Camp Confidential 16: Golden Girls

by Melissa J Morgan

  “That would be Alyssa,” Priya said, as Alyssa gave a playful bow.

  “Well, you’ve made the Red team proud, Alyssa,” Spence said with a grin. “All we’ve got over there is a Camp Lakeview sign made out of Popsicle sticks.”

  The girls all stood on their toes to catch a glimpse of Spence’s team’s project a few tables down. All the different divisions and teams had been given a table in the mess hall on which to display their work. The judges circulated the room, jotting down scores on their clipboards as they went along, and most of the campers were checking out other people’s projects. The various teams had created everything from posters to sculptures to mobiles and maps. Compared to all the other projects, Spence’s team’s work did look rather childish, and not at all stable. Sometimes the guys in the fifth division didn’t seem to take anything seriously, unless it was sports.

  “It’s . . . original,” Priya said, trying to be nice. After all, she’d had a crush on Spence all summer. She couldn’t tell him to his adorable face that there was no way his project was going to win.

  “And it definitely captures the spirit of camp,” Gaby put in. “They’re always getting us to make stuff out of Popsicle sticks. We even used some in our project.” She pointed out the cabins, which were made out of painted Popsicle sticks.

  Spence laughed. “Thanks for trying, you guys, but we all know it stinks.”

  He glanced over his shoulder as Dr. Steve approached with two counselors. “Uh-oh. Judges coming. Better go. Good luck, you guys! Not that you’ll need it,” he said, glancing at the empty table next to Priya’s. “Where is the Blue team, anyway?”

  “No one knows,” Brynn said. “Maybe they bailed because they knew how very awesome our project was going to be.”

  “Yeah. They couldn’t deal with us rubbing it in their faces,” Jenna said with a crazy, devilish laugh.

  Spence’s eyes went wide. “Wow. I’m glad I’m on your side,” he said before walking off.

  “Jenna, maybe you should tone it down a little,” Alyssa said under her breath. “You’re starting to scare people.”

  “Starting?” Chelsea put in with an eye roll.

  “Fifth-division girls Red team!” Dr. Steve announced as his troupe of judges stepped up to their table. He held up his clipboard so that they couldn’t see what he’d written down so far. “What have you got for us?”

  “It’s a diorama of Camp Lakeview,” Priya said proudly.

  “My! How lovely!” Helene exclaimed, leaning toward the delicate structure. Helene was the ceramics instructor at Camp Lakeview and everyone knew she appreciated a wild color scheme. All she ever wore were batik-print shirts and flowing pants in crazy arrays.

  Jeremy, the woodworking instructor, pushed his glasses higher up on his nose. “Interesting construction,” he said. “What materials did you use?”

  “Mostly construction paper, paint, and balsa wood,” Alyssa piped in. “But there were some Popsicle sticks involved as well,” she added with a smile.

  “Balsa? Very delicate. This must have been difficult to put together,” Jeremy said with a smile. “Well done, ladies.”

  He made a few notes on his clipboard and Jenna craned her neck, trying to see.

  “Yes. Very well done. Very well done,” Dr. Steve said, making a few marks himself. “Extra points for originality, girls.”

  Priya beamed and grabbed Alyssa’s hand for a squeeze.

  “Now on to fifth-division girls Blue team,” Dr. Steve announced, turning to the next table. He stopped short when he saw that it was totally empty except for the blue handwritten sign that said FIFTH DIVISION GIRLS. “Where’s the rest of your division, girls?” he asked Priya and the others.

  Priya’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. She had no clue where her friends had gone off to. But at that moment, the door to the mess hall was flung open and Tori ran in. Her face was red and beads of sweat dotted her hairline. She raced to her table and stood there, out of breath. Instantly Priya’s heart went out to Tori. Clearly, she had nothing. Her hands were empty and she was gasping for breath in a panic. The last thing Priya wanted was for Tori and her team to be humiliated all over again.

  “Blue team? Where is your project?” Dr. Steve asked. Helene eyed Tori as if the girl might spontaneously combust.

  Tori took a deep breath. “If you’ll follow me, Dr. Steve. Our presentation was a little big for the room, so we’ve set it up just outside.”

