Drat! You Copycat! Read online

  Suzanne nodded. “Coco Chanel wore beads with everything!”

  “I don’t know where to get beads in Cherrydale,” Becky admitted. “I wore my mother’s red beads the other day.”

  “There’s a great bead shop at the mall. It’s near Katie’s mom’s bookstore,” Suzanne said.

  Katie’s mom worked part time at the Book Nook bookstore in the Cherrydale Mall.

  “Maybe you and I could go and look at beads ... together,” Becky suggested shyly.

  “Katie and I are going to the mall Saturday morning. We’re going to hand out flyers for her mom’s store. You could tag along ... I guess,” Suzanne told her.

  Becky shook her head. “I have gymnastics on Saturday mornings.”

  “Okay.” Suzanne began to walk away.

  “But I could meet you later, after my class,” Becky said quickly.

  “We’ll be there until three o’clock,” Suzanne told her. “If you come earlier, maybe the three of us could get a slice of pizza at Louie’s.”

  “Is that in the mall, too?”

  Suzanne nodded.

  “Is it good pizza?” Becky asked.

  “The best!” Suzanne said. “Boy, you’ve got a lot to learn about Cherrydale, Becky.”

  “I’ll see you Saturday,” Becky assured her. Then she turned and walked back toward the kids on the grass.

  Katie made her way across the playground to Suzanne. “What was that all about?”

  “Nothing,” Suzanne shrugged. “I just told Becky to meet us at the mall on Saturday. That’s all. No biggie.”

  Katie looked surprised. “So you’re friends?” she asked.

  Suzanne shrugged. “I don’t know about friends ...” she began. “She’s okay, I guess.”

  “Yeah, Becky’s pretty okay,” Katie agreed.

  “You know, I was thinking,” Suzanne continued, “I like dressing like Coco Chanel because she was so cool, smart, and creative. Maybe that’s the reason Becky has been acting the way she has. She wants to be like me. Who wouldn’t?”

  Katie choked back a laugh. Sometimes Suzanne could be so full of herself.

  “Besides, Becky’s new here,” Suzanne continued. “She needs someone with my experience—and flair for fashion—to show her around.”

  That made Katie angry. She’d been showing Becky around all week. And she’d done a good job of making her feel at home. Katie was about to tell Suzanne just that, when she suddenly felt a cold breeze blowing all around her.

  Oh, no! Was the magic wind back? Would it blow with Suzanne standing right there?

  “Katie, what’s the matter with you?” Suzanne asked. “You look look like you just saw a ghost.” Suzanne held her palm up in the air. “I think I just felt a raindrop. And listen to that wind. I think we’re going to have a storm.”

  Katie breathed a sigh of relief. Suzanne could hear the wind, too. This was just a regular storm—the kind everybody could feel.

  “I hate rain!” Suzanne moaned.

  “The flowers need it. And so do the trees,” Katie told her.

  Suzanne smiled. “That’s why you’re my best friend,” she said.

  “Huh?”

  “You’re always thinking about someone else,” Suzanne explained. “Like the trees. Or Becky. You really wanted to help her.”

  Katie gulped. Help her? Katie had almost ruined everything for her.

  But, of course, Suzanne didn’t know anything about that.

  “I just told her to do a report on something she found interesting,” Katie said quickly.

  Suzanne nodded. “And that report helped her make friends. You knew what she needed. I swear, Katie, sometimes it’s like you can get right inside other people’s brains.”

  Katie started to laugh. Inside people’s brains? Suzanne didn’t know the half of it!

  Chapter 12

  Did you ever wonder how we know so much about the lives of people in ancient Egypt? Becky found the answer to that question while she was researching Cleopatra. (Of course Suzanne already knew the answer, but that’s another story!)

  It turns out the ancient Egyptians had a written language. But they didn’t use letters in their alphabet. They used pictures. Each picture stood for a sound.

  The ancient Egyptians used their picture language to write stories about their lives on the walls of their buildings and pyramids.

  At the library, Becky found a chart that shows the Egyptian alphabet. Now she, Katie, and Suzanne can send notes to each other in ancient Egyptian.

  That’s going to make Mrs. Derkman really mad. After all, she doesn’t have a copy of this chart.

  But you do!