Read Camp Confidential 03 - Grace's Twist Online

Authors: Melissa J Morgan

Camp Confidential 03 - Grace's Twist (14 page)

BOOK: Camp Confidential 03 - Grace's Twist

7.43Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

ads

“Karen, I heard you guys talking the other day,” Grace said. “I know you’re bummed about having to skip the rides at the water park.”

“No, it’s okay,” Karen said. “Chelsea doesn’t like rides.”

“But you do,” Grace pointed out.

“Yeah, but I don’t want to leave Chelsea alone,” Karen said. “That wouldn’t be very nice. I already told her I’d hang out with her.” She gave the duster a little shake. “I better finish my chores.” She hurried up the steps but turned back before going in. “Hey, Grace, good luck at your audition,” she said quietly. “I think you’re the best actress at camp.” Then she disappeared into the bunk.

Grace started down the trail. All her nervousness had returned the second Karen mentioned the tryout. It was nice to know that her bunkmates thought so highly of her, but she felt completely unprepared for the audition. She’d had to do all the work on her scene by herself. Gaby hadn’t even bothered to check in and see how it was going.

But when she got to the drama shack for tryouts, Gaby was there, sitting in the “audience”—a bunch of the black boxes turned upside down for people to sit on while they watched the auditions. Grace was touched. Maybe Gaby hadn’t been the best drama partner in the world, but at least she was there to support Grace when it mattered. It was the first best-friend-like thing Gaby had ever done. Only a real friend would realize how nervous Grace would be about the audition. If Emily had been at Camp Lakeview, she would’ve been there to show her support. And for once, Gaby was acting the same way. She was being supportive.

“Hey,” Grace said, sitting on the box next to Gaby. “Thanks for coming.”

“Why wouldn’t I come?” Gaby said. “I think I have a pretty good shot at landing a part.”

Grace couldn’t believe her ears. “You’re auditioning?” she asked.

“Of course.”

“But you didn’t even practice,” Grace cried. “You said you thought the play was stupid!”

“It is,” Gaby said. “That’s why I didn’t bother practicing. How hard can it be to get a role in
Peter Pan
? It’s a kiddie story!”

Bethany clapped her hands for attention, so Grace couldn’t answer. She wouldn’t have known how to respond, anyway. Gaby hadn’t come here to support Grace at all. Gaby was only here for herself!

Auditions went in age order, so the younger kids went first. Most of them forgot a line or two, but a few were very good singers. By the time it was the third division’s turn, the butterflies in Grace’s stomach felt more like a flock of birds. “Third division, who’s first?” Bethany called.

“Me!” Brynn leapt up and ran to the front of the room. “I’m doing the scene from
The Music Man
.”

“I think I’ll volunteer to go next,” Grace whispered to Gaby. “I’m so nervous, I just want to get it over with.”

Brynn did an amazing job on her tryout. Grace had heard her do the scene a hundred times over the past week, but seeing her perform it today was like watching it for the first time. Brynn disappeared and Marion the librarian stood onstage talking and singing. When she was done, Grace clapped and whistled through her teeth. “Way to go, Brynn!” she yelled.

“Thank you, Brynn,” Bethany said. “Who’s next?”

“I am!” Gaby called, jumping up and heading to the makeshift stage. Grace almost laughed. Gaby’s behavior was so awful all the time that Grace wasn’t even surprised anymore when she acted rudely.
It’s my own fault for telling her I wanted to go next,
she thought.
I should’ve known that would make her steal my slot for herself.

Gaby did the scene from
The Sound of Music
. She forgot half the lines and only sang one verse of the song. But she looked totally proud of herself when she was done. Grace clapped politely, and then raised her hand to go next.

As she passed by on her way up to the front of the room, Devon whispered “good luck,” and Simon gave her a thumbs-up. Grace smiled back. They’d been much more helpful to her than her own partner had—they’d gone through the scene with her three times the other day.

Once she got on stage, Grace forgot all about Gaby and her obnoxious behavior. She forgot about
The Call of the Wild
and the quiz. She forgot about the fact that she still had to read
The Jungle Book
before camp ended. She even forgot about the water-park trip the next day. Her entire mind was focused on being Maria, the nun-turned-nanny, teaching the von Trapp kids to sing. She spoke the lines and sang the song as if the words were coming straight from her own brain, not as if she’d memorized them and practiced them over and over. The black room around her became the grassy hills of Austria, and the people watching became the children she was talking to. She loved singing, and she knew the kids would, too. All she wanted in the world was to show these boys and girls how much joy there was in music, so she sang with every bit of happiness she had ever felt in her life.

When her song ended, Grace slowly became aware that people were clapping. She had to shake her head a little to clear away the image of the outdoors and the von Trapp kids. She’d been so wrapped up in her acting that she’d forgotten where she really was.

Breathing hard from singing, she took a bow and headed back out into the audience. Gaby sat with a sour expression on her face, barely clapping. Brynn was practically bouncing up and down on her black box, making whooping sounds as she applauded. Devon and Simon sat nearby, clapping and cheering, too. Grace didn’t even hesitate.

She walked right by Gaby and sat with her other friends.

“And Devon was amazing, too,” Brynn said at dessert that night. “If only we were really doing
The Sound of Music
, he’d be an excellent Captain von Trapp.”

“Then you two could act together, Grace,” Natalie teased her.

“Don’t you want to hear how your boyfriend, Simon, did?” Grace teased back. “I’m surprised you didn’t sneak out of arts and crafts to come watch him audition.”

