When I started this blog my daughter had a best friend named Dora . Dora lived with us . Dora was invisible . When I told my daughter , I was going to start a blog of stories for her , she asked me to write stories for Dora . So we called this blog Stories for Dora . Now , that my daughter has outgrown Dora , she has reclaimed her blog and we have changed the name to Stories for Aurella . So here are stories for my daughter and you . It was New Year 's Eve . Camryn Getz was so excited ! This was going to be the first New Year 's she got to stay up to and watch on TV as the New Year 's ball dropped in Times Square . Her older brother and sister Connor and Camelia , who were twins , had been allowed to stay up and watch for several years already . Camryn was so jealous . Finally . it was her turn now . Mommy shook her head . " Just be patient little one . It will be here before you know it . " Camryn frowned unhappily . She hated waiting for things . " I 'm hungry . " complained Connor as his stomach rumbled . " Connor ! " Mommy said sharply . " Don 't you remember how eager you were the first time you got to see the ball drop on New Year 's Eve ? Give your sister a break . " " I 'm sorry . " said Connor in a voice that didn 't seem sorry at all . Mom came back in the room and handed out the popcorn . They watched TV as they ate . When they were done , Mom made another batch . Camryn frowned . " It 's never gonna get here . " she groaned angrily . " It will come . " Daddy promised . " You just have to be patient . " Suddenly , Camelia jumped out of her seat . " Let 's have a dance party ! " she suggested . They all agreed that was a great idea so Connor put on the stereo . They all started dancing . After about a half hour , they were all tired out . They sat back down on the couch . Camryn rested her head in Mommy 's lap . " Is it time now ? " she asked again . Everyone shook their head no . " Camryn stuck out her lower lip and pouted disappointedly . " Can Daddy tell us a story ? " asked Camryn . Daddy agreed , and he began telling a story . Camryn closed her eyes just for a minute to rest as she listened to the story . When , Daddy finished tellling the story . Connor looked at the clock . " It 's five minutes to midnight ! " he exclaimed happily . Camelia turned back on the TV . Camryn was still lying on Mommy 's lap and she didn 't move . " Camryn ? " said Mommy . " Camryn it 's time . The New Year 's ball is about to drop . " There was no reaction from Camryn . Mommy looked down at her lap . Camryn 's eyes were still closed , and she was fast asleep . Posted by Her older brother , Charlie laughed as he buttered his own toast . " Your going to be in the school play ? " he said . " You get nervous just talking to people on the phone . " Charlie opened his mouth to say more but he quickly closed it again when he saw the angry look his mother was shooting him . She could not have been more angry if there were actual fire coming out of her mouth . Samara sat quietly in her chair . Maybe , Charlie was right and she shouldn 't try out for the play . " Do you think I really have a chance to be in the play ? " she asked her mother . " Of course , you do , sweetie . " Her mother assured her . " I 'm so proud of you that you want to try - out . " she added hugging Samara . School dragged slowly . The auditions were after school . Samara sat nervously in the auditorium and waited for her turn to audition . She was a little bit nervous but once she started speaking she was okay . Afterwards , the drama teacher , Mrs . Drexel handed out the parts . Samara held her breathe until she heard Mrs . Drexel say " And playing the part of the handmaiden will be Samara Kingsley . " Samara let out a huge happy sigh as a giant smile spread across her face . The handmaiden wasn 't the lead but it was a nice sized part . The show was about a princess and the handmaiden was her faithful servant . Samara couldn 't wait to go home and share her good news with her family . " Congrats , kid . " added Charlie . He was still kind of surprised that Samara had not only actually gone through with the audition but had actually gotten a part in the show , but he was genuinely happy for his sister . Even though he teased her a lot , he was fond of her . Rehearsals for the show started the next day . Rehearsals took place after school . Almost every day after school for the next two months , Samara had play rehearsal . Finally , it was opening night . They had a quick light dinner and Mom got ready to drop Samara off at the school to ger ready . Mom would be coming back with Dad and Charlie later . " Break a leg , sweetie . " said Samara 's father in the traditional theater expression of wishing good luck . He kissed her gently on the cheek . He meant it as a complement , but his words really got to Samara . She had never really thought about how big the auditorium was before and how many people it could hold . Now , she couldn 't stop thinking about it . Her whole body instantly went numb and she felt as if she couldn 't breathe . " Come on , Samara . " insisted her mother quickly ushering her to the door . " You 'll be late . " She hurried Samara into the car , and they headed for the school . Samara hoped she would feel better once she actually got there and started getting ready for the show . By the time they arrived at the school and went inside , Samara still wasn 't feeling any better . In fact , she felt worse . She felt as though her whole body was frozen and she couldn 't move . However , she somehow forced herself to get into her costume and get her stage make - up on . Then , she sat around nervously waiting for the show to start . While her cast mates buzzed around excitedly getting ready and waiting for the show to start , Samara pasted a big fake smile on her face and tried to appear as happy as they were and not let anyone see how nervous she actually was . Finally , it was show time . Samara somehow managed to make her way to her place on stage for the beginning of Act One . She could feel her heart beating so loudly in her chest that she was surprised nobody else could hear it . When the show started and it came time for Samara 's first line , she completely froze . The room went completely still and so quiet that you could have heard a pencil drop in a classroom all the way at the other end of the school . Samara swallowed hard , looked at the ground , and finally said her first line . She took a deep breathe . She forced herself to stopped thinking about the auditorium and all the people watching her . She became completely absorbed in the play and her character of the handmaiden . She hadn 't completely lost her nervousness , but she managed to push through and get through the whole play . After the show was over , Samara 's family surrounded her . The gave her flowers and showered her with praise for her wonderful performance . " You looked so confident out there , baby . " said her Dad . Samara smiled proudly . Maybe , she was an even better actress than she thought . " Yes . " replied her mother . " Sometime , you 'll have to learn . I am sure you 'll like it when you actually take a chance and try it . " The next day was going to be Rayna 's 6th birthday . Rayna 's Mom tucked her into bed . " Goodnight , Rayna . " she said with a kiss on the cheek . The next morning , Rayna woke up bright and early . " It 's my birthday ! " she said excitedly . She jumped out of bed , ran into her Mom and Dad 's room and jumped up on their bed . " Mommy , Daddy , it 's my birthday ! " she shouted excitedly . " Yes , honey and tomorrow you get to start kindergarten . Two exciting days in a row . " said her Dad . " Oh , Daddy ! Don 't ruin my birthday . " she said angrily . She gave him an unhappy look . Then , she smiled again . " It 's still my birthday ! " she said extremely excited . Her mother picked Rayna up and put her on her lap . Her Dad went to get her present . " Happy Birthday ! " they said together as her Dad handed her wrapped gift . She opened her gift excitedly . It was a bunch of books . She picked one up and stared at it . It was called Pat and Cat . She threw it on the floor . Then , she ran away crying . She went into her room and slammed the door . " Fine . " she said through her tears . " The door is open . " They took her in their arms and hugged her . " Some day , you 'll like reading and you 'll appreciate your present . " they said . She didn 't think that would happen but she didn 't say anything because she didn 't want the rest of her birthday spoiled . The rest of the day went by quickly . They ate pizza and had a big chocolate ice cream cake . Soon , it was Rayna 's bedtime . Her parents both tucked and her in and kissed her goodnight . " Goodnight , sweetie . We love you . " they said . Rayna was actually excited to go to school . She just didn 't want to learn to read . " Can 't you write me a note so I don 't have to learn to read ? " she begged . She went downstairs and had a quick breakfast and got ready for school . Her Mom drove her to school . They got out of the car and went to the door . Her mother took a quick picture of Rayna on her first day of school and gave her a quick kiss goodbye . Rayna couldn 't find her classroom at first . Then , she found a nice lady who helped her find it . Her classroom was labeled room Q . Her teacher was Miss Brown Miss Brown said " Welcome to Room Q . Today we are going to start learning to read . " She took out some books and handed one to each student . The book was Pat and Cat . Rayna 's mouth opened wide . Miss Brown read the book to the class as all the children followed along . It was a pretty easy book and there weren 't too many words on the page . By the end of the day , each child had a chance to read a little bit of the book , and they each got one to take home to practice . " I don 't need one . I have it at home . " said Rayna proudly . She couldn 't wait to go home and read it to her Mom and Dad . When Rayna 's Mom picked her up from school and took her home , she ran to her room and got the book . She went to find her Mom and Dad . " Can I read this to you ? " she asked . Her Mom and Dad were both shocked . " Of course . " they said with surprise . Rayna read the book . She did great . She got every single word right with only a little sounding out . From that day on , Rayna loved reading . Every second of free time she had , she would read . It was hard to believe that Rayna had ever hated reading . Arianna Anders thought she was the most amazing person ever . She would brag about everything . Her clothes , her grades , her accomplishments , etc . One day she came home from camp and declared , " Mom , my name is no longer Arianna Anders . From now on , call me Arianna Awesome . " The next morning she woke up and decided she wanted to watch " Girl Meets World , " but when she reached the living room her little sister , Shauna , was already watching , " Sesame Street . " Arianna marched over and glared at Shauna , with her hands on her hips . " Give me the remote , Shauna . I want to watch my favorite show . " Shauna ran off crying . Later that day , Arianna heard her brother and sister , Michael and Sam who were twins , arguing in Sam 's room . Arianna wandered in and asked , " What 's the matter ? " Her sister explained that there was only one cookie left and they didn 't know who should get it . " I have a solution . " Arianna grabbed the cookie and ran off . This went on for a couple more weeks until the first day of school . Arianna entered her new classroom for fifth grade . " Sophie ! " Arianna screamed excitedly running towards her best friend . " Arianna , there 's something I need to tell you . You 've been a really bad friend to me , you 're always bragging about yourself and saying you should get your way because you 're awesome . So , until you can prove you 've changed , I don 't think we should be friends anymore . " Sophie explained and she walked away . Arianna didn 't want to lose her best friend , so she decided to try to become a better person . Saturday morning , she let Shauna watch " Sesame Street . " She split her last cookie in half and gave 1 to Sam and one to Michael . The next Monday , Arianna approached her best friend and said , " Soph , I am so so sorry . I was a terrible friend , and sister , and everything . I can 't promise I 'll never be a little conceited again , but I can promise to try . I think for now , I 'll just go back to being Arianna Anders . " Kari Edmond sadly stood staring in her toy box . She looked once . She looked twice . She looked again , but she could not find what she was looking for . She threw all of the toys out of the box and continued looking , but still she could not find what she was looking for . " I 'm looking for my teddy bears . " explained Kari unhappily . Kari had four teddy bears . Blueberry was a blue bear . Cherry was a red bear . Blackberry was a black bear . Lemony was a yellow bear . They were her favorite toys . She and Mommy looked through Kari 's whole room . Still , there was no sign of any of the bears . They started looking through the rest of the house . They didn 't find any sign of the teddy bears but they did find Kathy and Karl , Kari 's older sister and brother . Karl was sitting at the kitchen table lingering over his homework . Kathy was in the living room watching TV . " Did either of you see Kari 's teddy bears ? " asked Mom . Karl shook his head . Kathy didn 't even look up from the TV . " Well , why don 't you two help her look while I start making dinner . " suggested Mom . Kathy still didn 't even take her eyes off the television set . Mom went into the other room and turned off the TV . " I said help your sister find her teddy bears . " said Mom . Kathy scowled at her mother unhappily , but she got up to help her sister as she was told . They looked all over the house , for over half an hour but there was no sign of any of the teddy bears . Kari collapsed on the living room couch on the verge of tears . Just then , the garage door opened and in walked Dad who had just come home from work . " What 's the matter , pumpkin ? " he asked when he saw Kari 's sad face . " She can 't find her teddy bears . " explained Karl . All Kari could do was nod miserably in agreement . She was too sad to say anything . " Bijou ! " exclaimed Kari angrily . Bijou was their big white puppy . She was very fond of socks and she was always trying to bite Kari 's stuffed animals . Kari ran out to the backyard followed by Daddy , Kathy and Karl . They looked but at first they didn 't see anything . Then , Daddy spied a flash of red under the swingset . He went over and reached down and picked up a red teddy bear . " Cherry ! " exclaimed Kari reaching for the bear . " What 's this ? " said Kathy as she saw something blue under the tree and scooped it up in her arms . It was a blue bear . " Blueberry ! " exclaimed Kari happily as Kathy handed it to her . Daddy found a yellow bear on the lawn in front of Bijou 's dog house . He had barely picked it up when Kari grabbed it out of his arms . " Lemony ! " she called excitedly . They looked all over the yard but still they could not find the fourth bear . " Well at least you found three of them . " said Dad trying unsuccessfully to cheer up Kari up . Just then , Mom came out of the house . " Look what I found . " she said . In her arms , she held Bijou hanging out of Bijou 's mouth was a black bear . Kari hugged her teddy bears to her and went in the house too . Daddy , Kathy and Karl followed . They all went back to their respective activities while Kari went to put her bears away . When she came back , she sat down on the couch . Bijou climbed up next to her . " I hate you , Bijou , you bad bad dog ! " said Kari . Bijou leaned over and licked Kari across the face . It tickled , and Kari couldn 't help laughing . " Okay . " she admitted . " I don 't hate you but I am mad at you . " Bijou licked her again . Kari sighed " Okay . " she said . " I love you , but I am still mad at you ! " Posted by Alana Burgess had an older sister , Annie . Annie didn 't like Alana going into her room . She didn 't like Alana touching her things . Alana loved going in her sister 's room , however . She loved looking at Annie 's stuff . She went into Annie 's room . She found Annie 's phone on the floor near the bed . It must have dropped out of Annie 's pocketbook . Annie never went anywhere without her phone . Alana sat on the floor playing with the phone . She knew Annie would be mad if she found Alana with her phone , but Alana didn 't care . She started playing with the ringtones . She recorded herself saying " Alana is awesome ! " and then she set it as the phone 's ringtone . She listened to it a few times and smiled . She wished Annie really always had to hear that whenever her phone rang . Suddenly , Alana heard footsteps . She peaked out of the room and saw Annie on the stairs . There was no time to change the ringtone back . She quickly dropped the phone and hurried out of the room . Just as Annie came into her room , she heard Alana 's voice calling out " Alana is awesome ! Alana is awesome ! " and it just kept repeating . " Alana is awesome ! " " Ha Ha , very funny , Alana . " called Annie , but she didn 't really sound like she thought it was funny at all . She looked all over the room trying to find out where the voice was coming from . Finally , she realized it was coming from her phone , and then she got really angry . As soon as she got off the phone , she rushed into Alana 's room . " How dare you touch my things ! " she yelled angrily at Alana . " You know you 're not supposed to go in my room . " She shouted a bunch of other things too . " You change my ringtone back ! " she said finally . Annie glared even angrier at her sister . Unlike most kids her age , Annie was not very good with phones . She knew how to talk on them . That 's about it . A few minutes later , Annie came back with Mom . " Please change the ringtone . " said Mom . She said it very calmly , but Alana could tell from her expression that Mom was very serious . Just as Annie took the phone back , it started ringing again . It didn 't say " Alana is awesome " anymore . Now it said " Annie is awful ! " " Annie is awful ! Annie is awful ! " it repeated over and over again . Priscilla Chadwick was a beautiful baby . Everybody thought so . She had the bluest blue eyes and the blondest blonde hair . Even all the doctors oohed and aahed over how cute she was . As she got older . She only got cuter and she knew it . She couldn 't help but know it . Everybody was always telling her how beautiful she was . All her life , everybody wanted to do things for Priscilla and be her friend because she was so pretty . It was as if they