Party Summer Read Free Page A

as North Hills. Eric, as usual, wasn’t quite ready. Half of his clothes, consisting of faded denim cutoffs and heavy-metal T-shirts, were still stacked in the living room. As Craig, Cari, and Jan looked on, Eric frantically stuffed things into a canvas bag, which was much too small to hold everything.
    â€œMy Walkman! Where’s my Walkman?” Eric cried wildly, searching the room with his eyes as he continued to shove clothes into his bag.
    â€œIt’s around your neck,” Craig said softly, making a face.
    â€œOh. Of course. Where else?”
    Everyone laughed.
    â€œHey—what’s that around
your
neck?” Eric asked Jan.
    Jan fingered the large white pendant she wore on a silver chain. “Nothing. Just an ivory skull. It’s supposed to ward off evil.” She pushed the skull toward him. “So stay away!”
    â€œOh, brother.” Eric rolled his eyes. “You’re definitely weird, Jan. You really think this hotel is going to be haunted, don’t you?”
    â€œI’ll be very disappointed if it isn’t!” Jan admitted.
    Shaking his head, Eric finally managed to jam everything into his bag and zip it. Craig, of course, had packed the night before and had brought all of his stuff over to Eric’s to save Rose from having to make another stop.
    The two boys are as different from each other as Jan and I are, Cari thought, watching them load their stuff into Rose’s station wagon. They even looked different.
    Eric was short and thin. He wore an oversize yellow and red Hawaiian shirt over Day-Glo orange baggies. His dark brown hair was pulled back into a short ponytail. He had a diamond stud in one ear and wore silver wire-rimmed glasses.
    He’s a really nice guy, Cari thought. But he works so hard at being cool. She had always been a little attracted to Eric. They had been pretty good friends since junior high, but they’d never gone out.
    Craig was more casual than cool. He kept his blond-brown hair short and neatly parted on the side. He was always dressed nicely, very preppy, that day in khaki, cuffed cotton shorts and white tennis shirt, but Cari had the feeling that Craig never gave much thought to what he wore.
    He’s so easygoing. He sort of floats through everything, Cari thought. In a way, she envied him. He probably never got cold sweaty hands, or that heavy feeling of dread Cari often had before a test or a first date.
    By the time they finished loading, they had luggage stacked to the ceiling of the station wagonand two bags had to be strapped to the roof. “We’d better get going,” Rose said, studying her watch. “Summer is almost over!”
    They piled into the wagon, Jan in front beside her aunt, the two boys in back with Cari squeezed in the middle. “It’s so heavy in back, the front wheels are going to fly up in the air,” Jan said, turning back to look at Cari.
    â€œCool!” declared Eric.
    â€œDo you have enough room back there?” Rose asked, starting the car.
    â€œEnough room to do what?” Cari asked mischievously.
    Everyone laughed.
    â€œI’ve heard about your sense of humor,” Rose said, backing blindly down the drive since there was no way to see out the back window.
    â€œDoes Cari have a sense of humor?” Craig teased.
    â€œHey—we’re on our way!” Eric shouted, rolling down his window. “Goodbye, Shadyside,” he shouted. “Party summer—here we come!”
    â€œParty summer!” Craig and Cari repeated happily.
    â€œWait till you see the beach,” Rose said, turning onto River Road, which headed out of town along the Conononka River. “I haven’t been there since I was your age—”
    â€œFive years ago?” Craig interrupted.
    â€œAren’t you a sweetheart!” Rose said, laughing. “It was a little longer than that, but I still remember the beach. It had the softest, whitest sand