Camp Forget-Me-Not (17 page)

“This isn’t how it looks,” I said, then turned and raced to the door.

Nick’s final words cut like a dagger thrown in the night.

“From here, things look exactly the same, Kayla.”

“What the hell were you doing out there?” Hannah said when I joined the group near the animated Frosty.

“More like who was she with?” Brittany elbowed my side and grinned.

“No one,” I denied, but Nick’s sudden appearance in the doorway made my friends’ eyes widen and dart between the two of us. His eyes found mine, but their expression was anything but friendly. My insides curdled.

Rachel arched an eyebrow. “If you say so,” she said, skeptical.

“So what’s the plan?” Time to get the attention where it needed to be, as in anywhere but on me.

Hannah’s smile grew Grinchy-wide. We all leaned in. “For starters, we’re getting Nia out of that ridiculous outfit. I went back to the cabin and got this.” She held up a silver shimmer of a tank dress. “And these.” A pair of metallic heels emerged from her bag. “I compared her shoes to mine, and we wear the same size.”

“Can I make her over?” Brittany’s gold metal shimmer lip gloss sparkled under the holiday lights. She looked like a femme bot, not that I hadn’t tried to warn her.

Hannah slung an arm around me. “We know who the fashionista is in our group.”

I glowed. I’d never known I had my own special role in the group. They’d come to me for fashion advice before, but I hadn’t thought they considered me an expert. Up until now I’d always thought of Hannah as the leader, Brittany as the boy magnet and dance routine creator, Rachel as our fearless athletic expert, and me…well, just an extra. A tagalong. The one who’d been lucky enough to be included. Only now I understood that they actually needed me. It felt amazing.

“So what do the rest of us do?” Rachel bounced on the balls of her feet, looking ready to spike a ball over a volleyball net.

Hannah waved off some approaching boys, then turned back to Rachel. “You create a distraction to get Brooke’s attention. Brittany, use that crazy imagination of yours to get Nia into the kitchen. Kayla will make her over while I give her self-esteem a boost. Sound good?” We all put our hands in, then threw them in the air.

“Twizzlers!” shouted Brittany. She giggled. “I just had to say that.”

We broke apart and I glanced over my shoulder before Hannah and I pushed through the swinging kitchen doors. Brittany and Rachel had reached Brooke and Nia at the refreshment table. Nia was passing Brooke a cup of eggnog with a cookie perched across the brim. Only Rachel appeared to “accidentally” knock into Nia, splashing the drink on Brooke’s outfit.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I heard Rachel exclaim as she smeared, rather than wiped up, the cookie-and-cream mess splattered on Brooke.

“Nia! How could you be so clumsy! Come back to the cabin with me to help me change.” Hannah and I heard Brooke’s piercing shriek as the soft music ended and something with a louder, quicker beat started.

We couldn’t make out the rest, but it appeared as though Rachel took Nia’s spot and led Brooke out the door, her face looking extremely apologetic as she talked fast. Nia’s head swiveled from the disappearing Brooke back to a Brittany who jabbered on about something.

“I’ve seen enough. You ready?” Hannah shoved through the doors into the industrial kitchen, the metallic surfaces shining under the fluorescent lights. I blushed when I caught sight of the walk-in refrigerator, remembering my kiss with Nick. So much had happened between us this summer, with both of us feeling our way to each other in the dark. I still didn’t know what to think about what had happened outside the dance, but there’d be time to process later. For now, it was Operation Nia time.

“Some people don’t believe in unicorns,” I heard Brittany say as she and Nia appeared at last. “But seeing is believing. They keep it in a shed right behind the kitchen.”

Nia’s face looked flushed, the part that wasn’t covered by her gray mouse suit. “I really should be getting back to Miss White.”

“And lose the chance to see a unicorn?” Brittany stopped them both, her face frozen in shock. “If you’d give up that opportunity, then you have a serious problem.”

“I-I do?” Nia’s eyes widened in alarm as Hannah strode closer.

“Yes, you do.” Hannah gave her a level look. “Unicorns aren’t real, but they still deserve more respect than that phony Brooke White.” Hannah put a hand on Nia’s shoulder. “And don’t you think you deserve to be treated with respect, too?”

