Reunion #21

by Melissa J Morgan

  Avery stepped forward now, placing her hands on her hips. “So, which bed is mine?” she asked, her voice low.

  Brynn was trying to stay tough, Jenna could tell, but her face had gone a pale white. Jenna decided to help her out. “That top bunk there,” she said, jumping in. “Our friend Priya is on the bottom. She’s really cool.”

  “Cool,” Avery repeated. Her mouth was stretched into a thin line. She didn’t sound like she thought any of this was cool at all.

  “But, you know,” Brynn jumped in, sounding nervous, “you can always, you know, take my bed. I mean, I don’t even like sleeping so near to the door and stuff.”

  “Is there a problem with the beds, girls?” It was Josie, stepping through the tent door just in time to catch the tail end of the awkward conversation.

  Jenna noted that Avery’s whole posture changed the moment Josie walked in. Her spine straightened and she flipped her hair off her shoulders like a shampoo commercial model. She didn’t lose the scowl, though. That seemed to have been burned onto her face like a permanent tattoo. “Sort of,” she said.

  Josie’s eyes swept across the scene, taking things in. “Why don’t we go outside to talk about this?” she suggested gently.

  Avery glared at the girls and stomped out of the tent, following Josie.

  After she’d gone, the room was silent for a moment.

  “Well,” Jenna said finally, “she seems really sweet.”

  At that, Natalie exploded with laughter. Soon enough, Chelsea and Brynn had chimed in. But once the giggles had died down, the girls couldn’t help but hear Avery’s voice, high-pitched and frantic, waft in from outside.

  “It’s bad enough that I have to be separated from my friends this summer,” she was saying, “but now I don’t even get my bed?”

  “There’s no such thing as ‘your bed,’” Josie replied, her voice soft but firm. “You’ve been here forever; you know it’s first-come, first-served.”

  Avery’s voice lowered and Jenna found she couldn’t make out any individual words. Obviously Avery and Josie were involved in a heated—but quiet—debate. But whatever Avery was saying, she sure didn’t sound happy.

  “FINE!” Jenna heard at last. “Just FINE!”

  Frankly, it sounded like Avery was anything but fine.

  The girls stood for a moment, waiting to see if either Josie or Avery would return to the room. When neither did, they looked at one another nervously.

  “Huh,” Jenna said finally, regarding her friends. “It looks like we’ve made our first enemy.”

  No one said a word. Jenna decided a change of subject was the best course of action. Besides, Natalie had to find out the truth sooner or later, didn’t she?

  “Hey, Nat,” Jenna said, forcing herself to sound more enthusiastic than she actually felt inside, “let’s go look at the outhouse!”

  “Outhouse?” Natalie asked, her voice low and suspicious. “As in, an outdoor bathroom?”

  “Yep! Fun, right?” Jenna dashed out the door before Natalie could reply.

  So what if Camp Walla Walla was going to take some getting used to? Jenna was up for the challenge. Sooner or later, her positive attitude would have to rub off on the other girls.

  Wouldn’t it?

  chapter TWO

  “So she freaked?” Priya asked, her eyes widening as she made her way up the slope path alongside Brynn, Jenna, Natalie, and Sloan. The slope was pretty . . . slopey, actually, and a bit more of a challenge than she was used to.

  “She totally freaked,” Natalie confirmed, shaking her head in disapproval. “Like, you would have thought that Brynn had taken her pet or her boyfriend, and not just some skuzzy little bed that she thinks she’s automatically entitled to.”

  “Yuck,” Priya said, freaking out a little bit on her own. The last thing the Lakeview girls needed was to get off on the wrong foot with their new bunkmate—especially one who was a Walla Walla veteran.

  “Sounds like someone needs her aura cleansed,” Sloan offered. Sloan was very New Agey and could usually be counted on to suggest something like a good alignment of the chakras or some positive feng shui.

  Natalie had a different idea. “Or she just needs to get over herself.”

  “You could both be on to something,” Priya said, eager to keep the peace. She was still hoping that Jenna and Nat were exaggerating about their new enemy. “In the meantime, J—what’s that over the clearing there? Just past the waterfront?”

