Be Best Club

By Priscilla Boafo

Allison Smith is a ten year old girl who's been cyberbullied in the past. When First Lady Melania Trump visits her middle school and tells the students about her initiative: Be Best, Allison starts Be Best Club in an effort to help the cause.

 

As the club becomes popular and thrives, Amy Lancaster, who hates Allison, and her friends, hear about it. They do EVERYTHING in their power to destroy the club. When it looks like they've almost succeeded, things turn around dramatically—Allison and the club survive Be Nuts Club's attacks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Better Publishing
• Release date: Apr 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201894481

Priscilla Boafo

Priscilla Boafo is a wife, a homeschool mother of three and a homemaker. She graduated with honors from Liberty University with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. Priscilla’s desire is to write content for and about children that’s educative and communicates important lessons and values.

Book preview

Chapter One

The First Lady’s Visit

Allison ran to the front door of her home from the school bus in extreme excitement. Be Best Club’s first ever meeting was a success and she was very anxious to tell her parents all about it. 

Mom! Mom! Mom, where are you? Allison shouted when she had barely entered. 

I’m in the back! 

Allison zoomed to the backyard, where she found her mother pruning iris flowers in the greenhouse. 

Mom, I have great news! Allison began, telling her mother all about the meeting that had taken place that day after school. She could hardly say the words. She was out of breath from running.

Allison, calm down! I can hardly hear you! Her mom laughed. Allison paused for a second. After taking a few gulps of air and leaning her small frame against the garden table for support, she told her story all over again. Mrs. Smith had a proud smile on her face as she listened attentively to her daughter. She knew how much the club meant to her. Allison had talked about starting it day and night for about a month now. 

. . . and the best part is, I was made president of the club! 

Oh that’s wonderful news, sweetie! I know you’ll be superb at it!

When Allison was done telling her mom everything, Mrs. Portia Smith clasped her hands together and said the best thing a mother could say to her daughter after such news.

How about a bowl of ice cream to celebrate? She beamed. 

Allison did a little dance. Of course! She loved ice cream and she knew they had her favorite flavor: vanilla.

She took a glance at her wrist watch.  Good. Just two more hours, then Dad will be home. I can’t wait to tell him too! Allison put her hand in her mom’s as the duo skipped to the kitchen.

Allison Smith was a sixth grader at Wyoming Bright Stars Middle School. She was ten years old and the youngest in her class because she skipped a grade at eight years old. Her favorite color was rose gold and her favorite Bible character was Jesus Christ. After delving into the Gospels for family Bible studies last summer with her parents, she came to the conclusion that Jesus was really cool. The best part of the Bible study was when she finally understood how He was both God and man. 

I don't know why no one has come up with a Jesus superhero action figure, but I hope someone does. She often said to the Lord.

Since Allison was an only child, she developed a very close relationship with her parents. Mr. Andrew Smith was a math professor at the University of Wyoming. Not only was he kind to his students, but he was also a great teacher and they loved him. Mrs. Portia Smith was a home-based floral business owner. She had two part time employees who assisted with office work, packaging, and shipping. Her sister, Genevieve Peterson, was one of them. Allison and her cousin Emily, Auntie Genevieve’s oldest daughter, were always glad to help out when necessary. Allison's mom occasionally gave them nice gifts to show appreciation.

Emily was one of Allison's best friends. Her school best friends were Primrose Hernandez and Marjorie Tucker.

Emily was like a sister to Allison and the two girls had been very close since they were toddlers. They actually looked somewhat alike. They both had apple cheeks and  tiny clefts in their chins. Even their hair was the same 4B type. There were four major differences between them though: Emily was a year older than Allison; she didn't wear glasses, whereas Allison did; she was an inch shorter than Allison's five feet; and her dad was white, whereas both of Allison's parents were black.

A few weeks ago, First Lady Melania Trump had visited WBS and the students had such an amazing time with her. The whole student body, from sixth to eighth grade, and the teaching staff, convened in the gym. The First Lady read Let Me Hold You Longer by Karen Kingsbury. Allison and her friends really loved the story. Mrs. Trump’s reading style was soft, kind, and strong. 

Two students had been chosen from each grade to chitchat with Mrs. Trump for a few minutes on behalf of their whole grade. For sixth grade, Allison and Nana Bonsu were picked.

