Love Stinks!

Table of Contents

 

 

 

For
my
valentine, from your
not-so-secret admirer—N.K.

 

 

For Karen, a real sweetheart!—J&W

 

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Text copyright © 2004 by Nancy Krulik. Illustrations copyright © 2004 by
John and Wendy. All rights reserved. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, a
division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York,
New York 10014. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Group
(USA) Inc. S.A.

 

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-14195-3

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-14195-3

“So are you playing goalie at your soccer game today?” Katie Carew asked her best friend Jeremy Fox. They were walking home from school together after band practice on Monday afternoon.

Jeremy didn’t answer Katie. Instead he dropped his head and ducked behind her. “Hide me!” he whispered.

“From what?” Katie asked him.

“From
Becky.
She’s coming this way.”

Everyone in the fourth grade knew that Becky Stern had a crush on Jeremy. Jeremy didn’t like Becky at all. But this was the first time he’d ever actually hidden from her.

Katie giggled. “Oh, come on. She’s not that bad.”

“You want to bet?” Jeremy said. “She’s been following me for two weeks! She keeps talking to me about Valentine’s Day.” He ducked down even farther.

Now Katie understood. Valentine’s Day was this Saturday. Becky was probably hoping that Jeremy would be her valentine. Considering Jeremy was
hiding
from Becky, Katie doubted that would ever happen.

Unfortunately, Becky spotted Jeremy behind Katie. “There you are,” she called out to him in her soft Southern accent. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“Why?” Jeremy asked her.

“To give you these.” Becky held out a clear plastic bag filled with chocolate kisses. “I saw them at Cinnamon’s Candy Shop and thought of you.”

Jeremy frowned. “No, thanks. I don’t eat candy. I’m in training.”

Katie tried hard not to laugh. That hadn’t stopped him before. Just yesterday he’d eaten a whole bag of gumdrops!

But Becky wasn’t insulted that Jeremy wouldn’t take her gift. In fact, she seemed impressed. “Oh, Jeremy, you’ve got such willpower,” she cooed. “I should be in training for my gymnastics classes, too. We’re working on backflips. Look what I learned this week.” Becky turned around to make sure no one was coming and flipped in the air, right in the middle of the sidewalk!

“That was really good!” Katie said.

Becky smiled. “Thanks. What did you think, Jeremy?”

“It was okay,” Jeremy mumbled. His face was redder than Katie’s hair! “I ... um ... I gotta get going. I’ve got a soccer game.”

“Oh, okay,” Becky said. “Well, see ya later ... Happy almost Valentine’s Day!”

Jeremy rolled his eyes and walked off. Katie hurried to catch up to him.

“You see what I mean?” Jeremy asked her.

“I’d say she definitely
flipped
for you!” Katie joked.

Jeremy groaned.

“Don’t worry. Valentine’s Day will be over soon,” Katie told him. “She won’t bug you so much after that.”

“I hope not,” Jeremy said.

“I can’t believe you gave up a whole bag of chocolate kisses. They looked delicious.”

“It wasn’t hard,” Jeremy assured her. “I’m still full from yesterday. Can you believe how much candy we ate?”

“I didn’t eat that much.”

“Only three licorice sticks, a bunch of sour lemon drops, and a rainbow-colored lollipop,” Jeremy reminded her.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about the lollipop,” Katie said. She licked her lips. “Cinnamon’s Candy Shop has the best lollipops.”

Jeremy nodded. “I’m so glad Cinnamon decided to open a candy store in the mall.”

Katie knew exactly what he meant. Cinnamon’s Candy Shop was located right across from the Book Nook, the store Katie’s mom managed. It was a fun place to hang out while Katie waited for her mom to finish with work. Sometimes Katie brought her friends, like Jeremy and Suzanne Lock, to hang out there with her.

Cinnamon was really nice. She let Katie dip strawberries into dark chocolate or fill the penny candy drawers with bubble gum, hard candies, and tiny chocolate bars. Best of all, she always gave Katie free lemon drops.

“You’d better hope Becky doesn’t visit Cinnamon’s Candy Shop this week,” Katie told Jeremy.

“Why not?”

“Cinnamon is selling giant candy hearts,” she explained. “She’ll put any message you want right on the heart. Cinnamon guarantees to have the heart delivered in time for Valentine’s Day!”

“That would be so embarrassing!” Jeremy exclaimed.

“Well, if Becky does send you a heart, at least it will be delicious.” Katie was trying to make him feel better.

But it didn’t work. “I hate Valentine’s Day!” Jeremy grumbled.

But not all the fourth-graders hated Valentine’s Day. In fact, Wednesday afternoon, right after her cooking class, Katie hurried over to Suzanne’s house. She, Becky, Emma Weber, and Jessica Haynes were all getting together with Suzanne to make valentines for their friends.

“Oh, that’s a cute one,” Emma said as she looked at the long, thin, squiggly-shaped card Katie was working on. “It looks just like Slinky.”

Suzanne looked curiously at Katie. “You made a valentine for a
snake?”

“Of course,” Katie told her. “Animals need love, too. I even made one for my dog, Pepper.”

“Pepper’s cute, but Slinky is creepy,” Suzanne said with a shudder.

“Slinky is
not
creepy!” Katie insisted.

“I’m glad
our
class has a guinea pig. I love Fuzzy,” Suzanne boasted.

Suzanne was always bragging about what was happening in class 4B. But Katie didn’t care. She was glad Suzanne was happy in her classroom. Katie was certainly happy in hers.

Class 4A was a very different kind of classroom. Katie had never been in one like it before. Her teacher, Mr. Guthrie, wasn’t very strict. He let the kids sit in beanbag chairs instead of at desks. He thought they learned better when they were comfortable.

Mr. Guthrie did other cool stuff, like letting George Brennan and Kadeem Carter have joke-telling contests. He called them joke-offs. And Mr. Guthrie had gotten the class the coolest pet in the whole school—Slinky the snake. The kids had raised him ever since he’d hatched from his egg.

“Look what I made for Jeremy,” Becky announced, interrupting Katie’s thoughts. She leaped to her feet and held up a giant red construction paper heart with lace trim. “Do you think he’ll like it?”

Katie knew Jeremy would hate getting a huge card from Becky. But she didn’t tell her that. Katie didn’t like to hurt people’s feelings.

“I don’t know what you see in Jeremy,” Suzanne said. “He’s such a jerk.”

“That’s mean, Suzanne,” Katie told her.