Caitlin's Lucky Charm Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  The Bracelet

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Preview

  About the Author

  Also by Lisa Schroeder

  Copyright

  The Pink Giraffe.

  How could any eleven-year-old girl possibly resist a name like that?

  But the name wasn’t the only reason Caitlin, Mia, Libby, and Hannah stopped outside the quirky little boutique. The whimsical, carnival-inspired window display featuring fashionable mannequins standing next to an old-fashioned popcorn cart, a cotton candy machine, and a giraffe from a carousel also intrigued them.

  The four girls had spent the afternoon exploring Main Street during their field trip into town. It’d been the first time they’d left Camp Brookridge since arriving at summer camp five weeks earlier. They’d had lots of fun, browsing the shops and eating sweet treats. But time was running out, and the girls had yet to find the special something they were looking for: a trinket that symbolized their friendship.

  The campers stood there, admiring the window display for a moment before Caitlin said, “I think this might be it. Come on. We have to hurry.”

  “Wait!” Mia said. “I want to take your picture first. In front of the window.”

  The others were used to this by now. Mia took pictures of everything. They quickly posed with big smiles while pointing at the window display, and Mia snapped the picture.

  Once inside the boutique full of charming clothes, jewelry, and accessories, the girls scattered like mice.

  Mia, a strong and athletic Latina girl from Southern California, spotted a display of jewelry inspired by the sea. She fingered a pair of silver earrings in the shape of sand dollars.

  Libby, a petite girl with big brown eyes who had come all the way from a town outside of London, England, almost squealed when she saw a jewelry case with the sign TEA PARTY RINGS. Each ring featured an intricately painted teeny-tiny teapot or teacup.

  Hannah, tall and lanky, was a quiet but funny girl from Tennessee. She admired a display of neon T-shirts with zoo animals doing human activities such as riding a bike, skate-boarding, and making a pizza.

  And then there was Caitlin, the outgoing and friendly African-American girl from Connecticut. Caitlin was the one who had come up with the idea to find something special that sealed their friendship. With that thought firmly on her mind, Caitlin made her way to the back of the shop, knowing that’s often where sale items could be found.

  The girls didn’t have a lot of money, even if they pooled what they had together. When Caitlin saw an antique bookcase filled with various items and a sign at the top — 50 PERCENT OFF — that’s where she decided to look.

  It didn’t seem like much, really — one lonely bracelet on a plastic jewelry holder with a few sad charms lying in a dish next to it. Caitlin and her best friend from home, Jade, loved making jewelry together, and they’d made some pieces that were much prettier than this simple design. But there was something about this bracelet that made Caitlin want to try it on. She slipped it off the holder, unhooked the clasp, and then slipped it around her wrist.

  As she pieced the clasp together, a memory popped out of nowhere. It was the first time all four girls had sat together at dinner, the second day at camp. The chef served fruit pizzas for dessert. None of the four girls had ever heard of fruit pizza — let alone tasted it — with a cookie crust, a custard filling, and fresh fruit laid out on top. They bonded over that delicious dessert and talked about it for days afterward.

  “The bracelet looks pretty on you.” Caitlin looked to her left and found a petite saleswoman with lots of wrinkles and short gray hair watching her.

  “Oh, thank you,” Caitlin said. “Can I show it to my friends?”

  The woman waved her hand and said, “Of course. Let them try it on too, if they’d like. That lucky feeling of knowing it’s right doesn’t happen simply by looking, does it?”

  Caitlin swore she saw a twinkle in the woman’s eye as she said the word lucky. She hurried over to Libby near the front of the shop, unfastening the bracelet as she went. “Here, I want you to try this on. And tell me what happens.”

  Libby gave Caitlin a strange look. “Happens? What do you mean?”

  “Just wait and see,” Caitlin said as she grasped Libby’s hand, slipped the chain around her wrist, and secured it.

  Libby fiddled with the bracelet, staring at it for a moment, before she looked up and met Caitlin’s eyes. “It was so strange. I saw the four of us, sitting around the campfire, singing our favorite song. You know, the one about the bear.” She leaned in and whispered, “Did that happen to you?”

  “I saw something different,” Caitlin replied. “But yes, as soon as I fastened it, I had a happy memory of the four of us.”

  Just then, Mia and Hannah walked up. Mia pointed to a clock on the wall. “We need to go. Like, now.”

  “Wait, I found the perfect thing for us,” Caitlin said, pointing to Libby. “It’s a charm bracelet.”

  “Not just any charm bracelet,” Libby said. “It seems to be … special.”

  “Special?” Hannah asked. “Does it sing or something? I’ll tell you what, my grandma thinks those birthday cards that sing when you open them are the funniest things ever.”

  Caitlin smiled. “No, it doesn’t sing.” She remembered what the saleswoman had said. “I think it might be lucky.”

  “Lucky?” Mia asked. “How do you know?”

  “We’ll tell you later,” Libby said as she unhooked the bracelet. “Do we have enough money?”

  “Yes,” Caitlin said. “Barely. I wish we had enough to buy a charm too, but we don’t. Maybe we can take turns wearing it and add charms to it later?”

