Megan was thirteen years old. She did not like school. She did not like books.

She cringed when her English teacher assigned a new book report. Each month Mr. Big picked a new book to do a book report on. For April, Mr. Big picked The Way Back Home by Allan Stratton.

Megan rolled her eyes.

She hated reading. She would much rather be drawing something. She liked playing sports.

She didn't hate her math class because her good friend Jessica was in it. The only reason Megan did not skip her English class more often was because she had a crush on Mathew Miller. He sat beside her.

After Mr. Big handed out the books, he asked them all to turn to the first page. They always read the first chapter together as a class. Megan hated this the most. He would call on each student to read a sentence, a paragraph, or a page. If she planned things right, she could be excused to go to the bathroom before it was her turn to read.

That did not happen this time.

Rebecca was the first student called upon to read. Rebecca was a good reader. She was asked to read an entire page out loud.

Mr. Big went down the rows, asking each student to read, until it was Megan’s turn. Megan had been carefully following along with the story. It was not because she cared about the story. It was because she tried to get ahead of the readers to find out what sentence she would have to read out loud. If she practiced before she read, she might not screw up any words in front of the class.

It was Megan's turn to read. She was sweating. When she spoke, her voice didn’t sound like her voice. It was shaky and small. She felt like she needed some water.

There was a word she didn’t know in the sentence she had to read. She started reading and when she got to the word she didn’t know, she stumbled. Then Mr. Big caught her. He said the word out loud for her. She didn't have to ask him what it said or meant.

“Good job, Megan,” Mr. Big said.

Megan was glad she had survived reading that sentence, but she didn’t feel like she had done a good job. Why do teachers make you read out loud, anyway?

When English class was over, Megan went to meet Jessica at her locker. It was something she did every day at lunchtime. They would meet up and then go eat lunch together.

“Hey, Jessica,” Megan said.

“Oh, Megan,” said Jessica. “Listen. I was invited to sit with Cathy and Melissa at lunch today. I’m really sorry.”

Megan was confused. Were they having lunch with Cathy and Melissa today?

When Jessica rushed off without her, Megan realized what she had meant. Jessica had meant that she wasn’t having lunch with Megan today. Jessica had made new friends and Megan wasn’t included.

Megan was not sure what to do now. She’d always had lunch with Jessica.

Taking a deep breath, Megan wandered into the library and sat down in the back. No one could see her. She took out the book Mr. Big had assigned and tried to read. When the bell rang because lunch was over, Megan had only managed to read one page.

When Megan got home, she threw her backpack into a corner. She walked to the kitchen for a snack. She smiled at her grandmother, who was drinking coffee at the kitchen table.

“What do you want for dinner tonight, honey?” her grandmother asked.

“I don’t care, Grandma,” Megan said.

“How was school?” her grandmother asked her. “Do you have homework?”

“No,” Megan said.

“What about reading? Isn’t today the day Mr. Big assigns a new book to read?” asked her grandmother.

“Yeah,” said Megan.

“What book did he assign?” her grandmother asked.

“It’s in my bag,” Megan said.

“Well,” her grandmother said, "go get it.”

Megan fetched her bag from the corner she had thrown it into. She pulled out the book and handed it to her grandmother. Her grandmother read the back and then gave the front cover a long look.

“It looks like a good one,” Megan’s grandmother said.

“I guess,” said Megan.

“How about we read it together?” asked her grandmother.

“We did that with the last one,” Megan said, reminding her.

“We did,” her grandmother agreed. “And you got a good grade on the report.”

“I got a C,” Megan said.

“Yeah, well, we deserved an A,” her grandmother said.

Megan smiled. “Okay. Fine. We can read it together.”