Extra Credit by Andrew Clements

Author:Andrew Clements
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Your friend,

Abby

Sadeed sat there looking at the picture of the girl and her family, feeling how strange it was to have this contact with someone so far away. It was like these people lived on the moon, or in a whole other universe.

He stared at Abby’s face, trying to connect the words he had just read with this girl he saw looking straight at him. And at that very moment, gazing at her picture, Abby Carson became a real person to him—someone who was intelligent, someone who loved being outdoors, someone who noticed the beauty of nature and the shapes of words. And her favorite color was green.

And it struck Sadeed that right now he probably knew more about this Abby Carson in America than he had ever known about any other girl in his whole life, including his own sister.

He looked up from the photograph, startled. Amira was staring at him. She had crept back into the house and stood there, a few feet in front of him.

She gave him an impish smile, with one eyebrow raised.

“What are you looking at?” he snapped.

“You,” she said. “You like her, don’t you?”

“Don’t be a donkey. I don’t even know her.” Sadeed reached for his notebook and waved Amira toward the place beside him on the charpoy. “And don’t just stand there—sit down and tell me what you want to say. And be quick about it.”

This time it didn’t take Amira very long to dictate her reply. And she didn’t try to get funny and say something to Abby about Sadeed. She was too good at judging her brother’s moods to put herself in that kind of danger. She talked, he scribbled, and it was all over in less than fifteen minutes.

Then Amira left to go back and help her mother, and Sadeed put his notebook away and hurried off to his father’s shop.

When he got to school the next morning, Sadeed went over to speak with his teacher. The man was standing outside by the doorway as he always did before class, watching to be sure that the play didn’t get too rough, and that the older children didn’t bully the young ones.

“Good morning, sir.”

Mahmood smiled and said, “Hello. Have you and your sister got the next letter ready?”

“Actually, no,” Sadeed said. “It’s not quite done yet. But I can finish it when we go home at noon. And if you like, I can take the letter with me when I go to my father’s shop at the bazaar and give it to the bus driver. That will save you a walk to the marketplace. If that would be a help. Or I can bring the letter back here to the school, and you can take it to the bazaar.”

Sadeed felt like he was talking too fast, pushing out too many words at once. And when Mahmood narrowed his eyes and frowned slightly, Sadeed almost stopped breathing. Because he wanted his offer to sound completely normal and natural. And he felt better when the teacher’s smile returned.

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