by Coco Simon
Alexis and I changed in rooms next to each other, and were chatting through the opening at the top of the dividers.
“Wait till you see my new suit!” she said. “It’s so cute!”
“Me too! My mom brought it home as a surprise!”
We came out and took one look at each other and then started laughing our heads off. We had on the exact same bathing suit! They were tankinis, navy blue with white piping and a cool, yellow lightning bolt down either side. Alexis is kind of muscular from soccer, and I’m kind of thin (I play the flute, but that doesn’t exactly build muscles!), so the suit fit us way differently. We couldn’t stop giggling, though. We looked like total dork twins.
Georgia and Elle, and Charlotte and Caroline all gathered around, and we admired what everyone was wearing. We all had on new suits. Then one girl named Kira, who was shy and superpretty, came out. She had her towel draped around her shoulders, and she wasn’t smiling.
“Let’s see!” said Elle, clapping.
Kira shook her head. “Uh-uh.” She bit her lip, and we instantly realized we shouldn’t push her. She looked like she might cry at any second.
“Okay!” Alexis said quickly. I could tell she was desperate to make Kira feel better, but couldn’t think of how. Suddenly she hoisted her towel across her shoulders, to cover herself like Kira. “Capes it is!” I was so proud of her right then for her idea.
Everyone followed suit. Georgia yelled, “The Hotcapes!” and we all hooted. I glanced at Kira and saw relief on her face, and we all marched out to meet Maryanne and Raoul, who were waiting outside to walk us to the huge pool. I had to wonder how bad Kira’s suit was, though.
We sat for a water safety lecture by the lifeguard and swim director, Mr. Collins, a really nice gym teacher from the elementary school whom I recognized. The safety talk was a little boring (yeah, yeah, don’t run, no chicken fights, no diving in the shallow end, swim with a buddy), but then we were in the water for free swim, and it was heavenly! The water wasn’t too cold and the pool was huge, with a supershallow end and a superdeep end with a diving board!
In my excitement to get in the water, I had forgotten to check out Kira’s suit, but I stole a glance the first chance I could. She was kind of cringing in the shallow end, and her suit was a one piece with Hello Kitty on it, and it was way too small for her. I felt terrible. It was babyish and it looked bad. I wondered why she didn’t just swim to the deep end to cover it up.
“Okay, people! Now it’s time for some fun!” Mr. Collins blew a whistle and beckoned us all over to the wall in the shallow end. I love to swim and I’m pretty good at it, so I did a loopy backstroke, kind of hamming it up, and Alexis did her old lady breaststroke, where she keeps her head out of the water the whole time. We cracked each other up.
Once everyone had reached the side of the pool, Mr. Collins whistled again to get our attention, then he spoke. He had a very kind voice, and was very quiet and patient.
“Okay, kids, today we’re going to just get a feel for skill level and what we need to work on with each of you. One of the great things about Spring Lake Day Camp is that you will all leave here swimming really well by the end of the summer, and you’ll have fun learning! So let’s break you into four groups of three, and we’ll have each of you swim a length of the pool in three heats. Count off by threes, then come down to the shallow end and we’ll get started.”
Alexis and I swam stood next to each other in the lineup, so we would be on the same team. I was first, and Charlotte was the third in our group. The other girls arranged themselves, and Maryanne and Raoul followed, walking along the edge of the pool. The counselors were in bathing suits, but I guess they didn’t have to get in the water since Mr. Collins taught this part of camp.
“Okay, girls. Everyone settled? Any stroke you like, no rush. We’re not racing. On your marks, get set … bweeet!” He blew his whistle hard, and I took off, swimming freestyle, all the way to the deep end. I knew we weren’t racing, but it felt good to try hard and swim fast. I hated knowing people were watching me, but at least three other girls were swimming at the same time as me, so the bystanders weren’t watching only me the whole time, which made it okay.
I got to the deep end and slapped my hand against the wall. First! (Not that we were racing!) I hung on to the wall and watched Georgia, Jesse, and Caroline come in right after me. I was breathing hard, but it felt good. Next up was Alexis, along with a girl named Tricia, a girl named Louise, and Kira in the fourth group. Mr. Collins blew the whistle, and they were off.
