Lola Levine and the Ballet Scheme Read online

  Besides, I’m starting to like Bella a lot. Why can’t a ballerina and a soccer player be friends?

  Shalom,

  Lola Levine

  On the way to the game, Ben tells me a joke.

  “What type of dance does a polar bear go to?”

  “I don’t know, Ben,” I say, groaning.

  “A snow ball!” he says, grinning from ear to ear.

  When we get to the soccer field, I realize I have a big problem. I can’t find my lucky headband! It’s orange, and I wear it for every game. I run over to Mom. She’s standing with Ben, Ms. Benitez, and Bella.

  “Help!” I say. “I’ve lost my lucky headband! What should I do?”

  “Can’t you borrow one from a teammate? Someone should have an extra.”

  “But, Mom,” I say, “you don’t understand. This is my SPECIAL headband. I haven’t lost a game while wearing it.”

  “Sweetheart, you haven’t lost because you and your team have played well,” Mom answers.

  “I’ve got an idea,” says Bella, pulling her long pink ribbon out of her hair. “Use this! It’s lucky, too.” She then ties it around my hair and makes a bow. A bow. Ugh. I want to take it off, but Bella looks happy that she’s able to help, so I decide not to. I also decide not to tell Bella my opinion of bows, because I know it will hurt her feelings. Instead, I just say thanks.

  Then I’ve got to run to the field. It’s game time. We do great, even though Alyssa smirks and points at the bow in my hair, whispering something to the other forward. I don’t have time to get annoyed because I’m too busy playing my very best.

  With two minutes to go, we are ahead by one. Oh no! One of my defenders fouls someone. It’s a penalty kick, which means the soccer ball is coming directly at me. I need to stop one more goal if we are going to win. The referee blows the whistle, and one of the Sharks players runs toward the ball and kicks it toward the middle-right side of my net. I leap, and remember Mr. Duval’s advice—do splits on a magic carpet! Sure enough, I stop the ball with my pointed toe, kicking it out. My team cheers, and I am so relieved. Thanks, Mr. Duval, I think. And Bella, too.

  After the game, I return Bella’s pink bow. Just then, Alyssa walks up to us.

  “I can’t believe you’re friends with Lola,” Alyssa says to Bella. “She’s so weird.”

  “Well,” Bella says, “I guess I’m weird, too. After all, I only wear clothes that are pink—I mean pale red.” We laugh, but Alyssa doesn’t get it. Still, Alyssa is my co-captain, and she worked as hard on the field as anyone else.

  “Good game,” I say to Alyssa. “You played great.”

  “Thanks,” she says, and stomps off, but not before I hear her say, “You too.”

  “Lola,” Bella says, “do you want to be twins for Twin Day?”

  “I sure do!” I say, and I mean it.

  Later, when Mom tucks me into bed, I tell her, “I guess your ballet scheme worked.”

  “I guess so,” Mom says, smiling. “But only because you were willing to try to learn something new.” Then she gives me a kiss on the cheek and turns off the light.

  Chapter Eight

  Twin Day

  “I wonder where Ms. Garcia is?” I ask Josh as he, Bella, and I walk into the second-grade classroom.

  “I can’t wait for her to see our outfits,” I say. Bella and I are wearing pink tutus and orange shirts we made that say A GRAND JETÉ A DAY KEEPS THE GOALS AWAY!!! We also have on orange-striped tube socks (luckily, I have more than one pair of Orange Smoothies socks). We’re wearing pink and orange nail polish, and we’ve braided our hair the same way, even though my braids are short and Bella’s are long.

  “You look cool!” Josh says. He and Juan are wearing matching baseball shirts, hats, and jeans.

  “So do you,” I say with a smile.

  “Want to play soccer at recess?” Josh asks. I think he’s worried that I might not want to, since I’m dressed in a tutu.

  “Of course!” I say. I know that Bella doesn’t like playing soccer, but just because we’re friends doesn’t mean we have to do everything the same, right? Still, it’s pretty fun to have a twin on Twin Day.

  “Besides,” I say, “I have a new trick to show you about leaping toward the ball.”

  “Did you learn it at soccer practice this week?” Juan asks.

  “Nope,” I say. “I learned it at ballet.”

  “What?!” Josh and Juan say at the exact same time. I just laugh.

  Before I go home, I leave an acrostic in Bella’s cubby—I know she’ll see it first thing tomorrow morning.

  Ballerina

  Elegant

  Loyal

  Loves pink

  Amiga (This means “friend” in Spanish, but you know that, and I do, too!)

  Dear Diario,

  Guess what? This weekend I’m going to my very first slumber party ever. I’m going to Bella Benitez’s house, and I’m bringing my own nail polish, because all her colors are shades of pink, of course. I can’t wait. Bella says that we are going to have a special breakfast with pan dulce that we’ll make ourselves! I’ve had Mexican sweet bread before, but I’ve never made it. I can’t wait to make all the special shapes—ears and shells and piggies to dip in warm milk!

  I also learned that my mom is almost always right. Trying new things isn’t so bad, even if it means wearing a pink leotard and making my hair into a cinnamon bun.

  Shalom,

  Lola Levine

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  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  Welcome

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  The New Girl

  Chapter Two

  Spirit Week

  Chapter Three

  Uh-Oh

  Chapter Four

  The Moms Meet

  Chapter Five

  Sharks and Potatoes

  Chapter Six

  Bravo Ballet

  Chapter Seven

  The Big Game

  Chapter Eight

  Twin Day

  Copyright

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2016 by Monica Brown

  Interior artwork © 2016 by Angela Dominguez

  Cover art © 2016 by Angela Dominguez

  Cover design by Marcie Lawrence

  Cover © 2016 Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Little, Brown and Company

  Hachette Book Group

  1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104

  lb-kids.com

  Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  First ebook edition: July 2016

  ISBN 978-0-316-25845-6

  E3-20160527-JV-PC

  />   Monica Brown, Lola Levine and the Ballet Scheme