Hit the Beach by Laura Dower Read Free Book Online Page B

feather earrings on, she was about Madison’s height, and she talked with a bit of an accent that Madison couldn’t quite identify. Madison tried to be as friendly as possible.
    “Hey, Ann,” she said sweetly.
    “How great is this?” Ann said in a much louder voice. “I mean, meeting you like—whammo! You remind me so much of my best girlfriend back in Ohio. I can tell that we will totally become best friends during camp. Totally.”
    “Yeah?” Madison pasted on a smile. She appreciated Ann’s enthusiasm, but she wasn’t convinced about Ann’s prediction. After all, the title of “best friend” was reserved for the elite few—and those few were not in the room.
    But Madison didn’t want to seem rude or to blow Ann off, so she started talking some more, about school and science. Ann loved to talk. She wouldn’t stop babbling about herself or asking obscure questions. She did have some finer points, however. Like her jersey. It was a bright orange color—Madison’s favorite color in the whole world—and Madison figured that that fact had to be one positive sign.
    Or was it just a sneaky omen?

Chapter 6
    L EONARD, THE CAMP DIRECTOR, finally showed up, a few minutes late. To get everyone’s attention, he clapped his hands, then grinned a wide, crocodile smile. Madison wasn’t sure what to make of him.
    “Welcome to another summer together!” Leonard cried. “We’re so happy to have old campers and new campers alike.”
    The kids cheered. Madison glanced around. Old campers? Almost everyone Madison could see from where she was had on camp T-shirts from the year before. It was like some kind of club meeting—only Madison hadn’t really been invited, at least, not yet. They were all paired off already, too, which didn’t seem altogether fair.
    The guy she’d just met, Will, was standing with another boy. Ann had cornered some other girl across the room.
    There was that pang again.
    Aimee? Fiona? Lindsay? Hart? Where are you?
    Madison wisely scoped out the room, searching for new campers like herself. She saw a boy wearing a visor, sitting quietly in a corner of the room. He raised his eyebrows every time the director said something. Madison tried to make eye contact, and he grinned. She moved over to him.
    “Hey,” Madison said, trying to be friendly. “I’m Madison.”
    “Yo, hey. I’m Anthony, but I go by ‘Tony’ sometimes,” Anthony said. “Or Teeny. My friends call me Teeny. It’s all good.”
    “Sure,” Madison said. “Um … do you have a partner?”
    Tony did not have a partner—so he agreed to be hers. Madison breathed a sigh of relief. She was off to a better start now, or at least, she hoped she was.
    Having a partner for the camp tour reminded Madison of having a buddy for fire drills in elementary school. Madison remembered how back then she and Ivy had always been fire-drill buddies. They’d held hands—tight—on the way down the stairs to the outside of the building, and no matter how many times they had tripped on the steps, neither of them had ever let go.
    It was funny how things had changed so dramatically since then. Since elementary school, it seemed as if they were letting go all the time.
    Leonard led the group of campers around. Madison counted at least twenty-five kids. Everyone was whispering, pointing, and, except for her, embracing old friends.
    Teeny and another boy started talking, but Madison kept moving, following Leonard. Maybe she didn’t need a buddy.
    She listened as Leonard started to point out the different buildings on the property.
    First, he took the entire group over to an old atrium covered with mangroves. Inside, Madison saw clusters of white, purple, and pink orchids, among other plants. There were a few wild birds flying around, too.
    Around the corner from the atrium was a more modern, wooden-shingled building. Leonard showed all the campers into a room filled with exhibits on camouflage, animal tracks, and underwater life.
    Adjacent to