Natalie felt as if her mind was whirling. So it was definitely true. She liked the same boy Lainie had liked for the last six years. Which only meant one thing.
“The problem is . . . I like you,” Natalie said reluctantly.
Christopher smiled. “How is that a problem?”
“It’s a problem because I can’t talk to you anymore,” Natalie said, drooping back against a thick tree trunk.
Christopher pushed his hands into the pockets of his shorts. “Okay, now I’m confused.”
“Look, Lainie likes you, too. And I just couldn’t do that to her,” Natalie said, feeling awful even as she said it. “She’s my friend.”
“Lainie Wilcox? But I don’t like Lainie Wilcox,” Christopher said, making a dubious face. “She’s like one of the guys.”
“What?” Natalie said, feeling suddenly defensive on her friend’s behalf. “She is so not a guy! She’s totally beautiful.”
Christopher took a step closer to Natalie and her heart pounded like crazy. “I happen to think someone else is totally beautiful,” he said.
Natalie’s breath caught in her throat. He couldn’t be talking about her, could he? But before she could even start breathing again, Christopher reached for her hand.
“Oh! My! God!”
Christopher sprung backward and Natalie’s heart hit her throat. Two flashlight beams were pointed right at her from the break in the trees she and Christopher had ducked into. The flashlights were held by none other than Patty and Daniella. Slowly, Daniella’s face twisted into an evil smirk.
“You are so dead.”
Natalie’s stomach clenched painfully. “You guys—”
But it was too late. Patty and Daniella had already run off.
“I just think it’ll be so much more visually cool than a painting,” Alyssa said as the Red team huddled around her sketches at the campfire. “But what do you guys think?”
“I love it,” Priya said, leaning forward. Her butt was cold from sitting on the cool sand, so she balanced on the knees of her sweatpants for a little while. “I wish I could come up with ideas like you do, Lyss.”
“It’s not that big a deal,” Alyssa said with a shrug. “We all have a million ideas inside us. At least that’s what my art teacher is always saying.”
“Well, it’s totally going to slay whatever the Blue team comes up with,” Jenna said confidently.
“Speaking of,” Chelsea said, glancing up. She grabbed Alyssa’s sketchbook right out of her hands and slapped it closed. Priya was about to scold her when she saw that the entire Blue team, minus Natalie, was walking by. They were keeping their steps very close to Priya’s circle, too.
“How are you guys?” Tori asked, standing on her toes and looking into the circle. “Working on something there?”
“Maybe,” Priya said. She leaned back on her hands, all casual. “What about you? Working on something?”
“Maybe,” Tori shot back. “Or maybe we’re already done.”
“Yeah right,” Brynn said with a scoff.
Tori and the other girls looked at one another and grinned. Priya felt her heart skip a beat and she sat up straight again.
“You’re not done, are you?” she asked.
Team Blue was silent for just a second, then they all cracked up laughing. Instantly, Priya relaxed.
“No, but you should have seen the look on your face!” Gaby said through her laughter.
“Ha ha ha,” Jenna said, slinging her arm over Alyssa’s shoulder. “Well if you guys think you can beat our secret weapon, you’ve got another think coming.”
“We’ll see,” Tori said lightly.
Then she and the rest of the Blue team turned and walked over to another log, where they gathered together in a huddle. Planning their own arts and crafts project, no doubt.
“Yeah! We will see!” Jenna shouted after them.
Alyssa took her sketchbook back from Chelsea and opened it again. She pulled a metal tin of colored pencils out of the big pocket on the front of her sweatshirt and started to draw. “What if we do this . . . ?”
Priya was about to return her attention to the sketchbook when she finally spotted Natalie. She was sitting on a rock by herself, staring over at the sixth-division girls on the other side of the fire. Priya followed Natalie’s gaze, wondering what Nat found so fascinating about the older girls. They didn’t seem all that special to Priya. They all dressed alike, for one—no originality whatsoever. Plus they walked around with their noses in the air all the time, like they ran the place. When she and her friends got to the sixth division, they were not going to act like that. She knew that for sure.