  “Awesome,” Mia said.

  “Great idea,” Hannah chimed in, reaching over and fingering the bracelet. “I love how it feels nice and strong.” Her eyes got big and round, like it suddenly made perfect sense. “Just like our friendship!”

  The girls walked to the cash register, where a young woman with curly blond hair sat on a stool, flipping through a magazine. After Caitlin set the bracelet on the counter, the girls all reached for their wallets.

  “Where’s the other person who works here?” Caitlin asked. “I wanted to thank her for her help.”

  The young woman looked up from her magazine. “I’m the only one working this afternoon.”

  Caitlin glanced around the shop, but she didn’t see anyone else. “So who was the older woman with short gray hair?” She looked at her friends. “You saw her, didn’t you?”

  They all shook their heads.

  “Must have been another customer who snuck out when you weren’t looking,” the young woman said.

  “Hm. Yeah,” Caitlin said. “That must be it.”

  As the four girls made their way back to the bus with the newly purchased charm bracelet tucked away in Caitlin’s backpack, Caitlin glanced behind her, feeling as if someone was watching them.

  But she didn’t see anyone there.

  CAMP JOURNAL, DAY 41

  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

  Camp Brookridge ROCKS.<
br />
  I can’t believe I have to go home tomorrow. Home, where there’s no horseback

  riding. Home, where there’s no lake to swim in. Home, where there are no Cabin 7 friends to hang with.

  When I came here, I hoped I would have fun, but never in a million years did I imagine how much I would this place and the friends I’ve made.

  Mia, Libby, and Hannah are just the best!

  I don’t want to think about tomorrow. It hurts too much.

  When the music rang out over the loudspeakers, letting campers know that reflective time was over and free time had begun, Caitlin slammed her journal shut. She jumped off her bed and reached down to get the tiny satin pouch from her suitcase that held the special bracelet along with the three headbands she’d made earlier in the week during arts and crafts. Some of the girls she shared a cabin with rushed past her, toward the door, talking and laughing, many of them wearing swimsuits.

  She looked around for her three friends and spotted them back in the corner, by Libby’s bunk, so she made her way there, stuffing the small items into her pockets.

  Libby lay on her bottom bunk, curled up on her side. Mia and Hannah stood on either side of the bed.

  “Hey,” Caitlin said. “What’s going on? If we don’t go now, we won’t have much time.”

  “Libby’s sad,” Mia said. “She said she’s going to skip friendship circle today. She doesn’t want to bring us down.”

  Caitlin took a seat on the bed and put her hand on her friend’s knee. “Oh, Libby. I know. I hate thinking about leaving tomorrow too.”

  Libby gave a little nod as tears spilled from her eyes. “I’m going to miss you guys so much.”

  Caitlin pulled Libby up and gave her a long hug. When they separated, Caitlin said, “We’ll write to you. And you’ll see, the year will zoom by. It’ll be July again before you know it. Then we’ll all be together again.”

  “I’m going to write you lots of letters,” Mia said. “So many, your mailman will want to break my fingers. Wait, is it called a mailman in England?”

  Libby smiled as she wiped her face with the back of her hands. “It’s a postman. I just wish my aunt and uncle weren’t so strict. No phone or any other electronics until I’m thirteen. It’s not fair.”

  A few weeks earlier, Libby had shared with Caitlin and her other closest camp friends that she lived with her aunt and uncle because her parents were killed in a car crash when she was four. Caitlin had felt terrible for her, but Libby had said there was no reason to feel bad. Her aunt and uncle had been very good to her, and she loved them like she would a mom and dad.

  “What about a computer?” Hannah asked.

  “Only if it’s for homework,” Libby replied.

  “I’d be upset too,” Caitlin said. She stood up, looking back and forth between Hannah and Mia. “You know, I really don’t want Libby to feel left out. What if we make a pact to only write each other letters?”

  “It sounds so hard,” Mia said. “Do you think we could stick to it?”

  “We haven’t given each other our phone numbers, since we aren’t allowed to have phones here,” Hannah pointed out. “So, before we leave, we just exchange our addresses and nothing else. I kind of like the idea. It makes me think of the box of notes my mother kept from when she was in high school. They didn’t have texting back then. She said they passed notes in the hallway and sometimes even in class. And just think, she can keep those notes forever and ever.”

  Libby’s eyes lit up. “Forever. Wow. I love the sound of that.”

  “That’s it, then,” Caitlin said with a smile. “Only letters. Or, you know, postcards.” She gently pulled on Libby’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go to friendship circle. It’s our last one, and remember, we’re doing an offering today. You don’t want to miss that, right, Lib?”

  “Okay,” Libby said as she scooted off her bed. “Let me grab what I need.”

  The girls split up to collect the things they wanted to take with them and then met at the door of the cabin. Once outside, they took off running. They ran across the open grassy area toward the far side of camp.

  Behind the arts-and-crafts building was a small hill. Caitlin was the first to reach the top. Breathing hard, she looked down at the other side and smiled when she saw the three huge pine trees planted close enough together that they created a circle among them.