  A hush fell across the room, and Priya gave Jenna an ominous shrug.

  “This should be interesting,” Chelsea said under her breath.

  “This had better not be some kind of prank, young lady,” Dr. Steve said, narrowing his eyes. “Your division does have a reputation for that type of thing,” he added, glancing at Jenna.

  “It’s not. I promise,” Tori assured him. “I just really need you to come outside.”

  Dr. Steve picked up his megaphone, which dangled from a strap over his shoulder, and flipped it on. “All right then, everyone! Fifth-division girls Blue team has a special presentation for us outside. So let’s all head out in an orderly fashion, please!”

  Priya, surprised and excited, was the first one out the door.

  Natalie, Tori, Gaby, Alex, and Candace all huddled together behind one of the bigger oaks—their “staging area”—as Grace strutted down their makeshift runway, which was really just two lines drawn in the dirt outside the mess hall. The whole camp had gathered along the sides of the runway, and they cheered as Grace—dressed in a Harvard sweatshirt, Candace’s reading glasses, and a pair of pencils above her ears—struck a pose, then turned around and started walking back. With hair just as wild as Dana the newspaper counselor’s, the two could have been twins.

  Next was Alex, who went out there dressed up as Jeremy, in one of Adam’s plaid shirts and a pair of thick sunglasses with the lenses popped out. Then Gaby mimicked Pete the cook’s loping walk perfectly in a tie-dyed T-shirt and baggy jeans. And Candace totally pulled off Helene, wearing a batik T-shirt she had made in arts and crafts the year before. The camp was loving every minute of it.

  “Okay, Nat! You’re up!” Tori said.

  “Here goes nothing,” Natalie said.

  She high-fived Candace as her friend returned to the staging area, and stepped out onto the runway. She wore a pair of old hospital scrubs she’d been using as pajama bottoms ever since they became trendy back in fifth grade. Her mother had gotten them from a doctor friend of hers and given them to Natalie as part of her birthday gift that year, and even though they were no longer trendy, Nat couldn’t give them up. They were just too comfortable. Over them she wore a huge V-neck T-shirt of Gaby’s that was roughly the same color, and her hair was back in a messy bun. Around her neck she wore a stethoscope made out of—what else—Popsicle sticks and a spool of thread.

  Everyone applauded and Nurse Carrie blushed as Natalie walked by. Nat was grinning like crazy as she struck a pose at the far end of the runway. This was really working. Tori’s idea had turned out incredibly well. She was just about to turn around and strut back to her friends when her eyes fell on Christopher in the crowd. Christopher talking to Lainie, to be exact. Natalie’s heart dropped into her white Keds.

  Lainie laughed and touched Christopher’s chest, and he laughed as well. For a long, long moment, Natalie couldn’t move. He didn’t like Lainie, huh? Didn’t think she was pretty, did he? Well it didn’t look like that to her.

  “Natalie! What are you doing? Come back!” Tori whisper-yelled from their staging area at the other end of the runway.

  Finally, Natalie snapped to. She turned around, plastered the smile back on her face, and walked back over to her friends. She was not going to let Lainie and Christopher mess this up, too. She owed it to Tori to get it right.

  Back at the oak tree, Natalie squeezed Tori’s hand and Tori walked out for the big finale. She was dressed up as Dr. Steve. Natalie and her friends had spent most of the morning cutting up Natalie’s red T-s
hirt and Alex’s blue one, then sewing the halves together to make Dr. Steve’s Color War wardrobe. They had done the same with Grace’s red New Jersey Devils shorts (which she swore her mother was going to kill her for) and Natalie’s blue Ralph Lauren sport shorts, and then colored in Tori’s white sneakers with paint and markers to make them blue and red. Tori had shoved her hair up under a Camp Lakeview cap to complete the look. As she walked down the runway now, she completely looked the part, and the camp erupted with laughter. Tori blew her whistle and lifted her clipboard, both of which she’d stolen from Belle’s room.

  “Color War is a grand tradition, people!” she shouted, lowering her voice an octave. “A grand tradition! And I expect you to take it seriously!”

