Natalie’s mouth fell open. Alyssa whirled around to look at Grace. “Is that true?” she asked.
Grace had never been so angry in her entire life! How dare Gaby listen in on a private conversation and then tell everyone Grace’s business? How dare she make Grace’s friends think she was a liar?
How dare she be such a bully?
“Grace?” Nat said.
Natalie’s worried eyes were too much for Grace to take. How could she explain all this to her bunkmates? That she couldn’t go to the water park with them, and she couldn’t try out for the play . . . and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to finish that stupid book!
Tears blurred her eyes again, but this time they were tears of anger. She pushed past her friends and Gaby and stomped off toward the office.
chapter SEVEN
Dear Mom and Dad,
I can’t believe you’re doing this to me! Why are you trying to ruin my life? Now everyone knows that I can’t go to the water park. Or at least they will know soon. I’m not sure whether they’ll be mad at me or feel sorry for me, but either way they’re not going to act normal around me for the rest of the summer. It’s humiliating. Why can’t you just let me be normal and do the things everyone else gets to do? It isn’t fair! I promise I’ll finish the books. Just please, please, please let me go to the water park and try out for the play and be normal! I know you’re mad at me, but PLEASE don’t ruin my whole summer! I love acting so much, and you’re taking it away. Please let me audition, and let me go to WetWorld—I’ll read as many books as you want!
Grace hit Send and watched the e-mail disappear from the screen. Immediately she wished she could get it back. It wasn’t going to help. It would probably just make her parents even angrier at her than they already were, and she couldn’t blame them. She’d barely been able to convince them to let her come to camp this summer—there was no way they were going to let her go on the field trip now that she hadn’t held up her end of the bargain.
She stood up and made her way to the door of the camp office. “Thanks, Dr. Steve,” she called.
The camp director looked up from his desk and blinked at her. “That didn’t take very long, Grace,” he said. “Usually you’re here for at least fifteen minutes when you send updates to your parents.”
“I know. This was a short message,” she said. “Anyway, thanks again for letting me use the computer.”
“No problem, Grace.” He went back to his paperwork, and she pushed open the door and stepped out into the sunshine. It felt weird to thank him for the computer when she didn’t want to use it at all. If not for her father’s phone call to Kathleen demanding daily e-mail updates on her reading, Grace would have spent the summer happily ignoring her parents. She wouldn’t even have known that Dr. Steve had a computer with Internet access that the campers could use. And she would have gone on the field trip and tried out for the play and been totally happy.
She caught up with her bunkmates outside the mess hall, where everyone was milling around as usual before dinner. They all turned to stare the instant she walked up.
“Since I have your attention, I’d like to make an announcement,” Grace said. “I no longer have to do chores. You will all take turns doing my chores for me for the rest of the summer.”
Everyone laughed.
“What? I mean it,” Grace said, laughing along with them.
“You wish,” Alex told her.
“So where were you?” Chelsea asked. “You keep going off by yourself lately.”
Natalie and Alyssa wouldn’t meet her eyes. Obviously they’d told everyone about the scene between Gaby and Grace, and now they felt guilty. Grace sighed. They shouldn’t have to feel bad when she was the one who hadn’t been telling the truth.
“I’ve been keeping a secret from you guys,” Grace said, sticking her hands in her shorts pockets. She hated having to be all serious with her friends. Friends were supposed to be the people you had fun with! “You know how I’ve been reading Call of the Wild?”
Everybody nodded.
“It’s not for fun.”
“Shocker,” Jenna said. All the other girls cracked up, but Grace frowned.
“What do you mean?” she asked. “I could be reading for fun. Lots of people do that. Look at Alyssa!”
Alyssa snorted. “Thanks.”
“Grace, Alyssa likes to read,” Brynn pointed out. “You don’t. All last summer, I never once saw you with a book in your hand.”
“Me either,” Alex agreed.
“All we mean is that obviously you’re not reading that book because you want to,” Jenna said. “If you actually wanted to read it, you’d be done with it by now. So what’s the deal?”
This was it. Grace couldn’t put off telling them for another second. She bit her lip, hard. Were they going to think she was a total loser? Were they going to laugh at her? “You guys all have reading in school, right?” she blurted. “We have it as a separate class.”
“So do we,” Natalie agreed. “Every day we go to a different teacher for reading.”
“Yeah, well, I failed it.” Grace forced herself to say the words. “I got an F.”
“In reading?” Chelsea said incredulously. “What kind of idiot fails reading?”
Grace winced. That was exactly the reaction she’d been expecting, and it hurt even more than she’d thought it would.
“Chelsea!” Natalie hissed.
“Chelsea!” Candace cried.
“What?” Chelsea said. “Grace knows how to read—we’ve all seen her do it. So how could she fail? The only reason people fail reading is because they’re dyslexic or something and they need more time for the tests.”
Everyone looked at Grace.
“Um, nope, no learning disability,” she said. “I just failed.”
“What happened?” Alyssa asked gently.
“Nothing really,” Grace admitted. “I don’t love to read, as you obviously all noticed. And there was always something better to do—talk to my best friend, play video games, act in the school play . . .”
“And?” Jenna prompted.
