Camp Payback (2 page)

My dad’s face transformed into a stranger’s. His smile was warm, his eyes twinkled. “It’s raising your children to embrace traditional, wholesome values such as understanding the importance of hard work, kindness, family, and integrity. We encourage saving rather than spending, helping others rather than helping yourself, faith in yourself and a higher power, and above all, honesty.”

The microphone amplified my choking cough.

Kevin Stiller looked at me, stunned, before he faced a lit camera, white teeth flashing against tanned skin. For the next five minutes, my father fielded questions. Then Kevin turned to my brother.

“Andrew, what are your plans this summer?”

“I’m building shelters in Nicaragua.” His brown hair, smooth and lacking my red highlights, gleamed under the intense stage lights. The crowd cheered, and a girl yelled, “Marry me!”

Our host held up his hands, and the crowd quieted. “That’s wonderful. And will your sister be accompanying you?”

I crossed my arms across my chest, knowing I looked every inch the rebellious teen they imagined me to be. But what the hell? Why hadn’t Kevin asked me?

Andrew’s expression turned pious and remorseful. “She’s going to North Carolina.” He hung his head, paused to study his clasped hands, then raised it again, his green eyes looking apologetic. “To summer camp,” he added.

The audience’s silent, collective disapproval was palpable. I peered into the darkened area and wondered what they saw. An apathetic teenager? A defiant girl? A burden to her deserving family? All of the above?

“And what will she be doing at this camp? Volunteering?” Kevin Stiller prompted, his eyes never straying my way.

I sat up straight, uncrossed my arms and leaned forward, my parents’ narrowed eyes on me. Screw this. My family’s official talking points about my summer were that I’d be volunteering with younger campers and promoting environmental awareness. Yet that wasn’t even close to the full story. If my parents valued honesty so much, then it was time they got some.

“No,” I cut off whatever Andrew was about to say, my voice loud in the hush.
“I’m
going to have fun.”

My dad looked like he was about to bust a kidney, but I stopped myself from caring. After a grueling year of public appearances to support their book, every interview focusing on me as the bad kid, every misstep dissected on their world-famous blog, they were rewarding me by banishing me from my friends, school, and home.

Someone said the best revenge was living well. If I had the greatest summer ever before they tossed me in A New Day’s dungeons and threw away the key, I’d get what I wanted.

Payback.

And if that included the boy who sent me the text, my ex-camp boyfriend, even better.

……………….

Five days later, when the car rolled to a stop on the huge, horseshoe-shaped driveway in front of Camp Juniper Point’s administration building, I wrenched open the back door.

“Alex.” My father coaxed his irritation into a socially acceptable tone in case anyone outside the car could hear. “Wait until the vehicle comes to a stop, please.”

What. Ever
.

I waited on the sidewalk while they got out of the car. As always, Dad held the door for Mom. They approached me holding hands, a trick they’d taught fans to “present a united front” when confronting your teen.

Little did they know I was about to give them enough material for Volume II on that one. I was already being sent to a school/jail after this summer for crimes that weren’t my fault. I might as well commit a few for real.

“It looks like another fun summer, sweetheart,” my father boomed loud enough for nearby families to overhear. When a couple rushed toward us, camera in hand, he slid an arm around my waist, my mother automatically stepping to my other side.

“Can we please take your picture?” asked a woman wearing a
Wholesome Home
T-shirt. “I was hoping we’d see you. If you only knew how much you’ve helped us deal with our Kennedi. Those chapters you wrote about your daughter—”

I gave the pouting Kennedi a small wink, then forced the smile expected of me during family photo-ops. Just a few more minutes and they’d be gone. Then the summer, and my life, would belong to me.

“Your parents are saints,” the camera-happy mother said, lowering the apparatus and frowning at me. My insides curled. I hated that knowing, judgmental expression strangers got when they saw me. They only knew what they’d read: one half of the story. My parents’ half.

“Yes.” I forced myself to return Dad’s easy grin. “They certainly think so.” It was all I could do not to sprint into the registration building and get this summer started. “Thank you, Dad, for letting me come to camp,” I added for good measure.

