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  “I forgot my backpack,” she said. She grabbed it out of her cubby. She was about to run back out when she saw the peach.

  Her mouth opened in a big O. She stared at the peach.

  She gasped. “Wha — what happened?”

  “I do not know,” said Ms. Colman. “Debbie says she and Audrey found the peach like this a few minutes ago.”

  “Oh,” said Jannie. “It is ruined. I have been working on it for a week! I will never be able to make another peach by Friday.”

  Audrey felt terrible.

  Jannie started to cry. Then she pushed her peach to the floor. Ms. Colman knelt next to her and patted her back.

  “I am very sorry,” said Ms. Colman. “I know how hard you worked on your peach. We will try to find out what happened to it.”

  Jannie just cried.

  In front of school, Audrey and Debbie sat down to wait for their mothers. Mrs. Green was not usually late.

  Hurry up, Mommy, thought Audrey.

  “Whew!” said Debbie cheerfully. “That was close. I got you out of a big mess, huh?”

  “Debbie, you lied to Ms. Colman,” said Audrey. “Lying is wrong. We should have told the truth.”

  “Are you crazy?” squealed Debbie. “You would have gotten in so much trouble! And Jannie would have hated you forever.”

  “It was an accident,” said Audrey. “I would have apologized. Maybe Jannie would have forgiven me after awhile. But we should not have lied.”

  “You do not want to be in trouble, do you?” said Debbie. “Anyway, it is too late now. Here is my mother.” She ran across the yard and jumped into her mother’s car.

  Audrey put her chin in her hands. She did not know what to think.

  That afternoon Audrey played at Sara’s house. Marcus kicked them out of the family room, so they went to Sara’s bedroom. Audrey did not feel much like playing. She sat on the floor and rubbed Frederick behind his ears. One of his hind legs kicked the air.

  Audrey told Sara the whole sad story. “Jannie’s peach was humongous and beautiful. And I ruined it,” she said. “Now Jannie will have nothing to show on Family Day. I feel awful. But I feel even worse that Debbie lied for me.”

  “Debbie should not have done that,” agreed Sara. “I think you should tell Ms. Colman the truth.”

  “I know,” said Audrey. “I will. But I am not looking forward to it. It is going to be horrible.”

  THE MYSTERY OF THE CRUSHED PEACH

  On Thursday morning Ms. Colman called a meeting of her campers.

  She opened a large shopping bag. She took out what was left of Jannie’s peach.

  “This was Jannie’s book project,” said Ms. Colman. “Somehow it has gotten crushed.”

  A couple of kids said, “Oh, no.”

  “I need to know who did this,” said Ms. Colman. “Jannie and I are both very upset. I am sure it was an accident. The person who did it will not be in trouble, if he or she comes to me and explains.”

  “I bet it was Audrey,” said Hank. “She is always knocking things over and breaking things.”

  Everyone turned to look at Audrey. She felt her face flush pink. She decided to tell everyone the truth right then.

  “It was not Audrey,” cried Debbie. “I was there the whole time. We found the peach like that. For once it was not Audrey. She really did not do it. I promise.” Debbie crossed her heart with her finger.

  Audrey glared at Debbie. What could she say now? If she told the truth, she and Debbie would both be in trouble. Audrey was starting to think that Debbie’s lie was worse than breaking the peach in the first place.

  Ms. Colman put the peach back in the shopping bag. She frowned. “I hope someone tells me the truth,” she said.

  Then she led the group to the playground, for team games with the first-graders.

  Audrey’s stomach hurt.

  FAMILY DAY

  “I thought this day would never come,” said Audrey.

  “I know,” said Terri. Audrey and Terri were walking to the playground. “The last day of Book Camp. Is your project ready?”

  “Yes,” said Audrey.

  “Hi, Audrey!” called Debbie. “I’m over here!” Debbie was swinging on a swing. Audrey sighed and headed over to her.

  Jannie was sitting under the oak tree by herself. She looked very sad. Audrey felt terrible all over again.

  “You know what?” said Debbie as she and Audrey swung side by side. “I heard Terri and Tammy say they are not coming to camp next session. On Monday, when Theater Camp starts, I bet there will be some new kids. That will be fun.”