Suddenly there was a commotion on the other side of the fire and Priya saw Natalie flinch. A bunch of campers in the area fell silent as Lainie Wilcox got up, shouting something about backstabbing. Then her counselor came over to calm her down and the two of them walked off together, Lainie still ranting.
“What was that all about?” Chelsea asked.
“Drama queens,” Brynn said, rolling her eyes. That made everyone laugh, since Brynn was the biggest drama queen they knew.
Priya glanced back at Natalie. The girl’s face was now as white as a marshmallow. Something told her that Nat knew exactly what that was all about.
Natalie waited on the front porch of bunk 5A the next morning while everyone else showered and got ready. Her pulse was racing so fast she could barely sit still, so instead she paced back and forth, the wooden boards creaking beneath her feet. She knew what she had to do, she just wished she wasn’t so nervous about it. The moment she saw Lainie and her friends walk by in the distance, she took a deep breath and told herself to just get it over with. She jogged down the steps and approached.
Lainie was flanked on one side by Liliko and Patty, and on the other side by Daniella and Trish. None of them even glanced at her when she arrived, even though Natalie could tell they knew she was there. She decided to ignore the other girls and get straight to the point, Alex style.
“Lainie, can I talk to you?”
Lainie said nothing. She didn’t even blink. Just kept walking straight ahead. Nat’s nervousness kicked it up a notch. She was glad she hadn’t eaten anything yet, because she was starting to feel ill.
“Fine, you don’t have to talk to me. Just listen,” Natalie said, practically jogging to keep up with their long strides. “I didn’t know his name was Christopher. All his friends call him Logan. But the second I found out he was the same guy, I told him I couldn’t talk to him anymore.”
Daniella let out a short laugh and Trish shot her a silencing look. Natalie rolled her eyes. She ran ahead and walked backward in front of Lainie. There was no way she could ignore Natalie when they were face-to-face.
“You have to believe me! We were just talking and I was telling him I couldn’t be around him anymore!”
“You’re such a little liar,” Patty said. “We saw him holding your hand.”
“Well, maybe he reached for my hand, but he wasn’t holding it!” Natalie protested.
Lainie upped her pace and stepped right around Natalie. Nat stopped in her tracks. She couldn’t believe this. Lainie wasn’t even trying to understand. She wasn’t even listening to her. What kind of person was she?
“I thought we were friends!” Natalie shouted, earning curious glances from a bunch of other campers on their way to the mess hall.
Lainie stopped and turned around. Natalie saw her chance.
“What happened to all that stuff about thinking alike and sharing the same brain and you wanting me to be in sixth division?” Natalie asked.
It took two steps for Lainie to get right in Natalie’s face. “Well, you’re not in sixth division, are you? And next time maybe I’ll think twice about trusting a fifth-division loser,” she said vehemently.
Natalie felt as if Lainie had just smacked her across the face. “Lainie—”
“No. Just listen,” Lainie said. “Christopher Logan is going to be mine. Thanks
to you, I finally got his attention,” she added smugly. “And he will be my boyfriend by the end of the summer.”
So Lainie had been using her. Just like Alex and Grace had warned her she would. The camp whirled around Natalie, a mess of colors and sounds and smells. She felt off balance, confused, and really, really stupid. It was like she was doing the obstacle course dizzy run all over again.
There’s always someone who ends up getting dumped by her. Used and then dumped, Alex had said. She does it all the time. Every summer.
“And if I see you anywhere near him again, you’re dead,” Lainie added.
“I can’t believe this,” Natalie said, finding her voice. “I can’t believe you’re really like this.”
“Well, believe it,” Lainie said, crossing her arms over her chest. She looked proud of herself, which just made Nat feel even more ill. “Now why don’t you go back to your little fifth-division buddies where you belong and leave . . . me . . . alone,” Lainie said through her teeth.