Alexis is a great swimmer too. Just what you would expect: efficient; not show-offy; fast, clean strokes. Tricia and Louise were doing fine too. But … uh-oh. Kira wasn’t.
She had pushed away from the wall fine and was gliding, but then when the water got deeper and her glide wore off, she started to flounder. She put down her feet and tried to push off again, but that only got her into the deeper end, to where she couldn’t stand. She started to sink.
Mr. Collins was in the water in a flash, as was Raoul. They both dove from opposite sides of the water and reached her at the exact same moment. I was frozen to the spot, watching as they grabbed her and hauled her toward the side of the pool. Oh my goodness, was all I could think. Kira can’t swim!
When they reached the wall, Kira was sputtering and coughing. They each had an arm around her, and had towed her to the side in a flash. Mr. Collins lifted her onto the deck and pushed himself up and out of the water. Maryanne came running over with her own towel, and put it over Kira’s shoulders. Kira started to cry. Tricia, Alexis, and Louise had reached the deep end’s wall (they’d been oblivious to what had happened), and now everyone was just silent, watching.
At first, we were all scared for Kira, and then as it became clear that she was okay, we were all really embarrassed for her.
Mr. Collins quickly established that Kira was not hurt or in danger, then stood and called out to the group, “She’s fine! Just a little rusty, like the best of us after a long winter! Everything’s okay. Just swim for a minute while we change our plan.” He and Maryanne and Raoul chatted in whispers, then Raoul jumped back into the pool and swam to the shallow end.
Mr. Collins called out again, “Now is there anyone else who’d like a little extra practice with Raoul? It’s fine! Just raise your hand.” He looked around. No one was raising their hand. But then Elle, who was still in the shallow end, raised her hand.
“Great! Go with Raoul to the corner and you’ll work on it a little. Kira”—Mr. Collins reached down and patted Kira’s head—“just come on over and join Raoul and … what’s your name, young lady?”
“Elle,” called Elle.
“And Elle while they practice at this end, okay? The next group, get ready to swim.”
In a few moments Kira was back in the water with Elle and Raoul. Now, if there is one thing I noticed when we were having free swim, it’s that Elle is an amazing swimmer. After what she did for Kira, I knew she’d make an amazing friend, too.
CHAPTER 3
New Friends, Old Friends, and Old Enemies
Sydney Whitman sat at a picnic table next to us at lunch. She must’ve been bragging to her group that she knew a lot of kids at camp, because she had walked right over to us and acted really chummy. (She was obviously going for quantity over quality since we’re not friends.) We weren’t falling for it, though, and anyone could see she was really just doing it for show.
“What, no cupcakes?” Sydney asked, with a big fake smile as she inspected our lunch.
Alexis shook her head. “Nope.” She continued eating, as though Sydney wasn’t even there. The rest of our table (Charlotte, Elle, Georgia, and Kira—Elle’s new best friend) just looked blankly at Sydney, probably wondering who she was.
Sydney was floundering. She tried a different topic. “So what’s your team name, girls?”
Georgia, who was so sweet, was perplexed. She clearly felt uncomfortable with Alexis’s rudeness, while I for one was
loving it.
“We’re called the Hotcakes,” Georgia said politely.
Sydney laughed meanly, but she had a kind of surprised look on her face. “That’s so … like, young. Like Strawberry Shortcake or something. We’re Angels, like Charlie’s Angels. Gorgeous and powerful, get it?” She flipped her hair.
Georgia and Elle looked at each other, then at me, like Who is this person? I just had to shrug.
“I heard someone in your group almost drowned today,” Sydney said next, really casually.
I looked at Kira and saw her face turn a deep red. I wanted to throttle Sydney. Instead, I thought about what Elle did earlier and how brave and kind she was. I decided to copy her.
“It was me.” I shrugged.
Sydney’s hand flew to her mouth, and she started to laugh in surprise. “Really! You can’t swim?”
“Actually, it was me,” said Alexis.
Sydney looked confused. “Wait, what?”
Georgia was laughing now. “It was me. I fell into the pool and drowned.”
“No, me!” said Elle. Now we were all howling. Even Kira was giggling a little.
