Camp Confidential 08 - Wish You Weren't Here

by Melissa J Morgan

  Sarah shrugged, feeling uncomfortable. “I don’t know. I just decided . . . I don’t like him that way.”

  “Really?” asked Abby incredulously. “But you guys talk all the time in softball. You seem to get along really well.”

  Sarah tried to concentrate on her bug juice. “Getting along isn’t everything,” she said. “I just . . . didn’t feel ready for the whole romantic thing. You know.”

  Alex shrugged. “I guess. Anyway, it’s no big deal, Sars. The rest of the social committee didn’t seem very impressed with our ideas.”

  Sarah paused in mid-sip. “Really?”

  Alex nodded. “Really. They kept vetoing all of our ideas to make the dance more romantic—more slow music, softer lighting, whatever. They said it would be too uncomfortable for the younger kids.”

  And for me, thought Sarah. “Seriously?”

  Grace nodded. “Yeah. And here it is just a couple of days till the dance, and I don’t have a date, Alex doesn’t have a date—”

  Alex broke out laughing. “Hey, hey, hey! I still have time!”

  Grace laughed. “Okay, whatever, Alex. The point is, I think only Brynn and Gaby have dates, right? Oh and I guess Priya and Jordan, and Nat and Simon. But you knew that. And anyway, as Priya always says—she and Jordan are—”

  “Just friends,” all the bunkmates chorused in unison.

  Brynn and Gaby nodded as the other girls looked at each other and shrugged.

  “It looks like most of us will be going stag,” Grace said. “So it’ll be more like last year than we expected.”

  Sarah grinned. “Awesome,” she said. “Circle dancing, here we come!”

  As dessert was finishing up—green Jell-O, which, sadly, made Sarah think of David—Jenna strolled over with a friendly smile. “Hey, guys,” she greeted the table. Then she turned to Sarah. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  “Sure.” Sarah got up and followed Jenna over to the mess-hall entrance, which was a little ways off from the rest of the tables. “What’s up?”

  “I heard you told David that you won’t go to the dance with him.”

  Sarah cringed. She knew it should make her feel better that Jenna knew—it meant that Jenna would stop being mad at her and everything would go back to normal. But even the mention of David’s name made Sarah feel awful. She carried his napkin-frog in her shorts pocket—not that she would tell anyone about that. “Yeah,” Sarah said, not quite sure how to proceed. “So . . .”

  “I just wanted to say thanks for respecting my feelings,” said Jenna, looking a little sheepish. “I mean, I’m glad you didn’t like him that way. I’m not sorry I told you what I told you. It would have been really weird for me, hanging out with the two of you as a couple! But I’m sorry if . . . you know . . . feelings got hurt. Or whatever.” Now, for the first time, she looked Sarah in the eye. “I think you’re a really great friend, Sars.”

  Sarah didn’t know what to say. “Thanks.” She wondered if Jenna expected her to say it back. The thing was, a few days ago, Sarah would have said Jenna was a great friend—but lately, when she thought of Jenna, all she thought about was David’s hurt face when she told him she didn’t like him that way. So she stayed quiet, fiddling with the frog in her pocket.

  “Okay,” said Jenna finally. “Well, I just wanted you to know that.”

  Slowly they made their way back to their tables. Sarah sighed, thinking over the day. I made up with Abby. I found my inner athlete. Jenna and I are cool, and the dance thing seems to be going my way. She paused before her table, looking around at her friends. So why am I not happy?

  chapter THIRTEEN

  “Definitely the purple eye shadow,” Brynn was saying as she applied quick brushstrokes to Sarah’s eyelids. “Definitely the purple. Sarah, this looks gorgeous on you. It makes your eyes look huge.”

  Sarah blinked, having trouble sitting still. “Freakishly huge?” she asked nervously. “Like big fish eyes?”

  Brynn sighed and looked down at Sarah. “Good huge, Sarah. Wait till you see how gorgeous you look. It’s like a whole new you.”

