Best (Boy)friend

by Melissa J Morgan

  Valerie nudged Priya. “Huh?” Priya asked.

  “Scott was asking you something about fantasy football,” Val said. “I know fantasy football doesn’t involve leprechauns, but that’s about the extent of my knowledge, so I can’t answer for you.”

  “Sorry, sorry,” Priya said. How many times was she going to have to apologize tonight? “What did you say?”

  “I was asking what you thought of Eric Johnson for tight end,” Scott said.

  Priya shook her head. “You gamble on him, you better have backup. The guy gets injured climbing out of bed.”

  “Who do you like for backup?” Scott asked, leaning across Valerie. “It’s looking like for Week 1 my options are going to be Courtney Anderson, Jeb Putzier, or Stephen Alexander.”

  “I’d go with Anderson.” Priya pushed her hair away from her face, and felt a little glitter come off on her fingers. “He’s big and has good hands. Plus, he’s seasoned. The guy has no excuses for not producing.”

  “Cool. Thanks. I like that gold stuff in your hair,” he added, before he leaned back.

  “You are such boy bait tonight,” Val whispered in Priya’s ear. “Tomboy on the inside, glamstress on the outside.”

  “Hey, Priya,” Marc said from across the table. “You know how we’re having those swing dance lessons and that competition after dinner?”

  “Uh-huh,” she answered. Wait. Was that Brynn laughing? Again?

  “Well, I wanted to know if you wanted to team up with me?” Marc asked.

  Valerie grinned at Priya. “See, that’s what I’m sayin’.”

  That is Brynn laughing, Priya decided.

  Marc twisted his napkin into a ball. “So do you want to do the dance thing with me?”

  Val nudged Priya again.

  Priya blinked. “Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun,” she told Marc.

  Like anything tonight is going to be fun, that horrible voice in her head commented.

  Priya grinned at Marc as she rocked back on her left foot. She wanted to look like she was having fun. Because Jordan and Brynn were only a few feet away. And they really were having fun. And she didn’t want them to think she wasn’t. Not that either of them was looking at her or anything.

  “One-and-two, three-and-four, five, six,” Marc muttered, staring down at his feet. His hand was sweaty in hers. The guy was trying so hard. He was so serious about it all.

  “Maybe stop counting,” Priya suggested. “Just listen to the music. It basically counts for you.”

  “But the teachers—one-and-two—said to—three-and-four—count—five, six,” Marc said, still looking at his feet.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Priya saw Jordan and Brynn do the cuddle step, where they ended up side by side instead of facing each other. Priya wanted to try that! But she and Marc so weren’t there yet.

  “I know, I know,” Priya answered. “It’s just that sometimes concentrating too hard can mess you up. That’s happened to me in basketball. If I have everything the coach has told me running through my head when I’m trying to play, it can make me freeze up.”

  Marc nodded, but he kept on counting.

  “At least try looking away from your feet,” Priya suggested. “The teachers said not to look at our feet.”

  That got him. Marc immediately lifted his eyes—and stepped on Priya’s toe. “Why don’t we take a break? Hydrate,” Priya said. She led the way to the drinks, which meant passing right by the Happiest Couple Ever.

  Brynn whooped as Jordan swung her up to his left side, then his right. They kept on dancing without missing a beat. Or counting.

  Why can’t I be dancing with Jordan? she thought.

  chapter NINE

  “Okay, fifteen minute break, kitty-cats,” one of the dance instructors called when the music stopped. “Then it’s back here for the big dance-off. We have some cool prizes, so be ready to show your stuff.”

  Priya and Marc clapped along with the rest of the group. Then Priya noticed Brynn heading for the bathroom. And Jordan heading for the deck. They were going to be apart for the first time that night.

  “I need to hit the ladies’ room,” Priya told Marc. “Meet you back here for the contest.” She rushed after Jordan without waiting for an answer. But she hesitated when she stepped out onto the deck and saw Jordan leaning on the rail. What was she supposed to say? Was it okay to just go over there? She stood there for a few minutes, just watching him.

