Reunion #21

by Melissa J Morgan

  (And drinking lots of water. Hydration is important.)

  Besides, you might be surprised by how much a person can uncover simply by keeping quiet and keeping her ears open.

  Or maybe you wouldn’t. Be surprised, I mean. You always were a slightly sneaky one, huh?

  What else? Well, crazy, camp wide, high-stakes (or, er, medium-stakes, anyway), head-trippy games aside, the other big news around here is the Outdoor Adventure Weekend, which officially kicks off Friday morning. Yay.

  (If you think you’re sensing sarcasm there, then you think right. Way right.)

  The thing is that, coming from Sedonah, it’s not that I don’t like the outdoors. I mean, you know I love the annual green fair that our school puts on in the tents behind the community center. But there’s a huge difference between eco-living out in the desert and rafting, boating, paddling... basically, anything involving a body of water. Just popping on a life preserver is kind of enough of an “adventure” for me, and I’m not enough of a thrill-seeker to want to “take it up a notch,” as Jenna keeps encouraging.

  I don’t know. Maybe I’m just a party pooper. Don’t get me wrong—I know it’ll be fun. I just wish it weren’t three whole days of “fun” in store. And that Avery didn’t have to be there with us.

  Correction: Avery and her smirk. Which always seem to travel together.

  Yuck. She hasn’t gotten any nicer, by the way. Just in case you were wondering.

  I have no idea who has her as a target, but whoever it is, I hope she gets her takedown, but good—not to put bad karma out there, but man, would it be nice to have her get a little bit of a taste of her own medicine. Besides, she was the one who began the game, anyway, so maybe it actually is karma—like, for her, I mean.

  Who knows? There’s something about that girl. Despite the fact that she has decided that we Lakeview girlies aren’t worthy of her friendship, she herself always seems to come out on top, no matter what happens.

  Don’t you just hate people like that?

  Well, I’d better go. If I put anymore negativity out there into the world, karma will come and kick my butt, right? Right.

  I knew you’d see it my way.

  Anyways, we have an “outdoor skills refresher course” demonstration thingy happening any second. I can tell because Jenna’s back, and she’s bouncing up and down by the door of the tent like she’s got springs attached to the soles of her sneakers.

  Enthusiasm. It’s cute. I think I’ll go find Nat so there’s someone to sit with in the back row.

  (If only there were a happy medium somewhere in between Jenna and Natalie’s excitement levels. Or . . . I guess maybe that’s Priya?)

  Though, maybe it could come in handy knowing how to pitch a tent, boil down rainwater to purify it, and identify edible bugs in case of an emergency.

  Just kidding about that bug thing.

  I HOPE.

  xoxo.

  Your (soon-to-be majorly adventurous) friend,

  Sloan

  “In preparation for your Outdoor Adventure Weekend, Neeks and I are going to be showing you a few camping basics,” Tucker explained, pacing back and forth energetically in front of the campers assembled in the Walla Walla rec room. Standing beside him, Anika grinned and gave everyone a big thumbs-up. Jackson stood behind them both, pointing at different pieces of equipment like a game show host whenever Tucker or Anika indicated. He caught Jenna’s eye and winked. The two of them had bonded over Jenna’s enthusiasm for ropes. Especially since none of her other Lakeview friends really shared it.

  Jenna winked back at the C.I.T . She was all over this demo. She’d been camping a bunch—before her parents divorced, the Blooms had done an annual trip to the Adirondacks—but she had a feeling that a Walla Walla camping weekend would be an entirely unique experience.

  “First things first,” Tucker said, ticking off on his hand as he counted, “you want to pitch your tent on level ground.”

  Jackson held his arms out in a T, doing a dramatization of “level.”

  Next to Jenna, Avery snorted. Jenna ignored her. Level ground—check, she thought, creating a mental list for herself to refer to over the course of the weekend.

  “Next, you want to check and make sure that there’s a water source nearby,” Tucker went on. “Now, we’re going to be hiking along the edge of the water, so that won’t be a problem, but it’s still something that you should keep in mind. There’s a reason, after all, that we’re hiking along the water. Technically, more than one reason.”

