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  “You should talk,” said Carlie, losing her temper now. “Look at that red mop top you’re wearing — you look like a circus clown!”

  Chelsea looked shocked, and Carlie felt really bad. Why did she say that? Then Chelsea stood up and walked over to a dresser with a big mirror on top and stared at herself.

  “I’m sorry —”

  “No …” said Chelsea slowly. “You’re right. My hair does look like a clown’s.” She fluffed it up even more then turned around to show Carlie. “There, that’s even better.”

  Carlie suppressed a giggle.

  Chelsea looked down at her tank top and pajama bottoms. “I guess I don’t really look like I should be handing out fashion advice, huh?”

  “Not really.” Carlie laughed nervously. “But you could pose for a before picture.” She flipped the magazine open to show a section where girls had been made over by a panel of experts. “See, here’s a before picture that looks a little like you.”

  “Thanks a lot.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Why did you come here anyway?” asked Chelsea as she sat back down on the bed again. “Do you live in the neighborhood or something?”

  Carlie firmly shook her head. “No way. My aunt was doing some cleaning and stuff for your mom and she thought you seemed lonely.”

  “So they imported a little Mexican friend for me?”

  “Yeah, whatever.” Carlie looked out the window again. How she wished she was anywhere but here. She was tempted to act like Amy now, saying that she hadn’t been born in Mexico and that she was an American — thank you very much! But she decided to just ignore her instead.

  “Sorry,” said Chelsea. “That wasn’t very nice.”

  Carlie looked back at her. “You’re right. It wasn’t.”

  “I said I’m sorry.”

  Carlie just nodded. “Maybe I should go.”

  “No,” said Chelsea, standing quickly as if to block Carlie from the door. “Look, I really am sorry. Sometimes I just say totally lame things like that. My shrink says I have no impulse control.”

  “Your shrink?”

  “You know, my psychiatrist.”

  “You have a psychiatrist?”

  “More like a counselor,” said Chelsea. “And it’s only been since we moved here. They all think I’m depressed.”

  “Are you?”

  “Yeah, maybe so.”

  Carlie looked around her big room with all its cool stuff and sighed. “Man, if I lived here, I don’t think I’d ever be depressed.”

  Chelsea rolled her eyes. “Haven’t you ever heard that money can’t buy love?”

  “Who’s trying to buy your love?”

  “Who do you think? My parents. Duh.”

  “Oh.”

  “I suppose your parents don’t do that.”

  Carlie laughed. “Not even. But they do pay me for babysitting. Of course, then they make me put half in savings and save the rest for school clothes.”

  “And then they pick out your school clothes?”

  Carlie nodded. “Talk about a lose-lose situation.”

  “So are you poor then?”

  Carlie pressed her lips together, determined not to say something she’d regret. Just because Chelsea had no impulse control, it didn’t mean that Carlie should stoop to her level.

  “Sorry,” said Chelsea, looking believably contrite. “I guess I shouldn’t have said that either.”

  So Carlie told Chelsea how they used to have a pretty nice house in Coswell. “My dad had a great job, and I had friends, and life seemed good. Then my dad got laid off and we had to move up here. It hasn’t been real easy.”

  “Where do you live?”

  “Harbor View.”

  “That sounds nice.”

  Carlie laughed. “Well, some parts of it are nice. I mean, I have three really good friends there. And we have this club where we hang out. But Harbor View is a trailer park.”

  “A trailer park?”

  “Actually, it’s a mobile-home park,” said Carlie. “At least that’s what my mom tells people. And we don’t plan on living there forever. Just until we can save up some money for something better. And my mom and my aunt want to start a business.”

  “So what are your friends like?” asked Chelsea. “Are they poor too?”

  Carlie gave Chelsea a warning look.

  “Sorry.” Chelsea slapped her hand over her mouth.

  “It’s just that saying things like that can hurt people’s feelings,” Carlie told her. “And besides we don’t think of ourselves as poor. I mean, we have lots of fun and do all kinds of things, and you should see our clubhouse.”

  “You have a clubhouse?”

