The Secret Tree by Natalie Standiford Page A

He was laughing. So was David. David shot some seeds at Troy as Mr. Rogers dragged him away.
    Wendy sighed and ate her hamburger. DeeDee and Claudia sat down next to David. Wendy watched them while she ate.
    “Where’s Troy? Getting punished again?” Claudia asked.
    “I don’t know,” David mumbled.
    “You never know anything,” DeeDee said.
    David slumped in his seat. I think Wendy felt sorry for him, because she said, “Girls, that’s no way to talk to your brother.”
    But they only laughed and walked away to get some ice cream.
    “Don’t listen to them, David,” Wendy said. “They’re just trying to psych you out.”
    “Who cares?” David said.
    Paz tapped my hand to get my attention. “Minty, watch this.”
    From the buffet line, Thea waved to Kip and called, “Medium-rare?”
    He called back, “Yeah!”
    Melina turned around and glared at Thea.
    “Did you see that look?” Paz asked.
    “Yeah,” I said. “Something’s definitely wrong.”
    “I’ve never seen them so cold to each other before,” Paz said.
    Neither had I. The Fourth of July sure seemed to bring out the worst in people.
     
    After dinner I took a walk in the woods. Otis and Esmeralda had left. Soon it would be dark. I stopped at the Secret Tree and reached inside.
    I wanted to find an answer. To something. To anything.
    But instead, I found another secret.
    I’m betraying my best friend in a terrible way.
    All the secrets were sad. But this one really hurt me. Because to me, best friends are sacred. And when this person’s best friend found out about the betrayal, that friendship would be over.
    I put the secret back in the hole. I wanted Crazy Ike to eat it. I wanted it to go away.
    I walked home in the dusk. Mr. Jack was setting off some fireworks he’d bought in Virginia. He did this every year. He didn’t have a permit, but a lot of the things Mr. Jack did were illegal. That’s just the way he was.
    Everyone in the neighborhood was gathered in my backyard, faces turned to the sky. The fireworks bathed them in colors, red, white, blue, green….
    They all have their secrets , I thought. Each person’s real life is a mystery.
    The fireworks exploded, commemorating a war for independence, while all around me people fought their private battles. Even the Mean Boys. Sister versus brother, friend versus friend, son versus father … they all had private battles that no one understood except for them.
    I wanted to understand. But the more I spied, the more mystery I uncovered. I’d never know the whole story. There was so much I couldn’t guess.
    One of these people was betraying his or her best friend.
    Was Troy betraying David?
    Was Melina betraying Thea?
    My eyes fell on Paz. A thought fought its way to the front of my mind, a thought so awful I could hardly stand to think it. But it pushed its way through and made itself known.
    Was Paz betraying me?
    And then, one final possibility: Was Raymond?

On the fifth of July, I walked through the woods to visit Raymond. I couldn’t resist a stop at the Secret Tree on the way.
    The secret about betraying a best friend was gone, but there was a new secret — a juicy one — in its place.
    I know where Wendy’s cat is. And I’m not telling.
    I put it in my pocket and ran the rest of the way through the woods to show Raymond.
    “Look.” I pulled the new secret out of my pocket. “The mystery deepens.”
    Raymond read the slip of paper. “Let’s get the book.” We studied the secret notebook, pondering the pictures of everyone in the neighborhood. Which of these people was betraying a friend? Which one was hiding a cat? It was impossible to tell.
    Anyone was capable of anything. That’s how it seemed to me now.
    “Maybe we should lie low for a while,” I said. “The whole neighborhood’s on edge because of the ‘prowler.’”
    “But what about Wendy? You keep telling me how upset she is about her cat.”
    “That’s true. She practically broke down in sobs last