want the bottom bunk under Maggie?â I asked, feeling Maggieâs eyes on me.
She shrugged and smiled. âSure, thatâs fine.â She was kind of on the tall side, and her blond hair was cut in a short wedge and parted down the middle.
The thing was,
I
wanted the top bunk, and not because I thought Devon wanted me close by. I just preferred the top. But I didnât want Maggie to feel like I was deserting her for Devon. I definitely wasnât.
âDo you mind, Windsoroni?â I asked Maggie when she gave me a quick glance.
Devon looked up from where she was sitting on her bottom bunk. âWindsoroni? Is that anything like Beefaroni?â
âWindsor is Maggieâs last name. She always called me Christina Kachina last year, so I call her Windsoroni.â
Devon cupped her hands over her mouth and started heaving. Maggie jumped up. âYou okay?â
âNo, Iâm not. Your stupid nicknames are making me seriously ill.â
âAh, jealous? Donât worry about that. Youâll get your own nickname pretty soon.â Maggie wrinkled her forehead thoughtfully. âHow about Ghosty? Or . . . what was your last name? Fairchild? I got it!â Maggie snapped her fingers. âPalechild!â
Devon looked past Maggie at me. âDo you hear an annoying buzzing sound? At first I thought it was someone talking, but now I think itâs a fly.â She focused her gaze on Maggie. âGot a fly swatter, Chris?â
âOh, I get it!â Maggie said with a big, goofy grin. âYou think Iâm a pest! Just waitâIâm barely warmed up. I can be fifty times more annoying than this!â
âI donât doubt that for a minute,â said Devon.
Maybe it was the stress of having to pick a bed. Whatever it was, I snapped. âStop it! You two just met five seconds ago, and you already hate each other!â I yelled. Betsy was quietly sitting on the edge of her bottom bunk, watching all this.
Devon fluttered her eyelashes at me. âThatâs an overreaction.â
Maggie nodded and shook her finger in my direction. âTemper, temper!â
The only thing more annoying than having my two best friends already arguing was the way they both always acted so cool and calm while I was losing it.
I took a deep breath. âPlay nice, okay?â Maggie smiled sweetly and Devon shook her head and turned away. Betsy got busy making up her bottom bunk.
Once I lost my temper, it was always hard for me tocool down again. I tried to distract myself by putting on my sheets and unpacking some stuff.
I dug out all my Converse high-tops in shades of aqua, purple, and orange, along with the red and yellow mates to the ones I had on my feet. Then I pulled out my final and favorite pairâmy new see-through high-tops. Iâd just bought them last weekend with some birthday money. They were waterproof, and the second I saw them, I had to have them. Wearing see-through sneakers would give me all kinds of new possibilities to make my socks a fashion statement. I lined all my shoes up under a bottom shelf by the wall.
Then I unpacked Melvin, my bear. Iâd made him myself when I was seven at one of those workshops, and he had on red flannel pajamas and a matching nightcap.
Maggie grabbed him and hugged him. âMelvin, how ya been?â Then she propped him up against my pillow on my top bunk. I was glad she didnât seem too upset about the whole bunk bed thing.
When we heard the bell ringing, we all went to the dining hall for lunch. I explained to Devon that weâd sit at a table with our counselors and the other Cabin Four girls. Maggie and I kept seeing old friends from last year, and every time we stopped to talk to someone, Devon would yawn. It was like we were forcingher to listen to us recite the world capitals in reverse alphabetical order.
At lunch we got to meet the rest of the Side B girls. Kayla weâd already met in the