Read Camp Confidential 05 - TTYL for Free Online

is,” she admitted, “my parents think I’m staying at the library after school instead of coming to drama club, so I have to hole up in my room and pretend like I’m on the Internet or something, or they’ll get suspicious.”
    “How come they won’t let you be in drama club, anyway?” Greg asked.
    Grace sighed. “It’s complicated,” she replied. She didn’t want to get into the problems she’d had in school the previous year. “They just want me to spend more time on my schoolwork, I guess.”
    “It’s too bad that you have to lie to them,” Andrew said.
    Grace sighed again. “Yeah, I know.” She flung the back of her head against her forehead dramatically to lighten the moment. “Anyway,” she said, changing the subject, “what kind of homework do you guys have for the weekend?”
    “Where do I begin?” Greg joked. He leaned back and began ticking the work off on his fingers. “Two pages of math problems, a North American geography work sheet, plus there’s a quiz in my world history class on Monday that I totally have to study for. Can you believe there’s a quiz already?”
    “That’s rough,” Andrew said sympathetically. “I only have to read the second chapter of Animal Farm . Shouldn’t be too bad.”
    Greg moaned. “Oh, man . . . I have that too!”
    “Me too,” Lara said, picking up one of Grace’s carrots and twirling it around in her fingers like a miniature baton. “Plus math. I’m going to try to get it done tonight, though—I hate doing work on the weekends!”
    “Wow,” Grace said jealously. “You guys are all in the same English class? I don’t know anybody in my classes yet, except a couple of people who went to Washington Elementary with me.”
    Greg and Andrew looked at each other. “No . . .” Lara said. “Aren’t you reading Animal Farm too? I thought it was a sixth-grade requirement or something.”
    “Oh,” Grace said. “Um, no, my class isn’t reading it. We’re reading Hatchet right now.”
    “I read that last year,” Greg said casually.
    “Well, I didn’t,” Grace snapped. Seeing the hurt look on Greg’s face, she immediately felt bad. “But we went to different schools,” she added in a softer voice.
    “Yeah,” Lara said. “We’ve probably read tons of different books.” She threw a strange, confused look at Grace. “Anyway, so, what homework do you have, Grace, besides Hatchet ?”
    Grace took a deep breath. “Um . . . Hatchet , and a couple of pages of math,” she said. “I guess it isn’t that bad. It’s way more than in fifth grade, though.” She picked up a carrot and put it in her mouth, but she wasn’t hungry anymore. She just felt sad.
    “Tell me about it,” Greg moaned. “Fifth grade was a breeze compared to this.”
    “Not as fun, though,” Andrew said. “This year’s off to a great start!”
    “Totally,” Lara replied. She smiled reassuringly at Grace. “I bet we’ll all get the hang of it before we know it though, right, Grace?”
    “I hope so!” Grace said, smiling back at her new friend.
    “Okay, kids, let’s regroup,” Mrs. West, the drama club leader said from her perch onstage. “Let’s try it from Eliza’s entrance . . . and this time, Grace, will you please play Eliza, and Andrew, Mr. Higgins?”
    Grace scrambled to her feet, snatching up the carrots as she stood. After shoving the baggie into her backpack, she marched to the stage and climbed the few stairs on stage left. “What page are we on?” she asked Mrs. West.

    Later, walking home, Grace tried to figure out why Animal Farm was such a touchy subject for her. She knew she was smart; she just had trouble reading. But it hurt to know that her friends were all doing just fine, while she was struggling to read a book that Greg had finished in fifth grade.
    It was hard. To Grace, reading anything was hard. It took a lot of concentration and effort to even get through a few pages. For the past few nights, she’d been staying up far