Second Time's the Charm

by Melissa J Morgan

  “You’re from California and you came all the way out here for camp?”

  Natalie would have recognized that saccharine-sweet tone anywhere. “Hi, Chelsea,” she said, thinking, Way to make a new camper feel right at home. Though, come to think of it, a crash course in Chelsea 101 was probably a good idea.

  If the new girl was fazed by Chelsea’s rudeness, she didn’t show it. “Well, yeah. I mean, my mom and dad are out in L.A.—he’s an entertainment lawyer—but my mom grew up in Philly and used to come to Lakeview, like, forever, when she was growing up. So once they decided I was old enough for sleepaway camp, there was no question that I was coming here. I’m Tori, by the way,” she said, grinning and exposing the gleaming white teeth of a genuine California beach bunny.

  “You’re plenty old enough for sleepaway camp,” Chelsea grumbled, wandering off toward her bed to unpack. Clearly she was bored with the conversation.

  Natalie rolled her eyes in Chelsea’s direction, hoping to make the point that the sourpuss was not to be taken seriously. “I’m Natalie,” she said, extending a well-manicured hand for a shake. “And I’m really excited to use your lip gloss.”

  Tori laughed. “Seriously, anytime,” she said. “But here’s my question . . .”

  “Shoot,” Natalie said, thinking back to when she’d first arrived at Lakeview, totally overwhelmed. She was 150 percent ready to help Tori get the lay of the land—and she knew Alyssa would be, too.

  Tori swept her gaze across the dusty floor and rusty bedsprings. Her aqua eyes sparkled in good-natured dismay. “Is this really where we . . . sleep?”

  Natalie cracked up. After all, she could totally relate. Totally. “It is,” she confirmed. She giggled again. “But don’t worry. You get used to it.”

  Bunk 4A’s counselor for the summer was Andie, a short, bubbly girl with auburn hair, friendly brown eyes, and a smattering of freckles across her nose. Their CIT, or counselor-in-training, Mia, was tall and athletic, with straight, sun-streaked blond hair, deep emerald eyes, and very tanned skin. She had been a lifeguard at her pool for a few weeks before the summer started, she explained, as if she needed an excuse for looking like a refugee from The OC. Andie and Mia were both new to Lakeview, which Jenna assured the other girls was good news since they’d be, in her own words, “more pushover-y.” Nat wasn’t so sure, but they both seemed very nice, anyway.

  As Jenna had explained, Jessie and Karen were both in 4A, as well as Perry, Anna, Lauren, and, of course, Tori. Perry, Anna, Lauren, and Tori were all new.

  After everyone had arrived and mostly unpacked (Nat noted with relief that Karen had apparently left the bulk of her considerable stuffed animal collection at home this summer), Andie held a quick bunk meeting, where they introduced themselves more formally. Everyone knew that the real “getting to know you” would take place at the division-wide cookout that night, with icebreakers and the real treat: s’mores. Nat grinned to herself just thinking about s’mores. You could get them at certain funky coffee shops in New York City, but she wouldn’t want to. They were such a total camp thing.

  “Girls,” Andie shouted, clapping her hands together in a burst of enthusiasm, “lunchtime!”

  Alyssa groaned. “What are the odds that the food improved since last summer?”

  “Slim to none,” Nat replied quickly. “I mean, really.” She turned to Tori. “Stick with us,” she warned the new girl. “You’ll need the moral support.”

  Tori’s eyes widened. “That bad?”

  Natalie nodded. “Trust us.”

  “Got it,” Tori said. She ran her fingers through her hair quickly. “Am I a mess? Do I need to, I don’t know, do something?”

  Alyssa shook her head. “You’re totally presentable. Red-carpet ready.”

  “Oh, no,” Jenna whined, chiming in. “Are you another one of those? All into makeup, and hair, and clothes, and . . . boys?” She asked this last bit of her question as though it were the worst possible accusation. Jenna was a major tomboy and could not for her life understand her friends’ interest in the opposite sex. She tolerated their crushes . . . but just barely.

  Tori shrugged. “Guilty as charged.”

  “Of course. Just what we needed: a Natalie 2.0.” It was Chelsea, of course, always needing to insert her own two cents.

