by Booki Vivat
And maybe, in that way, we weren’t so different after all.
So I decided I might as well tell him everything.
Never in a million years would I have expected to spend time at Outdoor School talking to my BROTHER.
We didn’t just talk about Outdoor School or the Golden Pig either.
We talked about . . .
how Katrina had hated him ever since he beat her in their fifth-grade spelling bee,
how seeing Mom and Aunt Lisa bickering reminded him of Clara and me,
and how Mr. Felix McSnuggles the Third clearly resented having a kitty stage mom.
I learned . . .
that he became friends with Sydney by accident,
that he was scared of Ms. Skelter when he had her in middle school,
and that he didn’t really like the Spencer sisters either.
Eventually, we got around to talking about me and what I should do with the rest of my time at Outdoor School.
For once, I wish he had just told me what I needed to do. That would have been so much easier.
Instead, he said something that stuck in my head for the rest of the day.
It never felt like that to me. But he genuinely seemed to believe it, and that was enough to make me want to believe it too.
After talking to Peter, I knew I couldn’t just keep running away from people or wallowing in my feelings. I didn’t want to end Outdoor School like that.
I had to face what had happened and try to make things RIGHT.
But HOW?
I thought about it a lot, and no matter what, I kept coming back to the Golden Pig.
I couldn’t take back the fact that I had lost it in the first place . . .
There weren’t any rules against that, and ultimately, what really mattered was who had the Golden Pig at the end of camp.
This could be my epic
returning the Golden Pig to the campers and proving my worth to everyone at Outdoor School.
There was just one thing standing in my way. Well, a group of things.
The counselors were VERY protective of the Golden Pig. Wherever the Pig was, there were at least two or three counselors by its side.
It was almost impossible to get close to it. No matter what strategy I tried, they managed to block it.
Nothing seemed to work. At this rate, I’d never be able to get it back on my own.
Taking back the Golden Pig was NOT going to be easy.
If I really wanted to make things right, I needed help . . .
Despite all our differences, every camper wanted the same thing. The Golden Pig brought us all together before THE INCIDENT, so maybe bringing us together was how we would get it back!
I decided to call an urgent, top secret, campers-only meeting.
I wasn’t sure if anyone would show up,
but a lot of them did.
Even the girls from my cabin!
When I told them what I wanted to do—
what I wanted US to do—
they listened.
More than that . . .
they wanted to JOIN me.
It didn’t just feel like redemption.
It felt like something I think I liked much better—
Outdoor School was almost over, so we didn’t have much time to figure out how to take back the Golden Pig.
I wasn’t completely sure how we were going to do it, but a bunch of people trying to figure it out together was a lot better than me trying to figure it out on my own.
At the same time, getting a bunch of very different people to do something together was NOT a simple task.
Even though we all wanted to get the Golden Pig back, we couldn’t seem to agree on how to do it.
Were we all too different to make this work?
For a while, it seemed like we’d never get it together, and I felt torn between my friends all over again.
But then I remembered what Peter said.
Sure, we all had different ideas of how to get the Golden Pig back, but that didn’t have to be a bad thing.
When I took a step back . . .
and looked at how everyone’s ideas could all fit together . . .
I had devised some pretty elaborate plans in my lifetime, but this one was different.
It wasn’t just any plan—
No other group in the history of Outdoor School had ever come together to try something like this.
The way I saw it, this WAS our legacy.
Taking back the Golden Pig would just make it more . . . official.
It all came down to the last day of camp.
When I woke up that morning, I knew something big was about to happen—
for better or for worse.
Everyone had a part to play. I was designated head of the Golden Pig rescue squad.
There was a very small window of opportunity to get the Pig before the final assembly, so everything had to go according to plan.
It was a lot of pressure, and along with that pressure came those all-too-familiar jitters.
Except this time, I wasn’t the only one—
and THAT made a difference.
I actually felt
about whatever happened.
For the first time since I’d lost the Golden Pig, I was a part of something bigger than just me.
Maybe that was what I REALLY wanted anyway.
Everything after that was a blur. It was, after all, the last day of Outdoor School, and last days always moved too fast.
Between saying good-bye to the camp staff and packing up all our stuff, there wasn’t time to process that it was over.
Of course, there was also our victory party, which was undoubtedly the most EPIC celebration I had ever witnessed . . .
Though apparently they threw the party for campers every year—even when they lost the Golden Pig.
So it was actually just more of an “end of Outdoor School” party, which felt slightly less epic.
It honestly didn’t hit me that we were really leaving until I saw those fancy coach buses parked at the entrance of the camp.
The whole scene was so familiar, and yet . . .
On the ride home, Maxine, Logan, and I finally got to sit at the back of the bus.
