Thirteen Plus One by Lauren Myracle

Author:Lauren Myracle [Myracle, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ages 10 & Up
ISBN: 9781101429419
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Published: 2010-05-04T07:00:00+00:00

Take Charge with, Lars!

WHEN I WAS A LITTLE KID—like, in second grade—I was a total social butterfly. I didn’t know that term, and I didn’t set out to be one ... I just was. I loved people, especially kids my own age, and I had no problem marching up to someone on the playground and saying, “Hey! Wanna play Candy Store, and we can make up candies and give them names? Like the yummy-coco-puffball, that’s my first invention. What’s yours?”

I’d be in my ratty shorts and T-shirt, usually, and usually the girl I’d approached would have her hair done all cute and be wearing an actual outfit. But back then, those differences didn’t matter. Back then, those differences didn’t even register. I now know that I was rattier than the typical second grader, but only from looking at old school pictures.

Anyway, back then I just smiled and propped my hands on my hips and waited for whoever it was to grasp the glory of the yummy-coco-puffball. And whoever it was usually did, and off we’d go, arm-in-arm, and it was just so easy. And if she didn’t, I’d find someone with better taste. No biggie.

I’d long since lost my blind self-confidence, but I still considered myself reasonably adept when it came to social situations. I knew how to smile. I knew the fake-it-till-you-make-it strategy, as well as the trick of holding my body as if I were Miz Total Chill Girl, even if inside, I was a big knot of nervousness.

I planned to use all of those skills and more when I met the rest of the kids who’d be working on the sea turtle project. I wanted to get off on the right foot, and plus I was determined to have a GREAT SUMMER even if Lars was off in stupid Germany.

Over a dinner of fish tacos—sounded really gross, tasted really good—I worked my mad charms on the other campers. We ate at a big round table in the kitchen, while out the window we watched the sun set over the marsh. Dinah’s dad was gone. We were in a new place with new people and new food. Everybody looked happy and tan, although that was possibly due to the gorgeous russet light flooding through the windowpanes. Even Dinah looked tan, and Dinah didn’t get tan.

As I smiled and chatted, I took mental notes on the rest of the DeBordieu gang:

Alphonse I’d met already. He was still as cute as ever, the only difference being that now he was wearing a shirt. Hello, shirt! I thought. It said ANALOG REASON across the front, and it was so worn out as to be practically falling apart.

Alphonse’s roommates were James and Milo. James seemed like a skater-dude kind of guy, with long floppy hair that hid his eyes. He ate a lot, even though he was as lanky as a spaghetti noodle and did that stupid thing of letting his jeans hang halfway off his butt. Still, he gave off a vibe that was goofy and sweet.

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