“Can I have a friend come over after school tomorrow?”

“Friend?” she said. She scrunched up her forehead like she didn’t understand what I was talking about. “What friend?”

“Bertie,” I said. “She’s in my class.”

The rain let up a little. It got quieter. My mom kept staring out the window, and I couldn’t tell if her face was getting tight, but she looked like she was thinking about it real hard. She made that phhhp sound, like the air escaping out of a hole in a balloon.

Then she picked up my backpack from where it sat at my feet and handed it to me. “Sure thing,” she said.

“Thanks!” I said before she could think of a reason to change her mind.

I ran out of the car and all the way up the stairs. I got my phone and my homework picture and my jumbo box of crayons. I found pacific blue for Bertie’s braces and chestnut for her hair and laser lemon for the whistles.

Then I found chapter six, where one of the lonely friends gave the other lonely friend a puppy. That present made me smile. It wasn’t like I could get Bertie a puppy. Maybe she also lived in a place that was strictly no pets. But it still felt like asking her to come over tomorrow was something good, something a friend would do.

15. Cerulean, Fuzzy Wuzzy Brown, Sunset Orange, Neon Carrot, Goldenrod

The next morning, the rain had washed the sky blue. If I had to pick a crayon for it, I would pick cerulean. It made the cafeteria seem like a totally different place from yesterday. The air was so bright, I had to squeeze my eyes until they were practically shut.

I saw Bertie sitting at the fourth-grade table. She had her head bent over her thick book. It was almost like she was doing the thing where you look like you’re reading so no one will bother you.

“Good morrow,” I said.

Her head stayed down. Maybe she didn’t hear.

I cleared my throat. “Good morrow,” I tried again, a little louder.

Bertie looked up at me.

“Um, do you want to come over after school?” I asked. “To study?”

Bertie tipped her head to the side until the sunlight flashed off her glasses. Then she smiled all the way back to her rubber bands.

“Come on,” she said. “I can call my dad from the office if we hurry.”

Bertie walked so fast, a hallway Safety had to give her a friendly reminder to please slow down. I did my best to stick with her.

“Oh, I forgot you didn’t know where the office was,” she said.

But Bertie was wrong about that. The office was where my mom and I had come on Monday to fill out the forms and show the papers and give all the phone numbers.