Jenna's Dilemma (4 page)

“Maybe I waited too long,” Jenna said.

“Hey! Don't wuss out on us,” Brynn said. “It's a tradition.”

Jenna caught a glimpse of Chelsea now, who was walking with Simon, Eric, and Adam, tossing her hair and flirting. Ew! Flirting with
Adam
? And even worse, Adam was smiling and laughing. He seemed to be
enjoying
it. Maybe some newbies
did
need to be pranked.

“All right,” Jenna said, her eyes sparkling with mischief as she turned back to her friends. “Let's do it.”

“When?” Alex asked, her dark eyes bright with excitement.

“Why wait?” Jenna said, a skitter of excitement racing over her skin. “Tomorrow we make a plan. And tomorrow night, the newbies get initiated.”

chapter THREE

The next morning, Jenna stood on the edge of the wooden planks that made up the beginner's diving pier at the Lakeview lake. The sky was a gorgeous blue with just a few whispy-white clouds. The sun was hot on her shoulders and all around the lake, campers laughed, splashed, and squealed, having the time of their lives. Across the water, in the deep end, the senior boys and girls were doing relay races while their friends shouted encouragement from the sand. Jenna watched them, wishing she were over there having fun instead of standing over the rippling water, terrified.

In the water below Jenna, Chelsea and Alex dog-paddled, having already made their dives. Behind her were a bunch of other boys and girls in her swim skill level, all gossiping and messing around while they waited their turns. Everyone was happy and relaxed and looking forward to that night's movie-night viewing. Everyone except Jenna.

The water looked so far away. Even though she could probably reach down with her toe and touch the cool surface of the lake, it still looked so far. Was she really supposed to launch herself from the safety of the platform and crash headfirst into the water? What if there was something down there? Like a rock? She could crack her head open and die and her body would sink to the bottom of the lake and no one would ever find her and—

Sometimes having a good imagination really stinks
, Jenna thought.

The whole camp was divided up into colors according to their swimming ability. Those who were just learning to swim were reds and had to stay in the shallow end. Those who could swim but weren't experts yet and couldn't dive were yellows, like Jenna. Those who could dive and were practicing for their deep-end swim test were greens. The experts, who had passed the final test and could do it all, were blues.

At the end of last summer, Adam had accelerated right through green and straight to blue, and Jenna had been totally jealous. Not many eleven-year-olds were blues, and it killed her that Adam was so far ahead of her. But staring at the water just then, she felt she wouldn't have minded staying a yellow forever.

“Okay, Jenna, just put your hands together over your head like a V,” Tyler Bernal, the swim instructor, told her. He was in the lake, one hand holding onto the ladder to the pier, the other treading water.

Tyler was new to camp this year, and with his curly dark hair, tanned skin, and killer smile, every girl at Lakeview was in love with him—especially Jenna's sister Stephanie. Half the camp was whispering about the possibility that Tyler and Stephanie would be a couple before summer's end. Even Jenna thought Tyler was pretty cool. But if he really made her dive headfirst into this lake, that opinion was going to change.

Jenna did as she was told, but her knees were shaking so violently, they were actually knocking together. This was something Jenna had thought only happened in cartoons.

“Good, now bend forward toward the water,” Tyler instructed.

Jenna bent at the waist. She felt like she was going to throw up. This whole feeling was new to Jenna. Normally she wasn't scared of anything.

“Come on, Jenna! You can do it!” Alex called out from the water, clearly sensing her terror.

“Good, now bend your knees a little, tuck your head, and dive,” Tyler said.

You make it sound so easy
, Jenna thought.
Like I'm not about to die.

“Okay, Jenna, on the count of three,” Tyler prodded gently.

Jenna squeezed her eyes shut. She could hear the first-year campers giggling and splashing at the shallow end of the lake. She could hear the water lapping against the platform. She could hear Tyler counting up.

“One ...”

I can do this, I can
, Jenna told herself. Though her pounding heart didn't seem to agree.

“Two . . .”

I can. I can. I can
. . .

“Three!”

Jenna opened her eyes, saw the water, and panicked. She stumbled back from the edge of the platform, and her bare heel caught in one of the grooves between the boards. Luckily, Grace caught her before she could fall on her butt.

“Are you okay?” Grace asked, pulling off the little nose clip she always wore for swimming.

“I can't,” Jenna heard herself say, shaking her head. “I can't do it. I just can't.”

Tyler was out of the water in an instant, walking over to her with his red swim trunks dripping all over the planks. “It's okay, Jenna. You don't have to do it today,” he said. “We can work on it some more.”

“Yeah, don't worry, Jenna. You don't have to do it today,” Candace said, repeating Tyler's words like she always repeated everyone's. “It's no big deal.”

“Remember last year? It took me, like, forever before I could even put my head under the water,” Grace reminded her. “I felt like such a total freakazoid! But you were the one who told me to just take my time, and by the end of the summer, I was swimming.”

Jenna's heartbeat started to return to normal, and she managed to smile at her friends. They were right. She didn't have to get everything on the first try, did she? Besides, she was the best softball player in the bunk and the best kickball player. She didn't have to be great at
everything
.

Just when she was starting to feel better, Chelsea and Alex stepped up from the ladder.

“Omigosh! You looked hil-
ar
-ious standing up there all shaking,” Chelsea said, holding her stomach as she laughed. “I can't believe Jenna Bloom is afraid of diving!”

“Chelsea!” Alex said reprovingly.

Jenna's cheeks reddened in embarrassment.