  He’s still your friend, she finally told herself.

  “You were looking pretty slick out there,” she commented as she stepped up beside him.

  “I didn’t think I’d like that kind of dancing, but it was fun. Almost like gymnastics or something,” Jordan answered, all hyped up. “Brynn was really into it. But she likes dancing and singing and all that.” He paused and looked over at Priya. “Thanks again for fixing things with Brynn.”

  Priya nodded. She couldn’t talk. She suddenly felt like she had that day way back at Holly Perry’s birthday party when she’d chugged all that lemonade. So cold inside. Like she had an ice-cream headache all over her body.

  She cleared her throat. “Um, Jordan, I don’t want to tell you this. But I think I should.” The words came up out of that cold, dark place inside her.

  His mossy green eyes darkened. “What?”

  Priya cleared her throat again. It was like there was something in there that didn’t want to let the words come out. “I saw Brynn when I was coming out here. She was talking to some other girls . . . she was talking about you, Jordan.” She looked down. She shouldn’t be doing this. But she had to. She couldn’t lose Jordan to Brynn. Not now. Not now that Priya knew how she really felt about him.

  “What did she say?” Jordan’s voice was tense. Like his vocal cords had been tightened and tightened and tightened until they were about to snap. “It was bad, wasn’t it?”

  “She said . . . look, she was basically making fun of you,” Priya revealed, and the words felt like they were cutting into her tongue.

  Jordan took a step closer to her. “I need to know exactly what she said. If you’re my friend, you’ll tell me.”

  There was no going back. Not now. “She was telling the story about how you pretended the quote from that play review was something you thought up. She was laughing because it was so obvious you weren’t smart enough to understand anything about theater by yourself.”

  “But why did she even come to the dance with me if that’s how she felt?” The reflection of the lights strung around the ship’s railing glittered in Jordan’s eyes.

  He wasn’t about to cry, was he? No way. Jordan didn’t cry.

  “She kinda talked about that.” Priya’s brain raced as she tried to come up with an answer that made sense. “Brynn said she thought it might be fun to hang with somebody so totally different from her. But . . . but she said it was taking all her acting ability to pretend like she was having a good time.”

  Jordan leaned back over the rail. Far over. Like he was going to puke or something.

  Look at what you did to him, that little voice in her head cried. Look. At. What. You. Did. To. Jordan.

  And to Brynn, the little voice added. Who was becoming your friend. One of your first girl friends.

  Priya slammed a solid lead gate down between that voice and the rest of her brain. She wasn’t going to listen to that voice anymore. She couldn’t. She was just doing what she had to do. She couldn’t lose Jordan. That was that. He hardly knew Brynn. He couldn’t be all that hurt.

  “I’m sorry,” Priya said. “Sorry I had to tell you that.”

  “It’s not your fault.” Jordan straightened up.

  The little voice tried to say something from behind the gate, but Priya refused to listen.

  “Hey, you two!” a voice called. Priya knew it was Brynn without turning around. She could tell Jordan did, too. His hands tightened on the ship’s railing. “Ready to get back in there and cut a rug?”

  Jordan grabbed Priya’s hand an
d turned to face Brynn. “Priya and I decided to enter the contest together,” he announced. “I’m sure you can find somebody else to dance with.” He rushed Priya across the deck. “You look really pretty,” he said loudly to Priya. “That stuff you’re wearing on your eyes makes them look super golden brown.”

  Super golden brown. That didn’t sound “best bud.” Priya smiled. It felt like she was smiling everywhere. In her stomach. In her toes. In her super golden brown eyes. She was just one huge smile.

  Until she saw Marc waiting for her. “Just give me one sec,” she told Jordan.

  She hurried across the room to Marc. “You know Jordan, right?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” Marc’s eyes moved to Jordan, then back to Priya.

  “Here’s the deal. He came to the dance with this girl, and she just kind of dumped him. I’m his best friend and he needs me. Do you think you could find somebody else to dance with in the contest?” Say yes, she thought. Please, please, say yes.

  “I guess,” he told her.

