Second Time's the Charm (9 page)

“Um, okay, then,” Natalie said, making a huge effort to recover from the hiccup of weirdness. “So what's your favorite flavor, then?”

To Natalie's great relief, Alyssa broke into a smile. “Pink grapefruit. It's true. I'm a fan of the pure sugar rush.”

Natalie giggled. “Simon likes that one, too.”

Alyssa nodded slowly, collecting her own notebook and pencil. The cold freeze had come back over Nat. “Now, see, Simon you know everything about.
That
, I can believe.”

This time there was no mistaking the edge in her voice. But Nat had no clue what to do about it. This was Alyssa, after all. They had never had a fight before. Ever.

“Um, what's that supposed to mean, Lyss?” Nat asked uncertainly. She looked from her old friend to her new friend. Tori, in turn, suddenly seemed extremely interested in her shoelaces. And uncharacteristically quiet.

Alyssa shrugged and ran her fingers through her inky, dyed-black hair. “Nothing. Never mind.” She looked Natalie directly in the eye. “Let's go back to the bunk and get ready for free swim.”

All at once, Nat was relieved Normal Alyssa—magazine-reading, horoscope-loving, free-swim-sitting-out Alyssa—was back. Nat was so grateful for this abrupt change of heart that she decided not to make a thing out of the random burst of crankiness.

Everyone's entitled to one, now and then,
she thought to herself.
Right?

“Okay, so you have your pick,” Natalie said. “Lucky us, I just got a brand-new shipment in from my mom yesterday.” She fanned a handful of magazines out tantalizing them, like a card dealer at a casino. “We've got
People, In Touch, Us Weekly,
and—my personal favorite—
Star.
” She giggled gleefully. “Note that this may or may not be the very same photo of a certain blond pop princess on each cover.”

“So, in effect, they're all really the same magazine,” Alyssa noted drily.

“Well, sure, but that's that beauty of it. Multiple viewpoints!” Natalie exclaimed brightly. “I mean, you can't ask for more incisive coverage, right?”

Chelsea dropped her towels next to where the girls had set up camp. “Whatever,” she muttered, managing to sound incredibly bored and totally irritated all at once. “It's so lame that you never bother to go in during free swim.”

“Yup, we're lame,” Alyssa said agreeably. She and Natalie couldn't have cared less what Chelsea thought of them. She smoothed a glob of sunscreen onto her pale shoulders and leaned back onto her elbows. “And we like it.”

“Amen,” Natalie said, popping a pair of oversized sunglasses on her face. She poked Alyssa. “Warn me if I start to get that weird glasses tan, okay?”

“Definitely,” Alyssa promised.

Chelsea glared at the girls and wandered down to the shoreline with Karen. The rest of the bunk was in the water, too—all except for Tori. She'd been joining them in their sunbathing more and more lately.

“Tori's taking forever to change, huh?” Natalie observed, flipped idly through a magazine.

“Yeah, I think she was helping Mia bring something to the kitchen. I don't know for sure.”

“Speak of the devil,” Nat said, looking up as a shadow fell across her torso. It was cast by Tori's tall, lanky body as she leaned over the girls.

“Here I am! The party can start!” she said playfully.

“We were just starting to worry,” Alyssa said. “We wouldn't want you to miss a moment of celebrity gossip.”

Natalie laughed. It was true, Tori knew a ton about Hollywood and could always be counted on to tell good stories. But . . .

Well, maybe she was being crazy—probably, she was being crazy—but there was a part of her that didn't want to share Alyssa with Tori. She felt like she hadn't had any one-on-one time with her BFF lately. And then there was that odd moment at the end of newspaper. . . . She and Alyssa really needed some quality time. But she couldn't just exclude Tori. Tori was her friend, after all. And, anyway, that would be just . . . rude.

“Goody!” Tori squealed, spreading out a huge, fluffy beach towel and stepping out of her flip-flops. She took off her shorts and T-shirt to reveal a very adorable ruffly tankini that did little to quash Natalie's mild waves of irrational jealousy. Tori was the picture of a cute California surfer girl. How . . . annoying. “Oh.”

“What, ‘oh'?” Natalie asked. “You've got your tabloids, you've got your sunscreen . . . where's the bad?”

Tori frowned. “It's just . . . I read those already. My mom sent them up to me a few days ago. They all contradict each other, anyway. Totally not reliable journalism.” She turned to the girls thoughtfully. “I know it's everything we stand against, but it's kind of sweltering out here. Anyone want to go in the water?”

Natalie gasped dramatically and clutched at her chest. “Heavens, no! Do you have any idea what lake water does to my hair?”

Tori laughed obligingly, but Alyssa was busy shimmying out of her tank top. “Definitely,” she said. “I am dying of heat.” She looked over at Natalie. “You don't mind, right? I mean, more magazines for you.”

