I made it back with eight seconds to spare. There wasn’t even time to say a real good-bye to the guys, but I wouldn’t have traded the way it went for anything.
Mom and Grandma were waiting for me when I got down to the parking lot. Georgia was there too, like nothing had happened. I gave her Major Sherwood’s stopwatch.
“Tell the Dictator I said good-bye,” I said.
“Let’s go, Rafe,” Mom said. “We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.”
“So long, you big, fat loser,” Georgia said. “See you at the end of the summer.”
“Not if I smell you coming first,” I said.
“Well, I see that hasn’t changed,” Mom said. But when she turned her back, Georgia mouthed the words good luck to me. I gave her a thumbs-up and even a quick hug good-bye before I got in the car. Mom and Grandma never even noticed.
“See you, Georgia Peach,” Mom said. “We’ll be back to get you at the end of the summer.”
“Drive safe!” Georgia said, and even stuck out her tongue at me to make it look good.
Then, just when we were pulling out of the parking lot in our ancient, wheezing, maybe-gonna-make-it-home minivan, Grandma pointed over to the side of the road.
“What the…?” she said.
That’s when I saw the guys. They were all standing there, holding up a sign. Or six signs, I guess.
I turned around and waved while we drove away from Camp Wannamorra for good.
“I guess it just means they’re my friends,” I said.
That, and they still needed a new catchphrase.