Camp Payback (18 page)

“So adapt it and just do a few scenes from
West Side Story
as a skit. Camp Juniper Point needs a Skit Night, and I’ve been telling Mr. W. that very same thing since last summer.” She sat straighter in her seat as a couple of guys from Wander Inn dragged old wooden ramps out onto the stage. “Look, girls! They’re making a half-pipe!”

How could Emily do this to me? I’d hoped to do an entire play, maximizing my time with Javier.

Siobhan and Yasmine slid closer to us on the table bench.

“Did you hear who’s back at camp?” Siobhan whispered while the whole mess hall buzzed with some kind of gossip.

Something was definitely going down.

“Not really,” I shot back glumly, not caring so much about gossip these days.

“Remember Nick Desanti?” Siobhan prodded, pointing to a cute guy with dark hair who strode out onto the stage in some kind of colorful athletic suit like a biker might wear. Or a NASCAR driver. There were patches on the knees and elbows. Sponsor names sewn on the sleeves.

“He used to be in Wander Inn a long time ago, right? Then he started snowboarding. Won some medals.” My gaze landed on Kayla West, who’d dated Nick once upon a time. Well,
date
the way you do when you’re little. Which is to say that they held hands during bonfires until her friends convinced her Nick wasn’t good enough for her—or any of the Divas.

He’d left camp after that and hadn’t been back since.

“Right.” Siobhan spun her magenta-colored Secret Camp Angel bracelet around and around her wrist.

Jackie leaned forward, animated. “I can’t believe he’s back. Amazing.”

“He used to be so short,” I blurted.

Yasmine sighed dreamily, for once not frowning at me. “He’s hot.”

I followed her gaze and agreed Nick was cute. Not brooding-Javier-sexy, but definitely good-looking.

“He can’t snowboard here,” I pointed out as the volume level in the cafeteria got louder and louder.

“It looks like he’s going to do a skateboard trick instead,” Siobhan explained, pointing to a board propped on one side of the stage. “Did you see where Rafe went?”

“Rafe?” I had no idea who she meant.

Her cheeks went pink.

“Rafael Cruz.” Her voice caught as she said his name.

I’d never seen someone advertise a crush so clearly.

I couldn’t hold back a giggle. “Oh, so it’s Rafe now?” I shouted loud enough to turn a few heads our way. “Siobhan, you’ve got it bad.”

She bolted out of her seat and rushed away.

“What did I say?” I wondered. I hadn’t been making fun of her.

Yasmine tsked at me and slid back down the bench seat, putting a few feet between us like we were junior campers and I had cooties. For crying out loud.

“Rafe is Siobhan’s first crush. I don’t think she wants it advertised,” Emily pointed out kindly, getting to her feet. “I’m going to go announce Nick’s act.”

I nodded, hating that I’d embarrassed Siobhan. Geez, if Emily was more sensitive to someone’s feelings than me, I was seriously falling short in the emotional intelligence department. My parents had blogged about that topic once, and I remembered thinking they were both pretty emotionally clueless. I would
not
let myself turn into them.

“Alex, I want you to organize that skit night, okay?” Emily stared down at me with her hands on her hips, all serious-like.

“Really?” I swallowed hard.

Who would put me in charge of anything?

Yasmine had scooted as far away from me as the seat would allow, and I’d just embarrassed one of my oldest friends. Oh, and the guy
I
was crushing on didn’t want anything to do with me since I, apparently, threw gasoline on simmering drama. It was shaping up to be a real banner year at camp.

“Yes, really. This is a good idea. You take it and run with it.” She pointed her finger at me, the American flag on her finger making me feel like it was an order directly from Uncle Sam himself. “I’m telling Gollum to set aside a Friday night slot for a scene from
West Side Story
presented by the senior campers.”

Would Gollum even listen to the camp Rainy Day Director and let us do a skit night? I gave Emily a shaky nod, not sure if I should be thrilled at the opportunity or scared to death.

Alex

“Fire!”

My fingertips vibrated on the quivering string as my arrow flew at an archery target. I squinted in the morning sunshine at the untouched yellow, red, and blue circles.

Darn. A total miss again. There should be a prize for not hitting the target at all. It took hard work and dedication to suck that bad.

“Alex, sight the target. Look before you release.” Jackie raised her elbow to eye level and pantomimed pulling back on an invisible arrow. She straddled a white powder line that ran the length of the field. The rest of my cabin mates ranged along the chalk boundary with Jackie to my left and Trinity to my right.

