“My parents just separated, Lara,” Tanya said softly. “Right before the summer. My brother and I are living with Mom. We’re with Dad every weekend. It’s … horrible. And it’s so hard on my little brother. So when I come to school it’s hard to be my normal self with everybody. Most days I just want to go to the library and cry in a corner.”
I felt winded. If I’d been a teeny-weeny bit sensitive I wouldn’t have missed it. I thought back to all the hints she’d dropped. Wanting to wear clothes her mom had made her. Going all quiet when we spoke about her parents. Visiting her dad to play basketball.
A Friendship Matchmaker was supposed to listen. To care about people’s feelings and their stories. All I’d done was try to turn Tanya into a different person. I hadn’t respected her, or bothered to care about what she was going through.
“Tanya, I don’t know what to say. If it makes any difference, I came to school today to tell you that I was finished looking for a best friend for you. I was hoping you’d think of me as your best friend …” I stole a glance at Emily who smiled but didn’t interrupt me. “I would understand now if I’m the last person in the world you would want to be friends with,” I finished.
Tanya looked at me in surprise and then blew her nose. She didn’t say anything for a while. When I didn’t think I could take the silence anymore she finally spoke up.
“Can we talk about what we want, at school and out of school? No banned topics? No Fashion Rules or books-to-read guidelines?”
I held up my Manual in front of them. I flicked through it, skimming my Rules and advice. Emily was right. I’d been thinking of school in the worst possible way. I was teaching kids to trust no one, especially themselves. I made a sudden decision and rushed to the garbage can and dropped the Manual in it.
“Sorry, Harry Potter’s publishers,” I whispered.
Then I turned to Tanya. “No more Rules or lists,” I said firmly.
The three of us grinned.
“So homemade T-shirts are allowed?” she asked coyly.
“Yeah, sure,” I said cheerfully.
“But the school-supplies sniffing isn’t coming back, is it?” Emily said worriedly.
“Only in times of high stress,” Tanya joked. “You just can’t imagine how good a ruler smells during history tests.”
We laughed, and then Emily and I waited outside the bathroom while Tanya washed her face and tried to get her puffy eyes back to normal size.
“So,” Emily said confidently, folding her arms across her chest, “looks like we have a tie.”
“Yep,” I said. “Everybody’s a winner.”
“We obviously have our individual talents. I bet if we went into this Friendship Matchmaking business together we could make this the best school in the world. Bully-free and without a lonely person in sight. We could write another Manual! Do speed-friendship sessions at lunchtime! Start an online Friendship Matchmaker service on the school’s website!”
“Whoa!” I cried, holding my hands up to stop her from continuing. “Believe me, it all sounds very tempting. But, for once, I’m going to take some time off and enjoy being a best friend. After all, I’m Potts County Middle School’s Friendship Matchmaker. And I’ve just made the best match of my career.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to Dyan Blacklock for giving me the chance to turn back time and become a middle schooler all over again! It’s been a pleasure working with the team at Omnibus. Thank you, Gina Inverarity, for your meticulous editing. Thanks are also due to my wonderful agent, Sheila Drummond. Thanks, Sally Ahmed, for your advice and suggestions.
Copyright © 2011 by Randa Abdel-Fattah
All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
First published in Australia in 2011 by Omnibus Books, an imprint of Scholastic Australia
Published in the United States of America in July 2012
by Walker Publishing Company, Inc., a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.
Electronic edition published in July 2012
www.bloomsburykids.com
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Walker BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Abdel-Fattah, Randa.
The friendship matchmaker / Randa Abdel-Fattah.
p. cm.
Summary: Lara Zany is her middle school’s official Friendship Matchmaker, but a new student, Emily Wong, has her own ideas on the subject and they vie to match two “hopeless cases” with their perfect best friend.
[1. Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Middle schools—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.A15892Fri 2012 [Fic]—dc23 2011031428
Book design by Yelena Safronova
ISBN 978-0-8027-2833-3 (e-book)
Randa Abdel-Fattah, The Friendship Matchmaker
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