Letters from the Heart (Beacon Street Girls Series #3)

CHAPTER 1 Making History Ms. O'Reilly faced her seventh-grade social studies class, arms crossed and a quizzical smile on her face. She had written a question in big capital letters on the blackboard and was looking expectantly at her students. "Can anyone answer this?" she asked, gesturing with a piece of chalk at the board. Maeve, her laptop open on her desk, typed out the question. It helped her to organize her notes this way, but Ms. O'Reilly's question looked just as puzzling blinking out at her on her laptop screen. Maeve pushed back her long red curls, reading it one more time. "WHAT IS HISTORY?" Dillon Johnson's hand shot up. "I can answer that," he said. Leave it to Dillon to be the first to respond. Filled with self-confidence, he was one of the most popular guys in seventh grade at Abigail Adams Junior High. Blond, handsome Dillon was often the first with his hand up. Maeve snapped to attention -- she'd had a secret crush on Dillon for awhile now. Maeve popped open a new window on her laptop. Thank the stars for spell check, she thought. Maeve's dyslexia was a continuing source of frustration, and computers gave her the extra support she needed. Of course, Anna and Joline, aliasQueens of Mean, rolled their eyes every time she opened it up. But for the most part, the laptop was just part of everyday life, and Maeve had almost forgotten that there was anything special about it. Note to Self: I don't know much about Dillon and history...but I'd sure like to be part of his future. Love the blue eyes. She had a brief, sudden vision: Future History. Sitting with Dillon...at the Academy Awards. Maeve in a daring pink evening dress, the sort of color redheads NEVER wear, unless they were superconfident fashion pioneers like Maeve. She pictured Dillon sitting beside her in a tuxedo, looking incredible, just a little older and more sophisticated.And the award for this year's best actress goes to...Maeve Kaplan-Taylor! Why not? A girl can dream, can't she? OK -- maybe not in the middle of social studies. Maeve dragged her attention back to the blackboard. And to Dillon. "History," Dillon said, clearing his throat and not sounding so certain he knew the answer anymore, "is -- uh, well -- you know -- stuff that happened before. You know -- in the past." Pete Wexler, one of Dillon's best friends and the quarterback on the J.V. football team, gave him a high-five. A couple of kids laughed. Betsy Fitzgerald raised her hand, sneaking a glance at Dillon. Betsyalwayshad the right answer. Perfect grades, perfect papers, perfect scores on every test -- but unfortunately, a lot of attitude about always being right, too. Whenever Betsy got anything less than 100 percent, she begged and pleaded to get her grade changed. Dillon joked that she was a Type A+. "History is the study of important events in the past," she said, with a kind of "Aha!" sound in her voice that made Dillon glare at her. Maeve thought Betsy sounded like a newscaster -- or like she was repeating something that she'd read in a book. "That's what I said," Dillon muttered. Ms. O'Reilly lifted up her chalk. "Okay. Tell me this," she said, her voice suggesting that a challenge was coming. "Everyone watch. Dillon -- catch!" She tossed the chalk to Dillon, who caught it in one smooth motion. Pete Wexler whistled approvingly. "Nice catch," he exclaimed. Anna and Joline tipped their heads closer together to whisper something to each other. The rest of the class erupted in laughter and conversation, but Maeve was still busy admiring Dillon. Wow! When did he get those muscles? Nice catch was right! She smiled at Pete's unintended pun. Note to Self: D.J. is definitely the HOTTEST guy in the whole grade. She inspected her sentence and added a little smiley icon to finish it off.Perfect. "Now," Ms. O'Reilly continued, pacBryant, Annie is the author of 'Letters from the Heart (Beacon Street Girls Series #3)' with ISBN 9781416964261 and ISBN 1416964266.