  Good, thought Audrey. Maybe one of them will be your new best friend.

  The morning was like every other morning at day camp. But the afternoon was different. Right after lunch, Family Day began. Audrey felt excited about it. Mr. and Mrs. Green were taking the afternoon off from work to come to Family Day. Audrey could not wait to show them her book project.

  Audrey’s group was going to share their presentations in Ms. Colman’s classroom. Audrey and the other campers had made special decorations for the room. It looked very festive. Ms. Colman had brought cupcakes and punch for the guests. Soon the parents began to arrive.

  “Mommy!” said Audrey when she saw Mrs. Green. Mr. Green arrived soon afterward. Audrey served them cupcakes and punch. Then she showed them the class’s decorations.

  “Has it been a terrible two weeks for you?” asked Mrs. Green.

  “There have been ups and downs,” said Audrey. “But mostly ups.”

  Across the room Audrey saw Jannie sitting with her parents. Jannie still looked glum. Audrey swallowed hard.

  Ms. Colman clapped her hands for attention. “I would like to thank our guests for coming today,” she said. “Our campers have been working hard on their Book Camp presentations. Karen, would you and Nancy like to begin our program?”

  “Yes!” cried Karen. She and Nancy jumped up. They ran to the coatroom to put on their costumes. Soon they came back and acted a short scene from Karen’s book. The girl who did not want to go to ballet class was very funny.

  Next Ian read a new ending he had written for his book. “I did not like the ending in the book,” he explained. “It was too sad. I like my happy ending better.”

  Audrey went next. She told the story of Sarah, Plain and Tall. Then she held up her drawings and explained them. Her parents clapped loudly. Audrey felt very proud.

  Nina Bluesky had written a song about her book. She sang it to the audience. Audrey thought that took a lot of guts.

  Hank’s Robin Hood costume was a big success.

  Michelle Rivers read a poem.

  Then Ms. Colman said gently, “Jannie? Would you like to explain about your project?”

  Jannie walked to the front of the room. She was holding a large shopping bag. “I read the book James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl,” she said. “He is an English writer. Then I made this big papier-mâché peach.”

  Jannie pulled the ruined peach out of the bag, and Audrey felt her face go red. A couple of kids snickered.

  When Jannie heard them, she dropped the peach back into the bag and burst into tears. Then she ran out of the room.

  Audrey sank down in her chair. She could not stand seeing Jannie so unhappy, when it was all her fault. She knew what she had to do.

  TO TELL THE TRUTH

  After the last presentation, all of the parents and guests clapped. The campers stood in a line at the front of the room and took a bow. Then everyone left to go to the gym, where the entire camp would sing songs.

  “Go ahead, Mommy and Daddy,” said Audrey. “I need to talk to Ms. Colman for a minute. Okay?”

  “Okay,” said Mrs. Green.

  When Audrey was alone with Ms. Colman, she took a deep breath.

  “I am not sure how it happened,” she began nervously. “But I broke Jannie’s peach. It was an accident. I tripped, and then — smush.”

  “I see,” said Ms. Colman.

  �
�I was going to tell you right away, as soon as you came in,” said Audrey. “But then … things happened. I did not know what to do.” She did not say that Debbie had lied. She did not want to tattle on Debbie.

  “I wanted to tell the truth,” said Audrey. “I know lying is wrong. And I wanted to apologize to Jannie. I feel terrible about her peach.”

  “I see,” said Ms. Colman again. “I am very glad you have told me this, Audrey. It was brave of you to tell me the truth. I think we need to find Jannie, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” said Audrey.

  Jannie was not as upset as Audrey had thought she would be.

  “I am so, so, so, so sorry, Jannie,” said Audrey. “You worked hard on your peach. I felt awful when I broke it. I should have told you right away. I am very sorry.”

  “It is okay, I guess,” said Jannie. “I know it was an accident, since it was you. You would not do it on purpose.”

  “No, I would not,” agreed Audrey. “Do you forgive me?”

  “Well, yes,” said Jannie.