I don’t know if we took full advantage of it, though. Everyone was so exhausted at that point that most of the bus just fell asleep as soon as it started moving.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen when we got back home.
I felt like I was different
or at least like I was seeing things differently.
So much had changed at Outdoor School.
I wondered if, once we got back into the cycle of middle school life, the whole thing would feel like some kind of dream.
I guess, even if it did, it was a pretty good dream.
After all, we were part of camp history now.
Outdoor School was over, but next year, when they talked about camp legends and shared stories about the Golden Pig, they’d remember us.
We had made our place there . . .
and that was pretty great to me.
It was dark by the time we arrived at Pointdexter. I hadn’t realized how far away Outdoor School was from home.
As soon as we pulled into the school parking lot, everyone pressed up against the windows to try to look outside.
A crowd of parents swarmed the bus, and Mrs. Lopez had to use the loudspeakers to get control of them.
Once the doors opened, everyone scrambled off and the parking lot descended into absolute chaos.
How anyone managed to find their way through the madness was beyond me.
Peter and I tried to stick together at first, but we got separated by the huge pile of stuff they were unloading from the bus.
I found my bag, but I totally lost track of Peter!
Then I heard his voice behind me.
And when I turned around, it wasn’t just Peter—
it was the whole family.
> In that moment, it felt like I was standing between two different worlds.
But it didn’t bother me.
I had been afraid that coming home meant leaving behind everything that had happened.
But now I realized I didn’t have to.
Outdoor School was a part of me now.
Besides, it felt good to be home.
And as much as I had changed, it was nice to know some things were still the same.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
People always ask me what Frazzled is about, which seems simple but isn’t. For me, these books are about a lot of things, but this one in particular is really about finding your place in the world and, above all, finding your people. I’m so lucky that Abbie Wu and I have found ours—
My editor, Margaret Anastas, who believed in Abbie from the beginning and is one of my greatest champions. My agent, Steve Malk, who always has my back, and the incomparable Hannah, who always has his.
The rest of my HarperCollins Children’s Books family, of course—
The irreplaceable Luana, who is always on top of things. Superb book designers Andrea and Amy, who help get all these ideas out of my brain and onto the page. Bethany and my meticulous copy editors, who make sure I make sense.
Ann and Team Middle Grade, my amazing marketing hype people. The wonderful sales team and all the lovely booksellers who have been keeping Frazzled on their shelves. Caroline, Aubrey, and the publicity team, you know you are my people and I appreciate you so. Patty and the School & Library crew, thank you for getting Frazzled into the hands of teachers and librarians . . . and thank you to those teachers and librarians who continue to share these books with so many young readers.
One of the best things about making children’s books is belonging to a phenomenal community of writers, illustrators, and publishing friends that supports and challenges me. Kidlit rules! A special thanks to Tae Keller, for always reading my early drafts and assuring me that they are worth continuing.
In a book about friendships and finding your place in the world, it feels important to acknowledge the people who have been with me along the way . . . but there is not nearly enough space here to fit you all. I hope it’s enough to say: friends, this book is for you. Thanks for all the laughs. To my family—no matter where I go or how far away I am, thank you for always being there and being home.
Finally, thank you to all the readers who found something in Frazzled and followed me and Abbie all the way to book three. I know I’m biased, but you’re the best part of this whole thing.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo credit Kamolpat Trangratapit
BOOKI VIVAT is the New York Times bestselling author of the Frazzled series. She has been doodling somewhat seriously since 2011 and not-so-seriously since childhood. She grew up in Southern California and graduated from the University of California, San Diego. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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BOOKS BY BOOKI VIVAT
FRAZZLED
Everyday Disasters and Impending Doom
FRAZZLED
Ordinary Mishaps and Inevitable Catastrophes
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COPYRIGHT
FRAZZLED #3: MINOR INCIDENTS AND ABSOLUTE UNCERTAINTIES. Copyright © 2019 by Vissra Vivatnamongkon. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Cover art © 2019 by Booki Vivat
* * *
Names: Vivat, Booki, author, illustrator.
Title: Minor incidents and absolute uncertainties / Booki Vivat.
Description: First edition. | New York, NY: Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2019] | Summary: When Abbie Wu goes to “OutdoorSchool,” with her older brother as a counselor, she is torn between excitement and anxiety but decides to make it a life-changing adventure.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018025426 | ISBN 9780062398833 (hardback)
Subjects: | CYAC: School field trips--Fiction. | Camps--Fiction. | Middle schools--Fiction. | Schools--Fiction. | Brothers and sisters--Fiction. | Anxiety--Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance. | JUVENILE FICTION / School & Education.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.V69 Min 2019 | DDC [Fic]--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018025426
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Digital Edition FEBRUARY 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-239884-0
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-239883-3
1819202122CG/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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