Mackler - Not If I Can Help It

Want to do best part worst part? Ruby asks as we turn right on Broadway. Shes just texted her mom that weve left school and will be at I Scream in ten minutes.

Sure, I say, smiling as two terriers trot past us, their rhinestone collars sparkling in the sunlight. I once told Ruby how my mom and I do best part worst part every night on the phone and now she likes doing it too. I can go first, I add. My best part is definitely now.

Rubys phone chimes in her pocket and she takes it out for a quick glance. I look into her hand. Its her mom saying Okay! with a bunch of hearts after it. Ruby is still ten and already has a phone and Im eleven and dont have one yet. My dad says Ill get one at the beginning of sixth grade in the fall.

Be more specific about what you mean by now , Willa, Ruby says, pinching her nose so she sounds congested. Shes imitating our fifth-grade teacher, Ms. Lacey, who has seasonal allergies. Ms. Lacey spent the morning sneezing and coughing and lecturing us about how we cant get away with generalizations like I dunno and fine .

Ruby knows that Ms. Laceys long lectures make me antsy, just like I know that she has to pee twice as often as the average person. Ruby Kapoor and I know so much about each other because were best friends. We met last fall, when she and her mom moved to Manhattan from Connecticut. Now its the spring of fifth grade, which I really dont want to think about because any day now were going to get our middle school acceptance letters in the mail and find out where were going to sixth grade. For one, I hate any kind of change, so the idea of leaving The Childrens School, where Ive gone since kindergarten, freaks me out. For two, what if Ruby and I get into different middle schools and have to be ripped apart after only one year of best friendship? That would be the worst kind of change ever.

I reach down and adjust my left sock so its not bunched up in my sneaker. Specifically my best part is right now, I say. Walking to I Scream with you to get ice cream

And sorbet, Ruby interjects. Shes lactose intolerant and has to be careful not to eat dairy or shell get a stomachache.

And sorbet, I add, and definitely with a heap of gummy bears on top. Is that specific enough?

Yum! Ruby says, grinning.

That was how our friendship began, with gummy bears from the exact I Scream we are walking to right now. Last August, my dad told me that a new girl was starting at The Childrens School and that the principal had asked a bunch of parents to take their kids to I Scream on a Sunday afternoon to meet her and greet her and make sure she felt comfortable on the first day. The new girl turned out to be Rubyshort and skinny, her long hair in a ponytail, a palate expander on her teeth. A few other girls were there, like the twins, Norie and Zoe Robbins, and horrible Avery Tanaka, smiling wide like she was going to be noticed by a talent scout while choosing her flavors. Ruby was with her mom, who was shaking hands and collecting parents phone numbers. As we were at the toppings bar, I noticed that Ruby and I both loaded our dishes with gummy bears. I squealed and told her that gummy bears were MY signature topping. No one else understood how perfectly they stiffened when they made contact with ice cream. Or sorbet , she said, grinning at me. I grinned back at her, and it was best friends at first sight.

What was your best part today? I now ask Ruby as we pause at the light on Ninety-Fourth and Broadway. We live in a neighborhood of Manhattan called the Upper West Side. The exciting thing about this spring is that, after eleven years of being taken everywhere by a parent or babysitter, my dad has finally agreed to let me walk the dozen blocks to and from school by myself. I usually still walk to school with my dad and my little brother, Benji, who is eight. Going home, I sometimes walk with Benji and our sitter, Joshua, or Ruby if we have plans to hang out after school. Ruby and her mom live thirty blocks downtown, so shes not allowed to travel home by herself yet because that would mean taking the subway or a city bus, and her mom says no way to that. If Ruby doesnt come to my apartment, she goes to afterschool until her mom picks her up after work.

Today Joshua is taking Benji to his climbing class, and Ruby and I are meeting my dad and her mom at I Scream. My dad told me the plan this morning at breakfast, and he said that Rubys mom was telling Ruby the same plan. Theyre both getting off work early, and were supposed to leave school together and walk up there.

My best part is also now, Ruby says. And playing soccer at gym. That was awesome. I cant believe I got four goals! What was your worst part?

I dont tell Ruby that soccer at gym was my worst part. I hate gym. At least at recess, I can read a book or join in a gaga game, which in my opinion is the only ball sport for people who stink at ball sports, because all you do is try to whack other peoples shins with the ball while dodging the ball so your shins dont get whacked. But at gym, when participating in the sport is required, Im forced to deal with soccer balls and volleyballs and kickballs. I can barely run without tripping, so having a ball involved in a non-gaga way makes everything worse. Unlike me, Ruby loves soccer. She plays on a team during afterschool and another team on weekends. She even watches soccer on TV, which sounds as exciting to me as watching pencils getting sharpened.

I dont want to insult soccer, so instead I ask Ruby, Why do you think my dad and your mom want to meet us at I Scream? Dont you think thats strange on a random school day?

Ruby shakes her head. Probably because ice cream and sorbet covered in gummy bears is an awesome way to spend a Thursday afternoon.

I shrug. Thats another way were different. Ruby doesnt wonder why my dad and her mom would leave work early to meet us. Ruby also doesnt get upset whenever I mention middle school. She says itll all work out. She says if we go to different middle schools, well stay best friends and have lots of sleepovers. The thing is, Ive slept over at her apartment a bunch of times, but whenever I invite her to my apartment she makes an excuse for why she cant come. It doesnt help that I go to my momsshe lives upstate with my stepfatherevery Saturday morning and return Sunday night, so my sleepover days are limited. Even so, I cant help feeling offended that she never sleeps at my apartment. Yes, I live with two guysmy dad and brotherbut theyre not slobs. Actually, Im messier than they are! My room is littered with LEGO bricks and LEGO accessories and whatever clothes I shed onto the floor in my daily quest to find something comfortable to wear.

Maybe they want to talk to us about middle school, I say, fiddling with the bracelets on my wrist. I like to wear an assortment of stretchy bracelets, friendship bracelets, and rubber bands. Maybe our middle school letters came and they want to tell us the news together so we can celebrate if we got in to the same school and cry if we didnt.

I doubt it, Ruby tells me. My mom has me check the mail. All weve gotten the past few days are bills and junk mail. Nothing from the Department of Education, if thats what youre wondering.