Best Friends (Until Someone Better Comes Along) Read Online Free PDF

conversation.
    â€œHave you met the other kids?” John said, winking at me again. I began to wonder if perhaps John had some sort of condition—a medical problem that made him wink way toomuch, rather than just a creepy middle-aged-man winking issue. “Chuck’s daughter Ava is about your age.” He turned and pointed to where Ava stood with Bailey and Lobster Boy and three other people I recognized from down at the beach.
    Erica added, “My daughter Bailey mentioned that you go to Southwest too? I’m surprised none of us put two and two together that you’d all be spending the summer up here together.”
    â€œIt’s a big school,” I said, because it was the truth. There are almost three hundred kids in my class alone. Three different elementary schools in the district feed into Southwest Middle School, where we all get mixed together into one big class of sixth graders. We’ll all be stuck together until we graduate, which is part of the reason I worked so hard in sixth grade to establish myself as someone important. It’s easy to become a nobody when middle school starts. Nobodies have no control at all, and how horrible would that be? I could think of nothing worse. “We haven’t had any classes together, so I don’t really know Bailey very well.” I tried to sound vague. I wondered if Bailey had told her mom about the swimsuit-stealing thing or the spirit-day poems? Probably. People like Bailey always told.
    â€œWell, it will be fun for you all to spend some timetogether this month,” Erica said with a smile. “Get to know some more people from your class.”
    I shrugged, and my mom said, “So . . .”
    I could feel my father giving me a look. “Yeah,” I said politely, and crossed my arms. I knew I had to at least try to be decent to my dad’s boss. “It will be nice to get to know them. Hey, Dad, do we have any soda?”
    â€œHelp yourself to anything you can find around here,” Erica offered. “Bailey can get you something out of our cooler if you haven’t had time to get your things unpacked yet.”
    â€œOkay,” I said. “Thanks.” I took that as my cue to leave. I could feel the adults watching me, so I reluctantly wandered over toward where the rest of the kids sat near the bonfire. One little kid, who looked about ten, was throwing beetles into the fire and he screeched every time one popped.
    Bailey and Ava both waved as I walked toward them. I figured it couldn’t hurt to be nice, so I waved back. “Hey, Bailey,” I said. “Your mom said I could steal a soda from your cooler?”
    â€œOh!” Bailey said. “Yeah! Sure! I’ll get you one! Caffeine or not?”
    â€œSurprise me.” I watched as Bailey hustled off, hurrying to get me my drink. It almost seemed like she thought it wassome sort of honor to get me a soda. While I waited, I sat down on one of the logs beside the fire pit. Little bits of bark poked through my dress, and I realized I was probably going to have to wear jeans from now on. Both for protection and to avoid the bugs. I certainly didn’t want legs that looked like Bailey’s or Ava’s—all chewed up and nasty.
    To avoid having to talk to anyone, I studied my hands. I was glad I’d packed a set of fake nails in my bag. I’d already done a number on my real nails in just a few hours at the lake. I curled my hands into balls and tried not to think about how gross they looked. Could other people see them? I hoped not. I didn’t mean to pick at my fingernails, but when I got nervous, I just couldn’t help it.
    Tomorrow, my nerves would be gone. By tomorrow, I would figure out how to make sure things went my way. And then I could cover up my ugly nails and fix everything.
    Bailey jogged up and thrust a can of Cherry Coke in my face. “I hope cherry’s okay?”
    I shrugged.