Strangeville School Is Totally Normal by Darcy Miller

Author:Darcy Miller [Miller, Darcy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2021-12-07T00:00:00+00:00

She had done it.

She had gone all the way around the swing set.

“See?” Stella asked, jumping neatly off the still-moving swing and landing next to Harvey. “Easy.”

Harvey stared at her in awe. “That was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said honestly. “And one time at the zoo, I saw an ostrich pee.”

Stella gave a modest bow. “Thanks,” she said. “Now you try.”

“What?” Harvey asked, startled. “No, I can’t.”

“Of course you can,” Stella said. “You just need to believe in yourself.”

Harvey shook his head. Believing in himself wasn’t one of his strong suits.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Really.”

Stella crossed her arms against her chest, giving him an even look. “Harvey,” she said, “trust me. You can do this.”

Her voice rang with a confidence that Harvey didn’t feel.

Still, for some reason that he couldn’t quite understand, he found himself nodding. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll try.”

Stella grinned. “Excellent,” she said.

Harvey leaned back in his swing, his stomach nervously twisting.

Okay, he thought. Stella is right. You can do this.

Taking a deep breath, he began to pump his legs. Forward and back, straight and tuck, forward and back, straight and tuck…

Harvey rose higher and higher into the air.

He felt like he was floating.

For the first time in a long time, he felt free.

“I’m doing it!” he shouted to Stella, pumping even higher. “I’m doing it!”

From what felt like far below him, she gave an encouraging thumbs-up. “You’re doing great,” she shouted back. “Just believe in yourself!”

Harvey closed his eyes, preparing to make the final loop.

“Also, don’t forget to account for the rate of change of tangential velocity!” Stella added. “Just calculate the centripetal acceleration!”

Harvey’s eyes flew open.

“Don’t forget to calculate what?”

But it was too late; Harvey had lost his nerve.

He let go, bailing free of the swing.

For one very brief moment, Harvey was flying.

And then he landed with a soft thud in the sand.

“Ow,” he said.

Stella crouched down next to him, patting his arm. “That’s okay,” she said comfortingly. “We can play hopscotch instead.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.