2 Closer to Nine

CHAPTER 2 Closer to Nine "Stella, there's a phone call for you," Mom said. I love getting phone calls! "Hello, this is Stella Batts," I said, pressing the phone against my ear. "Who is this?" Next to me, my sister, Penny, whined in my other ear. "How come I didn't get a phone call?" "Shhh, Penny, I can't hear," I said. "Who is this?" I asked again. "Guess," said a voice on the other end of

第二章 快到九岁啦 “斯特拉，有你的电话。”妈妈说。 我可喜欢接电话啦！ “你好，我是斯特拉·巴茨。”我一边说，一边把听筒贴在耳朵上。 “你是谁呀？” 我旁边的妹妹佩妮，凑在我另一只耳朵边上哼哼唧唧。 “为什么没人给我打电话呀？” “嘘，佩妮，我都听不清了。”我说。 “你是谁呀？” 我又问了一遍。 “你猜呀。”电话那头传来一个声音

the phone. "Willa!" I nearly screamed. "Of course I know who it is! You're my best friend! I can't wait to see you in person! It will be my best birthday EVER!" "Me toooooo!!!!" Penny cried, leaning toward the phone. "It's not going to be your birthday," I told her. "I mean I can't wait to see Willa, too!" she said. "WILLA!!!!" "Inside voices, girls," Mom said. "Please." "Let me talk to Willa," Penny said, in a soft inside voice. "No," I told her, in my soft inside voice. "I don't mind if Penny wants to talk to me," Willa said. Willa is very nice. As a matter of fact, she's the nicest person I've ever met in my

。 “薇拉！” 我差点叫出声来。 “我当然知道是谁啦！ 你是我最好的朋友呀！ 我都等不及要当面见你啦！ 这一定会是我有史以来最棒的生日！” “我也超超超期待！！！” 佩妮凑向电话，大声喊着。 “又不是你的生日。”我对她说。 “我是说我也等不及要见薇拉啦！” 她说。 “薇拉！！！！” “姑娘们，小声点，在家里呢。”妈妈说， “拜托啦。” “让我跟薇拉说话嘛。”佩妮放轻了音量，用适合室内的声音说。 “不行。”我也压着嗓子，用室内音量回答她。 “佩妮想跟我说话也没关系呀。”薇拉说。 薇拉人特别好。 事实上，她是我这辈子见过的最最好的人

whole entire life! But I knew she'd called to talk to me, not Penny. "It's not fair," Penny told Mom. "Hold on," I said into the phone. I walked out of the kitchen, down the hall, and into my room. "You know what's weird?" I asked Willa. "You know exactly what my house looks like. But when you walk in yours, I have no idea what it looks like." "You'll know in two more days," Willa said. "I know!" I said. "I'm so excited!" If you haven't guessed already, that was the amazing trip I mentioned in Chapter One—a trip to Willa's house in Pennsyl- vania. From Saturday morning until Tuesday night—four days and three nights! "I'm more excited," Willa said.

，真的是全世界最好的！ 但我知道她是打给我的，不是打给佩妮的。 “这不公平。”佩妮跟妈妈告状。 “稍等一下哦。”我对着电话说。 我走出厨房，穿过走廊，进了自己的房间。 “你知道有件事特别奇怪吗？” 我问薇拉。 你清清楚楚知道我家是什么样子的。 可我完全不知道你家进门以后是什么样的。” “再过两天你就知道啦。”薇拉说。 “我知道呀！” 我说。 “我超级兴奋的！” 要是你还没猜到的话，这就是我第一章里提到的超棒的旅行——去宾夕法尼亚州薇拉的家。 从周六早上到周二晚上，整整四天三夜哦！ “我更兴奋。”薇拉说。

"And I'm the MOST excited," I told her. "I'm so excited I feel like... I feel like I could hug the whole entire world. That's how excited I am. And the best part is, it'll be my birthday when I'm there." "A sleepover birthday," she said. "My mom and I planned it all out. You and Penny will sleep in my room, and your parents and Marco will sleep in Jackson's room." "With Jackson?" I asked. Jackson is Willa's younger brother.

“我才是最最最兴奋的！”我跟她说。 “我兴奋得就好像…… 就好像我能把整个世界都抱进怀里。 我就是这么兴奋。 而且最棒的是，我去你家的时候，正好是我的生日呀。” “是过夜派对生日哎。”她说。 “我和妈妈都计划好啦。 你和佩妮睡我的房间，你爸爸妈妈还有马可睡杰克逊的房间。” “和杰克逊一起吗？” 我问。 杰克逊是薇拉的弟弟。

"Jackson is going to sleep in Spen- cer's room," Willa said. Spencer is her older brother. "My mom said it's like musical beds." "That's funny," I told her. "So, what are you doing between now and when you get here?" Willa asked. "Right now we're making cupcakes for my party at school tomorrow," I told her. "We can't frost them yet, because we're waiting for my dad to come home from the store with all the toppings. There's going to be rainbow sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate chips, cubes of fudge, and probably a million more things." "A million? Really?" "No, not a million. But a lot. As soon as he gets here, we'll decorate the cupcakes. Then I'll go to sleep, and wake up and go to school, and have my party. Then after that, Mom will

“杰克逊会睡在斯宾塞的房间里。”薇拉说。 斯宾塞是她的哥哥。 “我妈妈说这就像抢床位游戏一样。” “好有意思呀。”我跟她说。 “对啦，从现在到你来之前，你都要做什么呀？” 薇拉问。 “我们现在正在做纸杯蛋糕，明天我要带去学校派对上。”我告诉她。 “我们还不能给蛋糕抹糖霜呢，因为爸爸去商店买所有配料了，我们在等他回来。 会有彩虹糖屑、巧克力糖屑、巧克力豆、软糖块，说不定还有好多好多别的东西。” “一百万种吗？ 真的吗？” “哈哈，不是一百万种啦。 但真的很多哦。 他一到家，我们就可以装饰纸杯蛋糕啦。 然后我就睡觉，醒了就去上学，办我的派对。 派对结束之后，妈妈会