Acting Out (16 page)

“When my sister's spirit line did this for the first time, the crowd went wild. The guys, especially. They were all whistling and howling,” Lauren had told us.

We'd all agreed we could see why. Lauren had said that some parents had complained about how “mature” the routine was.

“What time is it, Claudia?” asked Lauren.

Claudia looked at her watch. “Ten after one.”

“Okay, we've got another twenty minutes till lunch. Let's run through it a few more times. On your feet, ladies!” She jumped up and clapped to get us all motivated.

We all got to our feet and took our places in the two lines Lauren had put us in. At least she'd had enough sense to stick me in the back. “Heads up, eyes forward, backs straight! Music!” Lauren yelled, and Amber turned on Lauren's iPod again so the music came blaring out of the little white speakers.

We did the whole routine from start to finish without Lauren making us stop at all. I did my best to keep up with everyone and not stomp around like a defensive lineman. Amber sat on the floor, hugging her knees and watching us.

“Okay, good! Very good! Much better,” said Lauren. “Now let's work on the body roll.” She stood with her back to us, talking over her shoulder. “Foot, knee, hips, stomach, chest, then knees in, knees out,” she directed, demonstrating the roll for us as she talked. “And remember, when you get to the chest pop, really hit it hard. Pop! Like that.”

Amber started the music again, and we all worked on the body roll. When we did the left spin, I saw Alex standing in the open doorway, watching our every move. Oh, great, just what we needed right now—an audience. But I had to get used to the idea. Alex was only one person; in two nights we'd be performing in front of the entire camp.

When the song ended, Amber paused the iPod, and Alex strolled into the lodge. “Excuse me. What do you think you're doing?”

“Practicing for the talent show. Michelle told us we could use the lodge when nobody was down here,” said Lauren, lifting up her blond ponytail so she could drape the towel around her neck. Michelle and Meredith had both left this morning for the canoeing honor trip—the reward that all the canoers got for working so hard this summer.

Alex stood in front of us with her arms crossed. “Oh, the problem isn't
where
you're practicing; it's
what
you're practicing.”

Lauren shrugged. “A dance. What's the big deal?”

Alex looked at all of us. “The big deal is the type of dance you're doing. Don't you think it's inappropriate?”

“In what way?” Lauren asked innocently. I was so glad to let her do all the talking. I'd had enough run-ins with Alex to last me the whole month. The rest of us kept quiet, watching the two of them.

Alex frowned at us. “It's . . . it's way too edgy. Where'd you even learn dance moves like that?”

“My sister's spirit line did this same routine. It happened to be a huge hit at her high school,” said Lauren, conveniently leaving out the part about the parents who'd complained about it. Courtney and I exchanged quick looks. Mei watched a granddaddy longlegs scurry across the wood floor.

“Uh-huh,” Alex said. “Well, it's one thing for girls who are sixteen and seventeen to perform those moves. But you guys are only twelve years old.”

“Oh, please!” Lauren protested. “We're not babies.”

“What if we changed some things? Cleaned it up a little?” asked Courtney.

Alex shook her head. “No. Even that wouldn't help. Nothing about this routine is okay.”

“Why? What's so bad about it?” asked Lauren.

“Do you really want to perform dance moves like this in front of Eda? I mean, think about it. What if your parents were in the audience? Wouldn't you be embarrassed to be dancing like that in front of them? And may I remind you that there will be Juniors watching you, and they're only eight and nine years old? Do you think you're setting a good example for them?”

“Alex, please. We just want to do a really cool dance routine. We're not trying to set an example or anything,” said Lauren.

“I don't want you guys performing this act. You can do a dance routine, but not using any of those moves! Got it?” She gave us all the death-ray glare.

Lauren nodded but didn't say anything. Alex slowly looked us all up and down one more time before she walked out of the lodge. We all sat there, frozen. We didn't want to speak until we were sure she was gone.

Mei tiptoed over to the open door and checked to make sure the coast was clear.

“I can't believe it!” huffed Lauren. “If only she hadn't seen us.”

“What should we do now?” Shelby asked. We all looked at each other.

“I guess we'll have to figure out a new act,” I said. “We still have a couple of days. We can come up with something.” I glanced at Amber sitting by the iPod speakers, and she gave me a little smile.

Lauren glared at me. “Do I know you? Since when do you listen to Alex?” Everyone else was looking at me too.

“Oh, come on, you guys. You know how much trouble I got into with her. She kicked me out of class once already.”

“Yeah, but that was class. This is the talent show. It's not the same. I can't believe you of all people would care about what Alex says,” Lauren retorted.

I didn't say anything at first. Everyone waited for me to respond. “Maybe I'm tired of being the rule breaker.” I wasn't that crazy about doing the dance in the first place. Alex telling us not to do it seemed like a good way for us all to get out of it.

“Oh, great timing! Now all of a sudden you're gonna be the good little girl and not do this dance because Alex says it's too . . . ‘edgy.' ” Lauren put air quotes around that last word and rolled her eyes in disgust.

“Hey, she's got a point, JD,” said Courtney. “All summer you've been the rebel, and we've watched Alex yell at you. Yes, she did kick you out of class, but then she let you back in. And anyway, class will be over by the night of the talent show.”

“True. If we do the dance, what's the worst she can do to us?” asked Lauren, looking right at me. How many times had I made that same comment? Now it was coming back to haunt me.

“She'll be mad,” Shelby said.

“And none of us has ever seen Alex mad before, so won't that be a shocker!” Mei put in.

“We can clean it up a little. Then we can say that we did listen to her,” suggested Courtney.

