the bell erased any hope of that.

            Ms. Kenichi walked back to the front of the classroom and waited patiently as the children scrambled to stand beside their seats. “Ohayou gozaimasu, class.” She smiled and bowed her head.

            “Ohayou gozaimasu, sensai.” The class responded in unison as they all bowed. Before Ms. Kenichi could begin the day’s lesson, a little girl with bouncing red curls entered and bowing, said, “Excuse me, Ms. Kenichi. I have a message for you.” She handed Mrs. Kenichi an envelope.

            “Oh, arigatou, Molly,” Ms. Kenichi thanked her with a nod and peeled open the envelope. Molly waved at her friends towards the back of the classroom and blew them a kiss before skipping off.

            “Did you see that?” A little boy with unruly spiky brown hair and moon sized glasses turned excitedly to the girl behind him. “First she waved, and then she blew me a kiss! Oh, Carla, she does like me!”

            “Oh, please, Melvin,” Carla rolled her eyes and twisted one of her long raven curls around her finger, “She was waving to us, you little nerd.” She turned to her giggling friends. Melvin’s grin faded. Looking up, Amy caught his eye and smiled at him sympathetically. Surprised, he smiled in return.

            “Settle down, class, I have some very exciting news.” Ms. Kenichi beamed, radiating pride, “As you know, a few days ago, the entire class took a very special test to determine their aptitude. I’ve just been informed that one of the students in the school has scored the highest out of any student in the county, bringing our school much honor. I am proud to announce that not only is she in your grade, she’s in this very class. We should all congratulate her on her hard work and tremendous achievement.”

            “Yeah, Rita!” Carla turned to grin at her friend sitting across the room. “Come on, Rita, stand up and give us a speech!”
            Rita remained sitting, her hands folded prettily on her lap, a smug smile playing on her lips. She tossed her shiny, long brown hair and acknowledged Carla with a smart nod. “Now, now, Carla,” Rita replied confidently, “Ms. Kenichi didn’t say that I won.”

            “Yet.” Another girl added, sending the class into a fit of giggles.
            Ms. Kenichi laughed and clapped her hands to regain the class’ attention. “No, actually, Rita, sweetie, though you did very well, there was another student that scored a bit better. Even though she’s new, she’s become our best academic student and we should all be very proud of her. Now, would everyone please congratulate our very own Amy Mizuno!”

            Amy’s eyes widened and the class became silent. “Though, Carla, I do like the idea of our scholar giving a small speech.” Ms. Kenichi said thoughtfully, oblivious to the silence. “Would you do us the honor, Amy, dear?”

            Amy’s painfully shy nature fought with her teachings to be always obedient to her teachers and elders. Sensing her anxiety, Ms. Kenichi went to Amy, knelt by her side so she was eye-level with Amy and whispered benevolently, “It’s ok, sweetheart. I know this is putting you on the spot a little bit, but we all just want to hear a little about how you feel about your achievement.”

            Ms. Kenichi smiled encouragingly, hoping Amy would be able to overcome her nerves. Ms. Kenichi was confident once Amy’s classmates saw how intelligent and sweet she was, Amy would make lots of friends in no time.

            Amy slowly got up and went to the front of the room, feeding off of Ms. Kenichi’s support. Amy looked out over the sea of faces, most of which looked stunned and taken aback that Rita had been dethroned. A few of the girls, including Carla and Rita, looked simply disgusted that this newcomer had stolen the trophy away from one of their own. Amy stared at her feet and froze. Words simply wouldn’t rise to her lips.  

            “Amy,” Ms. Kenichi said encouragingly, “why don’t you share with us how you prepare for these types of tests?”
            “Well, um…” Amy hesitated and continued as Ms. Kenichi smiled at her, “I don’t really do anything…I don’t really prepare for them at all.”

            “Come now,” Carla called out, her chin resting on her intertwined fingers, “you mustn’t be so secretive. There has to be something you do to prepare to do oh-so very well.”

            Amy squirmed under Carla’s piercing eyes. “N-no, not really. I just take the tests and somehow I do well.” Amy shrugged and stared down at her feet again.

            “Don’t be so modest.” Rita smiled sweetly at Amy and leaned in. “Tell us your secret. After all, no one does that well without doing some kind of preparation. Maybe you took a bunch of prep classes-”

“Maybe you spend all summer preparing for these tests.” Carla added.

 “While the rest of us have actual lives being normal kids-”
“You spend your time being a little bookworm-”

“And a teacher’s pet-”

“And getting laughed out of your old school-”

“And getting ridiculously childish, out of style, and simply ugly haircuts-”

Amy, who had been staring down at her feet and fingering the ends of her hair nervously, immediately dropped her hand. Her face flushed with embarrassment.

