Chapter

  29

  I cuddled up cozy with Dolores, my stuffed dog-rabbit.

  Her one eye and my two eyes all stayed open.

  We were having trouble with settling down.

  The gluey project on my rug was why.

  Every time we closed our three eyes, it felt like all the letters got up off my poster and danced around my room together.

  While they danced, the stick-letters and the stone-letters sang a song in their teasing sticks-and-stones voices.

  The tune didn’t matter, but the words kept repeating:

  Alphabetical order! Alphabetical order!

  Chapter

  30

  “I thought you were making your name,” Mom said at breakfast.

  “It is my name,” I said.

  “But isn’t that an A?” Mom asked. “And some of those look like exclamation points.”

  “Don’t even try,” Justin told her.

  “It’s an abstract version,” I said.

  “Oh,” Mom said.

  “Cool,” Dad said.

  I felt as unsure as their faces looked.

  I said, “We are supposed to be creative in Class 2B.”

  And I looked as brave as I ever could.

  Chapter

  31

  It was a rough walk to the bus stop.

  Not all of my rocks made it.

  Luckily, my name is not as strict about spelling as some people’s names.

  At least the A at the start of my name was sticking.

  And the other A next to that first A, too.

  I needed both those As at the beginning.

  When two names start with the same first letter, you look at the next letter.

  And think about the alphabet.

  That is the rule of alphabetical order.

  Anna has an N next to her first A.

  My name when you spell it AAbAmmm!moxooo!Eoo’oAth! comes way before Anna.

  Because: alphabetical order.

  It was okay about the falling-off rocks.

  I didn’t need all the Os.

  Some of them were for decoration.

  It’s my name.

  I should know how to spell it.

  “Yes, you should,” Justin said.

  Chapter

  32

  My name poster and I needed a bus seat all to ourselves.

  My best friend Bucky’s poster was rolled up with a red rubber band around it.

  His was on the skinnier kind of poster board called oaktag.

  He is gentler with markers than I am.

  And his mom allows the awesome oily crayon things that ruined our couch.

  We don’t have those anymore in our family.

  Bucky sat in a bus seat with Mallory instead of with me today.

  Mallory was in the other first grade class, so we hardly know her.

  Her headband had cat ears on it.

  Her poster was rolled up too.

  I was starting to feel like maybe I didn’t do it right.

  The poster.

  Anything.

  Chapter

  33

  I didn’t know there was going to be Tell About Your Poster.

  Each kid has to stand up and tell something.

  You can tell a fact about your name.

  You can tell about the artwork you did.

  I am not afraid to stand up in front of the class and say things.

  I used to be afraid when I was little, but I’m not anymore.

  Shy is not the reason maybe I might hide under my desk.

  It’s that my name looked like it was melting off my poster.

  And Anna’s name looked very pretty on her poster.

  Also:

  I didn’t want to tell the reason I used sticks and stones.

  Chapter

  34

  Luckily, I had some time while

  Anna

  Bucky

  Cade H.

  Cade Z.

  Cali

  Cullen

  And then Smelly Dan had their turns telling about their names and posters.

  Chapter

  35

  I didn’t listen nicely while the other kids said things.

  I didn’t come up with a good thing to tell.

  Instead I spent my time thinking the word UH-OH.

  And trying not to hide under my desk.

  Maybe I could tell about the points!

  I couldn’t remember if it’s actually exPLanation points or exCLamation points.

  Nobody else in 2B had any.

  So maybe they really aren’t supposed to be in the middle of our names.

  Maybe my brother was right.

  He had very strong opinions about the topic.

  “Elizabeth?” said Ms. Patel.

  Uh-oh.

  Chapter

  36

  I walked slowly to the front of the room.

  I carried my poster board, decorated in sticks and stones and dried lakes of glue.

  A few rocks fell off along the way.

  I was not feeling proud of how that huge poster looked.

  Or of myself for making it.

  Chapter

  37

  I tried to make my mouth say abstract.

  Or creative.

  Or A terrible accident on the bus ride to school.

  No luck.

  My mouth stayed clamped shut.

  My fingers were making dimples in the poster board.

  “Elizabeth?” Ms. Patel said quietly. “Would you like to tell us about your poster?”

  A rule in our family is Tell the truth.

  So I said, “No.”

  Chapter

  38

  Ms. Patel smiled kindly at me.

  “Do you want to sit down for now?” Ms. Patel asked.

  “No,” I answered.

  “You can have another chance after the other students go,” she said. “Maybe you’ll get inspired.”

  I tried to tell my feet to walk back to my seat.

  My feet said NO.

  None of me was behaving.

  “Elizabeth?” Ms. Patel asked. “Do you want to take a seat?”

  “No,” I said.

