5. Lemonade

5 Lemonade After school, Mr. Scary called Mother at her work. And he told her that I got disappointed about the tournament. That's how come—for dinner that night— Mother made my favorite meal of pasketti and meatballs. Plus she and Daddy tried to be extra nice to me. "I know you're upset about not being in the kickball game," Mother said. "But everyone has disappointments in life, honey." I was still in a bad mood. "I hate disappointments. I hate them," I said.

Daddy patted me. "Yes, well, we all hate being disappointed, Junie B.," he said. "But Mr. Scary said you can still do something fun in the tournament." I did a mad breath. "I hate that dumb tournament. I hate it," I said. Daddy squinted his eyes at me. He said to please stop saying hate. "I hate saying hate. I hate it," I said. After that, Daddy picked me up. And he carried me to my room for a time-out. It was not unexpected. I waited till he was gone. "I hate time-outs. I hate them," I whispered to my stuffed elephant named Philip Johnny Bob. I hate them, too, Junie B., he said back. I hate everything you hate. You and me hate everything exactly the same.

I hugged him very tight. I love that guy. After that, both of us flopped on my bed. And we calmed ourself down. Pretty soon, Mother came and got me. And she took me back to the table. I did not talk to Daddy.

Also, I did not talk to my baby brother named Ollie. 'Cause he is just learning words. And all he keeps saying is moo. Mother tried to be nice some more. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to be a cheerleader, Junie B.?" she said. "I know you couldn't jump up and down on your sore toe. But you could still yell and shout for your team." Daddy did a chuckle. "And yelling and shouting are right up your alley," he teased. I did not laugh at that remark. Daddy poked me. "Oh, don't be so glum," he said. "Being a cheerleader wouldn't be so bad, would it? Every little girl likes cheerleading." I rolled my eyes at the ceiling. "But I'm not every little girl, Daddy. I am just me. Junie B. Jones. And I don't want to

be a cheerleader. I want to be on the kickball team." Just then, my nose started to sniffle very much. "I even had a daydream about it," I said. "I was the star of the whole entire game. And it was very wonderful. Only now that is never going to happen." Mother gave me a hug. "Well, no one can be a star all the time," she said. "It's just like I said earlier. Everyone has disappointments sometimes." "Right," said Daddy. "And when life hands you lemons, you have to learn to make lemonade." I looked weird at that man. "Huh?" I said. "What's lemonade got to do with this?" Mother smiled. "It's just a saying, Junie B.,"

she said. "It means that when life goes a little bit sour, you need to find a way to sweeten it up a bit." Just then, Daddy went to the refrigerator. And he took out three lemons. "Here, look. I'll show you," he said. He held up the lemons for me to see. "See what I have here?" he said. "They're just three sour old lemons, right?" I did a shrug. "I guess so." Daddy grinned. "Ahhh… but maybe these sour lemons are more fun than they look," he said. Then, one by one, he threw each lemon into the air. And WOWIE WOW WOW! HE STARTED TO JUGGLE THEM! I mean it!