thought being pretty could rub off on them just because they hung around someone who was pretty . It got so that Priscilla didn 't even think she needed to be nice to people . She just expected them to want to hang around her and do things for her , and they did . Whenever , there was a choice to make Priscilla always got to choose first . She always picked what game would be played and for how long . That was just the way it was and nobody questioned it . Then , a new girl moved to town . She was put in the same class as Priscilla . Her name was Jane Miller . Jane wasn 't exactly ugly . She was just kind of plain . She certainly was nowhere near as pretty as Priscilla . After Jane moved to town , Priscilla just figured life would go on as usual . For a while , it did . Jane went along with whatever Priscilla said just like everybody else . Priscilla 's mouth opened in shock . Nobody ever said no to her . She was the pretty one . " Well , we 're playing tag . " insisted Priscilla . The other kids went along with Priscilla because they were used to it . Jane went to play on the swings . At first , the other kids all continued played with Priscilla like always . Then , a few of of them wandered off by Jane . " Hello . " Jane warmly greeted the other kids who approached her . " Do you want to play with me ? We could go on the swings some more or we could go on the slide or whatever . What would you like to do ? " For a moment , the other kids didn 't speak . The were so used to being told what to do by Priscilla . They hardly remembered how to think for themselves . Finally , somebody said . " Let 's go slide . " So they did . After a while , somebody else said . " Let 's go back on the swings so they did . " After that they actually took turns making suggestions of what to do . Finally , Priscilla asked Jane and the kids who were playing with her , " Don 't you want to play with us ? " None of them did . Priscilla stomped off . Some of the kids that she 'd been playing with followed her . Some of them stayed to play with Jane and those other kids . The next day at recess even more of the kids wanted to play with Jane . By the end of the week , Priscillla was playing all by herself , and she was not happy about it . She was used to being the center of attention . She was not used to being alone . She did not like it . Priscilla sat alone for a while . After a while , she went up to another kid and asked . " Why doesn 't anybody want to play with me anymore . " The other kid shrugged and ran off . Priscilla asked another one of the kids , but that kid didn 't want to tell her either . Finally , one of the kids said . " You may be pretty Priscilla , but Jane is nice . Priscilla couldn 't believe it . Nice was better than pretty ? She didn 't think anything was better than pretty . She didn 't know if she knew how to be nice she only knew how to be pretty . The other kids looked like they were having a good time with Jane . They were all smiling and laughing and happy . They were smiling and laughing and seemed a lot happier than they did when they played with Priscilla . " I didn 't think you wanted to play with me anymore . " answered Priscilla . " I never said I don 't want to play with you . " said Jane . " Just don 't be so bossy You can 't always be in charge just because you are pretty . " Priscilla thought about it . She didn 't really like playing alone , and she was tired of it . " Okay . " she agreed . She went off to play with Jane and the other kids . They were playing on the swings . After a while , Priscilla got tired of the swings . " Let 's go play tag now . " she said insistently . She jumped off the swings and got ready to go play tag but nobody followed her . She stood there for a minute not knowing what to do . Being nice and not just being pretty was going to take some getting used to . However , she didn 't want to go back to playing alone . " I mean , would anybody like to play tag with me ? " she asked nicely . Some of the kids did and some of the kids didn 't . Those that wanted to play tag went with Priscilla and those that didn 't stayed on the swings and that was okay . Zia Dunlop always woke up early . Her sister , Winnie always woke up late . Zia woke up and watched TV and played with her toys and just generally amused herself at least for a while . Then , she got bored and waited for her sister to wake up . " Mommy , " she asked , " When is Winnie going to wake up ? " Zia turned up her nose and shook her head . " That 's boring . " she said . She said down in front of Winnie 's door to wait as Mommy went down the stairs . Zia sat outside the door for a few minutes . Then , she began gently kicking the door . When there was no reaction from Winnie 's room , she began kicking the door a little harder . When she still got no reaction . She began banging the door with her fist . " Winnie ! " Zia screamed excitedly bounding into the room . Winnie was still in bed with her eyes closed . She opened one eye as Zia entered the room . " Get out ! " she said insistently . Then , she turned over and went back to sleep . Zia sighed and left the room . She sat back down and continued to wait for Winnie to wake up . Zia decided to see how high she could count before Winnie woke up . She had only gotten to 100 before she got bored . Then , she started wandering up and down the hall . Mommy smiled and went back to the laundry . Zia quietly opened Winnie 's door and tiptoed over to the bed . She leaned over hoping that any minute Winnie would wake up . Winnie didn 't move at all . " Winnie ! " she whispered . Winnie still didn 't move . " Winnie ! " she yelled a little louder . Winnie still didn 't move . " Winnie ! " she shouted . Winnie sat up and opened her eyes and looked around when she saw Zia she glared at her . " Get out , Zia . " she shouted angrily . Then , she lay down and went back to sleep . Zia smiled and happily ran back up the stairs . She ran into Winnie 's room . She went over to the bed and started shaking her . " Winnie ! Winnie ! " she said loudly . " Mommy said it 's time to get up . It 's already lunch time . " Kimberly Dyer was about to be a big sister any day now . " Aren 't you lucky ? " said Grandma . " You 're going to have a baby brother or sister . " Grandma was staying with them in case Mommy and Daddy had to go to the hospital in the middle of the night . A brother ! The very notion of it horrified Kimberly . What good is a brother ? He wouldn 't want to play dolls with her or have tea parties , and they couldn 't share clothes and make up when they got older . Boys liked sports and the played rough or at least the ones in Kimberly 's class did . Kimberly hated sports , and she certainly didn 't want anyone who behaved like the boys in her class living in her house . No , she was definitely going to have a sister she knew it or at least she hoped so . The next day , Kimberly was sitting on her Mom 's lap on the couch . At least , she was sitting as close to her Mom 's lap as she could since Mom had gotten so big with the baby . " Mommy ? " she said . A few days later , Kimberly woke up to the smell of pancakes . Mommy made the best pancakes in the whole world . Kimberly excitedly hurried to the kitchen to eat breakfast . When she was about to enter the room , she noticed it was Grandma standing at the griddle making pancakes , it wasn 't Mommy at all . " Good morning . " Grandma greeted Kimberly warmly . " Did you have a nice sleep ? " she asked . Kimberly shot Grandma an evil look . Then , she started dancing around the kitchen and shouting " I have a sister ! I have a sister ! I have a sister ! " " Kimberly ! " exclaimed Grandma . " We probably won 't know if it is a brother or sister for several hours yet . Sit down and eat your breakfast . You have school today . " Kimberly frowned and slid into her chair . How could she eat at a time like this ? Kimberly couldn 't wait to hear about her new sister . Food was the last thing on her mind . Kimberly could barely get through the school day even though she was only in kindergarten , and she only had a half day . As soon as the school bus dropped her off at the bus stop , she eagerly ran over to where Grandma stood waiting for her . " Is my sister born , yet ? " she asked eagerly . " When is she coming home ? " A brother ! Kimberly 's eyes and mouth opened wide with shock and disappointment . What in the world was she going to do with a brother ? She wanted a sister ! It was supposed to be a sister ! Kimberly shrugged . " I guess so . " she said . She didn 't really care but it would be nice to see Mommy and Daddy . Even though , they had only been gone since yesterday she missed them . When they got to the hospital , they went up to Mom 's room . Mom was sitting on the bed with a tiny bundle wrapped in a blanket in her arms . She smiled when she saw Kimberly . " Hi sweetie . " she said . " Why don 't you come on over here and meet your new baby brother ? " Kimberly stood in the doorway and didn 't move . Grandma gave her a little push . She reluctantly walked over to the bed . Daddy lifted her up so she could see Mommy better . " Benjamin . " said Mommy to the bundle in her arms . " Meet your big sister . , Kimberly . " She turned the baby toward Kimberly . " Meet your baby brother Benjamin . " she said to Kimberly . Kimberly looked at her baby brother . She couldn 't help noticing that