  Mia had been the one to find the cozy little spot with a shaded canopy of pine branches on the second day at camp, during free time. She showed them the spot the day after the four became friends over the fruit pizza. It had been Caitlin’s idea to name it the friendship circle. And every day since they’d claimed it as theirs, the girls had used it during free time to share everything from snacks to journals to secret wishes and dreams.

  Now, the girls made their way down to the trees and took their spots inside. Caitlin looked around at the others and told herself to stay upbeat. She took a deep breath and smiled. She looked at Libby, wanting to make sure she was doing all right.

  “Go on,” Libby said. “Start the meeting the proper way. I’ll be fine.”

  “Welcome to another meeting in the friendship circle,” Caitlin said. She was always the one who started off the meeting. “As it’s been since the beginning, our friendship circle is secret, safe, and special. Speak your mind, but please be kind. And always remember …”

  The rest of the girls joined in. Usually the words were spoken loudly and with enthusiasm. But not today. They said the words not only quietly but with a hint of sadness as well. “No matter what, wherever we go, we’re friends forever, this we know.”

  “I think the first order of business,” Caitlin said as she took the red sachet from her pocket, “is to figure out who takes home the lucky bracelet.”

  Caitlin carefully pulled out the bracelet and put it in the palm of her hand. It glistened against her dark skin. Hannah reached over and picked it up, then held it out in front of her, letting it dangle in the air.

  “It looks so sad without any charms,” Hannah said. “Like a dog without a bone. Like a rosebush without buds. Like a —”

  “Okay, okay,” Mia said. “We get your point. We’ll just have to add to it all year long, so by next summer, it’ll be a true charm bracelet. Caitlin, I think you should take it home. You’re the one who found it.”

  The other girls nodded their heads in agreement.

  “But Libby’s upset,” Caitlin protested. “Maybe having the bracelet would make her feel better.”

  “No,” Libby said. “I want you to have it. You found it, but that’s not all. You’re really the one who brought our group together. Remember, that second night before dinner, how you asked the three of us if we could sit together? That took a lot of courage. I don’t know how you knew the four of us would get along so well, but somehow, you did.”

  Caitlin shrugged. “I wanted to get to know each of you for different reasons. Mia seemed to always be smiling, so bouncy and full of life. And I loved the way she said awesome all the time.”

  Mia grinned. “Awesome. That’s me!”

  The girls laughed.

  Caitlin continued. “And then there was Libby, with her adorable British accent and the way she helped everyone make their beds that first morning. Tucking the corners in tight and everything.”

  “What can I say, my uncle likes a well-made bed,” Libby said. “He got it from my grandpa, who was in the military.”

  “But it was so nice of you to help every single girl in our cabin,” Caitlin said. She turned and looked at Hannah. “And then there was the quiet girl from Tennessee. She may not talk much, but when she does, she makes people smile.”

  “My daddy always says laughter is the best medicine,” Hannah said. “And there were a lot of homesick girls those first few days. Including me.” She looked at Caitlin. “Libby’s right. You brought us together. You should take it home first. Give me your arm.”

  Caitlin did as she was told. As Hannah fastened the bracelet in p
lace, Caitlin closed her eyes, just for a couple of seconds.

  “Did it happen again?” Libby asked.

  “Yep,” Caitlin said. “I saw the four of us sitting around the little table in Sally’s Sweet Shop, eating ice cream cones during our field trip.”

  “We were meant to have this bracelet, y’all,” Hannah said. “I bet it’s luckier than a four-leaf clover. Luckier than a shooting star! I just know it’s going to help us have a good year, filled with lots of luck.”

  “And before we know it,” Libby said, “we’ll be back together again, here at Camp Brookridge. Charm Sisters.”

  “Charm Sisters,” the three other girls repeated, as if on cue.

  And then they all laughed.

  “How long should I keep the bracelet?” Caitlin asked.

  Mia piped up. “It’d be cool if we each got to have it a couple of times throughout the year. So maybe a month or two?”

  “That sounds good,” Caitlin said. “Okay, it’s time to answer our friendship circle question of the day. Pass your journal to the person on your left, since we passed to the right yesterday, and answer the question, ‘What are you most looking forward to when you get home?’”

  The girls passed the journals around and started writing. The rule was each girl had three minutes to answer the question of the day. They’d decided early on that by answering in someone else’s journal, they’d learn interesting things about one another.

  Caitlin wrote in Libby’s journal:

  Q of the day: What are you most looking forward to at home?

  Making chocolate chip cookies and eating them ALL. Oh, and also sleeping in my bed, which will be quite lovely. (See how I sound British there?) I’m going to miss you, Libby. I think you’re sweet like licorice. First I sound like you, and then I sound like Hannah. Seriously, what am I going to do without you guys?

  Your Cabin 7 BFF,

  Caitlin

  When they finished, they passed the journals back to their original owners.

  “Now it’s time for our friendship offering,” Caitlin told the girls.

  “Oh no,” Hannah said sadly. “Our last friendship offering.”