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    Alex the Great
    Alex the Great
    Alex the Great
    Ebook126 pages1 hour

    Alex the Great

    By Rebecca Linam

    5/5

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    About this ebook

    Alexandra Penfold refuses to be anything more than what she isthe worlds biggest tomboy. She even tried out for the middle school football team. Alex knows she is different than all the other girls in her grade; they would rather sit around talking about boys, makeup, and the homecoming dance than play make-believe or jump on the trampoline.

    Known around school for not fitting in and for being a regular guest in the principals office, Alex just wants to spend her free time playing with her dog, Yippy, and her cat, Creamy, who happen to love her just the way she is. Her older brother, Jeremy, used to play with her as well, but nothing has been the same for Alex since Jeremy died in an accident two years ago.

    Still, things start to look up as Alex makes a new friend at school; everything seems to be going better. But then something terrible happens that makes Alex miss Jeremy more than ever. Now this fifth grader struggling to be herself must learn that the best gift in life is a friend who listens.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateJun 27, 2013
    ISBN9781475995060
    Alex the Great
    Author

    Rebecca Linam

    Rebecca Linam has studied German, Russian, Japanese, Swedish, Spanish, Irish, and various other languages. She has a black belt in Tang Soo Do, takes figure skating lessons, and has learned some Irish step dance. She has also been known to play the harpsichord and piano. When not infiltrating the files of other spy agencies, she sells oceanfront property in Arizona.

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    • 5/5
      Funny and serious, an entertaining reminder to be yourself. Alexandra Penfold insists on being herself, and nobody will change her mind. Alex likes to play and to do things her way. Many of her classmates think they are too old for fun. Fifth grade can be a challenge. Alex is on a quest to stay true to herself and enjoy life. Travel with Alex as she searches for justice and happiness amid the everyday madness of her fifth grade life.

    Book preview

    Alex the Great - Rebecca Linam

    Chapter 1—Call Me Alex, Or Else!

    A lex Penfold had been in mourning for a whole week and even wore all black today to prove it. Summer vacation was over, and today was the very first day of fifth grade at Avalon Middle School.

    Her teacher’s name was Mrs. Puckett.

    Mrs. Puckett the spit bucket, Alex muttered as she sat in her desk waiting for the tardy bell to ring. She had gotten to school a whole three minutes early. Avalon Middle School wasn’t as close to her house as Highland Park Elementary had been.

    Mrs. Puckett stood at the front of the room sporting a huge beginning-of-the-year smile. She had poufy brown hair and wore one of those teachers’ sweaters embroidered with ABCs, 123s, and pictures of apples.

    Alex could already tell it was going to be a horrible school year.

    The bell rang, and the torture began.

    Welcome to fifth grade, Mrs. Puckett said with her big smile. I know you all couldn’t wait to get back from summer vacation. Her arms shook like jelly as she waved them around while talking.

    I could, Alex muttered.

    Mrs. Puckett frowned. Is someone talking? Her eyes scanned the room. Remember, class: rule number one is that we don’t talk without raising our hands, right?

    Up in the front row, Sylvia Carruth nodded in agreement and shot a look at Alex.

    Alex ignored her. Once upon a time, they had been friends, but things had changed.

    Mrs. Puckett continued. Now I’m going to seat you in alphabetical order. Everyone, come stand at the front of the room.

    The whole class groaned and shuffled to the board.

    Andrea Abner, Mrs. Puckett said, pointing to the first desk.

    Andrea had been best friends with Alex in third grade but had decided she was too old to play make-believe anymore once they had finished fourth grade.

    Mrs. Puckett pointed to the second desk. Seth Armand.

    Seth loved football. Alex loved football too, but she wouldn’t dare hang around with him because he was a boy.

    Sylvia Carruth.

    Alex shuddered. Sylvia was Alex’s number one enemy. At the end of fourth grade, the two had gotten into a big fight, and now all the girls were on Sylvia’s side. All she cared about was makeup, clothes, hair, and boys. Alex cared about anything but makeup, clothes, hair, and boys.

    Tommy Conner.

    Tommy knew some funny songs with gross lyrics, but he was still a boy.

    Zack Dover.

    Alex shook her head—another boy.

    Amber Ewett. Shawn Ewett. Mrs. Puckett stopped. Amber and Shawn, are you two related?

    Yes, Amber mumbled. Every year it was the same. The teacher always thought having twins in the classroom was fantastic.

    Mrs. Puckett clasped her hands. Oh, how nice!

    Alex sighed. This year was going to be just as rotten as last year. She watched her fellow classmates take their seats and waited for Mrs. Puckett to get to the letter P: Jeffrey Flagg, Allison Hoover, Peter Orman. They were all too grown up to be caught playing with Alex.

    Alexandra Penfold.

    Alex froze. Mrs. Puckett had just called her Alexandra.

    By now, everyone but Alex, Josh Pruitt, and Ben Yarby were sitting in assigned seats. Ben stood there with his arms folded, and Josh looked over at Alex with wide eyes.

