Holly's Heart Collection Two (52 page)

Hours after lights-out, the SOS found some bowls in the camp kitchen. After filling them with warm water, we tiptoed to the boys’ cabin area.

Since Jared was my main target and Stan was Andie’s, the two of us crept inside first. If all went well, Paula would dish out the hand-in-warm-water trick to Billy. Kayla’s target was Danny, and the rest of the girls would stand guard outside.

We were so good, we never even made a sound. Silent sisters, all right.

Jared’s limp right hand went willingly into the bowl. Quickly, I left the cabin and hid behind a tree with Paula, waiting for Andie.

Soon she emerged. Victory!

One by one, the girls administered the prank. Miraculously, we pulled it off.

I wrote in my notebook by flashlight when we returned.
Monday, June 27: We did it! We pulled off a major, I mean MAJOR, attack tonight. I still can’t believe we didn’t get caught.

Wednesday morning’s the jeep trip. We’re going to experience hairpin turns and switchbacks. After that, we’ll come back to camp for a wiener roast, and then…Talent Night.

I still don’t know what I’m doing for my talent. Todd Stillson wants me to sing a duet with him, but that’s impossible. Too bad things turned out this way.

How I wish I could be a little mouse hiding somewhere in Jared’s cabin tomorrow morning. Man, I’ll bet those boys will be ticked. When they see the bowls of water, they’ll know the truth. The SOS doesn’t mess around!

More later.

Sleeping bags were hanging out of every single one of Jared’s cabin’s windows Tuesday morning! We honestly tried not to giggle about it on our way to breakfast. It was mean, what we had done, but a powerful message had been sent. Maybe as strong a message as we’d ever sent.

After lunch we swam in the pool, just the girls. The guys had gone into Ouray to the hot springs.

So…it was a complete mystery when a white truce flag found its way onto the ground beside my beach towel.

“Hey, look at this,” I said to my dripping, shivering sisters. Reaching down, I read the note pinned to the makeshift flag.

Andie peered at the note as I read it. “Looks like the guys bit the dust,” she cackled. “They want an end to the war.”

“And check this out,” I said, laughing. “They’re calling for ‘a time of peace’! They actually want to meet and have a talk.”

“Cool, a powwow,” Amy-Liz said, and we cracked up.

“So, when do we talk?” Joy asked.

“The note suggests we meet the guys after the campfire, in front of the three pine trees,” I said. “Everyone agree?”

“Sounds fine to me,” Shauna said.

“Let’s wait for the guys to do the talking,” I suggested. “We’ll see how sorry they really are.”

We hurried off to the showers, wondering what would happen after the campfire.

After supper was a volleyball tournament—boys against the girls. We played Cabin D the first game. And then we had to play Jared’s cabin.

Groan.

“C’mon, girls, let’s show ’em,” Andie said.

The game turned out great. Strong competition. The works. Almost like a real war. Except for one thing: The opponents—especially Jared, Stan, and Billy—were being super nice. Giving us the benefit of the doubt during the game. Concerned when one of us tripped and fell. Stuff like that. They weren’t letting us win, though. I wondered why.

In the end, we got creamed—21 to 4. Jared and Billy came up afterward and shook hands, like in professional sports. Stan hung around Andie and me, behaving like a cool stepbrother…and friend. It didn’t even bug me when he turned on the John Wayne charm.

When it was dusk, we built a campfire and sat around singing. Rhonna passed out marshmallows, and our guys offered sticks to roast them. I accepted the offer from Jared and watched as he used his pocketknife to sharpen the end. I marveled at his change of spirit. He even
looked
repentant. Whoa!

During devotions, Pastor Rob talked about unity within the family of God. I wondered, had someone spilled the beans? Did he know about the guy-girl war?

“What kind of important info can we learn from Romans 12:16 today?” Pastor Rob asked.

Danny raised his hand. “That we should ‘live in harmony with one another.’ ”

Pastor Rob slowly made eye contact with each of us around the campfire. “What does that mean for you and me?”

Laina Springer raised her hand. “I guess we’re supposed to try and get along.” She glanced sheepishly at me.

Pastor Rob nodded. “That’s right. Now jumping down to verses eighteen and nineteen”—he shone a flashlight on his New Testa ment “ ‘If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord.” ’ ”

I could hardly swallow as I listened to Pastor Rob. What he was saying hit home. Hard. We had treated the guys—our own brothers in Christ—like enemies. The pact, and the war, too, were wrong. The boys had treated us poorly, that was true, but we’d carried things too far.