  “Would you like to tell us about your poster, then?” she asked.

  “No,” I said.

  Some of the kids were giggling.

  I don’t know which kids because I was looking at my poster.

  It was a mess.

  Chapter

  39

  “Elizabeth,” Ms. Patel said.

  “It’s not fair,” I said.

  “What’s not fair?” Ms. Patel asked.

  “Alphabetical order,” I said.

  Now a lot of kids were giggling.

  “Why does A always get to be first?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” said Bucky.

  Bucky is always on my side, even when he sits next to somebody else on the bus.

  That is why he’s my best friend.

  “How do you think that makes the letter E feel?” I asked the class. “Never getting to be first?”

  “Or the letter B?” Bucky said.

  “How about Z?” Zora added quietly.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Poor Z!”

  “Yeah,” Bucky said.

  “How do you think Z feels?” I asked Ms. Patel. “Always being last?”

  “Like the caboose,” Zora said.

  “What’s caboots?” Smelly Dan asked.

  “A kind of farm in Israel,” Cullen said. “My aunt lived on one!”

  “Wait,” Bucky said. “Why does a Z feel like a farm in Israel?”

  “She said BOOTS,” Mallory said. “Z feels like BOOTS. Like, down in the mud.”

  “I don’t think E and B and Z feel like anything,” Takara said. “They’re letters.”

  “Quiet, please,” Ms. Patel said.

  Chapter

  40

  Anna raised her hand. She waggled it around.

  “Anna?” Ms. Patel asked. “Do you have a question?”

  “No,” Anna said. “I have a statement. Or a comment. I think it’s a comment.”

  “Elizabeth is presenting her name poster,” Ms. Patel said.

  “Well, her poster has no name on it,” Anna argued.

  “Yes it does,” I said. “It has the name Elizabeth on it.”

  Everybody looked at my poster.

  Nobody said Yes, there is her name, Elizabeth, of course!

  Not even Bucky.

  Chapter

  41

  I took a big breath.

  “It is unfair that Z never gets to be first, or E, for example,” I said. “Other letters should have a turn being first in the alphabetical order.”

  “Like B!” Bucky yelled. “B always has to be second place. That’s not fair!”

  “Yeah,” a lot of kids said, and told their letters, and how unfair alphabetical order is to them.

  Not Fiona, of course. She never says anything.

  But a lot of other kids were shouting their first letters.

  “Especially Z,” Zora yelled.

  “See?” I said to Ms. Patel. “Alphabetical order is unfair. That’s what I want to say about my name poster. I want to say: This is not a name poster. It is a protest sign.”

  I held my poster above my head.

  My friends cheered.

  Chapter

  42

  A protest was not my plan.

  My plan was:

  My Name Actually Starts with the Letter A! Twice! Surprise! So I Should Be First!

  Also, Sticks and stones may break Anna’s bones.

  A rule in our family is: Stand up for what you believe in.

  WHAT I BELIEVE IN

  1. Fairness

  2. Take turns

  3. Sound it out

  4. I want to be first

  Mostly, I believe in numbers 1 and 4 from that list.

  Ms. Patel is a very nice teacher. She has a quiet voice.

  She has crinkles near her eyes and mooshy gooshy arms.

  Saying Alphabetical order is unfair was standing up for what I believe in.

  But saying it to a person like Ms. Patel, who believes in alphabetical order, is hard.

  It made my bones feel like they might all break.

  And that’s when I realized a terrible thing:

  Maybe I am allergic to sticks and stones, too.

  Chapter

  43

  Anna raised her hands again and waggled them around in the air so much.

  She was bouncing in her seat saying, “Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ms. Patel!”

  “Anna,” said Ms. Patel.

  “Alphabetical order is just the order of the alphabet,” Anna said. “Right?”

  “Right,” said Ms. Patel. “Thank you, Anna.”

  “You’re welcome,” Anna said. “Right, Elizabeth? It’s just the order of the alphabet?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Sure.”

  I was tired, honestly. Protesting is hard work.

  “So there is nothing to protest,” Anna said. “You can’t protest a fact.”

  “Didn’t you ever hear of take turns?” I asked her.

  “Yeah,” Bucky said. “Take turns is a fact, too.”

  “You might like alphabetical order, Anna,” I said. “But it is not fair that A always gets to be the first letter!”

  “You might not like alphabetical order, Elizabeth,” Anna said right back. “But not liking a thing doesn’t make it unfair.”

  Chapter

  44

  Well, true.

  But Anna being right did not stop me from wanting to smash my poster board over her head.

  Still, I didn’t.

  Because: Sticks and stones may break her bones.

  And: My name (poster) might really hurt her.

  Another rule in our family is: No hitting anybody over the head with your stuff, Elizabeth.

