“I’m guessing you guys already know why I called,” she said.
“Yeah,” Alyssa said. “We all got the invites to the reunion today, too.”
“I’m so, so sorry,” Tori whispered, barely able to get out the words for fear of crying again.
“Hey, no apologies,” Sarah said. “None of us had any way of knowing that the reunion would be on the same weekend.”
“I know,” Tori said, “but I feel awful that you guys are going to miss out on seeing everyone else. And I’m going to miss my first reunion ever!”
“That is a bummer,” Jenna said. “I forgot this was your first year at camp. But hey, there’s always next year, right?”
Tori sniffled. “Listen, are you guys okay? I mean, really okay with this? Because if you’d rather go to the reunion and you want to cancel, I won’t be mad. Really.”
“No way!” Nat exclaimed. “We’d never back out on you. Besides, the ski trip is still going to be so much fun.”
“That’s right,” Grace jumped in. “I’ve been to the reunion before, but I’ve never, ever been skiing. I’d be crazy to miss out on this trip.”
Alyssa chimed in with, “And we can always plan a mini camp reunion later in the year for all the girls from 4A and 4C, right?”
A half-smile spread on Tori’s face. “Thanks for being so understanding, guys. I’m just really sorry that I put you in this position.”
“Okay, girlfriend,” Nat said. “That’s enough stressing for one night. Go get some beauty rest. ’Cause you won’t be getting much sleep on the ski trip. We have way too much gossiping and too many spa treatments to catch up on.”
Tori laughed. “You guys are the greatest. Talk to you later.”
After she hung up, she was actually feeling a little bit better . . . until she checked her e-mail. And there it was, a two-sentence note from Chelsea that said what Tori knew everyone was thinking, even if they weren’t saying it.
To: Tori90210
From: Chelsea1
Subject: Camp reunion
Good job ruining the reunion for everyone. Now no one can enjoy it, thanks to you.
Tears welled up in Tori’s eyes all over again. Even though no one else but Chelsea had the guts to say it, Tori knew it was true. No matter how she looked at it, the camp reunion, and maybe the ski trip, too, was ruined, and it was all her fault.
Sarah clicked off her instant messenger and sighed. She wished she could tell the other girls how she’d lied to Abby, but she couldn’t even type it. It made her feel sick to her stomach just thinking about it. She needed a distraction in the worst way, so she took out her brand-new sunshine yellow ski jacket from the closet again. Her mom had finally agreed to let her buy it last week after Sarah promised to take on a few extra babysitting jobs to help pay for it. It was bright and fun and perfect for West Coast skiing, she hoped. But for the first time since she’d bought it, looking at it didn’t give her a thrill of excitement. Now, it just reminded her that while she’d be wearing it in Tahoe, the rest of her friends, including Abby, would be ice-skating in New York at the reunion. She hated that she wasn’t as excited about Tahoe as she had been, and her poor jacket didn’t seem as perfect as it had before, even with the price tag still on it.
It was cold enough to wear her new jacket to school, but she couldn’t risk it—not with Abby. Abby would ask her all about it, and then what would Sarah say? She hadn’t talked to Abby since the reunion invitation had come, but she’d see her at school tomorrow, and then she’d have to lie some more about her grandma.
Sarah picked up the jacket from her bed and headed to the closet to hang it up. When she turned around, Abby was standing in her bedroom doorway. Sarah had no idea how long Abby had been standing there, or whether she had seen the jacket.
“Hi!” Sarah said, a little too enthusiastically. “What are you doing here?” she asked, sitting down on her bed as nonchalantly as she could.
Abby’s eyes stayed on the closed closet door. “I came over to talk to you about the reunion. I just got the invite yesterday. I can’t believe it’s over Presidents’ Day weekend. That’s when you’re going to see your grandma, right?”
Sarah swallowed. Here came all the lies. “Yeah,” she said. “It totally sucks. I spent all last night trying to convince my parents to let me go the reunion instead, but they’re not budging.”
“Uh huh,” Abby said, but her expression was rapidly changing from calm to furious. “Why don’t you just tell me what’s really going on?”
“What do you mean?” Sarah asked, starting to feel panicky.
“I mean you can quit the innocent act,” Abby said fiercely. “I couldn’t get ahold of you this morning, so I e-mailed Priya to talk to her about it, and she told me that she didn’t know anything about your grandma, but she did know that you were going on the ski trip to Tahoe with Tori. At first I didn’t believe her, but now that I’ve seen your new ski jacket, I know it’s true.” Abby’s voice rose into a yell. “You’ve been lying to me all this time, haven’t you?”
Sarah bit her lip, trying to fight back the tears, but they spilled over onto her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Abby. I didn’t mean to lie, really I didn’t. The whole thing just got so out of control, and I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, and—”
“Hurt my feelings?” Abby shouted, cutting her off. “You did that when you started lying to me. I thought we were great friends, but I was so wrong. A friend would never do something like this.”
“Abby, please,” Sarah sobbed.
“No.” Abby turned toward the door. “Saying you’re sorry won’t work. I can’t trust you anymore.” Now she looked like she was going to start crying, too. “Have fun on the ski trip. And don’t bother calling me when you get back.”