“I just don't want the rest of you to get in trouble,” I said. My gosh, what was happening here? I'd started a revolution! Maybe next they'd want to overthrow Eda and take over the whole camp.

“Don't worry about us,” Courtney said excitedly. “I've never been a rebel before. Come on, guys. Let's do it! This is our chance to make a big name for ourselves. Imagine the reaction we'll get!”

Lauren nodded with satisfaction. “Now you're talking!”

Claudia smiled. “It might be kinda fun. Our way of getting back at Alex for being so strict with us all summer. It's just dancing. It's not like we're letting anyone drown if we don't listen to her this time.”

Shelby kept quiet. Amber sat by the iPod speakers, listening to all of us.

“What do you say, JD?” asked Lauren. “Are you in or out?”

Everyone turned and looked at me. I'd created monsters. Five rebellious, rule-breaking monsters.

I didn't want to do the dance. I wanted to tell them to go ahead and do it without me. But I'd gotten them all into this. I couldn't abandon them now. If they were going to get into trouble, I had to be in there with them.

I forced my mouth into a smile. “Like I always say—rules were made to be broken.”

“Before we get started, I want to congratulate all of you on your hard work. You were all good swimmers to start with, but now you're well on your way to becoming lifeguards.” Alex kept talking, telling us how proud she was for all the time we'd put into the class. We sat quietly and listened. What would she be saying about us tomorrow night after the talent show?

The five of us sat lined up on the dock. Lauren had also come down to cheer us on—she was sitting over by the edge of the lake. Now that she was busy choreographing our dance, she didn't seem to mind dropping out of the Guard Start class. “Instead of being a lifeguard when I'm a teenager, I can spend my summers teaching dance,” she'd told us. When Courtney had said she could do both if she kept working at it, Lauren had shrugged. “Maybe.” She seemed happy with who she was.
Dancer.
It said so right on her shorts. I wondered what my shorts should say.

“Okay, let's start with treading water,” Alex announced. We all stood up to dive in. At least it was a nice, sunny morning so the water didn't feel quite so cold.

Once we were all in, Alex timed us with her watch. We only had to tread water for two minutes, but we couldn't use our hands, so that made it a little harder. Still, this part was the easiest. Alex blew her whistle when the time was up.

“Great. Now the weight retrieval,” she said. We all climbed up the ladder and stood dripping at the end of the dock. Alex picked up a ten-pound black block and held it in front of her. “Watch closely, everyone. I want you to see where it goes in.” Then, with both hands, she heaved it out into the water. It made a big splash and disappeared. “Who's first?” she asked.

I knew I could do it, and I thought maybe watching me dive down for the weight would make everyone else see that it wasn't that hard. But I didn't want to be a show-off.

Claudia stepped up. “I'll go.”

“Okay, great. Dive in.”

Claudia dove off the end of the dock while we all waited and watched. After a minute she came up sputtering. “I can't even see it!”

“It's okay. Look around and see where you are and remember where it went in. Take a deep breath and try it again. You can do this,” Alex assured her.

Claudia paused while she got her breath. Then she dove under again. This time she came up after a minute or so and announced, “I see it. But I didn't get it yet.”

She went under again while we waited. Alex looked at us all. “I got to do this test in a clear blue swimming pool. I'll admit it's much, much harder doing it in a lake. But lifeguards have to train in all kinds of water.” She watched for Claudia to surface.

This time when Claudia came up, she had the weight with her. She swam up to the edge of the dock like an otter, with her head above water and her hands below the surface. When she got to the ladder, she hoisted the weight up and dropped it on the dock with a thud. I could see the muscles in her arms trembling as she did it. Then she climbed up the ladder and knelt beside us, gasping for air.

“Don't worry,” she panted. “It's . . . not . . .” She didn't even bother to finish her sentence.

“Great work! Okay, go relax for a while,” Alex told her, and Claudia stumbled over to sit with Lauren on the rock.

“I'll go next,” I offered. I watched while Alex heaved the weight back into the water, and then I sprang off the end of the dock. As I swam deeper, the water temperature changed. I passed from cool water into really cold water deep below the surface. And down here, the visibility was really bad. Claudia had stirred up dirt at the bottom of the lake while she'd groped around for the weight. I couldn't see much of anything. I had to feel around until I found it.

When I felt my fingers touch something smooth, I grabbed it and started kicking toward the surface. But the closer I got, the heavier the weight felt. I was almost up when I felt it slipping out of my hands. My hands flailed around wildly, trying to grip it again, but it was gone.

So I surfaced and took a breath. “I dropped it! I was almost up when it slipped!” I shouted. I was so frustrated that I didn't get it on the first try. I tried to stay right above where I knew the weight had fallen.

“It gets heavier as you get closer to the surface,” yelled Alex from the dock.

“I noticed!”

I took long, deep breaths and then did a surface dive to go under again. This time I didn't worry so much about seeing the weight. Instead I did it mostly by feel. When I had it in my hands again, I crouched on the bottom, then pushed up with my legs as hard as I could, clutching the weight against my midsection. I shot up to the surface a lot faster this time, and I was able to keep a firm grip on the weight. I paddled over to the dock and lifted it up.

“Excellent!” Alex said.

After I got my breath, I told the others what I'd figured out—to feel for it instead of trying to look through the dark, muddy water. And to hold it against your body and use your legs to kick off from the bottom.

“Very good advice,” agreed Alex.

Shelby went next, and we were all amazed that she got it on the first try. We cheered like crazy when she came up and plopped the weight on the dock. “That really helped!” Shelby told me with a grin as she climbed up the ladder. “Thanks!”