Maddie's Camp Crush (7 page)

“Why not?” Maddie agreed.

“Will you two be quiet?” Amelia hissed.

“Stop texting!” Liza hissed back, and Amelia didn't say another word.

Liza grinned at Maddie. “Night, Mads.”

“Night,” Maddie replied, and then she feel into a deep and lovely sleep.

THE NEXT NIGHT MADDIE AND LIZA QUICKLY
changed before dinner. Maddie put on black shorts and a black tank top, and Liza wore purple shorts with a navy blue T-shirt.

“Do you have it?” Maddie asked as they got ready to leave the bunk.

Liza grinned and held up a small drawstring bag. “We're good to go.”

They nervously ate dinner, hoping that no one would notice their unusual change of clothes. But everything was normal.

“Veggie burger twenty-one,” Emily announced as the girls brought their trays to the table.

“Oh my gosh, Emily, you are going to turn into a veggie burger before camp is over!” Maddie exclaimed.

“I know,” Emily said glumly. “But I've got a plan. I'm
making a new apron for Mrs. Hancock, and then I'll suggest that she get some tofu into this place.”

“I hope she likes glitter,” Amelia said.

Liza made a face. “Tofu? I'm so glad I'm leaving in two days.”

“Hey, I like tofu too,” Libby said, standing up for Emily.

“I like it in miso soup,” Samantha said quietly.

“Well, then it's a good thing you're all staying,” Liza said, and Maddie glanced at her, worried. But Liza didn't look upset, and Maddie felt relieved.

After dinner they all filed out for the evening program. Because the first camp session was ending soon, the counselors had put together a skit, pretending to be campers on the first day of camp. Tara played a girl who took her blow-dryer with her everywhere.

“You mean I can't blow-dry my hair in the swimming pool?” she whined, and all the girls laughed. They knew she was teasing them.

Then Liza nudged Maddie. “Come on, let's do this,” she whispered.

Crouching low, they quietly snuck away from the program and headed for the path to the boys' camp. Once they got there, they stood up straight and broke into a run.

“We've got to hurry!” Liza said. “Some of the boys might come back early.”

Maddie's heart was pounding. She had never done anything like this before. It was terrifying and thrilling at the same time.

Liza made a beeline for the Charles bunk.

“Hey, that's Gabriel's bunk!” Maddie called out.

“Who cares?” Liza asked. “We need to hit as many bunks as we can!”

They slipped inside the dark bunk.

“It smells like feet in here!” Liza complained.

“Oh great. I can't wait to get to the bathroom,” Maddie said.

They stepped into the boys' bathroom and Liza opened her bag. She handed Maddie a pair of thin plastic gloves.

“From the cafeteria,” Liza explained. She slipped on her gloves, and then took out the jar of petroleum jelly. “All right. Ready!”

She opened the jar and took out a glob of the thick clear jelly. Then she smeared it on one of the toilet seats. Maddie started giggling uncontrollably.

“This is so gross!” she squealed.

“Shh!” Liza warned. “Come on, help. It only works if we do a whole bunch.”

Maddie grabbed a glob of jelly and quickly hit the other seat. Then the girls rushed out of the bunk and ran into the next cabin. They were in the middle of pranking a third bunk when they started to hear voices coming through the woods.

“Liza, they're coming!” Maddie shrieked.

Liza stuffed the jar into her bag and nodded to Maddie. “Head for the trees!”

The girls left the cabin and raced toward the trees like spies on the run in an action movie, ducking behind buildings and rocks until they reached the woods. Then they made their way back to the quad, avoiding the path so the boys wouldn't see them.

They tumbled into the quad, laughing and gasping.

“That was awesome!” Maddie cried.

“Definitely!” Liza agreed. “One of the best camp pranks ever. The boys sit down . . . and slide right off!”

Maddie started giggling again, but the sound of Gabriel's voice made her stop. She looked up to see him sitting on the rock—their rock—with Amelia. She was laughing like Gabriel had just told the funniest joke in the
world. Maddie felt a little pang in her heart.

“That's not right,” Liza said. “She knows you like him.”