  Now Avery sighed, as though the whole demonstration were just too boring to endure for another moment.

  Jackson shot Avery a look and she flushed, sitting straighter in her seat. Jenna observed this exchange with curiosity—could it be true? Was there actually someone in camp who had a quieting effect on Avery and her endless black cloud of snide remarks and sarcasm? Interesting. She’d have to keep an eye on that.

  “So,” Anika jumped in, “what are some other things to look for when choosing a campsite?”

  Jenna reached her hand in the air, but not before she saw Avery lean over to Joanna, whisper something in her ear, and begin to snicker.

  Whatever Jackson’s effect on Avery, it wasn’t enough to reform her completely. The girl obviously just couldn’t help herself.

  What is her problem? Jenna wondered. The attitude was not fun to deal with. Not at all.

  Thankfully, Avery had finally managed to attract some attention other than Jenna and Jackson. Anika whipped her head around and looked at the smirking girl.

  “Yes, Avery? I take it you have the answer, or you wouldn’t be chatting with Joanna?”

  Since the remark hadn’t come from Jackson, Avery wasn’t chastened at all. In fact, Jenna noted, she rolled her eyes before answering Anika. “You want to check for shade, you want to find a place for cooking, and you have to find a separate place for disposing of garbage.”

  Anika looked resigned to the fact that at least Avery had gotten the answer right. “Yes. Disposal of trash is really important, since doing it improperly could attract animals, not to mention harm the environment. But Avery—” she added—“just because this information is stuff that you already know doesn’t mean that you can talk while we’re giving a demonstration.”

  Avery widened her eyes into an innocent expression. “It’s not just me and Joanna, Anika,” she insisted. “Everyone knows this stuff. I mean, it’s, like, camping 101.”

  Just another not-so-subtle dig at the Lakeview girls, Jenna thought.

  Anika looked as though she were considering how to reply to this, but Tucker clearly decided that the best thing to do was just to plow ahead. “How about you humor us, Avery, just in case?” he suggested. “Now we’ll show you all how to pitch a tent. Jackson will be there to help us over the weekend, but I personally would feel better knowing that you’d given the demo your full attention.”

  At the mention of Jackson’s name, Avery beamed and looked much more interested again. “Of course,” she said, contrite.

  “Great!” Tucker looked incredibly relieved. “Okay, then—what we’ve got here is all of the equipment for your standard four-person tent. Can I get a volunteer to help me put this together up here while everyone watches?”

  Jenna stretched as far forward as her body would bend. She was dying for a chance to put a tent together herself, without her parents, Stephanie, Adam, or anyone else to get in the way. This would be sort of like a rite of passage.

  “Perfect—Jenna,” Tucker said, nodding in her direction.

  Yes! she thought, skipping up toward the front of the room.

  Surveying the crowd, she could see that David was also clamoring to be picked. That would be fun. Jenna and David had always worked well together in anything teamwork oriented. That was probably why they had been good together as a couple, but were also great friends.

  “David,” Tucker said. “Hmm...” he pointed. “And Reed.”

  Reed looked surprised, bu
t he got up and joined the group up front without argument.

  This’ll be good, Jenna thought. Reed was, like, the least outdoorsy person in the whole camp.

  Then again, she realized, that’s probably why Tucker chose him.

  At the mention of Reed’s name, Natalie’s hand shot up, reminding Jenna of who the second least outdoorsy person in the whole camp was. Jenna knew the only reason Nat was volunteering was for the chance to work with Reed.

  Before Tucker could call on Nat, though, Brynn called out. “Me! Me!” she shouted, waving her hands like an air traffic controller. Her red curls bounced as she stretched her neck forward.

  There was no way to ignore her, and Tucker didn’t even try. “How can I say no to that?” Tucker laughed, waving her up to the front. “Come on, Brynn. Help us out!”

  Brynn sprang to her feet and jogged up to the front. Once she got there, she shot a small, secretive smile at Reed.

