Lake Rescue (5 page)

“Me too. I would never have worn them to school, and I needed dressy clothes for work.” Candice looked in the fridge. “Don’t tell me we’re out of applesauce again.”

“Who wants eggs with mushrooms and cheese?” asked Patrice, who was standing at the stove. “Don’t forget it’s your turn to finish loading the dishwasher, Katani. You’re not getting out of it just because your nails aren’t dry.”

Patrice was younger than Candice, but she liked to boss the entire family around. Only when their grandmother was in the room did she keep her mouth shut. Katani couldn’t help thinking how Patrice could be sometimes.

Mrs. Summers rushed into the kitchen wearing her tailored black suit with a white silk blouse. “No eggs for me today, all I have time for is a yogurt and coffee. Patrice, hand me a raspberry and toss some granola in it. I spent half the night getting ready for this trial today. You each have exactly a minute apiece to present any problems you have that you can’t solve yourselves.” Mrs. Summers blew kisses at her
daughters. She was a super lawyer who believed in instilling independence in children at an early age. “Nothing? Good. I’m leaving. Call me at work if you need me. And,” she added with a wide grin, “call the FBI if you can’t find me.”

Kelley jumped to envelop her mother in a hug. “I am going to call the FBI, the FBI, oh me, oh my,” she sang.

Candice, Patrice, and Katani all laughed. Kelley could be so funny sometimes. Their mother put her finger to her mouth, not wanting to overexcite Kelley before she left.

“Mom, wait, I do have one problem. I just don’t have time to go on this outdoor education thing the school is having. I have two papers to write and I want to join the math club. Will you write me an excuse to stay at school?” asked Katani, hoping her nonchalant tone would distract her mother from the question.

“Oh, the Lake Rescue trip? Is it that time already? Of course you’re going. Candice and Patrice loved the experience. It’s one of your grandmother’s favorite school trips. You loved it, didn’t you, girls?”

“We sure did.” Candice smiled ever so sweetly at Katani. “No way can you miss it.”

“All your friends are going,” Patrice reminded Katani. “It’s the experience of a lifetime, or maybe junior high time. It’s a school ritual. Grandma Ruby would never let you miss it, either.”

“See, Katani? Have a great day, girls. You can’t reach me until afternoon. If you can’t reach me or your dad, call Grandma Ruby.” Mrs. Summers took a last sip of coffee, grabbed her briefcase and keys, and left nibbling on a piece of toast. She poked her head back in. “Remember, Friday night,
Katani. I’m taking your friends shopping, right? Maybe we can shop for the trip. Now, wish me luck.”

“Luck, Mom.” Katani heard her mother race out and start her car. “Thanks for all your help.” Katani glared at Patrice and Candice.

“You’re welcome.” Both girls, smiling sweetly, rinsed their plates and forks, leaving the dishwasher open. “Bye, Kelley. Be good today.”

Kelley stared at Katani when they were the only two left at the table. “You can take Mr. Bear, Katani. That way you won’t be lonely for me at night.”

“That’s so sweet, Kel.” Katani reached over and hugged her sister. Kelley never parted with Mr. Bear. The stuffed bear kept her grounded. What do I have to to complain about…really, thought Katani. Kelley was the one who had things to complain about and she never did.

Katani finished loading the dishes, then placed the hiking boots in a grocery bag to take for Isabel to try on. She hurried Kelley out of the house to walk her to school. Maybe she could run through the woods at Lake Rescue. That might be fun.

T
GIF.” Charlotte felt as if this week had been two weeks long. Getting
The Sentinel
page finished took more time than usual, but Charlotte thought this might be their best issue ever. Plus, she had helped with the layout of the seventh-grade page. She had contributed way more than just as a feature writer, and she had enjoyed it.

What if she learned enough from Jennifer that she could try out for editor next year? Did she want to be editor? Being an editor and being a writer were two very different things, but as editor she’d learn a lot about writing. Maybe it would even help her get into college someday, Charlotte dreamed. Suddenly, she stopped herself. Wow, she almost laughed out loud. I’m turning into Betsy Fitzgerald. Betsy’s whole motivation in life was building her college résumé even though she was only twelve. I’ve got to chill out here. Charlotte shrugged her shoulders.

Glancing at the newspaper, Charlotte noticed that the only thing missing today was Isabel’s cartoon, but the size was standard, so they left a hole to slip it into. Jennifer said
“no problem”; she was staying until everything was perfect. “It’s my job,” she shrugged.

When the bell rang, Charlotte ran to get her backpack so she could meet her friends on the front steps of the school. They were going “Lake Rescue shopping.” Charlotte couldn’t wait.

When Charlotte got to the front of the school she saw Isabel rushing toward her.