The other four girls behind her laughed and Lainie straightened up with a thin, mean smile. Then she turned and rejoined her friends, who all whispered together and then cracked up laughing again as they walked toward the mess hall.
chapter ELEVEN
Natalie sat on the edge of her bunk, her hands pressed into her sheets as she watched the rest of the Blue team whispering and gathering materials together from their cubbies and suitcases. The entire camp had been given a free period that morning to work on their Color War projects, and the Red team had taken off to work in the arts and crafts cabin, letting the Blue team have the bunk. With everything that had been going on, Natalie had only just realized that she had no idea what her team was doing for the arts and crafts competition. No one had bothered to tell her, but she also hadn’t bothered to ask. Her heart felt heavy as she watched them all laughing and conspiring as if she wasn’t even there. She felt totally invisible. Plus she was still upset over her argument with Lainie. How was it possible that so many people hated her all at once?
“Okay, I’ll run over to Adam’s cabin and see if they have anything we can use,” Alex said. “I’ll be right back.”
“We’ll be working on the porch,” Tori told her.
“Cool.” Alex jogged out the door and Tori, Gaby, Candace, and Grace all turned to follow, their arms full of clothes and shoes.
Natalie screwed up her courage and stood. “What’re you guys doing?”
There was just the slightest bit of hesitation in their steps, but then Tori shoved through the screen door. Candace and Grace, at least, managed to shoot Natalie apologetic glances before they went after her.
“Heard you had a big fight with Queen Lainie,” Gaby said. “Is that why you’re suddenly talking to us again?”
Then she turned and pushed the door open, letting it slam behind her before Natalie could even answer.
Natalie dropped back onto her bed and lay down. As much as she hated to admit it, Gaby had a point. Nat hadn’t made much of an effort to be a team-mate or a friend this past week. She knew that if Lainie hadn’t shot her down, she’d probably still be trying to find a way to go over there and hang out with sixth division. She’d really messed things up. The question was, how could she fix them?
The door creaked open and Candace slid into the cabin. Natalie sat up as Candace came right over and sat down at her feet. Natalie looked at her, surprised, and waited to see what was going to happen next.
“They’re pretty mad,” Candace whispered finally.
“I know. I can tell,” Natalie replied.
“I mean, I get it,” Candace said, picking at a piece of lint stuck to Nat’s sheet. “Everyone wants to hang out with the sixth-division girls, but you didn’t have to dump everyone else in the meantime.”
Natalie blinked, shocked. This was so not Candace.
“Why are you telling me this?” she asked.
“Because I hate when people are mad at one another,” Candace said, squirming slightly. “It makes me feel all gross.”
“So what do you think I can do?” Natalie whispered, scooting forward. “No one will talk to me.”
“I don’t know. I think you have to try to find a way to show Tori and them that you still care about the team. And about them,” Candace said. “If they won’t listen, then do something.”
“Like what?” Natalie asked.
“Well, maybe you can get involved with the project?” Candace suggested.
“But I just asked what you guys were doing and Tori wouldn’t even answer me,” Natalie replied, feeling pathetic.
“We’re doing a fashion show,” Candace told her.
“A fashion show?” Natalie repeated. What a cool idea! And something she would totally love to help with. If only they’d let her. “What can I do to help?”
“I don’t know. Maybe ask Tori?” Candace said.
Natalie clucked her tongue. “But she won’t talk to me. You saw her.”
“Then maybe show her how much you want to help,” Candace said, getting up. “I don’t know. I can’t think of everything. But I hope you can come up with something, because this whole thing is making me way too tense.”
She turned and started for the bathroom. Natalie’s brain was already working, trying to figure out what she could do to make Tori and the others see how sorry she was. How could she use this new information? Information she wouldn’t even have if it weren’t for the person who was usually the quietest and least informative of the bunch.
“Candace?” she said.
Candace paused at the door to the bathroom and looked back.
“Thanks. You’re a good friend,” Natalie said.
Candace grinned from ear to ear. “No problem.”