As soon as the door slammed, Sarah fell on her bed and began sobbing. She cried until there weren’t any tears left. Then, just when she was feeling completely drained, inspiration dawned on her. Maybe there was a way to fix things with Abby before she lost her best friend forever. A half an hour later, Sarah’d gotten her mom to agree with her idea, and she was anxiously dialing Tori’s cell.
“I need to talk to you about the ski trip,” Sarah told Tori as soon as she picked up.
“You’re not coming?” Tori asked quietly.
Sarah paused, and then sighed. “I really hate this, but yeah . . . I don’t think I am. I talked to my mom, and we worked out an agreement. I’m going to take on some more babysitting jobs and pay her back for the ticket so that I can cancel it. This ski trip is ruining my whole friendship with Abby, and I have to make things right with her.”
Sarah was met with silence on the other end of the line. “Tori? Are you there? Are you okay?”
It took a minute before Tori spoke again and when she did, it was through sniffles. “You’re right. You should do whatever you have to do to work it out with Abby, but I wish you were coming skiing with us, too.”
“Me too,” Sarah said. “But this feels like the right thing to do.”
Tori si
ghed. “You’re right. I’m sure Abby will come around when you tell her what you decided.”
“I hope so,” Sarah said.
“I made it hard on everyone when I planned this trip,” Tori said. “And I was just trying to do something nice.”
“We know you were,” Sarah said. “This is just how everything worked out. And you guys are still going to have a great time, you know. If Abby doesn’t start speaking to me again, I’m going to wish I was out there with you guys instead.”
“She won’t be mad at you anymore when she finds out that you canceled your trip.”
“I hope not,” Sarah said. “The reunion won’t be the same without all of us together, though, even if Abby is speaking to me again.”
“I know,” Tori said. “That’s how I feel about the ski trip, too.”
“I’m sorry for backing out on you at the last minute,” Sarah said. “Are you sure you’re not mad?”
“How can I be?” Tori said. “I’m just wishing you could be in two places at once, that’s all.” She gave a small laugh.
Sarah smiled. “You and me both. Take lots of pictures for me, okay?”
“Definitely,” Tori said. “And you take lots at the reunion, too. I want details of the whole weekend.”
“We can swap albums afterward,” Sarah said. “I’ll miss you, though.”
“You too,” Tori said. “Now go call Abby.”
“Thanks, Tori,” Sarah said, “for being such a good friend and for being so understanding.”
As soon as Sarah hung up the phone, she dialed Abby’s number to tell her the good news, but Abby wouldn’t pick up. Even when Sarah tried her a second time.
“Hey, Abby, I just wanted you to know that I’ve decided to go to the reunion instead of Tahoe. Isn’t that great? Call me back.” As Sarah snapped her phone closed, she felt a sneaking sense that Abby wouldn’t call her right back. Which was okay with Sarah. Abby might not forgive Sarah right away, but Sarah would keep trying to make up with her until she did.
chapter SIX
To: BrynnWins; SoccerLover; Pree; Chelsea1;
SleepyKaren; Valfrog
From: NatalieNYC
Subject: Reunion weekend
hi alex, brynn, chelsea, val, karen, and priya,
i hate to write this in an e-mail, but i tried calling all of you and can’t get through. i’m really, really sorry about this, but you guys can’t stay over at my place on the weekend of the reunion. my ticket to tahoe is nonrefundable, and mom won’t let me cancel it. i tried to convince her to let you stay over at the apartment anyway, but she’s got a busy work schedule and feels uncomfortable leaving everyone alone without me. i feel really awful about this whole thing, because i know i made you all a promise. but there’s nothing I can do about it. i hope you won’t be too angry with me. i know the reunion’s less than two weeks away, but i’m sure you’ll still be able to find a hotel in the city for that weekend. please, please, PLEASE write back or call me asap so that we can talk. i miss all of you, and i don’t want this to mess up our friendships.
sincerely sorry in manhattan,
nat
For Nat, this was the day that would never end. She’d already tried calling all the girls from camp who she’d said could sleep over for the reunion weekend, but she couldn’t get through to anyone, and she had the sneaking suspicion that they were ignoring her. She’d sent out an e-mail, too, as a last resort, but she’d checked her account about a thousand times today, and no one had written back. It was becoming painfully clear: Everyone that wasn’t going on the ski trip was mad at Nat for retracting her reunion invite. And Nat had no idea what she could say or do to make it better.
She logged onto her laptop one more time, and one more time she stared at the words “Mailbox: Empty” on her screen. Then she logged off and reached for her pajamas. She couldn’t concentrate on any of her homework. Maybe if she just crawled into bed with a good book, she’d forget about this horrible day. But just as she was snuggling back against her pillow with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, the phone rang. She nearly grabbed it, thinking it might be one of the girls, but then she remembered: Simon. It might be him, and she couldn’t deal with that right now. He’d called her three times in the last week and e-mailed her, too. Each time the phone rang, she’d let her mom pick it up, holding her breath to see if it would be Simon or not.
“Tell him I’m out with Hannah,” she’d whisper.
