Reality Bites #15

by Melissa J Morgan

  “Sarah Brown,” Grace replied without thinking.

  Spence looked surprised. “That’s not the lead, is it?”

  Grace shook her head. “The lead is Sky, or for a girl, Adelaide. I just like Sarah’s solo.”

  “No kidding?” Spence asked. He really seemed interested, Grace realized. “You a good singer?”

  Grace shrugged. “I’m no Kelly Clarkson, but I do all right.”

  Spence laughed. He looked back at the stage, where the whole cast was now gathered to rehearse a group number. “Well, it looks like we’re going to have to wait to get our interviews. Why don’t you sing a little for me?”

  Grace blushed. “You must be kidding.”

  Spence just smiled and shook his head. “Come on. Show me a little of that Sarah Brown spirit.”

  “Um, won’t it disrupt the rehearsal?” Grace looked up at the stage. Everyone seemed to have forgotten she and Spence were there. “They’re singing, you know.”

  “All the better.” Spence raised his eyebrows, grinning. “They won’t even hear you. Only I will.”

  Grace sighed. She totally hadn’t been planning to show off when she’d told Spence she wanted to be in the play. After all, it was too late anyway—no matter how she sounded, she wasn’t going to play Sarah Brown. But fine. If Spence wanted to be entertained by her well-practiced version of “If I Were a Bell,” then entertained he would be.

  Grace took a deep breath and started singing quietly.

  Once she started singing, Grace relaxed. The song was so familiar to her, but she still found something new and interesting in the lyrics every time she sang it. Pretty soon she was lost in the music, imagining herself up onstage, singing her heart out. Grace wasn’t obsessed with acting, not the way Brynn was, but she had to admit she liked being onstage—and she missed it.

  Suddenly Grace was aware of a change in the air. She opened her eyes. Oh no. The music had stopped, and the cast wasn’t all up onstage anymore. Grace turned and almost jumped five feet in the air when she realized that Gaby was standing right next to her. Gaby’s expression was strange—she was smiling, but her eyes didn’t look happy. They looked . . . something else. Scared, maybe.

  “Wow,” Gaby said, her hands on her hips. “That was great, Grace. I didn’t know you knew my song.”

  “Yeah, well.” Grace shrugged and tried to look away. She knew there was no reason to feel guilty—Gaby still had the role no matter what—but she did. “My mom plays the album a lot. ‘If I Were a Bell’ is my favorite song.”

  Gaby nodded, never taking her eyes off Grace’s face. “Interesting. Well, what a cute voice you have. Not a lot of power, but . . .”

  Grace cringed.

  “. . . really sweet.” Gaby smiled. But Grace was chilled by the smile.

  “Thanks,” Grace muttered, hoping the conversation would end now.

  “I think she has a great voice,” Spence piped up suddenly. He turned to Gaby, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “If she sounded quiet, it’s because she was trying not to mess up the rehearsals. My bad. I told her I wanted to hear her sing.”

  Gaby turned to Spence with a death stare. “Sarah Brown is my role. And yeah, it is actually really distracting for you guys to be singing.”

  Spence held up his hands. “Sorry! Listen, do you want to be interviewed for the newspaper?”

  Grace turned to Spence and gave him a huge smile. Perfect! How did he know that the way to calm Gaby down was to give her the attention she was always looking for?

  The anger in Gaby’s eyes died away all at once and a smile played at the corners of her lips. “You want to interview me? Sure! Should we go someplace quiet?”

  She grabbed Spence’s arm and led him to a far corner of the gym as the pianist started up again and David got up onstage to start practicing. As Gaby was dragging him away, Spence turned around and winked at Grace. He mouthed to her in an exaggerated way: “You were great.”

  Grace felt a warmth spreading over her whole body. I was great.

  She had a feeling she was going to like newspaper after all.

  chapter THREE

  Gaby picked at her hamburger, trying to fish out the onions that she hated but which were in every Camp Lakeview dish. Seriously, what was up with the onions? Did onions really belong in hamburgers? It had to be some kind of conspiracy.

