Almost Starring Skinnybones by Barbara Park Page A

place for myself. I had just started to open my milk when I saw Albert standing at the end of the table with his tray.
    “Hey, Frankovitch! Move, so Al can sit down!” called Raymond Vellenburg. “You just took his seat.”
    I just kept opening my milk.
    “
Now
, Alex,” ordered Chad Jones. “Move it. We promised Albert we’d save him a seat, and you just took it.”
    Out of the corner of my eye I saw King Albert start down the aisle with his tray. He stopped right behind me. Then he stood there waiting. Waiting like a vulture for my seat. I couldn’t believe it! Hadn’t I done enough for the jerk? Hadn’t I let him be Scrooge? Did I owe him my seat, too?
    Something inside me snapped. I jumped up and threw my tray on the table behind me.
    “Oh, I’m sorry, Albert! Here! Sit! I forgot! You’re the star. You deserve it!”
    Albert didn’t even look at me. He just turned his head and put his tray on the table where mine had been. Geez! He was going to do it! He was actually going to take my seat!
    “Hey, I’ve got an idea, Al!” I went on. “As long as you’re sitting there, why don’t you tell these guys some more about the play?
    “Why don’t you tell them why it was fifteen minutes late? That’s a funny story, don’t you think?”
    I slapped him on the back. “Don’t you, Albert old buddy?”
    Slowly, he turned around on the bench and looked up at me. His shoulders slumped over in defeat. I had him, and he knew it.
    I gave him a nasty little grin. “What’d you say, Al? Do you want to tell them, or should I?”
    He never stopped looking at me. Never evenblinked. He just sat there staring until finally he spoke.
    “What took you so long, Alex?” he whispered.
    The words stung. Worse than if he’d hit me. I can’t explain it any other way.
    I sat back down.
    I didn’t tell.

    I don’t see Albert much these days. Once in a while at noon, but that’s about it. We look at each other sometimes. Then we look away.
    Right now I’m just sort of letting my life get back to normal. I’m not going to end up on a cereal box. Not this time anyway.
    Brian and I are best friends again. Annabelle Posey and I are still worst enemies. I accidentally drew a mustache on her art project, and she reported me to the office.
    Ned the Bully is still Ned the Bully. Last week he told me my face smelled. Then he took me by the shoulders and jumped me up and down a few times. I felt a little silly, but nothing was broken.

    I ended my fan club right after the play. Ernest and Fluffy had started goofing off in the meetings.Besides, Ernest insisted on bringing his potty seat, and there was just something degrading about it.
    I’d like to start another club someday. I don’t know what kind yet. Something I can be president of, though. I’m sure I’ll want to be president.
    I’ve stopped thinking about being a star. At least for now I have. I’m sort of in a rest period. In between dreams, you might say.
    When you’re in between dreams, you get to lean back and relax and stop trying so hard. Trying to be somebody, I mean. It’s not as exciting as being a television star, but it’s not that bad, either. You just have to learn to be satisfied with the way you are for a while. Not forever. Just until you’re finished resting.
    That’s what I’m doing right now. I’m trying to be satisfied just being me.
    Plain old me.
    Plain old Alex.
    Plain old Alex “The Greatest Quiet Hero of All Time” Frankovitch.

B ar B ara P ar K is one of today’s funniest authors. Her Junie B. Jones books are consistently on the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestseller lists. Her middle-grade novels, which include
Skinnybones, The Kid in the Red Jacket, Mick Harte Was Here
, and
The Graduation of Jake Moon
, have won more than forty children’s book awards. Barbara Park holds a BS in education. She has two grown sons and lives with her husband, Richard, in Arizona.

Kids love Barbara Park’s books so much,
they’ve given them all