“It’s called ‘roughing it,’” Marissa said. “Some people enjoy it.”
“Not this people,” Natalie said, frustrated. “I’m here, aren’t I? I’ve tried to be a good sport. I eat the food. I sweep the porch. I come down to the lake during free swim. I haven’t had access to my cell phone or e-mail since we got here. Marissa—” Natalie murmured, her voice lowering, “I even clean the toilets. I’ve been roughing it!”
“Well, do you want me to talk to Julie about getting you out of the trip?” Marissa asked with sincerity.
Natalie thought seriously for a moment. Did she? The idea was awfully appealing. It was easy to spot poison ivy in the clearing behind the nature shack, but she had a feeling the wilds on the deserted island would be more . . . well . . . wild. Nothing about the trip sounded like fun.
But.
She had promised Julie she would be strong, and for the most part, she had been. She had gotten to know Val, and liked her. She put up with Chelsea’s snotty comments. She even learned a little something about nature. Just last week, Roseanne had complimented her on the bird-feeder that she’d built. So being strong wasn’t so bad, and even though Natalie really didn’t love nature, she wasn’t a quitter. And besides, Simon would be on her trip.
Of course, so would Chelsea.
Simon. Think Simon, she reminded herself. That was a reason to go on the trip.
In fact, it might be all the reason she needed.
She turned to Marissa, squaring her shoulders with determination. “No,” she said. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll go.”
Marissa squealed and hugged her. “You rock! Scoot over then, sister. I’ll braid your hair.”
Just before dinner that evening, Natalie and the rest of her bunkmates gathered outside the mess hall. Before and after meals was a time when campers could really visit with friends from other bunks, or even other divisions, since everyone ate at the same time. Lots of campers chose to hang out on the steps of the mess hall itself, but Natalie still had the camping trip on her mind, and so she wasn’t that interested in socializing. She wandered off a little ways down the path to a nearby wooden pagoda. Once she reached it, however, she realized it wasn’t empty.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, retreating from the pagoda before she could intrude.
“No, hey, it’s totally cool.”
Natalie peered more closely into the pagoda and realized with a start that she had actually walked in on Simon! She flushed.
“I guess they haven’t let us into the mess hall yet?” he asked.
Natalie shook her head no. “Not that I mind, to be honest.”
Simon grinned. “True. I can’t decide if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that I’m a vegetarian. On the plus side, I get to avoid the random mystery meats. On the other hand, the selection leaves a lot to be desired.”
“You’re a vegetarian?” Natalie asked, nearly swooning. To her, that sounded very cosmopolitan. Almost New York, even.
“Yeah, why? Are you?”
Natalie nodded. “Yeah. I mean no. I mean, I was,” she finished, appalled at her awkwardness.
“Why’d you give it up?” Simon asked, sounding genuinely curious.
“Well, I don’t eat too much meat, but I guess I just decided that I couldn’t go without sushi. It was just too much of a sacrifice. Plus, half the time, it’s all that my mom and I even eat,” she explained.
Simon raised an eyebrow. “Sushi? Wow. Raw fish—that’s pretty brave.”
Natalie giggled. “Brave? Hardly. You’re talking to the girl who lives in terror of poison oak. I’m like, totally freaked about our camping trip,” she confessed.
“It’s nothing,” Simon assured her. “It can even be fun, I promise.”
“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Natalie said.
“I swear,” Simon insisted. “Roseanne does this trip every year, and she hasn’t lost a camper yet. I did it last year.”
“So you’re like a seasoned pro,” Natalie teased.
“Totally,” Simon said. “I can be your guide.”
Yes, yes, you can, Natalie thought to herself. She racked her brain to come up with a reply that wouldn’t sound lame or over-eager but came up empty. Say something, Nat, she begged herself.
“Nat!”
Natalie looked up to see who was calling her.
“Dinner! Come on! We’re all going in!”
It was Jenna. Normally, Jenna’s loud voice, bright eyes, and bouncing ponytail were a source of amusement for Natalie, but right now Nat could have killed the girl for her timing.
“Oh, ah,” she hemmed, not wanting to walk away from the conversation with Simon.
Simon stood up and dusted himself off. “You go,” he said to Natalie. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk on the hike, right?” He winked at her and walked off to rejoin his own bunk.
“Ooooh, Natalie, do you have a boyfriend?” Jenna singsonged.
Natalie whirled around as if just then realizing that Jenna was still there. She was completely unfazed by Jenna’s little joke. “We’ll see,” she said, with a little smile on her face. “We’ll see.”