“Girls!” Ms. Kenichi’s usually kind eyes flashed with anger. “That is quite enough!”

Amy’s eyes teemed with tears and her chin trembled with hurt. Ms. Kenichi gave Amy a quick pat on the shoulders and sent her back to her seat. Hoping to distract the class, Ms. Kenichi turned to the blackboard and began the lesson at once.

 Amy shuffled back to her seat, forcing herself to walk as deliberately and normally as possible. It seemed the longest walk she’d ever had to take, she thought as she passed students who whispered behind their books, and relief washed over her as she finally reached her seat. She plopped down and anxious, reached up to play with her hair. Rita’s words instantly came back to her and she dropped her hand once more.

Carla had been watching, and seeing Amy reach up and then lower her hand, she figured that Amy must have wanted to answer a question before Ms. Kenichi had even asked one. Hiding a naughty grin, she quickly scribbled a note to Rita, telling her what she’d seen. Folding it into a small origami bird, she sent it flying to land softly atop Rita’s textbook. Rita eagerly pulled it apart and read it. She peered at Amy to see if her hand was really poised, ready to fly into the air at any given opportunity and watched as Amy reached into her book bag and pulled out her textbook. One tear slowly trickled down Amy’s cheek. Ashamed, Amy quickly wiped it away, as Carla and Rita shared a  mischievous smile.

“Oh, look Rita, poor little Miss Smarty-pants is crying.” Carla whispered across the aisle  as she popped her bubblegum and pulled a strand out of her mouth, twisting it around her finger.

“Oh, what happened? Are you sad Ms. Kenichi hasn’t asked a question yet so you can show off?” Rita put a finger to her cheek and clucked mock sympathy. Imitating Ms. Kenichi, she taunted, “Oh, the poor, poor dear, she must feel awful not to have this opportunity to display her ever so great intelligence. Never fear, little miss egghead, Ms. Kenichi asks loads of questions. You’ll have tons of opportunities to rub our faces in your big eggy brain, you little-”

“Oh, cut it out you guys!” A small girl with big, bright blue eyes and long blonde pigtails snapped impatiently.

“Gosh, Serena, I didn’t know you were such a party pooper.” Carla giggled.

“Ms. Kenichi is looking, and if you had kept talking, she would have come over to yell at you,” Serena hissed, her pigtails bobbing, “so you should be glad that I saved your sorry butt, Miss Carla.”

Carla rolled her eyes but whispered a quick apology to Serena and faced front.

Amy looked up, taken aback someone had come to her rescue. Serena smiled kindly at Amy and feeling a wave of warm comfort, Amy gave a quaky smile back.

Amy flipped the pages of her textbook aimlessly and tried to block out the ridicules of her classmates. It was to no avail as their taunts rang in her head and continued playing themselves over and over all through class.

The bell for lunch shook Amy out of her contemplation. All of the children gathered their lunches and headed out, chattering to one another. Amy methodically reached into her backpack to get her lunch. She paused as her hand lingered on her book. She had been eating lunch alone for the past few days with only her book for company. Rita’s voice calling her a bookworm floated through her head and Amy withdrew her hand. She thought about eating lunch alone, without even a fantasy world to escape to and made up her mind to bring her book along.
            As she reached inside to retrieve her book, her hand hit another book. Knowing what it was, Amy pulled it out. She smiled wistfully as she ran a hand over its cover. For Amy, this book held the comfort of a childhood teddy bear and she carried it with her always. After what had happened earlier, Amy needed all the comfort she could get.

Amy kept her head down as she hurried out of the class and into the cafeteria. Eager to dive into her book and her trove of soothing childhood memories, Amy opened the hardbound cover and traced her finger over the inscription inside. Lost in her book, she walked too close by a table and instantly crashed into someone. She fell backwards and her book and lunchbox went flying from her hands.

“Oh no, my book!” She exclaimed, grabbing her lunch and scrambling to her feet to find her book.

“Watch where you’re going! My shirt!” Amy looked up to see Rita dab at her lacy pink shirt with a napkin and shoot Amy a look of disdain. “You completely just wrecked my shirt! It’s covered in ketchup!”

“I-I’m sorry.” Amy stammered, getting to her feet. “I didn’t m-mean to do it. I’m so sorry.”

“Well, sorry isn’t going to get the ketchup out of my shirt, will it?” Rita retorted icily. “Actually, it’s not even my shirt. It’s Carla’s.”

