Rumors (16 page)

“Don't look now,” I whispered suddenly to Laurel-Ann. “Someone's checking you out.” A boy standing near us was looking in our direction. But he was mostly looking at Laurel-Ann.

She tried to see out of the corner of her eye. “Nobody's checking me out.”

“Oh yes, he is!” said Natasha.

“It's because you look so gorgeous with your hair down,” I told her.

Laurel-Ann's cheeks turned pink. “I do not!”

“Yes, you do. It really makes you look older,” I said. “Walk across the floor like you're going to throw your cup away and see if he doesn't ask you to dance.”

At first Laurel-Ann didn't want to move, but I gave her a little push. So she moved toward the trash can, and just as I had predicted, the boy walked over to her and they started talking. Laurel-Ann gave me a quick glance, and I could see the huge smile on her face.

Ashlin grinned. “You're such a matchmaker.”

“I know. Want me to find someone for you?” I offered, looking around at the group of boys standing off to the side, watching all the dancers.

“No thanks. We need to find our counselor Jamie and help her with something,” said Natasha.

“Yeah, help her talk to her boyfriend. I think they had a fight. But keep thinking about one thing. Do you know what that one thing is? Revenge!” Ashlin chuckled gleefully and rubbed her hands together. Natasha pulled her away by the arm, and they left to go find their counselor.

I was glad Laurel-Ann was dancing, but I missed having someone to laugh with. Should I ask a boy to dance? I could. It had been that kind of night. I couldn't believe how much fun we were having. The last dance had been fun too, but nothing compared to this one.

Laurel-Ann and her guy passed by right in front of me, and I was in the middle of making a funny face at her when Katherine Sperling suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“Is that your new best friend?” she asked.

“Hi, Katherine,” I said. I'd barely seen her all week, only at assemblies and stuff. Which hadn't exactly broken my heart.

“Well, is she?” she asked again.

“Yes, we're friends,” I said.

Katherine was dressed the same way tonight as at the last dance—a plain T-shirt and jeans. And she still hadn't brushed her hair. For a minute I felt sorry for her. But then I remembered everything that had happened.

“How come you never practice anymore?” she asked. “I've looked for you in the lodge almost every day, and you're never in there.”

Because a cat can play the piano better than I can, I felt like saying. Instead I just shrugged. “No reason.”

“Kayla, are you mad at me about something?” asked Katherine in a soft voice. That almost got to me too. She had the same unhappy look in her eyes that she'd had when she was telling me about her family problems.

I could just tell her. Let her know that I'd read their
comments in the book, just to see what she would say. Would she admit to it? Or blame Erin and Brittany? Or act like she had no idea what I was talking about?

But if I did that, it would interfere with Ashlin's plans for revenge. They would know we were onto them.

“No, I'm not mad.”

Katherine laughed. A rough laugh that sounded like sandpaper. “You got a funny way of showing it.” She watched Laurel-Ann and the boy she was with. “It's because you're hanging out so much with her now, isn't it? What did she tell you about me?”

“Nothing,” I said. I thought about letting Katherine know that Laurel-Ann had finally told me the Rainbow Trout story, but I kept quiet. I just wanted her to leave me alone.

Katherine was still staring at Laurel-Ann when she said, “Is she the one who's been telling people that when I was on a hike, I stepped on a baby bird?”

“What?” I practically shouted. “Laurel-Ann never said that!”

Katherine turned slowly to face me. “Did you?”

“No! I didn't say that either!” Although I had a sneaking suspicion who did.

Katherine looked over in Laurel-Ann's direction. “Just be careful who your friends are, Kayla. I used
to be friends with her too. Until she turned on me.” Katherine started to walk away, but then she stopped and turned around. Her dark eyebrows came together as she frowned at me.

“You never know when she might turn on you, too.”

“Is this going to be a really long hike?” asked Brittany as we piled into the van.

“Yep, really long,” said Rachel. “You girls are the elite hikers—the finest of the fine. We know you can handle it.”

“Really long?” Ashlin asked. “Like how many miles are we talking here?”

Jerry looked thoughtful. “Oh, ten. Twelve at the most.”

“Are you serious? With backpacks? We'll never make it,” Brittany moaned.

Lori was laughing, so I knew that Rachel and Jerry were teasing us.

“Can you at least tell us why we're supposed to wear swimsuits to go on a hike?” asked Erin. We all had our suits on under our clothes. They'd also told us to wear shoes we wouldn't mind getting wet.

Jerry was standing outside the van by the open driver's door. He looked up at the clear blue sky overhead and said, “In case it rains.”

It was just after breakfast, and we were about to leave on the hiking honor trip. This trip was special. Unlike the other overnights and hikes we'd been going on all summer where anyone who wanted to go was welcome, the honor trips were by “invitation only.”

Yesterday during assembly, Rachel had announced this trip and read off the names of the girls who had been asked to go: Brittany Choo, Natasha Cox, Erin Harmon, Laurel-Ann Humphreys, Ashlin Phelps, Katherine Sperling, and Kayla Tucker.

Afterward, Ashlin and Natasha had found Laurel-Ann and me in the crowd. They were both so excited because Ashlin had come up with a really simple plan to get back at Katherine's group. We were amazed at what a funny idea it was. And it was a great way to embarrass all three of them.

Laurel-Ann and I were on the very back bench.
Ashlin and Natasha were on the middle one, and Brittany, Erin, and Lori took seats on the front bench.

“Okay, looks like everybody's in,” said Rachel. She was about to close the side door.

“Wait. What about Katherine?” asked Erin. “She's not here yet.”

