Friends for Never Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Copyright Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  For Isabelle and Ian Gale—makers of

  rainbows, with insatiable imaginations!—N.K.

  For Eric—true friends for EVER!—J&W

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or

  via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and

  punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions,

  and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted

  materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  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

  Krulik, Nancy E.

  Friends for never / by Nancy Krulik ; illustrated by John & Wendy.

  p. cm.—(Katie Kazoo, switcheroo ; 14)

  Summary: Snubbed by her best friend Suzanne, Katie magically turns into

  her as she is making her modelling debut at a fashion show at the mall.

  Includes a recipe for fruit salad.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-14197-7

  [1. Models (Persons)—Fiction. 2. Best friends—Fiction. 3. Friendship—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction. 5. Magic—Fiction.] I. John & Wendy. II. Title. III. Series.

  PZ7.K944Ft 2004

  [Fic]—dc22 2004009203

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  Chapter 1

  “Yodel-ay-hee-hoo!” Katie Carew shouted. “Yodel-ay-hee-hoo!”

  “That was perfect!” her teacher, Mr. Guthrie, congratulated her. “You sounded like a real native of Switzerland.”

  Katie blushed. She wasn’t usually the type of kid to yodel in front of her whole class. But that was the kind of thing you did when you were in Mr. Guthrie’s fourth-grade class.

  Mr. Guthrie wasn’t a typical teacher. He did things his own way.

  Like now. The kids were studying world geography. But rather than just reading about Switzerland, the kids in class 4A were standing on a hill in the field behind the school, practicing yodeling. The hill was the closest thing the elementary school had to the mountains of Switzerland. Mr. Guthrie called it the Cherrydale Alps.

  “Who’s next?” Mr. Guthrie asked.

  “Oh, oh, oh!” Kadeem Carter raised his hand really high. “My turn! Please, Mr. G.!”

  Mr. Guthrie laughed. “Okay, Kadeem, let’s hear your best yodel.”

  “YODEL-AY-HE-HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

  Katie covered her ears. So did a lot of the other kids. Kadeem was really loud.

  Mr. Guthrie smiled. “That was definitely the yodel to beat all yodels.”

  Kadeem bowed to the class. “Thank you, thank you!” he said.

  Katie rolled her eyes. Kadeem was always joking around.

  “Okay, since nothing’s going to top that, let’s head back into the building,” Mr. Guthrie said. “We have just enough time before lunch to take a surprise math quiz.”

  “Ugh,” the kids groaned. They hated surprise quizzes.

  Katie sighed. Sometimes Mr. Guthrie could be just like any other teacher.

  Katie walked into her classroom, plopped down into her beanbag, and got ready to take the quiz. The kids in 4A all sat in beanbag chairs. Mr. Guthrie thought kids learned better when they were comfortable.

  The kids were very proud of their beanbags. They spent a lot of time decorating them. The decorations reflected what the class was learning about.

  When the class had been studying birds, the kids had all turned the beanbags into giant nests. When they had been learning about American history, the kids had used construction paper, glue, and cardboard to create historical scenes on their beanbags.

  Right now, class 4A’s world geography unit was Europe. Katie had used black pipe cleaners to build the Eiffel Tower from France on her beanbag. Her pal Emma Weber had constructed the London Bridge out of cardboard.

  Emma Stavros had decorated her beanbag with pictures of funny-looking trolls from Norway.

  Andrew Epstein’s beanbag was the scariest one. He’d used cardboard and black construction paper to build a dark castle. His beanbag was supposed to be Dracula’s home in Romania. There was even a picture of a vampire on the top of the castle.

  George Brennan’s beanbag was really goofy. He’d used lots of Styrofoam cups to build Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa. In real life, that tower tilted a little to one side. On George’s beanbag, the tower leaned so far over, it hit the floor. He was constantly gluing the cups back together.

  Kadeem had a funny beanbag, too. He’d used brown cloth pillowcases stuffed with cotton to make a giant hot-dog bun around his red beanbag. He said it was a German frankfurter.

  “Hey, Kadeem and Andrew,” George called out. “You guys know what Dracula’s favorite snack is?”

  Kadeem shook his head.

  “A fang-furter!” George said. He laughed at his own joke.

  Kadeem couldn’t let George be the only funny one. “What do you call a slice of dessert in Italy?” he asked.

  “What?” George wondered.

  “A pizza pie!”

  Katie giggled. She really liked when George and Kadeem tried to out-joke each other. Mr. Guthrie called it having a joke-off.

  “Wow,” Mr. Guthrie exclaimed. “It’s an international joke-off! Those were good ones, guys.”

  “Good enough to get us out of that math quiz?” George asked hopefully.

  “Not a chance.”

  As Mr. Guthrie went to his filing cabinet to get the quiz, Katie thought about life in class 4A. Sure, they had to do regular work, like this quiz. But they also did a lot of really great stuff, like yodeling and telling jokes.

  And the kids in class 4A were the only ones in the whole school to have a snake for a class pet. No hamster, guinea pig, or turtle could ever be as cool as Slinky the Snake!

