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Alex again. Valerie was so wrong about her theory. Alex and Adam were just good friends!
    â€œYou like to play chess, right?” Valerie asked Alex, unpacking her woodworking supplies. Valerie just figured that Alex was super smart. A few weeks ago, when Grace had to read Call of the Wild because she had fallen behind in her fifth-grade reading class, Alex was the one who had helped her the most. Alex had read the book two times—for fun. In fact, Valerie guessed that some of the other girls, mainly Chelsea, were even jealous of Alex because she was smart in addition to being athletic and well-liked. This thought made Valerie excited for one reason in particular: because really smart people knew how to play chess.
    â€œActually, I don’t,” Alex answered, standing next to the metal table in the woodshop. She had come into class with her soccer ball in her hands, and the instructor—a nice college student named Jeremy (a guy who really needed to take the tape off the bridge of his glasses)—had taken it away from her. He wasn’t worried that Alex and Valerie would cause trouble or break things. Instead, he didn’t want the boys in the class to start a game of keep-away right there in the cabin. They were kind of wild sometimes, especially Adam Spasm and his friends.
    â€œOh well,” Valerie said, twisting her long black braids and slumping a little on the stool. Valerie was always sitting. Alex always stood.
    â€œDo you play?” Alex asked, putting her hair in a ponytail with the rubber band that was around her wrist. She wished she had a mirror, so it wouldn’t look so crooked.
    â€œYeah, but not here this summer. No one knows how to!” Valerie said. “It’s okay.” She started getting all the tools together for her next project.
    â€œWait, I’ve always wanted to learn to play,” Alex said, following Valerie to the supply closet. Alex was telling the truth, too. She’d seen people—all ages and races—playing chess in the park last Christmas when her parents took her to New York City. They were competing on concrete tables outside in the cold—and it was really cold in New York in December. Those chess players had the kind of dedication Alex could admire. She asked her parents to teach her, but they didn’t know how either. At home, they usually played GoStop, a Korean card game that was totally fun.
    â€œWill you show me how?” Alex asked.
    â€œYou can’t be serious,” Valerie said, staring at her bug-eyed.
    â€œOh, I’m serious,” Alex said, sneaking a peek at Adam across the room. She just didn’t get why girls like -liked boys so much. He was cute, but he was teaching his friends how to spit really long saliva wads and then suck them back into their mouths. She wondered if Simon did stuff like that when his friends were around and if Natalie would still like him if she saw.
    â€œI’d love to!” Alex added. “I mean it!”
    The girls made a plan to get together in the rec room after dinner for serious chess lessons. Valerie told Alex that it might take a few nights for her to pick it up. But then Valerie thought of how fast Alex had learned woodworking. She secretly hoped that they could start playing in two nights because, after all, Alex was really smart.
    â€œSo what’s your idea?” Alex asked.
    â€œOh, it’s no big deal,” Valerie said. “I just noticed that the chess set in the rec room is plastic. And it’s all beat-up. My dad always plays with me on this really nice marble set we have at home. I thought it would be really cool if we made one in here to keep at Lakeview.”
    â€œThat’s an amazing idea!” Alex said. She loved doing that kind of stuff. She was always helping the counselors with whatever they needed—and anyone else. Why not help the camp? Maybe they could even carve their initials on the bottom with a dedication. It