  Carlie went into a detailed description of how they’d been given the bus by Mr. Greeley, the owner of the trailer park, and how they’d worked so hard to fix it up. She told about the kinds of things they liked to do together. “Like today,” she said, “Morgan was going to teach us how to do beaded jewelry. Her mom has this cool shop down on the waterfront. It’s called Cleo’s, and she has beads and all kinds of imported stuff. And Morgan is really creative. She can make almost anything. We think she’ll be a real designer someday.”

  “She sounds pretty cool,” said Chelsea. “I know you wouldn’t guess it by looking at me today, but I’m usually into fashion too.”

  Then Carlie told her about Amy and Emily. “We’re all really different,” she finally said, “but it’s like we go together.”

  “I think I’d like to meet your friends.”

  Carlie nodded, but she had some concerns about this. She wasn’t sure that a girl like Chelsea would really get them. She might even make fun of her friends or their bus. That would definitely not be good. She decided to change the subject. “Can you get to the beach from your house?”

  “I guess.”

  “You guess?” Carlie frowned at this strange girl. “You mean you haven’t even been down there yet?”

  Chelsea shrugged. “I didn’t want to.”

  “Well, do you want to now?”

  Chelsea brightened a little. “I guess so.”

  Carlie pointed to her pajama bottoms. “So you really wanna wear your little yellow rubber ducky pajamas on the beach? I mean, we might see someone, you never know.”

  Chelsea smiled. “Maybe not.” Then she looked at Carlie. “You really wanna wear that goofy looking dress on the beach?”

  Carlie sighed. “Guess I don’t have much choice.”

  “We’re about the same size,” said Chelsea. “Why don’t you borrow something?” Then she opened a door and flicked on a light, and there was the biggest closet Carlie had ever seen.

  “Sheesh,” said Carlie. “Your closet is bigger than my bedroom.”

  Chelsea just shrugged. “Go ahead and find something you want to wear. I think maybe I should take a shower.”

  Carlie nodded. “Yeah, I think that’d be a good idea.”

  Chelsea made a face. “I smell that bad, huh?”

  “Well, no offense, but I’m guessing your personal hygiene’s been a little neglected lately.”

  Chelsea laughed. “That’s putting it mildly.”

  So while Chelsea showered, Carlie picked out a pair of denim shorts and an orange tank top and slipped them on. So much better! Before long, Chelsea was showered and dressed and the two of them headed downstairs.

  “We’re going to the beach, Mom,” called Chelsea as they trekked through the kitchen where Mrs. Landers was unloading a box of fancy goblets. She just blinked and nodded; and then when Chelsea wasn’t looking, she gave Carlie a quick thumbs-up.

  “I think the trail to the beach is a couple of houses down,” said Chelsea. “I saw the sign when we were moving in.”

  Sure enough, there was the trail, leading to some steps that took them right down to the beach.

  “What a glorious day!” said Carlie, lifting her arms as she turned in a happy circle. “It’s crazy to stay cooped up on a day like this.” Then she kicke
d off her sandals and ran straight toward the surf, screaming with delight when the cold water washed up around her feet. Chelsea stood back, a little unsure, but then she kicked off her flip-flops and joined her. Soon they were daring each other to go out farther and farther, and before long they were both dogpaddling through the waves.

  “That water is freezing cold,” said Chelsea when they finally got out.

  “Yep,” said Carlie. “Doesn’t it make you feel alive?”

  “Makes me feel like I wish I’d brought a towel.”

  “The sun will warm us,” said Carlie as she picked up her sandals. “Let’s just walk on the beach for a while until we’re dry.”

  “Okay,” said Chelsea. “If you’re sure we won’t catch pneumonia and die out here first.”

  Carlie laughed. “For a girl who was threatening to kill herself just an hour ago, I’m surprised that you’d be the least bit worried about pneumonia now.”

  “Yeah, whatever!” As they walked, Chelsea opened up a little. And Carlie began to relax some. Maybe this wasn’t such a mistake after all.

  chapter three

  As they walked down the beach, Chelsea told Carlie about her best friend that she’d left behind when they moved here. “I mean, Audrey and I had been very best friends ever since second grade,” she said. “She was like the only person on the entire planet who totally got me.”