“Um…maybe.”

“Maybe?” Hannah helped Nia step out of the heavy costume.

“I don’t know.” Nia’s head hung. “I love Brooke’s music, and I’m just lucky that she talks to me at all.”

“You call that talking?” Brittany snorted. “Seems more like ordering and yelling.”

“It’s all I heard growing up. I can handle it.” Nia whispered. My heart went out to her. I was used to being overlooked—ignored. But no attention was better than the kind Nia must have had growing up.

“Then it’s time you started your own internal dialogue.”

We all turned and gaped at Emily, a suspicious ring of chocolate around her mouth, a popsicle stick in her hand. Had we caught her during an icebox raid?

“You are what you think.” She pointed the stick at Nia. “You just need to believe.” Emily stepped closer, threw a wrapper in the garbage, and took Nia’s hands. “I’ve seen you running after Brooke. Doing everything she says. Don’t you want anything for yourself?”

“I want people to like me,” Nia whispered.

I flinched. How much alike we were, Nia and I. Yet I’d never gone to such extremes, had I? A picture of Nick came to mind and a sinking feeling took hold. Maybe I had. I might have wanted to save his dreams of being a snowboarder, but what if my reasons hadn’t been as selfless as I’d let myself think? Maybe part of me had been afraid to turn down the Divas. Nick’s shot on the snowboarding team could have been my excuse to be part of the in-crowd. The thought blew my mind.

“You have to like yourself.” Emily turned on the water tap and splashed her face.

“Love yourself,” added Hannah. She gave me a significant look, and I sprang into action, pulling back Nia’s hair and beginning a complicated fishtail braid.

“You’re all that matters.” Brittany checked her teeth in the reflective surface of a knife.

“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” I spoke up. All eyes turned on me—Brittany’s surprised, Hannah’s speculative, and Emily’s approving. “I mean, think about who you are and what you want to be and don’t let anyone tell you that they’re more important or that you don’t count.”

I went back to braiding, my face warm.

“Kayla’s right,” Hannah surprised me by saying. “And I just want to say, here and now, that I’m sorry that I treated Kayla like that.” Hannah looked from an astonished Brittany back to me, her expression pained instead of its usual fierceness. “And everyone else, too. It was wrong, and it came from my own insecurities. I know I haven’t been a good friend in a long time.”

Whoa. Hannah? Insecure? My inner compass tilted, and suddenly my world felt off its axis. Nia must have felt the same way because after I finished her braid and makeup, she snatched up a compact mirror and peered at herself as if looking at a stranger.

“You look great.” Emily kissed her on the cheek and squeezed her shoulders before helping her into the silver tank dress. Hannah zipped her up and handed her the gleaming shoes. “I look great?” Nia stepped into the shoes, her voice full of wonder.

Emily nodded so hard that the silver bow in her hair slipped sideways. “Now say it again, but with more confidence this time.”

“I look great!” Nia shouted and beamed at me, filling me with a glow of pleasure. I’d done it. Transformed Nia into an exotic beauty with full, glossy red lips, high cheekbones that I’d accentuated with shadow, and deep set eyes that drew you in with the smoky look I’d applied. It was different than the natural look I’d given her in the infirmary, but still amazing.

Hannah gave me a squeeze. “Kayla, you’re a genius. And I really meant it when I said I was sorry.”

My jumping insides stilled; the nervous energy that drove me to prove myself to others, the part of me that never felt good enough, quieted.

“I forgive you,” I said, meaning it. What was the use of holding onto old grudges, a past life, a former me? If Hannah could change, I could, too.

“Me too!” Brittany exclaimed, and we came together in a group hug that included Nia and Emily. When we let go, I was surprised to see tears on Hannah’s cheeks.

“These are happy tears,” she said in a watery gulp.

“Love you, Han!” we exclaimed, linking arms and making our way out back into the party.

As soon as we crossed the threshold, Brooke stormed our way, an exasperated-looking Rachel trailing behind her.

“What have you done with Nia? I need hair help, stat!”

