"The best way you can help is to go back to your own room and get Mal to help you find your bathing suit and beach towel. Then when you're all dressed — and your suitcase is unpacked — we'll hit the beach," I said.

"Promise?"

"Promise." That seemed to satisfy her because she gave a wild whoop of joy and dashed down the hall.

I probably should explain about the sleeping arrangements. Claire and Margo bunk to-

gether, Vanessa and Mallory share a pink bedroom, and Stacey and I have the yellow bedroom. The boys have a big bedroom at the end of the hall. There are plenty of rooms to go around, and there is even an extra room with a window seat up on the third floor. It's one of my favorite places to curl up (Mal's, too), and once she and I went up there to watch a lightning storm. Very exciting!

It took at least half an hour to unpack, because Stacey and I kept reminding each other of funny things that happened with Alex, Toby, and Scott, the lifeguard. Actually, the incident with Scott wasn't exactly funny (Stacey saw him kissing another girl and dissolved into tears), but I was pretty sure that she was over him.

"How will you feel if you run into Scott on the beach?" I asked her.

"I don't know, but I sure won't rush out and buy any more chocolates." She laughed, and I knew everything would be okay. She had actually bought Scott a ten-dollar box of candy as a going-away present, right before we saw him kissing his girlfriend. Talk about bad timing!

Mal stuck her head in the door just as I was putting the finishing touches on my beach getup.

She stared at me, and her jaw dropped open. "Gosh, Mary Anne," she said, "you look like you're going to the desert."

As I've said, I burn very easily, so I have to cover every square inch of myself with sunblock — even on cloudy days.

"This is my beach cover-up, if you'll remember," I said, feeling a little defensive. I was wearing my white caftan that flows around me like a tent. And just to make sure that no rays would sneak in, I put on giant black sunglasses, a straw hat, and covered my nose with sunblock.