  Jenna caught their exchange with surprise. What was Brynn doing trying to get closer to Natalie’s guy? Especially when she had Jordan? Was Jenna imagining things?

  One glance at Natalie told her that her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her—that whatever she’d seen, Natalie had seen it, too. And wasn’t happy about it.

  Jenna bit her lip, worried. She had no idea what was going on with Brynn, but it didn’t look good. The Lakeview girls hadn’t exactly been embraced with open arms since arriving at Walla Walla. It wasn’t like they could afford to let their own friendships dissolve.

  But if Brynn kept up this weird flirting with Natalie’s boy, that was exactly what was going to happen.

  chapter NINE

  “Last one on the bus is a rotten egg!”

  Chelsea looked up to see Jenna hanging off the bottom step of one of two school buses that would take them to the campsite. The school buses, which had been packed to the gills with camping gear, were nearly ready, Chelsea realized with a start, to take them off into the great unknown.

  Gulp.

  Natalie sidled up to her and elbowed her in the ribs. “Do you think there’s something slightly off about them having to drive us to a hiking site?”

  Chelsea had to laugh. “Would you rather that they made us walk all the way there? Something tells me we’ll be getting plenty of exercise soon enough. Besides, I’d rather not be loaded down with gear until the last possible minute.”

  Natalie nodded. “Sometimes you are extremely wise.”

  Chelsea smiled. “Only sometimes?”

  “Are you guys coming?” Jenna hollered from the bus, saving Natalie the trouble of having to answer.

  “Why don’t you save us seats?” Chelsea suggested, savoring her last few moments of pre-Outdoor Adventure innocence.

  It’s all uphill from here, she thought to herself nervously. Probably even literally!

  Almost as if he’d overheard her private thoughts, Dr. Steve stepped in front of the first bus, clipboard in hand and vocal chords at the ready.

  “I came by to see you all off!” he exclaimed. He looked, Chelsea noted, extremely chipper at the prospect of sending a bunch of young people off into the woods to fend for themselves.

  At least that means they probably haven’t lost any campers on one of these weekends—yet.

  The thought wasn’t much of a consolation.

  “I know you’re going to have a great time—and learn a lot!”

  Doesn’t he know that camp is not for learning? Camp is the opposite of learning! Camp is what you do in the summer, when you’re not in school! Chelsea felt quite certain of that, and in fact made a solemn vow right then and there to do as little overt learning as possible over the weekend in particular, and the summer in general.

  Suddenly she heard a voice in her ear. “Isn’t the summer for fun, not ‘learning’?”

  She turned to find Connor grinning at her, making little air quote signs with his hands as he said the word “learning.” Clearly he felt the same way about all of this as she did.

  Chelsea wasn’t exactly the swooning type. But still, this was a moment that could call for a swoon.

  She decided to compromise—a mini-swoon. On the inside.

  On the outside, she smiled at Connor. (This smiling thing was really working out for her these days; she couldn’t believe she’d taken as long as she had to come around to the friendlier side of life.) “I have a feeling we’re going to be ‘learning,’ this weekend, whether we like it or not,” she proclaimed. “The Clipboard has spoken.”

  Connor laughed out loud. Chelsea decided that she loved that sound. “Who are we to deny The Clipboard?” Connor asked. “Who knows? Maybe it’ll be fun.” He paused for a moment, looking as if he were deep in thought. “Do you want to sit with me on the bus?”

  Did she? Chelsea had to press her lips together to keep from squealing. Jenna wouldn’t mind, she knew—there’d be someone else to take the space that Jenna had saved for her. Besides, her friends were constantly encouraging her to spend more time with Connor. They were way into the idea of Chelsea and Connor as a couple.

  Forget The Clipboard—who was she to deny her friends?

  “Yeah, definitely,” Chelsea said, trying not to smile so widely that her cheeks split. “Cool.”

  The weekend was starting to look up, that was for sure. Maybe Dr. Steve was right—maybe she was going to have a great time, after all.

  She crossed her fingers as she and Connor boarded the bus, just to be safe.

  Brynn could barely breathe.

