My Extra Best Friend by Julie Bowe Read Free Book Online

Meadowlark!
    The counselors are neat,
    Please excuse their stinky feet!
    Camp Meadowlark! Camp Meadowlark!
    Where friendship makes us strong,
    As we swim and hike along!
    Camp Meadowlark! Camp Meadowlark…
    “Look,” Stacey says. “There’re the other girls.”
    Alex comes around the corner of the dining hall, swinging hands with Meeka and Jolene.
    Jenna shuffles along behind them, writing something on her clipboard.
    Randi takes a spot by Rusty and the other boys. They play air guitar and shout-sing along with Connor and the others.
    Brooke sees Nat and Emillie and dashes to them like a tack to magnets.
    Elizabeth weaves through the crowd until she’s right next to me and Stacey. “Hi!” she says, all breathless and cheery. “Where’d you go?”
    I pretend I can’t hear her over the singing.
    “Um…” Stacey says, when she realizes I’m not going to answer. “We took a detour.”
    “It’s so bizarre to see everyone again,” Elizabeth prattles on, like I’m interested in what she has to say. “I can’t believe Brooke brought a
crown
! Wait…yes I can.” She giggles. “You missed hermodeling it for me. And Jenna? She’s making a
seating chart
for supper. Too funny! Some things never change.”
    Elizabeth links arms with me. “Who cares, though, right? I’m sitting by you no matter what. I’ve got gobs of stuff to tell you!”
    I snatch my arm away. “
I
care,” I say. “And things
have
changed. Jenna’s my friend now. I’ll sit where she wants me to sit, and I’m pretty sure it won’t be by
you
.”
    Stacey mouths a silent
Wow
.
    So does Elizabeth.
    The song ends.
    The dining hall doors open.
    Everyone starts crowding in.
    I grab Stacey’s hand and we get swept along.
    When I glance back, Elizabeth Evans is a million miles away.
    Good.

Chapter
7
    After supper, Alex takes us for a walk around the main path at camp. It connects everything—girls’ cabins, dining hall, garden, beach, campfire ring, crafts cottage, boys’ cabins, ball field. The path must look like a big circle to the birds flying over us, with the lake hugging it on one side and the woods hugging it on the other. Alex points toward the woods as we approach them. “We’ll go on a campout Thursday night!”
    Meeka gulps, peering through the trees. “But the boys say a monster lives out there.”
    Alex does a half smile and takes Meeka’s hand. “Don’t worry about that old monster,” she says reassuringly. “He’s no match for a bunch of Chickadees…right?”
    “Right!” Randi says. “And if worst comes toworst, we’ll dip Brooke in chocolate sauce and use her as a human sacrifice.”
    “Ha-ha,” Brooke says. “Very funny.”
    “Some people say there are ghosts at the Grand Canyon,” Elizabeth puts in. “But my family camped there anyway. It’s in Arizona, which is right next to New Mexico, where I lived.”
    Jenna grunts. “Thank you for the geography lesson, but you’re not in New Mexico anymore.”
    “And we’re not your family,” I add.
    Jenna grins.
    Stacey shoots me a look. Then she gives Elizabeth a smile. “Sure we are, Liz,” she says. “We’re a family of chickadees!”
    “Birds live in flocks, not families,” Jenna points out.
    “We
are
a family,” Alex cuts in. “Just a different kind.” She stops suddenly and looks into the woods.
    “What is it?” Meeka asks nervously. “Do you see the monster?”
    “No,” Alex replies. “I just thought of something I want to show you.”
    Jenna looks over the checklist on her clipboard. “But we’ve seen everything.”
    “Not quite,” Alex replies. “There’s something new. Pete built it.” She steps off the path and into the woods, motioning for us to follow her.
    “I
hate
new things,” Jenna grumbles as we trample through brush and weave between the trees. “Why can’t things stay the same?”
    “Most things don’t,” Elizabeth says, pausing to hold a branch aside as me and Jenna pass through. “Trust me.”
    Jenna