Camp Forget-Me-Not (2 page)

“Thank you, Nick.” Brittany finger-combed her long blonde hair and batted her water-spiked lashes.

Nick’s eyes crinkled as he smiled up at her. “Anytime. If you need me, just give a shout.”

Brooke waved her hands overhead, her violet eyes flashing. “Shout!”

Everyone laughed but me. Instead, I scooted behind the pack of posing, preening girls.

“Careful or you’ll slide right off that platform again,” Nick called, and all eyes turned toward me. Some of the nearby campers laughed, remembering the time I’d once missed a relay race dive and belly-flopped off the slippery dock.

I crossed my arms and glared at him, my scowl only making his smile widen. First he ignored me and now he tried to humiliate me. Was that why he’d returned to camp? I didn’t believe his story about needing time off from practices and endorsement appearances. He could have gone somewhere way more glamorous. No, Nick came back to Juniper Point for a reason.

Revenge.

“Kayla, phone call for you in Mr. Woodrow’s office.” Victoria’s voice floated through the steam-filled girls’ shower building thirty minutes later.

I turned off the lukewarm water and groped for my towel on the bench outside the vinyl curtain. Soap stung one eye.

“Nia, fetch Kayla her towel,” hollered Brooke from her stall.

“Right away, Miss White.” Nia, the newest and youngest Divas’ Den member at just barely sixteen, hadn’t quite gotten it through her head that we were a cabin of campers and not Brooke’s personal servants.

Someone thrust soft terrycloth into my hand.

“Thanks, Nia. I can get my own stuff though.” I dried my hair, then wrapped the towel around me, tucked the end under my arm, and stepped into the misty corridor.

“You don’t need to thank her.” I averted my eyes as Brooke emerged from her cubicle and slid into the robe Nia held out. “As a member of the Brooke White Fan Club, it’s her job. She’s here because she wants to help me.”

“Um. Okay.” How big was this club? I definitely didn’t want to be in it. I shrugged on my robe, snatched up my toiletries bag, and headed for the door.

“Nia, did you take down those last few lines I was singing in the shower?”

I grabbed the door handle. I so didn’t want to hear this.

“Kayla, wait! You’ll want to hear this. Read it, Nia.”

“I have a phone call, Brooke. And I have to hurry since I need to stop at the cabin to get dressed.”

“Just tell them you were with
me
. Everyone wants a piece of this.” Her hip slap was answered by enthusiastic agreement from her “fan”/bathroom attendant. “We’re writing the next number one iTunes hit. You could be a part of history, Kayla.”

“An auto-tuned hit,” I mumbled, but released the door and turned with a sigh. “Okay. Listening.”

“Oo-ooh-ooh,” Nia began, peering down at her inkcovered palm. “Hoo yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah, yeah-ahah, yeah-ah-ah, yeah-ah-ah, yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Brooke grabbed the girl’s hand. “I’m sure there was another ‘yeah-ah-ah’ before the last part. Get it right next time.” She frowned then turned to me with a shrug. “Fans just aren’t what they used to be.”

I looked around the space. Was she delusional? As far as I could see, it was just the three of us. Brooke was the biggest Diva that the Divas had ever had. How many more minutes of “fame” did she have left? Fourteen?

“Uh—I really have to go now. See ya.” I dashed outside and down the path before Brooke had another flash of “genius.” Too late, I realized that I’d timed my mad dash to the cabin at the same time the Warriors were sauntering back from their showers.

My skin heated, and I would have bet money that the old red splotches were coming out on my upper chest and neck, a nervous thing that hadn’t happened in years. Nick turned away and studied a shrub. Apparently celebrities didn’t pay attention to girls with spots. Suddenly I was glad—really glad—to be getting out of here.

“Looking good, babe,” called Cameron, my on-again-mostly-off-again boyfriend. Dating a Warrior was practically a Diva requirement, and I’d been lonely without Nick. But this summer, I’d avoided Cam.

I waved over my shoulder and sprinted to my cabin. Their laughter followed me until I heard what could have been, if I didn’t know better, Nick’s deep voice telling them to shut it.

