The summer we turned thirteen (Published)

Unreleased scene one: Unstoppable

James

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It had been the night of my tenth birthday.

Harlee and I were still at camp Fairington, and we were nearing the end of our double birthday celebration the counselors had put together for us.

There'd been an epic water gun fight, we'd had a pinata and played tons of party games, and we were now concluding the fun-filled day with dinner and cake by a bonfire.

Fairington definitely had its flaws with their lack of consequences against camp bullying and unkind counselors like Judy, but they sure knew how to do one thing right: throw a celebration.

"This one is gonna be my new wallpaper," I told Harlee then changed my phone wallpaper to one of the selfies we'd taken together that day.

"I love it," she remarked, smiling, "I'm gonna keep mine as the one we took last week. Hey, scale of one to ten rating for this birthday?"

"Ten. My favorite one ever," I told her, smiling, "' Cause this is my first birthday having a best friend."

"Well, it's about to get even better. Follow me." She rose to her feet.

"Okay," I agreed.

I set my empty paper plate down on the log then followed suit.

We started toward the picnic table where some of the counselors were standing, then Harlee paused and tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Judy or Andrea. Andrea or Judy," she debated with herself.

"Andrea is nicer...But Judy will probably say yes 'cause she won't even care. Hmm, Judy it is," she decided.

We made our way over to where Judy was staring down at her phone as the other counselors were dutifully cleaning up.

I refrained from rolling my eyes just at the sight of Judy.

Why does she even work here if she hates the job so much? I wondered to myself.

"Hi, Judy," Harlee greeted.

Judy lowered her phone, and her mouth curved into a frown.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Nothing really. We just need a counselor's permission to go get something from my cabin real quick," Harlee said.

I noticed Harlee crossing her fingers behind her back and wondered why that was.

"Why do you need to go to your cabin?" Judy raised her eyebrows.

"I left my phone in mine, and James and I wanted to take pictures.

But his phone's dead," she finished then gave Judy a polite smile.

Okay, I thought to myself.

Now, I see why she's crossing her fingers; it's because she's lying.

My phone wasn't dead; Harlee had just seen me on it.

And her phone was in her back pocket.

What was she planning?

Judy sighed then seemed to ponder over the request for a moment.

But after a few seconds, a ping sounded from her phone, distracting her before she could give us a reply.

She snickered, staring down at the phone screen, seeming to have forgotten we were even standing there.

"Um, Judy?" Harlee said, reminding her of our presence.