Nature Girl Read Online Free Page A

I’m sorry I said anything. Especially since it won’t even be worthcarrying. Whatever is in there is sure to be way too healthy and self-improving. But I put it in my backpack.
    Sam drives up in his dad’s old pickup truck. Ginia runs outside to meet him. They kiss like they haven’t seen each other in a zillion years.
    It’s worse than I thought. The hike is going to be a big, fat slobberfest.
    “Mom, please don’t make me go with them,” I beg her. “You see how they are.”
    “That’s why you have to stay with them. To keep your sister out of trouble,” Mom says.
    “That is so totally unfair!” I say.
    “Sometimes life isn’t fair,” Mom says.
    Like that’s going to make me feel better?
    She holds up the hat and my backpack. I put on the backpack. I ignore the hat. She sticks it in the backpack as I drag Arp outside.
    Ginia leans real close to Sam to whisper. She deliberately does it loud enough so I can hear. “I can’t believe she has to come with us. Why should we suffer just because Megan is a lazy slug?”
    “Mom!” I wail. “Did you hear what she called me?”
    Mom is standing right there, choosing her brushes from the tin can on the back porch. She turns to Ginia like she’s going to scold her, but all she says is, “Ginia, don’t ignore your sister. Include her.”
    “I don’t want to be included in what they’re going to be doing,” I say.
    “Megan, remember that Ginia is in charge.”
    The last thing I want is Ginia bossing me. I jerk Arp’s leash and stomp down the driveway. I kick a few stones out of my way. I’d rather be kicking Ginia. And then she says in her fake-sweet voice, “Oh, Meggie, you’re going the wrong way.”
    I stop.
    “Did you think we were going to hike on the road?” Sam says.
    “Actually yes. Because walking on a smooth, flat surface would be the SENSIBLE thing to do!”
    Then they all laugh at me. Well, ha, ha, ha.
    Sam and Ginia join hands and walk in the other direction. As they stroll past the garden, Sam picks a flower and gives it to Ginia. She acts like it’s the most wonderful thing that anyone has ever done. They pass the Hundred-Year-Old Maple and go into the big field that surrounds the farmhouse and the barn. They’re about halfway to the Woods, but I’m still standing in the driveway. I’m so angry my feet are burning holes through my shoes.
    Mom sighs. “Sweetheart, you’re not getting off to a very good start. Can’t you try to be more …”
    The last thing I need is another lecture. “Just leave me alone!”
    I drag Arp across the field after Sam and Ginia. As horrible as they are, at least I can count on them to ignore me.

3
Into the Woods
    Let me explain something because you might not know this. If you’re a city kid or even a suburb kid, you probably think the Woods are just, like, six trees sticking up out of the ground the way you drew them in preschool. Tall, straight trunks topped by a fluffy circle of leaves. A few friends to make some cool shade or be a backrest for you if you’re sitting down to have a snack.
    But that isn’t the real Woods. First of all, there are way more than six trees. There are so many that you don’t even think of them as separate trees that can be counted. They spread on and on, up over the mountains and down the other side, on and on until forever. Still, it wouldn’t matter how many there were if they stood in line like the trees in Central Park. But they don’t. They all crowd together. Their branches are twisted and tangled up. The ground below them is crammed with smaller trees trying to fight their way up to the sun, andunder those trees are bushes and brambles and weird plants. The trees that have died lie around rotting and hiding under piles of brown leaves, just waiting to trip you. There aren’t any paths or spaces to walk. The Woods don’t want you to walk in them. And don’t forget the swarms of biting insects that hang out there, waiting to suck your blood and give you