“It's okay,” Maddie said, even though she wasn't sure if she believed it. “He's not my boyfriend or anything. He can talk to whomever he wants, right?”

They both stood there for a moment, not sure what to do. For a second Maddie wondered if she should go over there, but what would she say? And what if Gabriel didn't want to talk to her?

“Come on, let's see if there are any cookies left,” said Liza.

Maddie followed Liza right past Gabriel and Amelia. She waved at them, and Gabriel smiled and waved back. Amelia pretended she didn't see her.

So what if he's talking to Amelia? It doesn't matter, she told herself. But that little pang was still there, and not even a double-chocolate-chunk cookie could make it go away.

THE NEXT MORNING TARA CAME INTO THE BUNK FIVE
minutes earlier than usual. Libby quickly threw down her hairbrush.

“I'm ready! I swear!” she cried.

“Relax,” Tara said. “I'm just here to talk to you girls about a prank that was played last night.”

Maddie resisted the urge to look at Liza. She knew if she did she would give everything away.

Behind her, Liza's face was a mask of innocence. “What prank? Did the boys do something again?”

“Actually, the girls did it this time,” Tara said, eyeing her carefully. “Can you believe that someone greased the toilet seats in three of the boys' cabins?”

Emily burst out laughing. “Awesome!”

“Ew! That is so gross!” Amelia cried, making a face.

“Anyway, Patty has asked all the counselors to
check around to see who might have done it,” Tara said. “I told her that none of my Hannahs would ever do such a thing. None of you know anything about this, do you?”

Maddie struggled to look calm and cool, but she could feel the heat rising to her face. Did Tara know? Were they in trouble?

Then Amelia piped up. “Well, Liza's been saying for days that she's going to get revenge on the boys for their pranks,” she said.

Liza quickly turned to Amelia and motioned texting on a cell phone, and Amelia turned pale. Liza turned back to Tara.

“Yeah, I said that,” Liza admitted. “But I got salt all over my mashed potatoes. I was mad!”

“And I thought it was funny when they put my underwear on the flagpole,” Emily added.

“That's just what I thought,” Tara said. “All right, girls. Get ready for flag.”

Tara started to walk out the door, but to Maddie's surprise she turned her head and winked.

“I don't know who did it, but it was pretty awesome,” she said quietly, and then she hurried away.

Maddie fell back on her bed. Liza stormed over to Amelia's bed.

“Snitch!” Liza accused.

“Okay, chill,” Amelia replied, holding up her hands. “It's no big deal. Tara's not even mad!”

Liza shook her head and walked out of the cabin. “She is the one thing I won't miss about camp,” she muttered under her breath as she walked past Maddie.

Maddie jumped up and joined her friend. “That was close,” she said, once they were outside.

Liza stopped and then smiled. “Yeah. But we did it,” she said, and she held up her hand for a high five.

At breakfast that morning the whole camp was buzzing about the girls' prank. Jared walked over to the girls' side of the room.

“You guys think you're very funny,” he said. “But I know who did it, and we will get revenge.”

“What's the matter, Jared? Did you slip and slide?” one of the girls called out, and Liza and Maddie looked at each other in surprise. Their prank was a hit!

Jared just scowled and walked away.

“Do you think he knows it's us?” Maddie whispered to Liza.

“He couldn't,” Liza replied, but then Maddie noticed Amelia eyeing them curiously, and she went back to eating her French toast.

When breakfast ended, Gabriel walked up as Maddie was wiping down the girls' table.

“That was a right cheeky prank last night,” Gabriel said, grinning.

“Cheeky?” Maddie asked.

“Um . . . bold, I guess,” Gabriel said. “But also funny.”

“You're a good sport,” Maddie said. She wasn't about to tell Gabriel that she and Liza had done it. Some things would always be between her and her best friend.

Then Liza nudged Maddie. “Look,” she said, pointing.

Across the room, Amelia was talking to Jared. He was glancing over at their table with narrowed eyes. Maddie definitely did not trust Amelia. But what would she have to gain by ratting them out? Did Amelia like Jared now?

