Rumors (3 page)

Thinking about that cheered me up a little.

But not much.

The one good thing was that we didn't have lima beans for dinner. We had chicken, green beans, and mashed potatoes. I got to wave to Samantha from across the dining hall, but that was about it. From our table, I could see her talking nonstop to all her new friends. I was glad she was happy, at least. It didn't matter so much about me.

“Good. At least there are vegetarian alternatives,” announced Devon Fairchild, one of the Side A girls. She'd gone to the salad bar and gotten a serving of spinach quiche and salad.

Devon had black hair and blue eyes, and her complexion was the same color as a glass of milk. Even though she was a new girl, she seemed to be good
friends with Christina Ramirez, a girl with dark, wavy hair and two different colored sneakers on—one yellow, one red.

Maggie Windsor was another friend of Christina's. She had curly red hair, and she told jokes all through dinner. Chris laughed at all of them, but Devon didn't even crack a smile. As far as I could tell, Devon and Maggie had just met each other for the first time, and neither one of them was too happy about that.

The other counselor in our cabin was named Caroline Heyward, but her name tag said wayward on it. She was looking around at all of us and nodding. “Looks like a good cabin. Very Zen.”

This Wayward person was kind of strange. All day she'd walked around in sunglasses and a pink and gray plaid hat. I'd heard her tell a couple of parents that she was a riding counselor and that she'd been coming to Pine Haven for fourteen years.

That was a big topic of discussion around here—how many years you'd been coming to this camp. The longer, the better, it seemed like. But I doubted I'd ever stay in one place for fourteen years.

After dinner, I tried to squeeze through the crowd so I could talk to Samantha for a second, but there were too many people in the way, so I couldn't get to her.

Outside, the sun had slipped down behind the mountains that were way off in the distance. The light was all soft now, and I couldn't get over how green everything was. I'd never seen this many trees before in my life.

I was walking up the big hill toward our cabin when Betsy Smith, the Side A girl with short blond hair, came up to me. She'd been in my group during the swim tests, but other than that, I hadn't talked to her much.

“The first day is kind of weird, isn't it? Is this your first year?” Betsy asked.

“Uh-huh. How about you?”

“Yeah, it's my first year, but my mother came here, so I've been hearing Pine Haven stories forever. I was destined to come here eventually.”

All of a sudden, a feeling of sadness pressed down on me. People who came back year after year after year. Girls who had mothers who came here. It was like they all belonged. Even the new girls already had ties to this place. And I'd probably leave here in a month and never come back.

Oh, well. It didn't matter.

I tried to think of something to say to Betsy, but there was a long pause. Luckily, Laurel-Ann came panting up beside us.

“All these hills! My legs are hurting already. But
don't worry. You'll get used to it. Now we go to evening program. In the lodge. I'll show y'all where it is. We should all sit together. I was a newbie last year, and I didn't have any friends at first. Now I've got lots of friends here, but you can always make more, right?”

And from that point on, I didn't need to worry anymore about making conversation, because Laurel-Ann had taken over.

I was anxious to see the lodge, because I wanted to check out the piano. When we filed through the large wooden doors, I immediately spotted it pushed up against one wall. There were two girls sitting on the bench with their backs to the piano and their elbows resting on the keyboard. I wouldn't even have a chance to go over and strike a few keys to hear its tone.

The noise was deafening in here with all the people inside. This lodge was huge—one big room with stone walls and an arched ceiling overhead. There was a fireplace on one wall, and through the back door I could see people sitting out on a porch.

Laurel-Ann, Betsy, and I found an empty spot on the floor and sat down cross-legged.

“Are the Juniors coming to this too?” I asked Laurel-Ann.

“Oh, no. This is just the Middler evening program.
The Juniors and Seniors are in their own lodges right now.”

This camp seemed determined to keep Samantha and me separated.

After a few minutes, all the counselors came in and announced that we'd be doing get-acquainted games.

“Okay, the first game we're going to play is ‘Where Are You From?'” called out Libby, the counselor I'd met earlier. “Look around and you'll see counselors holding signs with names of different states. If you don't see your state—and we didn't make fifty signs—Jamie, our riflery counselor, is holding a blue sign that says, ‘Elsewhere.'”

Everyone laughed at that. “Okay. Go find the other girls from your state!”

We all stood up and started moving around the room. There was a sign for Maryland, but only a couple of girls were standing in that group. I looked around until I saw the Florida sign. That group was bigger, with about six or seven girls in it.

So which sign should I stand under? I started moving toward the Maryland sign, but then I felt a sudden pain in my heart. As of today, I didn't live in Maryland anymore.

I glanced over at the Florida group. But I hadn't actually lived there yet. I didn't belong there, either.

Too bad those groups weren't side by side. Maybe I could stand with one foot in each one. Or should I head for the “Elsewhere” group? That's where it felt like I was from at the moment.

I turned around and was suddenly face-to-face with Shelby. “Oh, hey! Are you from Tennessee?” she asked.

I don't know what made me do it, but I did. “It looks like it,” I said. What difference did it make? This was a big group, and I guess I thought I could blend in.

But that didn't happen. I soon found out what a big mistake it was to make a detour through Tennessee when you're not really from there.

One girl was walking around asking everyone, “East, Middle, or West?”

I had no idea what that was all about, so when the girl next to me said middle, I said East. Then the girl with the geography obsession started asking everyone which city they were from.

