Rumors (15 page)

“Okay, great. And thanks for drawing all those funny pictures in it,” said Brittany. “It'll be a great way for me to remember all the hikes we've been on.”

The four of us gave each other quick looks. “Wait a second! I thought that was Katherine's book,” Laurel-Ann whispered. “It's Brittany's?”

I shrugged. “I guess so. I just assumed it was Katherine's because she was always the one writing in it.”

“Well, what does it matter whose it is?” murmured Ashlin. “It doesn't change the stuff they wrote about us.”

“Girls, let's go!” Rachel called to us, because the others had already started walking away while we stood there whispering together. So we quickly put on our backpacks and caught up with the rest of them.

Ashlin was literally glaring at Brittany and the other girls as we walked along. “Are you okay?” asked Brittany. “You look upset about something.”

“Oh, no. I'm fine. Couldn't be better,” Ashlin answered her in a really snotty tone. Brittany gave her a surprised look and kept walking.

Ahead of us, we could see the ridges of the mountains against the horizon in different shades of purple. In front of them was a forest of thick green trees. But our group didn't seem to notice the beautiful landscape around us. Even though it was a sunny morning, I could almost picture dark storm clouds hovering over our heads.

It didn't take us that long to get back into camp. Ashlin and Natasha were walking with us toward the cabins. “I think you're right, Laurel-Ann,” said Ashlin. “We should do something to get back at them. What can we do that'll be really embarrassing?”

“The first thing we've got to do is get that book
away from Brittany and tear all those pages out,” said Laurel-Ann.

“You mean destroy the evidence? Then we won't have any way to prove they did it,” said Natasha.

“Well, doesn't it bother you knowing that those mean things they said about us are out there? In writing?” Laurel-Ann's voice rose with emotion. “Other people could see them and read them too!”

“Yeah, that's true,” agreed Ashlin. “I do want to rip all those pages out at some point, but I also want to do something to them. They've got it coming to them.”

I didn't know what to think about this whole revenge thing. In some ways, I felt like they deserved it. Kind of like Boo deserved what Shelby had been doing to her. Those notes weren't really mean or anything, but they were just enough to make Boo wonder what was up. Plus, they'd seemed to cure her of her gossiping, at least for the time being.

But then it worried me a little too. I wasn't sure what Ashlin had in mind. And I didn't really want to get into some big war with Katherine and the other girls.

“Maybe we should just tell them that we saw what they wrote about us,” I suggested. “All four of us, together. If we walked right up to them and repeated all
the things they'd written about us, they'd be so embarrassed. I can just imagine the looks on their faces when they realize we've found out.”

I could feel my heartbeat speed up at the thought of our group facing off with theirs. I'd never be able to do it alone, but with Laurel-Ann, Natasha, and Ashlin by my side, I'd be happy to.

I remembered how completely alone I'd felt at the beginning of camp when I'd first found out that people were talking about me. And even though I tried to ignore it, of course it bothered me. It was a huge relief now that I wasn't the only one being picked on.

“I don't know, Kayla. Do you really think that's a good idea?” asked Laurel-Ann. “They'll just deny it.”

“We just have to plan some way to get back at them,” said Ashlin. “There are four of us. If we work on this together, I know we'll come up with some kind of great revenge.” She rubbed her hands together and grinned.

Hearing the way Ashlin said “revenge” made me a little nervous. But there was one thing I was glad about. At least were all in this together.

“But there must be some things you're looking forward to about living in Florida,” said Laurel-Ann.

“I guess so. We'll be close to the beach. And I've always been interested in marine biology. I would love to see dolphins, wouldn't you? Not in a water park, but out in the ocean.”

Laurel-Ann sighed. “That would be amazing, wouldn't it? I bet there'll be all kinds of cool things you can do once you move there.”

We were sitting up on Lakeview Rock, which was this massive rock formation at the end of the lake. This was the spot where we had all the campfires, because the top of the rock was big enough
for everybody in camp to gather here and sit in a big circle.

But at the moment, Laurel-Ann and I had the rock to ourselves, and we were watching the swimmers below us. It was late in the afternoon, and we'd had a busy day of Fourth of July activities—a capture-the-flag game in the morning and then a campwide hide-and-seek, where all the campers tried to find the counselors, this afternoon.

“Oh, I almost forgot! When my parents first told us we were moving, my dad said that maybe the whole family could learn to scuba dive. But since they'd just made the big announcement about the move, I was too upset to even care about that. Of course, I didn't act upset. All along, I've acted like I'm just fine with the move.”

I stretched out on my stomach and propped my chin on my hands. “But my mom can tell that it bothers me. She's tried talking to me about it. I just haven't felt like it. Till now.”

“My mom's like that too. She always wants to fix everything, and sometimes the problems I have, she can't fix,” said Laurel-Ann.

“I know exactly what you mean. Like this whole moving issue. If I tell her how upset I am about it, she'll
just feel bad and think maybe she shouldn't have taken this job. I know the move is something our family needs to do, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be thrilled about it. I'm just trying to accept it, but it's not easy.”

Laurel-Ann smiled at me. “Do you really think you'll learn to scuba dive? That would be so awesome!”