Sydney looked at us, one to another, then she got a mad look on her face and gave a slight shrug. “Whatever. I’m just trying to be a concerned citizen.” And she stalked back to her table. That last line really got us going. While I know it isn’t nice to laugh at other people, it felt good to be part of this group and laughing for a good reason. The very idea of Sydney Whitman as a caring, concerned individual was truly hilarious to me. Of course, when we stopped laughing, Alexis and I explained who she was and why she was such a villain. There’s nothing like a common enemy to unite a group. That’s when Alexis spontaneously promised to start cupcake Fridays for camp, and I wholeheartedly agreed.
The first day of camp seemed to last forever. It was only four o’clock when we all piled back onto the bus, but it seemed like I’d left home weeks, not hours, earlier.
Jake was sticky and muddy and tired when I met him at our bus waiting area. He promptly handed me his grimy, mud-caked towel and wet backpack to hold for him, thereby killing my happy first-day-of-camp glow. At least Alexis was on the bus ride home with me. But as it turned out, Jake wouldn’t let her sit with us. He pitched a fit that he wanted to sit with only me, so Alexis sat in front of me so we could chat on the way home. And after all that, Jake fell asleep as soon as the wheels started turning. Apparently he only pukes on the way to camp.
Alexis and I spoke in whispers as we reviewed the day, kind of free-associating.
Me: “Mr. Collins is really nice.”
Alexis: “Yeah, that was scary.”
Me: “Very cool of Elle to pretend she needed help.”
Alexis: “I’m psyched for cupcake Fridays at camp, too.”
Me: “I wish SW wasn’t here.”
Alexis: (Moans. Pretends to puke.)
We laughed.
But then Alexis grew serious. “You know, I learned more about Kira, because Louisa went to school with her. I feel really bad. Her mom was sick for a few years, and she died about eight months ago. Kira has three much older sisters, but none of them live at home anymore, so she just lives with her dad. He’s, like, much older than our dads and kind of clueless and sad about his wife and everything.”
“Wow. That is so sad. Poor Kira.”
Alexis nodded. “I know. So that kind of explains the lame bathing suit. I guess her dad didn’t know which kind to buy her. And maybe her mom just wasn’t well enough to teach her to swim, and maybe her dad didn’t know you had to know how to swim to go to this camp.”
“Bummer. I felt terrible for her.”
“Yeah, but at least she’s really nice,” said Alexis.
“And superpretty,” I added, feeling generous. I made a mental note to make an even bigger effort with Kira. Even though my mom isn’t around a lot, it would be really hard if she was gone for, like, forever. I couldn’t even imagine it.
We had reached Alexis’s stop, so she hopped off. We were having a Cupcake Club meeting at her house at five thirty, but I was going to go home and shower first. I’d see her again soon.
Just before our stop, I nudged Jake awake, and when we arrived, I half carried, half dragged him and his disgusting gear off the bus. He was so dirty, I considered hosing him down in the yard, but instead I talked him into a bath by promising him that he could use one of the fizzy blue bath bombs I got for my birthday. His gear I would have to hose off.
I spent a lot of time babysitting Jake earlier in the year, when my mom had to switch jobs for a little while. It was hard work and kind of a bummer because Jake is not the easiest kid to babysit. Also, it cut into a lot of my own activities. Now that my mom is back at her old job, things are a little better. During the summer, I have to take Jake to and from camp, and two days a week I stay with him until 5:15 p.m., when my mom gets home. The other days my older brothers, Matt and Sam, take turns watching him.
After Jake’s bath, I got him into his pj’s and settled him in front of the TV, and then I showered and cleared out my lunchbox and backpack. At 5:10 I was ready. At 5:20 my mom had not yet appeared. At 5:30 I called Alexis’s house to say my mom was running late. At 5:40 she pulled in. I was waiting in the driveway with my arms folded and my bike all ready to go.
“Honey, I’m so sorry,” my mom said as she clambered out of the car with all her grocery bags. “The checkout line was horrible, and it took longer than I’d planned, plus, they were out of the good tortillas for the quesadillas Dad likes, so …”
My blood was boiling. I was all ready to start yelling at her about how I’m always left stranded, always ditched with Jake; how no one ever considers my schedule, and so on. But suddenly I thought of Kira and how hard it must have been for her to lose her mom. I took a deep breath; kissed my mom on the cheek; yelled, “See you later!”; and took off.
