Alex's Challenge #4

by Melissa J Morgan

  “First of all, everyone at school back home knows about it, and it’s like I get all this attention that I don’t want,” Alex said, sitting up on the cot as her energy returned more and more.

  She continued, “I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me, and I don’t want to be known as the girl with diabetes like I am at home.

  “It’s so much better here. I mean, I’m just known for being good at soccer. What could be better than that?”

  “Oh my God, Alex!” Brynn said, turning her voice down as the nurse looked her way. “You don’t have to be perfect all the time. We would’ve understood—and we would’ve still thought you were our resident Mia Hamm. I don’t get it.”

  “But I really don’t want to cause any trouble or extra fuss. I just want things to go smoothly—and if everyone knew, I thought it would be a big deal or something,” Alex explained, surprised at how relieved she was that she didn’t have to hide it anymore. She was just sorry her bunkmates found out the way they did. Especially sorry since she passed out—she had a bruise on her butt where she smacked down onto the soccer field.

  “I know I haven’t been the best example of this lately,” Brynn said, “but your friends accept you for who you are. If you have an issue—hello, I have about a hundred—that just makes you more interesting. I’m so sorry I was so jealous and awful to you the past few days. I thought you were choosing Valerie and Julie and your woodshop friends over me. I was just worried that you were about to dump me, and I shouldn’t have acted the way I did.”

  “Brynn, I would never do that to you!” Alex said. “I just wanted to do my own thing—like hang out with Julie sometimes and play more soccer. But all my free time was supposed to be with you.”

  “I know, I know. I wasn’t very nice at all. Are you going to hate me forever? Because I’m pretty sure that I would hate me forever if I were in your shoes. I mean, when I saw you passed out just now—like you were going to die or something—I have never felt so guilty and evil and awful in my whole life. I’ll never act like that again. Not to anyone. Ever.”

  “Stop it, I’m so serious,” Alex said, blushing.

  Her heart was beating a lot now, but because she was happy. She could tell by the concern in Brynn’s eyes that she had gotten her old best friend back. Alex couldn’t have been more thrilled. At least something good had come out of her diabetic breakdown.

  Alex wouldn’t let herself get that bad again—she just had to be better at watching what she ate! She would definitely stay away from the sugary treats. Julie and the others always had Alex in the kitchen to make sure there were enough diabetes-friendly goodies for her. Alex would stick to those foods—special puddings and cookies and candies made with artificial sweeteners—from now on.

  Valerie and Sarah burst through the door, not even giving Helen a chance to stop them.

  “Are you okay?” they asked in unison. They were panting, so it was difficult to understand what else they were trying to say.

  “She’s fine,” Brynn said, explaining the insulin kit and Alex’s drop in blood sugar that caused her to pass out and everything else she had just learned at the infirmary.

  “She’ll be fine, as long as you girls don’t encourage her to eat sweets—no more Twinkies,” Nurse Helen interrupted. “She can even leave now if she wants to.”

  “Really?!!!” Alex sprang out of her cot, and she tied her sneakers. She was ready to go canoeing.

  “Take it easy today—no more sports in Color War, Alex,” the nurse said. “And I want you to stop in before bed tonight.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Alex felt her heart sink. What was the point of Color War if she couldn’t play sports?

  “I have a feeling you’d make a great coach tomorrow,” Nurse Helen said. “You have to do it. You have to give you body time to recover. You just went into diabetic shock, Alex Kim. You’re lucky you’re not in the hospital.”

  “Ahh man, that’s not good,” Brynn whispered into Alex’s ear.

  “Ugh, I know, I know,” she answered, knowing she’d just have to deal. The soccer episode had scared her to death. And she didn’t want to go through that again. She’d do what she could to help the Blues from the sidelines. At least she could still play Scrabble.

  One good thing: Alex had always been stopping by the infirmary to get her blood sugar levels checked—and to get her daily shot. She was tired of sneaking around and super relieved that she wouldn’t have to do it ever again. The four girls joined hands and headed back to 3C.

