Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things by Wendelin Van Draanen

rocks that overlooked the canyon and ate trail mix, beef jerky, and dried bananas.
    Now, while we’d been setting up our tents, Quinn’s long-haired friend had sort of made the rounds, saying hello to everyone and checking out the views. She seemed nice enough, but she’d put Gabby into a serious frump.
    â€œWhy’d he bring her up here?”
    â€œWhy not?” Bella asked.
    â€œBecause she doesn’t care. It’s obvious she doesn’t care! Is she working right now? Is she doing anything but walking around?”
    Bella rolled her eyes. “What do you want her to do? Give her a chance, would you?”
    But Gabby didn’t want to give her a chance. She wanted her
gone
. So even though we were eating lunch on a big outcropping of rocks with a really spectacular view, none of us were actually
appreciating
the view. Gabby kept glancing over her shoulder at the Lookout, jealousy just radiating off her. Bella and Cricket kept glancing at Gabby,
annoyance
radiating off them. And I was too bugged by the pesky little flies buzzing around my head to pay attention to anything else. You wouldn’t believe these flies. They’re
weird
. Little and kind of gray, all body and not much wings. And they
buzz
. But what makes them unbearable is that they try to fly into your ears and up your nose. Seriously. They’re little buzzy kamikaze flies that dive-bomb your ears and eyes and nose.
    And as if I didn’t hate them enough already, there I am, in the middle of ripping off a bite of jerky with my teeth, when one of those pesky little flies shoots right up my nose.
    â€œOh!” I squeal, jumping up and snorting out like crazy.
    Everyone looks at me.
    â€œOh!” I squeal again, dancing around. “There’s a fly!” I snort out hard. “Up my nose!”
Snort
. “It’s stuck!”
Snort-snort-snort-snort-snort-snort-snort!
    â€œDid you get it?” Cricket asks.
    â€œI don’t know!” I stop snorting out and inhale through my nose, and sure enough, there’s still a buzzy booger up there. “No!” I squeal, snorting again like crazy.
    Cricket stands up and plays fly ejection coach. “Take a deep breath through your mouth, close off your good side, and
blow
.”
    So I do that and . . .
    I’ve
still
got a fluttery fly booger.
    â€œDo it again!”
    So I do it again and . . .
    The fly does not eject.
    Then Bella says, “Maybe it’s just a phantom fly.”
    â€œA phantom fly? A
phantom
fly? This is no phantom fly!”
    â€œNo, no. You
had
a fly, you got
rid
of the fly, but it still
feels
like one’s up there.” She shrugs. “You’ve got a phantom fly.”
    â€œIT’S NOT A PHANTOM FLY!” I shout, and I shout it so loud that “FLY . . . FLY . . . FLY . . .” echoes through the canyon.
    Cricket’s and Bella’s eyebrows go up like, “Wow!” and then Bella stands up and shouts, “HELLO!” into the canyon.
    Gabby, though, totally ignores everything that’s going on around her and says, “I don’t get what’s taking them so long. And why won’t Quinn let us see the nest? What does he think we are?
Children?
”
    â€œWill you shut up about Quinn? Can’t you see I’ve got a fly up my nose?” I let out a sinus-shaking, face-quaking
snoooooort
.
    â€œBELLA!” Bella shouts into the canyon, but when the echo dies out, she turns to Gabby and says, “You’re acting like an idiot, Gabrielle.”
    â€œWhy? Because I want to see a condor?”
    â€œCONDOR!” Bella hollers into the canyon.
    â€œC ONDOR . . . CONDOR . . . CONDOR . . . ,” echoes the canyon as I go,
“Snoooort!”
trying to clear the fly, and Cricket says to Gabby, “No, because you’re so hot for Quinn!”
    â€œQUINN!” Bella hollers.
    The canyon echoes, “Q UINN . . . Q UINN . . . Q UINN . . .”
    â€œShut