Ivy and Bean and the Ghost That Had to Go

by Annie Barrows

So far, Ivy and Bean had been separated six times.

This was not a big surprise. Bean had been separated from everyone in the class at least once. No matter who she sat next to, Bean talked.

Even MacAdam, who mostly talked to himself, had to be separated from Bean. Once, Ms. Aruba-Tate had Bean sit by herself, but Bean just talked louder.

“Bean is only responsible for Bean,” Ms. Aruba-Tate kept saying. But Bean thought that wasn’t true, because Ms. Aruba-Tate also kept saying that a class was like a family. And families were responsible for each other.

This was what Ms. Aruba-Tate called making a mature decision. Mature decisions were not as much fun as immature decisions, but sometimes you had to make them.