  She walked the rest of the runway to wild applause, then came back and pulled all her friends out from behind their tree to take a bow. As Natalie clasped Tori’s hand and took in all the laughing, cheering faces, she completely forgot about Lainie and Christopher and the sixth-division girls. All that mattered was Tori’s grin and the squeeze of her hand. Everything was back to the way it should be.

  “Can I have your attention, please?” Tori called out, her heart pounding a mile a minute. She was so nervous and excited at the same time, she didn’t know which way was up. The crowd noise died down, and she stepped into the middle of the runway, facing the judges, all of whom were front and center.

  “We know this was not a traditional arts and crafts presentation, but it was a little like theater, which falls into the arts. Plus we used all the skills we learned helping put together costumes for the camp productions over the years, so that falls into crafts. We hope you agree, because this was all we ever really wanted to do. When we thought about Camp Lakeview and how to best represent it, we realized that it wasn’t about the lake or the cabins or any of that stuff. While we love all of it, we know that what really makes Camp Lakeview the special place it is are the people.”

  At this, the entire camp roared their approval. Tori was so taken by surprise, she almost tripped backward at the noise, but instead, she laughed.

  “Well, hopefully you’ll take that into consideration when you’re deciding our scores,” Tori said to Dr. Steve and the other judges, earning a laugh from the crowd. “Thank you.”

  As she ventured back to her friends, she got another round of applause and was so giddy she couldn’t keep herself from jumping up and down as she hugged them.

  “You did an incredible job, Tori,” Alex said. “They all loved it.”

  “We did an incredible job,” Tori corrected.

  “Looks like we’re about to find out if the powers that be think so, too,” Natalie said, nodding past Tori.

  Heart in her throat, Tori turned around to face the judges. Dr. Steve, Helene, and Jeremy paused in front of Tori, with Belle hovering just behind, clearly anxious to hear what the judges thought. Dr. Steve looked Tori up and down, one eyebrow raised.

  “Interesting ensemble you have there, Tori,” he commented.

  Tori swallowed hard. “Well, you are a fashion icon, Dr. Steve,” she said with a straight face.

  He smirked. “I just wanted to tell you your scores personally,” he told her. “We’ve consulted on it and we’ve all decided to give you full marks.”

  Tori felt all the breath go right out of her. “What?”

  “That’s right. Ten points for execution, ten for creativity, and certainly ten for representation of Camp Lakeview,” Helene said with a grin.

  “Oh my gosh!” Tori cried as all her friends squealed and hugged. “Thank you so much!”

  “No, thank you,” Dr. Steve said. “That was the most I’ve been entertained around here in years.”

  Dr. Steve winked at the girls, then walked away with the other judges trailing behind him. Tori turned around and fell right into the group hug that awaited her.

  “See? I told you you could do it,” Belle said, joining them. Her black hair was back in a red headband and she wore her red T-shirt, as she had all week, but she had yet to betray any allegiance to one side or the other. “You played to your strengths—creativity, showmanship, and fashion—and you totally knocked them dead.”

  “Thanks, Belle,” Tori said, beaming. “Your advice really helped.”

  “Well, good,” Belle said. And then her face completely fell and she thrust her hand out. “Now give me back my clipboard and whistle.”

  Tori gulped and handed Belle’s things back to her. Uh-oh. Was she about to get in trouble for stealing? That would definitely put a damper on an otherwise perfect day. But Belle merely shook her head at them, then turned around and walked away, her prized clipboard tucked firmly under her arm.

  “Phew. That was close. I thought her head was going to explode,” Grace said.

  “I gotta change out of these jeans before they fall off,” Gaby said.

  “Maybe we should go back to the bunk and celebrate,” Alex suggested.

  “Yeah! Let’s celebrate!” Candace agreed.

  “I’m down with that,” Tori agreed, turning for the pathway to the bunks.

  “Nice work, Captain Tori,” Natalie said, slinging her arm over Tori’s shoulders as they walked.

  Tori grinned at her friend, totally happy and relaxed for the first time in days. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

  chapter THIRTEEN

  “I can’t believe they caught up to us in points,” Jenna grumbled to Priya as they moved toward the end of the ice cream sundae buffet. “How could they have caught up to us?”

  Priya added some chocolate syrup to her bowl, which was already piled with chocolate ice cream and sprinkles. Nothing like a make-your-own-sundae buffet to help a girl forget losing an important Color War event.

