I am running to the subway Friends New friends Oh man They The red suit is hard to run in But you to be their friend I am not afraid of doing hard things are going to be city kids Real city kids Not like the kids at my old school Mosaic Elementary station I run past the flower shop The air smells like lilies Usain Bolt imagines each race before he runs it And he’s the fastest person in the world So I imagine my first day of middle school The other sixth graders will laugh OMG Your suit is red Power red Girl you’re so funny You should run for president I’ll vote for you the P S 71 election is Four weeks from today They’ll say Wow You are way funnier than any I will nod I will smile I already know when The sixth graders will open the door for me 2
I will shake my head like No I don’t think They will laugh more Wow the new kid is They will open the doors to their school I’ll laugh modestly Then they’ll see my neon green track shoes other kid at this school They’ll say No way Amy Can you get any cooler I can get any cooler like really funny They’ll invite me to their lunch table We will eat peanut butter sandwiches We will make sounds with our armpits I will tell all my favorite corny jokes They will laugh so hard that milk will spill out of their noses as clearly as former president Barack Obama If I hear someone else stutter I will say Glad that’s not me And when I talk it will be clear I will speak 33
He smiles at my red suit He is missing a I sprint to P S 71 The man calls out Outside the subway stop a man calls Hot coffee One buck Get your hot coffee ladies and gentleman Only one dollar front tooth I smile too Watch out world That girl is on fire I feel the wind rush through my hair I run past the Clinton Street Grocery Past the Baptist church And into the courtyard of Public School 71 laugh at my joke The red suit is super funny center of the fountain is a panther statue The panther is made out of iron It looks angry I walk past a fountain without water In the I cannot wait to hear these sixth graders 4
CHAPTER TWO Joke’s on Me At the fountain my red pantsuit is damp with sweat Ninety-six kids walk past the fountain No one looks me in the eye The P S 71 sixth graders look different than the kids at Mosaic Mosaic students wore whatever clothes they wanted Mosaic students wore shirts with islands on them They wore skirts with trees on them They wore hats with taxis on them They wore feathers in their hair Mosaic students sat on yoga balls They danced to ocean songs None of the P S 71 kids have stickers 55
