I’m in my room reading my book, but not really paying attention because I’m so excited for the sleepover I’m about to have with my best friend Lynn.

My dad drives me to Lynn’s house, which is only five minutes away. When I get there, I ring the doorbell and wait. Inside her house I hear her running for the door. Then, Lynn opens the door, and I run and hug her. I haven’t seen her for a few weeks.

“I missed you, Lynn!”

“Me too, Aliza!” she says, sounding a little nervous.

When we get inside, I follow Lynn to her room. Once I’m in her room, the familiar smell of strawberries greets me. If I was blindfolded, I would know exactly where I am. I also recognize the neatness of her room. The same mini elephant sculpture I had given her many years ago is still there. Then I turn around, and I’m surprised to see another girl in Lynn’s room that looks about our age. She towers over Lynn because she is so tall. I’m tall for my age, but she is still taller than me.

“Who is that?” the girl asks Lynn.

“She’s my best friend Aliza,” Lynn replies.

“You said that I’m your best friend though.”

“What is going on here?” I say, confused.

Lynn tells me that the girl’s name is Stella, and she just moved into the house next to Lynn’s. Then, she tells me that now she has two best friends.

I am so mad that I practically scream what I say next. “But is she sleeping over too?!”

“Yes! Aren’t you excited?” Lynn replies.

“No,” I say quietly.

“Lynn, can we go to the bathroom and talk alone?”

“I guess?” Lynn says, questioning me.

Once we are in the bathroom with the hospital smell, I ask why she had invited Stella to the sleepover. Lynn tells me that she can have more than one best friend.

“But I’ve known you for five years, and you’ve only known her for two days!” I tell Lynn angrily, looking at the bright pink walls.

Lynn has the same nervous look on her face, only ten times worse than when she saw me at the door. “Let’s go,” Lynn says.

We go back into Lynn’s room and find Stella putting on makeup in front of Lynn’s mirror. She spins around when she sees us.

“What were you guys doing in there?” Stella asks.

“Nothing,” I say.

“Yeah right,” she says quietly, but I could still hear her.

We go downstairs to eat dinner. It is mac ‘n cheese (my favorite.) But for some reason, I don’t think it is going to taste as good today.

After we are done eating dinner, Lynn asks us what movie we want to watch. Stella says she wants to watch Moana, but I want to watch The Secret Life Of Pets. Lynn says that we should watch Moana because Stella is the guest. She completely forgot that I am a guest, too.

Once the movie is over, we get ready to take showers. Stella asks if Lynn will take a shower with her, and I am sure that Lynn would say no because that would leave me out.

But Lynn says, “Yes!”

So then I am left alone. I could hear Lynn and Stella singing in the shower. I feel like Lynn turned into a totally different person.

When it’s finally time for arranging our sleeping bags and going to sleep, Stella wants to sleep next to Lynn. I do too. So I suggest that Lynn should sleep in the middle, but Stella takes her spot. I have to sleep next to Stella. The whole night, Stella and Lynn stay up whispering. I fall asleep hoping that things will be better in the morning.

When I wake up, Lynn and Stella aren’t in Lynn’s room anymore. I hear voices downstairs, so I walk down. Once I am in the kitchen, I see Stella and Lynn eating pancakes and talking. Lynn sees me and gasps.

“Oh my gosh Aliza! I’m so, so, so sorry! I totally forgot that you were still sleeping!” Lynn almost screams.

“It’s okay,” I say quietly even though it wasn’t okay.

When Lynn hands me my plate of pancakes, I sit down and think up a plan. If somehow I can get Stella to not like Lynn, then maybe Stella will leave us alone. After breakfast, when Lynn and Stella are brushing their teeth, I write a note in Lynn’s handwriting. This is the note.

Hi Stella!

I’m sorry to say this to you, but I like Aliza more

Than you. Actually I hate you. Once you see this

note make sure to never talk to me again or else!

Make sure you listen to this note or you will regret

it!

Lynn

The note is perfect. I slip it in Stella’s sleeping bag and go to brush my teeth. When Stella gets home and reads the note, she will never talk to Lynn again! Once I am done brushing my teeth, I go outside to find Stella and Lynn playing volleyball.

“Oh hi, Aliza,” Stella says with no expression.

“Hi, Stella,” I say back to her.

I notice that Lynn doesn’t say anything when I come out. I wonder if she feels bad for me. If she does, she shouldn’t have invited Stella for the sleepover in the first place.

Stella leaves Lynn’s house first. I hope I’ll finally have time with Lynn, but my dad comes right after Stella leaves. When I get in the car, my Dad asks how the sleepover was. I don’t like to upset my dad, so I say that it was fun.

As I walk to school on Monday, I worry that Stella will not listen to the note and talk to Lynn. If that happens, Lynn will say that she didn’t write the note, and they will figure out that it was me. Then, Lynn will be mad at me and be friends with Stella again. On the other hand, if Stella does listen to the note, then Lynn will notice that Stella isn’t talking to her and ask her why. They will figure out that it was me either way. This is bad. I have to fix things quick, or they will figure out that I wrote the note.

Waiting for class to start, I have an idea. I know that Stella is deathly allergic to peanuts. I decide to to tell Stella that last night at the sleepover I had been eating peanuts, and a few had fallen into Stella’s sleeping bag. That will scare her and cause her to throw out the sleeping bag with the note in it. So at recess, I go to find Stella. I see her eating pretzels near the front gate. I figure that she hasn’t unpacked her sleeping bag yet, so I go on with my plan. I walk up to her.

“Hi, Stella,” I say loud enough so that she will turn and look at me.

“Hi, Aliza,” she replies sounding sad.

“What’s the matter?” I ask her.

“I got a note from Lynn saying she hated me.”

Uh-oh, I think. My plan won’t work. She already saw the note. I have to think of something really, really fast. I start to think about what I already know about Stella. I think that Stella is really stubborn. I know what I can do. I will use Stella’s stubbornness to my advantage.

“Hey, Stella. I can’t imagine Lynn writing that, so maybe it was just a bad dream,” I say to Stella calmly.

“You’re right Aliza! It probably was!!” Stella says excitedly.

Problem solved! The only problem now is Stella will be friends with Lynn again. But I can deal with that. And besides, now Lynn will be happy, which makes me happy. And I like being happy.

The rest of the week is as ordinary as ever. On Friday though, I get an invitation from Stella to have a sleepover at her house with Lynn. I say yes before I even think about it. But I am worried that the sleepover will be like last week’s.

On Saturday afternoon, my dad drives me to Stella’s house, and I surprise myself by being excited. When I arrive, Lynn is already there. She and Stella are in a room playing cards.

“Hi, Aliza!” Stella and Lynn say at the same time.

Once their game is over, we head downstairs to eat dinner. We are having hot-dogs (another one of my favorites). After dinner, we take showers all together! We lay out our sleeping bags in a circle this time so that no one is left out. I remember how I felt last week when we went to bed. Today is the total opposite.

The next morning, I wake up first, so I creep downstairs to get a glass of water. When I get back to Stella’s room, Stella is awake. We play a card game together when Lynn starts sleep talking. Stella and I laugh so loudly that Lynn wakes up.

“What’s so funny?” she asks.

“You were sleep talking,” Stella and I say at the same time.

After breakfast, we sit on the couch with our arms linked together. I am in the middle. We are all wearing fancy dresses because in the afternoon we are going to watch a musical. I have the feeling that Stella, Lynn, and I are going to be best friends forever. And that would be awesome.