By now I was feeling totally panicked. My heart was beating so fast, I couldn't even think straight. I had to get out of there. I glanced around the crowded room and noticed that the windows were open. Would they be surprised if I suddenly jumped through one?

“Where are you from?” Geography Girl asked me.

I'd heard a few people name off towns I'd never heard of. I could try that.

“Oh, it's a really small town. You've probably never heard of it,” I said.

“Well, what city's it near?” she asked.

Cities in Tennessee. I'd heard people say Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville. Suddenly an old song popped into my head that my father would sometimes sing about trying to place a call to … “Memphis, Tennessee,” I blurted out.

Geography Girl was about to pass me by and ask the next person, when she stopped and gave me a strange look. “Hang on. I thought you said you were from East Tennessee a second ago. And you live near Memphis?” Geography Girl made a face. “You can't live near Memphis. That's in West Tennessee!”

It was like everyone in this big group had suddenly decided we should switch from a geography bee to a game of freeze tag. They all stopped dead still. And everyone was staring. Right at me.

If Geography Girl had had a spotlight, she would've turned it on me at that moment. Was it too late to jump out that window?

“Uh,” I answered. What could I say? It was such a stupid thing to lie about. Why did I pick a state I'd never
lived in? I had three different states to choose from, so what was I thinking?

All these eyes were on me. I've never been a mind reader before, but looking around at everyone, I could read every single mind in this group. And they were all saying the same thing:
You're so full of it
.

“Yeah, you don't sound like you're from Tennessee. Where are you really from?” another girl asked. Shelby was standing beside her. She looked like she felt sorry for me, but she didn't say anything. I couldn't really blame her.

“Baltimore. In Maryland. But we're moving this week,” I said finally. I didn't dare say we were moving to Tennessee. One lie would just lead to another.

At that moment the counselors announced the next game. “Okay, now we want to know what your sign is! Find your zodiac sign and get with your group!”

I heard someone behind me whisper, “She doesn't know where she lives. You think she knows when her birthday is?”

And then laughter.

My whole face was burning with embarrassment.

Up until now, the most embarrassing moment of my life was the time I tied my shoelaces together during story time in first grade, and then I couldn't get them
untied. When it was time to go to lunch, I couldn't even walk. I had cried, and everyone had laughed, and my teacher, Mrs. Schubert, couldn't get them unknotted, so she had to cut them with her scissors.

That was horrible.

But this was worse.

We kept playing these games for the rest of the evening. We had to get in groups by birth order—oldest, youngest, middle, or only child—and by hair color. Every time I was in a group with one of the Tennessee girls, I gave that open window another consideration.

Finally the games were over. We all had to get into a big circle and sing “Taps,” and then they gave us graham crackers and milk. After that, we were supposed to go to our cabins and get ready for bed.

I was one of the first out the door. I dashed to the cabin and flipped on the light switch to get my toothpaste and toothbrush. But by the time I got to the bathrooms, it was already getting crowded in there.

When I got back to the cabin, just about everyone was changing into pajamas. As soon as Boo saw me, she said, “Oh, hi, Kayla! Where'd you say you were from again?” She said it in a really friendly voice, but there was something about her tone that made me nervous.

Had Shelby told them? She wasn't even in here
at the moment. I passed her going to the bathrooms when I was coming back. But Boo must have heard somehow.

I wished there was a way you could not answer a question without being rude. “I've lived in a few different states,” I said finally.

“Really? Like where?” Boo asked. She was sitting on her cot with her legs crossed. Without her glasses on, her eyes didn't look so big, but they still had a way of staring right through you.

“Well, I was born in Illinois,” I said. That seemed like a safe answer. Why would anyone say they were from one state when they weren't? Should I even try to explain it?

“Illinois? That's not what I heard!” And then Boo started laughing. I could feel myself blushing all over again. Even though I'd just come from the bathrooms, I grabbed a washcloth and a bar of soap and scooted out of the cabin as fast as I could.

My face felt so hot, I figured I'd better wash it before it caught on fire. What would people think if I walked around with this washcloth draped over my face for the next four weeks?

After I'd washed my face, I hid in one of the stalls. Eventually I heard a counselor outside yell, “Lights
out!” So I came out of the bathroom and got back to the cabin as fast as I could.

There was a good thing and a bad thing about going back to the cabin in the dark. The good thing was nobody could see me. The bad thing was I couldn't see a foot in front of me. I stumbled against something that felt like a stack of bricks, and I had to bite my lip to keep from yelling.

“Kayla, is that you?” I heard Gloria's voice through the darkness. “Need me to turn on the light?”

“No! That's okay! I can see just fine,” I told her.

“Yeah, that's right,” Boo called out, really loudly. “It's a little-known fact that all people from Tennessee have X-ray vision. Right, Kayla?” And then I could hear her laughing.

I crawled into my bed. I was pretty sure it was my bed. Luckily, no one else was in it, so I decided it must be mine.

I rubbed my bruised shins and pulled the covers up around me.

What a horrible first day.

It could've been worse, though. I could've failed the swim test this afternoon like one girl did. She had to be rescued by a counselor. Or right in the middle of the states game, I could've jumped out that window.
But I probably would've ended up with a broken ankle or something. And then the counselors would've had to carry me away on a stretcher while all the other girls stood around talking about how I couldn't swim, I'd never make it as a stuntwoman, and I didn't even know what state I was from.

Now that the lights were out and everyone was quiet, I heard something. Lots and lots of sounds coming from outside. It sort of sounded like a jungle out there. I lay in bed, trying to figure out what kinds of wild creatures were making all those noises.