Just Kidding by Annie Bryant

BSG, and that day she hailed her enthusiastically. “Hi, Charlotte! How are you and Marty?”
    At that moment Charlotte lost control of Marty, who yanked the leash from the end of her fingers and ran off to play with his friends. Charlotte could see he wasn’t interested in going anywhere dangerous, just running happily in circles and yipping at the top of his little doggy lungs, so she could spend some time talking to Ms. Pink instead of chasing him. She rubbed her sore fingers and said ruefully, “We’re both fine, thanks for asking, Ms. Pink.”
    â€œHow’s school?” Ms. Razzberry Pink had gone to Abigail Adams Junior High herself, years before, so she always wanted to know about what was new there. “C’mon, sit down on this bench and tell me everything. I’ll pretend that I’m young again.”
    Charlotte giggled. It was funny because Ms. Pink was actually not old at all…maybe twenty-nine or thirty. She sat down and started to tell Ms. Pink all about Spirit Week. She wasn’t sure whether she could explain it very well, but once she started, Ms. Pink nodded knowingly. “Oh, yes. I loved Spirit Week. It was the first time I ever dyed my hair…pink, of course!”
    Charlotte couldn’t think how to answer that. Although she would never tell Miss Pink because she didn’t want to hurt her feelings, she thought the pink hair was a little too much, and definitely not Charlotte’s style. But Charlotte could see that Ms. Pink was excited about her Spirit Weekstory. So Charlotte, budding reporter that she was, encouraged her to go on. “Tell me all about it!”
    â€œOh, my, it really was something. Your Spirit Week sounds a lot like ours, with a dance and committees to join.” Ms. Pink waited until she saw Charlotte’s nod of confirmation before she went on. “Well, I decided my spirit was going to be about pink, so I dyed my hair and wore it that way the whole week. I knew people thought I was strange, but I didn’t care. The pink hair was completely me , and it made me feel fabulous. Mrs. Fields was wonderful to me. I think she understood that I was one of those kids who was going to live outside of the box…and so I have.”
    â€œReally?” Charlotte asked. Whenever she talked to Razzberry, she forgot about the pink hair altogether and felt drawn into the Ms. Pink stories.
    â€œOh, yes, but you know something funny?” the store owner continued. “At the end of the week, when I made my speech about feeling the pink spirit, people clapped like crazy, and I realized I had actually said to the whole school what I really believed in my heart. It was a big moment for me, a real turning point. I think that was the first time,” she said reflectively, “that I really felt good about expressing myself in my own way. And I made some good friends that week too. In fact, they’re still my friends today.” She stopped and turned to Charlotte. “Really, Spirit Week was very important in my life. I hope it’ll be an amazing week for you, too.”
    It had taken Ms. Pink a long time to tell Charlotte the full story. When Charlotte looked at her watch, she realizedthat it was time to head home. “Thanks for sharing your Spirit Week story, Ms. Pink,” she said, and she stood up to call Marty. Now that Charlotte had conducted interviews with the BSG, Miss Pierce, and Ms. Pink, she couldn’t wait to get going on her article. Jennifer’s bad attitude is not going to get me down , Charlotte resolved. Her angle for the article was really coming together, and she wanted to finalize a list of people who would be perfect to ask for their definition of spirit. She knew she wanted a quote from Mrs. Fields and some of her favorite seventh-grade teachers, and maybe she could even find a great quote from Abigail Adams, the second First Lady of the United States, for whom their school was named.