  “Here. Drown your sorrows in sugar,” Priya told Jenna, handing her the bottle.

  Jenna sighed hugely, then proceeded to dump about two cups of chocolate syrup all over her already huge sundae. Priya laughed and grabbed a spoon, then headed back to their usual table in the mess hall. Jenna, Chelsea, Alyssa, Brynn, and Valerie all trailed behind her. Tori and the rest of the Blue team were already seated at one end of the table, laughing and chowing down on their sundaes. Meanwhile, all the chairs at the other end of the table were empty.

  “Hey, guys,” Priya said, stopping next to Tori and Nat, who sat across from each other at the end. “I just wanted to tell you that the fashion show was incredible. You totally deserved to win.”

  “Thanks,” Tori said with a smile.

  “Hey!” Chelsea said. “No complimenting the enemy.”

  “Why not? If they deserve it,” Alyssa said diplomatically.

  “Your diorama was beautiful, too, Alyssa,” Natalie said.

  “Thanks. We liked it,” Jenna said with a sniff.

  “So, I was thinking . . . do you guys mind if I sit down here?” Priya said, gesturing at the Blue end of the table.

  For a second, no one said anything, but Chelsea scoffed. All week long, the table had been divided into a Red side and a Blue side.

  “Not at all,” Tori said. She looked at Alex, who was next to her. “Do you mind scooting down?”

  “No problem,” Alex said with a grin.

  She, Grace, and Tori each slid down one chair, and Priya took the seat vacated by Tori. “I feel like I haven’t talked to you guys in ages.”

  “Tell me about it,” Valerie said. Candace and Gaby moved over to make room for Val as well. “What’s up with you guys?”

  “Well, we caught up to you in points,” Gaby said, all superior.

  “Yeah, we heard that already,” Brynn told her, dropping down next to Grace.

  “Wait, wait, wait!” Jenna announced. She placed her sundae bowl on the table and threw up her hands. “Are we really doing this? Are we really socializing with the enemy?”

  Priya looked up at her. “YES!” she said in unison with a bunch of other girls.

  Jenna stared at them all for a moment, then shrugged. “Okay. Just checking.” Then she p
ulled a chair over from another table and sat at the head of the table.

  Soon everyone was mixed in together, Red-Blue-Red-Blue, laughing and chatting. Priya beamed at her friends. Maybe Color War would have to continue later at the singdown, but for now, it was nice to see everyone back together again.

  “You guys ready to sing?” Grace asked Tori and Natalie, throwing her arms around their necks from behind as they walked to the lake. “Maybe we should do some scales. Do . . . re . . . mi . . . fa!”

  Her voice cracked and Natalie winced. “Maybe you should save it for the singdown,” she said, patting her friend on the back.

  Grace touched her throat and swallowed. “That kind of hurt.”

  Natalie laughed and glanced over her shoulder at Lainie and the other sixth-division girls, who were walking a few yards behind them. Lainie stared her down and Natalie’s heart clenched, but instead of quickly glancing away, she lifted her hand in a wave. Let Lainie know she wasn’t affected by her attitude. Lainie looked surprised for a brief moment, then rolled her eyes.

  “So, captain, what’s our first song gonna be?” Natalie asked Tori.

  Suddenly Christopher Logan fell into step with them, all smiles. Natalie’s heart started pounding so hard, she was sure her friends could hear it. If Lainie was watching this, which Natalie was pretty sure she was, then Nat was dead.

  “Hey, Lee,” Christopher said.

  Ugh! Why did his hair have to fall over his forehead so adorably?

  “Lee?” Tori said, her eyebrows raised.

  “Long story,” Natalie mumbled.

  “Can I talk to you for a second?” Christopher asked. “I’d pull you into the trees, but that didn’t work out so well last time.”

  “Last time?” Grace said.

  “Uh, I’ll explain it all to you guys later,” Natalie said, pulling Christopher off to the side before he could say anything else. Grace and Tori stopped for a second to gape at them, but finally kept walking. “What do you want?” Natalie asked Christopher flatly. Lainie and her friends stormed past, giving Natalie so many death glares she was surprised she didn’t just stop breathing right then and there.