“Well, bye,” Gabriel said with a little wave. Maddie was startled. She was so busy worrying about Amelia that she had forgotten that Gabriel was standing in front of her, trying to talk to her.

“Bye!” she said, trying not to get too flustered. “And be careful where you sit!”

Gabriel laughed and gave her a wink.

Oh no . . . did she just give herself away?

Amelia was still talking to Jared.

“So do you think she's telling him what she suspects?” Maddie whispered to Liza, who was now standing next to her, when Gabriel was out of earshot.

“Maybe,” Liza replied. “But I'm not going to worry about it. Today's my last full day at camp. We need to have some fun.”

The last day of the first session was also a wrap-up for most of the activities. In archery, the girls held an elimination tournament, taking turns in rounds to see if they could outshoot one another. In the end, it was Samantha against Liza, and Liza won with a shot right outside the bull's-eye.

“Nice one,” Samantha complimented her, and Liza grinned.

“I'm leaving on a high note,” she said.

In drama, they put on a skit that they had been practicing for the last week. The girls also wrote a play about camp counselors.

“Faster! Faster!” Maddie yelled in her role as a counselor. “You're going to miss flag!”

“But it's three o'clock in the morning!” wailed Liza, who was playing a camper. Tara laughed.

At free time, Libby asked Maddie if she wanted to practice tennis.

“It's Liza's last day,” Maddie said. “But next week, we can practice all you want.”

“I bet you'll be sorry you said that,” Libby said mischievously.

“Thanks, Mads,” Liza said.

“So, what do you want to do?” Maddie asked.

Liza didn't hesitate. “Let's swim in the lake!”

Ten minutes later the girls were wading into the cool water. A few of the other campers had the same idea, but the lake was mostly quiet. They swam to the dock and then climbed out, sitting on the edge as they let the afternoon sun warm their skin.

“I'm going to miss you, Mads,” Liza said.

“Me too,” Maddie replied.

They were both quiet for a moment as they gently kicked the water with their feet. Then Liza looked at her.

“I can tell you don't like talking about your dad,” she said. “But if you ever need to, call me, okay? I mean, when you're out of camp and electronics aren't considered evil.”

Maddie couldn't help smiling. “Thanks,” she said, and then the words just came spilling out. “It's hard to talk about, you know? Back home everyone treats me different. I'm ‘the girl whose dad died.' Here I just wanted to be Maddie. And it's been pretty good so far.”

Liza nodded. “I get it. And maybe when you get back home things will be more normal too. People tend to forget stuff over the summer. You'll get, like, a fresh start.”

That had never occurred to Maddie before. “I hope that's true,” she said. “That would be nice.”

“You'll have to tell me what happens with Gabriel,” said Liza.

“What do you think will happen?” asked Maddie, curiously.

“Oh, I don't know,” said Liza. “Maybe he'll . . . maybe . . . ” She stopped. “You know what, I don't know!” Then she started to giggle.

Maddie started to giggle too. She was glad she wasn't the only one who had no idea what was supposed to happen next.

Liza nodded out to the lake. “Race you to the first buoy?”

Maddie grinned. “You're on!”

The girls dove into the water with a splash. They swam to the buoy and back. Liza's hand touched the dock just a second before Maddie's.

“Told you I was leaving on a high note!” Liza said.

At dinner, Liza ate a veggie burger with Emily. “For solidarity,” she said. Then the evening program was a good-bye to all the departing campers. When it was over, Gabriel walked over to Maddie.

“Go ahead,” Liza told her. “I've got to say good-bye to a bunch of people anyway.”

“Thanks,” Maddie said.

Gabriel smiled when he reached her. “Hullo, Maddie.”

“Hul—I mean, hello,” she said.

“It's okay if you copy my accent,” Gabriel told her. “It happens all the time.”

“Okay,” Maddie replied. “Then, hullo!”

They fell into step as they walked to get their milk and cookies. Maddie's heart started doing that flip-flop thing again. Being with Gabriel felt exciting and natural at the same time.

But he was hanging out with Amelia last night,
a little voice inside her said. Maddie pushed the thought aside. Gabriel was with her now, wasn't he? Dad always
told her to live in the moment. Well, that's what she was going to do.