The Adventures of Carly Sage

By Kara Raap

Carly Sage has crossed the threshold into sixth grade alongside her best friends, Cassidy and Benny. When a new student in Mrs. Connelly's class, Nick Danes, submits her essay as his own, she realizes that sixth grade is full of lies and injustice. Her adventures begin in this year of self-discovery when she learns that those around her can't be judged at first glance, and often share her hidden struggles.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 26, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463448370

Kara Raap

Kara Raap is a school administrator with over 24 years of experience in the field, whose faith and leadership have converged in a profound way. The Unlikely Leader will empower readers, through faith-based leadership principles, to fulfill their spiritual assignments from God. This is the author’s second book to date. The Adventures of Carly Sage, a coming-of-age tale, was awarded an Indie Excellence award for Juvenile Fiction in 2012. Kara resides in New York with her family.

Book preview

Chapter 1

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Carly Sage was thirty-two days away from turning the much awaited age of eleven. Why she welcomed eleven with such feverish anticipation, she did not know, but she marked the days off vehemently on the kitchen calendar.

Today, a day perhaps even more anticipated than her eleventh birthday, was her first day of sixth grade at Hamilton Bicentennial Elementary School. Finally, it had come to pass that Carly, along with her best friends, Cassidy and Benny, had reached the highest rank that an elementary school student can earn, that of sixth grader.

Last year, as Carly had peeked out the classroom door during Mrs. Barnett’s math lesson on Inverse Operations, she’d watched the (then) sixth graders pile into the hallway as they lined up to use the bathrooms. How can it be that they are only one year older? she’d wondered as she made note of their mature faces and stature. It seemed as though sixth grade was farther away than heaven, even though it was only right next door.

Carly, I need you to watch Sam after school today, said her mother as she crept downstairs with Samuel Sage Jr. content in her arms.

Mom! Today is the first day of school and I’m supposed to meet Cassidy and Benny at Seventh Street after…

Carly, I have a doctor’s appointment at four o’clock and I really need you. Dad will be leaving work early, so it shouldn’t be for too long. She shifted Sam’s weight onto her shoulder. I’d really appreciate it, she added encouragingly.

Carly huffed and puffed at least three sighs until she was sure that one was audible, then grabbed her backpack off the bench on the back porch. Bye, she grunted as she closed the door behind her. Her mother’s Have a good day, Honey! seeped through the door as Carly hopped down the porch steps.

Awaiting bus # 157, Carly Sage peered at her image in her compact mirror. I don’t look like a sixth grader, she thought. I look exactly the same as I did in Mrs. Barnett’s class. How strange it would be to walk past Mrs. Barnett’s door and enter Mrs. Connelly’s room instead. The two teachers could not be more different. Carly thought of Mrs. Barnett with her gentle, spiritual love of nature, and Mrs. Connelly—the only teacher known to use words like screwball and bonehead on a daily basis. Yet, something about Mrs. Connelly’s sarcastic humor appealed to Carly.

Turning the corner at Hoppey’s Store was bus # 157. Carly quickly slipped her compact into the side pocket of her backpack. The door flew open as the bus rolled to a stop. I hoped that she had retired, thought Carly as she caught her first glimpse of Viola since June. The bus driver didn’t acknowledge her. She was too busy shouting, Knees out of the aisle! to some hellions in the back of the bus. Carly approached the last seat on the right-hand side and tried to hide her excitement.

We’re sixth graders. This is so cool, said a short-haired, round-faced girl with a pleasant, approving smile… which slowly transformed to a frown. I thought you were wearing a skirt today; that’s what you said. That’s why I wore a skirt today. Carly remembered their phone conversation from the previous evening. She covered her mouth and faked a gasp of horror to the best of her ability, which was shamefully quite good.

Cassidy, oh no! Seriously, I forgot! I panicked when I tried on my clothes this morning. I didn’t know what to wear. Seeing her friend’s crestfallen expression made Carly add hastily, I’m sure lots of girls will be wearing skirts. (Telling Cassidy that she’d decided on her own that a skirt might appear overly anxious and not nearly sixth-grade casual enough, was probably not the best idea.)

As the bus pulled into the H.B.E. parking lot, the anticipation grew. Viola stood at the front of the bus, her knee on her seat, clipboard in hand, and began to deliver the bus safety rules. Something out of the corner of her eye caught Carly’s attention. Cass, pull down the window, Carly said as she put her backpack on the floor and leaned over Cassidy. It was Benny Ayella on the next bus over, waving his arms frantically, as if trying to attract the attention of a rescue plane from a desert island.

Benny! Who do you have? squeaked Carly, hoping that Viola was too distracted by the drilling of safety rules to notice her infraction.

Mr. Mal, called Benny.

Me too, Cassidy chimed in. My brother had him and he makes the kids eat the assignments they don’t complete.

Something more important than our safety and well-being on this bus, girls? rang Viola’s shrill, piercing voice. Carly and Cassidy shrunk in their seats but couldn’t disguise their embarrassed smiles.

As bus # 157 emptied out onto the bus platform, the children of Hamilton Bicentennial funneled into the school. Carly walked alongside Benny and Cassidy, who couldn’t find a single sixth grader in a skirt, to the Freedom Wing, the same wing they had been in for the last two years—only this time, freedom took on a whole new meaning. The sixth grade would mean independence, fairness and free will. It was certainly worlds away from fifth grade—or at least ten feet.

The trio marched coolly down the hallway, then Carly suddenly stopped in her tracks. Soft, gentle arms reached out to hug her and draw her in. Hi, Mrs. Barnett! said Carly as she stood tall and smart-looking in a way she was sure would impress her former teacher.

Are you ready for sixth grade, Carly? asked Mrs. Barnett as she lifted Carly’s long brown hair and set it back down on her shoulders in a maternal sort of way.

All set.

Who do you have? Carly’s attention shifted to Room # 9 on the opposite side of the hall where a wiry woman with cropped hair leaned with her back to the door, sipping a mug of coffee.

Get away from me. You’re sucking up all of my oxygen! the woman blurted out as she shooed the newly assigned students into her classroom.

Later, Carly, called Cassidy and Benny as they shuffled into Mr. Mal’s room.

Carly hugged Mrs. Barnett and headed toward Room # 9, but her