“You know you're not going to move up to green if you can't dive—right, Jenna?” Chelsea said. “You'll be stuck in the kiddie end next summer while we're all hanging out over here.”

“Like I really want to hang out with you,” Jenna shot back. Why did Chelsea have to be so mean? And only some of the time. If she were mean
all
of the time, at least Jenna and the others would always be prepared, but it was like one second she was a completely normal friend and the next second she was being a total jerk.

“All right, girls. That's enough,” Tyler said, putting his hands on Chelsea's shoulders and steering her to the back of the line. He rejoined Jenna and crouched next to her. “Check it out,” he said, lifting his chin toward the next platform where the diving boards were.

Jenna watched as her brother Adam climbed the five steps to the mid-level board, walked confidently to the edge, and dove off. He barely made a splash when he hit the water. All his buddies and some of the other blues cheered for him when his head popped up again. Even Sarah, who had been in blue forever, and Natalie, who had been put in blue right away after taking her swim test, applauded for him. Adam's grin was practically blinding.

“If your brother can do it, you can do it—right?” Tyler said.

Jenna swallowed hard. There it was again, the Bloom Curse. Now she felt like an even bigger loser because Adam was so far ahead of her. Back when Grace couldn't duck under the water, everyone was patient and cool about it. But now, if Jenna didn't catch up with Adam, everyone would tease her for being so far behind her brother. It was so unfair.

“Want to try it again?” Tyler asked.

Jenna shook her head. “No.”

“You sure?” Tyler asked.

“Can't we just do it at the next lesson?” Jenna asked. She crossed her fingers behind her back and added, “I'm sure I'll be ready by then.”

“Yeah. I'm sure she'll be ready by then,” Candace echoed.

“Okay,” Tyler said, standing up again. Jenna felt relieved that he was no longer staring her straight in the eye. “Why don't you sit with your feet in the water while the rest of the campers take their turns? When we're done we'll all go for a swim.”

Jenna nodded silently and sat on the edge of the pier. She stared down at the surface of the lake as she swirled her legs around, keeping her back to the diving platform. The last thing she wanted was to have to keep watching her brother show off his skills. For the first time in her life, Jenna couldn't wait for swim period to be over.

 
 
Jenna sighed as she used her fork to make crisscross designs in her puddle of ketchup. Lunch was almost over, and most of the girls in her bunk were gathered around a new magazine Marissa had gotten in the mail, taking a quiz titled “What's Your Style Personality?” Jenna was so not interested.

“Want my Tater Tots?” Alex asked from the seat across from Jenna.

Jenna eyed the pile of potatoes that were left on her friend's plate. Did this girl never eat? “Sure,” she said, pushing her plate toward Alex's. Alex used her fork to shovel the Tots over to Jenna, who promptly drowned them in ketchup.

Alex glanced down the table. Once she seemed convinced that everyone else was occupied, she leaned in toward Jenna. “So, you were really scared this morning, huh?” Alex asked.

Jenna's eyes flashed, but then she looked at her friend and realized she wasn't teasing her. Alex's dark eyes were open and concerned. Jenna looked down at her plate.

“I just don't get how you do it,” Jenna said. “I mean, you're
not
scared?”

Alex shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe I was the first time. A little. But once you do it once, it's no big deal.”

“Really?” Jenna asked, doubtful.

“Yeah. It's actually fun,” Alex said.

Jenna couldn't believe that one. How could something so terrifying turn out to be fun? But then, she supposed most of the older kids did laugh and mess around as they did their crazy dives. And when they came out of the water again, they were usually smiling like Adam had been that morning.

“I can help you during free swim if you want,” Alex suggested. “Tyler said my dive was the straightest in the group.”

The Tater Tot Jenna was munching on turned to dust in her mouth. Alex wasn't trying to make her feel better, she was just trying to show off. It was one more way for Alex to prove she was the better camper. She was about to tell Alex that she could handle her own diving when Marissa got up from the other end of the table, leaving the magazine with the other campers. She walked over and dropped down into the chair next to Jenna's.

“You guys were in such an intense conversation, I just
had
to see what was up,” Marissa said, looking from Jenna to Alex. “So what's up?”

“I was just offering to help Jenna with her diving,” Alex said.

“Oh, yeah. I heard about what happened this morning,” Marissa said, looking at Jenna like she felt
so
bad for her.

It was all Jenna could do to keep from crawling under the table. “How did you hear about it?”

“Pete told me,” Marissa said.

Jenna's jaw dropped. It wasn't surprising that Marissa had heard gossip from Pete. The two of them had been hanging out a lot this summer, and everyone suspected they might be dating. But she couldn't believe
Pete
had found out about it.

“How did Pete know?” Alex asked defensively, getting Jenna's back.

“I think Tyler told him,” Marissa replied.

“Omigosh!” Jenna said, holding her head in her hand. “Everyone's talking about what a huge loser I am!”

“No! Jenna! It's not like that,” Marissa said, putting her hand on Jenna's back. “I think Tyler was just asking for Pete's advice on how to help you.”

“Great. So that just means that I'm so bad, even the swim instructor doesn't know what to do with me,” Jenna said, slumping.

“Wow. Since when did you become so negative?” Marissa asked.

Since now
, Jenna thought.
Or maybe it started before I left home to come here
. It had been pretty tough to stay positive for those last few weeks of the school year. Normally Jenna looked forward to camp even more than she looked forward to Christmas, but this year everything had been different. Even leaving for camp wasn't as fun as it normally was.