At dinner, everyone in 3C was talking about all the activities they had planned in their specialties. “Will you read my newspaper piece before it’s published?” Alyssa asked Natalie shyly. The girls had learned that professional writers called their articles “pieces,” and they liked to use the grown-up terminology.
Natalie pushed a rubbery piece of chicken back and forth across her plate. Maybe it was time to reconsider vegetarianism again? At least for the summer, anyhow. “Of course. I mean, if you’ll read mine,” she said. She had conducted an interview with Brian, the sports counselor, on what had prompted him to come over from Australia for the summer, and she was really excited about it, but she knew that Alyssa was the better writer. Alyssa would definitely give her piece a great once-over. “I may have gone on a little too long about his accent,” Natalie joked.
“How could you not? It’s so cool!” Alyssa agreed.
“The best part is that he let me give the interview instead of taking sports!” Nat exclaimed, causing Alyssa to nearly choke on her food in laughter.
“Ow,” Alyssa grimaced as Jenna slid into the bench next to her, giggling mischievously. “And you’re sitting on my lap because . . .”
“Sorry,” Jenna said, slightly breathless. She was peering across the table, over Alex’s shoulder, to the table behind them.
“What did you do?” Alex asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. Of all the girls in 3C, Alex was most disapproving of Jenna’s pranks, mainly because she hated to get into trouble herself.
“Nothing,” Jenna said, but she looked ready to burst out of her seat with excitement.
“Something,” Sarah, who sat directly to Alex’s right, chimed in softly. “Definitely something.”
Suddenly, the boys at the table jumped up, all mumbling variations on “ugh,” “ew,” and “gross.” Jenna burst out laughing.
“Isn’t that your brother’s bunk’s table?” Sarah asked Jenna.
But Jenna just looked off to her right, humming a little bit to herself. Whatever she’d done to her brother and his bunkmates, she wasn’t telling. And it looked like for now, at least, she wasn’t going to be found out.
Natalie knew that whatever joke Jenna had pulled, it was probably really funny. Just like last week, when she had hidden all the silverware from 3A’s lunch table. But she was worried about her friend. That was just Natalie’s way, when she cared about someone. What if Jenna’s little practical schemes were actually a sign of a bigger problem, like something that was on Jenna’s mind? Or, if they weren’t a sign of a problem, they were going to be the cause of one, soon. How long could she get away with these pranks before she got into serious trouble?
chapter EIGHT
“So, making s’mores is actually really easy—” Jenna explained. She held out a graham cracker and a square of milk chocolate in preparation for a b
ig demonstration.
“—believe it or not, J, I’ve actually had s’mores before,” Natalie said, cutting Jenna off before she could launch into the full-blown lecture. She really liked Jenna, but the girl had at some point decided to “adopt” Natalie and show her the ins and outs of camp. Which was great in theory, but Natalie was independent by nature, and not too crazy about being adopted. Still, she tried to be patient. She knew Jenna was just being nice.
“I thought you’d never been to camp before. When did you make s’mores?” Alex asked, overhearing the girls’ conversation.
“Oh, there’s a restaurant in New York that will bring them right to your table for you. You cook the marshmallows on these little burners. It’s so cool,” Natalie said, feeling a little wave of homesickness pass through her. What surprised her, though, was that it was just that—a little wave of homesickness. Could it be
that she was actually starting to enjoy herself at camp? Too weird.
“Maybe you’re just too sophisticated for sleepaway camp,” Chelsea said. She didn’t make it sound like a compliment.
“Yes, well, I left my diamonds back in the city. I figured I can do without them for the summer, dahling,” Natalie laughed, putting on a fake “proper” accent. She had decided that the best thing to do with Chelsea was to pretend that her comments were intended as light-hearted jokes—even when they obviously weren’t. So far, the tactic seemed to be working. Chelsea pursed her lips but she didn’t say another word.
From across the campfire, Alyssa nodded to Natalie—a tiny, almost imperceptible gesture. Someone else might not have even noticed it, but Nat knew that her friend was giving her props for not letting Chelsea get to her.
It was Tuesday night, and bunk 3C was having a cookout. After all the camp food, Natalie could understand why so many campers got so excited over barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers. She had eaten one of each, herself, and even though she was stuffed, she still managed to find a tiny bit of room leftover for s’mores. She hated to admit it, but there was something cool about roasting marshmallows over an open campfire—not more special than having them brought to your table in a New York City restaurant, but different. Good different.
