Best Friends (Until Someone Better Comes Along) Read Online Free

easygoing Mr. Cool Guy. At home, though, Dad’s stressed out all the time. It annoys me that strangers get to see the fun side of Dad that he used to save for me—even if it’s all for show. In some ways, Mom’s (not-so-secret) stranger anxiety is better than the way my dad acts. At least she’s not being fakey with people.
    As I picked my way through scratchy bushes and thick piles of dead leaves— ow! —I crouched down low so none of the kids gathered on the beach could see me. After a few more shaky steps, I sat down on a low rock that made a perfect snooping stool. I listened closely for Bailey’s loud, gasping laugh or Ava’s squeaky voice. I knew I had to be close.
    Coco crawled onto my lap, and her eyes drifted closed. Her little body shuddered, then she sighed and fell fast asleep. “It’s like you haven’t been sleeping for the last five hours,” I whispered.
    Suddenly, the sound of girls’ laughter put me on high alert. I couldn’t see them, but I knew Ava and Bailey and the others were less than ten feet away from me, just on the other side of a thick mess of wild blueberry bushes.
    I held my breath, suddenly worried I’d be caught. It wouldn’t look good if they found me hunched over here, crawling through brambles. I could say I lost a headband?Needed wood for . . .? Oh! I’m hunting for blueberries! I knew I could come up with something if I needed to, and at the moment, all I could think about was how much I needed to know what Ava and Bailey were going to say about me. Knowledge is power, my dad always says, and in the case of gossip it’s always the truth. I was sort of the master at figuring out how to use people’s words against them, and I intended to do just that. If necessary, of course.
    â€œImpossible,” someone said. The voice sounded like the cute guy, the one who’d made fun of me! Lobster Boy. “She didn’t do that.”
    â€œNot a lie,” Bailey said, laughing her donkey laugh again. If only she could figure out how to close her mouth before she took a breath, she wouldn’t sound like a farm animal. “Pinkie swear.”
    Pinkie swear? I rolled my eyes. What was she, six?
    Bailey continued. “I was there. Really! It happened.”
    They were talking about me! I was sure of it. I grinned, realizing that it was pretty cool that Lobster Boy sounded so impressed. Maybe he’d be worth my time after all.
    â€œProve it,” Lobster Boy said. I heard a shuffling sound, and suddenly his messy hair was bobbing above the brush line just a few feet away—he’d stood up! If he turned around,I’d be caught snooping, for sure. I tried to slink down, burying myself deeper in the brush, but Coco stirred on my lap when I moved. So I stayed as still as I could and hoped no one would see me lurking in the bushes. What if they thought I was hiding back here, peeing in the woods or something? Oh, the humiliation.
    Suddenly, Bailey stood up right beside Lobster Boy. I wondered what she was going to show him to prove what I’d done. . . . Was she going to try to demonstrate how I’d stolen their swimsuits? Or maybe she’d recite one of the poems? Oh! This was getting better and better. I loved hearing how other people told stories about me.
    Before I could wonder any more, Ava leapt up and ran into the water. She jogged out until the water was about thigh-deep, then dove under. Everyone else stood up to watch her. Bailey reached down and grabbed a little Flip video camera, pointing it in the direction of whatever was going on in the lake. I had to crane my neck to try to see what was happening, which was tricky since there was this huge branch in the way. After almost half a minute had passed, Ava resurfaced right by a buoy that was way out in the lake.
    â€œTold ya!” Bailey cried. She jumped up and down with her camera, cheering for Ava.