Rumors (12 page)

“There,” I said, after she'd spent a good ten minutes
working on the left-hand part. “Now you know how to play a song.”

Katherine was resting her fingers on the keyboard. “I love this,” she said quietly. She said it so seriously that I couldn't keep from smiling.

“Maybe you can take lessons,” I suggested.

Katherine shook her head and stared at the keyboard. “That's never going to happen. I live with my aunt.”

“Oh.” I wasn't sure what else to say to that.

“She's kind of young, so it's not like there's a lot of extra money for stuff like piano lessons,” said Katherine.

Her voice sounded so sad. I waited to see if she'd say anything else.

“And who knows how long I'll be living with her? I've been there since last summer. Before that, I lived with a different aunt and uncle, and before that, I lived with my grandparents. I was with them from the time I was seven until I was ten. But then my grandpa got really sick, so I couldn't live with them anymore. They're the ones who pay for me to come to Pain Haven every summer.”

I was shocked to hear all this. Suddenly I remembered Laurel-Ann's story about Katherine being put up for adoption by her parents. I'd thought it was a crazy rumor like so many things I'd heard this summer. But
it was sort of true. I wondered about the story of her being left at camp for days when she was only seven. Was there any truth to that?

“I move around a lot too,” I said. “I've lived in three different states. We're actually moving right now. When my sister and I left for camp, we were still in Maryland, but when camp ends we'll go to our new house in Florida. I haven't even seen it yet.” My voice cracked a little when I said that.

“Sounds like you're pretty depressed about having to move,” she said, looking at me for the first time since we started talking.

I just nodded and looked down at the keyboard. Why was I suddenly so sad talking about this?

Maybe because today I'd gotten a letter from Danielle. It was the third one she'd written me so far, which was great. I loved getting mail. Only there was a problem: I hadn't written her yet, and she was really starting to wonder why. I hadn't written to Maricela either. Or Emily.

Actually, I hadn't written a single letter so far to any of my friends. I knew it was rude not to, because I'd told all of them I would, but for some reason, I just couldn't make myself write to them.

Maybe I wasn't being rude. Just realistic. What was
the point of keeping up a bunch of long-distance friendships? Everybody else in the cabin was always writing letters, but it wasn't the same for me. They were all writing to people they knew they'd see again in a few weeks. But when was I ever going back to Maryland? Not anytime soon, that was for sure.

“You live with your parents, though, right?” asked Katherine.

“Of course,” I answered. And then I wished I could take it back, because it sounded like I was saying,
Who doesn't live with their parents
? “I mean, yeah. I do.”

“I'm glad I don't live with my parents. They're so screwed up.” Katherine very gently fingered the right-hand part to “Heart and Soul.” “My dad's divorced from his third wife. I have four stepbrothers and sisters. He doesn't take care of any of them, either. And my mom? Who knows where she's living right now? Or if she has a job or some new boyfriend. She calls me every now and then and says she'll come get me soon when she gets settled down. But she's not the kind of person who ever settles down.” Katherine shook her head and suddenly banged on the keys with both hands.

Wow. I couldn't believe how bad Katherine really had it. And here I was, feeling sorry for myself because we had to move. At least I had two great parents. I had
nothing to complain about.

“Do you get along with your aunt?” I asked. I was almost afraid to hear her answer.

“Yeah, I do. She's funny, and she likes to cook, so we're always making brownies or cookies or trying some new recipe. But I liked it at my grandparents' best. I loved their old house. It had two stories, and a screened-in porch out back and a big yard. They had to sell it when Papa got sick. But the apartment my aunt lives in has a pool.” Katherine let out a deep sigh. “My aunt has a new boyfriend, though. If she gets married, I don't know where I'll end up.”

I stared straight ahead. My eyes had that hot feeling, like the tears were about to start flowing any second. The thing was, I wasn't sure who I felt like crying for—Katherine or me.

I blinked hard and cleared my throat. “Want me to teach you another song?” I asked her.

“Yeah, I do,” Katherine answered. “Something cheerful. I think we could both use it.”

“You two are becoming regular trailblazers,” said Gloria as she watched Laurel-Ann and me packing our backpacks. It was late afternoon, and we were in the cabin getting our stuff ready for tonight's trip.

“Oh, we won't be trailblazing on this hike,” said Laurel-Ann, stuffing a pair of jeans into her backpack. “This is a night hike, so it's totally different from trailblazing, where you go off into the wilderness and mark out your own trail. And that's fun too, but the point of this hike is to try to spot nocturnal wildlife, and now we'll be—”

“Uh, yeah, I guess I didn't mean ‘trailblazing,'” Gloria said with a little laugh. “I just meant, you know, that you and Kayla are becoming great outdoor adventurers
these days.” Gloria smiled at me with a twinkly look in her eye. I could tell she was thinking,
Good luck trying to keep Laurel-Ann quiet while you observe wildlife
.

“We'd better go,” I said, pulling on my backpack.

“Have fun,” Shelby told us.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Watch out for bears,” Boo called out as we left the cabin.

Boo might have gotten better about not spreading rumors, but now she seemed to have a different hobby. Somebody in our cabin was playing pranks on all the Side A girls, one by one. At first we thought it was Devon and Maggie pranking each other, because they were the first ones to get them. But then someone played a prank on Betsy, so now the Side A girls were pointing fingers at us.

But mostly at Boo. She denied it, of course, but I just didn't trust that girl.

As we walked to the meeting spot for the hikers, Laurel-Ann talked on and on about how much fun she and I were going to have on this trip. It wasn't going to be just any old hike, either. We were leaving late in the day so we could set up camp before dark, and then we'd go out on a hike by moonlight. Without flashlights. How cool was that?

