Read Camp Confidential 03 - Grace's Twist Online

Authors: Melissa J Morgan

Camp Confidential 03 - Grace's Twist (7 page)

BOOK: Camp Confidential 03 - Grace's Twist
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Grace couldn’t help admiring Brynn’s self-confidence. She was so determined to get a part that she might make it happen through sheer force of will. “You know, Brynn, Peter Pan is usually played by a woman,” she said. “The character is a boy, but lots of times they get women to play the role.”
“Yeah, all the famous Broadway Peter Pans were women,” Natalie agreed.
“Maybe you should try out for Peter instead of Wendy,” Grace suggested.
Brynn wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know if I want to play a boy. Boys are kinda gross.”
“But it would be a good acting challenge,” Grace said. Everyone giggled.
“Maybe.” Brynn didn’t sound convinced.
“I could help you practice,” Jenna offered. “I know all about being a boy from living with my brother. I can teach you how to belch in public and everything.”
Grace watched as her bunkmates laughed and joked around with Brynn. She wanted to get into the spirit of it, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the play auditions. She desperately wanted to try out for a role. And she hated the feeling that she was letting Brynn down. But unless her situation changed very, very quickly, she knew she wouldn’t be able to audition no matter how much she wanted to.
“Mail call!” Julie yelled, pushing open the screen door with her hip. Her arms were filled with boxes and envelopes.
“Cool! What’d I get?” Jenna demanded, rushing over to grab the biggest box. It had the Bloom family’s trademark giant orange stickers on it, which meant it was a care package from Jenna’s mom. She always sent enough food for the whole bunk.
“I can’t wait to find out—I’m starving,” Julie joked. She plopped the rest of the mail down on her cot and began handing it out.
“Nat, a postcard from Tunisia,” she called.
“My father’s on location there,” Natalie explained, taking the oversized card.
“Care package for Karen,” Julie went on. “And letters for Valerie, Candace, Alison, and Grace.”
Everyone else bounded happily over to get their mail, but Grace was in no rush. She had a feeling the letter was from her mother, and a letter from her mother wasn’t a good thing, not this summer.
Maybe it’s from Emily,
she thought hopefully.
I would have a great time reading about all the gossip from home.
But she knew her best friend wasn’t going to write again so soon. Grace still hadn’t answered Emily’s first three letters.
She shuffled over to the counselor, hoping against hope that Emily had found out something so juicy that she simply had to write to Grace.
Julie gave her a sympathetic smile as she handed over the envelope.
Uh-oh, that face could only mean one thing,
Grace thought.
It’s a letter from Mom.
Grace threw herself down on her bunk and slowly peeled open the envelope. The letter was short, and it said exactly what she had expected it to say. Usually Grace liked to read letters two or three times before she put them away, but not this letter. She stuck it right back into its envelope and slipped it into the box under her bed where she kept her unused stationery and the other letters from her folks and Emily. Then she rolled over on her bed and faced the wall. Even though she’d only read it once, the letter stuck in her mind. Especially the part that said “we’re so disappointed in you.” Tears pricked at her eyes. She hoped her bunkmates would leave her alone.
No such luck. “Grace? You okay?” Sarah asked from her own bunk.
“I’m fine,” Grace replied. She turned back over and plastered a fake smile on her face.
“Are you sure?” Chelsea asked, leaning forward to peer closely at Grace. “Because you look kinda green.”
“Thanks,” Grace said. “I was going for yellow, but I guess I went a little too far.”
A few of the other girls giggled, but Grace could see that Sarah, Alyssa, and Nat weren’t convinced that she was kidding. Usually she could joke her way out of any situation, but right now she actually
felt
kinda green, if that was possible. She wasn’t really sick, but she was worried and upset. Julie was still over at her own cot, but if she heard the girls talking about Grace’s problem, she’d come over to investigate. And then everyone would find out her secret, and they would think she was a loser.
I have to get out of here before Julie gets involved,
Grace decided.
Natalie was opening her mouth to say something—probably something like, “What’s really bothering you, Grace?”—but Grace was too fast for her. She leapt up off her bunk and stuck her feet in her flip-flops, all in one motion. “I’m gonna take a walk,” she said, cutting Natalie off. “I don’t feel like siesta-ing today.”
She raced for the door and made it outside before anyone could answer. But what was she supposed to do now? She’d come outside without her book, and almost all of the other campers were in their bunks taking a siesta.
I wish I’d brought my letter to Emily so I could finish it,
Grace thought. If only her best friend were here, she’d know how to cheer Grace up. But Emily was far away at home, and Grace was on her own.
Without really planning to, she started down the path toward bunk 3A. Maybe Gaby would want to hang out. That’s what best friends did, right? And they were starting to be best friends. Camp best friends, anyway.
Bunk 3A looked exactly like bunk 3C, except that the sign on the door had different names written on it, and the porch had only one step leading up to it instead of two. Grace jumped over the step and landed on the porch. She stared at the door for a second. Was she supposed to knock? All of last summer, and all of this summer so far, she’d never gone to another bunk—unless she was on a raid with her bunkmates. You definitely didn’t knock when you were raiding. But how about when you were just visiting? She had no idea what the etiquette was. She’d never needed friends outside her own bunk before.
She took a deep breath and lifted her hand to knock. Before she even touched the door, a short girl with long dark hair pushed it open. She stared at Grace in surprise.
“Uh, hi, Sharon,” Grace said.
