Lucky the penny

Amber Williams was rushing to grab her backpack off her desk chair when she felt it. Smash. “Ahh, nooo! I stubbed my toe!” she cried out.

“Again? Mom said you did the same thing yesterday and then ...” her dad said from the hallway.

“... I got super-upset and missed the bus,” Amber’s shoulders fell.

Story of my life — I’m the unluckiest person in the world, she thought.

“I’m sorry, kiddo, but I need you to make the bus today,” her dad softly nudged her. “I have to head into work and Mom went out to run some errands.”

Amber nodded her head. “Yup, I’m all ready. I was just grabbing my bookbag.”

Her dad picked it up and handed it over. “Let’s roll.”

They walked out of the house at the same time and Amber gave her dad a hug before he walked toward their driveway and she started her short walk down the block to the bus stop.

She was strolling along, keeping an eye on the sidewalk. Last week, she slipped on a banana peel on her way home. And yes, it happened just like it does in all the cartoons. She totally wiped out. Unsurprisingly, she’s been cautious ever since, trying to avoid a repeat accident.

Today, there was no banana peel. Instead, Amber spotted a penny on the ground. She bent down in disbelief

when she first spotted it. She blinked her eyes a few times, but sure enough, it was still there.

See a penny, pick it up. All day long, you’ ll have good luck, the old rhyme popped into her head. She checked and the penny was face up, which meant it really was supposed to bring her good luck. Grabbing it quickly, she ran to the bus that had just pulled up.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile that big before,” she heard after she sat down.

She looked across the aisle of seats and saw the most popular girl in her class had spoken to her.

“Uhhh,” she stammered. “Hi, Ashley.” “Hey, Amber. Having a good morning?” Amber looked at the penny and thought, Are you making this happen? Out loud, she said, “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“Well, what happened?” Ashley seemed genuinely interested.

Amber wasn’t sure what to say. Will she think I’m crazy if I say I found a penny on the ground and I think it’s bringing me good luck?

“I just thought I was gonna miss the bus this morning, so I’m glad I made it.” she decided to keep the penny a secret, dropping it into her pocket.

“Oh, I’ve been there ...” Ashley laughed

Amber looked at the penny and thought, Are you making this happen?

and then started to tell her own story.

Amber was shocked when the bus pulled into school and Ashley was still talking to her. So when they made it into school and had to split up to go to homeroom, she was even more shocked to hear Ashley say, “See you in history later!”

Over the next few hours, Amber had the best day of her entire life. The girl who sat next to her in homeroom spilled water all over her desk and it somehow didn’t leak onto Amber’s side at all.

She found a five dollar bill in the front pocket of her backpack when she was looking for a pencil, and when her math teacher called on her second period, she knew the answer to the question.

By third period, she was feeling so good that she walked right over to Ashley and sat down in the desk next to her. “Hey, girl!” Ashley greeted. Amber was about to respond when Mr. Kuhns walked into the room and demanded everyone’s attention.

“I hope you all did the reading last night because it’s time for a pop quiz.”

Amber had done the reading, but her face still fell. So much for my good luck. I hate pop quizzes!

She answered the questions as best she could and dreaded getting her grade back. Mr. Kuhns always graded pop quizzes right after they took them.

“Excellent job, Ms. Williams,” Mr. Kuhns said as he put her paper down in front of her minutes later.

“I can’t believe it. I got a 98!” she muttered softly. Not softly enough, though, because Ashley heard it.

“OMG, impressive!” Ashley lifted her hand for a high-five. “I never do that well on Kuhns’ quizzes.”

Me neither, Amber thought. She put her hand in her pocket and found the penny. That’s it. I’m never going anywhere without this penny again.

For the rest of the school day, things kept going Amber’s way. It wasn’t until she was on her way out of the building in the afternoon that she felt for the penny again ... and realized it was gone.

Amber began to panic. She ripped off her backpack and checked all the pockets on it, then turned her skirt pockets inside out to make sure she wasn’t just missing it, but it wasn’t there.

“No, this can’t be happening,” she cried out loud, not caring if the other kids walking toward the bus heard her.

She was so flustered that she missed a big mound of snow piled up on sidewalk in front of her and tripped over it.

Of course! As soon as I lose the penny, my bad luck returns.

Suddenly, an outstretched hand appeared in front of her face. “Are you okay? Let me help you up.”

Amber recognized that voice. Ashley had witnessed her humiliation.

Her face turned red and she felt like she was about to cry, but she grasped Ashley’s hand and stood up.

“You don’t look okay,” Ashley appeared concerned. “Is everything alright?”

Amber felt like she should shrug the whole thing off, but she heard herself unloading on Ashley. She told her everything — about how she always has the worst luck and how the penny changed everything.

When she was finished talking, Ashley laughed. Amber wanted to sink into the ground. “I know you think I’m being ridiculous,” she mumbled.

“No, no,” Ashley shook her head. “Well, maybe a little bit, but I wasn’t making fun of you. I just don’t think the penny really did that much.”

Suddenly, an outstretched hand appeared in front of her face. “Are you okay? Let me help you up.”

“How could you say that after everything I told you?”

“Not getting spilled on may have been luck, I’ll give you that,” Ashley said. “But you’re a good student — that’s why you knew the answer in math and did well in history. I bet you really studied last night’s reading.”

“Uh, yeah, I may have read it twice,” Amber admitted.

Ashley smiled big, as if to say, “I told you so.”

“And I know I didn’t talk to you because you have a penny in your pocket. I’ve always thought you seemed cool. You just usually seem like you’re off in your own world.”

Amber took a second to process what this all meant.

She was just about done when Ashley bent over and picked something up, “Oh, look! I think you just dropped the penny. Here, take it.”

Amber looked at the gold coin and then at Ashley. “Nah, it’s okay. You can drop it. I don’t need it anymore.”

“Are you sure?” Ashley asked. Amber linked her arm into her new friend’s and led her toward their bus. “Yup, I’m making my own luck from now on.”