  Ms. Colman thanked the girls. Then she told Audrey she would like to speak to her parents in private. After that, she wanted to speak to Debbie.

  Audrey felt much better.

  DEBBIE IS ANGRY

  Soon Family Day was over. Mr. and Mrs. Green were proud of Audrey for telling the truth. They thought she should have told it sooner, though.

  Audrey agreed.

  Audrey had not seen Debbie since she had apologized to Jannie. Jannie had told Karen about it. Then blabbermouth Karen had told everyone else. And Ms. Colman had asked to speak to Debbie alone.

  Audrey found Debbie bouncing a ball against the wall of the cafeteria. “Hi,” said Audrey.

  Debbie ignored her. Bounce, bounce, bounce.

  “Your clock worked out great,” said Audrey.

  Bounce.

  “Are you angry with me?” asked Audrey.

  “Yes,” said Debbie. “You tattled to Ms. Colman. You got us both in trouble.”

  “I only tattled on me,” said Audrey. “I did not even mention you to Ms. Colman.”

  “Still,” said Debbie. “She knew I had lied. Now I have to write one page explaining why lying is wrong.”

  “Lying is wrong,” said Audrey.

  “I was trying to help you, because I am your friend!”

  “I know,” said Audrey. “But you were helping in the wrong way. A real friend would have helped me tell the truth.”

  Debbie glared at her. “Oh! So now I am not a real friend! Well, guess what, Miss Stuck-up Audrey. I will not be coming to the next day-camp session. So you will have plenty of time to find a real friend!”

  “That is not what I meant,” said Audrey.

  “Oh, never mind,” snapped Debbie. “I do not want to talk to you anymore.” She turned and ran away, leaving Audrey looking after her.

  A REAL FRIEND

  “I am glad you told the truth,” said Sara. After day camp, Sara had come over to Audrey’s house. Audrey and Sara were soaking up the air-conditioning in Audrey’s family room.

  “I am glad too,” said Audrey. She rubbed Sasha’s tummy. He put his paws in the air. “I wish I had told the truth at the very beginning. I do not mind being clumsy sometimes. But I do not like being a liar.”

  “Was your project good?” asked Sara.

  “I will show you,” said Audrey. Audrey collected her drawings. She put them on the coffee table next to her glass of juice. Then she held up the first drawing and stood in front of Sara.

  “My book was called Sarah, Plain and Tall,” she said. Audrey told Sara the story and explained each picture.

  When she was done, Sara clapped. “That was neat,” she said. “I would like to read that book. I will ask Mommy to take me to the library.”

  Audrey threw out her arms in a sweeping bow. She knocked over her juice glass. Juice spilled all over her drawings.

  “Oops!” said Sara.

  “My drawings!” cried Audrey. The juice ran onto the floor and onto Sasha’s head. He jumped up and ran away. Audrey looked at Sara. Sara was pressing her lips together, trying not to giggle.

  Audrey started laughing. Sara laughed too. Then they ran to find some paper towels.

  “When I left camp, Debbie was still mad at me,” said Audrey. She blotted juice off of a drawing.

  “I have been thinking about Debbie,” said Sara. “Even after what she did, I think she needs a friend.”

  “Yes,” said Audrey. “I just wish she knew how to be a good friend — like you.”

  Sara smiled. “We could teach her how to be a real friend.”

  “Yes,” said Audrey. “That is a good idea. But how?”

  “Let’s call her up,” said Sara. “We will ask her to come play with us tomorrow. We can make a Friends Camp for her.”

  Laughing, Audrey gave Sara a high five. “Sara, you are brilliant,” she said. Then she reached for the phone.

  The author gratefully acknowledges

  Gabrielle Charbonnet

  for her help

  with this book.

  About the Author

  ANN M. MARTIN is the acclaimed and bestselling author of a number of novels and series, including Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), A Dog’s Life, Here Today, P.S. Longer Letter Later (written with Paula Danziger), the Family Tree series, the Doll People series (written with Laura Godwin), the Main Street series, and the generation-defining series The Baby-sitters Club. She lives in New York.

  Copyright © 1997 by Ann M. Martin

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First edition, 1997

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-09263-9