  “Oh, that’s the shed where they keep the outdoor expedition equipment,” Jenna said, her cheeks flushed with excitement. “Isn’t that cool?”

  “Expedition equipment?” Priya asked in disbelief. “They do realize that this is sleepaway camp, not a mountain climbing adventure, don’t they?” She was starting to wonder just what she and her friends had gotten themselves into.

  “I know, it’s so awesome that they take athletics and survival stuff so seriously here,” Jenna said, completely misinterpreting Priya’s cautious tone. “Hey—I’ll race you guys to the shed!”

  The last thing Priya wanted to do after the long bus ride to camp was race anyone, even on foot. “Oh, hey—” she protested weakly.

  But it was too late. Jenna was already gone, streaking toward the waterfront like a bolt of lightning.

  At this rate, Priya worried that she’d never have the energy to last the summer.

  The first thing Natalie noticed upon returning from the Brynn-led guided tour was that the single bed that had been Brynn’s had, while they were out, been replaced by a bunk. The second thing she noticed was that two girls currently sat perched atop that bunk: Avery, looking stony as ever, and another new face, one with rounded pink cheeks, long, brown hair tied back in a low ponytail, and dark brown eyes. The girls appeared to be playing cards, but stopped when Natalie, Sloan, Jenna, Priya, and Brynn walked in.

  A hush fell over the Oak tent. Awesome, Natalie thought, feeling pretty self-conscious. Clearly Avery hadn’t exactly moved into the acceptance stage of her bunk grief just yet. And who was this new person?

  Josie popped up from her bed right on cue, which Nat was starting to recognize as a pattern. “Great,” she said, beaming at the girls. “You’re back. We can do icebreakers. Get to know one another.”

  “They all know one another already,” Avery said sullenly.

  If Josie heard Avery, she chose to ignore her. “Let’s all make a circle on the floor,” she said, settling herself Indian-style and patting the floor on either side of her to indicate that she expected company.

  Somewhat reluctantly, the girls arranged themselves on the floor, Natalie dusting furiously at the ground before setting her jean-shorts-clad butt down. Not that she thought it did much good. The tent was kind of like a giant dust pan.

  Which it will probably be my job to sweep tomorrow, she thought glumly, all ideas of thinking positively tossed aside for the foreseeable future.

  “This is pointless. We’ve all met,” Avery said again, tossing her curtain of silky blond hair back off her shoulders.

  “The Lakeview girls haven’t met Joanna,” Josie said, indicating Avery’s brown-haired friend, “and none of you have had a chance to talk to Anika yet.

  “G’day,” Anika said, grinning brightly. Her teeth were blindingly white and her hair was streaked with highlights that Natalie could tell were totally natural. She would have been jealous if Anika didn’t have such a laid-back, warm vibe about her.

  “You’re from Australia?” Natalie asked, thinking that Anika’s accent was really very cool.

  “Close. New Zealand,” Anika corrected her. “But I’ve been all over the US on different outdoor adventure trips. So you don’t have to worry. You’re in good hands with me.”

  “Oh . . . great,” Natalie said, hoping she sounded less panicked than she was feeling. Between the bleak, understated Oak tent and the scary equipment shed that Brynn had shown them, Natalie was starting to get a not-great feeling about how outdoorsy life was going to b
e at Camp Walla Walla.

  “Well, girls,” Josie chimed in, gathering her hair into a messy bun at the nape of her neck as she spoke, “there’s been a slight change of plans. As you can see, Joanna, who was going to be in the Elm tent, is with us this summer, instead. So welcome, Joanna.”

  Joanna smiled and looked mildly embarrassed. “Um, thanks.”

  “So what we’re going to do is, I’m going to pass around a roll of toilet paper. Everyone take as many sheets of paper as you’d like.”

  Natalie’s mouth dropped open in horror. It was bad enough that the toilets were outside. “Is this, like, a ration for the summer or something?” She knew Walla Walla was supposed to be rustic, but seriously. Come on.

  Avery laughed nastily, not bothering to hide her smirk. “It’s a game,” she said snidely.

  “It’s an icebreaker,” Joanna clarified, chuckling much more kindly. Her tone was much friendlier than her friend’s, and her chuckling much kinder sounding.