Sharon raised her eyebrows. “Hi, Grace,” she said loudly. Obviously she wanted her bunkmates to hear her. Grace took a step back as a couple of the other 3A girls appeared behind Sharon. They stared at her curiously.
“Is she alone?” one of them whispered. “I bet it’s a trick.”
Great. They think I’m here to pull a prank or something,
Grace thought. “Is Gaby here?” she asked.
Sharon’s eyebrows shot up higher. “Gaby?” she asked, sounding even more surprised than she looked. “Yeah. Do you . . . do you want to see her?”
“Yup. Thanks,” Grace said. These girls were acting even weirder than usual. Was it really that big a deal for a 3C girl to come to the door? Maybe she should’ve thought this through a little more.
She heard Gaby’s voice from inside, along with a lot of giggling and whispering. Finally Gaby stepped up to the door. She shot Sharon a look. “Thanks. You can go back in,” she said.
Sharon nodded, but she didn’t move. Clearly she wanted to know why Grace was there.
Gaby rolled her eyes, turning to Grace. She looked her up and down and frowned. “What are
you
doing here?” she demanded.
Grace hesitated. “Um . . . me?” she asked. Immediately she felt stupid. Who else would Gaby be talking to? But the question had taken her by surprise. She’d been expecting a “hello” or a “what’s up”—not such a rude welcome from Gaby.
Gaby pushed the door open wider and stepped out onto the porch. A few of the other girls crowded around behind her. “Duh, of course I mean you,” Gaby said. “Do you see anyone else who isn’t supposed to be here?”
Grace’s mouth dropped open. “Am I not supposed to be here?” she asked, confused. Had she missed some kind of no-visiting-during-siesta rule?
“No one from your loser bunk is supposed to contaminate our bunk by touching it,” Gaby said. She looked meaningfully at Grace’s hand on the porch railing. Her bunkmates laughed.
“Oh. Sorry.” Grace picked her hand up and tried to smile. Gaby was just kidding, she was pretty sure. It didn’t sound like she was kidding, exactly, but she must be. The bunk rivalry wasn’t a serious thing, after all. And besides, Gaby was her friend. Gaby was the one who’d wanted to be partners in drama and again in free swim. So she had to be kidding. She wasn’t really being as mean as she sounded. Right?
“Um, I was wondering if you want to hang out,” Grace said. “I’m not in the mood to stay in the bunk.”
“Who could blame you? I bet it smells in there,” Gaby said. Her bunkmates laughed again, and Gaby looked pleased. “But I
am
in the mood to stay in my bunk, and obviously you can’t come in here,” she went on.
“I . . . I can’t?” Grace didn’t know what else to say.
“No. How do we know you’re not spying on us to help your bunk pull a prank?” Gaby said. “Everybody knows Jenna Bloom wants to prank us.”
“Jenna’s not planning any more pranks,” Grace said honestly. “I think she’s retired.”
“Whatever. I’m not interested.” Gaby stepped back inside and let the door swing shut in Grace’s face.
Grace blinked at the dusty screen. Had her new best friend just slammed the door on her? Was this all some sort of joke that she didn’t get? Was she supposed to follow Gaby inside?
She didn’t think so. But then what
was
she supposed to do? She couldn’t keep standing around outside by herself. “Okay. I’ll see you later,” she called through the screen door. Then she turned and stepped off the porch. She walked off toward the activities shacks as fast as she could. She had no idea what she’d do once she got there. All she knew was that she wanted to get as far away from Gaby as possible. And it looked like Gaby felt the same way about her!
chapter SIX
At free swim, Grace put the tiny nose clip across the bridge of her nose and headed straight for the water. A good swim would relax her—and she needed to relax after the weird day she’d been having. First the letter from her mom, then Gaby’s brush-off at 3A! She was totally stressed.
“Gracie, hey!” Gaby called, running up behind her. “Are you going in?”
Grace stopped, surprised. An hour ago, Gaby had been totally mean to her. But now she stood there with a big happy grin on her face, as if nothing had happened.
Maybe she really was playing around before,
Grace thought, confused. It didn’t matter, though. Gaby had completely humiliated her in front of all of 3A. Grace wasn’t in the mood for any more of Gaby’s strange behavior.
“Um, yeah, I really want to swim some laps,” Grace said. She tried to step around Gaby without seeming too rude. Sarah and Valerie were already in the water, and if she swam out to them, she knew they’d let her triple with them.
“I was thinking we could just hang out on shore,” Gaby said. “You know, put our feet in the water to cool off when we need to. It’ll be fun. We can work on your audition scene.”
Grace couldn’t believe it. Gaby was just assuming they were going to be swim buddies again! Yesterday it had seemed like a good thing that Gaby thought they were close enough friends for that. But after the way she’d acted earlier today, Grace wasn’t so sure anymore.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I was looking forward to swimming. And I don’t think I’m going to audition.”
Gaby frowned. But before she could say anything, Julie walked up. “Hey, guys,” she said. “Grace, I need to borrow you for a minute.”
“Okay.” Normally Grace would be worried if Julie asked for a private conversation. But right now it was a relief to get away from Gaby. She was just too hard to figure out.
Grace followed Julie over to the canoe stands, where there were no campers. Her feet felt like lead as she tromped through the sand. She knew what was coming, and it wasn’t going to be fun.
“Grace, you know I have to ask about your reading,” Julie said.
“Yeah.”
“How far have you gotten in
Call of the Wild
?”
Grace tried to remember what page she was on. She couldn’t. “Far enough to know that I wouldn’t want to be that dog,” she said, hoping Julie would take that as a joke. The book was about a dog that, as far as she could tell, was in for a really bad life up in Alaska or someplace like that.
BOOK: Camp Confidential 03 - Grace's Twist
5.54Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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