A couple minutes later, I arrived at the administration building dressed, winded, heart pounding. I’d heard so much bad news lately. What could this call be about? My father hadn’t contacted me ever. So why did I always imagine it was him whenever something unexpected happened? How weird to resent and wish for someone at the same time.

Gollum waved behind the screen door. “Come in. Your mother wants to talk to you.”

I dropped into a wood-slatted chair, the backs of my thighs immediately sticking to the seat. When he handed me the phone, I put it to my ear but waited to speak until he left…which he didn’t. After a couple of seconds, I gave up and said, “Mom?”

“Kayla, hi!”

I nearly dropped the phone. It was the first time she’d sounded cheerful since the fashion magazine she edited stopped publishing.

“Hey, Mom. I’m almost packed, and I’ll be ready for the morning bus in case that’s why you called. Um… that’s why you called, right?”

My mom was a perpetual worrier. Then again, I was the main thing she had to worry about now that her sixty-hour-a-week job ended.

“No, sweetie. In fact, you can stop packing.” A splashing sound and the clink of a glass being set down came through the receiver. “I have some good news.”

I sat up straight, my smile matching the one that grew on Gollum’s face. It was like he knew what she was going to say.

“You got a new job!” I leaned forward, knee jittering. Hallelujah. Now we wouldn’t have to hunt for a cheaper apartment. I could hang out in Park Slope, catch up on my reading…suddenly this summer was looking up.

My shoulders dropped at her long sigh, along with my stomach. “I’m searching, but nothing yet.”

“Oh.” I would have slid down in my seat if my thighs weren’t stuck. “Did you find a new place for us?”

“No. But I’ve got good news.” My mother’s voice brightened. “You don’t have to leave camp after all.”

I shot to my feet, momentarily taking the chair with me until it thunked back to the floor. “What do you mean?” I paced as far as the phone cord allowed.

“Your father is covering the rest of your camp tuition for you.” I heard ice cubes clink against the sides of a glass and pictured her getting a refill from our fridge’s water dispenser. “Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Of course,” I repeated automatically, although I wondered why my dad was ponying up money for me now. He’d given my mother a hard time about any extra expenses for me over the years, even though he made plenty of money as a restaurateur with two very successful businesses. I didn’t want to be the source of frustration between my mom and dad. Plus, I didn’t want to stay here and be Nick’s target.

“But Mom, I want to come home.” I flinched as Gollum’s thick eyebrows met over his beak of a nose. “I mean, I would love to stay since camp is awesome…” I gave our camp director a thumbs-up. “…but you need me.”

Mom cleared her throat. “Actually, a friend invited me to the Hamptons. After I got off the phone with Mr. Woodrow, I accepted so I’m all set for a change of scenery. In the meantime, my real estate agent can show our loft while I’m gone.”

“Can I go with you?” The question jumped out of me just as it had a million times growing up. My executive mother had many functions, events, and even weekend trips that excluded me through the years. Because it was her job, I never complained. In fact, I’d learned to hide my feelings so I wouldn’t make her feel guilty.

“Honey, I’m afraid there isn’t room in the rental. But you still like it at camp, don’t you?” Uncertainty entered her voice, and I glanced at a whistle-polishing Gollum. When his beady eyes met mine, my fingers tightened on the receiver.

“I love it here. I just wanted to make sure you were okay—which it sounds like you are—so I guess we’re all good then…” I watched a group of Warriors shove and wrestle each other as they trailed their super-hot counselor, Rob, to the dining hall. For a brief second, Nick’s eyes met mine through the window before a friend’s push made him stumble.

“Great.” Her voice came out in a breathy rush of relief. “There’s a good chance I’ll be able to attend some parties with industry people, so it’s a much better job-networking place for me right now. It’s a win-win for both us, right?”

“Win.” I forced a smile at a beaming Gollum. He placed his whistle around his neck and popped a butterscotch candy in his mouth before sliding the jar my way.

“I love you so much, sweetie, and you should call your father soon to thank him for this. Okay?”

“Okay.” I did my best to keep the sigh out of my voice. It sucked that we only had one hour a week for electronics, including cell phones. I unwrapped a butterscotch nugget to distract myself.