Nat shook her head slowly, feeling a little bit horrified and sort of like she had stumbled into an alternate universe. Alyssa was spending free swim with someone other than her? Alyssa was spending free swim
in the water
?

It must be opposite day,
she thought, the wheels in her mind clicking and whirring.
In the Bizzaro World.
“I don't mind at all,” she said numbly, trying to muster up some semblance of a smile.

“Oh, good,” Alyssa said. She quickly tied her hair up into a sloppy bun on top of her head. She gave Natalie a quick smile. “We'll be back.”

She grabbed Tori's hand and the two scampered off, down to the waterfront, without another thought to sunning, magazines, or to Natalie.

“Well, you look . . . thoughtful.”

“Hmm?”

“That must be a
really
interesting magazine article,” Mia said, smoothing out her towel and shaking her golden hair across her shoulders. “That's the third time I've tried to get your attention.”

“What?” Natalie blushed. “Sorry, it's not, uh, personal. I'm just caught up in . . .” She trailed off, looking down at her open magazine. She hadn't been able to focus on a single word in the twenty minutes or so since Tori and Alyssa had gone off to be swim buddies. “I don't know,” she confessed. “You caught me. I'm spacing.”

“Looks like you've got something serious on your mind.”

Nat regarded Mia. She liked her CIT a lot, but it wasn't the same as the relationship she'd had with her CIT last year, Marissa. She and Marissa had been bona fide friends, even with the difference in their ages. They still e-mailed each other, and Marissa could always be counted on for some great advice. Too bad she was in Big Sur with her family this summer. Natalie didn't know Mia that well, but Mia was definitely cool, and very outgoing, and in the week since they'd been at camp, she had always been there for the girls. Maybe it was worth a shot at opening up to her?

What the heck,
Nat thought. It couldn't hurt, could it?

“You're gonna think this is silly,” Nat said, hesitating slightly.

“Try me,” Mia said encouragingly.

“It's just . . . I was really looking forward to coming back to camp this summer—and especially to see Alyssa, you know?”

“But?” Mia prompted.

“Things are a little weird,” Natalie admitted.

“Not exactly the way that they were last summer. I don't know why.”

“Well, is there anything different about this summer?” Mia asked. “Anything specifically that you can think of?”

Nat nodded. “There's . . . well, there's Simon.”

“Ah, the boyfriend,” Mia said sagely. She shook her head. “So often the root of all girl issues. But you were with him last summer, no?”

“Not exactly. I mean, I was into him, but we weren't, like, boyfriend and girlfriend the way we are now.”

“So, things have changed. They've changed for the better, in some ways, and really, we've all got to learn to go with the flow, but the truth is that these things happen. It's normal. Maybe Alyssa feels a little bit left out, now that you've got a ‘thing' with a guy. Also normal. The trick is to make sure she understands that she's still your BFF. Even if you're splitting your free time between your girl friend and your boyfriend, you can still make sure they both know how important they are to you.”

Natalie looked up at her CIT curiously. “You make it sound so simple. How do you make it sound so simple?”

Mia grinned. “I am wise beyond my years.” She gave Natalie's ponytail a little tug. “Trust me, you guys have a true friendship. All you have to do is talk to her.”

Listening to Mia, Natalie was inclined to believe her. She was older, so she had experience on her side. And she sounded so sure of herself, it was impossible not to get caught up in her enthusiasm and determination. She would talk to Alyssa. It was a good idea. Alyssa needed to know that she wasn't going to be replaced by Simon—or
any
boy—anytime soon.

Natalie glanced back down to the waterfront. Alyssa and Tori were barely within her view; they'd wandered off into the green water, which was the deepest end of the lake. A tiny prick of doubt pinched at Natalie's insides. She had been honest with Mia about Simon, but there was something she had left out of the equation. Because even if Natalie could be sure that Simon wouldn't interfere with her relationship with Alyssa . . . she wasn't so sure that Tori wouldn't, either.

There were no guarantees. At least, not until she talked to Alyssa. And put all of this ridiculousness out of her mind.

Natalie didn't get a moment alone with Alyssa until much later that night. Tori had hung with them during siesta, giving out killer manicures and showering the girls in her newest batch of makeup samples that her mother had sent. Then Alex, Grace, Valerie, and Sarah had come by to play cards. And of course, dinner itself was way too loud and crowded for the sort of heart-to-heart Nat was planning. She finally cornered Alyssa on their way out of the mess hall, corralling her aside and letting the rest of the bunk speed up until they had some semblance of privacy.

“What's going on, Natalie?” Alyssa asked. “You're looking at me all . . . twitchy.”

Natalie laughed. She
was
feeling twitchy, and it bode well that her friend could recognize that. Maybe this Talk wouldn't be too terribly painful after all. She looked at Alyssa shyly. “It's just that I feel like things are a little, um, off between us lately.”