Read Camp Confidential 06 - RSVP Online

Authors: Melissa J Morgan

Camp Confidential 06 - RSVP (5 page)

BOOK: Camp Confidential 06 - RSVP
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Natalie’s mom unlocked their front door and pushed it open. Then she pulled on the trunk as Natalie pushed on the other side.
What on earth is Jenna up to?
Natalie wondered.
Once the door was shut behind the group, she had her answer. Something began to scratch around inside the trunk. Alyssa covered her mouth and took a step back. Natalie joined her, while Grace rapped on the side of the trunk.
“What’s in here?” she demanded. “Hello?”
“I think you girls better stand back while I call 911,” Natalie’s mother said, turned to go to the phone in the kitchen.
“Mom, no!” Natalie cried anxiously.
“It might be a crazed lunatic from an insane asylum,” her mother said, wringing her hands. “We can’t be sure.”
“No way,” Natalie said. Then, “You think?”
But before Natalie’s mother could reply, the trunk popped open!
chapter
FOUR
Jenna herself jumped out!
Her trademark blue Bloom eyes danced as she cried, “Surprise!”
“Jenna Bloom! You maniac!” Natalie shrieked as she threw her arms around her nutty friend. The others hugged her too, laughing at her amazing prank.
Then Jenna turned to Natalie’s mother and high-fived her!
“Good job, Ms. Goode!” she said.
“Thanks.” Natalie’s mom grinned at the three astonished girls.
“You were in on this?” Natalie asked, amazed.
“Natalie, do you
really
think I would bring a strange, person-sized trunk into our house unless I was reasonably sure what was inside it?” her mother asked, giving her one of those mom-looks.
“I guess not,” Natalie said; then as her mother raised her brows, she added, “I mean, no way! No way would you do that! And me, neither.” She thought a minute. “Did Mr. Bartok know, too?”
“Of course. I called him from the car. It was our prearranged signal.”
“Mr. Bartok watched for you. And then I climbed into the trunk right before you guys drove up,” Jenna explained.
“You are
evil
,” Natalie teased her mom. Wow, her mom was so cool!
“
I
knew it was Jenna,” Grace announced. “I was just playing along.”
“Oh,
right
.” Alyssa elbowed her in the side. “You were freaking out!”
“I was not!” Grace insisted.
“Girls, girls,” Natalie’s mother said. As they quieted, she looked at Natalie. “Why don’t you show the girls around? I’m going to check my messages and then we’ll get everyone settled.”
“This way, please,” Natalie said with a sweep of her arm. “The grand tour will begin!”
Grace, Alyssa, and Jenna followed her into the large living room, which was filled with graceful wood antiques and vases filled with flowers. The drapes were open, revealing the dazzling brilliance of New York City at night.
Hundreds—thousands—of lights twinkled in thousands of windows. Some of the skyscrapers were decorated with elaborate bands of neon, or banks of colored floodlights.
“Oh my gosh,” Grace murmured. “Natalie, it looks like a fairyland.”
“Very magical,” Alyssa agreed. “I want to paint this. I’ll use silver paint and lots of jewel tones.”
“Come and see the rest,” Natalie urged them.
She took them past the guest bathroom and padded down the hall. The walls were papered in a delicate red overlaid with splashes of gold, very elegant and dramatic.
The first door on the right was her room. Taking a deep breath, she opened it and escorted them in. What would they think?
“Natalie,
wow
,” Grace said breathlessly.
Natalie’s lacy canopy bed stood against the far wall. Her white antique dresser and desk formed a U, and her computer and printer took up most of the surface of the desk. A bulletin board crisscrossed with dark blue ribbons held tons of photographs, including at least a dozen from camp. There were shots of her bunkmates, and one of her and Simon.
“Hey,
I
took most of these,” Jenna said, gazing at them.
“They’re really good,” Alyssa told her, peering at them. “Nice composition.”
Jenna blushed. “Thank you.”
“Wow, here’s your dad,” Grace said, pointing at a row of publicity stills, and then more natural poses of her dad, Natalie, Josie, and a lot of megafamous celebrities. There were movie stars and singers, fashion models and film producers.
“Natalie,” Alyssa said slowly, “that’s Johnny Depp!”
“Yes.” Natalie grinned at her friend. “And he’s totally hotter in real life than on the screen.”
“Oh my God,
you’ve met him
?” Jenna stared at Natalie as if she had announced that she was from another planet.
Natalie licked her lips. “Yes, I have.”
“Tell us all!” Grace ordered her.
“He’s . . . he’s really a nice person,” she said.
Oh, how lame.
All eyes remained fixed on her. The butterflies in her stomach began to seriously flutter. Her thoughts jumped to her lists. Now, more than ever, her friends would expect a girl in her position—with serious money and celebrity connections—to pull off an amazing night for them.
I’m still just me
, she wanted to tell them. Her throat grew tight and she tried to swallow. But she couldn’t. She actually felt a little dizzy.
Just then her mom swept in with a portable phone in her hand. “Shall I go ahead and order the pizzas?” she asked. “You girls must be really hungry.”
“Starving,” Grace informed her.
Alyssa said, “I hope you don’t mind, Ms. Goode, but I’m a vegetarian.”
“Already taken into account,” Natalie warmly informed her. “Does anyone here like anchovies?”
“Oh, I love them!” Jenna cried. “No one—and I mean absolutely no one—in my family will touch them. Having anchovies on my pizza is a dream come true.”
“Good thing you thought to ask, Nat,” Natalie’s mother said.
Natalie beamed. She said, “We thought we’d get three extra large. One all veggie, of course.” She smiled at Alyssa. “And what else shall we get?”
“Anchovies and black olives, definitely,” Jenna said.