  “Great!” She realized she probably sounded obnoxiously happy. “I mean, thanks. Jordan needs a friend right now.”

  Priya spun around and flew back across the room to Jordan. She reached him just as the lights started to flick on and off. “Okay, gang. Time to start the contest,” one of the instructors called. “Just keep on swingin’ until one of us taps you on the shoulder. Good luck!”

  And then she was dancing with Jordan. It was like playing basketball. Or swimming. Her body just knew what to do. Spin out. Spin back. Spin under his arm. Rock back. Let him swing her up to his right side. Then his left. Whee!

  It was the best. The absolute best. Jordan was smiling at her. She was flying.

  The crowd around them got thinner and thinner, as more and more pairs were eliminated. Jordan and Priya owned the floor. They covered the length of it as they danced. “Woo-hoo! This is awe—”

  The words dried up in Priya’s mouth as she caught a glimpse of Brynn standing in the sidelines. Her eyes were locked on Jordan. She looked so confused. So hurt.

  Jordan grabbed Priya in another lift. She looked down at his face. He wasn’t having any fun. He was faking it. Why hadn’t she noticed that before? She was his best friend. She should have noticed in about a second and a half.

  Priya sat next to Jordan on the bus back to camp. Because he was her best friend, right? And that’s what you did—you sat next to your best friend.

  Of course, Jordan didn’t know he shouldn’t be her best friend anymore. He didn’t know he should hate her.

  Brynn didn’t know she should hate Priya, either. She probably wasn’t thrilled Priya was sitting next to Jordan. Not after the way Jordan had slammed Brynn last night. But if Brynn was hating anybody today, it was Jordan.

  Jordan, who was staring out the window. Looking like someone had just made him eat a whole bucket full of mixed-together food.

  “I think I’m going to write Sam,” she said. Because she couldn’t stand looking at him, knowing she had made him so totally miserable.

  “Kay,” he said, without turning toward her.

  Dear Sam,

  I’m writing this on the bus back to camp after the D.C. trip. D.C. was cool. Jordan and I did the Sites on Bikes tour. It’s weird. It was only a few days ago, but I can’t even remember that much. Don’t tell Mom. She’d freak about me not taking advantage of my enriching experience.

  The National Air and Space Museum was cool, too. I entered this paper airplane contest. Mine went second-farthest. But, I don’t know. Maybe I’m getting too old for paper airplanes or something.

  Jordan and I won a swing dance competition. Woo-hoo! The prize was a bunch of CDs. Jordan let me have them all. I think I’ll give them to Dad for his birthday.

  Can’t wait to see you, Sam. I’m kind of ready to come home. Camp’s good, but . . . I guess it’s kind of like been there/done that, you know? Or maybe I just have the flu or something. I’ll get over it.

  Hope you’re having a great summer.

  Bye!

  Priya

  chapter TEN

  “Sleepyhead, it’s time for dinner,” Grace called. “You don’t want to miss the taco casserole, amiga. Muy, well, I can’t say muy bien. Muy fair semblance of food.”

  Priya opened her eyes slowly, even though she hadn’t been asleep. She’d pretended to fall asleep the second they’d gotten back to the bunk. She’d also pretended to fall asleep on the bus, as soon as she’d finished writing that letter to her brother.

  “Ah, she lives,” Grace said, smiling down at her.

  “She’s alive,” Candace echoed.

  “Come on.” Grace stuck out her hand and pulled Priya up from her bed. “What’s the deal, too much dancing last night?”

  Priya quickly looked around for Brynn, but she must have already left for the mess hall. “I guess.”

  “You guess,” Valerie teased as she, Priya, Grace, and Candace headed out of the cabin. “Come on. You and Jordan were the last ones on the floor. It takes a lot of energy to win first place.”

  “Right. You need to eat many servings of bad casserole to restore all those calories,” Grace said. “You can have mine. I’m that much of a friend.”

  “Before we get with the whole group, can I ask what happened with Jordan and Brynn at the dance? I mean, they went together. And they were dancing together during the practice part. How’d you and Jordan end up as a pair in the contest?” Val asked.