  It was hard to believe that Katie had ever wanted to be in class 4B with Ms. Sweet. Not that Ms. Sweet wasn’t a nice teacher. She was. But Mr. Guthrie was a lot cooler.

  Then again, Katie’s two best friends, Jeremy Fox and Suzanne Lock, were in class 4B. Katie missed them sometimes. It would have been nice to be with them all day.

  But Katie still got to see Suzanne and Jeremy at recess, during track team practices, and on the weekends after her Saturday morning clarinet lessons. They still had lots of fun together.

  Katie had learned something really important in fourth grade. She didn’t have to be with her best friends all day long. No matter what class they were in, Katie and her pals were friends forever!

  Chapter 2

  “Hey, Katie,” Emma W. called as Katie walked out onto the playground after lunch. “You want to jump rope with Mandy and me?”

  “Sure,” Katie agreed happily. “Just let me find Suzanne. She’s probably with Jessica. We can all play.”

  Katie knew Emma W. would like it if they all played together. Last year, when Emma was in class 3B, Jessica had been her best friend. But this year, they were in different
classes. Emma didn’t get to hang out with Jessica all the time anymore.

  “Okay,” Emma W. said. “But hurry up. I have a new rhyme I want to try.”

  Katie looked around the playground for Suzanne and Jessica. She found them standing next to the big oak tree.

  “Hi, you guys,” Katie said as she approached Suzanne and Jessica. “Wanna jump rope with Emma W., Mandy, and me?”

  Suzanne sighed. “Jump rope?” she asked. “Are you kidding?”

  Katie seemed surprised. “Kidding?”

  “We don’t do that kind of stuff,” Suzanne declared. Jessica nodded in agreement.

  “But you jumped rope all the time last year,” Katie reminded Suzanne.

  “Exactly,” Suzanne replied. “In third grade. But we’re in fourth grade now. Jumping rope is for babies.”

  “Oh,” Katie said. She felt embarrassed. She hadn’t thought of it that way. “So what are you guys going to do?”

  “Just hang out here and talk,” Suzanne replied.

  Katie frowned. She had to get back to where Emma and Mandy were waiting for her. They needed at least three people to play jump rope. “I don’t really have time to talk,” she said.

  “That’s okay,” Suzanne replied. “Our conversation is private anyway.”

  Katie couldn’t believe it! Suzanne, her best friend, was telling her to go away. She glared at Suzanne.

  “Don’t look so angry,” Suzanne told her. “It’s not about you. It’s about my modeling class.”

  “What’s so private about that?” Katie asked her. “Everyone knows you’re taking a modeling class.”

  “Yes, but she’s my new assistant.” Suzanne pointed to Jessica.

  “Your what?”

  “I’m going to need an assistant when I’m a famous model,” Suzanne explained to Katie. “So I have to teach her all about modeling stuff. That’s what we’re talking about. We’ve started a modeling club.”

  “What kind of stuff do you do in a modeling club?” Katie asked.

  “Oh, you know, talk about new hairstyles and lip glosses.” Suzanne stuck out her bottom lip. “I’m wearing grape gloss with glitter.”

  “Oh, I thought you ate a purple Popsicle at lunch,” Katie said.

  Suzanne rolled her eyes. “That’s why you’re not my assistant,” she said.

  “That was really mean, Suzanne,” Katie replied.

  Suzanne paused for a moment. “Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you . . .” she began.

  “Tell me what?”

  “My name’s not Suzanne anymore.”

  Katie stared at her. “Excuse me?”

  “Suzanne is too plain a name for someone like me. So I gave myself a new one. Now my name is Ocean. That’s much more sophisticated.”

  Katie started to laugh. Suzanne had done some pretty weird things, but this was one of the weirdest! She looked over at Jessica. “What’s your name? Sand?”

  “Her name is River,” Suzanne said. “I came up with it.”

  Jessica nodded. “Now we’re Ocean and River.”

  “Water names, get it?” Suzanne added.

  Katie looked at Ocean and River. They were in the same class. They’d given themselves new names. And they were in a club together—a club they had not asked Katie to join! They were acting like . . . best friends!

  Katie knew she should get back to Mandy and Emma, but she didn’t want to be left out by Suzanne and Jessica either. “Do you think I should get a new name, too?” she asked. “I could be Sea or Waterfall or something.”

  Suzanne shook her head. “Plain old Katie fits you just fine. You don’t need a sophisticated name.”

  Katie wasn’t jealous anymore. Now she was just mad. “I’m not plain!” she exclaimed. “I’m as sophisticated as you are!”

  Suzanne looked at Katie’s red high-top sneakers and jeans. Then she studied her own black-and-white cowboy boots and short denim skirt. “Oh, Katie,” she said. “Don’t be silly. You’re not sophisticated. You’re just Katie.”

  Katie scowled.

  “All the people in class 4A are pretty much like you,” Suzanne continued. “You fit in just fine there. So it’s okay.”

  Katie turned on her heels and stormed off. She wasn’t going to talk to Suzanne about this anymore. It wasn’t okay. Not at all!