“Oh, Katherine's not coming,” Rachel announced. She slid the door closed and climbed into the front passenger seat. Laurel-Ann and I exchanged quick looks.

“Not coming? How come?” asked Brittany. “She got invited.”

Rachel looked over her shoulder at us. “I don't know. She told me before breakfast this morning that she was staying in camp. She wasn't feeling very well.”

“Bummer! I can't believe she's missing the honor trip,” said Erin.

I leaned forward to talk to Natasha and Ashlin in front of us. “Katherine's not coming?” I whispered. “That changes things a little.”

“We won't be able to go through with our plan now,” said Laurel-Ann. “We'll have to think of something else since Katherine's not here.”

“No, we won't,” said Ashlin. “It'll still work. We'll do it just like we planned. Katherine won't be there
tonight, but when she finds out later what happened, she'll still be really embarrassed.”

“Whisper, whisper!” said Lori, turning around in her seat to look at us. “What's so secretive back there?”

“Nothing,” said Laurel-Ann, so then we had to get quiet.

It was a luxury for us to be riding in a van with air-conditioning and a radio. But we hadn't been driving very long before we turned off the highway onto a winding road.

“Oh, I know where we're going!” Erin exclaimed.

Laurel-Ann looked out the window. “Oh, me too! I love this place!”

We'd pulled into a big parking area with lots of cars and people walking around.

“Is this where we're hiking?” asked Ashlin once Rachel had opened the doors and we were all climbing out.

“We thought we'd stop here first at Sliding Rock and do a little hiking later,” said Rachel with a big smile.

Everyone started applauding and cheering. I wasn't sure what all the excitement was about.

“It's a good idea to keep your shorts on,” Lori recommended. “Unless you want to rip a hole in your swimsuit.” We left our T-shirts in the van and followed the crowds moving across the parking lot.

I soon found out why everyone was so happy to be here. It was a huge natural rock slide with water from a mountain stream rushing down. Off to one side, people were lined up behind handrails in the area where you climbed to the top of the big slab of rock.

We watched as swimmers took turns walking across the top of the rock and then sitting down where the water came rushing past. Then they'd slide all the way down to the bottom, feetfirst into a body of water at the base of the rock.

We walked up to the back of the line to wait our turn. It was really shady here, with trees all around us, and overlooking the rock was a wooden observation deck where people could watch if they didn't want to get wet.

“I bet that water is freezing!” Ashlin said to us.

“It is. Trust me,” said Erin, in front of her in line.

“Trust you? You think we should trust you?” Ashlin asked her.

Erin looked surprised by Ashlin's reaction. She turned around and didn't say anything else.

Once we made it to the top of the rock, Erin and Brittany were the first ones to go down.

“I hope they both lose their swimsuits when they hit the bottom,” said Ashlin.

“Why are you so mad at them?” asked Laurel-Ann. “Katherine was the one who started it, and she's not even here right now.”

“As far as I'm concerned, they're just as guilty as she is. They were all laughing on the first overnight, and Kayla said that it looked like more than one person had written something.”

It was Ashlin and Natasha's turn to go now, so we watched them as they took their turn sliding down the rock into the water below.

“Ready?” asked Laurel-Ann. “It's scary at first, but I promise you'll love it.”

The two of us walked carefully along the top ledge of the rock. We held hands because the wet rock was so slippery I was afraid we could topple over at any time. When we got to the spot on the rock where the water was rushing the fastest, Laurel-Ann sat down and showed me how I should sit behind her and hold on to her waist so we could go down together.

The water was icy, icy cold, a lot colder than the lake water at Pine Haven even, and I'd always thought that was the coldest water I'd ever felt in my life. Once we got going, we slid down so fast it gave me butterflies in my stomach, and then we both plunged into the body of water at the bottom.

When I came up for air, my lungs felt paralyzed from the cold. It took me a couple of seconds before I could catch my breath. “It's like ice water!” I yelled.

“I know! Don't you think it's refreshing?” Laurel-Ann laughed.

We swam over to the edge and climbed out, then got right back in line.

Our whole group had gotten separated in the line by now. Erin and Brittany were pretty far in front of us, and there were other people behind them. Rachel, Jerry, and Lori were together in another group.

But Ashlin and Natasha had waited for us. “This is so much fun!” said Ashlin, shaking off beads of water. “But do you know what's even more fun? Revenge!”

We were all laughing at the way Ashlin said that word.

“Are you sure this is still a good idea?” asked Laurel-Ann, giving each braid a twist to squeeze the water out. “I don't know if we should go through with it without Katherine. Can't we postpone this for now and think of something to do to her after we get back to camp?”

“No way!” said Ashlin. “We've got everything planned out perfectly. Tonight's the night!”

“I can't wait to get my hands on that book. I want to see for myself all those things they wrote about us,” said
Natasha. Her arms were folded in front of her, and she was shivering a little.

Laurel-Ann's eyes widened. “Oh, no! I just thought of something! What if Brittany didn't bring her book this time? If we don't have the book, we can't go through with it.”

Ashlin just smiled at her. “I already thought of that. I bought a blank notebook at the camp store and brought it along in case we need it as a backup. Pens, too.”

“She thinks of everything,” said Natasha.

“Look, it's our turn next,” I said.

“Hey, let's form a chain—all four of us,” Natasha suggested. So we all got into a line with Natasha in the very front and me in the back.

It was hard to say which was more fun—going down one at a time or as a group. Either way, it was such a rush to sit down and feel the water start to move you down the sloping face of the rock. The closer you got to the bottom, the faster you'd start to go. And every single time, it was a shock to hit that cold water down below. Then we'd run to get back in line for another turn.