    Alexandra Penfold? Mrs. Puckett said again, staring at Alex.

    There it was again! That horrible Alexandra was out in the open.

    Sylvia Carruth raised her hand. Mrs. Puckett? That’s Alexandra. She pointed straight to Alex with a smirk. In addition to being Alex’s number one enemy, Sylvia also held the record for becoming the teacher’s pet in fewer than three days.

    Alex waved a fist at her. Call me Alex, or I’ll—

    Alex, sit down! Mrs. Puckett snapped.

    Alex stomped toward her seat, and the whole class erupted in laughter.

    She’s already in trouble on the first day of school, Alex heard someone whisper.

    Class, class! Settle down! Mrs. Puckett barked. She turned to Alex. One more rude response from you, young lady, and you’ll march straight to Mr. Pendleton’s office!

    Mr. Pendleton was the principal at Avalon Middle School. The rumors said he had an electric paddle as big as a small first grader.

    Alex didn’t really want to pay Mr. Pendleton a visit on the first day, so she kept her mouth shut. Besides, she knew she’d probably see him plenty before the end of the year. Instead, she took out a piece of paper and began to draw while Mrs. Puckett passed out copies of Climb the Hills, the fifth-grade reading book.

    She drew what turned out to be a perfectly splendid picture of Mrs. Puckett trapped in a rocket ship headed for Pluto. Alex drew lots of cracks in her glasses and made her hair puff out like a porcupine. MRS. PUCKETT THE SPIT BUCKET she wrote in large letters and then signed her name at the bottom right-hand corner, just like her older brother, Jeremy, would have done. Alex knew he would have been proud of it, and one corner of her mouth turned up. As soon as she got home, she would thumbtack the picture to her wall.

    Just then, Mrs. Puckett dropped a copy of Climb the Hills on her desk, and Alex stuffed the picture in one of her notebooks before she got into trouble.

    The rest of the morning was boring. Mrs. Puckett went through the usual list of supplies and passed out a stack of textbooks. Alex was the first one out the door when Mrs. Puckett said it was time for recess. She headed straight for the playground and got on the nearest swing. Twenty years ago, Avalon Middle School had been the elementary school. When the city finally built a new elementary school, they had moved fourth grade and under to the new building. Grades five through eight now had Avalon Middle School to themselves. Alex was just glad they hadn’t moved the playground too.

    Alex, don’t you think you’re a little too old to be playing on the playground? Sylvia’s voice came from behind Alex.

    Alex looked over her shoulder to see Sylvia and the rest of the girls from her class standing over to the side. At the end of fourth grade, they had decided that playing was childish, or rather, Sylvia had convinced them of it. The boys were engrossed in football next to the playground—well, all but Josh Pruitt. It looked like he was keeping one eye on the football game and one eye on the playground.

    I’ll bet he’d rather be playing over here too, she thought. After fourth grade, all the boys had decided that it wasn’t cool to play on the playground and had started playing football instead.

    Alex ignored Sylvia and the rest of the girls and pumped her swing up as high as it would go. Once she was even with the top of the swing set, she made up a story in her head about a swing-powered spaceship flying through the atmosphere of Saturn. Just as she was trying to imagine what life would be like on Saturn, she heard Mrs. Puckett yelling that recess was over.

    She didn’t leave until her swing had come to a complete stop. Only then did she stand up.

    Thank you for flying Saturn Air, she said with a grin and raced to join her class.

    Back in Mrs. Puckett’s fifth-grade classroom, Alex felt the awful atmosphere of school start to press down on her. She couldn’t wait until lunch. Right after recess, Mrs. Puckett put on her happy-to-be-at-school face and went straight to work giving the class a lesson on nouns.

    Nouns describe persons, places, and things, Mrs. Puckett’s voice droned. Can anyone give me an example of a noun?

    Hands shot up all over the room. Sylvia almost fell out of her desk trying to make her hand rise above the rest of the class.

    Alex groaned. They had been learning about nouns since the third grade, and every year it was the same.

    Mrs. Puckett narrowed her eyes at Alex. Alex, you don’t seem very interested in nouns. Perhaps you would like to give the class an example of a noun.

    Alex said the first thing that popped into her head. Barf.

    The boys hooted with laughter while the girls let out a chorus of Gross! Mrs. Puckett turned four shades of red before sentencing Alex to Mr. Pendleton’s office.

    I don’t care, Alex said, shrugging as casually as she could, but on her way to the principal’s office, she couldn’t help but pray that Mr. Pendleton would have mercy on her. Her parents would die if they got a call from school on the very first day.

    The secretary raised an eyebrow when Alex walked into the principal’s office.

    Alexandra Penfold, the secretary said, narrowing her eyes. I heard all about you from the elementary-school teachers. She picked up the phone and buzzed Mr. Pendleton’s office.

    My name’s Alex, she said with a scowl. Why couldn’t anyone

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