On Thin Ice Page 4

At just that moment, George went whizzing by.

  “See what I mean?” Kevin asked.

  “Yeah,” Suzanne replied. But she didn’t seem nearly as impressed as the other kids were. Instead, she turned her attention to Katie. “Will you tape me making a snow angel?”

  Katie took the video camera from Suzanne’s hands. “Sure,” she said. “What do I do?”

  “Just look through this little square. Once you can see me, press the red button,” Suzanne said. Then she laid down in the snow and began moving her arms up and down.

  “Got it,” Katie said. She focused the camera on Suzanne and pushed the button.

  “The trick to making a perfect snow angel is to move your arms and legs back and forth very slowly,” Suzanne told Katie and the camera. “When you stand up, be sure not to make footprints inside the angel.” She stood carefully, then leaped from her snow angel. Then she pointed toward the ground. “Ta-da! Perfect!”

  “Ruff! Ruff! Arroooo!”

  At just that moment, Pepper, Katie’s chocolate-and-white cocker spaniel, came running across the snow. His best friend, Snowball, followed after him. The two dogs were chasing a gray squirrel.

  “Oh, no!” Suzanne groaned as Pepper and Snowball ran right across her snow angel. “Katie, look what your dumb dog and his friend did!”

  That made Katie angry. Suzanne might be one of her best friends, but nobody—nobody—called Pepper dumb!

  “He’s smart!” Katie exclaimed. “He’s just chasing a squirrel. That’s what dogs do.”

  “Yeah, Suzanne,” Jeremy said, jumping to Katie’s defense. “And if you don’t know that, then you’re the one who’s dumb!”

  “Oh yeah?” Suzanne glared, completely forgetting Katie was still filming her. “Wanna bet?” She picked up a handful of snow and formed it into a ball. She chucked the snowball right at Jeremy.

  “You asked for it!” Jeremy replied. He scooped up a snowball of his own and threw it at Suzanne.

  “Snowball fight!” Kevin exclaimed happily.

  “Yeah!” Emma W. cheered as she scooped up a big ball of snow.

  “Make sure you keep the camera right on me,” Suzanne shouted to Katie. “I’m going to get Jeremy!”

  Katie nodded. “Okay,” she said. Then she bent down and started to pick up some snow with her free hand.

  “No, Katie, don’t!” Suzanne shouted. “You might get snow on my camera.”

  Katie frowned. She didn’t want to be a cameraman. She wanted to take part in the snowball fight. “Here, take your . . .” she started to say to Suzanne. But before she could get the sentence out, Suzanne had taken off after Jeremy, with a snowball in her hand. There was nothing Katie could do but film the fight.

  Still, that wasn’t so bad. Especially when Jeremy, Kevin, and George all pelted Suzanne with snowballs at the same time.

  Usually that would have upset Katie. She didn’t like to see people ganging up on someone. But today Suzanne was being really bossy—even more so than usual.

  As soon as the snowball fight was over, Katie handed the video camera to Suzanne. She wanted to get back into the action.

  “Wait for me!” Katie cried out as Emma W. and Kevin started to drag their sleds up the hill for another run.

  “This is my last one,” Kevin said. “I’ve got snow in my hood and in my boots. Everywhere. Even in my underwear!”

  Katie giggled. There was something about the word underwear that was just so funny!

  “I’m getting pretty cold, too,” Emma W. agreed.

  “Why don’t we go to my house for hot chocolate?” Katie invited her friends. “We’ve got the good kind with the little marshmallows in it.”

  “Cool,” Jeremy said.

  “No, hot!” George joked as he jumped onto his snowboard. “Meet you guys at the bottom of the hill! COWABUNGA!”

  Chapter 2

  “Hi, kids!” Mrs. Derkman waved as Katie and her friends walked by. “Having fun on your snow day?”

  The kids all smiled and nodded. Then George said to Katie in a low voice, “I’ll never get used to the fact that you live next door to a teacher. Especially her.”

  Katie knew what he meant. Mrs. Derkman had been their third-grade teacher. She was the strictest teacher in the whole school.

  But outside of school, she wasn’t strict at all. In fact, Mrs. Derkman could be kind of fun. Like right now, when she was building a snowman in her front yard.

