Read Online Twelve by Lauren Myracle - Free Book Online Page A

Miss Peregrine to the front of the lodge, where we picked up the trays of sloppy joes for our tables. Some might have said it was unfair that the most popular girls in each cabin were the ones who had to serve lunch, but I didn’t mind. I liked being the server.
    I didn’t want a sloppy joe, so I made myself a Camp Winding Gap Special instead. Peanut butter always stood on the table, as well as white bread, for those who didn’t want the day’s entrée. There were also lemon wedges and sugar for the iced tea. To make a Camp Winding Gap Special, you spread peanut butter on a piece of bread, then sprinkled on a spoonful of sugar, then squeezed a lemon over the whole thing. Mmm-mmm.
    â€œMy very last Camp Winding Gap Special,” I intoned, holding my bread aloft.
    â€œYou could make one at home,” Madison pointed out. “Do you have lemon juice? Just tell your mom to buy some.”
    â€œIt wouldn’t be the same,” I said.
    â€œShe’s right,” Jaden said. Sloppy-joe sauce dotted the corner of her lips. “Last year I made one with one of my school friends, and it wasn’t the same. It just tasted . . . wrong.”
    â€œWhen camp is over, it’s over,” Jessica said. “The end.”
    â€œBut that’s so sad!” Madison said.
    â€œThat’s life,” said Jessica.
    I’d learned during a late-night gab session that Jessica had had leukemia when she was a kid, so I guess she knew what was life and what wasn’t. I admired her for it. Madison, on the other hand, seemed a little spoiled. During that same late-night session, Madison had complained that the one thing she didn’t like about camp was having to make up her own bed. Amanda and I had shared a look.
    Madison pushed away her sloppy joe. “In that case, I’m having my last Camp Winding Gap Special, too.”
    â€œMe, too,” said Jaden, reaching for the bread.
    â€œAll hail the Camp Winding Gap Special!” I said.
    â€œWill you write me?” Madison said out of nowhere, beseeching me with her eyes.
    â€œHuh?” I said.
    â€œAfter we leave,” she said. “Will you write me? Promise?”
    â€œSure,” I said easily. If that was the price I had to pay for being Miss Hummingbird, then bring it on. I even had my own stationery, which my grandmom had given me and which had wildflowers printed across the pages.
    But at the same time, I felt it was my responsibility to cut Madison off before her teariness grew into something bigger. Plus, she was unexpectedly reminding me of Dinah, whom I hadn’t thought about the whole time I was here. I remembered Dinah’s expression when I told her I was going to Camp Winding Gap. It was the same mix of neediness and abandonment that I now saw in Madison. But I hadn’t abandoned Dinah, any more than I’d be abandoning Madison when I drove off with Mom and Dad tomorrow. We were big girls. Like Jessica said, that’s life .
    â€œWe should go skinny-dipping,” I announced. Immediately, the mood at the table changed.
    â€œOmigosh, we should,” Jessica said.
    â€œI’ve never been skinny-dipping,” Jaden said. “Have you?”
    â€œNo, and that’s why we should,” I said.
    Amanda giggled. “I don’t think I’m a skinny-dipping kind of girl.”
    â€œYou can be if you want to be!” I argued. Suddenly this was important. “You can be whoever you want!”
    Madison fooled with her Camp Winding Gap Special, drawing a line in the lemony sugar crystals. I could tell she wanted to do it.
    â€œWhere would we go?” she asked.
    â€œTo the lake, past where we put the canoes in,” I said. “That hidden spot by the trees.” I stood up, knowing we had to go now before anyone chickened out. “Come on!”
    The five of us giggled as we left the lodge, trying to act casual.
    â€œWhere are you girls going?” Amy asked from