EXCERPT

It was a beautiful day. As soon as the bell rang, the shool doors opened and crowds of children came pouring out of the school building. Among those children were Shanikia and her freinds Rhonda, Cleo and Marina who delighted in feeling the sun on their faces and talked about what they would do when they got home.

"Hey, let's play jump rope!" said Rhonda.

"Yeah. Let's double dutch," Marina said.

"Okay," Shanika and Cleo agreed.

So, the four girls ran as fast as they could to Shanika's apartment building. She was the only one who had a rope long enough to play the game in which two ropes are twirled at the same time, but in opposite directions. In just a few minutes, Shanika had run inside, picked up her jump rope, and joined her friends out on the sidewalk.

"Okay, let's start," Shanika said, holding both ends of the rope in her hands. "I have to go back inside in an hour."

Marina picked up the loop of rope from the ground and together with Shanika they began twirling the rope. After a few twirls, Cleo jumped in and began her favorite double dutch chant.

Just before Shanika was about to take another turn jumping, she glanced at her watch. She had been having so much fun jumping and taking turns twirling the rope with her friends that she had lost track of time.

"Oh, no! I'm late," she said. " I have to go in."

Marina and Cleo stopped twirling. Shanika waited for them to give her the rope ...