  “Yeah, you two were dancing together in the contest. How did that happen?” Candace asked.

  Clearly, Brynn hadn’t said anything. Maybe she was too confused. Or embarrassed. Or just too hurt.

  “I don’t know exactly. At the break, I went outside and I saw Jordan, and we were talking. Then Brynn came out, and Jordan told her that he was dancing with me in the contest.” Priya shrugged. “I thought they must have had an argument or something. He didn’t talk to me about it. We just . . . danced.” She shrugged again. “He didn’t talk about it on the bus, either. But I fell asleep kind of fast.”

  She’d wanted to be asleep. That’s all she wanted. If she’d been asleep, then she would have been able to get away from herself for a little while. Priya just didn’t want to be around Priya anymore. Who would? Who would want to be around a girl who’d treated her best friend the way she’d treated Jordan? She’d treated Brynn so badly, too. And Marc.

  And now she was lying to even more people to cover up for what she did. Someday the whole stinking pile of badness might come crashing down on her. And maybe it should.

  “Are you feeling bad about what you did?” Grace asked.

  “What?” Priya exclaimed, her heart slamming into her ribs so hard it should have gotten splinters.

  “About getting Brynn to go to the dance with Jordan,” Grace explained as they headed into the mess hall. “You looked upset. I thought maybe you were thinking they wouldn’t have gotten in that fight if you hadn’t helped them hook up.”

  “You definitely shouldn’t go there,” Val said to Priya.

  “No, you shouldn’t. There’s no way you could have known what was going to happen,” Candace added.

  Yeah, there is. I made it happen, Priya thought. She grabbed the closest empty seat at the Bunk 4C table—then realized too late that it was directly across from Brynn. Great.

  “Why don’t we go around the table and each say what our favorite part of the D.C. trip was,” Becky suggested. “Since this is the first time we’re all together—and awake—since we got back.“ She winked at Priya.

  “I’ll start,” Abby volunteered. “There was this painting in the Smithsonian that . . .”

  Priya whipped through memories of D.C. while Abby talked. The Sites on Bikes tour—where Jordan told her he liiiiked Brynn? No way. Helping Jordan research for his date with Brynn? Uh, no. The Air and Space Museum? Hanging out with Alex had been kinda fun. But the whole time Priya kept on thinking about how Jordan wasn’t there. And where Jordan actually was. And who
he was with instead of Priya. The cruise? Absolutely no way. She wished she could get a brain wipe of that night. Or at least of the part where she realized that Jordan, Brynn, and Marc were completely miserable because of her.

  “Priya!” Sarah, Alex, and Abby called together with their hands cupped around their mouths.

  She blinked.

  “Your turn,” Sarah told her.

  “Oh.” She hadn’t thought of even one thing to say. Then she realized what the best part of the trip had been. “Okay, this might sound dumb, because it’s not about D.C., exactly. At least not about any of the places we went there. But that night I got my period, and everybody in the room gave me stuff—Midol and chocolate and everything. And Brynn sang that song to me . . . that was the best. I guess ’cause I never really did the girlfriend thing before. Not like that, you know.”

  “Awww.” Grace reached over and gave her a half hug.

  “It was a good song,” Brynn added with a little smile, but not her usual light-up-Broadway-all-the-way-from-camp one.

  She didn’t seem mad at Priya for the dance thing. Brynn must’ve thought the whole thing was Jordan’s idea. She must think he’s a total psycho. With a cruel cherry on top. Which is so unfair, Priya thought, her eyes going over to Jordan, even though she really didn’t want to look at him. It hurt too much. In so many ways.

  Yeah, like she expected, he was staring at Brynn. Like he was wishing her head was plastic so he could look inside and just understand.

  Sophie came by with a big pan of taco casserole and set it down in the middle of the table. Priya served herself a scoop. She picked up her fork, then looked over at Jordan again. He was still starting at Brynn.

  Staring at Brynn. The way he had been at the campfire. The way he had been that other night at dinner. He liked Brynn so much.