The News

WHAT IS TAKING SHELLYso long?” Echo asked. She swam back and forth, then peeked around the corner of her shell. If Shelly didn’t hurry, they would be late for school.

“Too bad I don’t have one of those gadgets humans use to talk to someone who’s far away,” Echo said.

People fascinated Echo. Ever since Shelly’s grandfather had told her about their machines that capture singing, Echo had wanted to see a human. She even wondered what it would be like tonothave a tail.

She did a huge backward flip and smiled. Having a tail did havesomeadvantages. If she kept practicing her flips, she hoped to make the Tail Flippers team at her new school, Trident Academy. Tryouts were this week. Her best friend, Shelly, had already tried out for the Shell Wars sports team at school. Echo did another flip, this time twisting sideways.

“That was great,” Shelly said, swimming up beside her.

“There you are!” Echo squealed. “Have you heard the news?”

“Yes!” Shelly shouted. “I can’t wait!”

“Me neither,” Echo said. “Come on, let’s get to school.”

The two mergirls splashed past the statues of famous merfolk in MerPark.

“I can’t believe Pearl was able to do it,” Echo said as they swam quickly along.

Shelly brushed a lock of red hair out of her face. “Pearl?” she asked. “Pearl didn’t even try out.” Pearl was another mergirl in their third-grade class, who seemed to think she was better than everyone else.

Echo laughed as they reached the entrance to their school. “You don’t have to try out; you just need lots of jewels to pay for them.”

“You canpayto get on the Shell Wars team?” Shelly asked. “I thought Pearl hated Shell Wars.”

Echo stopped and stared at her friend. “Whatare you talking about?”

“I’m talking about Shell Wars. Coach Barnacle announces who made the team today. What areyoutalking about?”

Echo grabbed Shelly’s hands and squeezed them tightly. “I’m talking about Pearl’s birthday party. She’s invited the Rays!”

“You’re kidding!” Shelly screamed. There wasn’t a merperson alive who hadn’t heard of the Rays. They were an amazing boy band and they were very, very cute.

“Didn’t you get your invitation?” Echo asked.

Shelly shook her head.

“I bet you’ll get it today,” Echo told her friend. She smiled as they went into the school, but she was a little worried. Pearl wasn’t exactly the nicest mergirl in their class, and she didn’t like Shelly very much.

What if Pearl hadn’t invited Shelly? What would Echo do?

Text copyright © 2012 by Debbie Dadey Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Tatevik Avakyan All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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Excerpted from Battle of the Best Friends by Debbie Dadey
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.