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she was pretty sure he was waving, trying to get her attention.
    But she ignored him and waved to Drew instead, who was passing by at that exact moment. He came over and sat near the girls.
    “This is cool, being here at the beach with everyone, right?” he said. Drew was the one who’d organized the Lake Dora outing in the first place. He was always planning events like pool parties and minigolf games at his parents’ house and other places in Far Hills.
    Aimee licked her snow cone and nodded.
    Madison raised an eyebrow. “I guess so,” she said. “Like when I’m not getting splash attacked.”
    Drew chuckled. “Oh yeah, I saw that.”
    “Yeah,” Madison said. “Very funny.”
    “Either of you guys going to camp this year?” Drew asked.
    Aimee spoke up immediately about ballet camp starting in only a few weeks. Drew then told them how he was headed to archery camp this summer. It was a toss-up between that and computer camp, and he’d picked archery.
    Madison didn’t have any camp plans, so she didn’t have much to contribute to the conversation. As Drew kept talking, her thoughts drifted off and she started to make a minicastle out of the sand on her right side. A piece of paper blew over where she was digging.
    Drew snatched it.
    “‘July Fourth Extravaganza!’” he read aloud from the flyer. “Oh, man, this is going to be the biggest blast ever, don’t you think?” He turned the paper around to show it off to Madison and Aimee. “Aren’t you psyched, Maddie?”
    Madison frowned.
    After all, she wasn’t going to the blast. She was going to Gramma’s.
    Not even a beautiful sunny day at the lake could change that.

Chapter 4
    “G IVE THAT TO ME,” Aimee said, taking the flyer out of Drew’s hand.
    “Don’t grab!” he said. “What’s your problem?”
    “Drew, we can’t talk about this right now,” Aimee whispered. “Maddie can’t go to the Fourth of July this year.”
    Drew turned to face Madison. “Oh, wow,” he said. “How come?”
    “I just have to go to my gramma’s house in Winnetka,” she explained.
    “Where’s Winnetka?” Drew asked.
    “Near Chicago,” Madison said. “Far away.”
    “That really stinks,” he said.
    Aimee socked him on the shoulder. “Shut up, Drew,” she said. “Are you trying to make her feel worse?”
    Madison sighed. She didn’t need help feeling worse.
    “Sorry ’bout that,” Drew said.
    The sun—and the subject matter—were getting superhot by now. Drew suggested that maybe they could go for a ride on the paddleboat to cool off.
    Madison wanted to stay away from the water. She said no.
    Aimee jumped right up. “I’ll go,” she said, standing up and brushing the sand off her bottom. “Sure you don’t want to go, Maddie?”
    Madison shook her head no again and leaned back on her elbows to watch the lifeguards instead. Leaning backward was the best way to lie on a beach towel. It made her stomach look flatter.
    But she wasn’t left alone for long. Moments after Aimee and Drew walked off to the boathouse, Fiona and Lindsay came back.
    “Hey!” Fiona said, sitting down on her towel. “What are you staring at?”
    “That lifeguard,” Madison said, cupping her hand over her eyes so she could see him better through the sun glare. “He’s kind of cute.”
    Fiona smirked. “Earlier today, that one said I was a good swimmer,” she said proudly. “And he’s not kind of cute. He is wicked cute.”
    Lindsay laughed. “He’s cuter than Egg,” she said.
    Fiona fake-punched her and laughed. “Gosh, does everyone on the planet know that I like Walter?” she said, using his real name.
    “Walter?” Madison said, sitting up. “Fiona, no one calls him that but his mother.”
    “Well, I think Egg is a dumb nickname,” Fiona said. “It makes him sound like an egghead or something.”
    Of course, that was the whole idea. Aimee and Madison had nicknamed him that way back in elementary school after he got egged in the head by kids