Long before the coals died out in the campfire, I was ready to talk peace. And talk we did. We met the guys at the pre-appointed spot. Silently, they piled the sports bags in front of us.

How desperately I wanted to erase the memory of my underwear rippling in the breeze. Could I forgive the boys for that?

“Okay, who wants to start?” Danny asked, looking around.

I took a deep breath, ready to speak, but Joy beat me to it. “I’m sorry for ignoring you guys all week.” She coughed nervously. “It was wrong.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Billy confessed, “about setting up Laina and her friends to raid your cabin.”

I couldn’t help it; I had to gasp. “
Laina
did your dirty work?” I was totally confused. Then I remembered the shiny glint in the moonlight; I
had
seen her braces!

Paula stepped forward, looking at Danny. “I’m really sorry about making you wet your bed.” She was sincere, but we girls burst out laughing.

Danny turned beet red. I could see it even in the fading light of dusk. “Don’t ever do that again,” he said softly.

“You’re supposed to forgive her, Danny,” I teased. “Practice what you preach.”

Jared turned to me and apologized for taking my hair tie. “And I didn’t mean it about your hair,” he said, moving closer. “I love your hair, Holly-Heart. Honest.”

“Uh-oh,” Andie muttered while the rest of my sisters groaned audibly.

I couldn’t contain myself. “SOS was my idea,” I confessed. “So was the pact. I guess we got a little carried away.”

Jared looked puzzled. “What was SOS supposed to mean, anyway? he asked.

“Sisters of Silence,” I said.

“Oh…yeah,” he said, thinking it through. “You girls
were
way too quiet.”

“Maybe talking things out would’ve been better,” Andie offered.

“No kidding,” Stan admitted.

Danny fidgeted.

“Well, what’s it gonna be?” Andie asked. “Forgiven or not?”

The guys looked at each other. Jared shrugged. “Okay, fine.”

Stan said, “Forgiven.”

Billy agreed, “Completely wiped out of my mind.”

Danny piped up: “Hey, there’s a really cool verse about forgiveness I memorized just today.”

“Whoa, Danny, you’re avoiding the subject,” Jared said. He shot a look at Stan and Billy. And—as if they’d planned it hours earlier—they promptly picked up “Preacher Danny” and hauled him down the slope to the cold mountain stream.

I could still hear Danny yelling for mercy as we picked up our sports bags and made our way back to good old Cabin B.

But it didn’t take me very long to forget about our church boys, because I was already planning what I would say the next time I saw Todd Stillson.

NO GUYS PACT

Chapter 20

“I feel like a new person,” I told Andie later that night. She was at the sink next to me applying makeup like crazy. “And it has nothing to do with this.” I studied my lip gloss.

Andie glanced at me in the mirror. “You’re right.” She sighed. “Just think, we almost messed up our entire week with that stupid pact.”

“Thank goodness we’ve still got some time left to enjoy the cease-fire,” I said.

“And to spend with our brothers,” Amy-Liz said.

“Call them brothers if you want.” I smiled. “I, for one, prefer to think of
some
of them as
more
than brothers.”

Andie and company turned simultaneously to stare. But I didn’t give them a single clue as to what I was thinking.

Jared and Todd both hung around during the end-of-camp latenight hike, walking on either side of me as we made our way up the trail. The rest of my sisters ended up with male counterparts, as well, something none of them seemed to mind.

At a rest stop, when Jared was busy talking to Billy, I invited Todd to sit with me on the jeep trip.

“I’d be honored,” he said, adjusting his cowboy hat, or was that a gentlemanly tip of the hat?

“And about that duet,” I said, “I have a great idea. That is, if you still want to sing with me.”

“We can practice our harmony tomorrow,” he said in a slow drawl. I took that as a yes.

“Perfect,” I said.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Jared was watching. Apparently he’d overheard Todd’s last words. I didn’t dare look at him too closely, but I was sure he was pouting. I could tell from the way his hands were jammed in his pockets.

I hid a smile. Jared never gives up….

Wednesday. Last full day of camp!

The open-jeep ride was even scarier than the brochure advertised. To keep from being too freaked about the steep dropoffs on either side of the trail, Todd and I sang. One song after another.

The jeep stopped at an overlook and I gasped. “I’m too young to die!”

“I won’t let you, Holly,” Todd said, smiling that cowboy grin. “I’m just getting to know you.”

It sounded a little hokey, I guess. But that was the part I liked about Todd. Sometimes along with hokey comes downright honesty.

I thought back to the times when Todd hadn’t gone along with the crowd—the guys—and joined in with their jeering. He was his own person. Different from most of the boys I knew but special just the same. A true gentleman.