Over & Out #10

by Melissa J Morgan

  “I already told you, I’m innocent,” Jenna said, but this time she didn’t let Andie’s doubt get under her skin. Instead, she giggled and winked. “It’s not a bad idea, though.”

  “Oh no,” groaned Andie. “Please forget I said anything.”

  Jenna just smiled and whistled as she made her way into the bathroom with Alyssa for her shower. Things were looking up. Just thinking about Operation Drowned Rat was enough to put her in a good mood. Now all she had to do was figure out how to peg the blame on Blake afterward. Once she did that, she’d be home free.

  “Jenna,” Alyssa said as she helped to wrap a garbage bag around Jenna’s cast, “I really want to believe that you’re telling the truth about all the pranks.”

  “You do?” Jenna said in surprise.

  “Yup,” Alyssa said. “I mean, it’s the whole ‘innocent until proven guilty’ thing, right?” She shrugged. “But it’s tough when we all saw the pranks you pulled off last summer. And all the other summers before that.”

  “I know.” Jenna sighed, but then she smiled. “I just wish everyone else would believe I’m innocent, too.”

  She swung open the door to the shower stall, and suddenly a torrent of icy cold liquid splashed down on her head. Through the flood, she thought she heard Alyssa yell. But she herself was too stunned to say anything. She was still trying to catch her breath when she opened her eyes to see that her entire body was covered with slimy, green algae and stale pond water.

  “What happened?” she gasped, shivering as she wiped some strands of algae off her face.

  Alyssa picked up a bucket off the floor that was still dripping with water. “Someone rigged this to the top of the stall so it would tip over when you opened the door.” She stood on tiptoe and peered up at the other shower stalls. “There are buckets rigged to every stall!”

  Suddenly footsteps rang in the bunk, and Andie, Mia, and the girls all appeared in the bathroom doorway.

  “What happened?” Nat asked, gaping.

  “At least your cast didn’t get wet,” Karen said optimistically. “It’s really not that bad.”

  “Yes, it is,” Jenna said.

  “If you wanted a seaweed mask, Jenna,” said Tori with a grin, “you could’ve just asked me for one.”

  “Okay, girls,” Alyssa said matter-of-factly as she scooped up a tadpole and put it back in some water. “Now do you believe that Jenna’s innocent?”

  Through a slime haze, Jenna saw everyone nod.

  “Well, since you couldn’t go into the lake,” Perry said, “I guess someone brought the lake to you instead.”

  “I could’ve survived without it, I think,” Jenna muttered, staring at herself in the bathroom mirror.

  Alyssa laughed. “You’re not allowed to get depressed about this. It’s way too funny for that. And besides, you just proved your innocence.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s a good thing,” Jenna said, shaking goopy droplets from her hair. “And I think I know who the real prankster is.”

  “Who?” Andie asked.

  “I’ll tell you,” Jenna said, then giggled. “But first, can someone please help me get this stuff out of my hair?”

  Three shampoos and a dose of Nat’s Aveda thermal conditioning rinse later, Jenna had almost erased the memory of her tadpole hairdo. And thanks to Blake’s little good-morning gift, everyone in the bunk finally believed that Jenna was innocent. During breakfast she quietly explained how she found him yesterday afternoon, sneaking Tabasco-free raviolis.

  “But there’s one thing I still don’t get. What about the snake in Blake’s pillowcase?” Alyssa asked. “The first prank was played on him.”

  Jenna nodded between bites of soggy scrambled eggs. “An act of self-sabotage. It’s part of the fine art of pranking. I did it myself when I first started pranking, too.”

  “So how do we know it wasn’t you who set up the buckets in the shower, then?” Chelsea asked. “You could’ve been trying to fool us.”

  “Come on, Chelsea,” Alyssa said. “Jenna couldn’t have set up all those buckets by herself . . . on crutches. This prank has Blake Wetherly written all over it.”

  “Well,” Tori huffed. “I think somebody should put purple food coloring in his toothpaste for a change.”

  Jenna smiled. Oh, if they only knew what she had planned for him. But that was her little secret, and she wanted to keep it that way.

