Camp Confidential 16: Golden Girls

by Melissa J Morgan

  Tori groaned and pulled her long blond hair forward over her shoulder. She lifted a big chunk and started to chew on it—something Natalie knew she only did when she was really upset, and never in public.

  “Tori, don’t worry about it. You’re going to make a great captain. You just have to get in the spirit of things,” Natalie said, getting up and putting her arm around her friend. Instantly, Tori dropped the hair. “Believe me, I did not get Color War my first year here, either, but now I kind of like it. Maybe you can, too, if you try. And if you need any help, I’m there. We’ll do it together.”

  “Yeah?” Tori asked, brightening slightly.

  Natalie felt that warm and fuzzy feeling she always got in her chest when she helped someone out. “Definitely. What’re best friends for?”

  “Hey! 5A! Nice toenails.”

  Lainie Wilcox, the single coolest girl in the sixth division, paused at the foot of the steps with two of her friends behind her, all of them wearing blue T-shirts. For a long moment, Natalie was completely speechless. She had known who Lainie was since her first summer here. Everyone knew who Lainie was. With her light brown hair, perpetual healthy tan, double-pierced ears, and serious athletic ability, Lainie was Camp Lakeview. She was a star. And now that she was in sixth division, she practically ran the place. But she never lowered herself to talk to anyone younger than her, which was why Natalie was so stunned.

  “You . . . you like them?” she asked.

  “Totally. When I walked out of our bunk, I saw you over here and I thought you were giving yourself a pedicure, but I had to come over and see for sure. I’m glad you’re on team Blue, Goode,” Lainie said. “We could use a little originality on our side.”

  Natalie and Tori exchanged a look. Not only was Lainie talking to Natalie, but she knew her name. And she was complimenting her. It was as if the entire Camp Lakeview universe had just been turned on its head.

  “So . . . you coming to opening ceremonies or are you just gonna stand there all day?” Lainie asked, earning a small laugh from her friends.

  “We have to wait for the rest of the cabin,” Tori said.

  Lainie smirked, as if what Tori had said was childish, but she nodded. “Okay. Come find us when you get down there, Goode,” she said, looking right at Natalie as if Tori wasn’t there. Then she and her friends turned around and sauntered off. Natalie could barely breathe.

  “Okay. What just happened here?” she asked.

  “I think Lainie Wilcox just invited you to hang out with her,” Tori replied, just as shocked.

  “Nah. Not possible,” Natalie said, blushing with pleasure nonetheless. “Come on. Let’s go tell Belle everyone’s already on their way.”

  Suddenly Natalie couldn’t wait to get down to the flagpole. Because even though part of her thought there was no way Tori was right, she had to find out for sure. If the coolest girl in camp wanted to be her friend, she was not going to let that opportunity pass her by.

  chapter TWO

  “I actually kind of like Color War,” Natalie said as she and the rest of her team made their way to the flagpole. She scanned the crowd for signs of Lainie and her friends, but didn’t see them. All around her, kids in red and blue chanted and sang, trying to out-cheer one another. A bunch of first-division Blue team girls had made themselves into a chain, holding hands, and were weaving in and out of the crowd. Laughter and shouting filled the air. “It’s like the whole camp is jacked up on Red Bull or something.”

  “I know! That’s exactly what it’s like. Like the whole camp is on Red Bull,” Candace said, her eyes shining.

  “That’s one way of putting it,” Tori said. A couple of fourth-division boys narrowly missed crushing her foot as they ran past, and she paused for a moment to catch her breath.

  “Have you seen any of the fifth-division guys?” Alex asked, wrapping her sleek hair back in a short ponytail as they walked.

  “Why? Wondering what team Adam is on?” Grace teased, elbowing Alex in the side.

  “Maybe,” Alex said, blushing. She and Adam, Jenna’s twin brother, had been doing the boyfriend/ girlfriend thing since last summer.

  “You do know that if he’s on Red, he’s officially the enemy,” Gaby put in. “And there’s no talking to the enemy.”

  “Like we’re not going to talk to the other girls in our bunk for the whole week,” Grace said, rolling her eyes.

  “Yeah. We have to talk to the other girls in our bunk,” Candace said.