  Becky walked over to survey Sarah’s make-over. Brynn had offered to use the “incredible makeup skills” she’d picked up in drama to make Sarah gorgeous for the dance. Sarah wasn’t sure why she’d submitted to it—she felt very exposed, very naked without her Red Sox hat. And having makeup put on one’s face was a weird, strangely awkward experience. Sarah was afraid she’d get a pencil in the eye or some lashes pulled out with Brynn’s lash curler, but so far, so good. Of course, she hadn’t seen herself yet.

  “Wow, Sarah,” Becky breathed. “You look so awesome, girl. I didn’t realize you had such long eyelashes.”

  Sarah shrugged—or shrugged as much as she could without getting an eye-shadow brush in the eye. “Neither did I.”

  “Wow, Sarah,” Abby imitated Becky, sweeping up out of nowhere, “that makeup really does incredible things for you. I never noticed that third eye on the side of your face, or the mole with the hair growing out of it—”

  “Stop it!” Brynn cried as Sarah laughed. “She’s totally making that stuff up, Sars. I don’t know what’s wrong with her.”

  “Wouldn’t it be great if you actually did draw in an extra eye with makeup?” Abby asked. “How funny would that be? I’m totally borrowing someone’s eyeliner.”

  “Abby, you’re nuts!” Grace shrieked. “I can’t believe how crazy you are. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before.”

  Abby raised an eyebrow. “I keep it well-hidden,” she admitted. “But once you get to know me—watch out!”

  “Okay,” Brynn was saying, sweeping a rose-colored lip gloss over Sarah’s lips. “I think you’re done, Sars. Just let me add one coat of mascara . . .”

  Sarah tried not to blink as Brynn coated her lashes with the cold liquid.

  Brynn stood back to survey her work. “Amazing!” she cried. “You are so gorgeous. You’re going to blow away all the guys at the social.”

  “Poor David will pee his pants,” Alex added.

  Sarah’s heart sunk at the mention of David’s name. A few days had passed since she’d told him she wouldn’t go with him, and she kept expecting it to hurt less, but so far, no luck. Bunk 4E still hadn’t retaliated for the water-balloon prank, and she couldn’t help wondering whether she was part of the reason. She didn’t want David to pee his pants at the sight of her. In fact, she didn’t want to think about David being there, at all.

  “Let me see,” she said, standing up from Grace’s bunk and walking into the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror. When she approached it, a person she’d never seen before waited for her on the other side. Was that her? Sarah’s light brown hair was styled in gentle waves that curled around her face and rested gently on her pink peasant top. And Brynn was right, the purple eye shadow made her hazel eyes look wide and sparkly. Her cheeks were just slightly rosy with pink blush, and her lips shone with a soft rose sheen. It was her—there was no denying that she was looking at Sarah—but she was pretty. So pretty, she was almost afraid to touch her face, or it would wear off.

  “You like it?” Brynn asked, appearing behind her in the mirror.

  “Like it?” Sarah whirled around and engulfed Brynn in a huge hug. “God, Brynn, thank you! I don’t know what you did, but I love it.”

  “Let’s go, girls!” Valerie called, popping into the bathroom. “We’re supposed to meet 4A over by the oak tree in three minutes!”

  Everyone exploded into motion, running in circles around the bathroom and cubbies, doing last-minute primping. Finally they began filing out the door and down to the oak tree. The night air was cool and refreshing, and Sarah realized that she would have been tingling with excitement, if only she were going with David. Who knew that having a date to the social would ever sound like a good idea?

  The girls from 4A poured out of the cabin in a cloud of glitter and perfume. They all looked amazing, in stylish tops and jeans and dangly earrings. Sarah
couldn’t believe these were her everyday friends. They all looked like models on their way to a catalog shoot.

  “You look gorgeous!” Natalie gushed to Sarah. “Who did your makeup? I never realized you have such pretty eyes!”

  “They’re always hidden under that baseball cap,” agreed Alex, giving Sarah’s arm a gentle squeeze.

  “Maybe I won’t wear my Red Sox hat every day from now on,” Sarah allowed. “But when I feel the need, I’m supporting my team. Some things are more important than beauty.”

  “I hear that,” Abby called.

