Alice in the Middle (4 page)

T
he first week of camp went fairly quickly. In the mornings, I quickly put on one of my old tracksuits, and then watched while Alice and Hazel made a big fuss about choosing their tennis dresses. Then I watched them while they put on their make-up. (After the morning when Hazel made a mess of my eyes, there was no way I was letting her near them again.)

After breakfast every morning, I played basketball, and hung out with Sarah and her friends, while Alice and Hazel skipped off to their tennis and fell more and more in love
with their handsome coach.

In the afternoons and evenings, Hazel and I jostled to be near to Alice. Alice must have noticed, but she didn’t say anything. She’d had a difficult year, with her parents splitting up, and all the moving around, so she probably just wanted an easy life.

One really warm morning, Sarah and I were really tired after basketball, so we lay down under a tree in the garden to rest for a while. Sarah was telling me a really funny story about a girl in her class, when we heard the sound of laughing. Sarah sat up and looked towards the sound. She sighed.

‘Oh, it’s just the tennis group, coming back from their “wonderful” tennis lessons.’

I sat up too. Alice and Hazel were surrounded by three other girls. They were so busy chatting and laughing, they didn’t notice Sarah and me. I watched Alice. She was still giddy, and funny and daring – she was still the same girl I’d been friends with for most of my life.

And yet she wasn’t.

With her make-up, and with her hair tied up a
cool new way, and in Hazel’s tennis dress, suddenly she didn’t seem like my friend any more.

Was she turning into one of the ‘popular’ girls?

Had Alice turned into one of the girls who wouldn’t want someone like me hanging around with her?

‘Hello?’ said Sarah. ‘Have you heard a single word I’ve been saying?’

I could feel my face going red.

‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘I was thinking of something else. What did you say again?’

Sarah shook her head.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

Now I felt really bad.

‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘Tell me again.’

Sarah smiled at me.

‘It’s OK, honestly.’ She hesitated, and then said, ‘You and Alice have been friends for a long time, haven’t you?’

I nodded, and then Sarah continued.

‘So you must really hate the way Hazel is trying to push you out.’

I didn’t say anything. I picked a long piece of
grass and wrapped it around my finger. So I wasn’t imagining it. Even Sarah, who hardly knew us, could see that Hazel was being really mean to me.

‘You can tell me if you like,’ said Sarah. ‘I’m a good listener.’

For a second I was tempted. It would have been nice to tell someone how I felt. Just then Alice saw us.

‘Hi Megan. Hi Sarah,’ she called. ‘How was basketball?’

She ran over and threw herself onto the grass beside us. Hazel looked like she was going to follow her, then she changed her mind.

‘Hey, Alice,’ she called. ‘Aren’t you going to come and get changed?’

‘In a minute,’ called Alice.

‘I have this really cool t-shirt upstairs. I’ll lend it to you if you like.’

Alice started to stand up.

‘Sorry, I’ve got to ……’ she started to say to me, before Sarah interrupted her.

‘Tell us again about your tennis coaches,’ she said. ‘I think the one with the dark hair is really
cute.’

I could see that Alice didn’t know what to do. She really wanted to follow Hazel, but she didn’t want to be rude to Sarah. After a minute she sat down again.

‘You go ahead,’ she called to Hazel. ‘I’ll be there in a while.’

Hazel tossed her curly hair and stamped off towards the school.

I smiled at Sarah, trying to thank her, and she smiled back.

S
oon it was Sunday, the only day of the week when normal camp activities stopped. That meant no basketball for me and no tennis for Alice and Hazel. In the morning we got to stay in bed for another hour, and for me there was the extra-special treat of not having to watch Alice and Hazel dancing around our bedroom in their tennis-dresses.

While we were on our way down to breakfast, Gloria appeared.

‘I need some help with something,’ she said. ‘Alice, Hazel, can you give me a hand for a minute?’

‘Sure,’ they said together, and followed her back upstairs.

‘I’ll keep you both seats,’ I said, as I continued down the stairs.

A few minutes later, Alice and Hazel joined me.

‘What did Gloria want you for?’ I asked.

Hazel made a face.

‘None of your business.’

I looked at Alice who had gone red.

‘Nothing really,’ she said. ‘Gloria just wanted us to help her with something. It’s no big deal.’

If it was no big deal, why did Hazel look so cross? Just then Sarah and Sam and some of Sam’s friends came and sat down next to us, and I forgot all about it.

As soon as breakfast was over, Gloria shushed everyone, and then made an announcement.

‘Tonight is a very big night,’ she said. ‘Tonight you are all invited to a star-studded show in the big hall.’

There was a moment’s silence and then lots of chatter. Sarah raised her hand.

‘Who are the stars?’ she asked.

Gloria smiled at her.

‘I’m glad you asked me that,’ she said. ‘Because you are the stars.’

There was more excited chatter and then Gloria shushed us all again.

‘It’s a talent show. You can sing, dance, juggle, whatever.’

A boy I didn’t know put up his hand.