  “Not any more than absolutely necessary,” Gaby said. “Come on, you guys! This is war. Get in the spirit!”

  Natalie laughed. “Maybe Gaby’s right. But instead of, you know, freezing out our friends, maybe we should take this opportunity to get to know some of the Blue teamers in the other divisions.”

  “Like Lainie Wilcox?” Tori asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Not just her,” Natalie said.

  Just then, the girls came upon the back end of the crowd gathered around the flagpole, and Natalie couldn’t help but grin. The whole dirt field was awash with color, Blues on the right, Reds on the left. Dr. Steve stood in the center, right in front of the flagpole, wearing a T-shirt that was red on the left, blue on the right—two T-shirts sewn together, actually. He’d done the same with his shorts, his hat, and his shoes—one red, one blue. He looked ridiculous, but that was kind of the point.

  “Welcome, Lakeview campers, to Color War!” he shouted into his megaphone.

  The whole place erupted in cheers.

  “One! Two! Three! Four! We want Color War! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! We don’t want to wait!” the counselors began to chant. “One! Two! Three! Four! We want Color War! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! We don’t want to wait!”

  Gradually all the campers started to chant with them, their voices filling the clear air. Natalie threw her head back and joined in until the whole camp had gone through the chant three times. Grace and Alex even do-si-doed to the beat while they chanted. Then everyone hooted and hollered until Dr. Steve got the whole place under control again. He started going on about the rules and Natalie tuned him out. She’d heard this speech before. Instead, she decided to use this time to look around for Lainie and her friends. She stood on her toes and craned her neck, checking out the Blue side of the flagpole. Finally, she found them, standing under the shade of some trees at the edge of the clearing, looking at a magazine. There were five girls total in blue, including Lainie, and none of them were paying any attention to Dr. Steve, either.

  “I’ll be right back,” Natalie whispered to Tori.

  Tori looked past Nat and saw Lainie and the others. “You’re going over there?”

  “Yeah. I think so. Wanna come?” Natalie asked, thinking a little moral support might help.

  “They didn’t ask me. They just asked you,” Tori stated.

  “I’m sure they won’t care,” Natalie replied.

  “Lainie Wilcox won’t care. Yeah, right,” Tori said with a laugh. “I’ve only been here two years and even I know she wants things the way she wants them. Don’t worry. I’ll still be here when you get back.” She patted Natalie on the back with a smile and Natalie grinned in return.

  “Okay. Wish me luck,” Natalie said.

  “Good luck!” Tori replied.

  Natalie took a deep breath and wove through the crowd toward Lainie and her friends. Her heart pounded with nervousness as she approached. What if she’d gotten the message wrong? What if Lainie didn’t actually want to hang out with her? This could be social suicide.

  They’re just girls, she reminded herself as she reached the edge of the crowd. Next year you’ll be them. Basically.

  The moment she was in the clear, two of the girls looked up—two that hadn’t been with Lainie earlier outside bunk 5A. One had long jet black hair in braids. The other had a short blond ’do. Both greeted Natalie with seriously obnoxious expressions.

  “What do you want?” the blond girl asked.

  “Omigod, are you wearing white Ju
icy shorts?” the other said. “Those’ll get ruined in about five seconds.”

  “Yeah. This is Lakeview. Not Park Avenue.”

  Natalie felt as if she’d just been slapped. Her cheeks burned like mad. Okay, so maybe this had been a huge mistake.

  “Hey. Back off, girls,” Lainie said, stepping forward. “I invited her over here.”

  “You did?” one of the girls asked automatically. The other girl smacked her arm as if she couldn’t believe the girl had talked back to Lainie.

  “Yes, I did,” Lainie snapped. “I think it’s cool she has her own style.”

  Suddenly the two mean girls looked sorry they had ever opened their mouths. Natalie tried not to smile too widely. Now that was power.

  “So, your first name’s Natalie, right?” Lainie asked. “Natalie Goode? You’re Tad Maxwell’s daughter.”

  Natalie’s heart dropped. Of course. Lainie only knew her because her dad was a famous actor. Why hadn’t she thought of that before?

  “That’s you?” the blond girl said, her mouth dropping open.

  “Very cool,” the other girl said.

