Chapter Ten

“I have great news.” I am in the lunchroom with Brandi and Kelly. “The wedding party is on and you’re still invited.”

“Yay!” Brandi cheers.

Then I tell them about Herman and Rose.

Kelly is excited. “They sound totally cool!”

“And we’re going to have it at Camp Sukkatukket.”

I should have quit while I was ahead.

“Bulletin! Bulletin! Bulletin!” Brandi wants to be a newscaster when she grows up and she believes in getting an early start.

Before I can stop her, she announces to the entire lunchroom that my mother is getting married at Camp Sukkatukket.

The tables around us go quiet.

Jimmy Russell breaks the silence. This is no surprise. “Wow!” he shouts. “Are you going to serve boogers on toast for appetizers?”

He is sitting at an all-boys table next to us.

Bobby Clifford slaps Fredrich on the back. “At last you can get rid of all those boogers you’ve got in the freezer.”

“You boys are disgusting.” Hannah Burton curls her lip. Then she turns to me and puts on her sympathetic face.

I know this is a dangerous sign.

“I’m so sorry to hear this, Amber. I suppose it was the only place you could afford. I do hope you put money in the budget for skunk control and stink removal.”

I wonder if there is a skunk in Hannah’s family tree. She is definitely a little stinker . . . . . make that an enormous stinker.

Trying to ignore her, I tell Brandi and Kelly that the three of us are in charge of making favors for the reception.

“How about Eau du Skunk?” Kelly asks. “We can put it in little perfume bottles.”

“And we can write out the guests’ names in glitter boogers,” Brandi suggests.

Usually I like booger jokes. I’ve made lots of them about Fredrich the nose picker. But now I see him slump down as though he wants to slip under the table.

I think about his father swatting his hand. I also remember how proud he was when he took me around the camp.

Turning to Brandi, I say, “Bulletin. Bulletin. Bulletin. Camp Sukkatukket is really a beautiful place. Fredrich took me on a tour. It’s got a pretty, pretty pond, and when you stand on the lodge porch you can see the sunset.”

I say this too loudly. I know I am too loud because the boys hear me.

“Oooh!” Jimmy Russell says. “Fredrich and Amber, sitting on the porch, love so hot it starts to scorch!”

Now I’m beginning to feel like I want to go under the table. Except I don’t want to meet Fredrich there.

Hannah Burton looks as happy as I’ve ever seen her. Watching other people, particularly me, get embarrassed is Hannah heaven.

“Amber, I know your standards are low, but really . . .”

Hannah doesn’t finish the sentence. She doesn’t need to. Her smile says it all.

Kelly and Brandi are also looking like they want to slip under the table.

“I’m sorry I announced that bulletin,” Brandi whispers to me.

I’m sorry I ever told Brandi and Kelly about the camp. Except they had to know sooner or later if they were going to come to the wedding.

“It’s not really your fault,” I whisper back.

“I made the joke about the skunk perfume,” Kelly says.

“The glitter boogers were mine,” Brandi admits.

“ENOUGH! No more booger jokes about this wedding. And the camp is beautiful. And . . .” I pause. “And Fredrich is nice.”

Hannah opens her mouth. She makes that smug face she has when she’s about to say something really mean.

I shoot her my best “Don’t you dare” look, which is something I learned from Mom.

It works. Hannah shuts her mouth.

I, Amber Brown, know that won’t last. But I intend to enjoy it while it does.

I never thought in a million years, or a million dollars, that my great idea about Camp Sukkatukket would end up in a bunch of Amber and Fredrich jokes.

And I know my class. The jokes may have stopped for now, but they will definitely not be the last ones I hear.