“Yes, ma’am.” I fake-saluted her. Like I cared. Although it was nice of her to give me pointers on my least favorite activity. I raised the unloaded weapon.

“And keep your elbow still when you pull back.” Jackie leaned over and steadied my straining arm. I couldn’t help it if my skinny guns didn’t pack any muscle. I’d give anything for Jackie’s toned biceps.

“Got it. Thanks.” I tried to keep my aching limb from shaking, then dropped it. We’d been at this for over a half an hour. How much longer until lunch? And Javier?

“You can do it, Alex,” called Piper from farther down the line. Her blonde hair was twisted in an elaborate knot, two patterned hair sticks holding the improbable bun in place. “Try to hit the target at least once today.”

I pulled my hair off my heated neck, wishing I had an elastic band. It might only be 11:00 AM, but the temperature had already kicked into high gear. If anything, the muggy air was a thick soup full of swimming gnats. “I think I hit Trinity’s.”

Trinity’s laugh rang in the still, humid air. “That doesn’t count and you know it.”

“It’s our last shot of the session,” Yasmine put in. A lime-green scarf encased her hair, the crisscrossing fabric looking like it might engulf her head. “Plenty of time to redeem yourself.”

It was practically encouragement. Sometimes Yasmine wasn’t awful.

I glanced past her to Siobhan. Her small shoulders were stiff and squared, her jaw set as she stared down the field. Usually she’d have something to add about angles and trajectory lines, but she’d been quiet around me all day. I shouldn’t have teased her about Rafe and needed to find a way to make it right. I used to think it was just having a temper that got me into trouble. But it was my lack of filter, too, apparently.

“Clear down range!” barked our activity director. Everyone was safely in line and out of danger.

I stiffened my stance, aligned my hips and shoulders, and planted my left foot over the white powder streak.

“Nock!”

I inserted an arrow and brought up my trembling arm.

“Not clear! Not clear!” One by one we lowered our bows and stared as a tall, older boy ambled out of the bushes behind our targets. He pulled up short at the sight of so many armed young women. A short gust blew his longish, dark blond hair off his face, and Trinity gasped as fear turned my stomach inside out.

Had BLISS Network caught up with me at last? Despite my brave words to Javier, I wasn’t ready to face the reality of my parents’ world and the crappy role I played in it.

“It’s Seth,” Trinity whispered.

Seth? I blinked through the sunlight and realized she was right. A former Wander Inn camper, Seth had dated my B.F.F. for years until an outsider swooped in and stole her away. I’d always liked Seth, though. We all did.

“Hi, Seth!” Trinity shouted, waving. All the other Munchies did the same until he grinned and waved back.

“What are you doing here?” she called again. Mr. Barry, the archery instructor, shushed her.

“Working!” Seth shouted back. “I’m staying at my grandparents’ house.” He lifted a hatchet before he waved again and stalked out of sight.

“Who is it?” Yasmine asked.

“Seth Reines, a former camper,” Siobhan said as we all took up our positions again at Mr. Barry’s command. “His grandparents own Camp Juniper Point, so he must be down here visiting them for the summer and helping out.”

“I heard he’s doing some volunteer work to rebuild the old gazebo area out by Crystal Falls where we used to picnic,” Jackie chimed in. “Some of the Wander Inn guys are signing up to help him during their free period.”

“Cool.” Piper stretched her arms over her head. “It’s great to reuse those building materials. It’s just been sitting in a heap for years.”

“Ready!” Mr. Barry shouted. “Aim.”

I tried to concentrate on my target even as Trinity whispered, “I wonder if anyone can sign up to help?”

“Fire!” came the command.

The air reverberated with the collective release of our arrows and Trinity’s deep sigh. We all knew she’d had a secret crush on Seth since forever, but he’d been off-limits because girl code wouldn’t let her poach on Lauren’s guy. Except…Seth wasn’t Lauren’s guy anymore.

“I can’t believe he’s working here.” Trinity shook her still-stinging hand. “Isn’t it weird to have him so close by and not have him hang out with us?”

Siobhan and Piper nodded. But then, we’d spent a lot of time hanging out with the Wander Inn guys. Until this mess with Vijay, I had, too.

Jackie jogged closer to thump me on the shoulder. “Good job, Alex!”