  All around her, Gaby’s bunkmates were exchanging stories about their day. Across the table, Grace was laughing with Candace and Alyssa, telling a story about something she and Spence had done for newspaper. Gaby sighed. Why would Grace come into our rehearsal and totally steal my spotlight? she wondered. Spence had interviewed her for the article they were writing, but then he and Grace had also interviewed Brynn and practically every other member of the cast. Gaby wasn’t stupid. She knew she’d get maybe one quote in the newspaper, if she was lucky—and probably about something like how good Brynn sounded in her role.

  Not anything about her, how good she was. Not anything that would make her bunkmates notice her—for a good reason, this time.

  Gaby studied Grace, taking a tiny bite of hamburger. What was that about? she wondered, thinking back to Grace’s impromptu song. Was she trying to show me up? Gaby couldn’t understand it. Grace already had plenty of friends—she was one of the most popular girls in their bunk. Everyone loved her. Why would she go out of her way to get more attention—and take it away from Gaby, who really needed it more?

  It doesn’t matter, Gaby told herself as she felt her face growing hot. My voice is better than hers. I know it is. Still, it wasn’t cool what Grace had done. As Grace excused herself to use the bathroom, Gaby wondered again why she’d started singing in the first place—what were she and Spence up to, anyway?

  “Hey,” whispered Priya, as soon as Grace was out of earshot. “Did you guys see who Grace was giggling with on the way to the mess hall?”

  Everyone looked up, puzzled. “No,” Alex replied neutrally. “Who?”

  “Spence.” Priya leaned in and bugged her eyes out like she was saying Madonna.

  Gaby watched Priya, thinking. Priya and Chelsea had both had a crush on Spence when camp started, but after things had gotten so crazy on their camping trip, they decided that neither one would go after him—that getting along was more important. They called Spence “neutral territory.” But Gaby was skeptical. She knew that when a girl really crushed on a guy, like Chelsea and Priya had, those feelings didn’t just go away overnight. It stood to reason that both of them still liked him. Why were they trying to hide it?

  “They’re in newspaper together,” Gaby explained. “They came to rehearsal to write about the play. And actually . . .” Gaby remembered how Grace and Spence had erupted in giggles when they first came in. She remembered how close they stood, whispering back and forth about something—who knew what?

  “What?” Chelsea asked after a few seconds. “Actually, what?”

  Gaby shrugged. “They seemed kind of flirty,” she said honestly. She tried to think of the phrase the gossip mags her mother read all the time used . . . aha! “In fact, you might say they were . . . canoodling.”

  Everyone’s mouth dropped open. Gaby smiled. It felt good to be the first one with new information.

  “Canoodling?” Priya gasped.

  “Canoodling?” asked Brynn, looking doubtful.

  “Canoodling,” Gaby returned. “Yeah, it was while you were onstage, Brynn, not paying attention. I thought it was weird, actually, since they’d never hung out before. But whatever.”

  Chelsea and Priya both looked dumbfounded. “Wow,” Chelsea whispered.

  Gaby had to suppress her smile. Somehow, some way, she needed to keep this conversation going. Spence had been the object of a ton of crushes this year—maybe there was something in that? “I can’t believe she’s going after Spence of all people,” she said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Natalie asked, putting down her fork.

  Gaby cringed. I did it again. I crossed
the line.

  Nat went on, “I don’t get what the big deal is. Priya, Chelsea, you don’t like him anymore, right? He’s—what did you call him?”

  “Neutral territory,” Chelsea whispered.

  “Right.” Nat nodded, looking from Chelsea to Gaby and back. “Neutral territory. And besides, we all know Spence is a huge flirt. It’s not exactly a surprise that he’d flirt with Grace. So what’s the big deal if she does date him?”

  Gaby opened her mouth and tried to come up with an answer, but before she could, Priya spoke up.

  “It’s not a big deal,” Priya said a little too quickly, seeming to shake off her trance. “Of course Chelsea and I don’t like him. It’s just surprising that Grace would move so fast. Right, Chelse?”

  Chelsea sat up in her seat and seemed to come back to life. “Right,” she said quietly.

