Puffy, white marshmallow clouds hung in the sky outside of Olive Regle's classroom window, while a lawn mower buzzed across the football field with the insistence of a bee. Inside the classroom, Olive could almost smell the mown grass — the smell of summer vacation. The clock ticked and tocked, steady as a drum.

Josie Letay was giving her Summer Plans presentation. For vacation, she was going to a tropical island, then to a snow-capped mountain, then to an active volcano. Olive's legs jiggled anxiously in her seat — because in about sixty seconds, she would have to stand in front of the class, too.

Forest rocked back and forth with excitement at the desk next to her, his hair swaying with the movement of his body. Hearing Josie talk about traveling was practically making him drool; after living his whole life in the trees, Forest wanted to see everything.

Olive's dad hadn't planned a trip (it was hard, since he had to work all the time), so Olive had written a speech about what she and Forest were going to do this summer. She had even typed up the speech on her dad's computer to help her memorize it and put the title in all capital letters because capital letters are Special and Important.

"Olive be okay," Forest whispered to her. He always knew when she was nervous. "You been saying speech while you sleep."

"I have?" Olive whispered back.

"Forest heard from bedroom nest." Forest had his own bed, but he preferred to sleep on a pile of shirts, pants, and dirty socks on top of Olive's bookshelf, next to her bed. It reminded him of the cozy tree nook he had slept in at Redwood National Park, where Olive first met him. Thankfully, though, there were no chipmunks or squirrels or bugs in his new nest. At least, not that Olive knew of....

Olive leaned way over. "Do you think I'll mess up?" "Not by a long snot," Forest replied.

Her face lit up like a lightbulb. She didn't even bother to correct him.

"And when we go to the Tornado Twister amusement park, the whole class is invited!" Josie said, finishing her speech with a flourish.

Whoops and cheers filled the room. Eric Keizer got so excited that he threw his pencil up, and with a thwack, it stuck in the ceiling. Some kids raised their hands in the air, like they were already riding the Tornado Twister. Forest, though, looked alarmed, most likely because he had no idea what an amusement park was, or that "tornado twister" was the name of an awesome roller coaster and not a natural disaster.

"Olive, I think you're next," said Mrs. Finn.

Olive nodded and walked to the front of the room, her hands trembling as she turned to face the class. Battling her shyness had gotten easier since she'd met Forest — she had even starred in the school play earlier this year — but speaking in front of people was still capital H Hard. When she cleared her throat, the noise came out more like a squeak.

Just when she finally felt ready to talk, her heart flapping like a crazed bird inside her chest, the door opened with a shriek and a bang. A tall, freckled shape appeared in the doorway.

Colton.

Late again. He was always disrupting Something Important.

It didn't help that Colton was a bully. He had been calling her Smolive, like "small" and "Olive" mushed together. She didn't mind being small for her age — she liked that she could fit into teeny-tiny tunnels on the playground, where she could read during recess, but the way Colton said it made her feel small.

Usually Olive went into quiet-mode when Colton was around. He couldn't bother her if he didn't notice her. But quiet-mode wouldn't work when she was standing in front of the whole class, sticking out like a humongous sore thumb.

"Nice of you to join us, Colton," Mrs. Finn said. "Olive was about to give her presentation."

Pleasedon'tsayanythingPleasedon'tsayanythingPleasedon'tsayanything, Olive thought as Colton slowly walked to his seat.

"Sorry, Sm-olive," he whispered with a jeer. His only friend in school, Benjamin, snickered.

Olive immediately flushed red, and her courage deflated like a balloon.

"Uh ...," she started, struggling to recite the speech she knew by heart. The words quickly melted in her mouth, like ice on a summer day.

Colton grinned widely, tipping way back in his chair so that only the back two legs were sitting on the floor. He was watching Olive's embarrassment like it was his favorite movie. Olive's jaw tightened as she heard whispers start to swirl around the room.

"Olive, would you like to sit down?" Mrs. Finn asked kindly.

"Olive okay, Mrs. Finn," Forest called out. "Easy peasy, Olive." When Mrs. Finn turned back to Olive, Colton flicked a folded-up piece of paper at Forest. Olive scowled.

"Easy peasy" was what her dad always said, even though it usually meant the exact opposite. Like last week when he tried to hang a picture above the stairs and ended up hammering right through the wall.

But Forest was right. Olive was not her dad trying to hammer a nail in the wall. She cleared her throat and stood up straight. Easy peasy.

"I'm Olive, and this —"

"Sm-olive!" Colton blurted.

"That's enough, Colton," Mrs. Finn scolded.

"He didn't say anything!" Benjamin called out.

"Go ahead, OLIVE," Josie said. She shot an angry look at Colton and Benjamin.

Olive's body warmed with thankfulness for her friend Josie, and the warmth unglued her jaw. She was about to speak when a loud crunching noise came from Colton's direction.

"Colton, I know you're new at this school, so I'm giving you a break," Mrs. Finn said. "But no snacks in the classroom."

"But I don't have a snack!" To prove it, Colton opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue — which, Olive noticed, was slightly more orange than normal. His face had the same kind of "wasn't me" look Ryan gave their dad when he wanted to get out of trouble.

Olive gulped and started again. "I'm Olive, and —"

This time, Olive saw Colton's hand dart from his pocket to his mouth before she heard the CRUNCH.

"Colton, please stop making noise. Olive give speech now," Forest said. Colton's face twisted with annoyance. Olive couldn't help but smile a little.

"I'm Olive."

"Sm-olive!" Colton whispered.

"This summer —"

Colton crunched on the snack again, even louder than the time before. It made Olive so nervous, she started to hiccup.

Forest stared at Olive, then at Colton, then back at Olive like he was trying to solve a puzzle. When Olive hiccupped again, Forest looked out the window, then made a bunch of low growling noises. Mrs. Finn, who was used to what she called Forest's "random animal sounds" by now (though Olive knew they were never random), kept her eyes fixed on Olive, waiting for her to continue.

Normally, a tumble of sounds from Forest would make Olive nervous — he always had a surprise up his sleeve, and it was usually something that grown-ups didn't like — but now, it was familiar and comforting.

"I'm Olive, and this summer ..." She barreled through her speech — way faster than she wanted — but the important thing was that she was talking in front of the class. When she saw Colton waving a cheese curl in front of his face, she ignored him. She couldn't ignore Forest, who was still making soft snarl sounds. Plus, he kept glancing out the window. ...

And...