Island Girls (and Boys) Read Free Page A

dice.�
    I took them out of the box and carried them to the Ping-Pong table. �We each get one roll. Highest roll gets it the first month, second highest the second month, and the lowest gets it last. Agreed?�
    Chelsea and Amy exchanged glances, then both nodded. Thank goodness. This was so notthe way that I�d planned to start the summer. I handed Chelsea the dice. �You can go first.�
    She threw a five and a four.
    Amy threw a two and one. She would definitely have the room the last month. No way was I going to throw something lower than a three. What I really wanted was to have the room first, because I figured by the end of the month everyone would be settled and no one would want to switch. A little tricky thinking there, but I was certain that was the way it would go.
    ï¿½Come on double six,� I whispered as I blew on the dice. Shook them in my palm. Blew on them again.
    ï¿½Come on already,� Chelsea said. �Throw �em.�
    I shook, blew, tossed them.
    Snake eyes. Two.
    The disappointment overwhelmed me. I couldn�t believe how very much I�d wanted to start my summer in that bedroom. Instead, I would end the summer with it. All right. So be it. I could be a good sport about this. I really could.
    I went into the kitchen, took the complimentary bait-and-tackle calendar that my granddad got each year from the sporting goods store off the wall, grabbed a pen, and walked back into the living room. Chelsea was already moving her boxes into the room I wanted.
    ï¿½Chelsea, come here.�
    ï¿½I won.�
    ï¿½I know you did, but I want us to agree when the room switching will take place.� I wrote her name on the square for today. �Thirty days from now��I lifted the calendar page��Amy will move into the room.�
    I wrote her name on the designated date. �Thirty days later, I�ll move into it.� I looked at them. �Does everyone agree?�
    They nodded.
    ï¿½Initial the calendar,� I ordered.
    ï¿½Who put you in charge?� Chelsea asked.
    ï¿½I just don�t want anyone saying that she didn�t understand how we were going to work this.�
    ï¿½She�s right,� Amy said. �We�re supposed to work together.�
    We initialed the calendar, the pictures ofvarious open-mouthed fish bearing witness.
    ï¿½Great!� Chelsea said. �Let�s finish moving in.�
    She moved across the living room and into the bedroom with a lithe catlike walk that came with her willowy height.
    ï¿½My mom told me to expect that we�d have to make some adjustments,� Amy said to me. �It�s kinda like being married.�
    ï¿½It�s nothing like being married. Married people don�t argue about which bedroom to sleep in.�
    ï¿½She snores. Do you really want to sleep with her?�
    I couldn�t stop myself from smiling. �No. I just�whenever I thought of the summer, I saw myself in that room.�
    ï¿½You�ll have it in two months.�
    ï¿½Right.�
    But after the rocky start, I wondered if in two months, I�d still have my friends.

CHAPTER 3
    I �d attended a funeral that was more joyful than we were as we carted our boxes to our individual rooms. Even the song I heard Chelsea humming when I came downstairs for another load sounded sad.
    I stood in the living room, looking through the open blinds. The sun was going down. I found that sad as well. Our first big night on our own, away from our parents, the start of our exciting independent island girl summer�it was nothing like I expected.
    I was beginning to accept that maybe I�d been selfish to expect to have my grandparents� bedroom all summer. It was the best in the house. Without a doubt. But Chelsea and Amy were the best, too. We didn�t have to agree oneverything, but I wanted our arguments to be about something that truly