  “We’re just happy for Grace,” Priya went on. “I mean, for her to find somebody she likes like that. It’s hard for me to imagine liking Spence like that, since I’m so over him. But I’m glad Grace found somebody, especially since Devon didn’t come back this year.” She glanced at Chelsea, who still looked less than happy. “Right?” she asked pointedly. “Aren’t we happy, Chelse?”

  “Sure,” Chelsea replied, still wearing no traces of any expression that might imply happiness. “Happy.”

  Gaby looked from Priya to Chelsea. It didn’t take a brain surgeon to see that they were lying. But why? “Are you sure?” she asked insistently. “I mean, it’s hard to get over someone so fast. Even if you didn’t still like him”—she looked at Priya—“it would be weird to see him with someone else so soon.”

  “It’s fine,” Priya replied, attacking her hamburger with gusto. “Please. Spence is so five minutes ago.”

  Alyssa smiled. “So who’s the new Spence?”

  Priya chewed a huge bite of hamburger and swallowed, washing it down with some bug juice. “TBD.”

  Gaby grinned. To Be Determined. Yeah, right.

  In the silence that followed, Grace returned from the bathroom and sat down, looking around at her bunkmates’ silent faces. “Hey, guys,” she said hesitantly. “Wow, if I didn’t know better, I’d be worried you guys were talking about me. The way total silence fell when I came back.”

  Gaby turned to her, remembering the moment Grace’s voice had interrupted their rehearsal. What was Grace’s deal, anyway? What was going on with her and Spence? Gaby decided to just ask. “What’s up with you and Spence, Grace?”

  Grace looked at Gaby like she was speaking Russian. The who in the what-now? “Huh?” she asked softly. “Me and Spence? What about us?”

  “There have been rumors,” Brynn explained, “of the two of you canoodling.”

  Grace let out a laugh. “Canoodling?” she asked. “Where, in the Camp Lakeview Enquirer? I think you should check your source on that.”

  Everyone turned to Gaby.

  Gaby wasn’t sure what to say. She’d seen Grace and Spence, lost in their own little world on the other side of the gym. Wasn’t that what canoodling was? She needed a dictionary. “Maybe I didn’t see what I thought I saw,” Gaby said. “But you guys did seem close. I mean, you were definitely hanging out.”

  Grace looked confused. “We were working together on an article for the newspaper.”

  Gaby sighed. “But don’t you like him?” she asked.

  Grace looked even more confused.

  Priya leaned over and patted Grace’s hand. “Seriously, Grace, I think it’s great if you like him. Don’t worry about me. I mean, he’s really cute.”

  “And funny,” Chelsea added in a forlorn voice.

  “And if you like him,” Priya added, spearing a tater tot with excessive force, “maybe you guys can go to the social together! You’d have a great time.”

  There was a loud clatter as Chelsea dropped her fork.

  “Um,” said Grace, looking at her friends, then at her hands. “He’s nice. I guess. I mean—”

  “And he is cute,” Gaby interrupted, pointing her bug juice cup at Grace. “Right?”

  Grace looked at Gaby like a deer caught in the headlights. Gaby didn’t get it. Why is she acting like she has no idea what I’m talking about? “Right,” Grace replied softly.

  “Those glasses,” Priya said with a sigh, shaking her head. “I mean, they don’t do anything for me, anymore. But I can still see the appeal.”

  “Those eyes,” Chelsea added, nodding. “So blue.”

  Everyone seemed to look at Grace at once. She still looked confused. “I guess,” she said finally. She pushed in her chair and took a sip of bug juice. “I guess he’s really cute.”

  “Awww!” cried Gaby.

  “So sweet!” echoed Candace.

  “Ah, young love,” Brynn added, but her expression was still skeptical. “Well, good for you, Grace. I’m glad you met someone to crush on so fast.”

  “Yeah,” added Alex.

  “Yeah,” whispered Chelsea.

  “Um, thanks,” replied Grace, looking around the table at her bunkmates. She felt like she had never seen these people before in her life. “I guess.”

  “Have I got a surprise for you!” Dr. Steve was standing in front of the fireplace in the mess hall as everyone finished up dessert and got ready for the campfire.

  “What is it?” called out one of the boys from division four. Pretty soon others joined in; shouts of “yeah!” and “what?” turned into a dull roar that filled the mess hall.

