Read Camp Confidential 06 - RSVP Online

Authors: Melissa J Morgan

Camp Confidential 06 - RSVP (14 page)

BOOK: Camp Confidential 06 - RSVP
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“It’s not your fault,” Alex said to Julie. Tears sprang to her eyes and she tried to blink them away. “If anything, I
should
have persisted, like you said. That’s been my problem in soccer, too. I give up too soon.”
“Alex thought at first that you
had
agreed to the Color War idea,” Brynn said. “She spent all her allowance on napkins and stuff for the table. And then she couldn’t even return them.”
“Oh, did you bring them?” Natalie asked, her voice rising with excitement. “Because I totally didn’t buy enough for the sleepover tonight.”
“Because
I
totally dumped my pizza all over her mom’s carpet,” Grace moaned. “And used up the ones at her house.”
“It’s no biggie,” Natalie said. But her cheeks were pink.
Alex knew Natalie like having things perfect. Having pizza dumped on her mom’s carpet had probably really upset her. Alex wondered if there had been other mishaps as well.
Maybe it hasn’t been total fun 24/7 for Nat, either,
Alex thought. But she still felt hurt and angry.
“Everyone is totally stressing,” Brynn announced. It was the kind of thing Brynn lived to say.
“You girls haven’t been around one another for a while,” Julie pointed out. “I’m sure everyone has been a little nervous about getting together. Remember what it was like the first couple of days at camp?”
“Well, that would be about ten million years ago for Alex,” Jenna said. “She’s been a Camp Lakeview camper forever.”
“I hated it,” Natalie admitted. “I wanted to go home. No offense, you guys.”
“I wasn’t very into it, either,” Alyssa put in.
“But we learned to get along,” Marissa said. “And we had an awesome summer, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, we did,” Grace said.
“Well, it looks like we’ve kind of forgotten how to get along,” Sarah ventured.
The others nodded.
“We’re back together for the first time in a long time,” Grace said. “Plus, I don’t know about everybody else, but I was pretty hyper about coming to the reunion.”
“I couldn’t even decide what to wear,” Karen said.
“Me, neither,” Candace said.
“I’ll bet Natalie’s been trying very hard to make sure everyone has fun at her house,” Julie continued.
“She’s got these
lists
!” Grace announced, mimicking trying to hold up a huge weight. Natalie turned bright red, and Alex couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her.
Before she realized what she was saying, Alex said, “
I
was a nervous wreck having just Brynn over.”
Brynn stared at her. “You were nervous having
me
over? Why? I’m just me!”
Alex turned to her. “Because Natalie’s was where the fun was. They were going to the art show and having a spa day. I saw your guidebook to New York. You really wanted to be here, not stuck at my house!”
Brynn blurted, “That’s not true!” Then she took a breath. “Wait a sec. That’s kind of true.”
Alex was stunned. “
What
?” she cried.
“She said it was kind of true,” Candace said helpfully.
Brynn nodded. “I can’t lie about that. I was afraid I was missing out. But I told myself that at least I’d get to watch you play extreme soccer.”
Alex shut her eyes tightly as she made a face. “And then I didn’t wake you up.”
“Wow, this is totally messed up,” Grace said.
“Well, let’s do a do-over,” Julie suggested. “After all, we’re 3C! We’re the cool bunk!”
“That’s right! The cool bunk!” Candace said.
Just then Julie’s cell phone rang. She connected and held it to her ear. “Hello? Oh.” Her face fell. “Oh, dear, I’m so sorry. We’ll miss you.”
Alex looked around the table. Only Valerie and Chelsea were missing.
Alex sensed the relief going all around the table. Also the guilt. Because people were thinking,
Maybe Chelsea’s the one who’s not going to show.
“Well, everyone says hi, Valerie,” Julie said into the phone. “We’ll take lots of pictures and upload them so you can share in the fun.”
Julie hung up and put her cell phone into her purse. She cocked her head and sighed as she gazed at each bunkmate of 3C in turn.
“Valerie can’t make it. She’s got the flu.”
No one said anything. But Alex knew what they were thinking. Because even though she was ashamed of herself, she was thinking it too: Why couldn’t it have been
Chelsea
who wasn’t coming? Because they were already having enough trouble getting along. Add Chelsea to the equation and it would equal majorly strained nerves.
“I was kind of hoping it would be Chelsea,” Grace finally admitted.
A look passed from girl to girl, and Julie sighed heavily.
“Look, you guys promised to be nice to Chelsea,” Julie said, sounding frustrated with them.
“You all know that Chelsea’s father is really sick,” Marissa put in. “She almost didn’t come because she’s so worried about him.”
“We know. And we feel bad,” Natalie said.
“Yeah, movie-star bad. So bad you lounged around all day at a spa,” Alex retorted. She meant it as a joke, but it fell way flat. Natalie looked crushed.
“Gee, thanks, Alex,” she snapped.
“Girls,
please
!” Julie implored them. “You just made up! Look at how much pressure you’re under. It’s making you so touchy. Think about what it must be like for Chelsea.”
“You’re right,” Alex said. “We need to make a special effort to be nice to Chelsea. Even though she’s not always nice to us.”
“That’s better,” Julie said. “And . . . ?” she prompted Alex.
Alex smiled sheepishly at Natalie. “I’m sorry. I was trying to make a joke. But it didn’t work.”
“Hey, that’s okay.” Natalie smiled shyly back. “I’m sorry that everything’s gotten so weird between us, Alex. I really am. And we’ll make a super gi-normous effort, Julie. We promise.”
As she spoke, Karen, who was sitting across from her, caught her breath and looked up past the top of Alex’s head.
“Why?” said a tight, angry voice behind Alex. A very familiar voice. “Because it’s so
hard
to be nice to me?”