‘Do we all have to do something?’

Gloria nodded.

‘Yes. It’s an official camp activity so everyone takes part. No exceptions.’

I started to feel nervous. Mum always says that I have heaps of talents. Maybe she’s right, but none of them is really suitable for a talent show. I couldn’t go on stage and bake a chocolate cake, or show off my basketball dribbling skills, could I?

Another boy put his hand up.

‘Do we have to be on our own?’

Gloria shook her head.

‘No. Everyone will work with a partner.’

‘Can we pick our partners?’ a girl asked.

‘Yes,’ said Gloria. ‘And as there’s an even number
of you, no-one will be left out. Now you have all day to practise, and the show is on at seven thirty. So pick your partners, and get practising.

There was a flurry of activity as kids jumped up from their tables and grabbed their friends.

For me, time seemed to slow down. Alice looked at Hazel, and then looked at me. At the other side of the table, I could see that Sarah was already arm in arm with one of her school-friends. I didn’t dare to say anything. If I couldn’t be with Alice, I really didn’t want to be in the show at all, but I knew Gloria would never allow that.

Still, I didn’t want to ask Alice to be with me.

After she picked tennis with Hazel instead of basketball with me, I was afraid.

What if she said no?

What if she picked Hazel again?

After what felt like hours, Alice turned to me again.

‘You and me together, Meg?’ she said.

I could have hugged her.

Why hadn’t I trusted her?

She’d been my best friend since forever, so of
course she would want to be my partner.

Then I nodded, like it was no big deal.

‘Sure,’ I said. ‘Why not?’

I looked at Hazel, who had a funny expression on her face. Suddenly I felt sorry for her – even though she’d been mean to me. It must have been hard not having a best friend to rely on.

‘What about you Hazel?’ I asked. ‘Who are you going to be with?’

Alice pointed to the other side of the room.

‘Look over there, Hazel,’ she said. ‘There’s lots of people over there who don’t have partners yet.’

Hazel stood up.

‘Yeah, all losers I suppose,’ she said as she walked away. ‘Now I’d better get over there or I’ll be stuck with someone totally useless.’

Just then Gloria came over.

‘Anyone who’s got a partner, get out of here. Go find yourself a quiet spot and get practising.’

So Alice and I went outside to plan our big performance.

Alice had a great idea for an act where I was a patient and she was an incompetent doctor, who
kept misunderstanding what was wrong with me. We both thought of heaps of great jokes, and we practised for ages. It was such fun.

As soon as we were happy with our act, we went to the basketball court and hung out with all the other kids who were finished their practice. There was no sign of Hazel. I felt really good. We were going to have a great night – I just knew it.

A
fter tea, everyone was nervous as we went into the big hall.

Alice and I were due onstage in the second section of the show, so in the beginning we sat in the audience, and watched the first few acts.

Sam and his friend went first. They were dressed up like girls and sang a pop song in high-pitched voices. They were really bad singers, but everyone was laughing so much, it didn’t matter. After that two girls told jokes, and then a boy and a girl sang together. Next came Hazel and another girl, Lisa, singing a Michael Jackson song. During the chorus, Hazel did a proper moonwalk,
and everyone clapped and cheered.

Next it was time for Alice and me to go backstage. As we waited to go on, my hands were shaking so much I could hardly hold the blanket I was supposed to lie under.

‘I’m
so
nervous,’ I whispered to Alice. ‘I’m going to make a complete mess of our act. I just know it.’

Alice hugged me.

‘Don’t be silly. You were great this afternoon when we practised, and I know you’re going to be great now. In fact, you’re going to be fantastic.’

She sounded so sincere, I felt better, and even managed to smile at her as Gloria waved and called for us to go on stage.

I followed Alice onto the stage, blinking in the bright spotlights. I
so
wanted to be somewhere else. I took a deep breath, and lay down under my blanket, as Alice sat on the small stool she’d carried on with her.

Alice gave me a big wink.

‘Well, what seems to be the trouble Mrs Wobblebottom?’ she said.

The audience roared with laughter, and I knew everything was going to be OK.

When our act was finished, everyone clapped and screamed, and I knew that we’d been good.

‘You were great,’ said Alice as we ran off stage.

‘So were you,’ I said.

Then we hugged each other. For the first time since Hazel had come barging into our lives, I felt really happy.

Then we found our seats and watched the rest of the show.

When the show was over, we all went in to the dining hall for orange juice and biscuits. Everyone was excited. Some people were still in their stage clothes, and some were wearing crazy make-up. There were lots of shouts of ‘You were great!’ and ‘You were so funny!’ and ‘I was
soooo
nervous at first!’

After a while, the dining hall got really hot, and I decided to go out into the garden for a while to cool off. I was walking around, letting the night air cool my face, when I heard a familiar voice from
behind a tall hedge. It was Hazel. Now that I was having such a good time, I didn’t hate her so much any more, and I wanted to tell her that her moonwalk had been really cool. Maybe she’d teach Alice and me how to do it.