“I’m right here, Miss—I mean, B-Brooke.” Nia emerged from behind Emily and squared her slender shoulders, the golden hue of her skin a perfect complement for the shining straps crisscrossed against it.

Brooke gasped. “Who told you that you could wear that? You’re supposed to be the mouse prince to my Clara.”

“What if she doesn’t want to be the mouse prince?” Hannah’s lower lip jutted, her fierce look back in place.

For now, I’d take Mean Girl Hannah at my side, thank you very much. No matter how much she’d changed, we all trusted her to stand down a bully.

“Who asked you? Like, no one talks to you, so beat it.” Brooke turned to Brittany, Rachel, and me. “Right, girls? Tell her.”

“Why don’t
you
beat it?” Everyone’s heads swiveled in my direction, their expressions as shocked as I felt. Had I really just said that? Signed my own social death warrant?

Brooke pointed a finger at me. “You are so going to pay for that, little Miss Wallpaper. And you can forget about being in my video.”

“I think I’ll survive,” I said, meaning it. And I would survive, I marveled. With or without Brooke or anyone who wasn’t my real friend. If they didn’t like this new me, then that was their issue, not mine.

“Brittany, Rachel, let’s go. This party is over.” She glared at Nia and me.

Brooke stomped off and realized, ten steps away, that she was on her own. When she turned, her face contorted. “Are you kidding me?”

“You’re the one who’s the joke.” Hannah opened her mouth to add more, then closed it when Julian stepped close and slid an arm around her.

“So you chose these losers over me?”

Brittany and Rachel exchanged nervous looks but said nothing and stayed by Nia.

Brooke turned to an approaching Nick. “Do you see what’s going on here? Your little frenemy, Kayla, is up to her old tricks, dumping me to stick with Hannah. And stealing my assistant, too.”

Suddenly, Brooke lunged, her claws aimed at my face again, but Nick intercepted her.

“Let’s get out of here.” He put an arm around her shoulder and steered her toward the door. “I’ve seen enough.”

Chapter Nine

“Come on, Nia, it’ll be fun.” My pen hovered over the activity sign-up sheet at breakfast the morning after the dance. There were blank spaces next to Emily’s Personal Growth and Development workshop, and I wanted to attend this week’s session. “Plus, I really need this and I don’t want to go alone.”

“What’s Brooke going to do?” Nia looked down the table where Brooke sat with Gollum, of all people. Our camp director didn’t look as smitten with her as usual. He frowned and pointed to a piece of paper on the table between them. “Do you think she’s getting in trouble?”

Nia sat with the rest of the Divas this morning after our fun night at the dance. Well…fun except that Nick never returned and neither did Brooke. For a boy who supposedly didn’t sneak out of the cabins with her last night, he sure spent a lot of time with her. He wasn’t at breakfast with the other Warriors today, and I wondered where he could be. Were Olympic medalists allowed special privileges? I hadn’t asked him much about the aftermath of his wins at Sochi, but I knew he had endorsement deals and plans for his future career. What if he left camp as abruptly as he’d arrived?

Swallowing down the panic I should
not
be feeling about a guy who didn’t trust me and didn’t seem to listen to me anymore, I focused on Nia.

“Of course not. Brooke’s probably trying to sweet-talk Gollum into letting her bunk with another cabin or recruit different dancers for her video now that she’s mad at us.” Or was that just wishful thinking on my part? The more I saw of Brooke, the less fun I had at camp. So if she moved out of the Divas’ Den, it would be great for me.

“I want to be a singer,” Nia confided, her fishtail braid still draped along one shoulder. She loved it so much she hadn’t taken it out after the dance. “That’s why I wanted to help Brooke.”

I wished I had that kind of certainty. Basically, I had no clue about my future.

“She doesn’t seem the kind to reciprocate.” I wasn’t just Brooke-bashing because she wanted to claim Nick. She’d been mean to Nia. “Besides, if you want to go after a big dream like that, Emily’s workshop will help give you the confidence and inspiration to do it. She really helped one of the Munchies’ Manor girls who wants to be an actress.”