“You’re welcome,” Dad said through smiling teeth as a camera clicked. “And don’t forget about BLISS showing up this summer.” He kissed the top of my head as another family snapped pictures. I did my best to act like that was the most natural thing in the world for him to do. “Use good judgment.”

I nodded, my stomach jittery. In moments, I’d see my Munchies’ Manor cabin mates, and summer would officially begin. I only had eight weeks to pack in a year’s worth of fun. My phone buzzed against my thigh, but I ignored the incoming text. I’d been lucky to keep the phone and didn’t want to give Dad any reason to snatch it away.

“Goodbye, Alexandra.” It was Mom’s turn now. She hugged me and kissed my cheek. I kissed hers, too, wondering how she’d survive the summer with no one to stand up against my opinionated father. His successful books only reinforced his certainty that he was always right. “And don’t do anything that will upset your dad,” she whispered in my ear so he couldn’t hear, “or make him send you away.” She looked a little teary, and for the first time, I wondered if she really wanted me home, no matter how many arguments I caused.

I returned her squeeze, feeling it was the closest we’d been to acting real in a long time. But I couldn’t make her any promises, not without lying again. Pretending not to notice guys for ten months out of the year was really tough. At camp, it was impossible. But boys didn’t top my to-do list this summer anyway. Having a good time did. I smiled and shouted goodbye while hustling toward the administration building.

Hello, freedom!

The pine-log scent of the interior felt like a hug as I pulled my suitcase inside behind me. Tables lined the walls for check-in, with the registration packets sorted alphabetically by last name. I got in the M-R line and waited while my phone buzzed again.

“Alex!” My friends and cabin mates, Piper and Siobhan, rushed over, surrounding me for a group hug. They both looked the same. Piper had a neat braid swinging over one shoulder and a bright T-shirt that said “Recycle This” with a peace sign. Siobhan wore her Coke-bottle glasses that magnified her light hazel eyes and a Hello Kitty tank-top that I was pretty sure came from one of her P.J. sets.

These were the “right” kids my parents approved of. They were smart, kind, and never got in real trouble. But they weren’t saints. I could get them into some mischief if I worked at it.

“Did you see Emily’s lanyard display?” Siobhan pointed to the other side of the room where campers could sign up early for activities or learn about the special overnight hikes and canoe trips.

“Do I want to?” I pulled out my phone while keeping an eye out for Emily’s bright blonde ponytail.

“Right there.” Piper turned my chin to help line up my gaze. “Instead of Secret Santa, she’s doing a Secret Camp Angel.”

I spied Emily behind a hunk of gnarled driftwood covered with dozens of bright lanyards. The Munchies’ Manor counselor wore layered neon polo shirts in shades of pink, the collars starched to stand straight up and the sleeves rolled up to her shoulders.

“Secret Camp Angel?” It sounded way too
Wholesome Home
for my taste.

“All the seniors get a lanyard with the name of another camper inside.” Siobhan fanned herself with a page of graph paper that looked to be filled with quadratic equations. She did homework year-round and was a shoe-in for valedictorian at her school in Georgia. “You keep the name a secret and do nice things for that person all summer long.”

“Emily has a list of suggestions,” Piper added as I moved up in line. She caught me up on a few other camp headlines before blurting, “Oh, and best of all! Did you hear there is a movie being shot in Waynesville after the Fourth of July?”

“Are you kidding?” Despite my parents’ obsessive tracking of their social media status, I only had access to the Internet for homework. “Any big name actors in it?”

I did know who the hottest male stars were thanks to
People
magazine covers at the grocery store.

“No one I’ve heard of,” Siobhan answered as a group of younger campers entered the admin building in a swirl of sleeping bags and chatter. “It’s a historical drama—”

“Ohmigod. Who’s that guy?” Piper’s voice cut through the buzz. Her jaw dropped, her gaze fixed on a point in the center of the room.

I turned to see. A dark-haired boy prowled among the campers, his hands in the pockets of faded khaki cargoes. An equally faded gray T-shirt stretched over shoulders that had filled out more than most of his peers. A straight nose and prominent cheekbones were probably handsome when he smiled, but right now he scowled at all he surveyed, almost as if Camp Juniper Point was the last place he wanted to be.