“I know! Wouldn't it? When my dad first mentioned it, I thought, ‘Yeah, right. Scuba diving.' I thought he was just saying that. Almost like a bribe, you know? Like when you're a little kid and you have to get a shot, and you're screaming, but then they hand you a sucker. I never really cared about the stupid sucker! I didn't want to get poked in the arm in the first place!”

We were both laughing. Who knew that Laurel-Ann, who was such a talker, could also be a great listener? For days now, I'd been pouring my heart out to her, telling her about all the feelings I'd been having for months that I'd never wanted to talk about with anyone. Not even Danielle.

“How does Samantha feel about moving?” asked Laurel-Ann.

“Oh, she's excited about it. She thinks it'll be this great adventure. I used to be that way too when I was younger. It just seems like it's easier at that age. You change schools in second or third grade, and after two
weeks, it feels like you've always been there.” I sighed. “But now it's different. It gets harder to be the new girl.”

“But Kayla, you're so much fun to be around. You're pretty, you're really talented. People just naturally like you. You'll do fine at your new school.”

I smiled at her. It was nice to hear her saying all those things about me. “I hope so. I just don't want to come off as snobby and unfriendly. Now that I know some people have that impression of me, I'll always be worried about that. But if I try too hard to be the opposite of snobby, I'll come off as fake.”

“No, you won't! I never thought that about you. I liked you from the first day.”

That made me laugh. “I know! You have to admit, I wasn't that friendly to you. You tried so hard to be nice to me, though. Thanks for being so persistent.”

I had a sudden feeling of déjà vu. Why did this seem so familiar? I tried to think of what it was, but the memory that had just come to me fluttered away, like a butterfly on a warm breeze.

“I'm just glad we're friends now,” said Laurel-Ann.

“Yeah. Me too.”

“Stop laughing!” I said to Laurel-Ann.

Laurel-Ann sucked in her cheeks. “I'm not laughing,” she tried to say. But it's almost impossible to talk when you're sucking in your cheeks.

That did it. Now we were both about to lose control. “Don't laugh! Don't laugh!” I kept whispering to her. “He can't help it that he's rhythmically challenged!”

“Rhythmically challenged!” shrieked Laurel-Ann. She covered her mouth with both hands to keep from cracking up.

We were standing practically nose to nose in Pine Haven's crowded dining hall. All around us were dancing couples, and the music was so loud and pounding
that it was making my eardrums vibrate. The Camp Crockett boys were here for our second dance, and amazingly, tonight my friends and I were dancing with actual boys.

Laurel-Ann and I were about to fall over because I'd just finished dancing with a boy who had the weirdest moves we'd ever seen. He reminded me of a puppet with strings attached to his arms and legs. While I was dancing with him and trying not to look at him, Laurel-Ann had stood off to the side, making funny faces at us. Every time I looked at her, I was terrified I was going to burst out laughing in the poor guy's face.

“Look at Shelby,” I said. Since neither one of us could stop giggling, we needed some kind of distraction.

“I know! She's having such a great time,” said Laurel-Ann.

Shelby had been dancing with the same boy all night. Laurel-Ann had danced with two different boys so far, and I'd danced with the puppet-on-a-string guy.

Since we were hot and thirsty, we moved over to the refreshment table and got some cookies and bug juice. I sipped my drink slowly and looked around.

“Can you believe how popular we are tonight?” I joked. “These Camp Crockett boys appreciate us now. We must have wowed them last time with our amazing moves.”

“Wowed them? Wowed them?” Laurel-Ann went into hysterics over that remark.

“It's a real word!” I insisted. “I think the counselors are piping in laughing gas without telling us!”

Laurel-Ann nodded in agreement. “Mussage eight.”

“What?” I shouted over the loud music. “What's does ‘mussage eight' mean?”

When Laurel-Ann heard that, she spewed out bug juice everywhere. “I said … I said,” but I couldn't understand her, because she could not stop laughing. She tried to catch her breath, but every time she looked at me, she cracked up again. “I said, ‘My sides ache!'” she finally managed to say.

People were starting to stare at us, which made it even harder to get ourselves under control.

Natasha and Ashlin walked up and gave us surprised looks. “What's so funny?” asked Ashlin.

I shook my head. “It's hard to explain.” I knew if I tried to tell her all the things that Laurel-Ann and I had been laughing about, she'd never get it.

“Well, we were just wondering—have you thought of any good ways to get back at Katherine and everybody?” she asked.

“Not really.” Laurel-Ann had suggested that on the next hike, we should push Katherine into some
poison ivy, but then we decided that it wouldn't be very embarrassing for her, just itchy.

“We haven't either,” said Natasha.

“Well, guess what I found out today?” asked Ashlin. “The final campout is next week. So that would be the perfect time for us to put our plan into action.”

Ashlin was wearing a skirt and a lacy blouse tonight, and she had on earrings and makeup, too. It seemed like the boy comment had bothered her as much as their mean remarks had bothered me.

“Katherine should be our main target,” said Laurel-Ann. “I know she started it. I just know it. I still think she might be the only one who wrote all those things. I mean, we know someone did it, but we don't know they all did it. Maybe Brittany and Erin are completely innocent, and we don't want to go blaming—”