  “Whatever, Chelsea,” Natalie said. She obviously couldn’t care less what Chelsea thought of her.

  But . . .

  On the one hand, it was awesome to have someone around who was from a big city, and who understood the finer subtleties of beauty products—she bet that Tori had an awesome stash of teen mags hidden away somewhere, too—but on the other hand, being the chic, sophisticated urbanite was sort of Natalie’s. . . thing. She wasn’t totally sure that she was ready to share it.

  Whatever. As quickly as the thought had popped into her head, she willed it gone. Tori seemed cool, and Natalie was psyched to get to know her. Natalie totally wasn’t the jealous type. That would be ridiculous.

  Right?

  “Grace!” Natalie let out an enthusiastic shriek and darted down the dirt path that wound from the bunks to the mess hall. Pandemonium ensued, campers hollering, hugging, and clapping one another on the back, commenting on haircuts, wardrobes, highlights from the school year past. 3C had kept a blog online over the course of the year where they could post shout-outs and updates to one another, but there was nothing like some good old-fashioned face time. The Internet, Natalie mused, would never really substitute for actual human interaction. Though she and her friends were lucky to have it when they couldn’t see one another in person.

  “Hey!” Grace called out, jogging over from where her own bunk was congregated. “Did you say hi to everyone else?”

  Natalie shook her head. “Just got down here. Bummer that we’re split up,” she said.

  “Seriously.” Grace put the back of her hand to her forehead like a heroine from an old movie. “No, seriously,” she said, straightening up. “It’s totally annoying.”

  Natalie smiled sympathetically, then lowered her voice to a whisper: “How is it with Gaby?”

  “Oh, whatever. I think it’s going to be the way it always was with Chelsea. You know—grin and make the best of it.”

  Natalie giggled. “Shh,” she warned. “Don’t want her to hear you. We have to get off on the right foot. New summer, fresh start, etc. . . .”

  “Good point,” Grace said, saluting and making one of her “Grace-faces.” She turned toward her bunkmates and beckoned them to her. Soon Natalie, Alyssa, and Jenna were reunited with their old friends.

  “So who’s new in 4C?” Jenna asked.

  “Tiernan and Abby,” Alex said authoritatively. Alex loved nothing more than a chance to be authoritative. Most of the time it’s cute, Natalie thought. Most of the time. “And Priya from last year,” Alex continued.

  Priya had been at Lakeview the previous summer, but she’d been in bunk 3B, and so neither Nat nor any of her friends had gotten to know her very well. Natalie remembered being very impressed by Priya’s skin, which was always clear and rosy. Too bad that she was such a tomboy that she didn’t fully appreciate her good fortune. Priya was notable for being BFF with a boy. His name was Jordan and they did everything together, though they swore they were just friends.

  “What about your counselors?” Jenna asked.

  “Oh, we’ve got Becky, and then Sophie is our CIT,” Alex said. Becky was a longtime counselor who was a favorite among the campers, and Sophie had been a camper herself in the oldest division the summer before. “They’re really cool.”

  “Awesome,” Natalie said. “We’ve got Andie and Mia. They’re both new.”

  “You know what that means,” Jenna cackled, rubbing her hands together with glee.

  “You promised you would behave,” Natalie reminded her friend. “No more repeats of horrible pranks gone awry, like last year.”

  “Spoil my fun, why don’t you,” Jenna said, pouting. “Fine.” She folded her
arms across her chest.

  “We’ve got some cool new girls in our bunk, too,” Natalie said. “You have to meet Tori. She’s from L.A.—very Hollywood.”

  “Really? How much Hollywood can one camp have?” Brynn teased, tossing her head and fluffing her bright red hair in the breeze. Like Grace, Brynn loved drama and could always be counted on to be very over-the-top. “Wait, I take that back. Maybe it’s my chance to be discovered. The more Hollywood, the better! Bring her on!”

  Natalie laughed. “Definitely.” She craned her neck, trying to pick Tori out of the crush of campers. “I have no idea where she went. Oh—there!” she said, spotting her friend. “Tori—come up and meet the 4C-ers!”

  Tori looked up from where she stood and, catching Natalie’s eye, smiled and ran toward the girls. “Hey,” she said, grinning warmly at the others. “I’m Tori.”

