Read Online My Extra Best Friend by Julie Bowe - Free Book Online Page A

of a well-placed song,” he tells her. “Especially when you sing it with your friends.”
    Jenna steps closer to me.
    Rusty tips up his chin, just like Connor.
“Figaro…Figaro…Figarooooo!”
he belts out.
    All the boys join in.
    All us girls plug our ears.

Chapter
9
    Alex stays at the dining hall after breakfast for a staff meeting while the rest of us head back to Chickadee. We’re supposed to clean it up. The group that keeps their cabin the cleanest wins the Silver Paddle Award at the end of the week. It’s really just an old canoe paddle that somebody painted silver.
Cleanest Cabin
is printed across it. But the way the counselors cheered when Connor brought it out—pumping it in the air like a football player who just won a Super Bowl trophy—made you believe that even an old canoe paddle could be worth fighting for.
    “We have
got
to win the Silver Paddle,” Jenna tells us as we hike back to Chickadee.
    “Yep,” Randi says. “Do or die.”
    “What’s the big deal?” Brooke asks. “It’s justa stupid painted paddle. It doesn’t even have any glitter.”
    Jenna looks at Brooke like she just suggested that gravity is stupid. “The group that wins the Silver Paddle gets their picture taken, Brooke. They put it on display for everyone to see.”
    “I could take the picture!” Meeka says, pulling out her camera and clicking a shot as we walk along.
    “No, you couldn’t,” Stacey says helpfully. “When we win the Silver Paddle, you’ll be in the picture too!”
    “Oh, yeah!” Meeka says, clicking a shot of Stacey.
    Brooke flicks back her hair. “Nobody told me it would involve a photo shoot. Fine. We’ll win the stupid paddle.”
    Elizabeth rushes ahead to Chickadee and holds open the door for everyone, like she’s trying to earn a Brownie badge or something.
    “You can’t win a Silver Paddle for holding open a door,” I tell her.
    “I’m not trying to win anything,” she says as everyone files past. “I’m trying to be
nice
.”
    She narrows her eyes into slits behind her glasses.
    “Keep practicing,” I reply. Then I bump past her and head inside.
    We get busy cleaning. Randi and Elizabeth sweep. Meeka and Jolene straighten suitcases. Stacey sorts flip-flops. Jenna wipes toothpaste off the bathroom sink. I finish moving to my new bunk. Sketchbook. Pencils. Pens. The notepaper from Mom. A flashlight, in case George gets scared at night.
    I climb up and get everything organized, being careful to keep the pens and pencils away from the crack that’s between the bunk and the wall. I don’t want them to fall through.
    I don’t want
me
to fall through either.
    So I do a little test.
    But the only part of me that fits through the crack is my arm.
    Good. The last thing I want to do is fall on top of Elizabeth Evans.
    “I can only do soft chores,” Brooke announces. She’s sitting crisscross-applesauce on her top bunk, fluffing a pillow. “Otherwise, I might damage a nail. That would be tragic because I forgot to pack extra polish.”
    Randi sweeps around Brooke’s bunk, mumbling something about damaged brains. Her broom accidentally knocks Brooke’s fat backpack to the floor.
    Thunk!
    “Hey!” Brooke snaps at Randi. “Be careful. You’re breaking the chips!”
    Randi hoists the backpack onto Brooke’s bottom bunk again. “Then we better eat them before they go bad.” She looks around the room at everyone. “Snack time!”
    Elizabeth stops sweeping. “Oh?” she says, all innocent. “You brought snacks?”
    She shoots that grin at me.
    “Duh,” Brooke says. “What did you think? We’d starve all week?”
    Jenna peeks out from the bathroom, a wad of toothpastey paper towel in her hand. She looks at her watch. “It’s nine thirty-seven in the morning. That’s way too early for snacks.”
    “It’s never too early,” Randi replies. She pokes the backpack with the end of her broom. “Let’s eat!”
    Brooke hops down. “Fine, but the snacks have to last four more