From where she sat on the steps, Jenny could see into the kitchen and hear her parents'

voices coming down from the den.

“When will we have to go?” her mother asked.

“In a couple of months. As soon as we find a place,” her father answered.

Jenny wondered where they might be going. She hoped it was Disneyland. Last year, the

family had gone to Lake George for their vacation, and that was okay but a little boring. They had o ne

of those kids' camps so that families on vacation don't really have to hang out together. Once they

get to the hotel, the kids spend all day in a camp-type setting and the parents go off and do... wel l,

whatever it is parents do when they're on vacation.

Lake George's Kids Kamp (if Jenny spelled camp with a “K” at school she'd flunk spelling)

was not terrible. The arts and crafts were lame. How many lanyards does a person need anyway?

And she got there a little late that day, so the only two colors left were red and blue, which may b e

patriotic but they are so dull, so her lanyard was way disappointing on top of being mostly useless. If

she had a whistle to put on it, that might have been cool, but she ended up with a plastic flower ch arm on her lanyard, and that

made it a pointless item because she'd never wear it as a necklace, plus the flower was peach and bl ack which looked really bad on the red and blue

lanyard. But the rest of the “Kamp” was not bad. Swimming twice a day and once during the week, hors eback riding. On actual horses, not just the little ponies

Jenny rode on at the petting zoo.

So, all in all, the family vacation last summer was pretty good, but Jenny needed to go to Disneylan d this year. Almost everyone she knew had already

gone. Which was pretty amazing if you thought about it. Jenny lived in New York, well, Long Island r eally, and Disneyland was all the way across the country in

California. Yes, there was Disney World in Florida, but California sounded so much more exciting tha n plain old Florida, where Jenny's grandparents lived.

Yep, that's what she hoped they were talking about in the den – the plans for next summer's trip. Va cations were one thing the whole family could

agree about. And that was pretty rare, for this whole family to agree. After all, with three kids at different ages, what were the odds that they'd all like the same

things? Stevie, the baby, was 18 months old. Marnie, the oldest, was 15 and liked, well, not a whole lot. At least it seemed that way to Jenny. Marnie didn't go

out much with friends, and mostly she got A's in school. Which probably was because she spent so muc h time reading books. Even on vacation, Marnie read.

She swam too, she rode horses, but mostly, she read.

Jenny, age 10, liked everything. She loved to play with dolls. She loved music. She loved ice-skatin g in winter and rollerblading in summer. She played

any ball game she could, even some she made up on the street with her friends. She read, too, especi ally mystery stories. Exploring the vacant lot near her

house was always cool and a fun thing to do. She just liked it all and never was bored.

Most of all, she loved hanging out with her friends. Growing up in a small town was the perfect life . She had gone to school her whole life with the

same kids, so by the time fifth grade rolled around, they were all so close.

Every weekend meant another group activity. There were parties for any reason imaginable. It could

be a birthday. It might be a holiday like Halloween or Christmas or Chanukah. Fourth of July was alw ays a

reason to have kids over, too. Memorial Day? Let's party. Snow day off from school? Hot chocolate an d snowfort-

building party. Surprise summer weather in April? Break out the sprinklers and call the kids – a beach

party is about to happen.

Friends were Jenny's life force. They were what made school bearable. She couldn't wait to be a

teenager and get to do what they did with their friends. Driving to the beach anytime they felt like it to hang out

together was her idea of heaven on earth. And it was just a few more years...

But for right now, her thoughts were all caught up in her parents' chat about their upcomi ng summer

vacation. And, if she sat real quiet on the steps, Mom and Dad might not discover that she was sitti ng there

when she was supposed to be sleeping. So she could just hang out until they said where it was they w ere

headed.

Just then their voices lowered to whispers, and it got almost impossible to hear what they were saying.

In fact, Jenny strained her ears but could catch only two chilling words – “moving” and “Philadelphi a.”

<i>Butler County Community College</I>A proud sponsor of Eagle in Education

<br></br><i>&Copy; Hot Topics Hot Serials 2006</i><br></br><b>Eagle in Education</b><i>Bringing Creative Learning Opportunities to Local Classrooms</i><br></br>CHAPTER TWO WILL BE PUBLISHED TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011