Lucy’s “Perfect” Summer Read Online Free PDF

my — gosh!!!!!!”
    Lucy didn’t have to turn around to know that Veronica had arrived, and she felt Dusty beside her, pawing for her hand with her own hot-chocolate-colored one.
    “This is horrible,” Dusty said. Her usually creamy heart-shaped face was as pale as Inez’s porridge, and her golden-brown eyes were open so wide Lucy was sure she’d never get them closed again.
    ‘Horrible’ didn’t even begin to describe it, as far as Lucy was concerned, but she didn’t know what word did. Nobody else even tried to find one. When Oscar and Emanuel got there, they gnawed on their toothpicks and looked at Lucy like they always did when there was a decision to be made. But she didn’t know where to start.
    Veronica’s mouth hung partway down, a sure sign she couldn’t wrap her mind around what was going on. One dark finger twirled a hunk of her thick fudge-colored hair.. “If Carla Rosa were here, she’d say, ‘Guess what? It’s ruined.’ ”
    “It is,” J.J. said.
    “Well, now, wait a minute.” Dusty squeezed Lucy’s hand tighter. “It could probably be fixed, right, Bolillo ?”
    The nickname that always made Lucy smile didn’t do the trick this time.
    “Couldn’t it?” Veronica said, furrowing her forehead into caramel rows. “Our moms would paint a new sign.”
    “Yeah.” Oscar looked up at skinny, bony Emanuel and poked him with a square fist for no apparent reason. “Gabe’s old man always has convicts that needs to work. They could fix them bleachers like they done before.”
    Lucy didn’t say anything. Sheriff Navarro didn’t have “convicts.” He had people that needed to work off speeding tickets and stuff, but there weren’t enough lawbreakers in all of Tularosa County to rebuild those bleachers. They’d have to start over — and she was pretty sure it wasn’t going to happen before their game in two weeks.
    Emanuel lifted a lanky arm and pointed toward the gate. As if he’d heard them talking about him, the sheriff pulled up in his cruiser. Through the windshield, Lucy could see his brows hooding his eyes the way they did when he was really unhappy. J.J. edged away.
    As Sheriff Navarro climbed out of the car and picked his way through the mud toward them, Lucy kind of wanted to slip off, too, though not for the same reason as J.J. Even though the sheriff said he was on J.J.’s side and didn’t want him to have to leave his house and his mom, J.J. didn’t seem to believe that anymore than he believed in the Easter Bunny. It seemed like he was just waiting for the day when Sheriff Navarro would drag him off to foster care just for breathing wrong or something. Lucy’s not wanting to be around the guy was way different. About half the time he said stuff that made her want to say stuff that Dad didn’t want her saying to grown-ups — and now was probably one of those times.
    “Gabe said I’d find you all here,” the sheriff said when he reached them. “He wanted to come, but I didn’t let him.”
    Lucy actually felt a little bad about that. Gabe could be a creature from Rudesville sometimes — but he was part of the team, and he needed to see this.
    “Sorry about your field,” Sheriff Navarro said.
    Lucy studied him. Okay, his mouth did kind of droop at the corners, and the spray of sun-squinty lines around his eyes looked more sad than mad. But he still had that what-are-you-kids-trying-to-get-away-with edge in his voice. Sheriffs must learn that in police school, she thought.
    “I know you’re proud of it,” he said. “Whole town’s proud of it.”
    “We can fix it, can’t we?” Dusty pulled Lucy and Veronica close to her. “We’ll all help.”
    The sheriff pulled his hand across his eyes, and Lucy noticed that it looked like they had backpacks under them. He must have been up late.
    “I don’t know,” he said. “That’s up to the town council, and right now, we’ve got a few other things to worry about.” He narrowed his very-black eyes at the