“I don’t recognize him.” Siobhan straightened her glasses. “But we’re bound to get a few new campers this year with Matt and Seth gone. I hear the new boy in the Wander Inn is some kind of chess champion, but their counselor said he hasn’t checked in yet.”

“Of course you’d be keeping your eye out for a chess whiz.” I laughed, so happy to be back with my friends. Some of the hurt of the last few days with my family fell away.

“And we’ll have a new girl in our cabin now that Lauren is gone this year, too,” Piper added distractedly, never taking her eyes off the new kid, who was, now that I thought about it, kinda hot. Super hot, actually.

Lauren Carlson, one of my closest friends, had been admitted to an Aerospace Camp this summer, and I was really happy for her. She’d worked hard to get in. But a part of me wished she was here so that she could enjoy this wild ride of a summer with me.

“Too bad Vijay won’t be among the missing,” I complained, noticing that my ex had strolled in the registration area—laughing and horsing around with another kid from the Wander Inn cabin. Vijay looked more muscular than I remembered, his lanky body gone. “He must have worked out since last summer.”

“I thought you guys were still cool,” Piper whispered to me before I got up to the front of the line.

While I registered, I tried not to look back at Vijay. Last summer, we’d hung out and I’d wanted to go all the way. But then I’d gotten cold feet. At fifteen, a girl is entitled, right? Not according to Vijay.

I thought he’d been okay with it at the time, but by the end of the summer, he’d turned downright cold. And more recently? Nasty. I couldn’t think about the text he sent me about asking if I still wanted to be a virgin, the message that had turned my life into hell, without fuming. If it weren’t for him, I would be going back to my regular school and friends at the end of the summer instead of to problem-child prison.

“We are
not
cool.” Finished with registering, I noticed that Vijay was studying his phone before he turned it in for the week. I’d have to hand in mine, too, because we only got an hour of electronics time per week and the counselors held all devices until then. “You guys already handed in your phones?” I checked mine for texts.

“Yes.” Siobhan craned her neck to look toward the main door. “Is that Jackie?”

One of our cabin mates must have arrived, but I was too distracted by my messages. The last two were from Vijay.

My stomach dropped.

Still keeping your legs crossed?
said the first.

U R a tease
, read the second.

Fury whirled inside like a white-hot tornado. I marched over to him.

“Seriously?” I waved my phone under Vijay’s nose. “Do you have any idea how much trouble your last stupid text got me in?”

“Got you thinking about me?” He flicked his tongue up and down.

So gross. How could I have ever liked this guy?

“My dad saw it, Vijay.” I refused to allow tears to spring to my eyes, but my heart beat so hard I could barely hear anything over the sound of my pulse in my ears. “My parents are sending me to an all-girls’ boarding school thanks to you.”

We were attracting an audience. I knew I should keep it down, but I was too pissed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Emily round the corner of her lanyard display and head our way.

“All girls? Great.” He lowered his voice. “Now you can all be virgins together.”

His dark eyes were cold and unforgiving. They reminded me of my father.

“What is your problem?” I hissed.

“My problem is girls like you who put on a big show of liking a guy and then turn into a prude when it comes time to put out.”

I shook with fury.

“Oh yeah?” I slammed my phone down on the counter to turn it in. “Well, my new boyfriend doesn’t think I’m such a prude.”

I turned around in a rush of rage and hurt. Unsteady, I marched toward the first guy I saw.

The new kid.

I threw my arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his mouth. Hard. Fast. Wet.

I didn’t know him, and I didn’t care. Vijay needed to stay the hell out of my way. He’d only ruin my best-summer-ever plans. The yummy kiss I’d just gotten, however, might be exactly the payback I had in mind.

There was nothing wholesome about it.

Javier

What the hell?

I pushed back from the crazy girl kissing me. I knew better than to touch her, or I’d end up blamed for this somehow. My arms pin-wheeled like a freaking
Scooby-Doo
character as I stumbled backward to break the contact. My arm connected with something and then—
thwack!
Stuff went flying all over the floor.

Crap
.

I blinked to take it all in, from the cute girl who glared at me like
I’d
done something wrong to the hyperventilating counselor who was wailing about
lanyards
. They must be the leather strap things spilled all over the floor. I’d hit the display trying to escape.