he was actually kind of cute with his bright blue eyes and big ears . ' Okay ' she thought . ' Maybe , it won 't be so bad to have a baby brother . ' Out loud to the baby she said . " Hi Benjamin . I 'm your big sister . " " It was alright . " replied Sasha . She quickly tossed her book bag on the floor next to the door . Mom glared at her , and she quickly picked it up and put it on the hook where it belonged . " I have a test tomorrow . " replied Sasha . She grabbed a bag of chips out of the cupboard and a bottle of water out of the refrigerator . She went in the living room and flopped down in front of the TV . Sasha didn 't even look up from the TV . After , she finished eating she continued watching for another hour . Just as she turned off the TV , Mom came down the steps with a load of laundry . " Did you study yet ? " she asked Sasha . Sasha shook her head no . " What are you waiting for ? " asked Mom . " I 'll study later . " Sasha promised . " Can I please just go outside for a little bit before it gets dark ? Please mommy ? " she begged . An hour later , she still wasn 't back . " Sasha ! " called Mom angrily out the door . " It 's time to come in . You were only supposed to be out for a half hour . " Sasha slowly and reluctantly came back in the house . She immediately went into the living room and flopped down on the couch . They argued back and forth for a while . Then , Mom finally went in the kitchen to make dinner . By the time dinner was ready , Sasha still hadn 't studied . " I 'll study after dinner . " she promised . Mom gave her a doubtful look . " I mean it . " said Sasha . " I promise . " Mom just kept frowning . She had heard that before . " I don 't want to hear it , Sasha . " said Mom frowning deeply . " It 's time for your bath . " Sasha took a bath and got ready for bed . Then , she had just enough time to study before she went to bed , but then she saw the new book she wanted to start reading sitting on her night table . She decided to read one chapter before she started studying . She started reading . However , the next morning , Sasha barely wanted to get out of bed when it was time to get out of bed . " Sasha ! " exclaimed her mother . " You 're going to be late ! " Sasha finally got out of bed and quickly got read for school . " Do I have to go ? " she asked worriedly before she stepped out the door . " I didn 't have a chance to study , and I am afraid I 'll fail my test . " Sasha blushed . She knew she 'd had plenty of time . She just didn 't do it . She hoped the test wasn 't that hard . Maybe she could still pass it . Sasha frowned . " Really hard . " she said unhappily . " I didn 't know anything . I think I failed it . I 've learned my lesson . I am not ever going to go without studying again . " she promised . Penny Chesterfield loved elephants . Her favorite movie was Dumbo . Her favorite books were the Babar books . Her room was filled with stuffed elephants of every size , shape and color . The only thing she didn 't have was a real elephant . Even though , she kept begging for one . One day , when Daddy came home from work . Mommy and Daddy sat Penny and her brother , Jeffrey down to talk them . " We have a surprise for you two . " they said . " On Saturday we are going to take you to the zoo . " Finally the day came . Penny was up bright and early ready and eagerly waiting to go even before Mommy and Daddy woke up . " Come on , come on . Let 's get going . " she said when they woke up and had barely opened their eyes . When everyone was finally ready , they got in the car . The ride seemed to take forever to Penny . When they got to the zoo , Penny eagerly hurried out of the car . By now , Penny was totally losing interest in the zoo . She didn 't even want to look at the animals in the next exhibit . It would probably just be something equally as boring as lions , giraffes and monkeys . " Come on just take a look . " Jeffrey urged her . Mommy and Daddy nodded in agreement . Penny didn 't want to but she decided to take a peek just to get them all off her back . She turned around really quickly and then her mouth flew open and her eyes opened wide with excitement as she saw a pack of big gray elephants and one cute little baby elephant . " Finally ! " she said excitedly . " Elephants ! " The sun was shining brightly in the sky in the early morning when Estee Pringle and her twin sister , Tallulah woke up . Daddy was at work . Mommy was still sleeping . The girls took some books off their book shelves and began flipping through them . After a while , they got bored with that and went to find something else to do . They didn 't bother cleaning up the books . They just left them all over the floor . " Me too . " agreed Estee . They wandered downstairs and into the kitchen . They took some PopTarts out of the cupboard and some juice boxes out of the refrigerator . When they finished eating they didn 't bother wiping the table or throwing out their garbage . They just went into the living room . In the living room , they took all the pillows off the couch and had a pillow fight . When , the got bored of that , they watched TV . When they finished watching , they didn 't bother cleaning up or turning off the TV . They just went to find something else to do . They just continued wandering throughout the house leaving messes wherever they went until they finally ran out of ideas of what to do so they went upstairs to see if Mommy was up . She wasn 't . They brought some toys into Mommy 's room and played on the floor quietly until they got bored again . Then , They climbed up into bed beside Mommy and turned on the TV . The loud noise woke Mommy up . She sat up and opened her eyes . " Who turned on the TV ? " she asked sleepily but she wasn 't really angry . Mommy stretched and got out of bed . She stepped right into the middle of the Lego village Estee and Tallulah had been building on the floor beside the bed . " Ouch ! " she exclaimed angrily along with a few other choice words as she felt the pinch of Legos beneath her feet . " Who left the Legos all over the floor ? " she asked and this time she was angry . Mommy just frowned . She ushered the two girls into the bathroom to brush their teeth . After she had put toothpaste on their brushes , she went into her own bathroom to brush her own teeth . When she came back , there was toothpaste all over the sink and counter . " Who got toothpaste all over ? " she asked . " She did it ! " replied Estee and Talullah . Mommy just frowned again and shook her head . She wiped the counter and the sink and then went into Estee and Tallulah 's room to get out clothes for them to wear . The minute she stepped into the room , she couldn 't help noticing all the books all over the floor . " Who took all these books out ? " she asked upon seeing the mess . Mommy made the girls clean up the books . She picked out clothes for them , and they got dressed . Then , she got dressed too . Once they were all dressed , Mommy asked " Are you hungry ? " Both girls nodded . It felt like hours since they had eaten their PopTarts . They followed Mommy downstairs into the kitchen . Mommy eyes opened wide with shock and horror when she saw the huge mess of PopTarts and juice all over the table , counters , and floor . " Who made this mess ? " she asked . Mommy made the girls help clean up the kitchen . Then , she made some scrambled eggs and toast . After they finished eating the delicious food , Estee and Tallulah helped clean up again . They cleared the table as Mommy washed the dishes . As they were clearing the table , they kept dropping silverware and didn 't bother picking it up . When Mommy thought she was finished rinsing off all the dishes and loading them into the dishwasher , she wiped her hands on a towel and turned away from the sink . She saw all the silverware on the floor and sighed unhappily . " Who dropped all of that and didn 't pick it up ? " she asked . " She did it ! " replied Estee and Tallulah pointing at each other once more . After all , the dishes were really cleaned , Mommy lead the girls into the living room . The first thing that Mommy noticed as they entered the room was the sound of the TV . " Who left the TV on ? " she asked . Mom turned off the TV . Then , she noticed the couch pillows all over the floor . " Who took the pillows off the couch and didn 't put them back ? " asked Mommy . Mommy made the girls help her put the pillows back and straighten up the living room . Just as they were finishing up , Mommy saw something shiny under the table . She reached her hand under and pulled out a quarter . Then , she reached back under the table and found a dime and a nickel . After she had reached under the table a few more times , there was nothing left under the table , but there was a whole pile of money on the table . " Who left all this money under the table ? " asked Mommy . " Six Flags ! " exclaimed Brynn Thatcher excitedly . " We 're going to Six Flags ! I can 't wait ! I want to go on everything especially all the roller coasters ! " She started jumping up and down excitedly . To Mallory , Mommy said . " Don 't worry . You 'll have fun too . There are lots of rides at Six Flags . You 'll find rides you like too . There is a Ferris Wheel and a carousel and a lot of other rides . " Now , it was Mallory 's turn to be excited . " I can 't wait to go on the Ferris Wheel ! " she exclaimed . " The Ferris Wheel ? " exclaimed Brynn with a laugh . " The Ferris Wheel ? ' ' she repeated . " You 're looking forward to going on the Ferris Wheel ? Oh , Mallory , your such a baby . " " Brynn , that is quite enough ! " exclaimed Mommy by now at the end of her patience . " That is enough talk about Six Flags for now . " she added in a much calmer voice . " It is time to get ready for dinner . " They would not be going to Six Flags for a week . The time could not possibly pass slower for Brynn and Mallory . Every day , seemed like a week . Finally , the day they were going to the amusement park arrived . Brynn talked excitedly about all the roller coasters she was going to go on throughout the ride to the park . Mommy , Daddy , and Mallory could barely get a word in . When they got to the park and got their tickets , they started walking around . When they came to the first roller coaster . They stopped . " Oh , that one looks a little big . " said Brynn . Every roller coaster , they came to after that , Daddy asked if Brynn wanted to go on . Brynn shook her head no . It was too steep or too twisty or had too many loops but there was always some reason why Brynn didn 't want to go on . Finally , they came to this tiny little roller coaster in the Kiddie section . Brynn was about to come up with some excuse why she didn 't want to go on when Mallory said . " What a cute little baby roller coaster ! I want to go on . " Brynn and Mallory got on line to get on the ride . When it was their turn to get on the ride , they strapped in . The ride started up . Brynn held tightly to the metal safety bar and closed her eyes . Mallory was much more relaxed . " Whee ! " she exclaimed each time they went around a curve . " This is fun ! Don 't you think so , Brynn ? " Finally , the ride was over , and it was time to get off . Mallory quickly jumped out of her seat as soon as they stopped and the safety bar was released . Brynn followed slowly behind on shaky legs . Brynn shook her head no . Mallory smiled . " You can 't possibly be afraid of that little tiny roller coaster , can you ? " she said . " Now , who is the baby ? " The Kitten It was a stormy summer day . Aurora Nichols thought she heard a noise outside the window . " It 's probably just the wind and the rain . " her mother assured her . Aurora shook her head . She was positive it wasn 't that . " It sounds like crying . " she insisted . She went to the window and looked out . " Oh , look , Mommy ! " she cried . " There 's a little kitten out there and she 's cold and she 's shivering ! " Aurora flung open the front door and ran out without even putting a raincoat on . " Look , Mommy ! " said Aurora when she came back in the house with the dripping wet kitten in her arms . " She 's cold . " The tiny gray thing was shivering . Aurora was dripping wet and shivering too . " That 's what am I calling her . " replied Aurora . Mommy frowned . " What 's the matter ? " asked Aurora . " You don 't like the name Grayla ? " " You 're not going to put her out in the rain again ? Are you , mommy ? " Aurora asked worriedly . Her big blue eyes opened wide with horror at the thought . " No . Of course not . It 's just I don 't think you should get too attached to her . She may belong to somebody . " explained her mother . " Well , anybody that lets a poor little kitten like this out in the poring rain doesn 't deserve to have her . " declared Aurora . Before her mother could say another word , she hurried upstairs and grabbed a fluffy dry towel from the linen closet and wrapped up the little grey kitten in it and began drying her off . " Oh alright . " said Aurora . She handed the towel and the kitten to her mother and went off to change out of her wet clothes . In less than five minutes , she was back . Aurora ignored that remark . She just scooped back up the little grey kitten in her arms and kissed her . " So much for not get attached . " said her mother , but of course , Aurora wasn 't listening . Of course , she did get attached to the little kitten . She was with them for almost a week . Aurora fed her and brushed her and petted her and took care of her . Aurora grew to love the little kitten she called Grayla with all her heart . Grayla loved Aurora right back . Every time , Aurora went away , she eagerly waited for Aurora to come back . As soon as Aurora walked in the door , she brushed up against Aurora 's legs until Aurora picked her up . When Aurora sat down , she curled up in Aurora 's lap and purred happily as Aurora pet her . In the meantime while Aurora and Grayla were getting so attached to each other , Mommy and Daddy placed an ad in the paper looking for the kitten 's owner . They promised Aurora if nobody claimed Grayla , Aurora could keep her . " But don 't get to attached to her . " they warned . Of course , Aurora didn 't listen . At the end of the week , Aurora came home from school to find a strange woman talking to Mommy . " Aurora . " explained Mommy . " This is Grayla 's owner . She saw the ad in the paper and came to get Grayla . Her real name is Mabel . " Aurora hardly heard a word Mommy said . In fact , she completely blocked out the name of Grayla 's owner when Mommy said it . To her , the kitten was Grayla and was always going to be Grayla and not Mabel . Mabel was too big of name for the tiny kitten . Aurora swallowed hard and stared at the ground to keep from crying . When she looked up , she realized Mommy was talking to her . Aurora did as she was told although she wasn 't happy about it . She found Grayla under the bed and scooped the kitten up in her arms . " I 'm going to miss you . " she whispered into the kitten 's fur . Grayla unaware of what was going on purred happily in her arms . Aurora went back to her mother and quickly deposited Grayla into her mother 's arms . She couldn 't bare to give her straight to Mrs . Crumm . As soon as she put the cat in her mother 's arms , she ran out of the room before she burst into tears . Mommy gave the kitten to Mrs . Crumm . " Oh thank you and your daughter so much ! " gushed Mrs Crumm . " We were leaving on vacation when somehow Mabel got out . We couldn 't find her before we had to leave or we would miss our plane . When we got back , we saw your ad in the paper . We were so relieved that Mabel was okay . " she explained . Just then , the little kitten jumped out of her arms . She ran and found Aurora who was lying on her bed crying . She scrambled up on to the bed beside Aurora . Aurora sat up and gathered the kitten in her arms and hugged her but she didn 't take her back to her mother and Mrs . Crumm . She couldn 't bare to . After a few minutes , Mommy called " Aurora ! " Aurora frowned unhappily . She held tightly to Grayla but she did bring the kitten back to Mommy and Mrs . Crumm . Only it turned out Mrs . Crumm was no longer there only Mommy was . " She 's yours if you want her and you can call her what you want . " explained Mommy . " Mrs . Crumm saw how attached you two are and she couldn 't bare to separate you . You reminded her of when she was your age , and she had her first kitten . Besides , she has two other cats at home now . She was just relieved to find out that this little kitten is alright . " " Oh . " replied Aurora . She had barely heard a word Mommy said except the part about the kitten belonging to her now . " Yes , I want her . " she said happily . " She 's mine , and her name is Grayla . " Dori Auerbach was tired of watching TV . She was sick of her toys . She was bored with playing alone . She went off to find somebody to play with . Mommy was in the kitchen making a grocery list for her weekly trip to the supermarket . She looked up and smiled as Dori entered the room . " Hello , sweetie . " she said cheerfully . Dori smiled back . " Oh , Mommy . " she gushed . " You are just the person I was looking for . Will you play cards with me ? " she begged smiling even brighter and looking up hopefully . Dori went up to her mother and put her hand on her mother 's arm . She looked up sadly into her mother 's face and opened her own big brown eyes widely . " But mommy . " she said quietly , " You 're my best and my favorite . I really want to play with you . " she pleaded . " Okay , mommy . " replied Dori . She went off to play , but she was soon bored again . She wandered into the den and found her brother , Brian . He was playing his handheld video game . " Hi Brian . " she greeted him overly warmly as she entered the room " I 'm in the middle of something . " he replied . " Why don 't you ask Mom or Dad or Kendra ? " Kendra was their older sister . " Please ! " begged Dori , and when he didn 't reply , she climbed up into his lap . " You 're my best and my favorite . I really want to go outside with you . " " Okay . " Brian relented . " Just let me finish this level . " A few minutes later , he was ready . They went outside and Brian pushed her on the swings and played with her on their backyard swingset for half an hour . Then , he glanced at his watch . " I 've gotta go . " he said . " The baseball game is about to start . " He went in the house and turned on the TV . Dori was bored with baseball . She went off to find something else to do . Dori went upstairs . She found her sister , Kendra . Kendra was doing her nails . " Oh , Kendra ! " exclaimed Dori excitedly . " Can you do my nails too ? " she begged . Kendra frowned . " I don 't