Spells & Sleeping Bags #3 Read Free

then points at each of us while silently counting. “All right, you all seem to be here. Everyone ready?”
    “We're ready,” announces Trishelle.
    Janice's blue lips stretch into a half smile. “Ready to start the summer?”
    The girls around me all holler and applaud.
    “Then let's get this bus rolling!”
    As the driver pulls onto the street, the girls cheer. I feel like cheering a bit too, but I don't want to look weird. Ah, what the heck. “Yay!” I pipe in.
    I lift my knees into the fetal position and place the soles of my pink sneakers against the back of the seat in front of me. “Is this your first year too?” I ask my new BFF.
    “No way,” Alison says. “My ninth.”
    “Wow.”
    “I know. I started going when I was seven. My older brother had been going to Wood Lake for years, and I begged my parents to let me come as soon as I was old enough.”
    “Were you in the starter program? My stepsister is doing it next month.”
    “Nah, that's new.” She gives me a big smile. “So how did you hear about Wood Lake?”
    When I was dating Will Kosravi (don't blame me for going out with the older brother of the love of my life; blame a love spell gone wrong à la Miri), he happened to mention that he was going to Wood Lake for the summer, and I happened to mention it to my stepmom, who was trying to get some alone time with my dad and decided it would be ideal for Miri, Prissy (my stepsister), and me to go off to camp. “Through someone at school,” I answer, not quite ready to spill my heart. She might be my new BFF, but I've known her for only ten minutes. “Is your brother still at camp?”
    She shakes her head. “Not anymore. He's twenty-three and in med school.”
    “That's a big age difference.”
    “Half brother,” she explains. “His dad got remarried to my mom.”
    A divorce in the family! We have something in common besides being in the same bunk!
    “It sucks that he's not here, actually. He was head staff. Hey, your sister is motioning to you,” Alison tells me.
    I look up, and indeed, Miri is frantically waving. “What's wrong?” I call to her.
    Come here, she mouths.
    Five minutes, I mouth, holding up five fingers, then turn back to Alison. “Sorry.”
    “Well, it was great when he was here. Our bunk never got in trouble for anything. Last year we were raiding the kitchen, and Abby, the head of Koalas, caught us, but my brother begged her not to rat us out.”
    “Lucky. What was your brother head of?”
    “Waterfront. Swimming and boating.”
    Although I'm intrigued by the idea of boating, I'm not really looking forward to the swimming part of the summer. I mean, I know how to swim, sort of, if you count cooling off in my dad's pool after suntanning. And I can hold my head underwater for at least six seconds. That has to count for something, right? At least I have two cool new bathing suits, a funky black and white one-piece and a sexy orange bikini. I also brought an old stretchy one-piece that belonged to my mom, which I am only planning on wearing when I have no other options, because that's like sharing a used tissue.
    Anyway.
    “Your sister is trying to get your attention again,” Alison says. “Is she okay?”
    She's certainly giving me a cramp. A cramp in my style. “I'll be right back,” I tell Alison, then carefully maneuver my way down the center of the bus and into the seat next to Miri.
    She is an alarming shade of green. “I don't feel well. I think I might—”
    And that's when she throws up all over herself, the seat, and me.
    Suddenly, the entire bus is silent. And then choruses of “Gross!” and “Nasty!” echo through the vehicle, turning my sister tomato red.
    “You okay?” I ask, mortified for the two of us.
    Her lips are trembling like she's about to cry. “Would it be too obvious if I disappeared?” she whispers.
    “Yes,” I whisper back.
    “Oh, no.” Janice has jumped up to inspect the atrocity. “We have a puker. Stop the bus!” she