Girls of July by Alex Flinn

Author:Alex Flinn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-04-08T16:00:00+00:00

34

Britta

BRITTA HAD GONE to bed at eight and pretended to be asleep in broad daylight, to avoid Spider. But really, she’d been awake, sitting up on the quilted chipmunk pillow she’d purchased at that lady’s house, reading the old hiking book and listening to the click of Rummikub tiles. She wanted to play too. But she didn’t want to deal with Spider and her mood swings. This was supposed to be a vacation, not a sentence.

She had also stayed up late enough to realize that Meredith had done more than take a walk last night. Unless she’d walked to Albany. Britta bet she was out with that guy!

She’d finally fallen asleep close to midnight.

Britta wasn’t someone who held grudges. She could have a fight with a friend and, the next day, embrace her and let her borrow her favorite top, as if nothing had happened. But she knew most people weren’t like that.

That was why it surprised her when Spider greeted her with, “Hey, Britta, do you like blueberries or chocolate chips in your waffles?”

“Um, chocolate chips. Why?”

“Ruthie and I are making waffles. Hold on. I’ll tell her.”

Then, after she sat down to a perfect Belgian waffle, which she was sure Ruthie mostly made, Spider said, “Are we going hiking today?”

Depends. Are you going to make me want to hurl myself from the mountain?

But Britta didn’t say that. She wanted to go hiking. She needed the exercise and, besides, what was the point of coming here if she was only going to sit in the house?

So she said, “I guess,” because she wasn’t going to give in that easily.

“Come on.” Which was what people said when they didn’t want to say please. “Meredith’s still sleeping. She came in at, like, midnight from her ‘walk.’” She made air quotes around the word walk.

“Yeah, I noticed.” Britta went into gossip mode. “You think she was out with Bat Boy?”

“Ugh, I hope not. Anyway, she’s asleep. And Kate’s babysitting, and I can’t go alone.”

“So what you’re saying is, you don’t want me to go and talk or anything; you want somebody to go in case you break your leg?”

“Yes.” Spider hesitated. “No. Okay, I want whatever you want. If you want to be there in case one of us falls off a cliff, that’s fine, but if you want to chitchat, I’ll do that.”

People only said chitchat if they found her annoying. “Politely?”

“Sure. Of course. Why would I go out hiking and argue with you?”

“You’ve been arguing this whole time. What would we talk about?”

Spider shrugged. “Hiking things.”

Britta waited.

Spider acted out, “It sure is beautiful weather. How much farther do you think it is to the top? Did you see that rock or tree that looked like an animal?”

Despite herself, Britta laughed.

Spider said, “My sister always thought she saw a mountain lion, but it never was one. Also, we could talk about actual animals we see.”

“Will we see any actual animals?” Britta’s interest was piqued.

Spider shrugged. “Chipmunks. Some birds. But I’ve never seen a moose or a bear, if that’s what you mean.

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