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said. “Drew and Hart were in the backseat.”
    Madison wondered if maybe she should have worn the white T-shirt. Did it look better? Would Hart like it better?
    “I am soooo psyched to get on the beach!” Aimee said.
    Dean drove onward to Lake Dora. The road to the lake was winding and rocky, and with each bump, Dean touched his dashboard, as if something bad might happen to his precious car.
    Aimee got a bad case of the giggles from all the bumpity-bump, but Madison made sure her seat belt was fastened tightly—just in case. Fiona gasped out loud every time the car bounced up and down.
    Bumps or no bumps, it was a relief to be out of the house, Madison thought as they drove along. She rolled down the window and inhaled gulps of lakeside air. Some of the trees along this winding road had sprouted white buds among their deep green leaves, and violets bloomed up and down the pavement. She wished she could jump out and pick her own bouquet.
    “Does anyone know if Ben Buckley is going to be there?” Aimee asked sheepishly from the front seat. She had her mind on one boy.
    Fiona cocked her head to one side and cracked, “Who wants to know?”
    Aimee blushed. “Um … me?”
    No one really knew who would be showing up at the lake, but both Madison and Fiona hoped Ben would make it. Aimee hadn’t had a crush like this in a long time. It was all she could think—and talk—about.
    “Here we are!” Dean announced, pulling into a parking lot area.
    Up ahead, groups of different kids were gathered by the Lake Dora boathouse. Some were choosing life vests and grabbing canoes. Others were standing around staring at one another. Madison recognized a friend from school, Lindsay Frost, standing next to a giant kayak. Egg and Drew were standing close by alongside Egg’s mom, Señora Diaz, Spanish teacher at Far Hills Junior High.
    Dean pulled his car into an empty spot and then ordered Aimee, Madison, and Fiona “O-U-T!” But he also promised he’d come back to pick everyone up at three o’clock. After a short chorus of good-byes, Dean whirred away, stepping on the gas and disappearing back the way they’d driven in.
    “This is so weird,” Fiona said. “When I lived in California, hanging out at the beach wasn’t like this. We didn’t stand around. We played games and talked and …”
    “That’s what we do, too!” Aimee squealed, slipping her arm through Fiona’s arm.
    Madison pointed across the beach. “There’s Dan Ginsburg,” she said. He was a friend from school and from the animal clinic where Madison volunteered.
    “Hey, I don’t see evil Poison Ivy anywhere,” Aimee said as she surveyed the beach, too. “That’s a good thing, right?”
    Ivy was a seventh-grade rival who had a nasty habit of showing up unannounced at group events. Poison Ivy was always accompanied by her duo of drones, Rose Thorn and Phony Joanie. Madison and her crew had dreamed up some awful nicknames for their enemies over the years.
    Gradually more and more and MORE cars appeared. Not everyone was dropping off junior high school kids, of course. There were families with toddlers, grandparents with beach chairs and umbrellas, and other people milling about. Madison counted more than twenty different sets of friends and families.
    “Hey, you guys,” Egg called out, and walked over toward the girls.
    His mother waved, too, but then headed in the opposite direction back toward the family car. Like Dean, she was just dropping off. Most parents and older siblings were doing that, leaving the younger kids to play and swim together. There was freedom at the lake when moms and dads weren’t there. Lifeguards kept order, but they didn’t hover like parents.
    Madison welcomed the cool lake air after the week of heat in Far Hills—especially after dealing with the broken air-conditioning unit at home. She poked at her bathing-suited tummy, wondering whether she should get wet or not. Meanwhile boys barreled into the water, screaming,