Pranked (11 page)

Jennifer had slowed down so she was walking slightly behind Reb. She gave me this look—her forehead wrinkled, her mouth hanging open. I looked back at her and raised one eyebrow, like,
I know! I can't believe it either!
But we both knew to keep our mouths shut.

“A few practical jokes never hurt anyone,” Reb went on. “They toughen you up, keep you on your guard. I mean, just look at Melissa. Don't you think she could use a little toughening up?”

Jennifer and I were quiet, and Reb looked at us both. “Well?”

“Absolutely,” said Jennifer.

I was glad Jennifer had said something, because I didn't want to answer that question. The morning had started off so exciting—I could hardly wait to see the Little Mermaid underwear in daylight. But now I had a sad feeling in my stomach. I couldn't stop picturing a little five-year-old Reb being pelted with snowballs and tormented on a ski lift by her own father. And I was still kind of worried about whether Melissa would ever get her undies back.

So Reb and Melissa actually had something in common—they'd both been picked on. But Reb had been picked on by her own family. How weird was that? Which was worse? To have your family tease you, or other kids—like at school or camp? So far nobody had ever really picked on me, except one time in second grade this boy, Jacob Townsend, kept sticking his pencil in my hair. Ms. McCord moved him to another desk, and then he didn't bother me again.

But you just never knew when the crowd might turn on you for no reason. Anyone could be the victim. It was so hard to predict.

“Well, that was exhausting.” I peeled off my grimy jeans and collapsed on my bunk. We'd just gotten back from a three-mile hike to Lookout Point.

Reb was sprawled across her cot too. Jennifer stood in front of the mirror and clenched her teeth. I wondered what kind of face she made before she got braces.

“A swim in the lake would be great right now,” Reb suggested. “Can't you just feel that cold water?” Her blond hair was all sweaty and stuck against her neck.

“Yeah,” I moaned. “Why don't you carry me down there and throw me in?”

Just then Melissa walked in. She kind of glanced at us like she wanted to walk right out the door again, but she didn't.

“Hi,” I said, because I never wanted to completely ostracize her.

“Hi,” she answered, but she didn't really look at me.

Reb sat up and waved at her like she was her BFF. “Hey there, MA-LISS-AH! So, how've ya been? Liking camp so far? Whaddaya think of the food? Been getting lots of e-mails from Mom and Dad? World been treatin' ya . . . okay?” Reb was talking really fast, like an auctioneer.

“I guess so,” Melissa said, glancing at Reb and then looking away.

“Really? That's SUPER! I'm
glad
to hear it!” Reb shouted.

Melissa turned her back to us and put on her robe, then slung a towel over her shoulder. She edged out the door like she was afraid Reb was going to pounce on her.

“See ya!” Reb yelled, all cheerful, and gave her another big wave. Then she looked at us, all sad. “Gee whiz. She's not very friendly.”

“Maybe we should just leave her alone.” I meant it to sound like,
Yeah, you're right, she's not friendly, so let's just leave her alone
, but it didn't come out right. There was this huge silence. Jennifer looked at Reb, then me, then back at Reb.

“What do you mean by that?” Reb asked. She locked her eyes on me, and it made me nervous.

“Nothing. Just—you know, she obviously wants to avoid us, so . . .”

Reb sat there with this really straight look on her face. She didn't look mad or threatening, but she kept looking at me like she was waiting for me to say something else.

“Are we going swimming?” I asked. I got up to get my suit from my trunk.

“I don't know, Kelly. Is that what you want to do?” Reb asked.

“Yeah, I guess. If you guys want to.” I tried not to look at her.

“Okay, then. Let's go.” We all changed clothes, but everyone was pretty quiet. As we were leaving, Jennifer said, “This will feel good. I hope the water's freezing.” She glanced at me, then at Reb, trying to read the signs.

“Yeah, me too,” I said. Reb stared straight ahead. The only thing worse than her staring at me was the silent treatment.

We were walking past Solitary and the showers when Reb stopped us all of a sudden. “Do you see what I see? Over the door of Shower Number Two?” She pointed.

There were six showers in a row, each with a green wooden door and a big white number painted on it. Hanging over the door of Shower 2, we could see Melissa's white robe and baby blue towel—the same ones she'd walked out with five minutes ago.

Reb put her arms around both of our necks, like we were in a football huddle. She was kind of smiling. “This is soooooo tempting. So, so tempting.” She looked at Jennifer, then at me. “What do you say, triplets? Should we? Or shouldn't we?”

Usually Jennifer would be all over it, but this time she kept quiet and looked at me. Now, all of a sudden, Reb was her old self, and she was talking to me again.

“This is too good to pass up,” I said. There was nothing else I could say.

Reb's grin was a mile wide. “Okay, who wants to do it?”

I looked at the door and then back at Reb. “I will. I'm a pretty fast runner.” We were still huddled together, and Reb grabbed my shoulder, like she was pepping me up for the big play. “Okay. Try not to make too much noise. If you're fast enough, she might not even see them go.”

I headed straight for the showers. My heart was beating faster. I could hear the water running inside the stall. The towel and robe were right in front of me. All I had to do was reach out and grab them. I held my hand up. I could feel Jennifer and Reb behind me, watching. With one quick move, I grabbed the towel and robe and pulled them over the top of the door. I clutched them against my chest and took off running. Did someone yell inside the shower? I wasn't sure. I was halfway down the line now, running as fast as I could. I crashed through the cabin door with Reb and Jennifer right behind me. My heart pounded in my chest, and I was gasping for breath.

