Gabriela (American Girl by Teresa E. Harris

Author:Teresa E. Harris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2016-08-14T04:00:00+00:00

The next day, Monday, I tried to clear my head and not think about all of the problems with Liberty. But the one thing I couldn’t stop thinking about was Teagan. Even though I knew what I’d said to her at the rally had to be said, maybe she was right: I didn’t have to be so mean about it. That night, I went to my room, climbed up on my bed, and FaceTimed her.

“Hi,” she said when she picked up.

“H-H-Hi,” I replied awkwardly. We hadn’t spoken in more than twenty-four hours—a record for us.

“So,” she said.

“So,” I said.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence that felt two decades long.

“I’m … I’m ssssssorry for snapping at you y-y-y-yesterday,” I said, at the same time Teagan blurted out, “I’m sorry for jumping in and correcting you and finishing your sentences all the time.” Teagan went on. “It’s just that you’re my best friend in the whole wide world and sometimes when I see you struggling with your words, I want to help.”

“I get th-th-th-that,” I said. “But I’m not … I’m not struggling, even though it ssssseems like I am. I’m—I’m triumphing over it, like Mama says, or at least tr-tr-trying to. So when you cut me off and r-r-rescue me, you’re not really giving me the ch-chance to do that.”

“Oh.” Teagan looked and sounded more miserable than she had before. “I’ve really been messing up, huh?”

“No,” I said firmly. “You just didn’t kn-know and you were tr-tr-trying to help. Maybe … maybe from now on, you can hhhelp me by just letting me finish what I’m saying, even if it ssseems like I’m str-str-struggling.”

“I can do that,” Teagan said, brightening a little.

I nodded. “Thanks.”

There was another awkward silence, and then Teagan said, “Hey, Isaiah taught Red and me about a new type of poetry yesterday. Have you ever heard of limericks?”

“L-Limer-whats?”

Teagan giggled. “Okay, guess not. They’re short, funny poems that follow the rhyme scheme A-A-B-B-A. Here’s one he made up about Red: There once was a boy named Red. He fell down and bumped his head. He screamed, ‘Oh, the pain! I might go insane! No, I’ll just rub it instead.’”

I laughed. Then we spent the next hour on the phone, coming up with limericks. And when my words got caught, Teagan waited while I figured out how to set them free.

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