“Isabel!” Charlotte shouted to her friend. She was first at the steps. The BSG were going shopping with Katani’s mother. Katani had explained that shopping for Lake Rescue was a tradition. Her mom had done this for Patrice and Candice too. Charlotte got the idea that everyone in Katani’s family loved tradition. She also knew Katani felt like she was disappointing her family by not being a super athlete like her sisters. But Charlotte could tell that Mr. and Mrs. Summers were proud of all their daughters. You could see it in their faces when they looked at Katani.

“Isabel, did you turn in your cartoon?” Charlotte asked.

Isabel was breathing hard. “I was afraid I would be late.” She usually looked so cool, even with a spot of paint on her clothing. The mark of a true artist. Today her long black hair was tangled and a silver clip barely hung in place. Isabel knew she looked a mess. She collapsed on the steps and searched in her purse for a hairbrush.

“I turned it in just now. I thought I’d have time to finish it during library, but then Ms. O’Reilly assigned that new report.” In a couple of minutes, Isabel was back together, her hair glistening and pinned together, not a strand out of place. Her dangly silver earrings set off her long neck and glittered in the sunlight.

“How do you do that?” Charlotte asked. “If I had looked as frazzled as you did just now, it would have taken me three
mirrors and an hour to get myself together.” She laughed.

“I guess when you dance in shows, you learn to change clothes and tidy up fast. The real stars even have help because they have to change costumes three or four times. But even amateur dancers like me learn to do the quick change.” Isabel sighed.

“You miss your dancing a lot, don’t you?”

Isabel shrugged. “I do. But I’d rather have a healthy knee. Otherwise, how could I keep up with my four awesomely best
chicas
.”

Charlotte understood. Sometimes she missed traveling, but right now, she wouldn’t trade the friendships she had made for anything. She just knew the BSG would be friends forever.

“Okay, your cartoon is in. My feature is finished, as well as the rest of the seventh-grade page. We can both relax and enjoy the ‘shopping experience.’ I called my Dad and he said he’d meet us at the store, too. I hope he remembers. He’s been acting like one of the original absent-minded professors lately. I’ve been wondering if he has a new project going on…he always acts a little spacey when he’s starting a new book,” Charlotte said, a hint of nervousness creeping into her voice.

Isabel looked up at her friend. Did a new book mean a new place for Charlotte? She hoped not. The Beacon Street Girls without Charlotte just wouldn’t be right. They had had that scare already, when Mr. Ramsey considered moving to England for work.

“I can’t buy that much today,” Isabel admitted. “But Candice’s boots are a perfect fit. Let’s look at the list again.”

Charlotte had it folded in her purse. She pulled it out, smoothed the creases, and began to read out loud:

“It will rain if I go.” Isabel sighed. “I’m a rain magnet.”

“Since my specialty is disasters of all kinds,” Charlotte laughed, “I’ll have to get boots so I can cross sprained ankle off my list of things that might happen while we’re there.”

“Why can’t they be new?” Isabel wondered.

“Blisters. And new jeans can feel like wearing sandpaper when you’re hiking or when you get wet. Trust me. This is the voice of experience speaking. Besides, they’ll get wrecked.”

“You know so much about travel, Charlotte,” noted Isabel. “Maybe we should write a book together when we grow up, and I could do all the illustrations. We could go around the world. We’d be a great team.”

“That would be my
dream
job,” Charlotte exclaimed. “We should totally do that right after college. My friend Anabel in Australia has an older sister who backpacked around the world for a whole year after she graduated from the University of Sydney. We could stay in hostels and…”

“Backpacks?” Isabel questioned. “How about a suitcase with rollers and cheap hotels?”

“Well, it depends how famous our books get.” Charlotte grinned, picked up her supply list and continued to read:

“Why six socks and underwear?” Isabel said. “For four days?”

“I don’t know about you, but do you know how many times I can fall out of a canoe without even trying?” Charlotte asked.

Isabel hoped she was exaggerating.

“That’s a given.” Charlotte made a face. “If we’re near a lake the mosquitoes can be as big as hummingbirds.”

“I thought mosquitoes were gone by now.”

“You never know,” said Charlotte. “They can be devious little creatures. And I’m not taking any chances.” She picked up a medium-sized bottle of “Bug Off.”

“What kind of animals? I hope we see a moose.” Isabel set her backpack down. “Where is everyone? Are we in the right place to meet them? My horoscope said I was going to make a mistake today, but that it wasn’t really my fault. I hope this isn’t it.”

“I thought we were meeting here. But I was distracted this morning. Maybe everyone said lockers. They’ll find us. I think by animals, they mean mice or groundhogs or maybe snakes, bears, squirrels.”

Charlotte had buried the word bear in with the rest of the animals she could think of, but Isabel jumped on it.

“Won’t real bears be hibernating?” Isabel asked.