  Chapter 3

  That afternoon, Katie walked home from school all by herself. Emma W. had to help her mother take her little brothers for hair-cuts. Jeremy had a drum lesson. And Ocean was hanging out with River.

  Katie felt really alone. She started to think about how things were in third grade—back when she and Suzanne did things together.

  “I wish . . .” she began. Then she stopped herself, quick. Katie knew better than to wish for things. Wishes sometimes came true. And that could cause big problems.

  It had all started one day at the beginning of third grade. Katie had lost the football game for her team, ruined her favorite pair of pants, and let out a big burp in front of the whole class. It was the worst day of Katie’s life. That night, Katie had wished she could be anyone but herself.

  There must have been a shooting star overhead when she made that wish, because the very next day the magic wind came.

  The magic wind felt like a wild tornado. But this wind blew just around Katie. It was so powerful that every time it came, it turned her into somebody else! Katie never knew when the wind would arrive. But whenever it did, her whole world was turned upside down ... switcheroo!

  The first time the magic wind came, it had turned Katie into Speedy, class 3A’s hamster! That morning, Katie had escaped from the hamster cage and wound up in the boys’ locker room! Luckily, Katie switched back into herself before any of the boys could tell she was running around wearing nothing but Speedy’s fur coat.

  The magic wind came back again and again after that. It had turned her into Lucille the lunch lady, Principal Kane, and even Katie’s third-grade teacher, mean old Mrs. Derkman! One time, the wind switcherooed Katie into her science camp counselor, Genie the Meanie. That time, she’d gotten all her friends lost in the woods!

  The wind had also changed Katie into other kids—like Emma W. and Suzanne’s baby sister, Heather. One time, the wind had switcherooed her into Jeremy, and Katie had started a huge fight between all the girls and boys in her grade.

  Another time, the magic wind had turned Katie into her very own dog, Pepper. She’d gotten into an argument with a squirrel and destroyed her next-door neighbor’s garden. Considering the fact that Katie’s next-door neighbor was Mrs. Derkman, it had been really awful.

  Katie never knew who the magic wind was going to change her into next. But she did know one thing. She wasn’t ever going to make another wish, ever again. Wishes didn’t always turn out the way you expected them to.

  Chapter 4

  The next morning, when Katie got to school, she spotted Suzanne walking back and forth in front of a tree. Her back was really straight and her neck was stretched up long, like a swan’s. She looked kind of weird.

  At first, Katie didn’t want to go over and talk to Suzanne. She was still kind of mad at her about the day before.

  Then she thought about it for a moment. She and Suzanne had been in fights before. But they always made up. Katie was pretty sure that Suzanne would be sorry about how she’d treated her yesterday. She would surely ask her to join the modeling club today.

  Katie decided to give Suzanne another chance. That was the kind of thing best friends did for each other.

  “Hi, Suzanne,” Katie greeted her.

  “Ocean,” Suzanne reminded Katie.

  “Oh, yeah. Ocean. Hi.”

  “Hi.” Suzanne kept on walking back and forth.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Practicing walking.”

  Katie looked at her strangely. “You’ve been walking since you were two.”

  Suzanne rolled her eyes and sighed. “I’m practicing walking on a runway, Katie,” she explained. “I have a big
modeling show coming up, remember?”

  Katie nodded. “I think you walk really nicely,” she assured Suzanne.

  Suzanne frowned. “Nicely isn’t good enough. I have to be perfect. I want to be the model everyone remembers!”

  At just that moment, Emma Stavros came running over to the girls. She was wearing a huge silver medal around her neck.

  “Wow! Where’d you get that?” Katie asked. She was really impressed.

  “At the ice-skating competitions yesterday. I took second place in figure skating!” Emma sounded really proud of herself.

  Suzanne stopped walking and looked at Emma. “Only second place,” Suzanne sniffed.

  “Well, the first-place winner was a sixth-grader,” Emma said with a shrug.

  “Second place is awesome,” Katie assured her. “And your medal is so cool! I’ve never seen one that big!”

  “Thanks,” Emma said with a smile. “Oh, look, there’s Mandy. I’ve got to show it to her!”

  “What a show-off,” Suzanne said as Emma raced off toward Mandy.

  Katie tried really hard not to laugh. Imagine Suzanne calling someone else a show-off. “She’s just proud. She should be. That’s an amazing medal.”

  “It’s tacky and ugly,” Suzanne argued.

  “That’s what you say,” Katie told her. “I think it’s really cool.”

  “You don’t know anything about accessories,” Suzanne replied. “Someone as small as Emma S. should never wear a big silver medal around her neck.”

  Katie looked at her strangely. “What are you talking about?”

  “Accessories. You know—necklaces, earrings, scarves,” Suzanne explained. “I’m an expert on accessories. We’re studying them in modeling school now.”

  Katie was getting tired of hearing about modeling.

  But Suzanne wasn’t finished talking about it. She looked Katie up and down, and then frowned. “You know, now that we’re not in the same class, you don’t dress as well as you used to.”