Odd Girl In by Jo Whittemore Page B

over my shoulder and steeled myself for an assault of perfume and powder puffs. For protection, I held the carrot cake straight out in front of me.
    I hadn’t even knocked before the door was thrown open by two girls in bathing suits and towels. They giggled and pulled me into the house.
    â€œGet changed, Alex! Everyone’s out by the pool,” said Claire from hockey boosters.
    â€œBut it’s almost October,” I said.
    â€œIt’s a heated pool,” Claire said.
    â€œOoh, cake!” said the other girl, taking it from me. “Who wants a sugar rush?” she called, hurrying toward the back door with Claire.
    Chloe wandered in from another room. “Hey, Alex! I’m so glad you could make it!” She took my duffle bag and motioned for me to follow her downstairs.
    â€œThanks again for what you did in Champs the other day,” I said. “Ms. Success didn’t even make me do a leadership task.”
    The expressions on my brothers’ faces had been priceless when I told them.
    Chloe waved my thanks away. “That’s what friends are for. We look out for one another.”
    A twinge of guilt rumbled through my stomach and I tried to shake it off. Technically, I hadn’t done anything wrong. I just hadn’t told Chloe about one little get-together with Trevor. And since Emily was involved, Chloe probably wouldn’t have even wanted to go.
    I distracted myself from the feeling by taking in all theplaques and ribbons decorating the wall of the stairwell. At the base of the stairs stood a trophy case half-filled with gold and silver cups.
    â€œWow. You have a lot of awards,” I said.
    â€œI like to win,” she said simply. “And soon I’ll have another trophy to add to my collection when we take the Champs championship.” She nudged me. “Right?”
    â€œHuh? Oh, right!” I’d forgotten our agreement to compete together. “We’ll show those other ‘Champs.’” I put the word in air quotes.
    â€œCome on. We can put your stuff in the rec room,” Chloe said, leading me inside. “Everyone’s in the pool. It’s heated , you know.”
    â€œSo I’ve heard. And everyone’s there?” I asked, ducking to avoid a row of balloons taped above the archway.
    â€œWell almost …” Chloe smirked and dropped my bag in an empty corner beside a cot. The cot was covered with a pastel quilt, neatly tucked in at the corners, and a ruffled pillow embroidered with a gigantic, gold E .
    Even without the monogrammed clue, I would have been able to guess who it belonged to. The rest of the room was wall-to-wall sleeping bags decorated with movie stars, pop stars, and Japanese cartoons.
    â€œSo where did you hide Emily?” I unrolled my black sleeping bag beside her cot.
    Chloe shrugged. “She didn’t want to practice dance moves with us so I told her she could do something else. She’s in the kitchen setting out the snacks my mom bought.”
    â€œOh.” I frowned. “That doesn’t sound like fun. You didn’t try to convince her to go outside?”
    â€œWhat can I say? Good help is hard to find.” Chloe grinned at me.
    This time I felt a different twinge: irritation.
    â€œOh, and I have something for you!” Chloe skipped across the room and pulled a small plastic bag out from under a furry, pink pillow. “Your Emily-taming tools.”
    â€œMy what?” I peeked in at the contents of the bag: earplugs, a laser pointer, a blank CD, and twenty dollars.
    Something else I’d forgotten about. “Uh, thanks,” I said, pocketing the twenty and putting the bag under my own pillow. Now that I was getting along with Emily, the bag seemed kind of embarrassing. “I think I’ll go check on her now.”
    â€œAh, good thinking.” Chloe winked at me. “Make sure she isn’t adding any last-minute ‘special