Wonder

wood, and I made a little lightning-bolt symbol above the letters. It
looked pretty professional, I have to say. Dad was like, “Wow, Jackie!
You were right about the sled!”
The next day, we went back to Skeleton Hill with Lightning. It was
the fastest thing I’ve ever ridden—so, so, so much faster than the
plastic sleds we’d been using. And because it had gotten warmer
outside, the snow had become crunchier and wetter: good packing
snow. Me and Jamie took turns on Lightning all afternoon. We were in
the park until our fingers were frozen and our lips had turned a little
blue. Dad practically had to drag us home.
By the end of the weekend, the snow had started turning gray and
yellow, and then a rainstorm turned most of the snow to slush. When
we got back to school on Monday, there was no snow left.
It was rainy and yucky the first day back from vacation. A slushy
day. That’s how I was feeling inside, too.
I nodded “hey” to August the first time I saw him. We were in front
of the lockers. He nodded “hey” back.
I wanted to tell him about Lightning, but I didn’t.