I started to walk around the hedge when I heard another voice. It was Jordan, a boy from Alice and Hazel’s tennis group. I took another few steps, and then stopped. Hazel was always going on about boys and boyfriends. Maybe she and Jordan weren’t just chatting. Maybe this was like a date – and if it was a date, I
so
did not want to be part of it. Luckily they hadn’t seen me, and I decided to sneak away before they did.

I was turning to go back inside when I heard Jordan say,

‘Your act was really good, Hazel. That moonwalk was fantastic.’

I stopped walking, and heard Hazel give a happy little sigh.

‘Thanks, Jordan,’ she said.

‘And your friend Alice was great too. Really funny.’

‘Yeah, Alice was the best – but what did you think of her loser friend Megan?’ asked Hazel.

Loser?

How dare she call me a loser?

‘Weeeell, I didn’t really notice Megan,’ said Jordan.

Hazel gave an evil laugh.

‘How could you have noticed her? She just lay there on the stage and watched while Alice did all the funny stuff. That girl is such a total dork.’

I felt like stamping my foot. That was so not fair. I had lots of funny lines in our act, and I’d thought of most of them myself. I wished Alice was there to defend me. She’d never let Hazel say stuff like that about me.

I’d made up my mind to go back inside when Jordan spoke again.

‘How come you weren’t with Alice in the talent show anyway? Aren’t you two best friends?’

Hazel gave a funny giggle.

‘Totally. Alice and I, we’re, like, you know, soul mates.’

Soul mates?

If I hadn’t been so cross, I’d have thrown up.

‘So why weren’t you and Alice together?’ repeated Jordan.

Hazel gave a big long sigh.

‘We would have been together. We do everything together these days, but that horrible Gloria told Alice this morning that she had to go with Loser-Megan. So we had no choice. Otherwise Alice would definitely have been with me. She said so.’

I gasped.

Hazel had to be making this up.

Didn’t she?

But Gloria
had
spoken to Alice and Hazel earlier.

But I thought she’d asked them to help her with something?

I tried to think properly, but I couldn’t. My mind was all mixed up. At the other side of the hedge I could hear Jordan and Hazel laughing at something – probably me.

I didn’t want to hear any more. I ran back inside and found Alice. She was chatting to Sam and some of the other boys.

I grabbed her arm.

‘I need to talk to you. Urgently,’ I said.

Alice laughed.

‘Yeah, right.’

I squeezed her arm.

‘I’m not joking,’ I hissed. ‘I really need to talk to you.’

Alice laughed again.

‘Whatever,’ she said.

‘Sorry,’ I said to Sam and the others. ‘She’ll be right back.’

Alice was laughing, and acting normally. Everything had to be all right. Didn’t it?

I found a quiet spot at the end of the stairs.

‘Well,’ said Alice. ‘What’s so urgent?’

I hesitated. I wanted to know the truth, and yet I didn’t.

‘Hello? Earth calling Megan,’ said Alice. ‘If we don’t go back inside soon, all the nice biscuits will be gone.’

How could she think of biscuits at a time like this?

‘It’s about the show,’ I said quickly.

Alice looked puzzled.

‘What could be so urgent about the show? It was great, and now it’s over.’

I took a deep breath.

‘Why did you ask me to be your partner?’

‘Because you’re my friend,’ said Alice quickly.

Half of me wanted to leave it at that, but the other half had to keep going.

‘Is that the only reason?’

Alice hesitated.

‘Weeeeell, you see ……’ she started to say, and then I knew the truth.

‘Gloria said you had to go with me, didn’t she?’ I said quietly.

‘How do you ……?’ asked Alice.

Now I knew for sure.

‘Don’t worry about how I know,’ I said, ‘just tell me what happened.’

Alice spoke very softly.

‘It was nothing really. Let’s forget about it.’

Now I really did stamp my foot.

‘I can’t forget about it. Tell me what happened.’

Alice sighed.

‘OK. This morning when Gloria asked me and Hazel to help her, she didn’t really need our help. She just told us about the talent show. And then she……’

‘And then she what?’

‘And then she said I was to be with you.’

‘Why?’

Alice hesitated again.

‘She said something about not leaving you out. She said—’

Suddenly I didn’t want to hear any more. I put up my hand to stop Alice talking. We stood there, staring at each other. So Hazel had been telling the truth. Alice only picked me because she had to. I could feel tears coming to my eyes, and I so did not want Alice to see me crying.

‘I’m going to bed,’ I said, turning away.

Alice grabbed my arm.

‘Don’t go,’ she said. ‘Come back in to the dining hall with me. Everyone’s there having fun.’

I tried to pull free, but Alice wouldn’t let go of my arm.

‘Megan,’ she said.

‘What?’

‘I would have picked you anyway.’

But she didn’t meet my eyes when she said this, and I knew for sure that she was lying.

I gave a sudden tug, and pulled free of her grip. Then I ran upstairs, threw myself onto my bed and cried myself to sleep.