You know you have to give us allllll the details of your conversation right? Though Primrose had wanted to be picked, she was not jealous of her friend. Majorie nodded in agreement to Primrose’s statement.

You know I definitely will. Allison was beside herself with joy.

The first lady had been a delight to talk to and she had been very interested to know more about the challenges sixth graders at WBS faced. She also wanted to know more about Allison. The sixth grader told the First Lady about her family and her plans for the future and how she wanted to be a researcher one day. She shared with the First Lady the conflict she had concerning what exactly she would research. Mrs. Trump encouraged her to pay attention to the issues that tugged on her heartstrings. She said that was usually a sign of where one’s calling was. 

Wow, she’s beautiful and smart!  Allison was happy she’d gotten the chance to know the First Lady a little. 

Another great thing about Melania Trump’s visit to WBS was her Be Best initiative. The First Lady had started it in a quest to encourage children to be kind, respectful, and compassionate. She was concerned about the physical, emotional, and social well-being of young people. 

That day, she had given this speech:

You are the future leaders of this great country. One day you’ll be the governors, senators, teachers, bankers, artists, athletes and entrepreneurs, presidents and first ladies of this country. You must therefore have uniqueness of character; you must be the best version of yourselves. Good morals, integrity, kindness, self-confidence to mention a few, are necessary to become successful individuals so you can contribute greatly to your country, communities, and families. Cyberbullying is on the rise, opioid use and depression are all very rampant among young people like you and we want to stop these trends so your generation is safe and secure. America belongs to all of us and we must preserve one another. That is why my initiative is called Be Best: I want to encourage children all over the world to be best and achieve the maximum potential with which God has endowed them.

Mrs. Trump’s words played over and over in Allison’s head days after her visit. One of the main pillars of her initiative, responsible social media use, especially resonated with Allison due to an incident that had taken place in her past. 

About a year ago, Allison was cyberbullied on her school’s Facebook group page. The bully’s username was B.All. Initially, no one knew who exactly he or she was. It began quite suddenly; the daily name-calling, teasing, and threats got so bad that Allison had to tell her parents. They went with her to see Principal Johnson the very next day after she told them. 

Upon intense investigation, the culprit was found. It was Luke James, and the B in B.All stood for Bully. Luke James was an eighth grader and had gotten into trouble numerous times for bullying, though this was the first time he’d done it on social media. Luke admitted to Principal Johnson that he enjoyed picking on others for the fun of it. He said it made him feel powerful. 

He was expelled from WBS and Allison became somewhat of a hero among the student body. Many of them had been victimized by Luke in the past but, due to his threats, had not been bold enough to tell on him.

However, Principal Johnson had been investigating him for a while and knew about many of Luke’s evil deeds. He had given all the evidence to the board of trustees of WBS. That’s why Luke got expelled. Though the matter had long been resolved, Allison knew it was one of the hardest challenges she had ever experienced.

If the First Lady's initiative could help prevent other students from going through what she went through, she wanted to be a part of it somehow.

She shared her thoughts with Marjorie and Primrose one day on a three-way call and they were in full support of their friend.

The question was, how were they going to help?

Hmm, nothing is coming to mind, Allison. Marjorie was out of ideas.

Hey, how about we start a Be Best political party for kids. Who said kids cannot be in politics? Primrose was proud of herself. She thought her idea was splendid.

But her friends laughed.

Primrose, you really do come up with the most impossible stuff. OK, what do you girls think about this? How about we start something in our school centered on the Be Best initiative? Allison loved the intensity of brainstorming.

Her friends thought the suggestion was not a bad one.  OK . . . more . . . Primrose signaled as she waved one hand, the other on her hip. She was already trying to create a picture in her head of the plan but it was fuzzy. 

Her friends' encouragement urged Allison on. How about we start . . . ummm . . . like a club? Be Best Club? Allison jumped around in her room. 

Everything all right, sweetie? Her dad could hear the stomps all the way downstairs. 

Fine, Dad!

Trust Allison to come up with something remarkable. Marjorie smiled in satisfaction. Be Best Club, huh? Sounds really good . . . 

Be Best Club it is! We will get the whole school to join, even the teachers. We’ll help the First Lady change the world and we’ll . . .

Primrose!

This was one of the reasons her best friends loved her so. She was such a dreamer and a positive thinker, though at times she got way ahead of herself.

That was how Be Best Club was born. 

The girls talked with