  “Who does he think he is, anyway?” Chelsea fumed. “Just because his parents are filthy rich doesn’t mean he can get away with being a juvenile delinquent.”

  “The problem is that we don’t have any concrete evidence,” Andie said. “I talked to Kenny while you guys were helping Jenna get cleaned up, because I wanted to see if he’d noticed Blake, or any of the other boys, missing from the bunk at all. He says Blake didn’t move once all night.”

  “The other guys don’t know anything, either,” Mia said. “If they did, they would have definitely turned him in for the ravioli trick.”

  “No kidding,” Jenna said. “There’s no way they’d let someone mess with their food and get away with it.”

  “But Blake does whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Everybody knows he doesn’t follow the rules. Half the time he doesn’t even participate in the activities, and nobody ever notices. It’s because he’s Dr. Steve’s nephew,” Alyssa said. “Everyone knows better than to mess with the camp director’s family.”

  “Well, we’ll just have to keep an eye out, then,” Andie said. She turned to Jenna. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you before.”

  “But you can’t blame us for thinking it was you,” Chelsea said. “After the way you completely ruined the square dance last year, what were we supposed to think? You were the queen of pranks.”

  And I still am, Jenna thought, and I’ll prove it in just a few more days. But then her conscience kicked into gear to remind her how good it felt to finally be trusted again. Her friends were back on her side. Did she really want to mess that up with Operation Drowned Rat? She could just forget about the whole thing. But where was the fun in that? If she didn’t follow through with her plan, Blake would get off scot-free. Nuh-uh. Operation Drowned Rat was still on, no matter what. But for now, she could at least make sure her friendships were back on track until the time came for the queen of pranks to reappear.

  “I don’t blame you for not believing in me,” she said. “Especially with the way I’ve been acting lately. I’m sorry about losing my temper yesterday on the soccer field. I shouldn’t have been so critical. You guys are doing a great job playing. And no matter what teams you’re on for Color War, I’m sure you’re all going to be terrific.” She sighed. “I was just wishing that I could be out there with you, you know?”

  “We understand,” Tori told her. “I wish you could be out there with us, too. I’m way better at makeovers than sports. We need help.”

  “We know you’ll make the best Color War cheerleader a bunk could ask for,” Mia said.

  Jenna tried not to visibly cringe at the word “cheerleader,” because it still reminded her all over again that, no matter what her friends tried to do to make her feel better, she’d still be left out for most of Color War. The competitions started in two days, and she couldn’t bear the thought of sitting out the whole war. And now that her friends believed she was innocent, they’d never blame her for Operation Drowned Rat. Instead, Blake would seem like the most obvious culprit. She pushed away her feelings of guilt about betraying her friends. They wanted to get back at Blake, too, so they’d understand Operation Drowned Rat, wouldn’t they? Her victory would be at the final banquet instead of Color War, but it would be just as sweet.

  Fixing things with her bunk was one thing, but fixing things with Alex proved to be a lot more complicated than Jenna expected. As she sat down in ceramics and pulled out her molding clay, she replayed everything that had happened after breakfast. In sports, things had gone a lot more smoothly on the basketball court than they had on the soccer
field for the last week. Jenna had taken a deep breath and relaxed, enjoying watching her friends play for the first time since she’d broken her leg. When she gave Nat, Alyssa, and Karen pointers about shooting hoops or passing, she didn’t yell or criticize. Instead, she just calmly made suggestions and then sat back and watched them play.

  But dealing with Alex was tougher. Alex was avoiding her at all costs, and even when Jenna congratulated her on a good game after Alex shot the nothing-but-net final winning point, Alex just pretended that she hadn’t heard. Later, during free swim, Jenna tried to catch Alex’s eye from where she was sitting on the beach, but Alex just stuck to the water, completely ignoring her. Now, as Jenna tried to bend and tweak her clay into something resembling a vase, she wished she were more talented at ceramics and at apologizing to Alex. Clearly, she needed more practice at both to get it right.

  “The only flowers that would look good in that thing,” Blake said, sliding his stool over to inspect her work, “are dead ones.”

