Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel (5 page)

“Ouch! I was just kidding!”

“Come on, then,” said Dyamonde. “And hurry. Mrs. Cordell said she’d have a surprise for us today.”

“Attention, class!”
said Mrs. Cordell. “I have an announcement.”

Great!
thought Dyamonde.
Here it comes!

“First, how many of you like contests?”

Everybody’s hand went up except for Dyamonde’s. She wanted to wait and see what this was all about first.

“Well, the local library is sponsoring a poetry contest!” said Mrs. Cordell.

Tameeka groaned. So did Charlie. But then, Charlie groaned about everything.

Mrs. Cordell ignored the groaning.

“The top three poems will be published on the Kids’ Page of the Sunday newspaper.”

“Oooh!” said one kid.

“I could be famous!” said a second kid.

“You wish!” said a third.

“And the winner,” said Mrs. Cordell, “will receive a check for one hundred dollars!”

“Oh, snap!” said Free.

Dyamonde did not even have to look at Free to know that his eyes were bugging out. She could just see him with imaginary dollar signs and little video games floating in front of him.

“Now, who would like an entry form?” asked the teacher.

Free’s hand shot up higher than anyone else’s. Dyamonde didn’t raise hers. She decided to wait for a math contest. That’s what she was best at. But she was curious to know who
was
trying out for the contest.

Dyamonde looked around the room and saw lots of hands. One of them belonged to a quiet girl named Damaris Dancer.

Damaris was a pretty girl, really tall, with skin like dark chocolate mixed with strawberries. Her reddish brown hair hung in heavy twists that made Dyamonde think of a lion’s mane.

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