Maddie's Camp Crush (6 page)

The next day was another blur of camp activities. After instructional swim in the afternoon, Maddie went back to the cabin to change for free time.

“Maddie, we're hitting the courts, right?” Libby asked.

“Sure,” Maddie replied. She and Libby had been practicing regularly, and they'd gotten into a routine. As
she tied the laces of her sneakers, she had a nagging feeling that she might be forgetting something, but she brushed it off.

It was another bright, hot day, but thankfully the tennis courts were mostly shaded in the afternoon. Maddie and Libby always found an open court; not many campers used their free time to practice tennis. They either relaxed, hung out, or played impromptu games of football in the soccer meadow.

Libby jogged to one side of the court, and Maddie took her place at the other.

“Okay, I'll serve,” Libby said. “You're doing a lot better, Maddie. Just remember what I said, and keep your eyes on the ball.”

Maddie focused on Libby, determined to return the ball. Libby swung, and Maddie watched the ball come toward her. She followed it as it veered to the right, brought her racket back, and swung.

Smack!
The ball hit the racket, and Maddie sent it soaring across the net . . . and out of bounds.

“Rats!” Maddie cried.

“It's okay,” Libby told her. “You're making contact. But I think you turned your wrist a little when you swung,
so the ball went wild. Let's try again.”

Maddie nodded, trying not to get frustrated. Even after taking tennis lessons in the spring, she always seemed to have the same problems.

Libby served again, and Maddie kept her eye on the ball and focused on her grip at the same time. The ball soared over the net and over Maddie's head, and even though she ran back as fast as she could, she just couldn't get to it in time.

“Rats!” she cried again.

“That was a tough one,” Libby said. “When you play you have to be able to get anywhere on the court really fast. My instructor told me to jump rope when I work out to build up speed and coordination.”

“Do we have any jump ropes at camp?” Maddie asked.

“I'm not sure,” Libby replied. “Anyway, what we're doing is good practice too.”

Maddie sighed. “All right. Keep them coming.”

Libby helped her practice for a half hour, and Maddie managed to hit quite a few balls over the net without them going out of bounds.

“You're really doing great,” Libby assured her as they walked back to the bunk.

“Thanks,” Maddie said. “It's really nice of you to help me.”

As they approached the bunk, Maddie saw Liza sitting on top of the porch steps. She looked upset, and suddenly Maddie remembered—they were supposed to meet to get flowers today!

“Liza, I'm so sorry!” Maddie said, running ahead of Libby. “I totally forgot.”

“Well I didn't,” Liza said, a little crossly. But she softened when she saw Maddie's face. “It's okay. Don't worry about it.”

“We can do it tomorrow,” Maddie promised.

“Well, we'd better do it soon,” Liza said. “I'm not going to be here much longer, you know.”

That's when it hit Maddie—the third week of camp was almost over already, which meant that Liza would be going home in a few days.

“Tomorrow, I promise,” Maddie said. “Come on, let's walk to arts and crafts.”

“Okay,” Liza said, and she didn't seem so mad anymore.

Maddie was relieved that Liza wasn't hurt. In a way, though, she didn't mind Liza getting mad at her. She
was treating her like she normally would, instead of being fake nice.

Still, though, she wanted to make things up to Liza somehow. Ever since they'd come to camp, she knew Liza was jealous that Maddie was staying on with Libby and Emily. But Liza was her best camp friend—no, her best friend anywhere. So she definitely had to make it up to her, even though she didn't have much time left.

“I'D BETTER SEE SIX GIRLS READY FOR FLAG WHEN
I walk in here,” Tara called from outside the cabin door. “If not, I'm going to confiscate your blow-dryers!”

Maddie put down her hairbrush and rushed to the door along with the other girls. The only one who wasn't scrambling was Emily. She got up off her bed, stretched, and lined up behind Maddie.

Tara entered the cabin and smiled when she saw them all. “That's more like it,” she said. “All right, then. Flag time!”