Amy gulped nervously. “I-I’ll pay to have it cleaned. I really didn’t mean to cause any harm.”

Carla returned from the lunch line with a tray in her hands. “Rita, you won’t believe-oh my gosh, what happened to my shirt?” Carla dropped the tray on the table and eyed her ruined shirt.

“This little bookworm completely knocked into me and made me spill ketchup all over the shirt.” Rita accused, pointing to Amy.

Carla put her hands on her hips. “Honestly, sometimes you really have to get your nose out of that book and stop knocking into people.” Carla’s eyes flashed with annoyance. Rita, looking around for something better to clean her shirt with, spied Amy’s book lying on the floor. She stooped to collect it and held it up for Amy to see.

“My book!” Amy grabbed her book from Rita but held it for only a split second before Carla snatched it out of her hands.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Carla began flipping through it. “Dr. Seuss? You’re reading Dr. Seuss?” Carla smirked at Amy. “So this is how the perfect little genius prepares for tests. With a good dose of baby books.”

“Oh my goodness. A Dr. Seuss book? Even my little sister is way above that.” Rita snickered.  “But maybe you crammed so hard for this test that your little egghead brain is overfilled and you’re starting to get dumber and dumber now and-”

“Or,” Carla interrupted, “the more likely explanation is that after she saw how we wouldn’t accept how she had been showing off this morning, she decided to…shall we say ‘dumb down’ a bit.”

Becoming attuned to the idea, Carla began tapping her fingertips together as she circled Amy. “Rita, listen and tell me what you think of this theory. She-” Carla stopped and pointed accusingly at Amy, “wanted to show off this morning, hoping we’d become her friends. But when we weren’t open to the idea of little miss smarty pants, she decided to change tactics.”

“She decided to break out her baby book.” Rita added, joining in. A crowd was starting to gather around them. Carla and Rita flourished in front of an audience, and both increased their acts.
            “So, then,” Carla continued, “Amy’s walking around with her baby book, hoping to show people, ‘Hey, I’m not all that smart. I’m normal like you!’”
            “Unfortunately,” Rita said with a smirk, “It’s simply not possible for eggheads to be anywhere near normal.”
            The crowd giggled. “Picture this,” Carla turned to the crowd and throwing out her arm, spun dramatically to point at Amy, “there she was, looking for her opportunity-”
            “Which she found in me!” Rita exclaimed, gesturing at the stain on her shirt.

“Yes, Little Miss Egghead spots poor Rita, sitting there, minding her own business. She not only steals Rita’s rightful title as first place in the aptitude test, she can’t stand that we rejected her for so openly stealing it so she then goes and pretends to be dumb. Like we’d like her any better dumb.”

“Little Miss Modesty, that’s who she wanted us to think she was. Um, hello, I think we’re all a little smarter than that.” Rita tapped the side of her forehead in an exaggerated gesture.

“But not as smart as you, of course,” Carla twirled towards Amy. She flipped through the book and stopped as her eye caught a specific part in the book, “Listen, everybody, she’s even highlighted her favorite part.”

“How cute.” Rita cooed. “Read it, Carla. What does it say?”

Carla cleared her throat dramatically. “Little Miss Amy’s favorite part. ‘I will not eat it in a house, I will not eat it with a mouse.’”

Amy closed her eyes as she remembered her father’s voice reading her the story. His clear strong voice whispered softly to her, “Good night, little mouse.” He kissed her on the forehead and tucked her in. Amy loved the story and her father description of her timid nature as “his little mouse”. Amy also always drew courage from his words for some reason. Her eyes snapped open as she heard Carla and Rita speak again.

 “You know, Rita, I don’t think it’s good for someone to read books beneath their reading level. It just makes them lazy, don’t you think? So I think I’m doing a favor for Little Miss Smarty if I just toss this book out.” Carla opened the window and dangled the book outside.

“No!” Amy rushed to stop Carla, but Carla only giggled and withdrawing her hand back inside, tossed the book to Rita. Rita promptly ran to another window.
            “I totally agree, Carla. Getting rid of the book also eliminates Amy’s cynical little plan to trick us all. I won’t have her make fools out of us all.” Rita pried the window open and proceeded to stick her hand out, swinging the book out the open window. She gazed out the window for a moment before exclaiming with a cry of glee, “Carla, this window is right over the dumpster!”

The crowd gave a collective gasp and Carla burst out laughing. “I couldn’t have planned it any better!” Carla gasped.

Amy began to dash towards Rita, alarmed, but Carla extended her foot into Amy’s path. Amy stumbled over Carla’s foot and collapsed onto the floor with a thud.