  Together.

  chapter NINE

  Alex passing out on the soccer field had made everyone want to get along. All the girls were so scared—a few of them worried that Alex was really and truly dead for a moment—that everyone wanted to reaffirm their friendships. It became clear that things could change for the worse in an instant. And in the midst of that change, the girls realized that they wanted to be nicer. After all, there were only three more days left of camp.

  Sarah and Valerie had a long talk that night. Sarah wanted to work things out with Valerie once and for all. It turned out that Sarah was upset when Valerie hadn’t signed up for ceramics with her, and Valerie had honestly forgotten that she had said she’d spend the last free-choice period with Sarah. Sarah had started hanging out with Brynn just to get her back, and Brynn was trying to get back at Alex. It had turned into a complicated, nasty, nonfriendly mess for everyone.

  “When we’re mad at each other in the future, let’s promise to talk it out instead of all of this dissing,” Valerie said, attaching another carved wooden elephant to her bunk.

  “Let’s call ourselves the Twinkies,” Alex joked.

  The other girls shifted uncomfortably. Since they all had found out that Alex had juvenile diabetes, they learned that her body couldn’t process sugar. They also figured out that Jenna’s Twinkies the night before had probably set off Alex’s diabetic attack. But no one blamed Jenna. They didn’t blame Alex, either. Chelsea hadn’t even piped in to offer her “advice” on what had happened. In fact, she’d been sitting on her bed by herself. Karen was starting to hang around with Natalie and Alyssa more, and Chelsea didn’t seem one bit happy. Her lips were pursed and her eyes creased as she brushed her hair and pulled it into ponytails using a small hand mirror.

  “It’s just a joke,” Alex said, laughing at their wide-eyed, afraid-to-laugh expressions. “It was meant to be funny!”

  “I thought it was funny!” Candace said, laughing.

  “I don’t care what you all call us,” Natalie said. She’d seen many friendship feuds in her private school in Manhattan. Though she would never have gotten in the other girls’ business, she was more relieved than anyone to see the bunk work out their differences. “As long as you take care of yourself.”

  “Alex, that just can’t happen again,” Jenna said, changing into a pair of pajamas. Jenna had been trying to share her goodies with Alex all summer (and the summer before that). She had almost a nauseous gurgle in her stomach about it. She could’ve killed Alex—and she almost did yesterday. “It just can’t happen again.”

  “It won’t, I promise,” Alex said, coming over to hug her friend.

  They went to bed, all getting along. Tomorrow was the last day of Color War, and even though it wouldn’t be the same without playing sports, Alex looked forward to much more friendly competitions.

  The second day of Color War was amazing. Chelsea and Alex kicked some tail at Scrabble, and Jenna kicked some butt of her own in basketball.

  In the Scrabble competition that morning, Alex knew it was something they could do. Last year, she and Chelsea had picked off campers—like Gaby from 3A and Trevor from 3F—left and right. Obviously Alex and Chelsea weren’t exactly friends, but when they had to, the two girls could work together. They had team spirit.

  And Nurse Helen was right, the Blues in Alex’s division needed a good coach—and the counselors were willing to let Alex take over. So that day, Alex stood on the sidelin
es strategizing, and her team always ran back to her for advice. She was so happy because she had still gotten her sports fix. And her Blues had done a terrific job that day. According to Alex’s point calculations, she had an idea of which team had won. But sometimes there were surprises—like the deduction Dr. Steve had taken for the overzealous Reds who had woken up the camp—so Alex had to wait until the banquet later that day to see the final tally.

  But first, there was a play to see!

  Brynn and Grace’s play! Alex thought, excited. She couldn’t wait to see her friends on stage.

  “Okay, makeover time!” Natalie called. Natalie had a makeup kit the size of a tackle box. She’d gotten it from her famous dad’s super-famous model girlfriend. It was so fancy—Alex figured the products had come straight from Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

  “Me!” Jenna yelled, surprising everyone. She was such a huge jock—and she didn’t usually care about those things.

  “Are you kidding?” Natalie said, laughing.

  “Well, just a little bit of blush,” Jenna answered, blushing naturally. “I thought it might be fun to try for a change.”