  “At least I’m trying,” Jenna said. “You haven’t made a single thing so far.” She glared at him. “But you must be too busy rigging buckets to showerheads to bother with legitimate camp activities, right?”

  “So what if I am?” he asked. “You can’t prove anything. I just wish I’d been there to see it come down.” He laughed. “But the Tabasco trick . . . now that I saw. The look on Uncle Steve’s face when he took that huge mouthful of ravioli at lunch?” He laughed. “Classic, just classic.”

  Jenna giggled in spite of herself. “It was impressive for your first big prank.” Then she glared at him. “But don’t let that go to your head. If I’d done it, I would’ve put it in the bug juice, too. I would’ve had kids diving into the lake for a drink.”

  Blake thought about that, then nodded. “That would’ve been awesome,” he said with a touch of respect.

  Jenna laughed. So, maybe she and Blake had one thing in common—a sense of humor. Maybe he wasn’t a total lost cause after all. Maybe, behind Blake’s attitude, there was a nicer, more genuine person that Jenna might enjoy being friends with (even if he was a boy).

  “You’re just lucky it wasn’t Andie who got in the shower first today,” Jenna said. “She would’ve turned you in to Dr. Steve for sure.”

  Blake snorted. “I’d like to see her try it,” he said. “Nobody’s ever done that to me. Not with my family. Besides, Uncle Steve would never believe her. He loves me.”

  “Why?” Jenna said. “Because you fake being good around him? If he knew what you were really doing, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t think you were so perfect anymore.”

  “He doesn’t know,” Blake said, “and he never will.”

  As soon as Blake pulled his little-rich-boy routine, anger bubbled up inside Jenna. She couldn’t believe him! For a minute there, she’d actually been enjoying talking to him. But now he was just back to being a real snot.

  “You know,” Jenna said, “if you’d get off your high horse, you’d see you’re just like everybody else here. Except more stuck-up, and not as nice.”

  Blake blinked in surprise, opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something, and then closed it again. For once, he didn’t have much to say. He was quiet for the rest of the class and left without saying another word.

  Jenna carried her finished vase back to her bunk with a smile. Sure, her vase was still droopy and lopsided. But she was satisfied that maybe she’d finally given Blake something to think about. On the other hand, maybe he was just plotting a way to dump all of her belongings into the lake tonight. There was nothing scarier than a prankster out for revenge. She knew that better than anyone. She’d just have to keep a close lookout tonight. And in the meantime, maybe there was another way to teach him a lesson first.

  After the lights went out in the bunk that night, Jenna waited until everyone had grown still, breathing deeply. Andie was OD tonight, the on-duty counselor, so she’d be gone for the next couple of hours. And since Mia slept deeper than a hibernating bear, there wasn’t much chance of her waking up. The coast was clear. Jenna slipped out of bed as quietly as she could and put on the shorts and T-shirt she’d hid under her pillow earlier. There was no way she could sleep right now, especially when all she’d been doing for the last half hour was rehashing all the awful things she’d said to Alex yesterday, wishing she could take them all back. Alex had blown her off all day today, so Jenna figured her only chance was to catch her off guard so that she wouldn’t be able to ignore her anymore. Now was her chance. If the two of them could laugh with each other again, then Jenna would know that everything was okay between them. And Jenna knew just how to get Alex to laugh tonight.

  She grabbed the photo Adam had taken of Alex and slid it into the front pouch of her pullover. Then she propped herself up on her crutches and stealthily made her way to Natalie’s bed.

  “Nat,” she whispered, giving her a gentle nudge. “Wake up.”

  “Huh?” Nat said groggily. “What’s the matter? Do you need help getting to the bathroom?”

  Jenna grinned in the dark. “Nope. I need to borrow your makeup bag. Just for a little while. I’ll bring it back in perfect shape. I promise.”

  Nat sat up, eyeing Jenna suspiciously. “What are you up to, you little sneak?” she whispered.

  “Let’s just say, there’s a certain boy in a certain bunk tonight who’s not going to recognize himself when he looks in the mirror tomorrow morning.”

  “Okay,” Nat finally agreed, giggling quietly. “But if anyone asks, you took my makeup bag without permission. I’d prefer to be an anonymous accomplice.”