  “But you can still be friends,” said Carlie. “You can write or phone or email her. There are lots of ways to stay in touch.”

  “She already made a new best friend,” said Chelsea in a hurt voice, “with this other girl named Kirsten Powers, and she’s such a jerk. She just couldn’t wait for me to leave. I mean, seriously, the second I was gone, Kirsten jumped in and took my place with Audrey.” She sighed. “Now they do everything together. I don’t think Audrey even misses me at all.”

  “Oh, I bet she does.”

  “Ha!” Chelsea bent down to pick up a stone and tossed it out into the ocean.

  “Well, if that’s true,” said Carlie. “Then maybe it’s time you start making some new friends anyway.”

  “Yeah. I’m sure that’s easier said than done.”

  “It’s a whole lot easier when you’re not a total grump.”

  “Are you saying I’m a total grump?” asked Chelsea.

  “Hey, that’s putting it mildly. You were way worse than a grump when I met you earlier today.”

  “Thanks a lot.” She made a pouting face then put her hands on her messy hair. “Can I help it if I was having a bad hair day?”

  Carlie laughed.

  “You’re hair is almost as curly as mine, Carlie. I’d think you would understand.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I guess I kinda do.”

  “So I haven’t scared you off for good yet?”

  “I guess I’m getting used to you.”

  “And I guess I’m getting hungry,” said Chelsea suddenly. “I wonder what time it is anyway?”

  So they turned around and headed back. And by the time they were in Chelsea’s kitchen again, Carlie was actually starting to feel comfortable around this strange girl. She was even starting to get used to their very fancy house. She didn’t see her aunt anywhere, but she figured she was probably busy cleaning something or putting something away. It was still kind of strange to think that Tia Maria was here to work and Carlie was here to play, but there wasn’t much she could do about it anyway.

  “Is there anything to eat around here?” Chelsea asked her mom.

  “There’s some leftover pasta and salad,” said her mom.

  “I mean something good.”

  Her mom just smiled. “Well, what sounds good to you girls?”

  “Pizza!” said Chelsea. “Double cheese and pepperoni.”

  “How about if I have one delivered?” said her mom happily.

  “Sounds good.”

  Mrs. Landers reached over and touched Chelsea’s still damp hair. “Did you girls go swimming? I didn’t see you out by the pool.”

  “We went swimming in the ocean,” Chelsea proudly told her.

  Mrs. Landers looked surprised. “You swam in the ocean? That’s, uh, very interesting.”

  “And it was really cold.”

  Her mom nodded. “I’ll phone in the pizza. Why don’t you go get cleaned up.”

  “You have a pool?” asked Carlie as they walked toward the stairs.

  “Yeah.” Chelsea pointed toward the glass windows in the family room. But the shades were pulled and Carlie couldn’t see outside. “It’s out there.”

  “Cool,” said Carlie.

  Chelsea looked slightly surprised. “Don’t tell me you want to go swimming again?”

  “Sure!” said Carlie. “Why not?”

  So for the rest of the afternoon, Carlie and Chelsea swam in the pool, ate pizza, drank pop, sunned themselves, and just had plain old fun. When they got too hot outside, they went up to Chelsea’s room and started playing video games. Chelsea beat Carlie at most of them. Still, Carlie didn’t mind. She was just glad to see Chelsea happy and acting like a normal girl.

  “What’s up with the bracelet?” asked Chelsea, pointing to the special bracelet that Morgan had made for her friends. “What do the letters mean? LYNAY? Is that like your middle name or something?”

  “It’s an acronym,” said Carlie as she adjusted the bracelet. “It has to do with our club.”

  “So what do the letters stand for?”

  Carlie wondered if someone like Chelsea would even get it. Not that it mattered since it was supposed to be a secret anyway. “We’re not supposed to tell. It’s for club members only.”

  Chelsea rolled her eyes. “You and your dumb club.”

  “It’s not dumb.”

  “Well, why do you have secrets?”