think so . " she said . " As soon as my nails dry , I need to pick out something to wear to the party tonight . " Kendra and her friends were always having parties . Dori thought their parties were totally boring . All they did was eat and drink and talk and dance . They never played any cool games or anything . Dori smiled happily and quickly picked out a bright pink color . Pink was her favorite color . As soon as Kendra 's nails were dry , she polished Dori 's . Then , she did Dori 's toenails too . By the time . Dori 's nails were dry , Kendra had had enough sister bonding time . " Now , I really have to get ready for tonight . " she said ushering Dori out of her room . Dori was soon bored again . She wandered into her parents room and found her Dad . He was checking his e - mail on his laptop . " Hi , Daddy . " she said . " Will you play with me ? " she asked . Just then , Kendra came into the room . She wanted to borrow one of Mom 's blouses . " Hey , " she said . " I thought I was your best and your favorite ! " When 3 year old Brylee Kane and her family found themselves seated right behind the home team 's bullpen at a Mid City Mountain Cats baseball game , they were all really excited . They loved baseball . The Mountain Cats , their local minor league team , was their favorite team . They had never had such great seats before . They got them from Daddy 's boss because he had to go out of town to attend his wife 's cousin 's wedding and couldn 't use them . All of the Kane family loved baseball especially Brylee . She didn 't get the game that much , but she loved to go to games . She loved the sounds of the stadium , the crack of the bat , the roar of the crowd , the music and the special effects from the scoreboard . She loved the smells of the stadium , fresh mown grass and delicious foods . She loved the tastes of the stadium especially the pizza and ice cream . When she went to a game , she paid attention to everything , the rest of the crowd , the vendors , the players on the bench . The only thing she hardly paid attention to was the game itself . While they waited for the game to start , Brylee and her sister Wynona stood by the railing watching the pitcher warm up in front of them . " Be careful . " warned Mommy as the two girls got closer and closer to the railing . " Why don 't I teach you how to keep score ? " suggested Daddy opening the scorebook they had purchased at the entrance to the stadium . Wynona eagerly sat next to him and they bent their heads together over the open book . Brylee had no interest in that . She remained standing by the railing watching the teams warm up . Warm up time was soon over . Just as the players were leaving the field to go get ready for the game to start , the pitcher who had been warming up in front of them turned and reached toward Brylee with the ball in his hand . " Here you go . " he said warmly . At first , Brylee didn 't know what to do . She was not supposed to take things from strangers , but Mommy nodded her head that it was okay this time so Brylee took it . Wynona 's eyes opened wider with jealousy . She looked at the player who Brylee had pointed too and saw that his number was 36 . She looked up number 36 in the scorebook and found his name . " Cory Davis . " she read aloud . " His name is Cory Davis . " From then on , Brylee really thought Cory Davis was her boyfriend . She talked about him all the time . She asked about him every time they saw a baseball game live or on TV whether it was the Mountain Cats or not . About a month later , Cory Davis got traded . Wynona overheard Daddy telling Mommy about it . " Don 't tell your sister . " warned Mommy . " It will upset her . " " I won 't . " promised Wynona . She actually felt sorry for her little sister . Brylee really thought that Cory Davis was her boyfriend . She probably wouldn 't take it very well that he was traded . The very next day , they got Daddy 's bosses seats at the stadium again . This time his son had a Little League game that he had to attend so he couldn 't go to the Mountain Cats game . This time there was a lot of traffic on the way to the game , and they got to the stadium later . As soon as they got there , Daddy and Wynona went to get food . Brylee and Mommy went right to the seats . Brylee immediately stood by the railing watching the teams warm up . She looked all over for Cory Davis , but she couldn 't find him . She was about to ask Mommy where he was when the teams finished warming up and a player handed Brylee a ball . It wasn 't Cory Davis , but Brylee didn 't seem to mind . She took the ball eagerly without even waiting for Mommy 's okay this time . " Thank you . " she said happily clutching the ball . Theodora Bear was Taylor Newberry 's favorite teddy bear . Taylor had her since Taylor was just a tiny little thing . Theodora was pink and fluffy . She had two different colored eyes since one had to be replaced when it fell off and got lost . Her fur was matted from being held and loved so very much . Theodora slept on Taylor 's bed every night . When Taylor didn 't see her there , she went into a panic . " Mommy ! " she would call out in a worried voice . " Theodora 's missing ! " " Did you look for her ? " Mommy would call back in a calm voice . She knew how much Taylor loved Theodora , but she was confident that Theodora would always turn up somewhere , and she always did . Either Theodora was under the bed or she was behind the door or Taylor had left her downstairs or in another room . She was always found somewhere , and Taylor would heave a huge sigh of relief and clutch the stuffed bear tightly to her chest . Mommy would smile at Taylor and nod her head as if she knew all along it was going to work out fine . Then , one day , Taylor could not find Theodora anywhere . She looked in all the usual places . There was no sign of Theodora . She looked anywhere else she could find , but still no sign of Theodora . " Mommy ! " she cried worriedly . " I can 't find Theodora ! " " I 'll help you in a minute . " promised Mommy . " I just have to check on your sister . " About a minute later , Mommy called out to Taylor in a loud whisper . " Taylor , come here . " Taylor joined Mommy in her little sister , Tia 's room . Mommy pointed to the bed . There was Tia all curled up with Theodora in her arms . Mommy seemed to think it was cute because she was smiling . Taylor , on the other hand , did not think so . She frowned and yanked Theodora out of Tia 's arms causing Tia to wake up and start crying loudly . Tia just continued to cry . " Bear , bear . " she said finally through her tears pointing at Theodora and reaching out for her . Taylor held Theodora over her head way out of Tia 's reach . Mommy glared at Taylor . " Yes . " replied Mommy , " but you didn 't have to wake your sister up . We know Theodora is yours . You would have gotten her back . " " Bear , bear ! " repeated Tia sadly pointing and grabbing again . Mommy shooed Taylor out of the room . She tried to give Tia one of her own stuffed animals but Tia wouldn 't take any of them . She just kept repeating " Bear , bear ! " and pointed to the door . Eventually , after a long while , Tia cried herself to sleep . Mommy and Taylor thought that would be the end of it , but it wasn 't . The minute Tia saw Theodora she called out " Bear , bear ! " and reached for her . When Taylor wasn 't around , Tia would go in her room and take Theodora . It got so that Taylor had to keep Theodora hidden , and she was not happy about it . Mommy was not happy either . Finally , she decided to get Tia a Theodora of her own . When she told the girls , they were both excited about it . Taylor was excited that she would get Theodora back to herself , and she wouldn 't have to hide her bear anymore . Tia was excited to be getting her own Theodora . " Bear , bear . " she said but this time happily . They went to the store . They could not find a bear exactly like Theodora . Tia would not settle for anything else . They went to another store . There were still no bears like Theodora . They went to every store they could think of that would possibly have teddy bears . Still , they could not find a bear that looked like Theodora . Still , Tia would not settle for another bear . They went home . " Bear , bear . " Tia cried . She was back to saying it sadly now . Taylor actually was beginning to feel sorry for her . At home , Taylor went to her room and got Theodora out of her hiding place in the back of Taylor 's closet . She hugged Theodora tightly . " You always make me feel better . " she whispered into Theodora 's fur . She took Theodora and went to find Mommy and Tia . They were in Tia 's room . Tia was still crying , " Here . " said Taylor shoving Theodora into Tia 's arms . " You can have her . " announced Taylor . " I don 't want you to be sad anymore . " but now Taylor was the one who was sad . Taylor was the one who looked she was going to cry . " Okay , princess . What book ? " said daddy " The princess and the pizza . " " Once upon a time in a beautiful land there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess . He decided to give a test . All princesses were great cooks . One princess made her secret recipe . The next morning , it was Ana 's 4th birthday . " I 'm 4 now . I can read . " she said . She read to her family . The book was called Bob . " Bob sat with Pat on the mat with the