The Friendship Matchmaker by Randa Abdel-Fattah Read Free Book Online

the way she looks and what she likes, just so she’ll make a friend.”
    “What’s wrong with that?”
    She raised an eyebrow again. “Hmm … nothing … See you around …”
    Bethany and Emily walked off.
    I was fuming. She was so stuck up. I
knew
what worked. And she was the new girl acting like I was some evil witch making people miserable!
    Carla asked Tanya to sit next to her in class after lunch. She kept flipping through the magazine and asking Tanya what she thought about all the hairstyles.
    Tanya had definitely won the toughest battle. Carla had invited her to sit next to her.I was sure it was the beginning of an amazing friendship.
    Meanwhile Bethany was still stuck like glue to Emily. Maybe Emily had missed the point. Emily was supposed to
find
Bethany a best friend, not
be
Bethany’s best friend.
    I said bye to Tanya and Carla after school and hopped on the bus. It’d been a great day.
    Tanya called me that night and we spoke for half an hour. At first she told me all about Carla and how she was trying her best to become a hairstyling fan. It sounded like things were going really well. Carla had swapped phone numbers with Tanya and said she wanted to get friendship bracelets made out of braided horse hair. She thought human hair would feel a little icky.
    Then we started talking about school and how English was our favorite subject. We talked about how we didn’t really like Ms. Pria, but the librarian, Mr. Thomas, was the best teacher ever. I confided in Tanya that I wrote poetry and that my mom and dad liked to frame everything I wrote and hangit in the hallway. Tanya said she wrote short stories and used to read them to her parents and that they would staple them together into little books.

Chapter 13
    Tanya came rushing up to me toward the end of recess on Friday.
    “I can’t talk about hair for one second more!”
    My heart sank. Being as smart as I am, I instantly knew Carla was now out of the picture and we were back to square one.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I’m so sorry, Lara. I know you’re trying really hard, but I can’t stand hanging out with Carla. Honestly, I’d rather be alone.”
    “Don’t say that!” I cried. It was worse than swearing.
    “Since the bell rang this morning she hasn’t stopped talking to me about the salon she plansto open when she’s finished with school, and her favorite hairstyles, and which celebrity has the best color. I’m going crazy!”
    I tried not to look too disappointed.
    “I promise I will follow all your other advice, but don’t make me stay with Carla. She came to school this morning with colored mousse. She tried to convince me that it will look great if I have rainbow curls! I just lost it and told her I hate mousse, hairspray, and perms. She was really upset.”
    “Okay, we’ll try someone else …”
    I thought back to my list of possible best friends for Tanya. The next person was Lucy. Even though her parents owned a drug store and she had the best pencil case collection in our class, I didn’t think school supplies would be a problem anymore. Tanya seemed to have stopped sniffing rulers and paper clips.
    “Let me think about how to pair you with Lucy … I think this calls for a Bungee Jump Friend attempt.”
    Tanya looked terrified. “Huh?”
    “It’s one of my best tricks. I save it forspecial people. Instead of preparing you, I’ll throw you into a conversation with Lucy and you have to bounce right into it. So it’s up to you, okay? You don’t have to learn any lines by heart, like you did with Carla, or try to play professional basketball, like you did with Julie. Just be yourself and talk to Lucy.”
    Tanya still looked terrified.
    “It’s okay,” I said in the voice I used when I was helping pair off fifth-graders on their first day of school. “You’ll be fine. Just remember there are some topics you
don’t
want to mention. Do you want me to write them down for you? That way you can look at them when you’re