“Canadian bacon and ham?” Grace asked, checking with the others.
“Works for me,” Jenna told her.
“That sounds like three winning combinations,” Natalie said. “We’ll have lots of leftovers.”
“I like cold pizza for breakfast,” Alyssa said.
“Me, too,” Grace said eagerly. “There’s really nothing like it.”
“We bought some fresh bagels and croissants,” Natalie told them.
“Okay, there
is
something like it,” Grace amended, and everyone laughed.
They ordered the pizzas and lounged in the living room by the fireplace while they waited for them, discussing what movie to see. Grace was really excited about
Aces and Kings
, and it was opening night. So the others agreed that they’d go to that.
Then their intercom sounded. Natalie pressed a button in the console beside the fireplace.
“Yes, Mr. Bartok?” she asked.
“Is Miss Hannah,” he said.
“Oh, send her on up!” Natalie cried. She smiled at the others. “You’ll love Hannah.” She nodded at Alyssa. “She’s artistic, like you.”
“Oh.” Alyssa looked less than thrilled. Natalie remembered that Alyssa’s parents had sent her to camp to help her become more social. Not that Alyssa didn’t know how to make friends. She was just quiet. But maybe Alyssa hadn’t counted on meeting anybody new this weekend.
Soon there was a rap on the front door. Natalie called to her mother, “It’s Hannah! I’ll get it!” She trotted out of the living room, leaving the others behind.
Natalie bounded to the front door and threw it open. Hannah stood on the other side, very cute in a ruffled denim skirt with patchwork on it and a matching light-blue blouse. She wore blue and silver beads in her cornrows, and blue and silver dangly earrings.
Hannah looked really excited. “Did you get my phone message?” she asked as she came into the apartment. “About the award?”
Natalie blinked. “I haven’t had a chance to check our voicemail yet. What’s up?”
“We each got a call about your portrait of me,” Hannah explained. “They judged the art show this afternoon and your sketch got a special jury award! And Helena Attebury, the editor of the school paper, is going to be at the opening tonight and she wants to interview us both!”
Natalie was thrilled. Then she blanched. She had already set up going to Grace’s special movie.
“Oh. Oh . . . that’s um . . .” She looked anxiously at Grace as she joined Natalie and Hannah in the entryway. She was trying to follow what Hannah was talking about.
Hannah added, “I figured you had something else planned with these guys, but I knew you wouldn’t want to skip the art show opening once you knew about the award.”
“Your stuff’s in an art show?” Grace asked, looking almost as impressed as when Natalie had admitted that she had met Johnny Depp. “That’s awesome!”
“It’s just a little show at school,” Natalie said, feeling even more anxious. It was just going to be some speeches, cookies, and punch, while the parents wandered around and looked at their kids’ artwork. The pieces themselves would remain on display for the rest of the semester.
Except for the awards. And the newspaper interview. They were tonight only.
“At your
school
? We can see your school?” Grace was practically bouncing on her toes with eagerness.
“Unless we’re not allowed,” Jenna added, joining the trio in the foyer. Walking up to Hannah, she stuck out her hand. “Hi. I’m Jenna. One of Natalie’s bunkmates.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Hannah said, shaking hands, but her voice was a little flat. It sounded the way it did when she was being polite around people she didn’t especially care to be around.
Jenna turned back to the living room. “Alyssa,” she called. “Put down the movie section! Change of plans!”
Then Alyssa walked in. Warmed by the roaring fire, she had taken off the black sweater she had been wearing. She was down to one of her cool black T-shirts. It had only a few paint splatters. Hannah’s gaze ticked down to it, then back up to Alyssa’s face.
Hannah said, “You must be Alyssa.”
“And you’re Hannah,” Alyssa replied, also a little cool. “Hi.”
“So, we’re going to an art opening at Natalie’s school,” Jenna said.
Natalie hesitated. “Except Grace wanted to see that movie . . .” She trailed off. She didn’t know what to do.
“If we go to a movie, all we’ll do is sit in the dark,” Jenna argued. “We could yak and hang out at the art show.”
“I was thinking that same thing about the movies, actually,” Grace confessed. “That we wouldn’t really get much chance to talk in a movie.” She raised her brows as she smiled hopefully at Natalie. “Can we get into the art show? Can you bring guests?”
Natalie felt totally put on the spot. She had assumed her friends wouldn’t enjoy wandering around a bunch of sketches, paintings, and sculptures made by other kids. That was why she had planned to skip the show.
Just then, Natalie’s mother came out of her office and walked into the foyer. She said, “Good evening, Hannah. Don’t you look beautiful!”
Hannah inclined her head. “Thank you, Ms. Goode.”
“I just played back our messages,” Natalie’s mom told Natalie. Her eyes were shining. “Did Hannah tell you about the special jury award? That’s so exciting!”
“I think it would be cool to go,” Grace interjected. “I’d love to see Natalie’s school.”
“Oh, her school is in a beautiful old building,” her mother said. “Very Art Deco.”
Alyssa perked up at the words “Art Deco,” and Natalie knew then and there that
all
her friends would rather go to her art show than a movie. She wanted to make sure they had a good time, but it was . . . different from what she’d planned. She really didn’t know if they would think it was all that cool once they got there.
BOOK: Camp Confidential 06 - RSVP
13.35Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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