Read Online Some Kind of Happiness by Claire Legrand - Free Book Online

“but something is going on over there. My dad said something happened when he was a kid. Or he kind of hinted at it, anyway. He said the Baileys aren’t good people. That their dad did bad things. But we can’t talk about it with Grandma and Grandpa. Okay?”
    â€œWhat kind of bad things?” Kennedy asks.
    â€œI don’t know. But I want to find out what.”
    â€œWhy do you care about whatever the Baileys did?” Kennedy crosses her arms. “You don’t even know them. None of us do. I mean, we’ve seen them at school, but we don’t actually talk to them. So . . . what is it? What’s the big deal?”
    I don’t know how to explain it to her in a way that would make sense—that there is a story in these woods, waiting for me to write it.
    That when I write about the Everwood, I don’t have to think about anything else. Not Mom. Not Dad.
    Not me, spending the summer away from them.
    Gretchen pipes up. “Look, the important thing is that there’s this really old, beat-up house back in the woods, and we found all this creepy stuff around it. And you can’t find an old, beat-up house in the woods surrounded by creepy stuff and not go investigate. I mean, come on, Kennedy. ” Gretchen drops to her knees and tugs on Kennedy’s tank top. “You’re killin’ me, Smalls! You’re killin’ me with your goody-goody ways! I’m beggin’ ya, don’t ruin my fun!”
    Kennedy is trying not to smile. “Get off me—you’re stretching out my shirt.”
    I clear my throat. “As a poor orphan child, with nothing to my name, I beseech you to join me and the Lady Gretchen, knight of the Everwood, in our quest: to explore the Everwood and discover its secrets.”
    â€œEspecially the beat-up old house,” Gretchen adds.
    â€œRight. Especially the house.”
    Kennedy sighs. “Which is probably condemned .”
    â€œKennedy,” Gretchen whines, “don’t be a butt.”
    â€œKennedy’s a butt,” Ruth sings. “Kennedy’s a butt.”
    â€œGreat,” Kennedy mutters.
    â€œWe won’t do anything too dangerous,” I say. “I promise, Kennedy.”
    Kennedy sighs. “Otherwise everyone’ll hate me, I guess?”
    â€œYep,” Gretchen says. “Forever and ever. Amen.”
    â€œUgh.” Kennedy crosses her arms over her chest and stares up at the trees.
    Gretchen pats her shoulder. “It sucks being the goody-goody, doesn’t it?”
    â€œI’m not a goody-goody.”
    â€œAre too,” Gretchen whispers. Dex bursts out laughing.
    Kennedy shrugs off Gretchen. Even in the dark I can tell that she’s blushing. “Fine. I’ll do it. But the second things get dangerous—”
    â€œSure, sure. Whatever. Let’s do this.”
    Gretchen picks up a long, skinny stick and looks at me, waiting. I hesitate, but there’s no going back now.
    â€œKennedy Howard,” I say, “you will be our champion. You will serve as general if we should enter into battle, and act as speaker of the Everwood when we forge alliances with foreign parties. Do you accept this title and the duties and responsibilities it entails?”
    For a minute it looks like Kennedy is going to change her mind. My heart freezes in my chest.
    Then she takes a deep breath and says, “I do.” She kneels, and Gretchen taps her shoulders with the stick. The twins watch, their mouths hanging open.
    My opinion of Kennedy skyrockets.
    â€œAnd you, Dexter and Ruth Prescott,” I say, turning to the twins. “You will be squires to the Lady Gretchen until such time as either age or experience proves you worthy of knighthood.”
    Ruth makes a face. “What’s a squire?”
    â€œBasically it means you have to do whatever I tell you to do,” Gretchen explains.
    â€œThat sounds dumb.”
    â€œNot as dumb