Table of Contents
Copyright Page
Title Page
chapter ONE
chapter TWO
chapter THREE
chapter FOUR
chapter FIVE
chapter SIX
chapter EVEN
chapter EIGHT
chapter NINE
chapter TEN
chapter ELEVEN
Teaser chapter
GROSSET & DUNLAP
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Copyright © 2005 by Grosset & Dunlap. All rights reserved. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. S.A.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Morgan, Melissa J.
TTYL / by Melissa J. Morgan.
p. cm.—(Camp confidential ; 5)
Summary: Having left summer camp to return home and start 6th grade at
their respective schools, the girls from bunk 3C use a blog to keep one another
informed of their struggles adjusting to school and to new situations at home.
eISBN : 978-1-101-04090-4
[1. Friendship—Fiction. 2. Weblogs—Fiction. 3. Middle schools—Fiction.
4. Schools—Fiction.] I. Title. II. Series.
PZ7.M82545Tty 2005 [Fic]—dc22 2005012724
http://us.penguingroup.com
chapter ONE
Natalie> SATURDAY
Natalie couldn’t believe how excited she was to see Hannah. It had only been a couple of months since Hannah had jetted off to Europe and Natalie had boarded the bus to Camp Lakeview, but it felt like a lifetime—and so much had happened in Nat’s life that she knew a huge catching-up session was in order. So the obvious thing to do the second she got home from camp? Call Hannah, and invite her to go shopping the next day! Natalie was beyond thrilled to be back in New York City, where no one considered denim cut-offs and a tank top to be the height of fashion.
She’d brought tons of cute summer outfits to camp, but had never worn any of them, except to the campwide social events. And school was going to start on Tuesday—the day after Labor Day, she’d officially be in middle school—so she definitely needed new fall clothes. Plus, Hannah had told her about a school social for all incoming sixth-graders on the first Friday back—just one more reason to get a cute new outfit.
Natalie was talking to Jenna online when she heard the door buzzer ring at the Upper West Side apartment where she lived with her mom. She was practically out of the study before she remembered to say good-bye to Jenna, and then she ran down the hallway to the living room, superexcited to see her best friend.
Hannah, wearing a little purple miniskirt and a black top, was standing in the foyer talking to Natalie’s mom, who was still in her pajamas even though it was after noon. For the umpteenth time, Nat was reminded of how great it was to be back—she and her mom had brunched on bagels and veggie cream cheese, watched a couple of cartoons, and just taken it easy for the morning. It had been so long since Natalie had slept past seven that her body automatically woke her up—but she’d ignored the internal alarm, rolled over, and promptly fell back asleep.
“Hannah!” Natalie shrieked.
“Natalie!” Hannah screamed. The two girls leapt at each other, hugging ferociously. “Oh my God, it is so good to see you, Nat!” Hannah said. “I thought this day would never come!”
Natalie laughed. “So melodramatic,” she said, teasingly. “Some things never change. I’m thrilled to see you, too! But I gotta tell you, seeing your adorable skirt—I’m pretty anxious to get out and get shopping!”
Natalie’s mom laughed. “That’s my girl.” She crossed the living room and picked up her purse from the red easy chair, which was Natalie’s favorite place in the house to curl up and read a magazine. Drawing out her wallet from the bag, she looked up at Natalie. “Be responsible, Nat,” she said, handing over a credit card. “You know the back-to-school budget. Try everything on before you buy it, and make sure that you love everything you get.”
Natalie rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Oh, I will, Mom . . .“ she said. As she and Hannah went out the door, she leaned back in. “Aren’t I always responsible?” she asked.
Her mom laughed, and Nat closed the door. She and Hannah headed to the elevators. “I swear,” Natalie said, “I’ve forgotten how to use an elevator—I couldn’t remember what floor we lived on when I first got home!”
“But I’m sure you didn’t forget about takeout, right?” Hannah teased. “What was the first thing you ordered?”
“Spicy tuna roll . . . mmm . . ” Natalie said, closing her eyes at the memory. “Edamame . . . miso . . . red-bean ice cream . . .”
“Snap out of it, sushi princess,” Hannah said. The green light above one of the elevators blinked. “You remember how to get to the lobby?”
Natalie only smiled in response.
In the lobby, Mr. Bartok, one of the regular door-man in Natalie’s building, held the door and tipped his hat as the two girls sauntered out to the street. “Good-b
ye, ladies,” he said. Winking at Natalie, he added, “Good to have you back!”
“Thanks, Mr. Bartok,” Natalie replied. “Have a great day!” On the sidewalk, she looked at Hannah. “Uptown, or down?”
