12 WHAT A GREAT DAY

WHAT A GREAT DAY What a great day, Bean thought. She was eating her ice cream on the front porch. She stirred hard, watching the chocolate part swirl into the vanilla part. Yum. Ice- cream soup. Ivy stepped out onto her front porch, holding an ice-cream bar. "Come over!" yelled Bean. Ivy went back inside and came out after a moment. She started down the steps, stopping every few feet to lick the drips from her bar. "What do you have?" she asked as she sat down next to Bean.

"Ice-cream soup," said Bean, showing her. "Mm." They ate in silence for a few minutes. Then—bang—the porch door slammed shut behind Nancy. "You spilled on your shirt," she said to Bean.

Bean looked down. She had spilled on her shirt. "Oh well" she said., Nancy sat down. "It'll never come out," she said. "Mom says you have to come in and do your math." "Hi, Nancy," said Ivy. "Hi," said Nancy in a not-very-friendly way. "You're supposed to go in, Bean." "Okay," said Bean without getting up. "Did you get a new haircut, Nancy?" Ivy asked. "What? No," said Nancy. There was a pause. "Why? Does my hair look different?" Bean stared very hard at her milkshake.

Ivy licked a drip. "Yeah." She tilted her head to the side and looked at Nancy's hair. "The bottom—there— it looks different. Kind of uneven. You know?" "It does?" said Nancy, grabbing some hair and pulling it in front of her face. "Yeah. Sort of uneven," Ivy said. She cracked off a piece of chocolate coating and ate it. Nancy stared at her hair and then got up and went inside. Ivy and Bean finished their ice cream in silence. A really great day, thought Bean.