“It’s probably too early. They’re still eating, but they only eat berries, don’t they?” Charlotte laughed and kept reading:

“Here you two are.” Katani, Avery, and Maeve hurried up beside them. “I thought we were meeting at the office.
Remember, my grandmother was giving me some money.”

“We said the front steps last time I heard,” Charlotte smiled.

Mrs. Summers pulled up to the curb, waved from her minivan, and the girls piled in, tossing their gear in the back.

“Charlotte, Charlotte, sit by me,” Kelley pleaded from the very back seat. She clutched Mr. Bear in one hand and patted the seat beside her with the other. “You are my best friend in the whole world, besides Mr. Bear. Marty is my favorite, too, but he isn’t a bear,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“Almost,” Avery said. “Marty is cute as a little bear cub. We should have told your dad to bring him, Char.”

“To the mall? No way.” Charlotte let pictures flash through her mind of Marty, the wonder dog, loose in the mall. They could probably catch him easily, though, since he’d stop to let everyone pet him.

Kelley put her arm around Charlotte and hugged her tight. She loved everyone, and most of the time, everyone loved her.

“Everyone have her seat belt fastened?” Mrs. Summers called, looking in the rear mirror. “We’re off on an adventure.”

They were a tight fit but giggling helped, and they weren’t going far. “Good thing I didn’t eat too much for dinner last night,” Katani said.

“You did too, Katani,” said Kelley. “You ate fish and broccoli, and rice and pumpkin pie.”

That set them giggling again. Kelley was very literal. She said things exactly as they were.

Maeve piped in. “My mom made the best dinner—roast chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. It’s my favorite dinner in the world. I could eat it every night.”

Charlotte laughed. Everything with Maeve was extreme. Things were the best, the most fabulous, or the absolute worst. It really made hanging out with her fun–it was kind of like having a character in a sitcom for a friend.

Mr. Ramsey was waiting for them in front of the outdoor store. Charlotte waved to him. When he had heard Mrs. Summers was taking all of the girls shopping for the trip, he called to ask if he could come along. Mr. Ramsey loved to plan trips…even for other people. He rubbed his hands together and said, “Okay, girls, big-time shopping. Let’s get started. Thanks for picking them up, Mrs. Summers.”

“Nadine, please, and I wouldn’t miss this trip for anything. I helped outfit my two oldest girls for their big Lake Rescue weekends. If we get separated, we’ll meet back at shoes. That’s easy to find.”

The BSG hurried off together. “I have to wear all my sisters’ hand-me-downs,” Katani complained. “Is that a major drag or what?”

“All of them?” Maeve said. “You can’t have anything new?”

“I can, but I have to buy a lot myself. I thought maybe I could afford a new vest and some socks.” Katani flipped through a circular display of vests, most of them plain blue, plain brown, plain tan.

“Look!” Charlotte pulled a khaki vest from the revolving rack. “This is almost as good as a photographer’s vest with all the pockets. I hate having anthing in my hands when I hike.
My old shorts have good pockets and with a small backpack, I should be—”

“Free to catch yourself if you fall.” Avery finished the sentence.

Charlotte looked at Avery with a hurt expression. “Well, that too. You know, Avery, I’m not a klutz at
everything
I do. My dad and I have hiked around a lot of places.”

“I know that, Char…you know me. Open mouth, make joke, insert foot,” apologized Avery.

“Cool!” Katani had wandered off to a rack that held more colorful clothing. “Look! This looks just like a Juicy Couture vest.”

“If Juicy designs vests.” Isabel smiled. “It is cute. Is it lots more expensive than the plain ones?”

“I’m afraid to look.” Katani pulled out the price tag and her face fell at least a couple of inches. “Yeah, it is.”

“Your mother is talking to my dad and smiling,” Charlotte pointed out. “My dad almost always puts people in a good mood.”

Katani didn’t hesitate long. “Won’t hurt to try.” She took off with the vest to plead her case.

They moved toward shoes. Katani caught up. “Mom said okay, she’d advance me money, but I have to pay it back. At this rate, I’m going to be baby-sitting for about a year without pay. But it’s worth it. If I’m going to help Isabel make pajamas for us all, I don’t have time to sew a vest. Do you think I can find orange socks to match?”

“Go for it. But bright colors attract rattlesnakes,” said Avery with a mischievous grin.

Katani stopped and stared at Avery. “That’s not true. I
know that’s not true.” She acted, though, as if she wasn’t positive that Avery was teasing her.

“Well,” interrupted Charlotte, “I don’t know about snakes, but I do know that bright colors attract bees.”

“That’s true, but I went on hikesafe. com. It said you should wear bright clothes so people can see you in the woods,” said Avery. “So actually, Katani, your vest is a good idea.”