  So I just stood there in the front of my class, waiting for Ms. Patel to sort this problem out.

  Chapter

  45

  A strange thing was happening in the seat next to my empty seat.

  Silent Fiona was raising her hand.

  Fiona never raises her hand.

  She raised that hand slowly.

  She pushed it up into the classroom air, where it had never been raised before.

  Fiona’s face looked sad about what her hand was doing.

  “Fiona?” Ms. Patel asked. “Did you want to say something?”

  Fiona didn’t answer that question.

  Fiona never talks, but she always tries to get the right answer.

  I was her math buddy one time in first grade, so I know.

  Even when you’re Fiona’s buddy, you hardly hear her voice.

  Fiona closed her eyes and opened her mouth.

  Chapter

  46

  “Maybe it doesn’t have to be a conflict,” Fiona said.

  Her voice was quiet.

  But it wasn’t shaky.

  “What did she say?” Smelly Dan asked.

  “Shhh,” Bucky told him.

  “What do you mean, Fiona?” Ms. Patel asked.

  I rested my big poster on the toe of my sneaker because it was getting heavy.

  “I don’t think we can just say good-bye to alphabetical order,” Fiona said.

  “Of course not!” Anna said. “It’s just a thing. It just is.”

  “All the letters would be in a jumble if we got rid of alphabetical order,” Fiona said, a little louder. “The dictionary would be a mess.”

  “But what about fairness?” I said. “Don’t we care about fairness and take turns in this class?”

  “Yeah,” Bucky said.

  “Fairness!” Zora said.

  That made me look down at my poster on my shoe.

  It was garbage.

  If my original plan had worked, Zora would still be last, like a farm in Israel or muddy boots.

  Zora is a smarty-pants, but she is also fun.

  She should get a turn being first sometimes, probably.

  “But maybe,” Fiona said. “Maybe alphabetical order isn’t the only order.”

  “We could do height order!” said Babyish Cali, who is shortest in 2B.

  “Yeah!” said Mallory, who is tallest.

  “Or whose birthday is the highest number,” said Bucky.

  His birthday is December 31.

  “Or the lowest number!” said Smelly Dan.

  I don’t know when his birthday is, but I have a guess:

  Beginning of an early month.

  “Or who finishes the math sheet fastest,” said Zora.

  That is a thing she is always first at.

  Chapter

  47

  Everybody had suggestions.

  We all yelled them out until Ms. Patel raised her hand.

  She is the teacher.

  The teacher raising her hand?

  We got quiet.

  “These are terrific ideas,” she said. “Every project needs teamwork to work.”

  She got out her fat marker and huge pad and wrote down all our ideas.

  In just the order we thought of them.

  Chapter

  48

  We hung up our name signs in an order called random.

  Mine was right in the middle of the back wall.

  Ms. Patel said she loves the!s in my name.

  I do, too.

  We lined up to go out for recess in height order, shortest to tallest.

  We lined up for the swings in age order, oldest to youngest.

  We lined up to go back inside in curliest hair to straightest.

  It was more of a clump than a line because it’s hard to agree whose hair is curliest.

  Then we lined up to go to music in a different kind of alphabetical order.

  Backward alphabetical order.

  Zora was first.

  Anna was last.

  The music teacher is a bit of a yeller.

  So I didn’t mind being toward the caboose.

  Chapter

  49

  Turns out a caboose is the last part of a train.

  Zora told me during music class.

  “I knew that,” I said. “I just forgot.”

  “You thought she said BOOTS,” Anna said.

  “No, I did not!” I said. “That was Mallory who said that! I am the one who said it’s unfair that…”

  “You said a lot of things!” Anna yelled.

  “So did you!” I yelled back. “And are you allergic to sticks?”

  “No!” Anna yelled.

  “Are you allergic to stones?”

  “NO!” Anna yelled. “Nobody is allergic to sticks or stones! What are you even talking about?”

  “Just making sure!” I yelled. “I didn’t want your bones to break!”

  “Well, thank you!” Anna yelled.

  “QUIET!” Ms. Mooney yelled at both of us.

  “You’re welcome,” I whispered to Anna.

  When music was done, we lined up in order of quietest to noisiest.

  Fiona got to be the line leader, even though she spoke up today.

  She deserved the first spot.

  She had been quiet for a long time, before this morning.

  Also, she had a really good idea.

  Everybody was liking Fiona so much today.

  Including me.

  She didn’t say anything, leading us back from music.

  But she sure looked proud.

  Chapter

  50

  Anna and I were the noisy caboose together.

  It wasn’t bad.

  Actually, it was the opposite of bad.

  Acknowledgments

  With thanks and love to:

  Amy Berkower, who has long pushed for Elizabeth to have her say

 

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