  Natalie nodded, and when the roll of toilet paper came her way, she carefully ripped off two squares, waiting to see what would come next. Icebreakers usually involved some type of unexpected twist. She had learned this the hard way in the past.

  “Now we’re going to go around the circle one at a time, and however many pieces of toilet paper you have, you have to tell us that many things about yourself,” Josie explained.

  Natalie knew this game. They’d played it her first summer at Lakeview, only with M&M’s instead of toilet paper. Which said a lot, she realized. What kind of place thought that toilet paper was a reasonable substitute for M&M’s?

  A crazy kind of place, she decided. A rustic, outdoorsy, adventurous kind of place. The type of place that had bathrooms outside instead of indoors. No wonder Avery was so cranky, if she’d been chocolate-deprived for so many summers in a row now.

  “I’m Josie,” Josie said, waving one square of toilet paper like a teeny tiny flag, “and I’m from Greenwich, Connecticut. I was a camper here for three years, and this is my second summer as a counselor here at Walla Walla. I go to college in New Haven, and I am studying English. Lit, I mean. So I won’t go around correcting your grammar or anything like that.” She patted her neat little pile of paper. “There. That’s five things. Not counting my name.” She turned to Chelsea, who sat directly to her left. “Why don’t you go next?” she suggested.

  Chelsea looked bewildered at the wad of toilet paper she’d accidentally grabbed. “I don’t know if I have that many things to say,” she said, sounding nervous. “But, um, okay. I’m Chelsea, and I used to go to Lakeview. I like computer games and books about horses. Oh, and I like gummy bears, too. My mom usually sends me some in a care package over the summer, so I can share with everyone.” With that, she crossed her arms over her chest, making it clear she was not going to offer further information, even though her mountain of toilet tissue towered ominously beside her.

  Josie seemed satisfied with this, and nodded to Jenna to move on with the game.

  “I’m Jenna, and I love, love, love sports,” Jenna said, bubbly as ever. “I was so excited when Dr. Steve told us about this camp, because I know it has a great sports and outdoors program. The thing I’m most excited about is ropes.”

  Now it was Priya’s turn. “My name is Priya, and I’m also from Lakeview. Um, one thing that’s different about me is that my BFF is a boy. His name is Jordan, and he also happens to be Brynn’s boyfriend.”

  “And he’s really cute,” Brynn chimed in, giggling.

  “Okay, Brynn, since you clearly have something to add, why don’t you go next?” Josie suggested.

  “Sure!” Brynn squealed, leaning forward. Natalie tried not to wince—squealing was, unfortunately, just Brynn’s regular talking voice. “I’m Brynn, and as Priya mentioned, Jordan is my boyfriend. I was also a Lakeview camper, and I miss everyone who couldn’t be here soooo much. Also, I’m in the drama club at school, and I’m in the camp play every summer. What play are we doing here this summer?”

  “An imaginary one,” Avery mumbled under her breath, causing Joanna to snicker.

  “We don’t do plays here,” Anika explained. “We’re a little more outdoors and athletics-based. But we have great cookouts!”

  Natalie couldn’t help but notice that Brynn looked slightly green to hear this news.

  “Speaking of, if we want to get to the opening night cookout on time, we have to get moving with the game,” Josie cut in. “Go on, Brynn.”

  Brynn nodded and took a deep breath, her face returning to its regular peachy hue. “My favorite color is purple and I have a Basset Hound at home named Pokey. After The Very Pokey Puppy. Which I can’t believe I just admitted out loud.”

  “We can’t believe it, either,” Avery muttered, earning a sharp look from Josie.

  “I love puppies,” Anika announced, sitting up taller in her place. “And now it’s my turn. I’m Anika and I’m from New Zealand.”

  “No fair,” Natalie protested. “We already knew that.”

  “Hang on, I’ve got more,” Anika said, eyes twinkling. “Last year I toured the rain forests in Brazil, and also completed a bike tour along the California coast. And . . . some of my friends call me Neeks for short.”

