The Lost Summer Read Online Free Page B

puma that had just spotted its prey. Being discreet was not one of her strong points.
    I laughed and slapped her across the arm. “Hands off,” I joked. “He’s mine.”
    â€œWell, you are a counselor now. . . .” she said through a lopsided grin.
    â€œShut up,” I sighed. “Ransome doesn’t even know who I am. He probably thinks I’m still just another camper.”
    Katie Bell’s jaw tightened. She jerked her shoulder into a shrug, dropping it. Winn and Sarah had strolled up.
    â€œHeeey!” Winn chimed. She locked a stiff Katie Bell in an awkward hug.
    â€œHey,” Katie Bell replied.
    â€œSo you’re back in Nine East again!”
    â€œYeah,” Katie Bell said with markedly less enthusiasm. “I’m thinking about taking up permanent residence.”
    â€œWell, take care of it for me,” said Winn. “I switched to Cabin Five this year.”
    â€œI’ll try.” Katie Bell responded to her light tone with a flatness I hoped Winn didn’t notice.
    Winn turned to me. “When all your girls are here, we’re supposed to tell them to meet on the Yard. There should be a bugle soon.”
    I nodded, although Winn’s reminder was unnecessary. I’d been through this drill every year too, as a camper. “My girls are all down there already, I think.”
    â€œThen do you want to come with us now?” asked Sarah.
    I glanced at Katie Bell.
    â€œGo ahead,” she answered. “I still have to find my Bath locker and take my riding stuff to the barn.” Katie Bell rode horses at home and competed during the year. Most of her free activity periods she spent at the barn.
    I snapped my fingers. “Oh, that reminds me. Cabin Nine’s supposed to put their stuff on top of the lockers this year. We ran out of space.”
    Katie Bell nodded, her mouth a strange squiggly line on her pale, lightly freckled face. “Thanks.”
    â€œI’ll see you down at the Yard?” I asked, already turning to follow Winn and Sarah down the hill.
    â€œSure,” Katie Bell called. “Guess I’ll see y’all there.”
    It was hard for me to pick a favorite day at camp, but opening night was a definite contender for the title. Most of our Evening Gatherings would take place at the Bowl, an amphitheater-shaped grassy area below the Mansion, but opening night took place at the bonfire pit by the lake.
    After dinner, Katie Bell and I wandered together down the pine needle–covered path to the lake. Almost all the rough log benches surrounding the fire pit were already occupied when we arrived. Campers and counselors talked excitedly, waiting for Fred and Marjorie’s arrival.
    Katie Bell and I found a spot between two of the benches and settled into our folding camping chairs. I leaned back, balancing in the chair and tilting my face to the sky. Above us there was nothing but purple sky ringed by pine trees. I filled my lungs with the fresh air and held my breath, imagining the air swirling through my body, around my chest, and down my legs into my toes, clearing out all the cobwebs and breathing into the dark places.
    â€œI love the smell of camp,” said Katie Bell, reading my mind.
    â€œMe too.”
    â€œOh!” Katie Bell cried suddenly. It startled me. “What happened with John? You didn’t e-mail me back the other day.”
    â€œThat.” I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, sorry. I was packing and then forgot. He texted to say, ‘Have fun at camp,’ but I didn’t text him back.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œI’m just over it.”
    â€œYou never seemed that under it,” Katie Bell observed, fiddling with the strap on her chair.
    â€œI guess ’cause I wasn’t.” I laughed. “How did that horse show go last week?”
    â€œFine. I didn’t place, though.”
    â€œThat sucks,” I observed brilliantly. Katie Bell normally