  “That’s a really neat snowman, Mrs. Derkman,” Emma W. said. “I like the flower necklace around its neck.”

  “And the grass skirt,” Katie added.

  “It’s a Hawaiian snowwoman,” Mrs. Derkman explained.

  Katie giggled. That was probably the only Hawaiian snowwoman in the history of the world. After all, it never snowed in Hawaii.

  Suzanne handed her camera to Katie. “Film me doing the hula next to the snowwoman,” she told her.

  “Suzanne, my fingers are frozen,” Katie insisted. “I want to go inside for hot chocolate.”

  “Oh, come on. It’ll just take a minute.” Suzanne ran across Mrs. Derkman’s front yard. Katie shrugged and pushed the red button on the camera.

  Suzanne wiggled her hips and waved her arms back and forth and back and . . .

  Oops! Suzanne knocked the head right off the snowwoman.

  “Oh, Suzanne!” Mrs. Derkman exclaimed.

  “Oops! Sorry,” Suzanne apologized. “Do you want me to help you fix it?”

  “I think you’ve done enough,” Mrs. Derkman told Suzanne. “Go ahead inside and have hot chocolate with your friends.”

  Suzanne didn’t have to be told twice. She turned and raced off. Katie and the other kids followed behind.

  “Thanks for bringing Snowball home,” Mrs. Derkman called over to Katie. “She fits right in with the snow, doesn’t she?”

  Katie grinned as the little white dog rolled around in the snow. Only her eyes and little black nose could be seen against the white background.

  “Maybe you should build a snow dog next,” Katie joked.

  “Good idea!” Mrs. Derkman said. “Snowball the snowdog.”

  Katie smiled down at her own dog. “Come on, Pepper. Let’s go inside and have a treat,” she told him.

  Pepper’s tail began to wag wildly. He didn’t understand a lot of people words. But he sure did understand treat.

  “Thank you for the hot chocolate, Mrs. Carew,” Emma W. said to Katie’ s mother once they were all sitting in the warm kitchen. “I love the tiny marshmallows.”

  “Me too,” George agreed. “And the cookies are awesome.”

  Katie grinned proudly. Her mother baked the best cookies in all of Cherrydale.

  “I figured you kids would want some hot treats when you came inside,” Katie’s mother told them.

  “I’m glad the mall was closed and you got the day off from work, Mom,” Katie said.

  “Me too,” Mrs. Carew agreed. “I like going to work and being the manager of the Book Nook. But I really love snow days!”

  “Who doesn’t?” Jeremy piped up. “They’re the best! I wish every day could be a snow day.”

  Oh, no. Not another wish.

  Katie gasped. “No you don’t!” she exclaimed. “You don’t wish that at all.”

  The kids all stared at her curiously. Even Pepper cocked his head slightly and looked at her strangely.

  Katie could tell they thought she was crazy. But she knew she wasn’t. Every time the magic wind came, it switcherooed her into someone else. Still, she had to say something. The kids were all looking at her like she was nuts!

  “I just mean that if every day were a snow day, we wouldn’t think it was so special,” Katie told them finally.

  “That’s true, Katie Kazoo,” Emma W. agreed.

  “What a wise thing to say,” Katie’s mother added.

  “Well, this snow day sure was special,” Suzanne piped up suddenly. “We all had a great time. And I got it all on tape. You guys want to watch it?” />
  “Sure,” Katie said. “That’ll be fun.”

  After helping to clean up their plates and mugs, the kids all filed into Katie’s living room. Suzanne connected her camera to the TV. Almost instantly, Suzanne’s face appeared on the screen.

  “It’s a snow day!” Suzanne’s voice rang out from the TV. “And my friends and I are having fun.”

  The scene switched to Suzanne making her snow angel.

  “Man, this is boring,” Kevin groaned while Suzanne gave her instructions for creating the perfect angel.

  “This isn’t a movie about our snow day,” Jeremy complained. “It’s all about you.”

  “No, you guys are in there, too,” she insisted. “You’re my supporting players.”

  “Oh, give me a break!” George sighed.

  “You didn’t get one shot of me on my snowboard. And I was really rocking out there!”

  “You sure were,” Kevin agreed.