“Oh, you’ve been gone longer than I have,” Hannah responded, shielding her eyes with her hand and looking up and down the street. “You choose.”
“Hannah, you’ve only been back for a week!”
“I know, but you’d be surprised how much damage I can do in a week.”
Natalie laughed. “Good point. Okay, let’s just head south. It’s gorgeous out—want to walk?”
“Sure,” Hannah said. They walked in silence for a few minutes, and Natalie looked up at all the buildings. She had forgotten how tall everything was after spending a summer in a place where the highest things around were trees. All around her there were crowds of people pushing and walking and biking and driving. At camp there had been lots of campers, but nothing like this.
Hannah looked over at her. “So I ran into Kyle the other day,” she said, breaking the silence. “At the Boathouse in Central Park—he was there with his older brother.”
“Really?” Natalie said. “He never wrote to me this summer like he said he was going to.”
“Yeah, I know. He told me he left the address at school on the last day and couldn’t get anyone to let him in to get it. He looked really miserable about it.” Hannah stopped before crossing the street, and looked at Natalie playfully. “Remember how to tell if you can cross?” she teased.
Natalie was quiet for a moment. “So . . . what else did he say about me?”
“Nothing. I told him when you were coming back and that was basically it, because his brother came over and they left.”
“Oh.” Natalie thought for a minute. “So . . . do you think he’s still interested?”
“I don’t know, Nat,” Hannah said—almost sharply, Natalie thought. “Probably.”
“Well, the thing is, I met this other guy this summer—you know, I told you about him, Simon—and I really like him—we were basically inseparable. But—”
“Hey,” Hannah interrupted, stopping in front of a boutique with cute outfits in the window. “Let’s go in here.”
“Okay,” Natalie said. “So, what do you think—”
“Wow, back-to-school sale!” Hannah said.
Okay, Natalie thought. She’s totally ignoring me—or am I imagining it? She knew Hannah could be shy, and it might just be weird for her to see Natalie again after so long. She shrugged off the feeling and headed toward the sale racks in the back of the store, where Hannah had already pulled an amazing blue sweater down and was checking the size. “Hannah, that’s fantastic,” Natalie said, trying to push her worries aside. “You’ve got to get it!” Hannah slipped the sweater over her head. Even though it didn’t match her miniskirt, the sweater looked great on her.
“Yes, you’re gorgeous, but does it come in my size?” Natalie asked, and Hannah laughed. It was just like old times. Natalie relaxed and started digging through the rack.
After a few hours of shopping, Natalie’s feet started to hurt, and she could definitely sense the beginnings of a killer sunburn. It hadn’t occurred to her to put on sunscreen for a day of shopping, but they’d been doing a lot of walking outside, and her shoulders were red and felt warm. “Frappuccino break?” she suggested. They were near the south end of Central Park, and she knew that there was a coffee shop just on the other side of the street. “We could go sit in the park and talk. I feel a serious need to give you the full 411 on Simon!”
“I’m actually kind of hungry,” Hannah said. She put down her bags on the sidewalk and reached into her pocket, pulling out her cell phone. “Wow, it’s almost six already! I should probably get home.”
“I can’t believe it’s so late!” Natalie replied. “Why don’t you come to my place? We’ll order in and put aloe on our shoulders. My dad sent me a package of DVDs over the summer that I haven’t watched. What do you say? We’re way overdue for a gossip session!”
Hannah bit her lip and picked up her shopping bags. “I don’t know, Nat. My mom said she wanted me to help with the food shopping, and I promised I wouldn’t be gone too long . . .“ She trailed off and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. ”I’d really better go; I’m going to go catch the subway. I’ll see you later, though—Tuesday for sure! Bye!” Without another word, Hannah headed down the street toward the uptown subway station.
“Don’t you want to split a cab?” Nat called after her, but Hannah didn’t turn around. Natalie walked to the corner and raised her hand to hail a taxi. Weird, she thought. Not like Hannah to pass up movies and takeout. A yellow cab pulled up next to her and she got in. Whatever. She’s probably just tired, she decided. “I’m going to Seventy-ninth and West End,” she told the cab driver. The meter clicked on, and she sat back against the cool, smooth seats, enjoying the air-conditioning. It was good to be back in New York—but it was strange; she had thought seeing Hannah would be more fun.
I’m being crazy, she decided. All that fresh air went to my brain. It’s the only explanation. Right?
Jenna> SATURDAY
Jenna looked over at her brother, who was lying on the couch in their dad’s basement, reading some new comic that he had brought along for the weekend. She sighed loudly, and when he didn’t look up or comment, she sighed again, louder this time. Finally, Adam looked up. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked, sounding annoyed.