  “I’m doing my own,” Alyssa said. She liked to wear black mascara really, really thick on special occasions. Candace, Jessie, and Sarah got in line next. Grace had gone first. She had the lead female part of Wendy—a huge gigantic deal because usually the leads went to the older kids. Grace had been so excited the past few days that she’d been waking up extra early. Brynn was excited, too—she was a Lost Boy—but she didn’t have trouble sleeping in. Brynn had busily done her own eyes, cheeks, and even hair. She loved doing that stuff before her plays.

  Both Grace and Brynn were already backstage, preparing for their debut. All day long, their mouths had been moving silently as they went over their lines. They were so worried that they would forget something or say the wrong line when it really mattered. The two drama divas had huddled together and seemed nervous at breakfast, especially Grace who hadn’t done as much acting as Brynn had in the past. Brynn taught Grace her deep yoga breaths, and everyone laughed at them as they chanted, “Ooooommmm. Ooooommmm. Ooooommmm.”

  Chelsea had a pink dress with tiny little flowers that was way fancier than what anyone else had brought. Natalie let a few of the girls, including Alex, borrow her extra skirts. Alex hadn’t even brought a skirt to camp—she never did. She paired Natalie’s jean skirt with one of her navy blue polo-style shirts, and checked herself in the mirror. While the other girls were cuted up with makeup and lip gloss, Alex went plain-faced. She loved being au naturel. Her only concession was to let Nat take out her ponytail and fluff her hair up with some gel. She dabbed on some moisturizer and was ready to go. She grabbed Valerie, and the two of them—the first ones ready in the bunk—were good to go.

  “Sarah, hurry up!” Valerie said as Alex pulled her by the arm to wait for everyone outside by the door. She was impatient—like everyone else in the bunk—and ready to party!

  Sarah was still standing in front of the wall-sized mirror in the hot, humid bathroom that really did need a good cleaning.

  “I’m almost done!” Sarah yelled, seeing her friends heading off without her.

  “It’s okay. Take your time,” Alex said, sitting down to wait for her friend. Sarah was soft-spoken, but very cool. She made these quiet, dry remarks that cracked Alex up.

  Alex had forgotten how well she and Sarah had gotten along earlier in the summer—before Brynn went wacky on her. Alex didn’t like to think about how hurt she’d been just a few days before. It was all over, and she was trying to forget. There was no sense in dwelling on the bad.

  Just twenty more minutes, and Alex would see Brynn and Grace up there on stage.

  “So, how do I look?” Julie asked, twirling around. Her shoulders sparkled because of all the glitter lotion she had on.

  “You don’t look like you’re going to a play! You look like you belong in a music video,” Alex said, rushing over to Julie with the rest of the girls.

  “I think she’s going on a date,” Val said as Sarah looked at her, winking.

  Julie’s face turned bright red. Alex was standing next to her counselor—the one who’d secretly counseled Alex about her diabetes all summer long—and Alex noticed that Julie’s skin was hot.

  “You’re awfully excited to see Peter Pan tonight. Don’t you think?” Alex asked, teasing Julie.

  Julie had been such a fantastic friend to Alex. She was always reminding Alex to get her insulin shots from Nurse Helen and making sure that none of the other girls heard her. Julie had tried to get Alex to tell her friends about her problem, but when Alex didn’t want to, Julie respected Alex’s decision.

  Instead, Julie had Alex hang out in the kitchen a lot because the other counselors knew about her condition and accepted her for it. Julie figured that Alex needed a few friends who understood. She also wanted to make sure that Alex got enough to eat. Julie was always slipping Alex celery sticks and carrots and other snacks that Alex was allowed to have.

  “I’m seeing my ‘date’ at the show!” Julie exclaimed, her blue eyes sparkling more than her shoulders.

  “Who? Who?” Alex yelled.

  “You have to tell us!” Valerie said, chiming in.

  “Come on—just tell us!” Sarah begged.

  “Oh, please,” Chelsea added sarcastically, rolling her eyes. No one paid any attention to her.

  “You’ll find out soon enough,” Julie said, spraying on just a tiny bit of perfume—too much, and the mosquitoes would eat her alive. Then she headed out the door.