I held up the towel and robe to show them. “Now what?” I panted.

Reb looked around. “Quick! Put it with the other ones!” She pointed to a stack of identical blue towels on the wooden shelf by Melissa's bed. In a rush, I folded it up and stuck it under the others at the bottom of the stack.

“What about the robe?” I yelled, holding it up and looking around.

“Just hang it up someplace!” Jennifer shouted.

I grabbed an empty wire hanger from the metal rod that was over the beds and hung the robe up with the other clothes. Then we ran out the door, crashing right into Jordan and Molly coming back from their riding lesson.

“What's with you?” Molly yelled at us, jumping out of our way.

“Nothing! Sorry!” Reb yelled as we ran down the line.

“Over here.” Reb led us to some bushes between Cabin 4 and Solitary. We could see the showers from here, but we were kind of hidden from anyone walking by.

“Is she still in there?” Jennifer wondered.

“Of course she is,” Reb said. “Nobody's seen a naked streak go by at a hundred miles an hour, have they?” We all laughed at the thought.

Jennifer gave us a sly look. “How
is
she going to get out of there?”

Reb shrugged. “She can just waltz right out the door anytime she wants. It's not like we
locked
her in there. Anyway, this
is
a girls' camp. Big deal if she's naked.”

Jennifer snorted. “Reb, you know Miss Modest is never coming out of there without a towel on. She'll stay there till Closing Day if she has to.”

“Jennifer's right. Maybe we should give them back now,” I said. I have to admit—it had been a huge rush to steal them in the first place, but now . . . well, there was really no way for her to get out of the shower unless we gave them back.

“Oh, good idea,” Reb said, “and then let's beg her forgiveness for short-sheeting her and flying her underwear up the flagpole.”

“Well, how long should she stay in there?” I asked. I'd let her call all the shots.

“Shhh, someone's coming,” Reb said. “It's Erin.”

From our hideout, we could see Erin walking down the line, and as she passed the showers, she stopped and looked around. We could tell that the door to Shower 2 had opened a little, and Erin was talking to the person hidden inside. Then she looked around and walked away.

Jennifer stared at us. “She's leaving her in there?” she whispered.

“Don't count on it. She's probably getting her a towel,” Reb said.

She was right. Five minutes later Erin was back, carrying a baby blue towel just like the one that had mysteriously disappeared. Then Melissa came out of the shower stall with the towel around her. Her wet hair was plastered against her head, and her ears stuck through it. She looked even more pathetic than usual. Well, at least she'd gotten out of there. She was really only stranded in there a couple of minutes.

Melissa and Erin were whispering together. “I don't know! I didn't see them!” I heard Melissa say. They went to the cabin.

Jennifer sighed. “Too bad. Fun's over.”

“Not quite. It's probably just beginning. Let's go.”

Back at the cabin, Reb burst through the door. “Hey, cabinmates, what's new?” Melissa was rummaging through her open trunk, still wrapped in the towel. Molly and Jordan were on Side B, acting extremely interested in their card game.

Erin stood by the door and frowned at us. “Melissa was taking a shower, and somebody stole her robe and towel.” She looked at us like,
Quit being such jerks
. Erin was way too mature to ever play any pranks like ours. I felt stupid in front of her.

“Really?” Reb gasped, all shocked. “Your things were stolen! That's terrible! Hope you had name tags in them. We'll keep an eye out for them.” She had her hands behind her back, and she looked all concerned. “What'd they look like?”

Melissa slammed her trunk closed and gave Reb a killer look. “Well, it just so happens—I found both my towel and my robe when I got back.” She waved to where we'd put her stuff away. She was trying to sound sarcastic, but her voice was all quavery.

“No kidding? Maybe you just forgot to take them with you, huh?”

“Oh, right! I just walked down to the showers naked! I know you guys did it. Don't deny it.” She was madder than I'd ever seen her.

“Now what makes you so sure of that? We were at the lake,” Reb said. All three of us had on swimsuits.

“Oh, really? How come you're not wet?”

On the verge of hysterics, Melissa had still managed to point out this minor inconsistency in our story.

“Jennifer got her period, so we had to come back.”

“
Reb!
” Jennifer slapped her on the arm, all embarrassed.

“Look, Melissa,” Reb went on. “I'm just as upset as you are. I certainly don't want to see you naked.” Then we walked out the door.

At least Melissa didn't cry. I was glad about that.

“Hey, Jennifer, race you!” Reb and I were paddling around in one canoe, and Jennifer was by herself in another.

“You must be joking. I can't even get this stupid thing to go straight.”

“How about if I paddle with you?” I offered. I looked over my shoulder at Reb in the stern. “Do you mind?”

“Fine with me.” Reb made little circles in the water with her paddle.

“Let's go back to shore so I can get in with Jennifer.”

“No way. That's on the other side of the lake. Just climb in. We're close enough.”

We had paddled over to Jennifer, and she reached out to grab the gunwales of our canoe to pull us even closer. I gave Jennifer my paddle and stood up slowly because moving around made the canoe rock a little. Carefully I put one foot in Jennifer's canoe and was about to bring the other leg across when she let go of the side. That made the canoes drift apart, and I lost my balance. I heard Reb yell, “Whoa!” just as I hit the water.