Camille McPhee Fell Under the Bus by Kristen Tracy

graders run the factories. And fifth and fourth graders will be the animals. We start practice next week.”
    When Mrs. Zirklezack opened her arms wide, I saw little fat pockets jiggle. Because my mother taught aerobics, she had explained every boring muscle to me. So I knew that Mrs. Zirklezack needed to tone her triceps. I also knew that this was considered a “problem area” for a lot of women. She waved to us and we waved back. And then she walked away. After she left, Mr. Hawk brought out the art tubs.
    “We’ll be doing free drawing today,” Mr. Hawk said.
    This was a huge relief. Because it meant I could let my mind and hands do whatever they wanted.
    “I want to be a penguin,” Penny said, rushing toward the list.
    “I hope I’m a crocodile,” Tony Maboney said.
    “I wonder who will be cast as Nora?” Lilly asked.
    I didn’t care about that. The last thing in the world I’d want to be was Nora. In fact, I thought the whole play sounded pretty bad. I didn’t understand how the bus could drive to safety if the whole world was being rained on. Were there places that didn’t have factories that were still okay? Or was Nora planning to drive to a high elevation in the mountains? Wouldn’t there be anawful lot of snow there? And how would Nora fit all these animals onto a single bus? And wouldn’t the tigers eat all the other animals? And also Nora?
    As I looked over the list, I stopped worrying about tigers and started worrying about something else. I didn’t see my name. I read the list again. It was big. When you added up fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, there were about eighty of us. Twenty were the sixth-grade factory workers, so I didn’t have to look at those parts. I read through the animals. There were thirty different kinds that Nora saved. Two of each. Penny was a sea lion. Lilly was a dolphin. Tony Maboney was a turtle. Polly was a parrot. But I didn’t see my name anywhere. I wondered if maybe Mrs. Zirklezack had heard about me falling underneath my school bus and worried that I’d somehow mess up her bus play So she kept me out.
    I read the list over and over. But it wasn’t like I could make my name appear. Finally, I walked away. I guess I didn’t need a part. I could just sit in the audience and watch Nora pack those animals onto her bus.
    I decided that drawing a blue butterfly was the only way to cheer myself up. Digging through the art tubs for an appropriate number of colored pencils, I accidentally scratched Polly’s hand.
    “Ouch,” she said.
    “Sorry,” I said.
    “That’s okay,” she said. “My cat scratches me all the time. Accidents happen.”
    “I guess,” I said.
    “I’m a parrot,” Polly said. “What are you?”
    I shrugged.
    “I didn’t see your name on the list,” Polly said.
    I shrugged again.
    “It’s probably a mistake. Maybe you should talk to Mr. Hawk.”
    I took my hands out of that tub and put them in the one next to it. And I quit talking to Polly. Because I didn’t need her telling me how to solve my problems. I didn’t need her telling me anything.

Chapter 14
Taking A Break
    W hen I came home from school, partless and carrying a picture of an extremely blue butterfly, my parents didn’t even notice that I was upset. Even when I said, “I sure am feeling upset.”
    They were at it again. My mother had bought a pot rack for the kitchen. Apparently, pot racks are really expensive, and buying one puts you deeper in the hole. When my dad came home, he walked right into it, banging his head against several pans.
    “Every penny you have burns a hole in your pocket,” he said.
    “If I had enough cupboard space, I wouldn’t need a pot rack,” my mother said.
    “You’ll never have enough of anything,” he said. “I’ve seen the way you grocery shop. You’ll load anything into the cart. Anything!”
    “I buy what we need!” she said. “Sometimes I even use coupons.”
    “Maxine, at the rate you spend money, we’ll never make it