“I thought about it,” Natalie replied. “But instead I made him a little plate in pottery that says ‘Congratulations.’ I can’t give it to him until he finds out if he got a part, though!”

Grace shook her head. It was no fun to tease Natalie about Simon these days. She just never got ruffled about it anymore. Not that she’d ever really been bothered by the teasing—if she had, Grace wouldn’t have done it.

“I think he’ll get a part,” Brynn said. “He did a good job. I think we’ll all get parts.”

“Yeah, we rule,” Grace agreed. “Are you still hoping for Wendy, Brynn? A lot of those division four and division five girls were really good.” Brynn had done an incredible audition, but Grace didn’t want her to get her hopes up too high. Despite what Bethany said, everybody knew that the main roles always went to older kids.

“They were good, but I still think I have a chance,” Brynn said confidently. “And so do you.”

“Okay, enough drama talk,” Julie interrupted from her seat at the end of the bunk’s table. “I know you two are dying to go look at the cast list.”

“Bethany said she was going to post it after dinner,” Brynn replied. “It’s not up yet.”

“Well . . .” Julie grinned. “I happen to know that she put it up on her way over to the mess hall. She just figured no one would know it was there until after dinner.”

Brynn leapt up from her seat. “Can we go now?” she asked excitedly. “Please please please?”

“Go ahead,” Julie said. “Good luck!”

Brynn grabbed Grace’s hand and pulled her toward the door. By the time they got to the drama shack, everyone at Lakeview seemed to know that the list had been posted. A crowd of kids stood around the bulletin board on the outside of the shack.

“How are we supposed to see if we’re on the list when we can’t even see the list?” Grace joked.

“That’s a total upset!” one of the division four kids said.

“I can’t believe it,” another older girl murmured. “I’ve been coming here for years, and no one that young has ever gotten such a big part.”

“Maybe it’s one of us!” Brynn cried happily.

Grace stood on her tiptoes, but she still couldn’t see the list. “What are you guys talking about?” she asked the older girl.

“A third division girl got the part of Wendy,” the girl said. “It’s unheard of.”

“Oh, it’s not such a big deal,” Brynn said modestly. “I’ve been studying acting since I was really little, so it’s no surprise.”

“Well, you’ll probably be surprised to hear it’s not you,” Gaby said, pushing her way out of the crowd around the list.

Brynn’s face fell. “What do you mean? They said it was someone from division three.”

“Yeah,” Gaby said. “That still doesn’t mean it’s you!”

“Why do you have to be so mean, Gaby?” Grace asked, putting her arm around Brynn’s shoulders. “Brynn is really upset.”

Suddenly Brynn gasped. “I am not upset!” she cried.

Grace glanced at her in surprise. “Why not?”

“Because I may not have gotten the part,” she said, “but that can only mean one thing.
You
got it, Grace!”

chapter ELEVEN

Grace woke up with a smile already on her face. It stayed there while she brushed her teeth and packed her backpack for the trip to WetWorld. It stayed there all through breakfast. And it was still in place when she climbed into the field-trip bus and started down the aisle.

She was playing Wendy in
Peter Pan
! And she was allowed to go to the water park! Just a week ago neither of those things had seemed possible.

Natalie and Alyssa had already grabbed one of the back seats, but there were lots of other campers in the little aisle between them and Grace. Ronald from 3E had a backpack as big as his whole body, and he was trying to throw it up onto the overhead luggage rack. Traffic in the aisle stopped as he lifted it again and again, never getting it high enough.

“Do you want some help?” Jenna’s brother Adam asked.

Ronald was a twerp, but he had a surprisingly loud voice. “Not from you,” he snapped.

Grace sighed. The rivalry between bunk 3E and Adam’s bunk, 3F, was just as strong as the one between her bunk and Gaby’s. There was no way Ronald would ever take help from Adam or his friends. She leaned against the back of one of the seats and waited for the path to clear.

“Gracie, back here! I got us a seat,” Gaby called. Grace twisted around to see Gaby in the very front seat, right behind the driver. She was waving and grinning as if they were the best of friends. Ever since the announcement that Grace had gotten the part, Gaby had been super friendly and supportive. That was nice enough, but Grace couldn’t forget how nasty she’d been so many times before that.

“Um, I’m sitting with Alyssa and Natalie,” she called back. “Remember?”

Gaby’s face fell. “I thought you changed your mind about that,” she said. “I apologized for telling them about your book. Don’t you remember?”

Grace did remember. And she also remembered Gaby lying to her about being punished, tricking her into not swimming in the deep end, refusing to help her practice for the audition, and just generally being a bully. She did
not
remember ever changing her mind about sitting with Gaby on the field-trip bus.

But Gaby really did look upset. She was glancing frantically around at the other kids on the bus, and Grace suddenly realized that Gaby had no one else to sit with. Grace thought about it. Gaby didn’t seem very popular with her own bunkmates. Whatever had happened between her and Christa must have made them all uncomfortable. And outside of Grace, Gaby didn’t seem to have any other friends. Grace sighed. What did she have to lose? She was in such a good mood just being there and knowing about her role in the play. She doubted even Gaby could ruin her happiness today.

She stood on her tiptoes and waved to Nat and Alyssa, pointing back toward Gaby so they’d know where she was going. Alyssa waved back, but Natalie made an “are you crazy” face. Grace just shrugged.

“Excuse me,” she said, turning to go back toward the front of the bus.

“You’re going the wrong way!” somebody complained.

BOOK: Camp Confidential 03 - Grace's Twist

7.43Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Read Book Download Book

ads