  “All clubs have secrets. It just makes it more fun.”

  Chelsea looked at the letters. “Let’s see … I think it stands for Last … Year’s … Nerds … Are … Yutzes.”

  “Real nice.”

  “That’s it! Last year’s nerds are yutzes. I’ve solved the mystery!” Chelsea laughed loudly.

  Despite trying to appear offended, Carlie started laughing with her. “Well, that should include you too, Chelsea. Last year’s nerds are yutzes. What are yutzes anyway?”

  “I don’t know. It just sounds like it fits.”

  “I hate to interrupt the party,” said Tia Maria as she tapped on the door, “but it’s time to go now.”

  “This was fun,” Carlie told Chelsea as she stood up.

  “Yeah, I’m glad you came over,” said Chelsea as she followed them downstairs. “Even if I didn’t invite you.”

  Carlie wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

  “But I would’ve invited you,” said Chelsea quickly. “If I’d known you, that is.”

  “Well, thanks for everything.” To Carlie’s surprise, she was almost sad to leave. It almost felt like she’d spent a day in paradise, actually living out the “lifestyles of the rich and famous.” She was afraid she could get used to this.

  “Can you come back again tomorrow?” asked Chelsea eagerly.

  Carlie could see Chelsea’s mom standing behind her daughter vigorously nodding her head.

  “I’m not sure,” admitted Carlie. “But I can ask my mom and call you later.”

  So the girls exchanged phone numbers, and Carlie and Tia Maria got in the little red car and started driving across town.

  “Sounds like you two hit it off pretty well,” said her aunt.

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “I know that Mrs. Landers was hugely relieved to see Chelsea coming out of her slump.”

  “Yeah, Chelsea was acting pretty weird when I first got there. I can see why her mom was worried.”

  “Well, I owe you one, Carlie. And if you still want me to talk to your mom about school clothes, I’ll be glad to!”

  “Cool!”

  “So are you going to introduce Chelsea to your other friends?”
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  Carlie considered this. “I don’t know … maybe not right away. I guess I should get to know her better first.”

  Earlier today, Carlie had felt worried that Chelsea might offend her friends by saying something rude or mean. But now she wasn’t so sure she wanted her friends to get to know Chelsea for a totally different reason. Carlie knew that Morgan, Emily, and Amy were pretty cool and interesting girls — maybe even more interesting than Carlie. What if Chelsea liked one of her friends better than she liked Carlie? As selfish as that sounded, Carlie wasn’t sure she could handle it.

  “I’m going in to chat with my sister,” said Tia Maria as she pulled into Carlie’s driveway.

  “Cool,” said Carlie, getting out of the car.

  “Hey, Carlie!” called Morgan from the other side of the street.

  “Hey!” Carlie yelled back as she headed over to where her three friends were waving at her. “I’m so glad to see you guys!”

  “How’d it go today?” asked Amy.

  “And what do you think of the new girl?” asked Morgan.

  “She’s pretty nice,” said Carlie. Then she laughed. “Well, to be honest, she was kinda scary to start with. But then we talked and stuff. And I think she’s okay.”

  “Do you think she’ll want to join our club?” asked Morgan.

  Carlie considered this. “Maybe. But I think I should get to know her better first.”

  “And we still need to decide whether or not we’re open to new members,” said Amy. “We need to discuss it and vote on it.”

  “I vote yes,” said Emily.

  “This isn’t an official meeting,” said Amy.

  “We do need to talk it through before we start voting.” Then Morgan carefully removed something from her shorts pocket. “We made this for you, Carlie.” She held up a choker of red and purple beads.

  “Oh, that’s beautiful!” exclaimed Carlie. “Really, you made this for me?”

  “We all helped,” said Amy.

  “Thanks,” said Carlie as Emily helped her to fasten it in back. She smiled at her friends. “You guys are so great. I’m so lucky to have you!”

  “I have to go,” said Amy as she glanced at her watch. “I’m supposed to help at the restaurant tonight.”

  “I better go inside too,” said Carlie. “I’m sure my mom is wondering why I didn’t come in. See ya later!”