Witch Twins at Camp Bliss by Adele Griffin

the camp directors, who had come to watch the last hour of Blue-and-Buff Day, ruled that the tug-of-war would not be counted in the official tally.
    “And so the winner is—the Blue Team!” announced Pam at the pizza and root-beer-float celebration afterward. “The Blue Flag will fly another year! Hip, hip, hooray!”
    As the counselors saluted the flag, all of the blue-shirted girls cheered and clapped. The buff shirted girls clapped, too, but more quietly.
    Claire gave Ella a nudge and raised up her root-beer mug in a toast.
    “You played really great today,” she admitted.
    “You, too. You’re a terrific athlete,” confessed Ella.
    “Takes one to know one!” shouted Claire, and they clinked mugs on it.

9
The End of Bliss
    “B OO!” THE VOICE AT the lodge door was low and rumbly. At first, Luna did not recognize it. She jumped, startled, and dropped her Ping-Pong paddle.
    “Justin!” She hardly recognized her brother. He had become so tall. And dark. And handsome.
    “What happened to you?” she exclaimed.
    Justin looked shy. Then, catching sight of Lakshmi at the other end of the Ping-Pong table, he recovered by pulling up his shirt-sleeve and flexing a muscle. Two hard bumps appeared. “I made a wad of money, too,” he said in his low and rumbling new voice.
    “That’s great, Justin.”
    “Dad let me drive part of the way here. On the back roads.” Now his voice was extra loud, too.
    “That’s cool, Justin.”
    “I’m Justin,” said Justin, turning to Lakshmi.
    “I’m Lakshmi,” said Lakshmi in her own loud voice, stepping forward. “I’m from Los Angeles.”
    “Yeah, I’ve been there,” said Justin. Luna was about to remind him that he had been to Los Angeles when he was six months old and probably couldn’t remember a single thing about it, but the look on his face made her stop.
    “Dad and I are staying at the Mossy Minute Motel,” Justin continued loudly. He was looking at Luna, but his sneakers were pointed in Lakshmi’s direction. “We did a road trip. It was so great. We had fish gumbo at this place in Baltimore. We toured around Roanoke, and we visited a cowboy museum. I drove part of the way on the back roads.”
    “You told us that already,” Luna reminded him.
    “Driving is cool,” said Lakshmi. “I can’t wait to get my license. Are you in high school?”
    “Ymm-hmm,” said Justin, giving Luna another look that made her decide not to remind him that he was actually starting eighth grade in September, and last she checked, eighth grade was not high school.
    Loudly, Justin continued, speaking more to Lakshmi than Luna. “We’ll be at the cook-out and your awards ceremony tonight, and I call the front passenger seat for tomorrow. I’m gonna go find Claire and say hi to her, too. See ya.”
    He ducked out of the lodge, red-faced from so much talking.
    “Your brother’s cool,” Lakshmi commented. “Does he have a girlfriend?”
    “I don’t think so,” said Luna. She had a feeling that underneath her new, brawny, loud-talking, muscled-up brother was the same shy, girlfriendless Justin. “I’m going to go look for my dad.”
    She did not have to go far. Mr. Bundkin was striding up the field in search of her.
    At the sight of her father’s friendly, familiar face, a tide of happiness and homesickness and car sickness and top-bunk sickness surged through her. Luna felt tears prickle in her eyes. She pretended that she had to sneeze so that she could cover her face with her hands.
    “Thanks for posting those ‘Luna’s News’ updates,” Mr. Bundkin said, swooping up Luna for a hug and a kiss. “You make a great scout reporter!”
    “I’m happy to see you,” said Luna, sagging into her father’s shoulder. Five weeks had been a long time, she realized. She was ready to go. Camp Bliss had been kind of fun, but she’d had to work really hard at it. Now she wanted to be home in her own room in her own bed with her own kitten purring on the end of it.
    Mr.