Hit the Beach Read Online Free PDF

one more day of free time before camp starts.
    My gloom and doom prediction: RAIN for the first day of Camp Sunshine.
    Oh! Am I just being bitter right now because a little, teeny piece of me misses Far Hills—and my crush—so much??? Aaaaaaaah!
    Vacations are always this major conflict for me. I love trying new things (sometimes). But I love the warm, fuzzy, familiar things WAY better. It’s too bad there’s no one super special to share it with me.
    Rude Awakening:
Someone once said absence makes the heart grow fonder. But I wonder: does it make the Hart (as in Jones) grow fonder, too?
    Okay, I’m being ridiculous. I haven’t even been here a full day and already I’m making a mega-drama about Hart and me being separated. I have to stop. All that drama queen stuff belongs to my mortal enemy, Poison Ivy, right? Not moi. LOL.
    Dad’s apartment is roomy, to say the least. Ha! It’s MEGA! He and Stephanie rented it from some music producer guy (he owed Dad a favor, apparently). There is the best stereo system and ridiculously huge TV that takes up an entire WALL. It’s about twice as big as Dad’s place in Far Hills anyway. Plus, it has a lap pool outside and this huge patio.
    Now that I am here, I’m nervous about camp. I’m hoping (fingers and toes crossed, natch) that the other kids will be cooler than cool. I mean, new friends in Florida won’t be half as cool as old friends back home, but
    Madison paused and stared at what she’d written. She heard a knock, very soft, at her bedroom door.
    “Maddie, are you up yet?”
    Stephanie gently pushed the door open and saw Madison sitting there under the covers, laptop on her knees.
    “I woke up and decided to check my e-mail,” Madison said with a wide yawn. “Before my laptop crashes again.”
    “I should have known,” Stephanie said with a smile. She pulled the drapes open in Madison’s room, and even more light flooded inside.
    Madison shielded her eyes. She snapped her laptop shut and jumped out of bed. There was a crystal-clear view of the pool and patio from her window.
    “Your dad had to head out for an emergency business meeting this morning,” Stephanie said.
    “He’s not here?” Madison asked.
    Stephanie shook her head. “It’s just us girls, at least this morning. So I was thinking that maybe we could have a girls’ day out. We could take a long walk on the beach, maybe collect a few seashells?”
    “A walk sounds good,” Madison said cheerily. She needed to do something besides sit inside and brood about Hart.
    “I can show you the little beach town and we can stop for lunch at Lemon Drop,” Stephanie went on. “It’s this old rock-and-roll-diner-style restaurant downtown.”
    “Sounds fab,” Madison nodded in agreement. “You always have good ideas.”
    Stephanie left Madison to get dressed. They agreed to head out in a half hour—just enough time for Madison to grab cereal and for Stephanie to make herself another enormous cup of espresso. This apartment had one of those fancy coffee machines, too, of course.
    It was only ten in the morning and the beach was already steamy-hot. The sun pounded down on the back of Madison’s neck. She could practically feel the sunburn happening. They walked for about half a mile along the beach, kicking around in the foamy tide and scanning the beach for colored shells and beach glass. Madison spotted a large piece of blue glass that was shaped like a heart. She shoved it deep into the pocket of her shorts.
    I can give this piece to Hart, she thought. It was his favorite color—and the perfect shape, to boot.
    Stephanie found a large conch shell. There was a chip on one side but it was, for the most part, intact. Madison held it up to her ear.
    “I remember when I was a little girl, Mom told me that you could hear the ocean inside one of these,” Madison mused.
    Stephanie laughed. “But you can!” she insisted. “Can’t you?”
    Madison laughed, too.
    There were not many other people on