My Best Friend's Older Brother

Chapter 1: Eileen

Katie Graham adjusted her dark brown ponytails. She wore her favorite sparkly green hair ribbons. Green was her favorite color.

She wore a matching green shirt with an ocean blue skirt. The theme for Vacation Bible School this year was Ocean Adventures. Katie hoped other people would think she was excited for VBS, because she was. Katie was especially ecstatic this year. Now she would be in the fourth-grade group.

From preschool to kindergarten, VBS lasted only two hours. From first grade to third grade, VBS lasted three hours. However, the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders had VBS for two and a half hours. Not only that, but in elementary school, class lasted twenty minutes longer in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade. Nine-year-old's were given lots of privileges.

"Katie, it's time to go!" sang her mother. Katie jumped up and raced through the garage into the car.

She buckled in her seatbelt and requested, "Mom? Can I sit in the front seat?"

"No," Mrs. Graham laughed. "Nine-year-old's get lots of privileges, but you need to wait until you're twelve before you sit in the front seat."

Katie sighed, but she was still happy to be on her way to VBS.

The Honda pulled out of the driveway and headed down the street. It zoomed down the freeway and finally parked in front of the church.

There were kids everywhere! Short children, tall children, thin children, stout children, and wild children filled the courtyard. Taped to the wall was a list of which groups the children would be in.

Katie scanned the page for her name. Garfield, George, Gordon, Graham. Katie stared intently at her name. She was with the Stingrays! Cool!

She turned around and noticed a pole with a banner showing a stingray. Giddily, Katie skipped to the group to meet her leader.

"Hi!" smiled a slender dark-skinned woman with short frizzy black hair. "What's your name?"

"Katie," replied Katie brightly.

"Katie?" the lady repeated, fishing through a box of dog tags. "Aha! I found it! Here's your name tag." She slung the chain around Katie's neck. Katie loved how the glass tag glimmered in the sunlight.

"Thank you!" she grinned.

"I'm Jackie," the leader introduced herself pleasantly, "and I have a feeling I'm really going to like you."

This made Katie feel warm and proud. Jackie then clapped her hands and announced, "Stingrays! Follow me into the main auditorium for singing!"

The fourth graders filed behind Jackie as they strode into the church building.

Jackie and the Stingrays took their seats in the middle pew.

Katie sat between a boy and a pretty girl with tan skin and a brown ponytail. Katie wanted to befriend her, but she didn't know how to begin. She encountered many problems when she had tried to make friends. Once, she had accidentally made friends with a short adult whom she mistook for a ten-year-old.

It was very embarrassing when Katie has suggested, "Let's ask your mom if we can have a playdate!"

The "ten-year-old" had given Katie a funny look and told Katie her real age. After that, Katie avoided her.

Another time Katie had made a fool of herself was with a girl across her street. She was six, and Katie hardly paid attention to her. One day, at the ice cream store, Katie introduced herself to her, because Katie did not think she knew her. Her neighbor had given her a funny look and declared, "You know me. I live across the street from you."

Now Katie was about to make another fool of herself. Fortunately, this girl would not be in her group if she was an adult. And she did not look familiar at all. Katie took a deep breath and mumbled shyly, "Hi."

The girl smiled. "Hi."

"I'm Katie."

"I'm Eileen," responded the girl.

"How old are you?" asked Katie. Suddenly, she wished she could take that back. What a silly question asking how old someone was when they were the same grade!

"Eight and a half," state Eileen.

"I'm nine," Katie mentioned. She bit her lip. What else should she say? "Your hair is pretty."

"Thank you," Eileen whispered. "Hey, do you want to make a loop with your shirt?"

"What's that?" wondered Katie, excitement bubbling inside her.

"It's when you tie a loop on your shirt with a rubber band. I'll show you," Eileen explained. She slipped one of the hair bands on her wrist off and stretched a large corner of her own shirt. She held It in place with the hairband. Now the VBS uniform that was once large and baggy fit her better and looked stylish.

"That's cool," complimented Katie. "Can you do that to me?"

"Sure." Eileen slipped off another rubber band and tied a loop in Katie's shirt. The shirt now felt tighter around Katie's waist, but in a comfortable way.

"Do you want to be my friend?" Katie asked hopefully.

Eileen's eyes glittered as much as Katie's name tag. "Sure."

Katie breathed a sigh of relief. She had not acted like a goofball. VBS was going to be awesome!