Acting Out Read Online Free PDF Page A

by one, watching Isabel the whole time.
    â€œGirls, move it!” yelled another counselor. She’d run up with this big red foam thing and she tossed it to Alex, who threw it out to Isabel. By now, everybody at the lake was watching.
    Isabel grabbed the floaty thing, and Alex pulled her over to the dock. Then she grabbed her under the arms and sat her on the edge of the dock. Isabel sat there and coughed while Alex leaned over her. “Why’d you jump in if you can’t swim? You should’ve told me you can’t swim!” she shouted.
    It took every ounce of energy I had to keep from running over to Alex and pushing her into the lake. How could she be so mean? It was bad enough that the poor kid had to be rescued, but did she have to embarrass her in front of everyone? Poor Isabel.
    Alex turned around, and her face was as white as a new pair of gym socks. She looked pretty freaked out, but that still didn’t give her the right to yell at Isabel.
    Katherine had her hand over her mouth, snickering. “What a loser!” she said to Mei.
    â€œShut up, or I’ll push you in,” Mei hissed at her. I liked that girl. She was tiny, but she had the personality of a firecracker.
    I wrapped myself up in my towel, then sat down on a big rock to wait for the other girls to finish. I finally saw Natasha, sitting about twenty feet away with the girls from her cabin. Isabel came and sat beside me on the rock. She wouldn’t look at me.
    â€œDon’t worry about it,” I told her. “Just shake it off.”
    Isabel nodded but kept staring at her toenails.
    When the other girls finished their test, we all walked back to the cabin together.
    â€œWow! You were amazing,” said Amber. “Way to show up Alex!”
    â€œI told you I made enemies on the bus. Looks like I’ve made one more!”
    â€œThank you so much for admitting you were the one who yelled that,” Lauren said. “I thought she was going to bust all of us.” Her blond hair looked even whiter when it was wet and the sun was shining on it.
    â€œLook, there’s something you guys need to know about me,” I explained. “I’m always causing trouble. Trouble is my middle name.” I said it like I believed it.
    â€œI thought it was Delilah,” said Amber.
    â€œNah, I was just kidding about that. JD really stands for Juvenile Delinquent!” They all laughed. I couldn’t believe it. If getting in trouble got me this much attention, it was worth it. If I could keep this up all month, my personality makeover would be a huge success. It was only the first day, but already I felt more like JD than Judith.

Monday, June 16
    â€œPrevention, fitness, response, leadership, professionalism.” Alex held up one finger at a time and ticked off the five areas she wanted us to remember. “Those five areas will be our focus for the next four weeks.”
    Off in the shallow end I watched the nice counselor Libby with her advanced beginner class, working on back floats. They were mostly Juniors, eight or nine years old, and then poor Isabel, stuck with all the little kids. Isabel had been so embarrassed about having to be rescued yesterday, but right now I wished I could switch places with her.
    There was a long silence, and I looked up to see why Alex had stopped talking. She stared at me with her arms crossed, and the rest of the class was looking at me too.
    â€œDo I have your undivided attention now?” snarled Alex. I nodded and wrapped my towel more tightly around my shoulders. Boy, she really hated me, but the feeling was completely mutual. I almost died when I found out she was teaching the Guard Start class. Why couldn’t it have been Libby?
    Alex kept talking and I tried to listen. Six of us had signed up for the class, and I was glad that most of them were from my cabin: Courtney, Mei, and Lauren. Besides us there were two other girls, Claudia and Shelby. We were