“I’m so bored, Ad,” Jenna replied, hoping her voice sounded as pitiful as she felt. She could not believe that she was stuck at her dad’s new place on her first Saturday night back from camp—in a town where she didn’t know anyone but her two brothers and her sister, and where there was absolutely nothing to do.
The night before hadn’t been bad; it had been two months since the four kids had been all together, and it was great to see their dad. They had stayed up really late (later than their mom ever would have let them) and watched talk shows and the late movie and told their dad all about camp. And then they’d slept in the next morning, which had been great after getting up at the crack of dawn all summer. But then as Saturday had rolled on, Jenna found herself wanting to die from boredom.
“Why don’t you watch TV?” Adam suggested. He rolled over onto his stomach and looked back down at his comic book.
Jenna sighed for a third time. “Adam, you know Dad doesn’t have the cable hooked up yet.”
“So? Watch network,” Adam said. “You’ve been at camp. Just pretend you’re still roughing it.”
“It’s Saturday night!” Jenna cried. “There’s nothing on network. Nothing. Maybe, like, some Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. Anyway, I don’t feel like watching TV. We’ve been staring at that screen all day.” She knew she had a point there. After breakfast, their dad had insisted on taking them to Blockbuster, where they’d rented more movies than they could ever watch in a weekend. Even a weekend in a boring town where they didn’t know anyone and where there wasn’t anything to do.
The five of them had watched one movie, but then Steph and Matt had escaped to the mall, and Dad had gone upstairs to do some more unpacking and decorating.
That had been seven hours ago. Jenna and Adam hadn’t left the basement since. They’d watched another movie, checked out every single website they knew, and finally, Adam had retreated to the couch with his comic book. At around one, their dad had brought down a piping hot pizza he’d ordered, plus a two-liter bottle of soda. They weren’t in the mood for pizza because their mom had taken them out for pizza the night before, but they didn’t want to hurt their dad’s feelings. So they ate and talked for half an hour or so, and then interminable boredom had set in when their dad went upstairs to clean. Three hours later, they had completely run out of things to do.
Just thinking about how bored she was made Jenna feel worse. “Adddaaaaam,” Jenna whined. “Can’t we, like, play cards or something?”
Adam looked over
his comic at her. “If Dad has cards, they’re not unpacked,” he said. “We’ve ransacked this place. Come on, just check your e-mail or something.”
“I already did. When did Steph and Matt say they were coming home? Maybe they’ll take us out.”
Adam snorted. “To where, pizza and a movie?”
Jenna flopped onto the floor. “And I’m supposed to be the joker,” she said. She sighed. “Even just driving around would be better than this.”
Just then, a car pulled up. Jumping up and clapping her hands together, Jenna shouted, “Thank God! They’re back!” Adam didn’t respond but just rolled back over onto his back.
Jenna ran up the stairs two at a time. “Steph! Matt!” she called excitedly. “Do you guys want to—” When she reached the living room, she stopped. The door was wide open, but looming inside the entrance was a guy who was definitely not one of her siblings. It was a delivery guy, with a bag overflowing with Chinese takeout in one hand and a two-liter bottle of soda in a plastic bag in the other.
“Look, Jen!” her dad said, beaming. “I ordered us takeout!” He handed some folded cash to the delivery guy, who shoved the money in his pocket, turned, and left. Jenna’s dad swung the door closed and carried the food into the kitchen. Jenna followed and sank into a kitchen chair while her dad opened cabinets, taking down plates and glasses.
“And,” her dad said, looking excited, “open up the freezer! There’s a surprise in there, too!”
Jenna sighed and got up. When she opened the freezer, she gasped—it was absolutely chock-full of tons of different flavors of ice cream! Her dad laughed out loud. “I figured you probably didn’t get much ice cream at camp,” he said. “So I thought I’d make up for it.”
“Wow, Dad,” Jenna said slowly. “You certainly did.” She sat back down at the table. “But . . . I mean, we did have takeout for lunch,” she went on. “And we went out for dinner last night. Mom took us.” Her dad put the plates down on the table, and then slipped into a chair, looking dejected. She could tell she’d hurt her dad’s feelings, even though she hadn’t meant to. “But this smells delicious,” Jenna said quickly, trying to make him feel better. She opened a box and dumped a pile of lo mein onto her plate, then picked up chopsticks and dug in. “Seriously, it’s great,” she said, slurping up a noodle.
Camp Confidential 05 - TTYL Page 1