cat and the bat and the rat all in hats with a baseball bat . " Crissi Woodley had a new baby sister her name was Cassidy . She was only about a week old , but ever since she came home from the hospital friends , neighbors , and various family members would come over and ooh and aah over her . They would say how cute Cassidy was . Then , they would tell Crissi , " You are so lucky to have a sister close to your age to play with someday . " Crissi would just shake her head . Even though , she was only a few years older , she thought of herself as a big girl and she thought of Cassidy as a baby . She did not at all think of them as being close in age . Besides , all Cassidy ever did was sleep . How could she possibly be a playmate for Crissi ? Still , Crissi liked the idea of having a sister to play with . She stood over Cassidy 's crib waiting for her to wake up . She waited every day , but Cassidy only seemed to wake up when she was hungry , and she just stayed awake enough to eat and then went right back to sleep . Mommy laughed and kissed Crissi on the cheek . Crissi didn 't think it was funny at all . She went back to standing by Cassidy 's crib every day and watching her sleep and waiting for her to wake up for more than a few minutes at a time . After what seemed like days to Crissi , but had only actually been a day or two , she got tired of waiting . She grabbed the step stool from the bathroom and brought it to Cassidy 's room . She leaned it against the crib and stood on it . She reached out her hand and was about to poke her sister to try to wake her up when Mommy entered the room . " Crissi " exclaimed Mommy in a loud angry whisper . " What are you doing ? " She grabbed Crissi in one arm and the step stool in the other and dragged them out of the room . " I just wanted to wake her up so we can play together . " mumbled Crissi softly , but Mommy either didn 't hear her or didn 't care . She was never allowed in Cassidy 's room by herself anymore . Instead , she stood outside Cassidy 's door still waiting for her to get up and play with Crissi . " Cassidy , " she whispered through the keyhole of the door . " Cassidy , don 't you won 't to play with me ? " When she got no response , she whispered a little louder . " Cassidy , don 't you want to play with me ? " When she still got no response she said out loud . " Cassidy , don 't you want to play with me ? " When that got no reponse , she shouted " Cassidy . . " but she got no further than that because Mommy heard her yelling and came and shushed her . " Quiet ! " whisper yelled Mommy shaking her head and putting her finger to her lips . " Cassidy 's sleeping . " She shooed Crissi away from Cassidy 's door . Then , finally it happened . One day , Cassidy woke up and cried . Mommy tried to feed her , but she wasn 't hungry . Mommy changed her diaper , but that wasn 't it either . Mommy kept trying but she couldn 't figure out what was wrong . Cassidy just kept crying . " I know what she wants , Mommy . " cried Crissi excitedly . " She just wants to stay awake and play with me ! " Mommy looked doubtful , but by then she was willing to try just about anything to get Cassidy to stop crying . Crissi tried talking softly to Cassidy but Cassidy kept crying . She tried singing Cassidy a song , but Cassidy just cried louder . She tried showing Cassidy her toys and then Cassidy 's own toys but Cassidy didn 't even look at them . Crissi did everything she could think of but she couldn 't get Cassidy to stop crying either . Crissi was so disappointed after all , this time Cassidy was finally awake for more than a few minutes and she didn 't want to play after all . All she wanted to do was cry . It was so much better when she was sleeping at least then it was peaceful and quiet . Crissi frowned and sighed . " Go back to sleep , Cassidy . " she said . Mila Dunphy woke up and sleepily opened her eyes . She glanced at the clock . " Oh no . " she exclaimed hurriedly trying to get out of bed . It was 8 : 00 in the morning , and she had to go to school at 8 : 30 . She tried to get out of bed , but she found herself all tangled up in her sheets and fluffy blanket . She tried to unravel herself but end up toppling onto the floor where she was finally able to untangle herself . Mila looked over at the chair in front of her pink wooden desk where she would normally find her clothes for the day neatly laid out , but there was nothing there . She quickly lay down on the floor beside her desk and looked under the it to make sure that her clothes hadn 't fallen underneath , but there was nothing there either . She went into her closet and pulled out a pair of jeans and put them on . They were too tight . Mila could barely breath . She took them off and pulled on another pair . That pair immediately fell down . Mila didn 't really have time to look for a belt so she took that pair off too . She took out a third pair and thankfully that pair fit perfectly . Next , Mila went over to her dresser and took out a blue flowered shirt . No sooner had she put it on when she happened to glance in the mirror . She saw there was a giant chocolate stain across the middle of the shirt . She took it off and put on purple and white striped shirt instead . Mila went to her dresser drawer and starting looking for a pair of socks . She started throwing socks down on the floor until she finally found a pair that went together . It was a bright blue pair . She decided to wear one purple sock and one white sock instead . Nobody was going to see her socks under her pants anyway . Mila put on her favorite black shoes but then she couldn 't remember if it was a gym day or not . Just to be on the safe side , she decided she better wear her sneakers . She looked in her closet on her wire shoe rack for her pink and gray sneakers but she couldn 't find them . She got down on her hands and knees and looked all over her closet but still couldn 't find them . She left the closet and quickly began looking all over her room . She finally found one sneaker under the bed and the other one behind her door . She quickly put on her shoes and tied the laces . Mila rushed into the bathroom and put toothpaste on her toothbrush . It came out of the tube quickly , too quickly , and she ended up having to clean a gooey blue mess of toothpaste off the bathroom counter . Some of the toothpaste got on her shirt so she hurried back into her room and took it off and put on a yellow shirt instead . She went back into the bathroom and brushed her teeth . When she was spitting the toothpaste out she spilled some of the water on her shirt , and she had to go back into her room and change her shirt yet again . This time she put on a shirt with a big pink heart on it . Mila went back into the bathroom and brushed her hair and put it up in a ponytail . When she looked in the mirror , it looked really messy so she took it out and started over again . When she finally got her ponytail right , she put in a couple of gold clips to keep her bangs out of her eyes . One of them immediately slid out , and she had to put it in again . When Mila was finally satisfied with her hair , she went back into her room . She looked for her backpack . She was supposed to leave it by the front door on school nights , but she usually didn 't . She went downstairs and found her backpack on the living room couch . She put it by the front door and took her jean jacket out of the hall closet and put it there too . Mila went into the kitchen to grab something to eat before she had to leave . She wondered why it was so quiet as she quickly swallowed down a peanut butter granola bar and gulped down a cup of milk . She guessed she wasn 't the only one running late this morning . Mila wondered where her mother was and was just about to go upstairs and look for her when her mother appeared in the kitchen doorway . She was surprised to see that her mother was not dressed for the day but wore a yellow robe and a pair of pink fluffy slippers . " Good morning . " Mila greeted her mother cheerfully . " Good morning . " replied her mother . She looked at Mila with a puzzled look . " What are you doing up ? " she asked Mila in confusion . " What do you mean what am I doing up ? " asked Mila . She glanced quickly up at the clock on the microwave . It was 8 : 25 . " It 's late already . I have to leave for school in five minutes . " Shira Bohannon did not like to share . When she was little , it was kind of cute and funny the way she was always grabbing her toys away from other kids and running off . When she was older it was not so cute anymore . Of course , she no longer took her toys and ran off with them . However , she still had ways of keeping her toys to herself . " This Barbie is brand - new . " she told her best friend Honi Ellis when they were having a playdate . She carefully took the doll out of her friend 's hand . Of course , her reluctance to share did not help Shira 's social life . She went from having a lot of friends to having a few friends to having one really great best friend Honi . Honi was a true and loyal best friend , of course , it helped that they spent most of their time either playing outside or at Honi 's house . Honi was a good friend to Shira , and Shira was not nearly as grateful as she should have been to have a friend like her . She just assumed Honi would always be there . Until , one day , she wasn 't . Shira was outside sitting on the front porch looking at a comic book when out of the corner of her eye , she thought she saw a pink and green bicycle go by . ' That 's funny ' she thought . ' Honi has a pink and green bicycle , but she told me she has to run errands with her mother today so it can 't be her . ' When she look up and saw the purple ribbon tied to the back of the bicycle seat , she knew it was Honi 's bike . There couldn 't be two pink and green bicycles with purple ribbons tied to the back of the seat . There just couldn 't ! She ran down near the street and ran along the sidewalk chasing after the bike calling " Hey , Honi ! " The bicycle abruptly pulled over to the side of the road and stopped . Honi got off and took off her helmet and looked around . She turned bright red when she saw Shira . She quickly looked away from Shira and looked down at the ground . " Oh , hi Shira . " she said while still staring at the ground . " Don 't you ' Oh hi , Shira , me ! " exclaimed Shira angrily . " I thought you told me you had errands to run with your Mom today . " " We got done early . " replied Honi , but she still wasn 't really looking Shira in the face . Shira could tell she wasn 't telling the truth . She frowned at Honi as Honi glanced up at her for a minute . Honi sighed . " I 'm going to Maeve Crowley 's house . " she admitted finally . Then , she quickly looked away again . Maeve Crowley was a new girl in their class . " Maeve Crowley ? " repeated Shira full of hurt and confusion about why Honi didn 't want to play with her . After all , wasn 't Honi her best friend . What did Maeve Crowley have that she didn 't have ? " No . I mean I don 't know . I mean I gotta go now she 's expecting me . " replied Honi quickly putting back on her helmet , hopping back on her bike , and speeding off down the street leaving Shira starring after her . Even after that , Shira still didn 't want to share her toys . Honi started spending more and more time playing with Maeve . When Shira asked her about it , she made up excuses until finally one day when Shira cornered her at school , she said . " Look Shira . I like you . I really do . You have always been my best friend , but it 's not so fun to watch somebody else play with their toys all the time , and it is not so fun to share toys with somebody who doesn 't want to share their toys too . " That day after school , Shira came in the house , threw her bookbag down on the floor and raced up the stairs . " Shira ! " called her mother angrily . " Do we just walk in the door and throw our things on the floor ? " " Shira ! " she repeated when Shira didn 't reply . When Shira still didn 't reply , Mommy came upstairs after her . " Shira , " she said she was about to yell at Shira when she noticed Shira was lying on her bed crying . " What 's wrong , baby ? " she asked sitting down on the bed beside Shira . At first , Shira just looked at her mother sadly and continued crying but eventually the whole story came pouring out . Her mother nodded . " Yes . " she replied . " You have to decide whether it is more important to keep your toys to yourself or have friends to play with . " Just then , she heard laughter outside . She jumped up and went over to the window . She saw Honi and Maeve running down the sidewalk . She quickly ran down the stairs and ran outside to catch them before they disappeared down the street . " Honi ! Maeve ! " she called waving to them . Honi and Maeve stopped and turned around to face her waiting for her to say something . Maeve nodded excitedly and started to reply , but Honi shook her head . " Do you mean do we want to watch you play with your Disney Princesses ? " said Honi frowning . " I don 't think so . " She started to turn away and head back down the street , beckoning for Maeve to come with her but Shira stopped them by touching Honi 's arm . " Please ! " said Shira . " I really want to play with you . I 'll let you be Belle . " she said to Honi . " And Maeve can be Cinderella . " Belle was Honi 's favorite Princess , but she knew that it was Shira 's favorite Princess too and Cinderella was her second favorite . She knew that Shira must be serious and really want to play and share with them . " Okay . " she said happily . Honi and Maeve quickly called on their cell phones and told their moms where they would be , and then followed Shira into her house . Posted by " Then , we 'll have to teach her . " said Mommy patiently . Mommy took the gold chain off of her neck and handed it to Scarlet . " See Sera , " she explained " Mommy is sharing with Scarlet . " Mommy pointed to Scarlet 's purple headband . Scarlet took it off and handed it Mommy . " Now , Scarlet is sharing with Mommy . " A little while later , Scarlet was sitting at the kitchen table with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk in front of her . Seraphina went over and grabbed one . " Hey ! " exclaimed Scarlet angrily jumping out of her seat . Scarlet scowled . She gulped down the rest of her cookies before Seraphina could take any more . She quickly swallowed her milk . Then , she left the kitchen in a huff mumbling about how much sharing stinks . Seraphina finished her cookie and followed Mommy upstairs . Mommy sat at her dressing table touching up her make up . Seraphine sat down beside her . " Share . " she said pointing to Mommy 's make up . Seraphina proudly admired her shiny lips in the dressing table mirror . " Pretty ! " she said . Mommy couldn 't help smiling too at her adorable daughter . Seraphina went off to find Daddy and show him her pretty lips . She found him lying across the family room couch taking a nap . Seraphina poked him with her finger . " Daddy , share ! " she ordered him . " Daddy , share ! " repeated Seraphina pointing to the couch . Daddy sat up and Seraphina crawled up on the couch beside him . They watch TV for a little bit until Mom called from the other room . She needed Daddy to go to the store and pick up some things they needed for dinner . " Do you want to go with me ? " he asked Seraphina . She nodded eagerly . After Daddy told Mommy he was taking Seraphina , they headed out the door . At the store , Daddy remembered he needed to get an anniversary card for Mommy . While he was looking for a card , Seraphina found some colorful stickers . " Pretty ! " she said grabbing a handful of packages of stickers and showing them to Daddy . " Seraphina ! " said Daddy shaking his head . " We don 't throw things on the floor . " He bent down to pick up the rest of the stickers . Seraphina helped him . They finished shopping and went to check out . Charlotte Putnam 's mom was not the worst cook in the world . She was not the best cook in the world either . Her family never really appreciated her cooking . They just ate it and didn 't really think about it . it . Then , one day she made spaghetti , and it was so incredibly delicious that they just had to say something . " Mmm ! These noodles are so soft ! " exclaimed Charlotte . " Can I have some more ? " Mommy smiled brightly and happily scooped out another plateful for her . " And this sauce is so tomatoey . " added her sister , Renee . " I want more too ! " Mommy smiled even brighter and scooped out another plateful for Renee as well . This time , Mommy frowned . " You all like it that much ? I don 't believe it . You are all just trying to be nice to me . " she said unhappily . The next day , they had spaghetti again . " Yeah ! " exclaimed Charlotte and Renee happily . They all sat down eagerly and couldn 't wait to dig in to their food . When they had spaghetti again for the third day , the girls were getting kind of sick of it . Daddy was too . " Oh , spaghetti again . " said Charlotte , but she didn 't sound that excited about it . " Thank you , honey . " said Daddy , but he didn 't sound all that happy either . By the fourth day , they couldn 't even pretend to be excited about it any more . Charlotte just stared at her plate miserably . Renee practically started to cry , but Daddy gave her a warning look so she bit her lip really hard to stop herself . Daddy smiled at Mommy but even he couldn 't say anything nice about the spaghetti anymore . " Okay . " said Mommy quietly . " Of course , we 'll eat spaghetti tonight because you already made it . " said Daddy . He gave the two girls a stern look . They were not happy about it but they ate it , but nobody had seconds . The next day it was pot roast again and the day after and the day after that . . . . Until finally Charlotte and Renee couldn 't stand it anymore and even though Daddy tried to stop them they called out at the dinner table " No more pot roast ! We hate pot roast ! We are sick of pot roast ! " The next day , they had tacos . They were good but nobody said anything about it . The day after that it was baked chicken . It was good too , but nobody said anything about that either . Life went on and they ate different things for dinner . It was usually good , but nobody said anything about it . Then , one day , Charlotte 's friend Rita came to dinner . They had stuffed shells , and they all ate heartily . " Thank you for having me to dinner , Mrs . Putnam . These stuffed shells are delicious . " Charlotte quickly covered her friend 's mouth . " No ! " exclaimed Charlotte and Renee together . However , it was too late . Mommy had already heard . The next day they had stuffed shells again .