Lizzie flipped on her stereo and flung herself on her bed with a grin. It was finally summer! She felt like she had been waiting for summer to come for ages. And at exactly 3:00 pm, after school had ended, it officially started. She stared up at her ceiling thinking about how she was going to camp this summer with Miranda. Gordo had waited too long to sign up and wasn't able to go. Lizzie was bummed about this, thinking about all the great previous summers the three had spent together, but Lizzie knew that Gordo would be having fun in North Carolina all summer, visiting some old family friends on the beach. As long as she knew he was happy and going to be having a good time, she was happy.

"Lizzie!" Jo McGuire called from downstairs. With the music blaring, Lizzie couldn't hear her mother calling her name. She kept shouting, but Lizzie was totally oblivious. As she was daydreaming about the great summer she would be having Gordo walked in.

"Gordo!" Lizzie yelled over the music, "What are you doing here?"

"What!" Gordo screamed.

"What are you doing here?" Lizzie yelled as she ran over to the stereo to turn it off. "What are you doing here?" she asked quietly.

"Ok, you'll never believe who just called my house."

"Who?"

"Camp Meadowlake! I'm going! Some kid came down with rickets or something, and I got his spot!"

"You're coming to camp with us? Oh my god, I can't believe this! This is so great! I mean not for the rickets kid, but, wait, what are rickets anyway?"

"I dunno"

"Oh this is so great! We're gonna have the best summer ever! So you're not going to the beach?"

"No, my mom said I didn't have to go. Wow, I'm glad you're so excited about this. I thought you and Miranda already had this all planned out without me."

"Summer would be nothing without you," Lizzie said with a smile.

Gordo smiled. "Thanks McGuire. Well, I gotta get going, maybe go pack or something, and call Miranda about the good news!"

"Yeah, I'll see ya!" Lizzie jumped around the room shouting. She was bubbling with excitement and couldn't sit still. "Gordo's coming! Gordo's coming!" She hopped on her bed and jumped up and down waving her arms above her head. She couldn't stop thinking about what an amazing summer they all would have. She couldn't wait for it to start.

"I can't believe we're here!" Miranda Sanchez shouted with excitement from the McGuire's car.

"Yeah, it looks so cool, but I've never been to camp before. I'm kinda nervous," Lizzie said apprehensively.

"What about me? You get to bunk with Miranda! I've got to bunk wherever the rickets kid was supposed to be."

"Come on you guys, this is going to be so much fun! Stop being such downers!" Miranda told them.

Lizzie knew Miranda was right. She looked out the window as her father drove through the winding road. She spotted the beautiful lake and knew that she would be having some great times there in the upcoming months. It finally hit her that she was going to be spending all summer with her two best friends and her nervous feeling started going away. When Sam pulled up to the parking lot, the three kids got out of the car slowly, admiring the beautiful foliage above them. "Wow this place is gorgeous," Lizzie breathed.

"Come on come on come on, let's get our stuff!" Miranda said excitedly. The kids dragged their bags and trunks out of the back of the minivan. They looked around them at all the other kids saying goodbye to their parents. Lizzie didn't recognize anyone from school, and she started getting nervous again. They made their way over to the stage where the head counselors were giving people a welcome. They sat down on the benches with Sam and Jo and waited for it to start.

"Hello! And welcome to Camp Meadowlake," a tall young man said. "This is going to be an awesome summer filled with adventure, new friends, lots of learning experiences, new opportunities, but most of all, fun!" Some of the kids started cheering.

"This is so lame," Gordo said.

"Shut up, Gordo! Let me listen." Miranda said.

"We know this may be a whole new experience to some of you, so before we get too into detail, we want to get you situated in your cabins, so you can meet some of your new friends. Cabins are NOT co-ed!" Sighs of disappointment were heard through the crowd. The counselor continued, "As usual you will have two groups, your cabin group, and your activities group and you will be doing things with each group. So, we want you to get to know them all as soon as possible. Well, let's get going. Boys over here, and girls over there," the counselor said pointing to the opposite sides of the stage.

"I guess this is it, Lizzie," Mrs. McGuire said. "Come here," Jo said giving her a big hug.

"Mom, please."

"Oh Lizzie, have fun. I'm going to miss you. And I'm going to miss you guys too," Mrs. McGuire said to Gordo and Miranda. "Goodbye you guys." Jo gave Lizzie a huge hug.

"Bye mom. I'll miss you too."

"Bye Mr. and Mrs. McGuire," Gordo and Miranda said in unison.

"Bye guys. Bye Lizzie. You be good for the counselors."

"Dad!" Lizzie said annoyed. "Bye."

Jo and Sam walked off to their car, and Lizzie couldn't help but feel a little bit sad. She knew she was supposed to be grown up, but she didn't know what she was going to do without them for the whole summer.