“You don’t sound happy, Kayla.”

“I’m happy.” I spoke around the mouthful of candy. “It’s just that my cabin’s on their way to dinner and I’ve got to go.” It was actually kind of the truth since I could hear Brooke singing, “Now you know we’re through—so not into you…”

Gollum’s high tenor joined hers on the last line. I blinked at him in surprise.

“Great song,” he mouthed at me.

Seriously?
Even our camp director was a member of the Brooke White Fan Club. She was as catchy as poison ivy and twice as irritating.

“All right. If you’re sure. But call me if anything comes up.”

“Promise. Love you.”

I hung up and watched Hannah, our former cabin Queen B, trail behind the rest of the group until a hand snaked out from some pine bushes and pulled her, giggling, behind them.

Julian. It’d taken me a few weeks, but I was finally getting used to seeing her with our camp’s reigning Dungeons & Dragons champ. The rest of the Divas, however, hadn’t accepted her dating a guy from the Wander Inn, a cabin they’d once nicknamed “Freaks and Geeks.”

Brooke had announced that Wander Inn boys were bad for her image. When she threatened to exclude any Divas hanging out with them from her next video, my cabin had joined her in ignoring Hannah. As for me, I tried to stay out of it.

“Thank you, Mr. Woodrow. I appreciate this opportunity.”

His narrow chest swelled. “We’re glad to keep a nice girl like you at Camp Juniper Point, Kayla.” His eyes wandered out the window as first Hannah then Julian stumbled out of the bushes and onto the path. “Now hurry along and catch up to Hannah, young lady. Please tell her I’d like a word with her and Julian after dinner.”

The door swung shut behind me, and in a few steps, I’d caught up to the hand-holding pair. With Hannah’s bright red head on Julian’s
Lord of the Ring
’s caped shoulder, they made a cute couple.

“Hi, Kayla.” Hannah gave me a small smile. It was the least confident she’d ever looked and the happiest.

“Hey, guys.” I fell into step with them, glad not to enter the mess hall alone. “Gollum wants to talk to you after dinner before you go back to your cabins.”

Julian’s jaw tightened and he nodded. “Fine with me. Been spending less time at the cabin anyway. The guys still won’t accept Hannah, and I’m not hanging out with them until they do.”

Hannah nodded. “Same here. No offense, Kayla, but you guys have been, like, totally rude to Julian.”

“Hello? I’m here. Talking to you, right?” Not that I mattered as much as my roommates did to Hannah. She’d always been tighter with them before Brooke came to camp.

Hannah slipped an arm through mine. “You’re the only one, Kayla. After what you went through with Nick, I knew you’d understand.”

I almost spit out what was left of my butterscotch. She’d made me ditch Nick three years ago. What a hypocrite. Resentment rose, but like everything else, I stuffed it down deep and kept my face neutral.

“Right. Divas don’t date geeks. It’s our number one rule.” I tugged Julian’s cape. “Sorry, Julian. I don’t mean you.”

His lips lifted in a half-smile. “It’s cool. If by geek you mean an interesting, enlightened, thoughtful person, then yeah. I’m good with that.”

I smiled. Julian was awesome.

Hannah gazed up at him with large, brown eyes. “Me too. Stupid girls and their stupid rules. And Brooke is the most Diva-ish Diva ever. She’s horrible.”

“Hannah…” Julian cautioned.

“Fine.” Hannah sighed and snuggled against Julian’s side. “No trash talking. But still…”

I met her eye roll and raised an eyebrow in return. I might like this new Hannah, but siding with her meant making the other girls angry and I couldn’t risk that. She had Julian and I had no one. Plus, I couldn’t forget that she’d made up the rules in the first place, especially the one that nearly ruined my life.

My mind skipped back to Nick and how hard it’d been to follow that rule when I’d first joined the cabin. He’d been so hurt when I ignored him. Looking at Julian reminded me of the old Nick and how things could have been. But I’d done what I had to do and now it was my turn to suffer.

I’d hurt Nick’s feelings long ago and he hadn’t deserved that. Now bad camp karma swirled around me like mosquitoes at night, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to escape.