Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Planet Girl by Tommy Greenwald

but I couldn’t feel guilty. I was tired of feeling guilty.
    â€œWhat?” I said. “Isn’t that what you want? You barely even talk to me anymore.”
    She shot daggers at me with her eyes. “Maybe if you weren’t too busy kissing other girls, you’d actually have a clue what I want,” she hissed. Then she turned on her heels and walked away.
    â€œThat’s not fair! I tried to apologize, but you wouldn’t give me the chance!” I shouted after her, but she didn’t turn around.
    â€œJeez,” George said. “Should we go get some punch?” But I shook my head. I decided that coming to this reunion was a bad idea. I walked away and looked for my mom. Maybe we could go to that cool wax museum I’d heard about. At least wax people can’t yell at you and make you feel bad.
    â€œAttention! Attention please, for announcements!” I looked up and saw Dr. Mal, the head of the camp, standing with the microphone at the front of the room. Everybody started crowding into the area, pushing me forward into the room and farther from the exit. There was no getting out now.
    â€œI would like to welcome you all to the sixth annual Camp Rituhbukkee reunion weekend,” Dr. Mal said. “We started doing this so all those campers who became so close over the summer would have an opportunity to catch up with one another during the year. It’s quickly become one of our most popular camp events.”
    I searched the crowd for my mom and saw her talking to Dr. Singer, who was one of the original founders of the camp. He was very distinguished-looking, which is how my mom taught me to describe people who are really, really old. He was also really nice! But mostly old.
    Dr. Mal was saying, “We love gathering here at the New York Public Library, because it is one of the most glorious memorials to learning that we have in this country. Our campers have a special bond, which may well last a lifetime…”
    My pocket buzzed. I snuck a look at my phone—a text from Jake. Okay, cool, I could use a little good news.
    Hey Charlie Joe. Thanks for your text but I think it’s best if we’re not friends for a while. Maybe someday but not right now. Sorry.
    I felt my face start to get red. I texted back.
    Then why aren’t you mad at Hannah? It takes two people to kiss, in case you haven’t heard.
    Two seconds later, Jake replied.
    None of your business Charlie Joe. Please stay out of it before you cause any more problems.
    All of a sudden I felt like if I didn’t get out of there, I would explode.
    I started pushing through the crowd again, this time in the opposite direction. I didn’t know where I was headed, I just knew it had to be out of that room. I knocked into a few people, and once they saw it was me, they rolled their eyes. I’d kind of been the camp troublemaker, believe it or not.
    â€œHey, where ya goin’?” someone whispered. I turned and saw Jack Strong, wearing a Tufts University sweatshirt. Usually Jack wore only Ivy League shirts. I’d never heard of Tufts, which must have meant he was lowering his expectations a bit.
    â€œGotta get some air,” I told him. Then I stopped. “You wanna come?”
    Jack glanced up at Dr. Mal, then over at his parents, who were listening intently.
    â€œCome on,” I said. “Just for a minute. We’ll come right back.”
    â€œWhat the heck.” Jack slipped behind me, and we wound our way silently through the crowd. Once we got to the very back of the room, we took a quick left and headed down a long hall. We ducked into the first doorway we saw, which happened to be a huge room, where people were sitting at long tables, doing what looked like a superintense kind of homework.
    Jack and I looked at each other.
    â€œNah,” we said.
    We left that room and headed back down the hall. There was a set of stairs on the left, with a red velvet rope