That Was The Year
written by Elizabeth Goldstein
Liz Ellerby is ordinary. She looks ordinary, she acts ordinary - actually, Liz is pretty sure that her life is basically the same as the life of every kid on her block. Liz may not love it, but she lives with it. She keeps her head down and plays her part - the part of a normal, eleven-year-old schoolgirl - well. That is, until Sam Cardilly joins her Grade Six 1-A class at Rickety Shay Elementary School. Sam is everything but ordinary, so how is it that he and Liz become best friends? And what will happen when Sam's year-long stay in the US is over and he must return to his own home?
Last Updated
05/31/21
Chapters
3
Reads
571
Sam
Chapter 2
That first day at Rickety Shay Elementary was a nightmare. Not that kids weren’t nice, and the teachers weren’t friendly, because they were. But somehow he had the uncomfortable feeling that people were almost scared by him. And, as he remarked to Liz a few months later, that’s not a nice feeling to have.
“B-but at least it’s only for a year,” he told her, grinning, as together they struggled through that night’s Algebra homework at Liz’s place. “Then I can g-go home. And x equals seven, not f-f-five,” he added pointing at her paper. “You forgot to add the t-two.”
“Yeah.” Sam heard the sadness in her voice, though she tried to hide it.
“I’ll write you l-letters when I’m gone, if you like,” he promised, but he knew that wouldn’t really help. “And I’ll send you a new j-joke in each of them!”
“Mm-hmm.” She nodded, smiling despite herself. “But we’re only halfway through this page, and you know it’s due tomorrow.” He knew she’d changed the subject on purpose.
“Look, Liz, let’s q-quit Algebra and go outside. It’s w-warm now for the f-first time all year.”
She agreed, smiling, then followed him outside. “Race you to the park.”
They tore past down Sam’s driveway, passing the apple trees, who were just starting to grow pale pink buds, and the flowerbeds full of delicate snowdrops, just beginning to lose their dainty white petals.
It’s kind of funny how quickly a person can make friends, he thought, grinning to himself. He’d been in the US barely two months, and here he was, playing in the park with some girl he’d only just met. And, it seemed, he’d have been back home for less than that time and suddenly it’d be as if she was on another planet. Like Mars. He had just learned about Mars in Science class, and it seemed cool. But too red.
Maybe that was good, though. He didn’t want some stranger coming between him and his old friends, did he?
That was trouble with lying to yourself. You never believed you.
“B-but at least it’s only for a year,” he told her, grinning, as together they struggled through that night’s Algebra homework at Liz’s place. “Then I can g-go home. And x equals seven, not f-f-five,” he added pointing at her paper. “You forgot to add the t-two.”
“Yeah.” Sam heard the sadness in her voice, though she tried to hide it.
“I’ll write you l-letters when I’m gone, if you like,” he promised, but he knew that wouldn’t really help. “And I’ll send you a new j-joke in each of them!”
“Mm-hmm.” She nodded, smiling despite herself. “But we’re only halfway through this page, and you know it’s due tomorrow.” He knew she’d changed the subject on purpose.
“Look, Liz, let’s q-quit Algebra and go outside. It’s w-warm now for the f-first time all year.”
She agreed, smiling, then followed him outside. “Race you to the park.”
They tore past down Sam’s driveway, passing the apple trees, who were just starting to grow pale pink buds, and the flowerbeds full of delicate snowdrops, just beginning to lose their dainty white petals.
It’s kind of funny how quickly a person can make friends, he thought, grinning to himself. He’d been in the US barely two months, and here he was, playing in the park with some girl he’d only just met. And, it seemed, he’d have been back home for less than that time and suddenly it’d be as if she was on another planet. Like Mars. He had just learned about Mars in Science class, and it seemed cool. But too red.
Maybe that was good, though. He didn’t want some stranger coming between him and his old friends, did he?
That was trouble with lying to yourself. You never believed you.