  A moment later, the scene switched again. Once again, Suzanne was right in the middle of the picture. But this time she was being pelted with snowballs from every direction. Worse yet, her nose was running.

  “Eew! Suzanne’s got a booger!” George groaned.

  “Katie!” Suzanne shouted. “Why would you film that?”

  “You told me to keep the camera right on you,” Katie said. “So I did. I didn’t realize your nose was running.”

  “This is hilarious,” George said. He practically fell off his chair, he was laughing so hard.

  “Wait, it gets better,” Kevin said, watching Suzanne’s hula dance in Mrs. Derkman’s yard. “Plop . . . there goes the snowwoman’s head.”

  “This is the best comedy I’ve ever seen,” Jeremy agreed. “Better than anything on TV.”

  Suzanne frowned. “I’m glad I could entertain all of you.”

  Suddenly, Katie felt bad for her best friend. She really wanted to cheer her up. “That’s exactly what you did, Suzanne,” she said sincerely. “You entertained us. Like a real actress in a funny movie.”

  Suzanne brightened slightly. “Yeah. I guess I did. I was pretty hilarious, wasn’t I? It’s amazing just how much the camera loves me.”

  “Oh, give me a break!” George complained. “Suzanne, you are so stuck-up.”

  But Suzanne didn’t hear a word he said. She was too busy admiring herself on the screen.

  Chapter 3

  When Katie woke up in the morning, she was glad to see that the sun was shining. That meant there would be school. She was also happy to see that Jeremy’s wish had not come true.

  But there was still plenty of snow. And sure enough, by the time Katie arrived at school, the whole playground was filled with kids throwing snowballs and building snowmen. Katie watched George snowboard down a small hill in the field behind school.

  “You’re looking really good on that thing,” Katie shouted to him.

  George waved and ran up to her. “These aren’t as steep or as much fun as the big hill on Surrey Lane,” George complained.

  “You really like snowboarding, don’t you?” Katie asked.

  “Totally!” George exclaimed. “I’m going to be the next Tony Raven!”

  “Tony who?” Katie asked.

  “You’ve never heard of Tony Raven?” George sounded amazed. “He’s the number one snowboarder in the whole world.”

  “Oh,” Katie said.

  “Well, you’re going to hear a lot about him soon,” George continued. “He’s coming to Cherrydale to make a commercial for Winter Wildness Clothing.”

  Just then, Emma Stavros walked by. She stopped when she heard George talking about Tony Raven. “He’s not the only one who’s going to be in those commercials,” she told him. “Kerry Gaffigan is, too. Tony’s her boyfriend. And she’s the other spokesperson for Winter Wildness.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s Tony who is going to sell those clothes,” George insisted. “Everyone wants to be like him.”

  “I don’t,” Emma S. insisted. “I’d much rather be like Kerry.”

  “Maybe that’s why they’re doing the commercial together,” Katie suggested, trying to stop an argument before it started.

  “Huh?” George and Emma S. asked at the same time.

  “That way men and women will both buy Winter Wildness clothing,” Katie explained.

  George shrugged. “I guess. Anyway, all I know is that there is a huge party on Saturday to celebrate the new clothes. It’s going to be right here in Cherrydale. And I plan to be there.”

  By this time, a group of kids had gathered around George, Emma S., and Katie. At the sound of the words “big party,” they all got really interested.

  All except Suzanne. She seemed kind of bored by the whole thing. At least until she heard Emma S. say, “Yeah. They’re going to have a red carpet, celebrities, and all kinds of reporters and photographers and stuff.”

  “Did somebody say red carpet?” Suzanne piped up enthusiastically.

  George rolled his eyes. He knew what Suzanne was thinking. They all did.

  “Yeah, but only Tony, Kerry, and other celebrities are going to be walking on it,” George told Suzanne. “The rest of us will have to stand behind a rope or something.”

  “Where is the red carpet going to be?” Suzanne asked.

  “Near Surrey Lane,” Emma S. told her.

  “Tony’s going to snowboard down the big hill, leap over a mogul, and land at the edge of the carpet,” George explained.

  “Where Kerry will be waiting for him,” Emma S. added.

  “That sounds so romantic,” Becky Stern cooed. “Doesn’t it, Jeremy?”