I was twenty minutes late for the meeting. I needed to be home by six thirty for dinner, so that only gave us forty minutes to meet.
“Mia! Katie! You are a sight for sore eyes!” I said, and it was true. Because even though I saw them yesterday, it felt like a year ago. And it was so exhausting trying to make new friends that it was a great relief to relax with old ones. I just sat and smiled at them like an idiot for a minute.
“Ookaaay …,” said Katie, and giggled. “We missed you, too.”
Alexis had filled them in on camp, but then I had to give my version and they had to tell me about their day. So it was 6:10 by the time we finished, and we only had ten minutes for club business—fifteen minutes if I biked home really fast.
“First order,” said Alexis in her official voice. “I need someone to take over my deliveries to Mona on Saturdays. I now have a summer golf clinic on Saturday mornings.”
Every Friday we bake five dozen mini cupcakes for our friend Mona, who owns a bridal store called The Special Day. We met her when Mia’s mom got married and we were all bridesmaids in the wedding. We bought our dresses at Mona’s store. The store is so beautiful and peaceful and girlie (so unlike my house!), and Mona is so nice. I waved my hand in the air.
“I’ll take over!” I said. “I will, I will!”
Everyone laughed.
Alexis beamed. “Great. Thanks. Next, Jake’s birthday.”
I groaned. “What color cupcake would ‘annoying’ be?”
Mia loves Jake (it’s mutual), so she protested. “No, they have to be really special. Our best work for that little mascot of ours!”
Katie asked, “What about P-B-and-J?”
“Nah, peanut allergies in his class,” I said.
“Triple Chocolate Fudge Explosion?” suggested Katie.
“Why don’t we just ask him?” asked Mia.
“Fine.” I wrote it on my to-do list. (I am all about lists.)
“What else?” asked Alexis.
“Well, I was wondering if we should try to mix things up a little for Mona. Maybe try a different flavor?” asked Katie.
“Yes, but it has to be white,” reminded Mia. Right now we baked only white cake cupcakes with white frosting because Mona can’t have anything chocolate or, like, raspberry in a store full of white, white, white bridal gowns!
We thought for a minute.
“Cinnamon bun with cream cheese frosting?” I suggested.
“Ooh, I love those!” said Mia enthusiastically.
“Or coconut?” suggested Katie.
Alexis made a face. “Not everyone likes coconut,” she said.
“Also maybe allergies, right?” I said.
Katie looked kind of bummed, so I said, “Why don’t I ask her on Saturday, okay?”
Alexis made a note in the meeting minutes, and I added it to my to-do list. Sometimes being in this club is about balancing people’s feelings as much as it is about baking and making money. It can be hard work.
“So Friday night, we’re on, right? My house?” I said.
Alexis and Mia nodded eagerly. They have crushes on my older brothers (Alexis on Matt, Mia on Sam), so they always want to come to my house. And ever since I bought my own pink KitchenAid stand mixer, it’s gotten much more efficient to bake at my house too.
I wondered if Alexis and I should mention that we’re baking for our new friends on Thursday, too. I glanced at Alexis to see if she was thinking about it, but her face betrayed nothing. I decided to wait.
It’s weird having other friends. I wondered if they’d become as close as my old friends. I really couldn’t picture it!
CHAPTER 4
A Secret Celebrity!
So, when I thought Jake’s crying and barfing were just first-day jitters I was dead wrong! They were every day jitters! My mornings were exhausting and mortifying. Seriously, every morning he got himself all worked up, he cried, Dad made me sit with him, and then he puked. It was completely, totally unfair.
I tried to go on strike and get a ride with Alexis, but my parents insisted I take the bus so that I could watch over Jake. The only good thing was that because I did bus duty (and maybe because instead of freaking out at my mom when she was late that time from picking up groceries, I was nice!), my parents declared that I didn’t have to babysit Jake anymore when we got home! Now it was all up to Matt and Sam (and my mom). Yay! Freedom!