  Sloan explained that she was from Sedona, and that she was a Libra, which was an air sign. Her birthstone was sapphire and she wore tiny blue studs in each ear that sparkled as she spoke. Natalie pointed out that Sloan could also read tea leaves, if you asked her nicely. Avery didn’t seem to care, but Joanna peeked at them curiously upon hearing the information.

  Next it was Joanna’s turn. “Last year I was in the Sequoia tent—”

  “With me,” Avery put in, looking smug.

  Joanna just nodded, looking down at the floor. “And—oh!—sometimes people call me Joey, but not that often, and not camp people, really, and I’m also from Connecticut, and I love horseback riding.”

  “And you requested to be in a tent with me,” Avery added. “Right?”

  “Right,” Joanna said, fingering the sheets of paper in her hand. “But I, um, ran out of paper. That’s why I didn’t mention that.” She looked guilty, Natalie realized. Avery definitely had some sort of hold on her.

  Avery was evil. That much was already obvious. She had to be stopped.

  “My turn,” Avery said loudly, drawing her knees in to her chest and glancing out across the circle. “My name is Avery and this is my fifth summer at Walla Walla. My whole family has gone to Walla Walla, all the way back to my grandma and grandpa, who met when he was in the Birch tent and she was in the Maple. So I’m a legacy. That means someone whose family has been coming here forever.”

  We get it, Nat thought impatiently. This girl was really too much.

  “Um. I got my sailing certificate last summer, so I’m allowed to navigate on our day trips. And I hold the record on the ropes course for the fastest completion.” She folded her arms across her chest with satisfaction.

  “Not for long,” Jenna sang quietly, prompting Natalie to stifle a giggle. She had an idea that Avery wasn’t the type of person who took kindly to being beaten or surpassed in any way.

  “So, who hasn’t gone yet?” Josie wondered, glancing around the circle. “Just you Natalie, huh?”

  “Just me,” she said, gladder than ever that she’d been careful not to take too much toilet paper. “So, I’m Natalie, and I’m from New York City.”

  Suddenly Natalie’s mind went blank. She couldn’t think of a single interesting thing to share with the rest of the group. It was like someone had zapped her with a memory-erasing ray, leaving only a Natalie-shaped shell in her place. She blinked, thinking hard.

  “I know that you and your friends decided to sign up for Walla Walla kind of at the last minute,” Josie said, jumping in. “What were you planning to do before you knew you were coming here?”

  It was as good a question as any. Even though the answer made her sort of self-conscious. “Right. That. I was taking theater
classes. You know, improv.”

  “Improv,” Josie repeated, looking impressed. “Are you an actress, like Brynn?”

  “No,” Natalie explained, “my dad—”

  She stopped abruptly, the sentence barely formed before she bit it back. Her first summer at Lakeview, she’d been reluctant to tell her bunkmates that her father was a famous actor. She’d learned that people behaved differently when they found out. Some would fake all nicey-nice, wanting to hang out with her in the hopes that they could meet Tad, or some of his famous friends. Others would be cold, assuming that Natalie was snobby and spoiled before they even got a chance to know her.

  As it turned out, her friends at Lakeview totally appreciated her for who she was and didn’t act weird at all about the stuff with her father. But that didn’t make Natalie any less wary about what she chose to share with new people. And she wasn’t quite sure she was ready to come out with the story of Tad Maxwell with these new girls just yet.

  A quick glance at her friends around the circle told her that they understood exactly what was running through her mind. Her secret was safe with them and they wouldn’t say anything until she gave them the go-ahead.

  It was nice to have friends who knew her so well. Especially in a place where the bathrooms were outside and the walls were made of canvas. It was comforting.

  She looked back up to find that Josie was still waiting for her to finish.

  Oh, right. The game.

  “My dad thought improv classes would be good for me because . . . I’m shy!” she said in a fit of inspiration.

  From her corner of the circle, Chelsea snorted.

  “You hardly seem the shy type, Natalie,” Anika pointed out, laughing.

  “Well, uh, it worked!” Natalie said brightly, hoping nothing more would be said on the matter. She’d have to play shy for the next few days, or hope that everyone else suffered short-term memory loss or something. “Gee, I’m hungry!” she continued, changing the subject ever-so-smoothly. “What was that you were saying about a cookout tonight?”