Natalie's Secret #1

by Melissa J Morgan

  “MADE-UP!” Alex shouted from her bed after an especially colorful entry. “Please. Who ever really sneezes that much snot?”

  “Point taken,” Marissa said, closing the magazine.

  “Okay, girls, Marissa and I have to go out for a little bit,” Julie said. This wasn’t a surprise. Julie and Marissa usually went outside for a while after lights-out. No one was totally sure what they did. The counselors rotated their evenings off, and those that had off definitely left camp. Natalie couldn’t blame them. There were always two counselors per division—one guy and one girl—who were “OD,” or “on-duty,” as well, and it was their job to patrol at night and make sure that things were okay with all the campers in their division. But those who weren’t off or OD managed to disappear just the same. Jenna’s theory was that all the counselors met at the big rock where afternoon snack was held, not too far away from the bunks. “We have a meeting with the rest of the staff. Mark and Kerri are OD tonight. Do you promise you’ll all behave?”

  “Yes, Julie,” the girls chorused in a mocking singsong.

  After the door had swung shut behind them, the bunk was quiet for a moment. No one wanted to be the first to speak what was on everyone’s mind.

  Finally, Jenna sat up in bed. “Do you think they’re gone?”

  Alex got out of her bed and walked over to the front door. She opened it and peered out. “The coast is clear. No Mark, no Kerri, no problem.” She padded back to her bed and sat on the edge of it. “So what were you thinking?”

  The lights were still out, but Natalie could practically feel a sly grin creep its way across Jenna’s face. “Raid,” she whispered.

  “Awesome!” Alex said. Even though Alex hated to get in trouble, she was willing to risk it for something like a raid, because raids were just too much fun to resist. She slid back off her bed and poked around in her cubby, pulled out her flashlight, and flicked it on.

  “Careful with that thing,” Chelsea said, squinting from the bright light. “What is a raid, anyway?”

  Natalie was glad Chelsea had asked, since she herself had no idea.

  Alex squealed and settled back down on the edge of her bed. “Oooh, it’s SO much fun. We sneak out and into someone’s bunk—”

  “—a boys’ bunk—” Jenna cut in.

  “—yeah, yeah, boys’ bunk,” Alex continued, looking slightly annoyed at being interrupted. “And, you know, we tp—toilet paper—their bunk and do all sorts of other things while they’re sleeping. Like we can put toothpaste on their toilet seats or hide all their toilet paper—”

  “So basically we’re sabotaging their bathroom?” Natalie asked.

  Alex shot her a look. “Well, not necessarily. But that’s the kind of thing that’s going to get to them.”

  “I always like to tape their bathroom doors shut and pull all their covers down while they’re sleeping,” Jenna said. There was an edge to her voice that suggested that she didn’t really like being upstaged by Alex.

  “Do you ever get caught?” Karen asked softly.

  “Nah,” Jenna bragged. “I mean, it’s harmless.”

  “Counselors practically expect you to do it,” Alex agreed. “So if you keep it safe and stuff, no one ever says anything.”

  Natalie found herself warming to the idea. But she still had one question. “Um, which bunk are we going to raid?” she asked.

  Jenna snorted. “Every year, I like to raid Adam’s bunk,” she said. “So, 3F. Is that okay with you, Nat?” she finished meaningfully.

  Simon’s bunk, Natalie thought. Of course. “Yeah, sure,” she said, trying to act casual.

  “I had a feeling it would be,” Jenna teased. “Okay, who else is in?”

  It turned out that almost everyone was game. Karen was nervous, but she put aside her fears after Alex and Jenna both reassured her that they wouldn’t get in any trouble. Candace said she’d rather stay back and read, but she gave in when Sarah guilted her about “acting as a bunk.” And that was really it. Chelsea, in particular, seemed very excited. As soon as Jenna had explained her plan, she had hopped out of bed to change into her cutest drawstring capris. Natalie guessed it probably didn’t matter what they wore.

  But she put on a clean pair of jeans, just in case.

  “Well, I guess you were wrong about where the counselors go at night,” Alex said to Jenna. The bunk was maneuvering slowly, ducking behind bushes when possible, and they were just rounding the big, central rock. They had tiptoed out the front door of the bunk un-detected easily enough—the OD counselors were clearly otherwise occupied. The rock was completely unpopulated. Alex sounded fairly pleased about it. To Natalie, it seemed like Alex and Jenna were locked in a bizarre competition to be the one who knew the most about camp. Silly, she thought. So not worth it.

  Suddenly, someone stomped on her foot. She almost cried out, but the offender clapped a hand over her mouth, muffling the sound. She turned to find Alyssa smiling at her. “Sorry!” she whispered. “I tripped.”