  Everybody was in a great mood on the walk to the rec hall, gossiping and chatting and making silly jokes about nothing. When they walked inside the hall, everybody gasped. It looked amazing. The theme for the dance was “Starry Nights,” and the gym was decorated with hundreds of twinkling white lights, dark blue crepe paper, and a huge papier-mâché moon. The fourth-division girls on social committee may not have gotten everything they wanted, but they definitely did a great job, Sarah thought.

  The DJ was already playing great dance music, so they all jumped onto the dance floor and started dancing in a big circle. The dance floor was already littered with other circles—the third-division girls and a group of CITs. Natalie, Brynn, Priya, and Gaby all went in search of their dates (Priya still insisting Jordon wasn’t a “date”), but everyone else hung together and danced like crazy. Soon, the other girls came back with Simon, Darren, and Gaby’s date, a tall, skinny boy named Matt. Sarah was dancing so hard, she was almost out of breath.

  But then she looked up and saw some boys from 4E standing against the wall across the room. And there he was: David. Sarah’s heart sunk. She wondered what it would have been like if she’d gone with him—would he have come and danced in their circle, too? Or would she be standing with him against the wall, watching her friends dance and wishing she could be with them? He looked really great in a pale yellow plaid shirt that brought out his green eyes. Sarah wondered if the boys primped as much for these dances as the girls did. Doubt it, she figured. But he still looks great.

  They’d been dancing for a while now, and suddenly Abby appeared beside her, mopping off her brow. “I’m thirsty!” she yelled to Sarah over the music. “Wanna get something to drink?”

  “Sure!” Sarah yelled. She turned to Alyssa, who was dancing beside her. “We’ll be right back,” she explained. Then she followed Abby off the dance floor and over to the refreshments. Sarah grabbed a Coke, while Abby took a glass of punch. Sarah leaned against the table, her eyes helplessly drawn to the spot where David stood with his friends. He would laugh and joke with them, but his eyes kept going back to the spot where the fourth-division girls were dancing. He’s looking for me, Sarah realized.

  “He’s totally into you,” Abby said suddenly, reading her mind. Sarah turned around and found Abby looking at her sympathetically.

  “I know,” Sarah said quietly. “And I like him, too, but Jenna would hate me forever if we got together.”

  Abby made a what?! face. “Why would she hate you?”

  “Because she likes him, too, and she thinks it would be hard to be friends with us if we got together.” Even as she said it, Sarah knew it was going to sound silly to Abby. It sounded silly to her, too, put like that. And sure enough, when she turned back to Abby, Abby was wearing a skeptical expression. She looked back at David, who was searching the fourth-division girls again.

  “Sometimes you have to fight for the things you want,” Abby told her with a wink, and then walked back to dance with their bunkmates again. Sarah was left alone by the refreshments table. She had butterflies in her stomach. The Sarah that she was at home would probably ignore that funny feeling in her stomach and go back to dancing, but there was only one Sarah now, and she was trying to be braver.

  The song ended, and Sarah headed back to the fourth-division girls. But she wasn’t going back to dance. She touched Jenna lightly on the shoulder. “Come outside with me?” she asked. Jenna looked puzzled, but she stopped dancing and followed Sarah out of the gym. The cool air felt wonderful after all that dancing. Sarah leaned against a railing and turned to face her friend. “I need to tell you something,” she began.

  Jenna looked skeptical. “Okay.”

  Sarah took a deep breath. “I told David I wouldn’t go with him tonight because I didn’t want to lose you as a friend, but the truth is I really do like him, and I think he likes me. And you’re one of my favorite people, Jenna, and a great friend, but it’s not fair of you to ask me to stay away from him to make you feel better. And I think I’m going to ask him to dance.”

  Sarah carefully watched Jenna’s face when she finished. For a moment, Jenna looked completely furious. Oh god, I’ve done it, I’ve really lost her as a friend, Sarah thought. But then Jenna looked back through the gym windows. And there, she saw David, watching them talk from inside the gym. He must have seen us leave, Sarah realized. Jenna’s face fell, and she sighed, then shook her head.

  “Okay,” she said. She looked away, into the woods. “I get it, Sars. He really likes you. Okay.”

  Sarah leaned over and gave her friend a huge hug. Jenna didn’t respond, but then she didn’t squirm away, either. Sarah felt confident that she would come around. “Thank you,” she whispered. Then she let go, caught David’s eye, and walked quickly through the gym door.