Every morning, campers hoisted the Camp Wimoway flag up a tall pole outside the camp directors' office. At night, the flag came down. This morning, as the girls made their way to the morning assembly, they saw groups of campers pointing up at the flag and giggling. Instead of the usual camp flag, a pair of pink, polka-dotted underwear was flapping in the breeze.

Samantha looked confused. “How did that get up there?”

“It's those boys,” Liza replied. “Another classic prank. They swiped some girl's undies and ran them up the flag.”

Libby gasped. “Oh my gosh, those are Emily's!”

The girls turned to look at their friend, who was smiling. “They look awesome, don't they?”

Maddie laughed. “Yes, they do.”

Amelia rolled her eyes. “If those were mine, I'd never admit it. Those polka dots are hideous.”

But Emily didn't care. “Everyone salute my underwear!” she yelled, raising her arms in the air, and the boys started cracking up.

Liza was frowning. “If I were you, I'd be mad,” she said. “Not because you should be embarrassed about your underwear, but because it's an invasion of privacy. Those boys snuck into our cabin. That hits too close to home.”

Maddie suddenly knew how to make things up to her best friend. She leaned over and whispered in Liza's ear.

“Let's get them back,” Maddie said. “I'll help you. I have an idea.”

Liza turned to her, and her blue eyes were sparkling. “I knew I could count on you, Mads.”

For the rest of the day, Maddie and Liza were inseparable. They paired up during tennis, laughing hysterically as they both sent the ball flying in crazy directions. In acting, they practiced being a baked potato and a fried chicken leg. At instructional swim, Liza surprised Maddie by showing up for the advanced class.

“Tara said I was ready,” Liza said, grinning. “Of course, I thought I was ready three weeks ago, but whatever.”

During free time, they headed to the soccer meadow to pick flowers. Colorful wildflowers dotted the overgrown border of the meadow, and lacy green ferns grew in the woods on the meadow's north side.

“I think we were, like, eight the last time we did this,” Maddie remarked. “It's hard to believe it was that long ago.”

“I know, right?” Liza nodded. She leaned down to pluck a tiny blue flower nestled in the grass.

“So much has changed since then,” Maddie said, and she regretted the words as soon as she said them. It was true, but the last thing she wanted to do was talk about her dad now, when she was so free and happy.

But Liza just smiled. “Yeah, things change, but we'll always be friends.”
Which was the exact right thing to
say
, Maddie thought,
and just another reminder of why Liza was her best friend
.

“Always,” Maddie replied.

Liza stood up. “Come on, it's time for arts and crafts. Let's see what we can do with these.”

Carrying their treasures in paper lunch sacks, they trooped across the meadow, past the bunks, to the craft cabin. Maddie found herself swiveling her head around as they walked across camp. It was almost second nature at this point to be on the lookout for Gabriel. Which was silly. After all, would she march up to him? Go over and just talk to him? Probably not. But well . . . why not? She was lost in thought.

“Earth to Maddie!” said Liza. “What do you keep looking for? More flowers?”

Maddie looked down so Liza couldn't see her blush. She felt bad. She was supposed to be having quality time with Liza, not thinking about Gabriel. “Uh, yeah, just looking for some more flowers,” she said.

Twice the size of one of the bunks, the arts and crafts cabin was stuffed with shelves containing paint, yarn, glue, glitter, beads, fake fur, and every other craft supply Maddie could ever imagine. When they arrived, Emily was
already there, gluing plastic gems onto a wooden box she had painted bright purple. The rectangular box had high sides and was open on top with a handle, almost like a toolbox.

“What are you working on?” Maddie asked.

“It's a craft caddy, like a portable container for my basic craft supplies,” Emily said. “I've been working on it all through free time. What do you think? Does it need more gems?”

“It looks pretty sparkly to me,” Maddie replied. “It's beautiful.”

Liza dumped the contents of her bag onto the table. “So, do you think you can help us make cards out of these? I forget how we did it last time.”

Emily frowned, thinking. “Well, if you want to dry or press the flowers so they'll last a long time, that will take, like, a week.”

“I don't have a week to do that,” Liza said. “I'm leaving in a few days.”