  Natalie introduced her friends quickly. “Don’t worry, there won’t be, like, a quiz or anything later,” she joked.

  “I’m good with names,” Tori assured her. “I have a great memory. It’s a little weird.”

  “So where’d you disappear to?” Nat asked. “I turned around and—poof—you were gone!”

  “Oh, well, I had a little situation,” Tori said, lowering her voice.

  “Uh-oh, what happened?” Jenna asked, looking worried.

  Tori chuckled. “Nothing like that,” she said. “It was, like, a big-time Hottie Alert. I felt it was my duty to scope out the situation.”

  “How big of you,” Alyssa said drily.

  Natalie shoved her friend lightly. “I, for one, appreciate the gravity of the Hottie Alert,” she said, very serious. The twinkle in her eye gave her away, however. “Show me!” she squealed, grabbing on to Tori’s arm.

  “Oh, yeah, you’ll need a full visual,” Tori said. “I don’t think mere words could do him justice.” She scanned the crowd again. “He was just standing over by the pagoda, sort of by himself. If he’s still there, it’s the perfect opportunity to go over and say hi. He was, like, thin, with these awesome blue eyes. Light brown hair. You know . . . your basic hottie.”

  A suspicious feeling settled into the pit of Natalie’s stomach. She knew a certain blue-eyed someone who loved to hang out by the pagoda, often by himself. But then, what were the odds . . . there must a ton of blue-eyed boys here at Lakeview.

  “That’s him! Couldn’t you just die?” Tori shrieked, waking Nat from her little internal monologue.

  Natalie whipped her head around. All at once, her worst instincts were confirmed. Never again would she brush aside that twinge of suspicion in her gut. She hated to believe it, but the truth was right there, in front of her face. She was looking directly at Tori’s new crush.

  She was looking directly at Simon!

  chapter THREE

  “It’s, like, a travesty, right?” Tori said, squeezing Natalie’s arm so hard, Nat thought she’d lose circulation. “Such adorableness should not be standing there all by himself.”

  Perfect, Natalie thought. This girl is checking out my maybe-boyfriend, and meanwhile I’m the one losing blood supply to my outer limbs.

  She gently extricated herself from Tori’s death-grip of love, wondering what the best, most graceful way would be to handle the situation. How to break the news to Tori that, in fact, the hottie she was scoping out was spoken for? Sort of. Maybe.

  “Oh, that’s perfect.”

  Somehow, Chelsea had crept up behind the girls and witnessed this completely awkward moment. She was grinning at Nat and Tori like the cat that had eaten the canary. “I guess there just aren’t enough boys to go around. What a shame,” she said, widening her eyes innocently before slinking off.

  “What is she talking ab—oh, no,” Tori said, realization dawning. She clapped one hand over her mouth. “Tell me I’m checking out your guy,” she said sheepishly.

  Natalie shrugged. “Sort of. I mean, it’s okay. He is cute,” she added, trying to be gracious. I mean, assuming he’s still my guy and all.

  Tori squealed again—this time out of embarrassment. “Oh, my god—I am so sorry! That is totally uncool. And you’ve been so great, showing me around and stuff. I hope you’re not mad.”

  “How could I be?” Nat asked, realizing as she said it that it was true. Tori clearly hadn’t meant any harm, and she could hardly be blamed for thinking that Simon was cute. I mean, he is, Nat thought. No doubt about it.

  Just looking at him sent her into fluttery spasms. She hadn’t seen him since the reunion. Talking on the phone and sending e-mails just wasn’t the same thing. But was it going to be, like, weird now? She had no idea. Suddenly her cheeks were buzzing, her tongue felt dry, and her hands were clammy and cold. It wasn’t as though she was so terribly socially awkward—back home, she and Kyle Taylor had enjoyed a brief flirtation that had basically fizzled. But Nat’s feelings for Simon were much stronger than any she’d ever had for Kyle Taylor, or anyone else.

  “Go talk to him,” Tori urged, pressing her index finger into Natalie’s ribs. “He’s staring at you.”

  Nat looked up. Simon, in fact, did seem to be staring at her. His eyes were practically boring holes into her forehead. Get it together, Nat, she willed herself.

