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sweaty twenty in her fist. She dug into the pouch on her backpack where her wallet always lived, to put it away, but had to keep digging.
    â€œShoot! Where is it?” Lexi shoved her papers and balled-up T-shirt over to Kevin so she could search more thoroughly. “My pink wallet. It’s missing!”
    Kevin gasped. “Pickpockets?”
    Kim Ling gasped too. “
Pink
? Well, I doubt any of these campers would’ve ripped you off in front of all these doting parents. When’d you last see it?”
    â€œOh, man, I’m not sure. In the train station, I think.” Lexi handed her a hairbrush and a stash of peanut-butter crackers from her backpack.
Could the jewel thieves have stolen it somehow? No, they were never that close. But it could’ve fallen out of my bag when I rushed into the restaurant and they might’ve picked it up. Why is this happening?
    â€œAnything important in it?” Kim Ling said.
    â€œJust, like, my life. My library card and my student—oh no!” Lexi turned to Kevin. “My favorite picture of Mom was in there. You know the one—on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Oh, great, and the lipstick blot too!”
    â€œYou carry around a blot?” Kim Ling raised a crooked eyebrow. “I won’t ask.”
    â€œAnd a Post-it with Aunt Roz’s address,” Lexi said, half to herself.
Maybe the thieves really were in that black Lincoln, armed and dangerous and following me to my exact location!
    â€œPipe down and listen up!” Mr. Glick’s amplified voicerose above the chatter. “We’re splitting you kids into two groups again like we always do—older and younger. If you have a green registration card, you’re in Group A. Blue, you’re in Group B. So if you only remember one thing today, remember your color.”
    â€œI’m green,” Kevin said, actually turning a pale shade of green. “You guys are blue and I’m green. And you said it was just for registration!”
    â€œOf course, we
will
be joining both groups together for specific activities from time to time,” Mr. Glick added, but that wasn’t enough to calm Kevin down.
    â€œThis is
so
wrong!”
    â€œYou’ll be fine,” Lexi told him. She was too busy freaking out herself at the moment to deal with him freaking out.
    She searched desperately for her wallet while Mr. Glick blabbered on about all the exciting activities the staff had planned for the next three weeks and how everyone would undoubtedly meet their best friend for life.
Yeah, right
. She kept searching while they sat through a lame slide show of highlights from previous City Camp summers—while Mr. Glick read through the entire
Safety First
printout—while his pimply beanpole assistant collected the emergency information cards.
    By the time Mr. Glick announced, “That’s it for today, ladies and gentlemen. See you all tomorrow morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed,” Lexi was all searched out and completely deflated. But she refused to cry—shewould
not
cry even if the roof came crashing down on her, which just may happen the way things had been going so far.
    â€œBut it’s only eleven forty-five!” Kevin squawked. He compared the time on his orbiting planets wristwatch with the clock on the wall. “Aunt Roz isn’t coming back till six. What’re we supposed to do all day?”
    â€œWell, if you goobers had read the schedule, you would’ve known that orientation day only goes till noon.” Kim Ling pulled Kevin’s cap down over his face and led the way out the double doors.
    â€œHey!”
    â€œNo worries, McGills. The sun is shining and we’re in the greatest city in the world, which I happen to know like the back of my hand.”
    â€œSo, what’re you saying?” Lexi asked.
    â€œWelcome to Camp Kim Ling!”
    Ugh
. Lexi definitely was not up for whatever that meant.
    â€œYou