Page 162 of Banter & Blushes

I cringed. “That sounds … interesting.”

She laughed. “I know!”

CHAPTER 4

ISLA

Today was beach day at camp!

Amelie and I were so excited! We put our bathing suits on under our clothes like Meggie told us to, and then we packed the beach bags she gave us with a towel, sunscreen, and a change of clothes. We all had a different color bag. Together, our bags made a rainbow! Mine was baby blue. Amelie’s was mint green. Paisley got light purple, Bianca yellow, Hallie pink, Harlan orange, and Nicki’s was red.

There’s another boy in our group. His name is Archer, and he’s Harlan’s best friend at camp. He’s Paisley’s best friend, too, from where she lives in Massachusetts. Their mommies are also best friends. So many best friends! He got the white bag. Harlan said he’s the cloud! We all laughed, even Archer, because that was funny.

Meggie has two groups. We were all in Group 1. Sometimes we did stuff with Meggie. Sometimes we did stuff with Noah. He’s her assistant. Sometimes we do stuff with both of them and then Group 2 and Group 1 become one big group, called the Sandpipers. Jamie is Noah’s cousin, and he helps Kat at the barn. She’s the boss. She’s old—almost thirty-three—and she’s going to have another baby, so she needs a lot of help. She’s married to Easton, who’s Mr. JC’s brother. He’s a doctor for big animals and helps take care of the horses.

It’s a lot of people. I’m glad Amelie makes lists. I don’t think she spelled alltheir names right, but that’s okay. Wynnie calls her writing “invented spelling” and says it’s part of the learning process.

We ate our breakfast really fast today because we wanted to get to camp early. Last night at dinner, me and Amelie and the girls and Harlan and Archer made a plan for the beach. We’ll set up our bags in rainbow order so they’re easy to find and spread out our towels in a circle like how our cottage is. Then we can build a sandcastle in the middle. Noah said he has alotof sand toys to bring!

We were going over the plan when Mr. JC ducked under the pavilion.

“Hey, hey, boys and girls!”

We looked up at him. Meggie was handing him a clipboard. That was weird. Where was her tablet?

“Amelie,” I whispered. “I think she lost her tablet!”

“Oh no!”

“She didn’t lose it,” Bianca interrupted. “She doesn’t bring it to beach days ’cause it might get sand in it.”

“That’s very smart!” Amelie praised Meggie.

“Shh!” Harlan shushed us. “He’s waiting for you to stop talking.”

I looked up. Mr. JC was staring right at us.

“Sorry!” I whispered.

He smiled.

I knew I liked him. I smiled back.

“As you all know, Meggie is getting married on Saturday.” We cheered and clapped because that is important! “And she has some things to do this week to get ready for it. So I’ll be filling in so she can go to her appointments and stuff.” He rubbed his hands together like my daddy does when he thinks he’s going to announce something we think will be fun. “Who’s ready for the beach?”

“Me!” we all shouted. All sixteen of us!

But not Noah. He looked a little nervous. I wondered why. It was just the beach.

I shrugged. Maybe he didn’t like sand.

“So here’s how it’s going to go. Noah and I will each drive a group in one of the big golf carts. The beach stairs are steep, so we’ll have to be careful. A section of the beach will be roped off for us, and there will be a rope with buoys in the water. You’re not to go under or past the rope. It’s there for your safety and so we can keep track of you. It’s a big beach, and we don’t want to lose anyone. Any questions?”

I raised my hand. “Are you a lifeguard?”

He nodded. “Both Noah and I are trained lifeguards. Hallie?”

“Does my mommy know that you and cousin Noah are taking sixteen kids to the beachby yourselves?”

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