  “Go. Say. Hi.” It was Alyssa, stage-whispering through clenched teeth. Thankfully, she knew Natalie all too well. Natalie took a quick glance over her shoulder and was relieved to see the full alliance of the two bunks—her friends from 4A and 4C alike—all with fingers surreptitiously crossed and well-wishing her as she step-shuffled the endless ten feet toward the pagoda.

  Embarrassing as the scene with Tori had been, Nat could be grateful for the fact that Simon hadn’t witnessed any of it. Thank goodness for his laid-back, easygoing attitude; he was sitting in the pagoda staring off into space, lost in his own thoughts.

  “Hey,” Natalie said tentatively, creeping up next to him.

  Startled, Simon jumped. When he realized it was only Natalie, he relaxed and smiled. “Sorry,” he said. “Very cool, right?”

  “Hey, it’s okay,” Natalie joked, laughing. She appreciated that he wasn’t the type to take himself too seriously. “It’s my fault for sneaking up on you.”

  “That’s true,” he agreed. He stood and dusted off the back of his shorts. Natalie was struck by how tall he was—had a grown an extra three feet over the school year? Now she had to truly tilt her head up if she wanted to look into his eyes. Which she did. She really, really did.

  Now that they were both standing, what had been a mild self-consciousness was unfolding into a massive, full-body nervous tic. Nat had no idea what to do with her hands, her fingers, her hair. She settled on tucking a stray lock of her dark hair behind one ear, crossing her arms across her chest and, finally, abandoning the stiff posture for a calculatedly breezy one-hand-on-hip, one-hand-hooked-into-back pocket pose. It seemed to work; once her arms were accounted for, she felt her body go slack as some of the tension ran off in great waves.

  “So—” they both said at the same time. Nat giggled again. “You first.”

  “How was the rest of your year?”

  Nat made a face. “Sixth grade. Homework. Fun,” she said sarcastically. “But, um, my bunkmates and I kept a reading group going online. I liked that. We read some cool stuff. The Pinballs. Um . . . other books . . .” she finished lamely, drawing a total blank as a result of her extreme nerves.

  “Oh, yeah?” Simon asked, sounding genuinely curious. “I got really into Ray Bradbury this year. I love sci-fi.”

  If it didn’t happen in Episode III, Nat didn’t know sci-fi. She was sort of limited in that genre. She smiled at Simon weakly, wondering how interested she was supposed to pretend to be. She was still fairly new at the whole dating thing. “What bunk are you in?” she asked, casually changing the subject.

  “4D,” Simon said. “Just across the field from you guys, right?”

  “Right,” she said, pleasantly surprised that he had taken the time to check out her bunk.
That was definitely a good sign, shared love of sci-fi or no.

  “Right,” he said, glancing downward and kicking a little circle in the dust with his sneaker. Nat suddenly panicked—what if she was losing his interest? Quick, say something, she commanded herself. To no avail—any interesting anecdote that had happened to her within the past six months flew out of her brain, as if by magic. It was amazing, really. She couldn’t think of one tiny comment to make. My homeroom teacher would not believe this, Natalie thought wryly. She was considered the class chatterbox, and small talk wasn’t something that usually came difficult to her.

  Maybe the awkward tension was all in her mind?

  “So,” Simon said, coughing slightly. “I’m going to . . .” He trailed off, gesturing mildly to where a group of boys—his bunkmates, likely—were congregated, involved in some sort of complicated spitting contest. Natalie willed herself not to shudder.

  Obviously, the awkward tension was not all in her mind. Drat.

  “Yeah, I have to—” Nat jerked her head back to where her friends stood, all furiously spying on the duo, though fervently pretending that they weren’t.

  “So, I’ll um . . . see you later?” Simon asked, as if he wasn’t sure at all that he would.

  “You know where to find me,” Natalie replied, instantly wondering why she had decided to be so flip. This was Simon, for Pete’s sake—the boy who had held her hand and never lost his cool when they’d gotten lost last summer on a camping trip. Simon, who had e-mailed her and called her and kissed her cheek at the camp reunion. Simon. They were friends. Maybe more.

  So why did things feel so strangely, awfully uncomfortable?