  “Got it,” Jenna said. “Thanks.” She slid the makeup bag into the pocket of her pullover and took a few steps to the door. She froze when her crutches squeaked loudly on the floor, but no one budged, except Nat, who just buried her head in her pillow to stifle a giggle.

  Once Jenna was safely outside, she sighed with relief. So far, so good. But before she headed to the boys’ bunks, she needed to make one important stop. She had to talk to Alex, and she had to talk to her now.

  It was tough to maneuver in the dark on crutches without being noisy, especially with the makeup bag in her front pocket throwing her a little off balance. She stumbled a few times but caught herself. And lucky for her, tonight the crickets and cicadas were out in full force, filling the night air with deafening singing that drowned out the crunch of her crutches in the dirt. With a full moon to help light her path, Jenna finally managed to find her way to the 4C bunk, and then inside to Alex’s bed.

  Jenna was just about to wake her up when Alex’s eyes popped open. She took one look at Jenna and pulled her pillow over her head. “If you’re coming to murder me in my sleep, I’m sure there’s a camp rule about that sort of thing,” she mumbled through the pillow.

  Jenna lifted one corner of the pillow and smiled at Alex. “I come in peace,” she said in her best imitation of an alien, and Alex, much to Jenna’s relief, broke into a quiet laugh.

  “Can we talk outside?” Jenna asked.

  “No more wicked-witch routine?” Alex asked tentatively.

  “Not unless you steal the Swedish Fish out of my candy stash.” Jenna giggled. “Come on. I need your help.”

  When they were safely outside and heading toward the boys’ bunk, Alex turned to Jenna. “Okay, spill it. And this better be good.”

  Jenna took a deep breath. “First, I wanted to say I’m sorry for how I acted the past couple of days,” she said. “I know I’ve been a real jerk to you lately.”

  “True,” Alex said, “but I owe you an apology, too. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you weren’t pulling the pranks.”

  “So you know it was Blake?” Jenna asked.

  Alex nodded. “Tori filled me in during free swim today. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”

  “Thanks,” Jenna said. “But I don’t blame you for losing your patience with me when I was acting so bratty. I guess I’m just a little jealous that you’re getting to pl
ay all my favorite sports and I’m not. And on top of that, I’m going to have to watch you kick butt in Color War, too.” Jenna sighed. “I’m missing the whole thing.”

  “Not the whole thing,” Alex said. “Did you talk to Andie? Why can’t you be in the Scrabble tournament or something?”

  “Are you kidding?” Jenna said, “You and Chelsea are the Scrabble queens. The only thing I’ve ever been really good at is sports.”

  “You might be good at other things, too, if you give it a try,” Alex said. “I can’t always do the things I want to do, either, because of my diabetes.”

  “You can still play soccer,” Jenna said.

  “Yeah.” Alex nodded. “But I’d kill for a chocolate bar right now. And you can have one of those, and I can’t.”

  Jenna sighed. “True. I don’t think I could survive without candy the way you do. But that still doesn’t fix my Color War problem. The rally is tomorrow night, and after that, I’ll be benching it until the banquet.”

  “We’ll figure something out,” Alex said. “Besides, you’ll be back next year, kicking my tail all over the soccer field and basketball court again. Your leg will be back to one hundred percent. And who knows? Maybe it will be a superstrong bionic leg after you get your cast off.”

  “I can only hope,” Jenna said, laughing. “Thanks for putting up with my attitude.”

  “No problem,” Alex said. “You’d do the same for me if I couldn’t play. Just make sure the attitude doesn’t make a sudden comeback. Deal?”

  “Deal,” Jenna said, giving Alex a hug. “Oh, and I have something for you, too.” She pulled the photo from her pocket. “Adam asked me to give this to you a few days ago. I know I should’ve given it to you earlier, but with things all weird between us, I didn’t want to. And I’m so sorry for that.”

  Jenna waited for Alex to yell at her, which she knew she deserved. But instead, Alex took the photo and slowly held it up so she could see it in the moonlight. Then a huge smile spread across her face. “Did he really take this?” she whispered excitedly, her eyes lighting up. “What did he say when he gave it to you?”