  She could barely breathe, and what was worse, she couldn’t believe there had ever been a time when an afternoon on the ropes course would have seemed like a walk in the park.

  But the ropes course? That was then. And the monster Outdoor Adventure Weekend kickoff hike? That was now.

  A hike. In the woods. Not a walk in the park at all.

  Just like she had on the ropes course, Brynn tried to channel her inner actress, to imagine herself playing a role. To see the movie image of herself in her mind and make it feel a little bit less “now” and intense.

  The problem with that approach was that it didn’t get her from point A to point B any faster, or make the ground any more level or less overgrown. It certainly didn’t do anything about the swarm of gnats that had decided to make the back of Brynn’s neck their own personal dance floor.

  Besides, if this were a movie, she’d totally have a stunt double. So she wouldn’t have to do any imagining or removing herself from the now. That would be the stunt double’s job.

  Why couldn’t they have stunt doubles for their Outdoor Adventure Weekend? It would be so much easier that way.

  “Note the low-hanging branches on the side of the path,” Anika was saying, indicating some spindly-looking twigs that Brynn kept having to duck from in order to keep them from smacking her in the forehead.

  Path? Brynn wondered. All she could see in front of her was the slimmest break in the dense, leafy floor of the forest. It was barely better than a trail of breadcrumbs.

  And everybody knew what happened to kids in fairy tales who followed bread crumbs . . .

  Which reminded her—she couldn’t afford to fall behind. She’d never find her way to the campsite on her own.

  “The reason the branches are bare is because local wildlife have eaten all of the leaves. That’s how we know that these woods are populated with deer and other animals.” Anika sounded pleased as punch about the idea of all sorts of wild creatures wandering around the wide open space that they were going to be calling their bedroom for the evening.

  Brynn, less so.

  “And you can see from the muddier clumps here and there that we’re getting closer to our water source—”

  If Brynn had been paying better attention, rather than swatting at a particularly aggressive insect, she might have noticed that here and there were actually, in point of fact, right there. Right in front of her. Slippery, wet, muddy clumps.

  Unfortunately, she was too caught up in regretting not ha
ving used stronger bug repellent to take note of that tiny detail.

  Which meant that the next step that she took. . .

  ... landed her squarely in the middle of a thick patch—or clump, per Anika’s extremely specific nature talk—of ishy, squishy mud.

  “Whoa—” she started as she slid forward, but it was too late.

  Brynn was going down.

  She landed with a splat, splashing mud up and over her legs, her upper body, her face, her hair . . . basically everywhere. She was covered in mud.

  Up until this point in the hike, Brynn had basically been trying to be a good sport about the whole thing. The bug bites, the heat, the pebbles on the ground that made her ankles turn in different directions when she least expected it . . . Yeah, she’d dealt with all of those. She’d kept her gripes mostly on the inside. But now?

  Now she had mud dripping down her back and possibly creeping over the waistband of her shorts.

  This was a full-contact, mud-on-skin situation.

  Gross.

  The time for a positive attitude had long since passed.

  Brynn made a decision. She took a deep breath and screamed.

  Anika immediately rushed over. “Brynn, are you okay?” she asked, concern etched across her features as she kneeled on the ground.

  Brynn couldn’t help but notice that Anika didn’t seem to have any qualms whatsoever about plunking herself right down in the mud. Suddenly, she felt extremely foolish. Also, her throat was raw from that mondoshriek that she’d unleashed.

  “Um, I fell,” she said. She reached up and tried to brush a strand of hair out of her eyes, but only succeeded in painting a streak of mud across her forehead.

  “Yeah, I can see that,” Anika said, still sounding very worried. “What did you hurt?”

  It dawned on Brynn that there was a reason that most people, people who’d been trained in outdoorsy type experiences, didn’t go around freaking out every time they took a skid, or tripped, or fell over. It was because screaming worried people. It made them think you’d broken something. Or that you needed special attention or first aid or something serious, rather than that you were just kind of unused to nature in such huge quantities, and maybe didn’t enjoy the sensation of mud on the inside of your waistband, and were possibly wishing that your knapsack held an extra change of clean clothes.