Read Online Best Buds by Catherine R. Daly - Free Book Online Page A

little shaky as I walked to the end. The board wobbled. What was I thinking? But now that I was up there, there was no turning back.
    I could see Rose and Aster pointing up at me, and Poppy, who had climbed out of the pool to get a closer look, jumping up and down. There was only one way out of this — I had to jump. At the very last moment I switched it to a dive. I put my hands together over my head, bent my knees, and sprung.
    Splash!
I hit the water pretty cleanly. I surfaced and swam to the ladder and climbed out, a big smile on my face.
    “Yay, Del!” shouted Poppy. “You’re so brave!”
    Rose and Aster cheered.
    I toweled myself off. I had done it. I just wasn’t sure I ever wanted to do it again.
    “Del! Del! Look at me!” Poppy cried. I turned around to see her setting off from one side of the pool. She doggie-paddled hard, sending up plumes of water, her face screwed up in concentration. I was poised to jump in if she needed help. But she miraculously made it to the other side without going under.
    “That was great, Poppy!” I cheered, pulling her out and wrapping her in a big, striped towel. Poppy grinned, making it totally clear that she had dropped the Aster routine. She sat down on a chair and gave me her patented puppy-dog eyes. “Will you come into the kiddie pool with me?” she begged.
    I wanted to say no, of course. But when your kid sister looks at you with those big, brown eyes and begs you to do something, even if it will be embarrassing, you kind of have to say yes. So I did.
    I was sitting in the kiddie pool, surrounded by toddlers in their saggy swim diapers.
This water is probably fifty percent pee,
I thought to myself with a grimace. Poppy and I were making some “soup” and we each had a pailand shovel standing in as our pot and spoon. We were chopping pretend carrots. Apparently, I was slicing mine too big, so Poppy made me start over.
    “Delphinium, is that you?” asked an extremely snotty voice.
    I looked up just as Poppy decided to dump a bucketful of water over my head.
    “Ha-ha, Del!” she cried. “I surprised you!”
    I pushed my sopping hair out of my eyes and squinted into the sunlight to see who was talking to me. I could just make out the shape of a girl with long, straight brown hair. Correction — there were two of them. I shielded my eyes to take a closer look. It was Ashley’s goons.
    “Hello, Sabrina. Hello, Rachel,” I said as dignified as possible under the circumstances — dripping wet, holding a plastic shovel as I sat cross-legged in the kiddie pool. I shook my head. “Why aren’t you guys at the Country Club?”
    “They’re, like, repairing the pool,” explained Sabrina.
    “And where’s your leader?” I asked.
    Rachel scowled. “If you mean our
friend
Ashley, she’s in Boston sampling cakes for her party,” she said. “Theone you’re not invited to,” she added unnecessarily. “But you
are
working there!” She and Sabrina laughed and slapped hands as if they had said something incredibly funny.
    I ignored that. “And she let you two go out on your own?” I asked sweetly. “How nice of her.”
    Sabrina scowled and looked me up and down. “Nice suit,” she said. “Think maybe it’s time to, like, buy a new one?”
    Puzzled, I glanced down at my bathing suit. I had bought it last year and thought it was supercute — a red-and-white-striped one-piece. But as I took a closer look I realized it was pretty faded from all the chlorine and the times I had forgotten it on the line for a day or two and left it to bake in the sun. I looked back up at Sabrina and Rachel. They were both in brightly colored string bikinis. Brand-new, I would guess.
    “Yeah, good thing
Hamilton
didn’t see you in it,” offered Sabrina.
    All thoughts of my old swimsuit left my head. “Hamilton was here?” I asked, showing perhaps a little too much interest.
    The girls exchanged glances.
    “You just missed him,” explained Sabrina.
    “He left in a big rush