Her mom had gone along with the Hannah excuse, the out shopping excuse, and the too much homework excuse. But Nat wasn’t sure how much longer her mom would put up with the excuses. So when her mom walked into her bedroom with the portable phone, Nat’s heart lurched.
“It’s Simon,” her mom whispered. “Again.”
Nat pulled the pillow over her head. “Can’t you tell him I’m washing my hair?” she mumbled.
Her mom frowned. “I’ve made excuses for you all week. But washing your hair? That is where I draw the line.”
Nat groaned. “Please. I’ll do the dishes for a month. Or a year. Or until I’m forty. I’ll—”
“Natalie,” her mom said sternly, blocking the receiver with her hand so Simon wouldn’t hear. “If you have something to say to Simon, you’d better take the phone and say it now. I won’t be your personal answering service anymore.” She held out the phone to Nat.
Nat flopped back on her bed and slowly took the phone. Her mom was right. It wasn’t like her to blow off anyone—especially someone who’d been as nice to her as Simon had always been. She knew he was calling about the reunion. The problem was that she didn’t have the first clue what to say.
“Nat?” Simon said in a relieved voice when Nat finally said hello. “I’m so glad I finally caught you at home!”
“Yeah, I’m sorry I wasn’t around this week,” Nat said nervously. “I’ve been super-busy.”
“I know. That’s what your mom said. So,” he paused, “did you get the invite to the camp reunion?”
Nat took a deep breath. “Yup, I got it.”
“Great!” Simon said. Nat could practically hear him smiling into the phone, which made her feel even worse. “So I’ll see you there, right? I mean, we haven’t seen each other since you came up to Connecticut. And I . . . I miss you.”
Nat gripped her bedspread, her heart racing. Why couldn’t she say those words back to him? Why was it that she’d had more fun in the last few weeks with her Manhattan friends than she’d had the last few times she’d seen Simon?
“Um, Simon,” she said, swallowing down her nervousness. “I was actually going to call you this week, because I’m not going to be able to go to the camp reunion. I told you I got invited to go skiing with Tori, Alyssa, and some of the other girls from camp? Well, it turns out the ski trip is on the same weekend as the reunion.”
The silence on the other end of the line hurt her ears.
“Simon?” she said after a full minute of dead air.
“I’m here,” he finally said. “I can’t believe everything falls on the same weekend. That’s such a bummer.”
“I know,” Nat said truthfully. She was still upset that she would miss out on seeing Alex, Brynn, and the rest of the girls from bunks 4A and 4C at the reunion. But there was also a part of her—a really big part—that was relieved that she couldn’t go. Simon was going to be there, and after blowing him off for the last few weeks, she dreaded the awkwardness that was sure to come when she saw him again.
“Maybe we can see each other after you get back,” Simon suggested. “I’ll still be in town through Monday. I’m going to stay with all the guys at Blake’s family’s house in the Hamptons, but we can take the train into the city whenever we want. And if you fly back on Monday sometime, we could get together for a movie or something.”
“I can’t remember when my return flight is,” Nat said hurriedly, which was at least partially true. She knew she landed sometime on Monday afternoon, but she wasn’t sure exactly when. “Why don’t I che
ck my ticket and let you know?”
“Great!” Simon said, his voice sounding cheerier than it had at any point in their talk so far. “I’d love to see you.”
“You too,” Nat said, figuring that one little white lie wouldn’t do too much harm right now. They talked for a few more minutes, but when Nat hung up, she felt sick about everything.
She posted a note on the blog with a big “Help! Guy trouble!” subject line, and within fifteen minutes, Sarah called and listened thoughtfully as Nat vented.
“I just don’t want him to get hurt,” Nat said. “I never meant for things to get so screwed up.”
“Yeah,” Sarah said. “That makes two of us. I’ve messed things up with Abby, big time.”
“What happened?” Nat asked.
She could barely believe it when Sarah told her the whole story of how she’d pretended that she hadn’t been invited on the trip, hoping that Abby would never have to find out. Sarah was always so considerate . . . it was the last thing she’d expected to hear from her.
“I’ve called Abby a bunch of times and left her tons of messages, but I haven’t heard a peep from her,” Sarah said sadly. “And every time I see her in the hallway at school she races for her class. She won’t sit with me at lunch or walk home with me. Nothing.”
“I’m so sorry,” Nat said. “I thought my problem with Simon was a big deal, but this is worse. What’s happening to our group of friends? Everything’s falling apart.”
“I know,” Sarah said. “I’ve barely talked to Brynn and Alex since we got invited on this ski trip.”
“Me neither,” Nat said. “And Alex is so levelheaded. I’d love to hear her advice on Simon right now.” Nat logged back onto her e-mail and checked the blog. There were messages from Jenna, Alyssa, and Grace, all telling her to hang in there. But that was it. “The only girls who have responded to my blog so far are coming skiing.”
“Um, Nat?” Sarah said. “That’s the other reason I was calling. I already talked to Tori, and I’m about to send out an e-mail to everyone, but I . . . I’m canceling my ticket for the ski trip. I’m going to the reunion instead. It’s the only way I can think of to make everything up to Abby.”
Winter Games #12 Page 5