  “That’s what you get for wearing flip-flops,” Natalie said. She had tried to convince her friend to wear trail shoes, but Alyssa wasn’t having it. “My feet need to breathe,” she had protested.

  “You win,” Alyssa admitted.

  “Then why am I the one with the squashed toe, Ms. Breathy-foot?” Natalie kidded.

  “Girls!” Alex said in the loudest whisper she could manage. “We’re almost there. Keep it down!”

  “She is so out of control,” Alyssa mumbled. Natalie almost broke into a giggle, but Alyssa reached out and covered her mouth again.

  “Good thing we know how to identify poison oak, right?” Valerie said, catching up to Natalie and Alyssa. “And you thought nature was pointless.”

  “Not like I could even see it if I were standing right in a poison-oak patch! It’s pitch-black out here!” Natalie pointed out.

  “Girls!” Jenna said, sounding like Julie. “We’re going in. Now, you all have your assignments. Alyssa and Nat, you’re going in first. You’re going to take the toilet paper out of the bathroom. Then you’ll pass it off to Grace and Valerie, who will tp the bunk beds. Meanwhile, Sarah and Brynn will put shaving cream on the toilet seats. Jessie, Alex, and Candace are in charge of rounding up the garbage cans and lining them up outside the front door. That way, they’ll topple when the boys try to leave in the morning. Chelsea and Karen are going to hide the shower curtains.”

  “What will you do?” Natalie asked.

  “Oh, I’ve got special plans of my own for Adam,” Jenna said mysteriously.

  “Poor Adam,” Grace said, sympathetically.

  “How about a huddle before we go in?” Alex suggested.

  Jenna glared at Alex, but the girls were already grouping together. In the dark, they leaned in to one another and placed all of their hands on top of one another’s in the center of the huddle. “Go, 3C!” they whisper-shouted.

  Natalie crept up to the front door with Alyssa at her heels. “This may be a dumb idea,” Natalie mumbled, suddenly having second thoughts. “But here goes nothing,” she said quietly, and pulled the door open.

  Instantly, all the girls were engulfed. Natalie was pelted squarely in the stomach with a stream of water, while at the same time covered from head to toe in shaving cream.

  “Oh, what the—” Natalie shouted, only to be rewarded by a blast of water into her mouth. She sputtered to herself as the sounds of male war cries filled the room.

  Before Natalie could make sense of the scene, her bunkmates had rushed in, screeching with their own war whoops. Jenna whipped a mini water pistol from the waistband of her capri pants and fired from the hip. Karen freaked out, bolted for the bathroom, and locked herself in a stall. Chelsea ran up and down the bunk weaving toilet paper from bed to bed.

  Jenna, though, stood stock-still, assessing the scene. Finally, she put her fingers to her lips and whistled.

  The bunk was silent.

  “Adam,” she said, her voice dangerously low.


  From the far corner of the bunk, the girls heard chuckling. “Gotcha, sis!” A head full of light brown curls emerged, followed by a male-looking version of Jenna in hospital scrubs and a concert T-shirt.

  “How did you know?” Jenna demanded.

  “Give me a break, Jenna. I’m on to you. I’m always on to you,” he said. “I mean, did you think I didn’t know what you did with the bug juice the other day?” he continued.

  Jenna pursed her lips, planted her hands on her hips, and waited for him to go on.

  “And by the way, you plan a raid just about this time every summer, J. So this wasn’t exactly the hugest shock.”

  “Well, how did you know it would be tonight?” Jenna asked.

  “It makes perfect sense. The counselors are all at that big meeting.”

  “What big meeting?” Natalie interrupted, suddenly worried. “Julie said they were meeting the other counselors. You know, at the rock. You said they always go to the rock!” she said, turning to face Jenna. But then she remembered. When we walked past the rock, there was no one around.

  Adam nodded. “Most nights, they do. And you would never have been able to get past them.”

  “Hey!” Alex protested.

  Adam ignored her. “But tonight, they had a meeting with Dr. Steve.”

  “Dr. Steve? As in, director of the camp Dr. Steve?” Sarah asked, a tinge of dread creeping into her voice.

  Natalie understood why she sounded that way. Dr. Steve was very friendly—he made it a point to visit all the activities during the day, and to talk to all the campers—but he was not a pushover. And she didn’t think he’d be the kind to look the other way if he found out some campers had gone on a raid while their counselors were out.

  “Well, no big deal, right?” came a voice from the corner.

  Natalie whirled around to see Simon standing near the front door. He was wearing cut-off sweat pants and a T-shirt with Bart Simpson across the front. He likes The Simpsons? I like The Simpsons, Natalie thought. We’re perfect for each other! She realized she was spacing and forced herself to concentrate on what he was saying.

  “All they have to do is get back before the meeting’s over, and Dr. Steve will never know,” he pointed out.