  Wow. Dramatic turnaround, Natalie thought. She looked at Lainie, who seemed to be assessing her. Was she going to ask Nat to get her father’s autograph for her now? Oh, how Natalie hated this part.

  “That must be really hard, having someone famous in your family,” Lainie said finally.

  “Hard? Please! She can have anything she wants!” the dark-haired girl said.

  “Who cares, Daniella? That’s just stuff,” Lainie said. She glanced at Natalie. “I bet people are always trying to get you to do things for them. I bet you never know who your real friends are.”

  Slowly, Natalie smiled. In her entire life, no one had ever figured that out so quickly. Even Nat’s friends in her bunk had been totally starstruck back when they’d first found out that Natalie was the daughter of the biggest action movie star in the universe. It had taken them forever to understand that there were drawbacks to all that attention.

  “These two rudes are Patty and Daniella,” Lainie said, pointing her thumb at the two tormentors. “And this is Liliko and Trish.” She gestured to a tall Asian girl with purple streaks in her hair, and a sort of chubby girl with freckles and long red hair down her back—the two girls who had been with her earlier.

  “Hey,” they both said, offering up smiles.

  “Hi,” Natalie responded.

  “So, Nat, Liliko just got the back-to-school Teen Vogue, and we’re picking out first day of school outfits,” Lainie said, hooking her arm around Natalie’s shoulders. “I bet you know all about fashion, so what do you think? Is orange really the new black?”

  Natalie laughed as Liliko opened the magazine to a fashion spread. She could hardly believe her luck. This morning she had woken up just a regular fifth-division girl, and now, suddenly, she had an in with the sixth-division girls. With Lainie Wilcox. All because of a little blue glitter nail polish. Color War was even cooler than she thought.

  There was way too much noise. Too much cheering, too much splashing, too many voices shouting. Tori squeezed the pen and paper she had in her hands. She closed her eyes and tried to block it all out, but it was no use. Gaby, after all, was yelling directly in her ear.

  “I totally think I should be in the tube,” Gaby said. “It’s the most important part of the race.”

  “Uh, no. It’s not,” Alex countered, hands on hips. “And even if it was, why does that mean you should do it?”

  “Yeah! Why does that mean you should do it?” Candace echoed.

  “I’ll do whatever, Tori! I’ll get wet! Or not! I don’t care!” Grace offered enthusiastically.

  Tori took a deep breath and stared at the water. It was the first event of Color War and already she was at a loss. Everyone else on the docks was cheering their heads off for the fourth-division boys, who were in the middle of their relay race. She watched as a spiky-haired boy jumped in his kayak and started speeding across the lake. There were four vessels in all. An inner tube, a canoe, a paddleboat, and a kayak. Tori had to figure out which of her teammates would man each boat. The tube would go first, making one cross of the lake. The moment it touched the opposite dock, the canoe would take off. Then the paddleboat, followed by the kayak. Unfortunately, everyone had an opinion on who should do what.

  “I’ll do the inner tube,” Alex said. “I’m a strong swimmer.”

  “Stronger than me?” Gaby huffed.

  Behind her, on the next dock, a loud whistle split the air. Tori turned to see that Priya had just shut her own team up with that one sharp noise.

  “Okay, Brynn and Jenna in the paddleboat. Alyssa and Val in the canoe. I’ll take the kayak, and Chelsea, you’re in the tube. Got it?” Priya said.

  “Got it,” the red team chorused.

  “Hands in!” Priya shouted.

  And the entire Red team gathered in a circle to put their hands in the center. Meanwhile, team Blue was slowly melting down.

  “Just make a decision, Tori. It’s up to you,” Alex said.

  “I don’t see why it has to be up to her—”

  Tori looked around for Natalie. After all, Nat had said she would help her out with anything—that they’d do this captain thing together. And she needed her help right now—big-time. But when she finally found her friend in the crowd, she was at least a hundred yards and a hundred people away, chatting with Lainie Wilcox and a bunch of other sixth-division girls.

  Come on, Natalie. Remember your promise, Tori urged silently. But Natalie just kept gabbing away. Apparently she was not receiving Tori’s telepathic message. She was on her own here.

