Most days, Coral was early for sea school. But this morning, Coral was having one purr-oblem after another. First, she dropped her seaweed pancakes all over the ocean floor. She cleaned them up. But then she got a stain on her new top and had to change. Then she tried to put on her favorite bracelet. But she accidentally knocked a stack of snail mail and her bracelet behind a bookcase!
“Mama!” Coral shouted. “I can’t reach my bracelet!” She frowned. “My arms are too short.”
“I’m coming,” Mama replied. She floated over and reached a paw behind the bookcase. “I can’t quite get it,” she said. “Help me move this out of the way.” Coral glanced at the clock on the wall. “I’m going to be late to school,” she whined.
Coral loved many things about sea school. She loved being in the same class as her two best friends. She loved having the most fin-teresting teacher ever, Ms. Harbor, who made every day paw-sitively amazing.
“Do you want to go to sea school without it today?” Mama asked.
“No!” Coral yelped. She couldn’t leave her bracelet behind! “You know Shelly, Angel, and I wear our bracelets every day.”
Shelly and Angel were Coral’s best friends. They wore their matching friendship bracelets so that everyone in Kittentail Cove knew they were a team. Coral would rather be late than go without her bracelet—and she hated being late!
Coral moved to the far side of the bookcase. She and Mama pushed until it was a few inches away from the wall. “Do you see it?”
Coral gasped. “Yes, I do—and a lot more!” she exclaimed. She scooped up her bracelet and the snail mail. Then she picked up a sea-glass necklace, a book, a scallop shell from her last trip to Tortoiseshell Reef, and a half-eaten piece of Founder’s Day candy. “I had no idea how much was back here!”
“Sometimes, if you look hard enough, you can find all sorts of unexpected things,” Mama said.
Coral handed Mama the snail mail and said, “If I hurry, I can still get to sea school on time.” She put her bracelet on her paw and reached for the doorknob.
Before Coral could open the door, Mama shouted, “Hold on a minute! There’s something here for you.” She held out an envelope.
Coral’s eyes grew wide. She said, “Snail mail? For me?”
Mama nodded.
Coral had never gotten snail mail before. But there was no time to read a letter. “I’m running behind schedule,” she said. “I’ll take it with me.” She stuffed the envelope in her bag and waved goodbye.
Coral hurried to Leondra’s Square to meet up with Shelly and Angel. When she saw them, she yelled, “I’m sorry I’m late! Let’s hurry!” She zipped by her friends without even stopping.
Angel and Shelly looked at each other and shrugged. Usually, it was Coral who complained that the girls were swimming too fast. “You must be really worried about missing the bell!” Angel joked.
“Can’t hear you!” Coral called. “You’re too far behind me!”
It didn’t take long for the girls to get to sea school. Coral’s heart was pounding from swimming so fast. But, luckily, by the time the bell rang, Coral, Angel, and Shelly were at their desks in Room EelTwelve. All the other students in the class were there, too. The only one missing was the teacher!
“Where’s Ms. Harbor?” Adrianna asked. “She’s never late.”
“She isn’t under my desk,” Baker said. “She isn’t under mine, either,” Taylor said.
Angel rolled her eyes. “Of course, she isn’t!” she said. She swam to the classroom door. “I’ll check the hallway,” she said, peeking left and right.
Coral spied a note on Ms. Harbor’s desk. She floated over to read it. Then she said, “I think we can stop looking.” She motioned for everyone to come closer. “I don’t think we’ll find Ms. Harbor here. But I did find this.” She read the note out loud.
“Why does Ms. Harbor want us to go to the schoolyard?” Shelly asked.
“Maybe today’s lesson is . . . RECESS!” Angel exclaimed.
“I’m really good at recess,” Baker said.
Copyright © 2019 by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
