Jenna's Dilemma

by Melissa J Morgan

  Jenna caught Alex’s eye, and they both stifled a groan. Chelsea was new this year, and they had found out early on that she was smart and funny. But she could also be a bully and was totally into her looks. Plus, she loved to show off.

  “This is so beyond cool,” Natalie said. “I brought all kinds of stuff that I never thought I’d get to wear once I got here. Like my new denim miniskirt and that purple tank top with the appliqué flowers . . . I’m going to have to do some serious outfit planning.”

  “Well, I have no dance-worthy clothes,” Alyssa said. “Who knew they had dances at camp?”

  “You can borrow something of mine, if you want,” Natalie offered. “So, do people have, like, dates for this dance?”

  Please! Dates? Jenna thought. I’d rather eat all the leftover sloppy joe surprise!

  “Some of the older kids ask each other,” Alex said. “But I don’t think anyone in our year will.”

  “Oh,” Natalie said, her face falling.

  “Why? Did you want Simon to ask you?” Jenna asked. “Natalie and Simon sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” She glanced over at Simon and Adam’s table and found them and a bunch of their friends trying to get their spoons to stick to the ends of their noses. Adam’s spoon clattered to the table, and they all cracked up laughing. “What do you see in them, anyway? They’re such losers,” Jenna said.

  “But cute losers,” Chelsea put in, raising one eyebrow.

  Jenna stuck her finger in her mouth to fake gag. Two weeks ago, Chelsea had claimed to be just as grossed out by the boys as the rest of them, but clearly that was a big fake out. Lately it had become obvious that she was almost as boy-crazy as Natalie.

  “I just hope none of you think my brother is cute,” Jenna said, pushing away from the table. “Because that would just give me nightmares.”

  “You’re going over there, aren’t you?” Natalie asked as Jenna stood up.

  “Yep. I have to talk to my evil twin,” Jenna replied.

  “Tell me if Simon says anything about me?” Natalie begged.

  Jenna tried not to roll her eyes. “No problem,” she replied.

  “Uh, Jenna? Where are you going?” Julie asked, sounding worried.

  “To talk to my brother,” Jenna replied.

  “To talk to him? Not to pull some prank on him?” Julie asked.

  Jenna smiled. “No, Julie, I swear.” She crossed her heart with her pinkie for good measure.

  “Okay, then!” Julie said with a smile, though she still looked doubtful.

  Wow. Pull a few lousy pranks and one raid and nobody trusts you anymore, Jenna thought. Well, one raid each summer. Maybe two. She walked over to Adam’s table and dropped down into a chair next to him.

  “Jenna? What are you doing over here?” Adam’s bunk counselor Nate asked, with an expression that looked a lot like Julie’s just had.

  “I’m not pulling a prank!” Jenna half-shouted.

  “Like you could really pull one over on us,” Adam said.

  “Hello? I’ve only done it, like, a million times before!” Jenna reminded him.

  “But not tonight,” Nate said.

  Jenna rolled her eyes. “Not tonight. I promise,” she told Nate. She turned to her brother while the rest of the guys continued their stunning spoon tricks. “So, Adam, we need to talk.”

  “I know,” he said. “Did you get the cupcakes from Mom today?”

  Jenna’s heart turned over in her chest. “Yeah, but that’s—”

  “Unbelievable, right? I mean, it’s like they’re trying to bribe us or something. I didn’t even finish the candy Dad sent over the weekend yet,” Adam said, looking down.

  Jenna did not like the way this conversation was going. “Yeah, well, that’s because you don’t share,” she said. “So listen, do you really have to take photography?”

  “Photography?” Adam asked, blinking. “That’s why you came over here? I thought you wanted to talk about—”

  “Yeah. I want you to drop it,” Jenna said, cutting him off. “Drop photography and take something else.”

  Adam sat up straight in his chair, and she knew she finally had his full attention. “Why?”

  “Because I’m taking photography. And, you and me? We can’t be in the same elective at the same time,” Jenna said.

  “Why not?” Adam asked.

  “Because! You . . . you . . .” And that was when Jenna realized she didn’t have a real reason. What was she supposed to say? “I don’t want you around me?” Adam had thick skin, but even he would probably be upset by that. It didn’t even really make sense to her, but it was how she felt.

  “Because I what?” Adam asked.

  “Because you smell!” Jenna said, blurting out the first thing that came to her mind.

  All of Adam’s friends cracked up, and her brother’s face fell. For a split second Jenna felt beyond awful. She couldn’t believe she had just made fun of her brother like that in front of everyone. But then his face broke into his silly, wide grin. He lifted his arm and took a huge, long whiff of his T-shirt at the armpit.

  “Ugh!” Jenna groaned, along with some of the guys.

  “Fresh as a flower patch,” Adam said, picking up his spoon and digging into his dessert. “Sorry, sis, but if you want to avoid me, you’re gonna have to drop photography. You’d better get back to your friends. I’m sure you’re missing some very important lip-gloss tips or something.”

  All the boys cracked up laughing, and Jenna felt her skin turn blotchy and red. She stood up and stalked back to her table, humiliated. She knew it was a little jerky to ask Adam to quit photography, but she just wanted one thing to herself. Why couldn’t she have been an only child? Or, at the very least, the only one born on her birthday?

  “All right, everyone! Settle down, settle down.”

