My Extra Best Friend Read Online Free

breath. “For anything.”
    “Good-bye!” Rachel cries as we pile into the van a few minutes later. “Write to me, Jenna! Catch me a frog!”
    “There’re
frogs
at this place?” Brooke says, scooting in next to Stacey.
    “Duh-huh,” Jenna replies, buckling the seatbelt that’s next to mine. “That’s why they call it
nature
camp.”
    Brooke does a fake gasp. “
Nature
camp? I thought we were going to
nacho
camp. Obviously, I’m in the wrong van.”
    Everyone laughs.
    “Too late,” Mrs. Drews says, pulling awayfrom the curb. “Camp Meadowlark or bust!”
    Meeka pulls a camera out of her hoodie pocket. She turns it on and looks at us through the screen.
    “Say
cheese
!”
    We squish together.
    “Cheese!”
    Click!

Chapter
4
    “How much farther?” Brooke complains as we carry our stuff down a wooded path, past a row of little brown cabins. Sparrow. Bluebird. Hawk. Each cabin’s name is painted on a sign above its front door. The boys’ cabins have bird names too. We saw them on the way to the dining hall, where we registered. “My arms are stretching longer than my legs!”
    Brooke stops to shift her sleeping bag and pillow, then starts pulling her big pink suitcase on its little wheels again.
    “I told you to pack light,” Jenna chirps.
    Brooke grumbles. “I don’t see why your mother couldn’t stick around long enough to help me carry everything.
My
mom would have.” Mrs. Drews left after we signed in.
    “My mother doesn’t believe in long good-byes,” Jenna says. “Besides, I know where our cabin is. I know where
everything
is.”
    “Where’s the bathroom?” Randi asks.
    “Yeah,” Stacey says. “I drank a gallon of soda on the way here.”
    “Me too,” Meeka adds.
    “And me,” Jolene chimes in.
    “There’s a bathroom in our cabin,” Jenna tells them.
    “
One
bathroom?” Brooke’s face sags almost as much as her backpack. “But there are
seven
of us.”
    “Ten,”
I correct her. “Us, our counselor, and the other two. Cee Cee and Liz.”
    Randi sighs. “Ten girls, one bathroom. I hope someone packed diapers.”
    Everyone giggles.
    Except Brooke.
    “We’re here,” Jenna announces, stopping in front of Chickadee cabin. It’s small and brown, like the other cabins we’ve walked past. A big pot of red flowers sits on the front step.
Welcome!
is written on it. A banner by the front door flutters in the breeze. A chubby bird with gray wings anda black-and-white head is painted on it. A chickadee, I bet.
    The screen door creaks open and a girl steps out. She looks a little older than Brooke’s sister, Jade. She’s wearing a Camp Meadowlark T-shirt just like Jenna’s, only her shirt has
Staff
printed on it. Khaki shorts. Clunky sandals. Her hair is pulled back in a frizzy ponytail.
    “Welcome, Chickadees!” the girl sings, giving each of us a warm smile. “I’m Alex, your counselor.”
    Jenna steps forward. “I’m Jenna,” she says. “That’s Ida,” she continues, glancing over her shoulder, “and Randi, Meeka, Jolene, Brooke, and Stacey.” She looks at Alex again. “They’re new. I’m not.”
    Alex’s smile fades a little. Then she turns it up a notch. “Great!” she says. “An expert camper.”
    Jenna nods, then pulls out her clipboard. “I made a shower schedule on the way here. It’s alphabetical. You’re first.”
    Jenna holds the schedule up for Alex to see.
    “That’s very…helpful, Jenna,” Alex replies. “I’ll look at it later. First, I want to meet the other girls!”
    Alex goes from girl to girl, practicing our names. She must be really smart, because it only takes her two tries to memorize us.
    “Come on in and choose a bed,” Alex says, holding open the cabin door. “Top. Bottom. Whatever you like. Just leave a bunk for Cee Cee and Liz. They should be here soon.”
    Brooke grabs the handle on her giant suitcase. “Excuse me,” she says, barging past us and lugging her stuff up the steps. “I hear a top bunk calling my