Read Online Just Like Me by Nancy Cavanaugh - Free Book Online Page A

screen door banged behind her, and we all lay in the dark. Tori hadn’t even given us a chance to put our Bibles away. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the night all around me as the quiet cabin filled with the sound of chirping crickets from outside.
    â€œWhat is her problem?” Vanessa whispered as soon as she knew Tori was far enough away that she wouldn’t hear her.
    â€œ You’re her problem!” Gina hissed.
    â€œJust shut up!” Vanessa growled back.
    â€œJust stop it, you guys,” Avery whispered. “We’re going to get into even more trouble.”
    â€œOh, we should be fine now,” Vanessa said. “We have the snake charmer on our team.”
    Meredith muffled a giggle in her pillow.
    â€œVanessa, stop being a jerk,” Gina said.
    â€œ You stop being a jerk!” Vanessa said, almost sounding like she was spitting.
    Next thing I knew, I heard snoring. It was Becca.
    â€œHow could she fall asleep in the middle of this?” I asked.
    â€œTechnically, the body at rest can fall asleep quite quickly when one’s mind is no longer interested in its surroundings,” Avery said. “Which means…”
    â€œWhich means she fell asleep because she got tired of hearing you talk like you’re a walking website of worthless information.”
    Meredith laughed out loud and then smashed her face into her pillow, but it was too late.
    â€œ White Oak, quiet down in there! First warning!”
    And now, besides everything else, we were in trouble with the bulldog—the counselor assigned to sit outside by the picnic tables in the middle of the cabins to make sure all the campers kept quiet and stayed in bed after lights-out. One more warning, and we’d lose three points for our cabin.
    Vanessa let out a huge sigh and whispered, “This cabin is hopeless.”
    No one else talked or laughed or made any kind of noise. There was nothing left to say. Vanessa was right. White Oak was hopeless.
    Dear Ms. Marcia,
    If there’s really a red thread that’s supposed to connect us to everyone we meet, this cabin’s red thread is in a big, fat knot—and every day that knot is getting tighter and tighter and tighter, and that thread is getting thinner and thinner and thinner.
    Actually, I think it might be just about ready to break.
    Julia

14
    â€œHey, where’s my stuff?” Gina asked, rummaging around in her cubby.
    Tori had just woken us up, and even though she said we didn’t have much time before flag raising, I lay in my bunk one more minute, not wanting to leave the comfort of my sleeping bag.
    â€œHow should I know?” Vanessa asked. She looked at Meredith and smiled a sneaky smile.
    â€œMaybe a snake moved your stuff,” Meredith said, laughing.
    â€œVery funny,” Gina said.
    â€œCan’t you just find your stuff later?” Avery asked. “We don’t want to be late again.”
    Becca came out of the bathroom rubbing her head with a towel. She must’ve gotten up early just so she could get in the shower before Vanessa.
    â€œHow much more time do we have?” Becca asked.
    â€œ Less than fifteen! ” Tori yelled from her little counselor room.
    â€œWell, we’re not going to make it if somebody doesn’t tell me where my stuff is,” Gina said, moving around a small bottle of shampoo and a travel-sized tube of toothpaste. “This stuff isn’t mine!”
    I slid out of my sleeping bag and jumped down from my bunk.
    Gina emptied everything from her cubby and laid it on her bed.
    â€œHey, that looks like my stuff!” I said, as I saw her toss my comb and brush on the bed. “How did it get in there?”
    â€œLet me take a wild guess,” Gina said. “I bet my stuff is in your cubby.”
    â€œThat must’ve been one sneaky, smart snake to switch your stuff like that,” Vanessa said laughing.
    â€œYou’re the snake!” Gina said,