  “Hey,” she said softly, walking up to David.

  “Hey yourself,” he replied. “You, um . . . you look great.”

  Sarah smiled. “So do you.” She paused and leaned against the wall. “So . . . about that favor I owe you, since you let me go that night . . .”

  David nodded. “Yeah, I guess you still owe me that.”

  Sarah nodded. “What if I admitted something to you? Would that make us even?”

  David looked surprised. “That depends on what that something is.”

  Sarah took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. “The something is that . . . what I told you before? About not liking you in that way?”

  “Oh, yeah,” David murmured. “I sort of remember something like that.”

  Sarah sighed. “What if I told you . . . it was all a lie? And that I really do like you that way, a whole lot. And . . . I’m really, really sorry.”

  David looked at her, considering. “Huh,” he muttered. “Well . . .” He looked out the window at the stars, and stroked his chin. “I don’t think it would make us even,” he said finally. “But it might make us closer to even.”

  Sarah smiled and grabbed his arm. “Come dance with me and my friends?” she asked.

  David laughed and eagerly followed. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  The circle was just as Sarah had left it, except that Jenna wasn’t back yet. Sarah squeezed in and made room for David and herself. She caught Abby’s eye on the other side of the circle and winked. Abby winked back immediately.

  One of Sarah’s favorite songs started to play, and she felt her body responding to the music before she even had time to think about it—kind of like how she felt when she was playing sports. She looked at the smiling faces of her friends as they all danced to the music and grinned. She knew that whoever Sarah was from this point on—bookish, a jock, a romantic, whatever—she was going to be a whole lot happier.

  Turn the page for a sneak preview of camp

  CONFIDENTIAL

  Best (Boy)friend

  available soon!

  chapter ONE

  Hey, Sam-bone!

  Sorry I haven’t written more, li’l bro. But you know how much I hate to sit still. And there’s so much to do at Camp Lakeview. B-Ball. Swimming in the lake. Soccer. Moonlit hikes. And some pretty chilly pranks have been played already this summer.

  I had this tree-climbing contest with Jordan, and I almost fell. Don’t tell Mom!! I won, so it’s all good. Except, the next day, Jordan beat me in this game we invented. Bike-broom polo. I’ll teach it to you when I get home. You’ll go ape over it.

  With
the tree and the polo included, that makes the overall score so far for the summer: Priya 43-Jordan 41. I so rule! Except that, okay, Jordan has been ahead of me a couple times since we started our Year 2 Camp Lakeview Who’s-the-Most-Extreme Challenge. He’s like you. Fearless. And stupid. (Hee-hee.) Which means that, also, like you, he’s already had three broken bones in his life. And, yes, I know I’ve had two in my twelve years on the planet, plus that thing that time with my tooth. What is it that Dad says? The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat? I still say the thrill was worth the agony of the teeth. ’Cause I did conquer that empty swimming pool with my skateboard. You know it.

  How’re you? How’s the all-star team? Getting to play at D-land, that so rocks. I miss you, but hanging with Jordan helps, because we do a lot of the same stuff the two of us do. He’s my Summer Sam, minus a lot of the annoying little brother stuff. (Hee-HAW!) Really, Jordan’s the best friend EVER!!! But you’re the best bro.

  I can’t wait until Friday. That’s when the whole fourth division is heading off for our long weekend—4 days!!!—in Washington, D.C. Jordan and I have already made a zillion plans. We’re definitely going to do this thing called the Sites on Bikes. That’s where you bike around all the monuments. (Do you think it’s possible to scale the Washington Monument? Because how amazing would it be to rappel down that thing? Just kidding. Mostly. I mean it would be fun, but even I’m not that deranged.) And we’re going to spend one whole day in the National Air and Space Museum. Did I ever tell you Jordan’s an astro-nut, just like me?

  Gotta go. Time for dinner. And that means time for barf on a bun. Otherwise known as Sloppy Joe Surprise.

  Bye!

  Your favorite (and, okay, only) sister,

  Priya

  “Bat!” Priya Shah called out. The bandanna tied around her eyes made her blind as a . . . you know.