Swallowing, Alex turned in her chair and tilted back her head.
Chelsea was standing right behind her!
And she was glaring so hard at Alex and Natalie, it was like flames were shooting from her eyes.
chapter
TWELVE
“Chelsea, hi,” Natalie and Alex said breathlessly as they got to their feet. The rest of the bunk quickly did the same. “It’s—it’s so good to see you.”
“Yeah, right,” Chelsea snapped.
Her blond hair was perfect. Her makeup was flawless. And her outfit was fantastic.
But the look on her face ruined it.
Then Julie and Marissa moved around Natalie and Alex and gathered her up in a hug. Exchanging guilty looks, Natalie and Alex joined the huddle.
I can’t believe Chelsea heard us
, Natalie thought. Alex’s expression seemed to say the same thing.
“How was the drive into the city?” Marissa asked her. She looked around the room. “Is your mom still here?”
“No, she dropped me off,” Chelsea said. She was looking at the table. She saw something that made her frown, but she didn’t say what it was.
“Let’s go get a plate for you,” Julie offered. “We just sat down to eat.”
“We have all kinds of soda, too,” Natalie said eagerly. “Can I pour you some?”
“There must be diet, if Alex is drinking soda,” Chelsea said.
“Well, there was!” Grace laughed nervously. “Alex kind of used it all up!”
Everyone started to giggle out of their awkward tension, and not so much because they thought it was funny.
“Is this some kind of in-joke I’m not supposed to get?” Chelsea asked. Her voice was so sharp, it was like a knife.
“I knocked it over and spilled it all over Sarah,” Alex explained.
“I’m wearing Julie’s clothes,” Sarah put in.
“Oh, that explains why they look about six sizes too big,” Chelsea said. She added, “Where am I supposed to sit? In front of the dumb-looking bowling ball that has my name spelled all wrong?”
Alex glanced at Chelsea’s name card on the plastic bowling ball. It read
CHESLEA.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Grace said, taking it from her and shaking her head. “I wrote that. I got it mixed up. We were hurrying and—”
“I should have known. I mean, you have trouble reading, right? So of course you can’t spell either,” Chelsea interrupted.
Grace blinked. She looked stunned. Everyone else just stared at Chelsea. They couldn’t believe how rude she was being.
“Let’s feed you,” Julie said quickly. She smiled at Chelsea and led her away from the table.
“Yeah, because I think she has low blood sugar,” Alex muttered.
“Wow, she’s cranky even for Chelsea,” Natalie said.
“Way cranky,” Candace said.
“Well, you know she heard us talking about her,” Alex reminded Natalie.
Natalie winced. “I feel awful.”
“Me, too,” Alex confessed.
“Make that three,” Grace added.
“Four,” Jenna put in.
“Well, let’s have a do-over
again
and try to have a good time,” Natalie suggested. “My mom says that a good mood can be contagious.”
“Okay, let’s try,” Alex said.
They started talking and eating. The dance beat picked up. Natalie’s toes were tapping and she wondered again where Simon was. Then, almost as if he had heard her thought . . . there he was, grinning down at her!
Wow! Simon had grown at least four inches since she had last seen him! His face was thinner, too. His eyes, just as amazingly blue, surrounded by his jet black hair. He had on a black leather jacket, a black T-shirt, and jeans. He looked like a rock star.
“Hey, Natalie,” he said. His voice made rockets go off all up and down her spine. Her cheeks tingled. “How are you?”
“Great,” she said.
“Oh,
Simon
,” Grace teased. “Natalie totally missed you!”
“I like your hair,” he said.
Natalie flushed. Then Simon said, “Would you like to dance?”
Dance? With Simon? Of course! She had only been daydreaming about it for six months!
“Okay.” Somehow she managed to get up out of her chair.
He took her hand and electricity sizzled through her fingertips. She ignored the giggles behind them as they walked to the dance floor.
It was a fast dance, so they started moving to the hip-hop beat. Simon was a great dancer. That was cool. A lot of boys weren’t very good dancers.
The song ended and the beat changed. Natalie recognized the new song as a sort of techno version of the theme song of her dad’s latest movie. Simon recognized it, too, and he grinned at her.
“Freaky,” he said, and she nodded. Then his grin became a wonderful smile and he took her hands and put them on his shoulders.
They danced for a long time. She saw Grace and Devon, and Alex with Adam . . . hmm, maybe something was heating up between those two! But what about that eighth-grader, Peter, who liked her?
Then she saw Marissa and her own crush, dark-headed, ponytailed Pete, making goo-goo eyes at each other, standing off to one side holding drinks and talking.
All the songs were fast, and Natalie wondered if the grown-ups had planned it that way.
Finally Simon said, “I’m thirsty.”
“We have soda at my table,” Natalie said.
They walked hand-in-hand back toward the table. Some of the other girls were missing, but Chelsea was there, nibbling on a piece of pizza. She looked no happier than before.
Natalie assumed the other girls were getting more food or dancing. Dr. Steve had explained that the first hour of the reunion was for eating and mixing, and then they would be free to explore the rest of Village Bowl—watch Josie’s movie, or bowl, or race go-karts.
“Hi, Natalie! Hey, Simon,” Pete said as he and Marissa caught up with the two campers. “I think you’re headed our way.”
“It’s so good to see you,” Natalie said to Pete. “How have you been?”
“Great.” Pete looked relaxed and happy, the way he usually looked. Except maybe when he had just burnt all the French toast. “Especially since I didn’t have to do any of the cooking for the party.”
Everyone laughed. “Yeah, that makes us pretty happy, too,” Simon jibed. Natalie noticed his use of the word “us” and she thought that was extremely cool.
BOOK: Camp Confidential 06 - RSVP
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