I had asked Dad if I could go to summer camp, but he wasn’t too into the idea. I made a note to myself to start bugging him about it early for next summer. Maybe he’d change his mind next year.

Casey’s phone buzzed, and she looked at it with a giant smile on her face. I had never seen her smile like that before.

“Who’s bugging you besides me?” I asked.

“Oh, just someone I met at camp,” she said. “His name is Matt.”

Matt?

“You have a boyfriend?” Kelsey yelped.

“He’s not really my… ,” said Casey. “Well, he’s kind of… I don’t know. Summer’s over, and he lives far away, so…”

My head was spinning a little. We barely spoke to boys. I mean, we spoke to them, but we had never looked at our boy friends as potential boyfriend material.

“You came home from camp with a boyfriend?” Dad asked. “Well, that’s it. Lindsay is never, ever going to camp now!” He laughed.

“Daaaad,” I said, crossing my arms.

“Who has a boyfriend?” asked Lily, whizzing by. “Oh, Casey!”

She gave Casey a squeeze and winked. “Well, I’d say that sounds like you had a good summer!”

“I did!” said Casey, and then her mom came in.

“Hey, I said you could run in, honey,” Mrs. Peters said, exasperated.

Then she saw me. “Oh, Linds, I’ve missed you!”

“You missed Lindsay more than you missed me!” said Casey, all huffy.

“Well, she doesn’t give me as hard a time as you do,” said Mrs. Peters, embracing me in a big hug.

Mrs. Peters takes Casey to camp and then goes to visit her mother, Casey’s grandma, for the summer. Casey’s grandma moved to Arizona so she could be warm all year, which drives Mrs. Peters crazy because they don’t get to see her a lot.

“How is Granny?” I asked.

“Good, good,” said Mrs. Peters. “She sends her love and said we should all come see her when it snows, because she’ll be at the pool!”

“Ooh, that could be fun,” Casey said, her mind already whirling.

“Casey, the dog is going nuts in the car,” said Mrs. Peters. “We were on our way back home, but you know we had to stop and see Lindsay first!”

“Well, I am the main attraction of the town,” I said, grinning.

“Of course you are,” Casey said. “Okay, I’ll come over later.”

“Casey, you just got home, and Dad and I would like to have dinner together as a family!” said Mrs. Peters.

“Okay,” said Casey. “After dinner, then!”

“Can I have you for twenty-four hours?” asked Mrs. Peters. “Seriously, Casey. You and Lindsay have plenty of time to catch up.”

“Fine!” said Casey. “At least I can text now. I’ll TTYL, Linds!”

I gave her another quick hug, and she was halfway out the door before she whipped back around.