“Good to see all you regulars,” announced Jerry when we got to the hiking storage shed. Brittany and Erin were already here, and Katherine was right by Jerry's side. She smiled when she saw me. “Hey, Kayla.”

“Hi,” I said, smiling back at her. It was nice to see Katherine looking almost cheerful for a change, but her happy mood seemed to set Laurel-Ann on edge. She scooted so close to me, I thought we'd both have to wear the same backpack.

“Are Ashlin and Natasha coming on this trip?” Laurel-Ann asked Rachel.

“I think so. This crew seems to be the only ones willing to sleep out on the ground all night,” said Rachel. “It looks like we're going to have the same bunch.”

When Natasha and Ashlin showed up a few minutes later, we were ready to leave.

“I have some bad news, and I know a lot of you are going to be disappointed,” Rachel announced as we fell into line.

“What?” asked Erin. She sounded concerned.

“It's a really short hike to our campout spot,” said Rachel, hanging her head, as if she'd just told us the worst news in the world.

“Oh, ha ha! Thanks for scaring us!” yelled Ashlin.

It really didn't take us long at all to get to the place
where we were setting up camp. And the scenery here was very different from where we'd been last time. We were in an open meadow with tall grass. There were some trees around the edges of the field, but otherwise it was nothing like our first overnight spot.

“Okay, we're not lighting a fire tonight because we don't want to scare any animals away with the smell of the smoke,” Jerry told us. “But we still need some volunteers who are willing and able to take on a really big responsibility.”

Katherine raised her hand immediately, and so did Laurel-Ann and Ashlin.

“I don't know if I can handle a lot of responsibility,” said Brittany suspiciously.

Jerry doubled over with laughter. “I admire your honesty. The rest of you—do you know you just volunteered to dig the latrine?”

“Boy, you guys are a bunch of comedians tonight,” Ashlin groaned.

Jerry just laughed. He put his hand on Katherine's head and ruffled up her hair. “Katherine volunteers for everything. She and I dug the latrine last time, so tonight you two can have the honors.” He handed Ashlin the shovel. “Take turns so you won't get blisters.”

Laurel-Ann gave me a sad look as she walked away
with Ashlin to the small grove of trees at the edge of the field.

Jerry, Rachel, and Lori were busy unpacking the tarps and spreading them out, so the rest of us helped them out. The sun had already set, but it was still light outside. The sky had faded into a pale, pearly color with a little pink still glowing just above the horizon.

“Did you see that look on Rainbow Trout's face? Wasn't that hilarious?” asked Katherine when the two of us were spreading out one of the tarps.

“Yeah. She didn't look very thrilled, did she?” I agreed.

I couldn't believe it! This was my chance. I'd been waiting for a moment when Katherine and I were alone, and when we weren't both talking about sad family stories. Laurel-Ann was gone. Katherine herself had just brought it up. The timing couldn't be more perfect.

“By the way, why do you always call her Rainbow Trout?” I asked. I hoped I sounded very casual about the whole thing and not like I was about to die of curiosity. Although I was.

Katherine started laughing. “She didn't tell you?” she asked. “She didn't tell you the famous Rainbow Trout story?”

I shook my head. “All she would say was that it
happened last summer, and she doesn't want to talk about it.” I untied the ties on my sleeping bag and rolled it out on top of the tarp.

“Don't worry. I'll tell you the whole thing. It doesn't surprise me she wouldn't want you to know. Last summer, Laurel-Ann and I were actually friends, if you can believe it,” Katherine started off.

What I couldn't believe was that I was finally going to hear this story.

“We were in the same cabin, and we did lots of stuff together, and she was really nice to me. But then something happened that changed all that.”

Suddenly there was a loud scream. It scared me so much I thought my heart was going to stop. “Snake! Snake! Snake!” Brittany shrieked. She had jumped backward about three feet off the ground.

“Calm down!” Rachel told her, leaning over to look deep into the grass where Brittany was pointing. “Oh, that? It's just a little garter snake.”

Rachel bent down and stood up again. We all stepped back, because she had a long, wiggling snake by its head. Erin and Natasha ran over to see what was going on.

“Oh my gosh!” I gasped. I couldn't believe she was standing there so calmly with a snake in her hand. It
made me shudder just looking at how it wrapped itself around her bare arm.

Jerry and Lori walked up behind her. “Oh, yeah. That won't hurt anybody,” said Jerry. “Little green fellow like that. Rattlesnakes, water moccasins, coral snakes, and copperheads. Those are the ones you need to stay away from.”

“Anybody else want to hold it?” asked Rachel. She held the snake's head still between her thumb and forefinger.

The snake had black beady eyes and a little red tongue that darted in and out, but now that we got a closer look, it really didn't look quite so scary. Its body was bright green and about as thick as my little finger.

Brittany had calmed down now. She was even smiling over the way Rachel was holding the snake up to show us all. She went over to Katherine and gave her a nudge. “You've got to draw a picture of that,” she whispered to her. “Rachel, the Amazing Snake Handler.”

Katherine smiled at her. “Let's get the book.”

Even though Katherine seemed to have forgotten the Rainbow Trout story for the moment, my ears perked up when I heard them mention the book. Laurel-Ann had no idea what she was missing.

Rachel took the little snake over to a spot away from
our campsite. Everyone else was still busy unfolding the tarps and rolling out sleeping bags.

I followed Brittany and Katherine as they went over to where the backpacks were lined up in the grass. They all looked basically the same, and they had to unzip a few before they found Katherine's book.