Wedding Drama Read Online Free Page A

go.”
    â€œWhat?” Nikki exclaims, incredulous.
    â€œWell, Auntie Dee might not be able to take me.”
    â€œThen you can go with my mom and me.”
    Deja sighs. She gets her backpack and heads for the door.
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    â€œWell, if you don’t want to go, you
should
give someone else your invitation. Someone who’d probably be really happy to get it.”
    Deja says nothing. For a few moments they walk along silently. Then Deja can’t take it anymore. She has to tell Nikki what’s going on.
    â€œI have bad, bad news, Nikki. Bad, bad news.” She takes a deep breath. “I’m not going to be able to get a new dress, and I’m not going to be able to get Ms. Shelby a present, and I’m not going to be able to get my hair done. I’m not going to be able to get anything new for a long, long time because we’re not going to have any money. Because my auntie doesn’t have a job anymore!”
    Nikki’s mouth drops open. She looks almost frightened. “Really?” she gasps. Deja wonders if Nikki is already picturing her and Auntie Dee homeless and going to the food bank at that church on Marin.
    â€œWhat is your auntie going to do, Deja?”
    Deja shrugs. “I don’t know.” Then she adds, “But don’t tell anybody.”
    The rest of the walk to school is quiet. It seems as if Nikki feels she needs to be careful, in light of this new situation. “Are you still going to live next door?” she asks as they go through the school gate.
    â€œYeah, I think so.”
    Nikki sighs with relief.
    The second bell has already rung. Now kids are walking to their lines. Nikki and Deja find their places and wait for Ms. Shelby to come and get them.
    â€œLook at this,” Rosario says from behind Deja. She has drawn a picture of Ms. Shelby’s fiancé.
    Nikki looks at the picture and shakes her head. “He doesn’t look anything like that,” Nikki says. “Not even a little bit.”
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Ms. Shelby has put “Open” on the board for their morning journal topic. Usually this presents a challenge to Deja. Nikki is the one who likes to write, not Deja. She pulls out her journal and stares at the cover, which she’s decorated with big and little stars. She admires that for a bit, then opens it to the first clean page. Across the top she writes: “Bad Bad News.”
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Bad Bad News
I’m getting ready to have some hard hard times. My auntie Dee told me yesterday that we’re going to have to tighten our belts, because she doesn’t have her job anymore. At her work they ran out of money or a lot of people werent donating enough money to the place where she works and they had to let some people go. This is strange because it makes it sound like people want to go and someone has to let them. But I know my auntie did not want to go. She loved her job because it was mostly fun and she got to meet a whole bunch of different people and she said it didn’t even feel like work. That’s why Shes sad that she doesn’t have it any more. So we’re not going to be able to get goodies from the Store or any new Stuff and maybe we’ll have to Start taking the bus because of expensive gas and maybe we’ll have to grow all our own food and make our own ice cream, And maybe I’ll have to wear shoes even when they get too Small and pinch. But I’m glad I have a house now and it’s Still warm and I have my own bed and my own desk and closet and I Still have clothes hanging in my closet but I might have to wear them a long time even when they get too little. Maybe my auntie can learn to weave cloth and Sew that cloth and make me new clothes and
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    Deja isn’t finished when Ms. Shelby tells them to put their journals away and get out their Sustained Silent Reading books while she takes attendance. But Deja does what she says. Then Ms. Shelby proclaims, “I need the office