“Not a problem,” Emily said. She started putting some of the fern leaves and smaller flowers aside. “I bet if you spray these with some acrylic spray, they'll last for a while. Long enough to mail them, anyway. You can spray
them outside, and when the stuff dries just glue them to the front of the card.”

“Cool,” Maddie said. “Where's the spray?”

Emily pointed. “In that closet over there,” she said, and then went back to gluing more gems onto her craft caddy.

Maddie and Liza went to the closet and looked for the spray. Maddie noticed a big jar of petroleum jelly on the shelf. She picked it up and grinned at Liza.

“Just what we need,” she whispered.

Liza looked around to make sure no one was looking at them. Then she took the jar from Maddie and slipped it into the empty brown bag.

“Perfect,” she said, nodding at Maddie. “Now let's go make some cards.”

With Emily's help, the girls created a dozen cards decorated with beautiful flowers and leaves.

“Now I have to start writing those letters,” Maddie said, holding up a card with a little white daisy on the front. “I'll definitely, definitely do it tomorrow.”

“I'll remind you,” Liza said. “Because after I'm gone, I want to make sure you write me a letter too.”

“Of course I will,” Maddie promised.

That night, the girls sang loudly at the campfire,
cracking up after each silly song. When the sing-along was over, they headed to the mess hall for milk and cookies. Maddie saw Gabriel waiting by their rock for her. He looked at Maddie expectantly as she approached.

Maddie looked at Liza.

“It's okay,” Liza said, her eyes twinkling. “See you back at the bunk.”

“Hey,” Maddie said, walking to the rock.

Gabriel slid over, offering her a seat. “I got you a cookie,” he said, “and some chocolate milk.”

“Thanks,” Maddie said, taking the snack from him. She noticed she didn't feel as flustered as she usually did. Things just felt . . . normal.

Is that good or bad?
she asked herself, starting to worry. Didn't the sweaty palms, heart-pumping thing mean she had a crush? So was her crush gone?

“You and your friend are good singers,” Gabriel said, and Maddie blushed a little.

“Yeah, we were kind of loud tonight,” she said, and then her worried thoughts flew away. “So, where are you from, exactly?”

Gabriel smiled. “London,” he replied. “I thought it was fairly obvious.”

“But your mom,” Maddie said, and then she stopped herself. Gabriel had seemed pretty embarrassed by his mom that first day. Maybe she shouldn't bring it up?

But Gabriel just laughed. “She's American. My dad is British, but they got divorced last year, so mum and I came to America to live.”

“Wow,” Maddie said. “That's a big change.”

Gabriel nodded. “Getting used to another country is pretty big. I miss my friends, but I miss my dad the most. He's pretty far away.”

So is mine,
Maddie thought, and even though it wasn't exactly the same, she knew how Gabriel must feel.

“Have you started school yet?” Maddie asked, changing the subject.

“No, we just moved in June,” Gabriel replied, and he suddenly looked nervous. “I start in the fall. My mum thought it would be a good idea for me to go off and have a nice summer at camp while she gets everything settled at home. If you ask me, she wanted to park me somewhere while she got things sorted out. I'd rather be settling in at home.”

A dark looked crossed his face, and then softened. “No offense or anything!”

Maddie shook her head. “It's okay. I think my mom dumped me here for the whole summer too!”

Gabriel didn't ask why, and Maddie didn't tell him. Soon it was time for curfew. She said good-bye to Gabriel and gave him a big smile, then she headed toward the cabin with a warm, glowy feeling in her chest. Maddie found herself whispering with Liza after lights out, just like they used to.

“So you really like Gabriel?” Liza asked.

“I think so,” Maddie whispered. “But it's confusing. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel.”

“I know what you mean,” Liza replied. “I thought I liked Brandon, but now I don't know. It's like you're supposed to like somebody, but why? What would make me like Brandon? I mean, sure he's cute and he's nice, but so are a lot of boys. And sometimes he can be a little bit of a jerk. I'm pretty sure he's the one who stole Emily's underwear.”

“Well, Gabriel's nice,” Maddie said. “I don't think he would ever steal anyone's underwear.”

“That's cool,” Liza replied. “So if he's nice, then just keep hanging out with him. Why not?”