{"product_id":"2940013145559","title":"MARJORIE DEAN, High School Sophomore","description":"MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL SOPHOMORE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWHEN DREAMS COME TRUE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Come on in, Connie. The water's fine!\" invited Marjorie Dean, beckoning\u003cbr\u003ewith one round, dripping arm to the girl on the sands, while with the\u003cbr\u003eother she kept herself lazily afloat.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe sun of a perfect August morning poured down upon the white beach,\u003cbr\u003edotted here and there with ambitious bathers, who had grasped Time\u003cbr\u003efirmly by his venerated forelock, and fared forth with the proverbial\u003cbr\u003eearly bird for a morning dip in a deceitfully dimpled and smiling sea.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was not yet nine o'clock, but, fearful of losing a minute of her\u003cbr\u003eprecious seaside vacation, Marjorie Dean had come down to her favorite\u003cbr\u003eplayground for her usual early morning swim.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I know it's fine,\" laughed Constance Stevens, \"but this nice white sand\u003cbr\u003eis even finer.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You'll never learn to swim if you just sit on the beach and dream,\"\u003cbr\u003ereminded Marjorie. \"I feel that it's my stern duty to see that your\u003cbr\u003eeducation as a water paddler is not neglected. So here goes!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith a few skilful strokes she brought up in shallow water. There was a\u003cbr\u003equick rush of lithe feet, the sound of sweet, high laughter, then a\u003cbr\u003elittle, good-natured gurgle of protest from the golden-haired, blue-eyed\u003cbr\u003egirl curled up on the sand as she found herself being dragged into the\u003cbr\u003ewater by a pair of sturdy young arms.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Now--sink or swim, survive or perish!\" panted Marjorie, as the lapping\u003cbr\u003eshallows broke over the yielding figure of her friend. \"You'll simply\u003cbr\u003ehave to be a water baby, Connie, dear. It's as important as being a\u003cbr\u003esophomore in Sanford High, and you know just how important that is! Now,\u003cbr\u003ewatch me and do likewise.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHer day dream thus rudely interrupted, Constance Stevens laughingly\u003cbr\u003eresigned herself to Marjorie's energetic commands, and, now thoroughly\u003cbr\u003eawake to the important business at hand, tried her best to follow her\u003cbr\u003efriend's instructions. A fifteen minutes' lesson in the art of learning\u003cbr\u003eto float followed, and at the end of that time, by common consent, the\u003cbr\u003etwo girls waded ashore and flung themselves on the warm sand.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I'll never learn to swim. I feel it in my bones,\" asserted Constance,\u003cbr\u003eas she lazily rose, wrung the water from her bathing suit and seated\u003cbr\u003eherself on the white beach beside Marjorie, who lay stretched at full\u003cbr\u003elength, her head propped upon her elbows, her alert gaze upon the few\u003cbr\u003ebathers who were disporting themselves in the water.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Then your bones are false prophets,\" declared Marjorie calmly. \"You\u003cbr\u003eknow how to float already, and that's half the battle. We'll rest a\u003cbr\u003elittle and talk some more, and then we'll try it again. Next time I'll\u003cbr\u003eteach you an easy stroke. Isn't it funny, Connie, we never seem to get\u003cbr\u003e'talked out.' We've been here together five whole weeks and yet there\u003cbr\u003ealways seems to be something new to say. You are really a most\u003cbr\u003eentertaining person.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"That's precisely my opinion of you.\" Constance's blue eyes twinkled.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe two girls laughed joyously. Two wet hands stretched forth and met in\u003cbr\u003ea loving little squeeze.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It's been wonderful to be here with you, Marjorie. Last year at this\u003cbr\u003etime I never dreamed that anything so wonderful could possibly happen to\u003cbr\u003eme.\" The golden-haired girl's voice was not quite steady.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"And I've loved being here with you. What a lot of things can happen in\u003cbr\u003ea year,\" mused Marjorie. \"Why, at this time last year I never even knew\u003cbr\u003ethat there was a town called Sanford on the map, and when I found out\u003cbr\u003ethere was really such a place, and that I was going to live there\u003cbr\u003einstead of staying in B---- and going to Franklin High, I felt perfectly\u003cbr\u003e_awful_ about it.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt had, indeed, been a most unhappy period for sunny, lovable Marjorie\u003cbr\u003eDean when the call of her father's business had made it necessary for\u003cbr\u003ehim to remove his family from the beautiful city of B----, where\u003cbr\u003eMarjorie had been born and lived sixteen untroubled years of life, to\u003cbr\u003ethe smaller northern city of Sanford, where she didn't know a soul.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll that happened to Marjorie Dean from the first day in her new home\u003cbr\u003ehas been faithfully recorded in \"MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN.\"\u003cbr\u003eIn that narrative was set forth her trials, which had been many, and her\u003cbr\u003etriumphs, which had been proportionately greater, as a freshman in\u003cbr\u003eSanford High School. How she had become acquainted with Constance\u003cbr\u003eStevens and how, after never-to-be-forgotten days of storm and sunshine,\u003cbr\u003ethe friendship between the two young girls had flowered into perfect\u003cbr\u003eunderstanding, formed a story of more than ordinary interest.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47121010622704,"sku":"2940013145559","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013145559_p0.jpg?v=1763577647","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013145559","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}