5. Valentime’s Time

5/Valentime's Time Valentime's Day came on Friday! And guess what? My grandma Helen Miller bought me a special Valentime's outfit! And it matched my heart antennas very perfect! That day at school, I skipped all around Room Nine. 'Cause I was a treat for the eyes, I tell you! Finally, I sat in my seat. And Mrs. took attendance. And guess what? Nobody was absent! 'Cause who wants to miss a party, that's why! After attendance, Mrs. put on a special Valentime's apron. It had a big heart pocket

in the front. Then Mrs. filled the heart pocket with Valentime's cards from the box. And she delivered them to all of the children. And wait till you hear this! The very first valentime was delivered to me! To Junie B. Jones! And it said my name right on the envelope! "YAHOO!" I shouted real thrilled. "I AM FIRST AGAIN, MRS.! YAHOO! YAHOO!" After that, Mrs. kept on delivering cards until the whole valentimes box was empty. Then all of us got to open up our cards. And it was as fun as a birthday party, I tell you! After Lucille finished opening her valentimes, she called Grace to our table. "Come here, Grace! Come here and bring your valentines! Then you and I can count

our cards. And we'll see who got the most from the boys," she said. Grace came over. She smiled kind of nervous. "Well… okay. Here goes," she said. Then Grace put all of her valentimes in front of me and Lucille. And she counted them one by one. Pretty soon, Grace wasn't smiling anymore. "Rats. I knew I shouldn't have come over here," she said. Lucille grinned a teeny bit. "Why, Grace?" she asked. "How many did you get? You have to tell me, Grace. How many?" Grace did a big sigh. "I only got seventeen," she said. "I only got one card from every person. And that's all.

No extras." Lucille's face lighted up very bright. She flipped her hair all around in the air. "Gee, I am sorry to hear that, Grace," she said. "Well, I suppose I should count mine

now." After that, Lucille counted her cards in front of me and Grace. She counted them right out loud. "Thirteen… fourteen… fifteen… sixteen…" All of a sudden, Lucille stopped counting. 'Cause there was only one more valentime left in her pile, that's why. She quick stood up at her seat. And looked all around herself. First, she looked under the table. Then she looked on top of her chair. And all over the floor. Also she looked in her pockets. And her backpack. And her purse. Finally, she sat back down real upset. "I don't understand," she said. "How could this be happening? Every day my nanna tells me how special I am. But seventeen

valentines isn't special at all. Seventeen valentines is just the same as everybody else." I did a sigh. "Nannas," I said. "You can't believe a word they say." Grace looked cheerier. "Count yours, Junie B. Count your valentines and see if you got seventeen like Lucille and me." "Of course I got seventeen, silly Grace," I told her. "Everybody in this whole room got seventeen. It was the rule, remember?" After that, I put all my cards in a pile. And I counted them out loud, just like Lucille. I did a frown. Then I counted them again. And even again. 'Cause guess what?