  Dr. Steve just smiled. “Well,” he said finally, and the hall immediately turned silent, “who misses TV?”

  The mess hall erupted in total chaos. Gaby blocked her ears as, all around her, campers whooped, hollered, and high-fived one another. “Stupid,” she muttered under her breath. “You don’t even know what it is yet. It could be PBS.”

  Dr. Steve gestured for the campers to calm down, and soon the hall was quiet again. “I have a friend who works in television,” he explained, “who told me about a new TV show that’s running this summer. It’s called Survival Camp, and it’s a reality game show, like Survivor.”

  At the mention of their favorite show, many campers started shouting. Dr. Steve made the “quiet” gesture again, then continued.

  “The difference is, it’s about a group of kids your age. They camp for two weeks under very harsh conditions, and at the end, one kid is the winner. That kid, along with his or her whole family, will win an all-expenses-paid trip to Australia. But most importantly, all of the kids on the show will learn an important lesson about teamwork.”

  Gaby cringed. “Teamwork” was a word she’d heard a lot of lately—in Dr. Steve’s lectures to their bunk about their “cliqueyness.” She had a feeling she knew where this was going.

  “Teamwork is something that’s very important to me,” Dr. Steve went on. “I hope that you’ll leave Camp Lakeview with some tangible skills—how to canoe, how to camp safely, how to identify constellations, and much more.” He paused. “But more importantly, I hope you’ll leave Camp Lakeview with some character skills. Things like teamwork, respect, and cooperation. Those skills will be even more helpful to you throughout your life.”

  Gaby sighed. The truth was, she was sick of hearing about Dr. Steve’s “character skills”—and more than that, she was sick of being told that she, and all the rest of the girls in her bunk, didn’t have any.

  “It’s become clear to me that many of our campers could benefit from a little lesson on teamwork,” Dr. Steve continued, glancing at Gaby’s table. Gaby looked away. “So I’ve decided that maybe you kids could use a little TV time.”

  The noise level in the mess hall ratcheted up from about three to about three thousand. Gaby cringed as all the campers whooped, yelled, and cheered at the thought of being reunited with their old friend TV.

  “That’s awesome!” Val whispered, turning to the table with a big smile. “Omigod. I was starting to go into withdrawal.”

  “I’m totally going into withdrawal,”
echoed Candace. “My mom and I watch the soaps every day during the summer when I’m not at camp. I’m, like, thirty hours of TV behind!”

  Dr. Steve held up his hands to stop the noise. “All right, calm down, calm down. I’m happy you’re so enthusiastic, but there are more important things in life than TV, I promise. Tonight, we’ll have our campfire as planned. But tomorrow night, we’ll all gather in the auditorium to watch the first episode of Survival Camp. We’ll watch three episodes I’ve taped this week, and the two more taped episodes next week, and then finally the season finale as it airs! Next Thursday, the series will end and the winner will be chosen. We’ll have popcorn and hot chocolate to celebrate. And the next night, we’ll have our social.”

  The excitement level in the hall was still pretty high, so Gaby had to lean in to hear Jenna when she asked, “Who’s going with who to the social?”

  Each year, Camp Lakeview threw a social for the campers. It was always a hot topic of conversation—especially once the girls started caring about boys, and who would go with who. Everyone looked around at everyone else, but none of the girls seemed to have a ready answer.

  “Well, you’re going with David, obviously,” Nat told Jenna.

  “Right.” Jenna looked at Alex. “And?”

  “I’ll go with Adam, I’m sure,” Alex said. “He just has to ask me.”

  “I’ll go with Jordan,” Brynn added.

  “Grace can go with Spence,” Gaby announced with a smile. “Right, Grace? Like Priya said, you’d have fun.”

  Grace looked at Gaby like she thought everyone was playing a big joke on her, but couldn’t be sure. “Um, maybe,” she replied. “Why are you all—”

  “What about you and Simon?” Chelsea asked Nat suddenly, interrupting Grace.

  Nat shrugged. “I dunno,” she said. “We’re just friends. If he wants to go as friends, that’s cool.”

  Everyone was quiet for a minute as the other tables started getting up and heading for the campfire.