  The rest of the girls followed, going straight to the rec hall where Peter Pan was about to debut.

  The music came out of a CD player, but it was still amazing. The instrumentals were light and airy, as if Tinker Bell herself had been playing them. Grace did a fantastic job in her role of Wendy. Alex loved how Grace made Wendy a lot more punk and hip than she was in the original. Grace wore leg warmers and had a pink ponytail extension in her hair. But that was just like Grace; she had a way of livening everything up. Whenever she spoke on stage that night, the rest of Camp Lakeview—nearly four hundred kids—literally went silent to hear her.

  Not to be left out of the spotlight, Brynn did a great job as Peter Pan’s right-hand man, as well. She played Nibs, the Lost Boy who was the main character’s smart and debonair best friend. Alex laughed when Tinker Bell, played by a tiny eight-year-old girl, sometimes acted like she had a crush on Nibs. Brynn’s Nibs never noticed anything but his best friend—Peter Pan—and followed Peter’s every order. Alex figured all those yoga breaths that Brynn did were helpful—she didn’t miss one line. She even delivered her words in a brisk, deep boyish tone. Alex was astonished at how Brynn could transform herself on stage. She was so girlie in real life but such a boy when she needed to play one.

  Grace’s real-life crush Devon played the minor part of another Lost Boy. Sparks flew when Grace was on the stage with him (though Grace did a good job of acting like she had a thing for the boy who played Peter Pan, too). But Grace and Devon were so flirtatious and sweet that Valerie kept nudging Alex. They’d had a thing for each other for a while—that much was clear just by the way they interacted on stage.

  What does it feel like to have a crush? Alex asked herself. I don’t think I get it.

  “Oh my God, did you see those two?” Val whispered in a hushed, high voice of pure disbelief. “They are so into each other!”

  Alex couldn’t help herself: She thought of Adam and wondered if she would ever have a crush. She just knew he liked Valerie, and she had to admit she was a little disappointed by that, which made no sense, not even to her.

  Just then, the kid playing Michael, Wendy Darling’s youngest, most rambunctious brother, knocked down a ten-foot cardboard ship. It was an accident, but a big one. Once the ship came down, the other set pieces—a tree, a fake crocodile, a few hooks lying around—also came down.

  Alex gasped. Her heart started to sink. All of the
hard work that Grace and Brynn and the rest of the cast had done was brought down into shambles.

  For a moment, everyone on stage froze. It was as though no one knew what to do.

  Then Grace stepped forward.

  “It is now time for our intermission,” she said, pulling the curtain closed. She shoved another kid, a seven-year-old girl who played Nana the dog, in front of the closed curtain. The kid stared, wide-eyed, looking as if she were about to cry. But just when everyone was least expecting it, Grace peeked her head out of the curtain and whispered something to the pint-sized dog. Then the dog started singing the song, “You Are My Sunshine.” The audience—especially Alex, Valerie, and Sarah—laughed so hard that their heads almost exploded.

  “Grace is awesome,” Alex said, her face getting sore from so much giggling.

  A few minutes later, the show went on, as the ship and other set pieces had been set back up (though they weren’t as straight as they had been before). Even with a minor catastrophe, Camp Lakeview’s Peter Pan had turned out great. It was definitely the best thing Alex had seen there.

  She was so impressed with the actors—they had put so much emotion into their lines. And the set was cool, too; Sarah and Brynn had a done a fantastic job painting everything and setting it up. Alex couldn’t help but think that Brynn would be a great set designer one day if she ever wanted to go that route. Brynn would be great at anything she set her mind to.

  When Grace came out to take a bow after the show was over, the audience roared. Brynn bowed right after her, and Alex stood up and started a standing ovation. Since Alex was the first out of her seat, she could see clear to the back of the room. She nudged Valerie and couldn’t help but point.

  “Do you see that?” Alex said, jumping up and down, for the show and for what she was witnessing.

  “Oh my goodness!” Valerie said, turning bright red.

  “They are so cute together,” Alex said, tugging on Valerie and Sarah’s arms.