“Oops!” Carla covered her mouth with her hand in mock surprise. “So sorry about that.”

Amy glared at her. She had never been so embarrassed and hurt in her life. That very book had been given to her by her father. Amy didn’t get to spend much time with her father and cherished the few happy memories she had. One of her most treasured memories was of her father reading Green Eggs and Ham to her the eve before her birthday when she was very young. Her father’s lilting voice carried across the room and lulled Amy to sleep. She remembered how he reassured her he’d be there in the morning to eat breakfast with her and promised to always be there for her.

The next morning, Amy shuffled into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Only her mother sat at the table, sipping juice. Her father had to run off to work, as he did so many other days. Upset that her father hadn’t been able to eat breakfast with her as he promised, Amy sat down at the table and watched as her mother unveiled her plate. On it lay scrambled eggs and slices of ham tinted with green food coloring and her Green Eggs and Ham book. Opening her book, she found a note from her father reading, “To my precious daughter on her special day. I’ll always be here for you. Love, Daddy.” It had been her most precious possession ever since and she carried it with her everywhere.

Amy’s eyes misted as she looked up at Rita. “Please, just give me the book back.” She said quietly, her voice steady. Rita faltered for a second, shaken by Amy’s pleadingly calm expression. She hesitated for a moment too long. Carla, sensing her friend’s uncertainty, ran to Rita and seized the book.  

“It’s time we end this once and for all.” Carla announced to the crowd. Amy lowered her head and stared at the ground. “Five…four…three…two…one…” Carla counted down with glee, anticipation building as the crowd chanted along with her.

“Stop! What do you guys think you’re doing?” The small blonde girl who had smiled at Amy before pushed her way through the crowd and marched up to Carla. “Carla, I don’t think you’re supposed to open windows without teacher’s permission. And I know you’re not supposed to throw things out them.”

“Oh, come on, Serena, don’t be such a goody-goody.” Carla hissed, annoyed Serena had broken her climatic moment. Giggling, she called out to her audience, “This coming from the girl who’s always late to class, eats in class, falls asleep in class and never does her homework!”

The crowd laughed and Serena’s cheeks reddened.  Never wavering, she stepped up and challenged, “Oh, yeah? Well, at least I’m a natural blonde. I’m not the one who colors my hair!”

Rita, along with the crowd, gasped. The crowd began to whisper among themselves.  “Carla, you color your hair?” Rita asked incredulously.

“Like she’d keep that ugly mousy brown color she has naturally.” Serena crossed her arms.

Carla glared furiously at Serena and she pulled her hand back inside. Her eyes filled with anger that Serena, one of her most popular friends, had betrayed her. “Well, I guess now you’re turning into a loser, huh, Serena? Don’t expect to hang out with the anymore. You know you’re only popular because we were your friends.”

Serena gave a bitter laugh. “Oh, please, Carla. If you were so cool, you wouldn’t feel the need to step all over other kids just to make yourself feel superior. Tell me, how cool is that?”

Carla’s eyes flashed with rage. Throwing the book at Serena and missing, she stalked away and yelled over her shoulder, “I hope you and your little loser friends are happy, Serena.” She stopped for a moment to throw a livid look at Serena and called out, “Come on, Rita! We have better things to do than hang around these losers.”

The crowd departed, leaving Rita and Serena standing, with Amy, still sat in a heap on the floor. Rita timidly picked up the book, which had fallen near her feet. She squatted besides Amy for a moment and placed the book gently in Amy’s lap.

“Here’s your book.” Rita said softly. Amy simply stared at her. “Well, I’ll go now, then.” Rita stood, and looked off after Carla. “And, um, Amy?” She said hesitantly, fidgeting “Well, I guess…congratulations…you know, on the aptitude test.”

Amy nodded, a smile returning to her face. “Thank you,” She said quietly.

Rita nodded and smiled back. “I’ll, uh, see you around, I guess.”

Serena knelt besides Amy and watched as Rita ran after Carla. “Personally, Green Eggs and Ham is my favorite book, too. I haven’t read it in years, though.” Amy looked up and couldn’t help but grin back at Serena’s infectious smile.

“We could read it together, if you want.” Amy offered, gratitude shining in her eyes.

“Sure. That’d be fun.” Serena grinned. She stood and pulled Amy up. Linking her arm through Amy’s, they began to walk to an empty table.

“I also have these chocolate chip cookies in my lunch.” Amy said tentatively, “I don’t know if you like chocolate chip or not but I’d be glad to share them.”

“Cookies? Chocolate chip?” Serena’s eyes shone with eagerness, “Amy, Amy, Amy…we have so much to learn about each other.”

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