Pranked (21 page)

Natasha shook her head and grinned. “I had no idea I was inviting a crazy person to sit beside me. JD, of course I'll be your friend, and you don't need to pay me a dollar.” She looked over the back of the seat. “I'll do it for free!” she said.

“My first friend!” I yelled. “I actually have a friend now!” The two girls in front of us had put their pillows over the tops of their heads to cover up their ears. “And I've got some enemies, too!” I shouted.

Natasha cracked up laughing. I could only imagine what my friends back home would've said.
Judith, what's wrong with you? You never act like this.

Maybe Judith didn't. But JD did.

•  •  •

“We're finally here!” said Natasha when we turned onto a gravel road and passed a sign that said
CAMP PINE HAVEN FOR GIRLS
. She jiggled her knee up and down as she looked out the window. We passed a lake and some tennis courts. There were tons of people all around and a lot of cars lined up along the road.

When we got off the bus, a bunch of counselors were waiting for us and yelling directions. They all had on matching green shirts, so they were easy to spot. They broke us up into age groups, and Natasha and I found out we were both in the group called Middlers—ages ten to twelve. That made us the oldest in the group.

Then a lady with a clipboard asked us our names. When it was my turn, I said, “JD Duckworth,” like I'd always been called that. She looked at her list and didn't seem at all confused. “Okay, JD. You're in Middler Cabin Two A.”

Then Natasha said, “Natasha Cox.”

“Hi, Natasha. You're in Middler Cabin Three B.”

Natasha and I looked at each other. “Can't we switch? We're best friends. We really need to be together,” I said.

The lady shook her head. “Sorry, cabin assignments have already been made. But you'll still see a lot of each other.” She smiled and moved on to the next girl.

Natasha and I walked over to where all the luggage from the bus was piled up. “I can't believe it. We just get to know each other and we're already split up,” I said.

Natasha pushed her glasses up her nose. Now that I was standing next to her, I saw that she only came up to my shoulder. “I know, but like she said, we'll still see each other a lot.”

Some guys wearing red T-shirts that said “Camp Crockett” helped us carry our trunks to the cabins. It was weird that the camp made everyone bring trunks to keep all their stuff in, but that's what the letter had said to do. Plus they gave us a list of what to bring and told us to put name tags in all our clothes. When my mom was getting my things ready, I felt like I'd joined the army.

We had to climb up a big hill to get to where the cabins were. I was glad I only had to carry my tennis racket and backpack.

“It sure is pretty here, isn't it?” asked Natasha. It was a sunny day, and everything was so green. There were trees everywhere, big rock formations, lots of hills, and off in the distance, bluish-colored mountains. All the buildings were wooden, and the whole camp looked like it should be on a postcard or something.

At the top of the hill we came to a long row of cabins. “Well, I guess this is good-bye—for now,” said Natasha when we got to the door of Cabin 2. She looked scared.

“Okay. I'll see you later.” It was too bad we couldn't stay together.

The guys carried my trunk in and left it inside. When I walked in, a counselor with curly blond hair said, “Hey! Are you my camper? I'm Michelle!”

She was obviously a counselor because she looked older, and she was wearing one of those green shirts, but I was about three inches taller than she was. I'm five foot six, and my doctor says I'm still growing. If I keep growing till I'm eighteen, I figure I'll be six-nine eventually.

“I'm JD. JD Duckworth.”

She frowned a little like she'd never heard of me, but then she said, “Oh, okay. Nice to meet you, JD!” She had a great grin that made her eyes crinkle up.

The cabin was awesome. It had screens all around it, so it felt really open and breezy. And there were bunk beds. I've always wanted bunk beds. Justin and Adam had them a long time ago, but they each have their own room now.

“This is cool,” I said, looking around at everything. The walls and floors were wooden, and girls had written their names all over the place.

“Wow! 1981!” I yelled. I pointed to a spot on the wall that said
JENNIFER H. 1981
. “That is so amazing! These cabins are that old?”

Michelle laughed. “Yeah. And guess what? My mom went here when she was a kid. And some people have grandmothers who went here. Can you believe it?” Her eyes crinkled again. “I'll send my daughter here too—if I have one.”

Two other girls were already in the cabin, and while we were all trying to get everyone's names straight, another girl came in.

“Here. These will help us get to know each other faster,” said Michelle. She handed out name tags. They were made out of little round slices of wood with a plastic string, but when I saw mine, I almost had a heart attack. It had
JUDITH
written on it. So much for keeping my old name a secret.

I held it against my stomach. “I need a new one. One that says ‘JD.' ”

“No problem! I'll just change the old one.” Michelle took a marker from a shelf beside her bed and wrote “JD” in big red letters on the back of the piece of wood. Then she hung the string around my neck with the “JD” side showing. “How's that?”

“Good. But can I see the marker for a second?” I asked. I took off my name tag, scribbled over
JUDITH
so no one could read it, and then put it back on again.

All the other girls were watching me, but I didn't care. I was officially JD now.

One Summer. One Sleepaway Camp.

Three Thrilling Stories!

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ALADDIN PAPERBACKS

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

Text copyright © 2008 by Katy Grant

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

ALADDIN PAPERBACKS,
Summer Camp Secrets
, and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Designed by Christopher Grassi

The text of this book was set in Perpetua.

First Aladdin Paperbacks edition April 2008

Library of Congress Control Number 2007935961

ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-3576-6

ISBN-10: 1-4169-3576-2

ISBN: 978-1-4814-5775-0 (eBook)