Authors: Melissa J Morgan

Camp Confidential 05 - TTYL (19 page)

BOOK: Camp Confidential 05 - TTYL

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Six months had passed since the end of camp. She was back in the greatest city of the world, in her second semester of sixth grade, and doing lots of fun things with Hannah, her best friend in New York. It seemed a lifetime ago that she had shared Jenna’s care packages of chocolate-on-chocolate cupcakes, and cheered for Grace and Brynn in the campwide production of
Peter Pan
.

At the thought of seeing the girls of Bunk 3C again, her stomach fluttered with anxiety. Although she had many fond memories of them, she figured they had changed a lot since they’d seen one another. It would almost be like getting to know eleven new people—but with the added responsibility of making sure they had a fun weekend.

On top of that, she was going to see Simon again. Planning what to wear to dazzle him was almost more than she could handle from now until the party.

Her mother interrupted her thoughts. “Sweetie, it’s just pizza and a movie, and your good friends in sleeping bags. Nothing to be worried about.”

Can she read my mind? Or am I that obvious?
Natalie smiled at her mother, knowing she meant well. But her stomach still fluttered. Because it was much, much more than that.

They’re coming to my city and staying in my home. What if they don’t like the food, or the movie, or any of the activities I’ve planned? What if they think I’ve ruined the reunion for them? I don’t have a whole summer for them to get used to my world, the way I got used to theirs.

“Paging Mia Hamm!” Alex Kim’s mother called from the barely open sliding glass door that led to the back yard.

“On my way!” Alex called back.

Alex wore thick leggings and a heavy hockey sweater as she dribbled her soccer ball across the brittle brown grass in the back yard. As she panted, her breath curled upward like smoke.

She had been practicing since dawn. She needed to drastically improve her game by next Saturday. She played indoor soccer for the Blue Angels. Last Saturday, with both teams tied, she had lost control of the ball, and the Maroon Menace, their rivals for the league championship, scored a goal in the last eight seconds of play.

That game would have been ours if I hadn’t messed up
, Alex thought, angry at herself for her sloppy dribbling skills.

The sliding glass back door opened farther, to reveal Alex’s petite mother in a cream-colored velour tracksuit and pink Uggs, holding a jade-green bowl in both hands. Her black hair was pulled back in a ponytail that bounced when she talked.

“Alex, you know you need to eat,” she admonished her daughter. “Take extra-good care of yourself, sweetheart. You have a big weekend ahead of you.”

Alex came into the warm house and sat at the dining room table. A bowl of steaming oatmeal was waiting for her. Picking up her spoon, she sampled it, and instantly detected the artificial sweetener her mom had used. Wistfully, she remembered the rivers of maple syrup she used to drown her hot cereal in before she was diagnosed with diabetes. She could still have honey on occasion, but the days of maxing out on sugar and syrup like her friends were definitely over.

Her mom said, “Be sure to take the new batch of insulin needles to practice this afternoon.”

“I will,” Alex replied. For each activity she was engaged in, she had to provide an insulin kit for the coach. She had hopes of switching to insulin pills she could take by mouth, or maybe even an insulin pump, but for now, her usual dosage was one injection a day.

She also wore a silver medical I.D. bracelet. That would alert people to her condition if she couldn’t speak for herself. She had been very lucky that Julie, her Lakeview counselor, had known what to do after Alex had collapsed at camp. But without reading the warnings on her bracelet, an unknowing stranger might not interpret Alex’s dizziness and confusion as symptoms of her blood-sugar imbalance. With the wrong emergency care, Alex could wind up going into diabetic shock. That meant a coma . . . or worse.

“We need to leave for school soon,” her mother told her, as she quickly put the vegetables into a bright blue snack container.

“Okay, Mom.” Alex took the snack container from the counter. She hoisted up her heavy school backpack from the floor so she could load it in. She unzipped the main compartment and pulled out her Firefly cell phone.

A text message winked in the window of the faceplate, which was decorated with sparkly soccer balls:

CU
soon! B.

She grinned. “B” was Brynn, her bestest bud from camp. Brynn was coming to spend the night on Friday. Alex’s game was bright and early on Saturday morning. As soon as it was over, the two girls would get ready for the reunion together and take the bus into New York City.

When she’d first received the official Camp Lakeview invitation to the reunion, Alex had been nothing but excited. Then things got complicated—Natalie Goode invited her to spend the night at her apartment on Friday. Coolness, except that was the night before her next soccer game. And since she had essentially lost the last one for her team, she knew she had to show up for this one.

Not realizing Alex’s dilemma, Nat had described in excruciating, you-cannot-miss-this detail all the fun activities she had planned for her guests: a movie at a local theater, and a spa day where everyone could have manicures, pedicures, and facials. Alex had wanted like anything to go.

But she had a commitment to her team. And with their standings hanging in the balance of this Saturday’s game—after she herself had handed the victory to the Maroon Menace—she knew she couldn’t skip the Saturday morning game.

She had been very disappointed. But as her mother had pointed out, she would still be able to stay over at Natalie’s all-bunk sleepover on Saturday, after the party at Village Bowl.

“That way you can still be a good team member and have fun with your bunk,” her mother had said.

So she made her decision: to skip Friday night at Natalie’s and play the game on Saturday. The rest of the Blue Angels were very envious that she was going to Village Bowl—but even more impressed that she knew Tad Maxwell’s daughter, and would be spending the night at her fancy penthouse apartment.

Then, all of a sudden, Alex’s mother started fretting about Alex going so far away. Alex couldn’t believe what she was hearing. After all, she was in competitive soccer and her teams traveled all over the place. True, her mom usually accompanied the team as a chaperone, but still.

She complained to Brynn about it, and it turned out that Brynn’s mother was also a little anxious about Brynn traveling to New York City by herself. So somehow, it got decided that Brynn would stay over at Alex’s on Friday, and the two would go to New York together.

“A perfect solution!” Brynn had declared.

For me, anyway, Alex thought. But does Brynn really want to stay here? I’d give anything to go to Natalie’s on Friday. Doesn’t she feel the same way?

“We’re going to have so much fun!” Brynn had added. “I can’t wait to see all your trophies and eat your mom’s Korean barbecue!”

Alex was only semi-convinced. How much fun could they really have when the start time for her Saturday morning game was eight o’clock? Especially given that her diabetes meant she would have to go to bed super-extra-early?

Just like in soccer, I’ll do what it takes to make sure Brynn enjoys herself while she’s here. Only I sure hope I don’t fumble the ball.

Then we’ll go to the reunion at Village Bowl and have some totally excellent fun!

BOOK: Camp Confidential 05 - TTYL

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