  Jeremy rolled his eyes and groaned. So did George and Kevin.

  “What’s a mogul?” Katie asked, changing the subject.

  “It’s a huge lump of hard, icy snow on a ski slope,” George told her. “It’s really hard to snowboard over one.”

  “Tony Raven can do it, though, right?” Jeremy asked.

  “Tony Raven can do anything!” George exclaimed. “It’s going to be so exciting to see him in person.”

  “Totally!” Kevin agreed. “Are you going to get his autograph, George?”

  “I’m gonna try,” George replied.

  “I already have Kerry’s autograph,” Emma S. boasted.

  “I want to get autographs from both of them,” Zoe Canter said. “I wasn’t able to go to Kerry’s show last week.”

  “Do you think we’ll get anywhere near Tony and Kerry?” Jeremy wondered.

  “We can try,” Katie told him. “Bring your camera. At least we can get their photographs.”

  Miriam turned to Suzanne. “Do you want Kerry and Tony’s autographs?” she asked her.

  Suzanne shook her head. “Celebrities don’t ask other celebrities for autographs,” she said. “It’s tacky.”

  Suzanne, a celebrity? Katie rolled her eyes, but she didn’t say anything.

  George had plenty to say, though. “You’re not a celebrity, Suzanne. You’re a normal kid, just like the rest of us.”

  “Suzanne’s not normal, George,” Kevin disagreed.

  Suzanne began to smile proudly. She was obviously glad someone recognized what a star she was.

  But then Kevin added, “She’s weirder than the rest of us.”

  The boys all started to laugh.

  Katie gulped. She had a feeling that was going to make Suzanne really angry. And when Suzanne got angry, Suzanne got mean!

  But surprisingly, Suzanne didn’t get angry at all. In fact, she gave Kevin a big smile. “Maybe I’m not a celebrity yet,” she told him. “But by the time that party rolls around, I will be. We’ll see who’s laughing then!”

  Chapter 4

  It took a really long time for the kids in class 4A to get settled that morning. By the time they’d taken off their boots, hung up their coats, and made sure no one had misplaced their hats, it seemed like half the morning had gone by.

  But that didn’t stop Mr. Guthrie from teaching. He waited until everyone was sittin
g in their beanbags. Then he showered them with snow. Well, not real snow. Paper snow. And each flake was different. Just like real snowflakes.

  “Let me guess,” Kevin said. “Today we’re going to be learning about snow.”

  Mr. G. nodded. “Good guess, Kev-o,” he answered. “Today we’re going to find out how and where snow is created in the atmosphere. But not right away.”

  Katie picked up one of the paper snowflakes Mr. G. had tossed around the classroom. The flake had something written on it in icy silver letters.

  “Frostbite,” Katie read out loud. She looked up at Mr. G. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked her teacher.

  “It’s the answer to a riddle,” Mr. G. explained to her. “The question is written on one of the other snowflakes. Can anyone find it?”

  The kids all started picking up flakes. “I’ve got it!” Mandy told Katie excitedly. She looked down at her piece of carefully cut white paper and read, “What do you get if you mix an icicle and a shark?”

  “Frostbite,” Katie repeated. She giggled. “Now I get it.”

  “Okay, listen to this one,” George shouted out, holding up a snowflake. “What do snowmen wear on their heads?” he read.

  “Ice caps!” Andy replied, holding up his snowflake.

  “This is the best joke off we’ve ever had, because we’re all a part of it,” Emma S. said.

  Katie knew just what she meant. Usually it was only George and Kadeem who told jokes in the classroom. But today everyone had a chance.

  “Who’s got the answer to this riddle?” Emma S. asked. “How do you know if there’s been a snowman in your bed?”

  “You wake up wet!” Kadeem called from across the room. He waved his paper snowflake in the air.

  Emma W. bent down and picked up a paper snowflake. “By icicle,” she read aloud.

  “That’s the answer to my riddle,” Kevin told her. “How do snowmen travel around?”

  “By icicle,” Emma W. repeated. She looked confused, then smiled. “Now I get it! By icicle instead of bicycle.”

  This game sure was a lot of fun.

  “What sort of ball doesn’t bounce?” the teacher read from a snowflake.