Read Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great for Free Online

another. The only way to avoid that is to stay out of the water, which is what I do. Mouse says everyone knows that I am a beginner and no one would dunk me, but I am not so sure!
     
        Libby has a crush on a lifeguard named Freddie. He has very hairy legs. Libby says he is just the most terrific boy she has ever met. But Libby says that about every boy she meets. She hangs around his lifeguard chair all afternoon and when he is off duty she runs to get him a soda. My mother says he is much too old for her and she should find some friends her own age. Then Libby cries, "But, Mother, he's only seventeen and I am practically fourteen and that's just perfect!" My mother doesn't think so. And she says if Libby keeps pestering him he could lose his job.
     
        The Sunday after Mom said that Freddie brought a friend to the pool. She sat next to his lifeguard chair all afternoon. She is much older than Libby. I would say she is at least sixteen. And she doesn't look like a skeleton in her bikini either.
     
        Now Libby stays away from Freddie. She says she never really liked him anyway. And who wants a boyfriend with all that hair on his legs?
     
        "Ha ha," I said.
     
        Libby gave me a kick.
     
     
     
Chapter Seven
     
     
        WE go to day camp every weekday, from 9:00 until 3:00. Then we go to the pool from 3:30 to 5:30. We are always so busy going somewhere that I can't believe we have been in Tarrytown for two whole weeks.
     
         One night, before Daddy got home, I arranged my shoes in the front hail with the toes pointing toward the den. Then I hid behind the drapes and waited. But between the den and the front hail was the living room and dining room. I heard Daddy come into the house and call, "Hello. . . I'm home." I hoped when he saw my shoes he would come and find me right away, because there weren't any lights on in the den and the sky was getting darker every second. It was beginning to thunder. I don't like thunderstorms. Daddy has told me a million times that the lightning isn't going to get me and I want to believe him, but I can't.
     
        I never should have hidden so far away. I should have gone into the closet in the front hail. Then I'd have been near the kitchen, where Libby and Mom were. I wondered what was taking Daddy so long. And what were those funny noises? I wished somebody would turn on the lights.
     
        I wasn't having fun at all! Maybe Daddy had forgotten about me. Maybe he wasn't even looking. I decided then and there that I would have to tell him I don't want to play this game anymore. Not in this house! I hoped he wouldn't think it was because I'm chicken. That's what Libby would say. She'd make her cackling noise and laugh at me.
     
        When I couldn't stand it behind the drapes for another second I crawled out and made my way back into the living room on all fours. Finally Mom shouted, "Sheila, come out right now or dinner will be ruined!" I was really happy when she said that. I ran into the kitchen and told Daddy if it is going to take him that long to find me every night we'll never get to eat. So he agreed that we will stop our game for the summer. Now Libby will never know the truth, so she won't have to call me chicken.
     
        Every night after dinner Daddy unchains Jennifer and lets her run around loose. He says she needs the exercise. She tears around the yard yelping. I watch from my bedroom window. Daddy and Libby and Jennifer have a lot of fun playing games. Libby throws a ball and Jennifer catches it in her mouth. And Daddy has taught her to roll over and play dead. Both Mom and Daddy say I am silly to hide upstairs and miss all the fun. Well, maybe I am, but I just can't help it. I wonder why I had to be born like me instead of like Libby, who isn't afraid of anything. Sometimes it doesn't seem fair.
     
        At least I am getting used to sleeping in a room by myself. I'm not so scared at night now. I just make sure that