I’d almost forgotten about my shot. I smiled at the arrow sticking on the left edge of the board.

“Isn’t that Trinity’s?” Yasmine retied the ends of her head scarf.

“Oops,” giggled Trinity. “That is my yellow-stripe. Guess I was distracted. Sorry, Alex.”

I shrugged. At least I had one arrow on my target, even if it wasn’t mine. Done and done.

“All right, ladies, retrieve your missiles, we’re finished.” Mr. Barry gave the order that set us free.

Hallelujah. I stumbled down the field after my cabin mates. Because we weren’t stopping at our cabin on the way to dinner, I’d worn my three-inch wedge sandals to class. Definitely not the most steady footgear on rough terrain, but they added the height I needed to catch Javier’s eye.

“If Jackie’s right about some of the boys helping Seth during a free period, you ought to be able to do that, too, Trinity,” said Siobhan when we reached our targets. “You should ask Emily. You know she always fights for girls to be able to do anything the guys can.” She plucked arrows from her archery board as I scanned the ground for mine.

Trinity dropped her nearly full quiver and had to start over. I helped her scoop up some, surprised to see my normally Zen cabin mate looking so flustered. Hopefully that meant she was going to make a play for Seth.

“You should go for it, Trinity,” I encouraged her.

Piper handed me one of my red-tipped arrows. “Let’s all sign up.”

“I’m in.” Yasmine pulled another arrow from her yellow bull’s eye. What did that make—eight? Not that I was counting.

“I can’t.” I grabbed the last of my missed shots and stuffed them in my quiver. “I’ve got to get the skit organized, and as much as I want Trinity to have her chance with Seth, I really need the rest of you guys.” They were so not bailing on me.

“And why should your friends do what
you
want them to all the time?” Yasmine’s hoops swung as we headed back to Mr. Barry. “Maybe they have their own dreams to explore and stars to follow.”

“Thanks for the life lesson, Yoda,” I shot back, earning a scathing look from Yasmine and a giggle from somewhere behind me. “But I’d like to think I would help them if they were put in charge of something that was really important to them. I can’t make all those costumes or sets by myself.”

A lean arm settled around my shoulders, the faint smell of patchouli tickling my nose. Piper.

“We can do both. Okay? No worries.”

Easy for her to say. It’s not like Emily put her in charge—set her up to look like an idiot when this turned into a colossal fail. But how could I turn it down? Now that I’d acted, I couldn’t wait to do it again. Besides, Javier had promised to help—a guarantee I’d see him again, whatever our status.

“Girls!” Emily dashed our way, her hair wild, cheeks a bright pink. “You will never guess who is going to be leading a very special new initiative at camp.”

“We know!” Trinity exclaimed, then mouthed “Seth” at me. She handed Mr. Barry her quiver and spun in a circle that made her gauzy skirt billow around her calves. “And we absolutely can’t wait. It’s going to be awesome.”

“Yes!” Emily fist-pumped like a New Jersey D.J. “Knew I could count on my home girls to help with my personal development and growth workshop.”

“Wait. What?!” Trinity stopped so fast that Piper ran into her back, making them both stumble.

Emily reached to steady them. “I know. I’ve got to work on that title—something more catchy. How does ‘Don’t Be a Teen Statistic’ sound? More to the point, right?”

Jackie chuckled. “It says it all.”

“I liked the first name,” Yasmine said. “And I want to help.”

“Wait.” I sprinted ahead and turned to face my friends, halting their progress. “So now you’re all going to rebuild the gazebo with Seth and do Emily’s workshop? Hello, what about my skit? I need you. Where are your priorities?”

“Where are yours?” a cool voice shot back with the same level aim that made her the best in archery.

I gave Yasmine a dirty look, which she returned with a smug smile. Who did she think she was, Gandhi?

“I’m trying to create something special for camp and no one cares,” I huffed, falling in with the group as we continued our trek to the mess hall for lunch.

Yasmine pointed a finger at me. “Are you sure that’s all you’re trying to do?”

I started to object, then stopped when Javier came to mind. How the heck did she know I wanted an excuse to be around my camp crush? But I also wanted to act again. A passion and talent all my own. This was supposed to be my best summer ever. If I couldn’t have Javier as a boyfriend, I could still make him my leading man.

Jackie nudged my shoulder with hers. “Fess up, Alex. We all know it’s about Javier.”