“What are we going to do?” Grace said, slumping back against the outer wall of bunk 5A. “We’ve got it all down except this one.”
“Maybe we should just cut it out,” Alex suggested. “I think we have enough outfits without it.”
“No! We can’t cut it out,” Tori protested, digging through the spare clothing they had left in their pile. “It’s what inspired me to do this in the first place. There has to be something we can use.”
Suddenly the screen door was kicked open and everyone jumped. Tori’s hand flew to her heart in surprise as Natalie stepped out of the cabin. At least, she thought it was Natalie. All she could see was a pair of skinny legs sticking out beneath a huge mound of clothing.
“Uh, is that Nat or the infamous fashion monster of Fifth Avenue?” Grace joked.
Tori gave her a sour look and Grace glanced down at the porch. Had Grace forgotten that Natalie was a traitor around here?
“No. It’s me,” Natalie said. She stepped forward, peeking around her pile of clothing so that she wouldn’t crush anyone’s hands beneath her feet, then dropped the whole mess in the center of the circle. A sweater fell over Gaby’s head and Nat whipped it off, throwing it back on the mound. “I want you guys to have all this.”
Tori’s eyes widened and instantly she was thinking about all the cool stuff they could do with Natalie’s vast wardrobe at their disposal. But she quickly pushed the thought aside.
“What makes you think we need your clothes?” she said.
“I know you’re doing a fashion show,” Natalie said, glancing at Candace, whose face got all blotchy. “I . . . overheard you talking.”
“Yeah?” Tori said.
“Well, I don’t know how you’re making it represent Camp Lakeview or whatever, but if my clothes will help, you can have all of them,” Natalie said.
“You’re kidding,” Alex said, her eyes wide. “Your clothes are your favorite thing.”
“I know, but for you guys, I’ll give them up,” Natalie said. She looked Tori in the eye. “I know I’ve been a jerk for the past few days, but now I’ve remembered who my real friends are. You guys. All of you. And for that I will sacrifice my wardrobe,” she said, holding her hands out.
Tori felt a little tickle in
her heart as Natalie stared at her. She knew how important Natalie’s clothes were to her. It had to take a lot for her to make a gesture like this.
“Wow,” Grace said with a whistle. “That’s major.”
Everyone laughed. Even Tori and Natalie. But still, Tori couldn’t entirely wipe the last week from her mind. All the times Natalie should have been there and wasn’t. All week, Tori had felt hurt and let down by the person who was supposed to be her best friend. It wasn’t that easy to forget.
“Now will you please, please let me help?” Natalie asked, clasping her hands together. “I told you I would be there for you, Tori, and I wasn’t. Please let me make it up to you now.”
Everyone looked at Tori. She could tell that they were all hoping she would put an end to this already. It was up to her to smooth it over and make sure they were all friends again. She looked at Natalie, who raised her eyebrows pleadingly, looking like a lost puppy dog. For some reason, that thought made Tori smile.
“Okay, fine,” she said finally. “You can help.”
The whole Blue team cheered.
“Yay! Thank you! Thank you so much! I swear I’ll never do anything like this again,” Natalie said.
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get back to work already,” Gaby said. “Sit your butt down.”
Natalie laughed, and Grace and Candace moved apart so that Natalie could join the circle. Then Tori leaned over the pile of fresh clothes and glanced around to make sure there were no Red team spies lingering near the porch. The coast was clear.
“Now, let me tell you what we’re planning to do . . .”
chapter TWELVE
“Wow. You guys did a really incredible job,” Priya’s friend Spence said, admiring the diorama Priya’s team had constructed for the arts and crafts event. It was a miniature replica of the camp in 3-D, but thanks to Alyssa’s huge paint set, the lake was psychedelic pink, the trees were purple, the grass was aqua, the sand was green, and the cabins were yellow. All to represent the originality of the camp. “It’s so cool. Who came up with these colors?”
Camp Confidential 16: Golden Girls Page 9
