“Fantastic,” Winnie said.

“But it works.”

“I’ll try anything,” I said.

“Okay, so close your eyes…”

“Close eyes. Check.” The streetlamp was so bright, the insides of my eyelids were orange.

“Picture yourself floating on a lake.” Josh was using this voice like Mom uses for Zoe’s bedtime story. “The sun’s shining down. And the water’s the perfect temperature.”

“What does that mean?” Winnie said. “The ‘perfect’ temperature? What’s that?”

“It’s whatever ‘perfect’ means to you. That’s the point.”

“Fine,” Winnie said. “I’m floating in the perfect water on the perfect day. This working for you, Slick?”

“I’m not done yet,” Josh said. “So now you focus on relaxing each part of your body floating on the water. Start with your toes, think about letting them just float.”

I made little fists with my toes, then tried to let go and let them just float. But they wouldn’t. The more I told them to relax, the heavier they got, the more they pulled me down. My toes were so heavy, they were going to drown me.

“Okay, now your ankles…”

When Josh was done, every part of my body had sunk to the bottom of that lake where it was dark and cold. Winnie was snoring.

“Isn’t that cool?” Josh said. “It always works for me.”

“Uh-huh. Thanks.” It wasn’t Josh’s fault I was too stressified to float.

“You think you can sleep now?”

“Oh, yeah,” I lied.

Then I lay there at the bottom of the lake waiting for morning.

Chapter 14

Winnie cut a sharp right out of Central Park onto Fifth Avenue, and I grabbed onto one of the bunk bed chains to keep from flying across the Airstream. “What’s the rush? I don’t have to be there until nine.” It was so early, the streetlights were still lit.

Winnie swerved around a delivery truck. “We gotta be parked out front for Breakfast with Brit.”

“I think her name is Brynn,” Mom said. She was still in bed. Zoe had somehow squeezed in there with her during the night and was asleep, curled in a ball, her butt in the air.

“What’s Breakfast with Brynn?” I said.

“Oh, my mom loves that show!” Josh called from the bathroom.

“You know.” Jeanine sat up in her bunk. “That show with the lady in the bed they roll out onto the street. Sometimes they show ads for it during Can You Cut It?”

“Oh, right. People really watch that?”

“Oh, yeah.” Josh opened the bathroom door holding his toothbrush. “It’s kind of weird. She has guests come on in their pajamas, and they make breakfast together, and eat it in this big bed.”

“So why do we care about Breakfast with Brynn?” I said.

“Renny says people love her!” Jim called from the passenger seat.

“I still don’t get it. What does this have to do with us?”

Josh, mid-tooth brushing, held up a finger, then spat into the tiny sink. “All her fans, they line up on the sidewalk in front of the building every morning because she comes out there with her bed and her cameras and talks to people. My mom had this idea that if we were standing out there in front of the Petersmobile, you know, in our T-shirts with our signs, we could get her to talk to us on air. Talk about buzz, right?”