The girls in her bunk were good different, too, Natalie had decided. Even though she still wasn’t thrilled with things like spiders in the bathrooms and bug juice for lunch, the girls in 3C had a nice chemistry. Even now, they were all huddled in one large circle, stuffing themselves with graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. Julie and Marissa were off to one side of the barbecue talking to Pete, who had manned the grill, and a few of his kitchen buddies, including one named LJ who Natalie really liked. LJ was really funny. He refused to tell her what his initials stood for. He told all the girls in 3C that if they were lucky, he’d let them know at the closing banquet, at the end of the summer.
“Have you girls had your fill?” Kathleen, the head of the third division, walked by, smiling knowingly. Kathleen was energetic and always friendly, and could tell by the girls’ expressions that they had eaten more than enough for the evening.
“Oh, gosh, I’ll never eat again,” Grace moaned, dropping the long stick with her marshmallow to the ground beside her. She bent over and clutched her stomach dramatically.
Kathleen grinned again. “I sort of doubt that,” she said, and wandered over to speak with Julie and Marissa.
“Alex, you were smart not to have any,” Grace said, still feigning her stomachache. “I really need to learn some limits.”
“Oh, well, uh, you know—I like to take care of myself, for soccer, you know,” Alex replied. Natalie looked up. Was it her imagination, or did Alex look slightly uncomfortable? But what would she have to feel uncomfortable about? So she didn’t eat junk food. So what?
Natalie offered up her best fake burp. All the girls shrieked with laughter.
“Ugh, that is so gross,” Brynn said, giggling. “Does Simon think that’s cute?”
Natalie blushed. “What are you talking about?”
Brynn rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, it’s so obvious. You completely stare at him every time we’re in the mess hall. You luuuuuv him,” she sang.
“Okay, fine, he’s cute, so what?” Natalie protested.
Grace made little gagging noises. “Cute, yak. Boys are icky, not cute.”
“Oh, come on,” Natalie insisted. “You’re telling me there’s not a single boy in camp you’d be into?”
All the girls shook their heads emphatically. “It must be something in the Manhattan water, Nat,” Sarah said. “You’re the only one so far.”
“You make it sound like I have some kind of disease,” Natalie said, laughing. “Whatever. At least this way I don’t have to worry about any of you guys going after him!” She glanced at Chelsea as she said this. But Chelsea was focused intently on fishing out a graham cracker from a newly opened box and didn’t—or wouldn’t—look up.
“My dad says I can’t go on a date until I’m in high school,” Karen said. “That’s fine by me. Anyway, we play board games on Friday nights. He’s a teacher, and sometimes he makes up cool games all on his own.”
“Oh, that’s so fun!” Candace said. “My dad’s a boring lawyer and the only thing he brings home is his laptop.”
“Mine’s a lawyer, too,” Alex put in. “It looks like the dullest job in the world. Whenever we go on vacation, he spends half the time screaming into his cell phone.” She shifted her weight and stretched her legs out in front of her, closer to the warmth of the fire. “What about you, Natalie? You never talk about your father,” she said.
“Huh?” Natalie said, stalling for time. “He’s, uh . . . well, my parents are divorced.”
“Oh, that’s hard,” Sarah said sympathetically. “Do you see him often?”
Natalie shrugged. “Sometimes,” she said. “He lives out west. What about yours?” she asked, trying to push the spotlight off herself.
“He’s an orthodontist,” Sarah replied. “So my older sister got her braces for cheap!”
“Hey, Natalie, when’s your campout?” Jenna asked suddenly, a twinkle appearing in her eye.
“Thursday night,” Natalie answered, suddenly suspicious. “Why?”
“Well, speaking of boys, I have a fun idea of how we can pass the time between now and then.”
“What, you mean instead of evening activity?” Natalie asked. She wouldn’t have minded getting out of evening activity. But for some reason, she didn’t think that was quite what Jenna was getting at.
“Oh, no—I meant for after,” Jenna said quickly. “Later—much later—I’ve got plans for us. All of us,” she added dramatically.
Natalie glanced around the campfire nervously. She wasn’t so sure she liked the sound of that.
That evening after the cookout, the girls were all excitable as they prepared for bed. Even Julie could see that something was up.
“Ladies, you’re all so hyper tonight. I hope you don’t have some sort of mischief planned,” she said.
Natalie sort of hoped so, too. But then, a part of her thought that whatever Jenna had in mind could really be fun. So basically, she wasn’t sure what to think.
After the girls had all gotten into their bunks, Marissa read to them from the “Trauma-rama” section of YM. This was their favorite thing to do before lights-out. Usually, the stories were completely outrageous, and Marissa made the girls vote which ones they thought were true, and which were made-up.
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