“And so I was busy goofing off, and I never finished any of the books I was supposed to read,” Grace said in a rush. “And they failed me.”
“So what now?” Valerie asked.
“You mean after my parents considered locking me in my room with a pile of books until I’m in college? We made a deal. I promised to read the two books I didn’t read for class, and they let me come to camp this summer.”
“They thought about taking away camp?” Alex sounded faint at the very idea of it.
“Yeah.” Grace shuddered just remembering how upset she’d been at the prospect of missing Lakeview this year. “It was the worst. My dad had totally made up his mind that I was going to stay home all summer and read. It took me two solid days of begging before he changed his mind.”
“And he came up with that bargain?” Brynn asked.
Grace nodded. “I agreed that during the first session I’d read Call of the Wild, and during the second session I’d read The Jungle Book. So they let me come.” She looked around at all her bunkmates. “You guys, I’ve never been so upset in my whole life,” she whispered. “Can you imagine if they took camp away?”
“But the first session is over,” Karen said, horrified. “And you’re still not done with Call of the Wild.”
“That’s why on Visiting Day I didn’t have as much fun with my folks as any of you had with yours,” Grace replied. “My father almost had a cow. He wanted to drag me back home that second.”
“Oh, no,” Brynn said. “So what happened?”
“They called Kathleen the other day to find out how I was doing with the book. That’s when she and Julie called me aside. They made me go call my parents and tell them what page I was on.”
“I knew it! I knew you were getting in trouble that day!” Chelsea cried triumphantly.
“Chelsea, don’t,” Karen said.
/> Everybody held their breath. Karen never corrected Chelsea. How would Chelsea handle it?
“Excuse me? Don’t what?” Chelsea demanded, turning on Karen.
“It’s just . . . you’re just . . .” Karen stammered. She looked terrified. “Never mind.”
“So what happened when you called your parents, Grace?” Sarah asked, trying to draw attention away from poor Karen.
Grace winced just remembering that awful conversation. “My dad said I couldn’t do the field trip or try out for the play until I’d finished Call of the Wild. And for this past week, they’ve been making me go to the office and e-mail them mini book reports so they’ll know I’m reading it.”
“But you haven’t been reading it,” Valerie said.
Has everyone been watching me? Grace wondered ruefully. It’s not just Julie. All the girls in the bunk seem to know how much I hate reading! “I know,” she said aloud. “I’m doomed.”
“No you’re not,” Jenna said. “You’re just being a flake.”
Grace’s mouth dropped open. She hadn’t been expecting that. All she could think to do was laugh. “Excuse me?” she said.
“It’s totally simple,” Jenna went on. “Stop fooling around and read the book so you can come to the water park with us.”
“Yeah,” Alyssa put in. “Just read it. We don’t want to leave you here all alone while we’re at WetWorld.”
“Especially not since you had to have such a fight just to sit with us on the bus,” Nat added.
“I know!” Grace cried. “I can’t believe Gaby told on me! She listened in on a private conversation between me and Julie.”
“Well, you can’t trust a girl from 3A,” Brynn sniffed. “Anyway, you shouldn’t have been keeping this a secret. It’s no big deal.”
Grace gazed around at the faces of her friends. They all looked concerned. Not one of them seemed about to tease her. Not even Chelsea. “I thought you guys would make fun of me,” she said.
“For failing a class?” Alyssa asked. “Why would we make fun of that?”
“Yeah. That’s not funny,” Candace agreed.
“It’s kind of embarrassing,” Grace said.
Jenna snorted. “You can’t be embarrassed in front of us. We’re a team.”
“You’re right,” Grace said, feeling better than she had all week. “I should have told you guys.”
“That’s right,” Natalie said. “Believe me, I know how bad it is to keep secrets from your friends. Don’t you feel better now?”
“Yeah,” Grace said honestly. “I really do. But I don’t think it’s so simple. I’m not just behind on one book—now I’m behind on two! There’s no way I’m going to make it to WetWorld.”
Dear Grace,
It took a lot of convincing, but I finally managed to get your father to give you one last chance. You know neither of us want you to be unhappy, sweetheart. We know how important it is to feel “normal,” and we know how important the camp play is to you. But you made a deal at the start of the summer, and you haven’t stuck to it. And reading is very important, honey. You’re too smart to sell yourself short by failing a class that you should be able to pass. So Dad and I propose that you take a little quiz. Finish your first book by Sunday, and we’ll e-mail you a list of questions about it. If you answer them ALL correctly, you can try out for the play on Wednesday . . . and go on the field trip on Thursday. We know you can do it, Grace. You’re a very smart girl when you put your mind to something. It’s up to you. Love,
Mom
P.S. and Love, Dad too!
Grace’s heart beat faster as she read the e-mail from her parents later that night. Kathleen had pulled her away before dessert to tell her that she had a message. Grace had been half expecting them to order her to pack her bags and come home, but instead, her mom was being nice about it. Grace felt a little pang of guilt. She knew her parents weren’t trying to be mean by telling her she had to skip WetWorld. She hadn’t given them any other choice. She hit Reply and typed in her own message:
Dear Mom (and Dad),
Thank you! Thank you! You’re the best parents in the world! I know it’s my last chance, and I’m not going to do anything else between now and Monday except read my book. Love,
Grace
She hit Send, closed out of her e-mail account, and headed out of the office, skipping down the few steps leading to the main trail. Maybe she could go to WetWorld after all. And best of all, maybe she could try out for the play!