  “Right,” Natalie said. “That makes sense. But it means we have to get going, like, now. If the counselors come back, that means the meeting’s over.”

  “Duh,” Chelsea chimed in. Natalie instantly felt stupid for suggesting something so obvious.

  “Well, she’s right,” Simon countered.

  Natalie couldn’t believe it. Was Simon defending her? “Are you guys okay to clean up by yourselves?” she asked. She felt bad just leaving with everything such a mess.

  Adam laughed. “No worries. It’s too bad, though—usually raids turn into parties. We would have shared some of our junk-food stash with you.”

  “Next time,” Natalie said, smiling.

  “Uh, you guys, there may be a little problem with the plan,” Alex said, breaking into the moment.

  “Such as?” Jenna asked nervously.

  “Such as, where’s Alyssa? Nat, wasn’t she supposed to come in first with you?”

  Natalie glanced around the bunk nervously. Where was Alyssa, anyway? “Oh, no,” she groaned. “I told her not to wear flip-flops! What if she slipped outside or something?”

  In a flash, Natalie and Alex dashed outside, where they immediately found Alyssa kneeled on the porch and clutching her shin.

  “I’m the biggest klutz in the world,” Alyssa said sheepishly. “Look.” She extended her leg. “I really shouldn’t have worn flip-flops, Nat.”

  Natalie gasped. “I won’t even say ‘I told you so,’” she promised. Alyssa had mangled her leg really badly. It was raw and oozing, and the ankle was looking a little bit puffy, as well. Alex and Natalie quickly helped her back into the bunk so that the group could assess the situation together.

  “Oh, jeez. We need to take you to the infirmary and get that cleaned out,” Natalie said. “What if you sprained your ankle?”

  “The infirmary’s closed,” Grace said. “Plan B?”

  Natalie’s stomach turned over. “Uh, I think the only real plan B is to go find the counselors.” The thought was not appealing.

  Jenna’s face went white. “We can’t! Julie will kill me!”

  “Jenna, look at her leg!” Natalie pressed. “What would you rather we do?”

  “I have some Band-Aids in the bunk,” Jenna offered.

  “Jen, I’m sorry, but look at that. It’s, like, dripping, and not even ankle-shaped. I don’t think your Band-Aids are going to do the trick. Can you even walk on that, Alyssa?”

  Alyssa leaned into her leg tentatively. “It’s sore,” she admitted.

  Simon stepped forward. “Why don’t you let Nat and me walk you to find the counselors?” he suggested. “I mean, it was her idea, but you know, if you can’t walk or whatever, I could carry you better than she could.”

  Natalie didn’t know if Alyssa really needed two personal escorts, but she wasn’t about to argue. Besides, how sweet was it of Simon to offer? “Sounds like a plan,” she said, crossing over to where Alyssa stood.

  “That’s ridiculous,” Chelsea cut in. “Simon, I can go with you.”

  Natalie seethed. How low could Chelsea stoop?

  “It’s okay, Chelsea. It looks like Nat’s got this covered,” Simon insisted.

  It was all Natalie could do not to stick out her tongue and do a little victory dance in Chelsea’s face. Be the bigger person, she reminded herself.

  “Whatever,” Chelsea snapped.

  Natalie decided to take charge. After all, Simon seemed to think that she knew what she was talking about. “Okay, um, Alyssa, why don’t you put one arm across my shoulder and one arm across Simon’s?”

  Alyssa maneuvered forward and awkwardly draped one arm over each of them. The three of them hopped toward the front door like losers in a strange three-legged relay, when suddenly the door opened, and the overhead lights flew on. The room was blindingly bright.

  “It’s the mother ship!” Grace shrieked.

  “Shh!” Natalie said. “So not the time for jokes.”

  “What is going on here?!”

  It was Nate, the counselor for 3F. He didn’t look very pleased.

  And standing beside him was Julie.

  chapter NINE

  “I can’t believe Julie let you off with just a warning!” Grace said, reaching over Natalie to grab the pitcher of milk that stood in the middle of the breakfast table.

  “I know, she was really cool about it,” Jenna agreed. “But she was not pleased. She made it clear that this was my last get-out-of-jail-free.” She shook her head, causing her sandy ponytail to bob up and down. “I’m just relieved that Dr. Steve didn’t find out. If he had, I don’t think Julie would have been so understanding.”

  “What did you even tell Nurse Helen, anyway, Alyssa?” Grace asked.

  In the end, Julie had gone with Natalie and Alyssa to the nurse. They had explained that Alyssa had been “outside” and had tripped, and Nurse Helen had been good enough to leave it at that. She took a look at Alyssa’s ankle and declared it not sprained, cleaned it out, wrapped it in an Ace bandage, and sent the girls on their way. Today, Alyssa was still limping slightly, but was basically okay.