  “Tori—”

  “You have to—”

  “It’s gonna start—”

  “Okay! Fine!” Tori shouted. She used Alex’s back for a table and scribbled out her team on the paper she’d been given. “Grace is in the tube, Nat is in the kayak, Candace and Alex in the paddleboat, and Gaby and me in the canoe. Okay?”

  They all fell silent, and Tori felt proud of herself. She’d done it. She’d taken control! So why didn’t anyone else look all that pleased?

  Corey, one of the boys’ counselors, darted over. He’d used white tape to spell out the words “Blue Rulez!” on the front of his blue shirt. “Hey! I need your final list.”

  Tori handed it over and Corey ran off with it to Dr. Steve. Just then, the fourth-division boys finished and everyone cheered for the Red team, who had won by inches. Natalie came bounding up and jumped into the circle, all smiles.

  “So! What’s the deal?” she asked.

  Tori was relieved to see her. At least she knew Natalie would support her.

  “You’re on the last leg. In the kayak,” Tori told her.

  Natalie’s face completely fell. “The kayak? I’ve never even been in a kayak before!”

  “What? How could you be at camp for three years and never be in a kayak?” Tori asked, her heart clenching.

  “I’ve never had water sports as an elective!” Nat cried.

  “Oh, God! Maybe I can still change—”

  At the top of the docks, Dr. Steve lifted his microphone. “Fifth-division girls! In your boats!”

  chapter THREE

  “Come on, Brynn! Paddle, Jenna!” Priya shouted from the dock as her friends sped toward the far side of the lake in their paddleboat. The rest of her team, Chelsea, Valerie and Alyssa, were all on the far shore, having finished their legs of the race, and they were cheering as well. Priya saw Brynn glance over her shoulder at the Blue team and laugh, which made Priya stifle a grin. Team Blue was miles behind. There was no way Red could lose at this point, but Priya kept shouting, anyway.

  “Go! Go! Go!”

  Finally the paddleboat reached the dock on the far side of the lake. Jenna stood halfway up and strained to grab the red flag that dangled from the ladder on their side of the dock. Jenna thrust the flag into the air, which was Priya’s cue to go. Heart pounding, Priya jumped into the kayak,
grabbed the oar, and took off.

  “Go, Priya! Yeah!” Valerie and the other members of the Red team cried. The race was almost over. It was up to Priya to finish off the Blue team.

  Paddling hard, Priya concentrated on her rhythm. Right, left, right, left. She was halfway across the lake when she saw Alex lift the blue flag in the air and the Blue team let out a cheer. Apparently, Natalie had started off in her kayak.

  Just for good measure, Priya glanced over her shoulder to see how far behind Natalie was. Her jaw dropped. Natalie was struggling with her oar, turning the kayak around in a wide, awkward circle.

  “Straighten out! Straighten out!” Gaby shouted from the shore, as a bunch of kids along the shoreline started to laugh.

  Priya was no longer paddling, but drifting forward when Natalie finally seemed to get control of herself. Unfortunately, as soon as she started paddling, she took off in the wrong direction.

  “Ack! How do you control this thing!?” Natalie shouted, her voice carrying over the water.

  More kids joined the crowd at the edge of the water and the laughter grew. Natalie was heading toward the east side of the lake and the swimming area. She couldn’t be on a more ridiculous course.

  I should go help her, Priya thought, her heart going out to her friend. She knew that she would never be able to handle the entire camp pointing and laughing at her.

  “Priya! Come on! What’re you doing?” Chelsea shouted from the shore. “GO!”

  “Row! Row! Red!” a bunch of Red team members started chanting. “Row! Row! Red!”

  The chant got under Priya’s skin and energized her. This was war, after all. She stuck her paddle in the water and pushed, quickly regaining her rhythm. Within two minutes she had reached the other side of the lake, and the entire Red team erupted in crazy-loud cheers and applause. Chelsea even hugged Priya when she got out of her kayak.

  “Nice work, Captain,” Belle said, coming over to pat Priya on the back.

  “Thanks,” Priya said.

  That’s when she saw Tori standing a few feet away, hanging her head, with her hands over her eyes. Natalie was drifting toward shore now, clear on the other side of the lake. The Blue team wasn’t even going to finish.