But she still had to finish that whole long book first, and she only had three days to do it. Grace’s steps slowed as she thought about The Call of the Wild. She knew her parents were being super nice to her and really giving her a second chance. But so far she hadn’t even been able to deal with having homework over the summer.
How was she supposed to handle such an important quiz?
chapter EIGHT
Grace was awake and reading before the bugle the next morning. She didn’t want to be, but now that there was a chance she could audition for the play, she knew she had to do her absolute best to finish the book.
She read through breakfast. She read on the walk to the mess hall and back, with Natalie and Alyssa holding her arms, steering her down the path. After Candace offered to take over her chores so Grace could finish the book, she read while everyone else was working. But soon enough it was time for their first free choice. Grace reluctantly put down her book. She was almost to chapter five.
“Ready for arts and crafts?” Julie asked, giving Grace’s ponytail an affectionate tug.
“Not really,” Grace admitted. “I feel like if I put my book down even for an hour, I won’t be able to finish it on time.”
“Are you liking it any better?” Julie asked.
Grace thought about it. She’d been so busy trying to speed-read the book that she hadn’t paid much attention to what she thought about the story. “I guess I am,” she said, surprised. “Everyone is being so mean to the poor dog, I want to know how he triumphs at the end.”
Julie grinned. “That’s what I like to hear. Reading is supposed to be fun, you know.”
“It would be more fun if I could act it out,” Grace joked. “Although I don’t know how I’d play a dog.”
“I’ll tell you what, my little actress,” Julie said. “I’ll let you skip arts and crafts today as long as you stay in the bunk and read.”
“Really? You rule!” Grace bounced up and down in happiness. “I don’t have to skip drama too, though, do I?” she asked.
“No way,” Julie said. “I know what your priorities are.”
“I just love it,” Grace admitted.
“I know. You never take a long time to read scenes that you’re doing in class,” Julie said. “So obviously you can read fast when you want.”
“I’m reading the book fast now, too.” Grace jumped back onto her bunk and pulled out The Call of the Wild.
“Okay. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes,” Julie said. “I have a quick meeting with Kathleen and then I’ll swing by art and crafts and tell Richie where you are.”
“Mm-hmm,” Grace said, already back in the world of Buck the dog.
She read straight through lunch and continued in the drama shack right until Bethany called them all to attention. Grace finally put the book away and looked around. Gaby was sitting as far from her as possible. And Devon was standing up in front of the class with Simon, Natalie’s sort-of boyfriend.
“Okay, boys,” Bethany said. “Show us the scene you’ve been working on.”
For the first time all day, Grace forgot about Buck and the Yukon. The two boys were acting out a scene from an old movie called The Outsiders. Simon’s character was dying, and Devon’s character, his best friend, was there by his side in the hospital.
Most of the kids who took drama at camp liked to goof around and play improv games. But Simon, and especially Devon, obviously took the class seriously. They were really acting. Even Brynn would approve. Grace f
ound herself getting caught up in the lives of the two characters. She could swear she saw tears in Devon’s eyes as he spoke to his best friend for the last time.
When the scene ended, she clapped so hard that her hands hurt. Devon shot her a smile and nodded to say thank you.
“Somebody liiikes you,” Brynn said in a singsong voice, nudging Grace.
“No way,” Grace said quickly. “He was just saying thanks for the applause. You know, from everyone. He was thanking everyone.”
“Uh-huh,” Brynn said sarcastically.
“He was really good in that scene,” Grace added.
“Uh-huh,” Brynn said again, wiggling her eyebrows.
“Oh, be quiet,” Grace mumbled. “I just think he’s a good actor.” And a cute one, she added silently. She didn’t usually like boys, but she wouldn’t mind doing a scene with him.
When Grace got back to the bunk, she was surprised to hear voices coming from inside. Everyone else was supposed to be at a camp-wide nature meeting. Dr. Steve had gotten an environmental conservationist to come and teach them about endangered species. Grace thought it sounded interesting, but reading was more important right now. She’d gotten permission to go back to the bunk so she could spend her time with Buck in The Call of the Wild.
But somebody else was clearly there.
Grace was about to open the door when she heard Chelsea raise her voice. “Because I said so!” she was saying. She sounded angry.
Grace hesitated. Maybe she shouldn’t interrupt.
“But, Chelsea, I love water parks,” Karen’s quiet voice drifted out. “The most fun I ever had was at a water park when I was eight.”
“Have you ever seen what people look like when they go on those rides?” Chelsea argued. “Your hair gets all flat and stringy, and your makeup washes all off.”
“I never noticed that,” Karen replied.
And why does it matter? Grace wondered. Should she go in there? Part of her wanted to rush in and help Karen deal with Chelsea. But those two were best friends, after all. They seemed to be having an argument, and Grace didn’t think she should stick her nose in their business.
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