Best Friends (Until Someone Better Comes Along) by Erin Downing Page B

or say anything right, and it made me nauseous.
    Just as Bailey and Ava pulled the empty canoe up onto shore, a low rumble of thunder growled in the sky. The clouds, which had seemed relatively puffy and unthreatening while we were playing the game, suddenly turned dark and ominous. Green and orange swirled together in the sky, and lightning lit up the horizon across the lake. The adults who were working and chatting on the dock nearby quickly gathered up their papers. I saw my dad glance over at me as he hustled away to safety with the other adults. Thanks for the concern about me being in the lake during a storm, Dad, I thought bitterly. I remembered one time when I was little, my dad and I had been caught out in the backyard as a storm rolled in. He and I had stared up at the sky together until the first drops of rain hit our cheeks, then he’d wrapped me up inside his sweatshirt and we’d watched movies on the couch allafternoon. He knew how much I hated storms, so he’d turned the sound up extra loud so I couldn’t hear the thunder.
    â€œWe should probably get inside,” I said. I especially hate the kind of storms that creep up and surprise me. The ones that came out of nowhere seemed meaner and uglier, somehow.
    Suddenly, another crack of thunder, closer this time, shook the sky above us. Then the clouds opened, and rain poured down. Even though we were already wet, everyone shrieked. I chased Bailey and Ava up the hill toward the cluster of cabins. Brennan and Zach took off one way at the end of the path, while we all went the other way. Madeline split off from us to run to the cabin she shared with Ava and their dad, but Bailey grabbed me and Ava and yelled, “Come with me! Thunderstorms scare me, and Mom’s working all afternoon. Please?”
    I didn’t have time to react. I just let Bailey tug me down an unfamiliar wooded path as another thunderclap popped above us. The wind whipped through the forested area that surrounded our cabins, and as lightning blazed in the sky above us, I wondered about the safety of our ramshackle cabins. Could a huge storm blow them over, or rip them out of the ground, à la Wizard of Oz ?
    I suddenly realized I had to get Coco. My puppy had never been in a thunderstorm before, and I didn’t want her stuck in the cabin, scared and alone. My mom had made it very clear that Coco was my dog, and any dog care and maintenance was my responsibility. “Can I bring my dog to your cabin?” I had to yell so Bailey could hear me through the pounding rain.
    â€œOf course!” Bailey yelled back. Her eyes were wide and scared, and I could tell she was more freaked out by thunderstorms than I was. But even though it was obvious she wanted to get inside, Bailey said, “We’ll come with you to get her!”
    Ava and Bailey followed as I ran to my cabin. For a moment, I thought about suggesting that we could all go to my cabin, since we were almost there and the rain was really slamming into us. But I knew my mom would freak out if we all tromped in, wet and dripping. Besides, I was still mad at my mom, and I was pretty relieved I had an excuse to stay away.
    I ran up the steps to the Cardinal cabin and popped open the screen door. Coco was shivering, curled into a tight ball right by the doormat, so I just leaned down and scooped her up into my arms. I wrapped her in a dry towel, then ran backdown the stairs and into the rain again. Coco shook inside the towel, so I held her tighter, pulling her against my chest to shield her from the rain. I chased after Bailey as she and Ava ran past several cabins and then down a small hill. The next crack of thunder made the ground shake, and I was almost sure the earth was going to open up in front of me.
    Coco wriggled in my arms. She poked her wet little nose out of the towel just as the next blast of lightning lit up the sky. Panicked, she jumped out of my arms, shaking the towel off her body. In the