  Dr. Steve stood in front of the microphone at the front of the room next to the long table where the camp directors and coordinators ate. An excited twitter raced through the mess hall.

  “This is it! The big announcement!” Grace said with a grin. She pulled her legs up and tucked them under her to give her added height so she could see better. Ever positive and always up for fun, Grace had a way of getting excited about everything—even Dr. Steve’s unsurprising announcements.

  The camp director was a tall man with thinning blond hair and a high forehead. His face was constantly pink because, no matter how much sunblock he wore, he always seemed to burn. During the day, he was always seen in a fisherman’s hat, shorts, and a white Camp Lakeview polo. But at dinner, he wore khaki pants and a dark blue Camp Lakeview polo. He had worn this uniform every single night since the beginning of time. Even Jenna’s older brother Matt had confirmed this. In fact, Matt had asked Jenna to let him know the first time Dr. Steve changed his outfit, because Matt would have to throw a party to celebrate the event.

  Dr. Steve tapped at the mike. He tried to shush the campers with a few dozen “shhhs” and “ahems,” but it wasn’t until a huge peel of feedback split the room that everyone finally shut up.

  “Thank you,” Dr. Steve said, blinking rapidly as he leaned toward the mike. Jenna glanced at Alex, and they shared a smile. They had noticed Dr. Steve’s crazy blinking habit their first summer at Lakeview, and Alex had come up with the nickname “Dr. Flutter Bug.” Ever since then, neither of them could see him without thinking of it.

  “First off, I’d like to remind everyone that Visiting Day is in just two weeks,” Dr. Steve announced.

  The entire room exploded in a roar of cheers and applause, and Grace even threw her fists in the air as she whooped. Everyone loved when their parents came to visit, no matter how embarrassing they were. Visiting Day meant three things: tons of food, clean clothes, and lots of presents.

  As Dr. Steve tried to get the room to “settle down” once more, Jenna picked up her spoon and dipped it into the orange soup her dessert had become. She lifted it and stared as the goo dripped off the end and back into the bowl. Lift, turn, dr
ip. Lift, turn, drip. It was mesmerizing.

  “Jenna? You okay?” Julie asked as the room began to quiet again.

  Jenna dropped her spoon with a clatter. “Yeah. Fine. Why?”

  “You don’t seem too psyched about Visiting Day,” Julie pointed out.

  “Yeah. Even I can’t wait, and my mom’s a total freak and my dad’s a total flake,” Alyssa put in. “At least you know both your parents will show up.”

  Yeah. Sure. Right, Jenna thought, a pit of sour sadness forming in her stomach. The perfect Blooms will definitely be here to see all their perfect kids.

  “Everything okay?” Julie asked again.

  Jenna opened her mouth to reply, but Dr. Steve tapped the microphone again before she got a word out.

  “But before Visiting Day, there is one other event that I think you will all be very excited about,” Dr. Steve put in. “The night before Visiting Day, we are going to have . . .”

  Jenna saw Natalie cross her fingers. Valerie and Chelsea sat up a little higher in their seats. Grace was beaming so brightly, she could have lit up the entire camp. Even Sarah, the bunk’s major jock, who would never even think about getting dressed up, looked excited.

  “A camp-wide social!” Dr. Steve announced, just as Alex mouthed the words, “A camp-wide dance.”

  Half the room gasped in excitement, and Jenna glanced at Alex.

  “Dance, social. What’s the difference?” Alex asked.

  “What is the difference?” Natalie asked.

  “Nothing, really,” Marissa replied, sitting down at the end of the table with Julie. As a CIT, Marissa also had the job of waitressing at meals, and she always joined the table when her duties were done. “There will still be dancing. They just decided not to call it a dance because the younger kids get all weird about it.”

  Jenna knew this was true. Every year while all the older girls danced with the older boys, the younger girls stood around and looked awkwardly at the boys across the room. Some kids didn’t want to dance at all because they felt silly. Other kids were terrified of asking someone to dance and even more terrified of being asked to dance. A lot of kids got stressed out about it in the days leading up to the event. Of course, Jenna had never been one of them. She just saw the camp dance as a chance to eat snacks and hang with her friends. And she didn’t think that using the word “social” was going to fool anyone. They all knew it was still the camp dance.

  “We’ll be having all kinds of sweets and snacks, and Pete, the assistant cook you all know and love, has graciously offered to deejay the event,” Dr. Steve continued.

  Pete took a step away from the wall where he had been lounging and threw his fists in the air to loud cheers and hoots from all the guys. Gangly and sweet, Pete was a camp mainstay. Up until this year, he had been a counselor and definitely one of the cooler ones. This summer, he had taken a job in the mess hall, although Jenna had no idea why. Even looking after the boys had to be better than working with the so-called food they served around here.

  “A DJ? That’s so cool!” Valerie said, her eyes wide.

  “I hope he’s got some good music,” Alyssa put in.

  “Last year at the camp-wide dance, they actually played Kenny G.,” Grace said, scrunching her face up. “I mean, my grandmother listens to Kenny G.”

  “Who’s Kenny G.?” Jessie asked. For the first time, she lifted her nose from the book it had been buried in the whole time she had been eating.

  “Exactly!” Grace said, raising a hand. “No one knows! He’s, like, this weird old guy with freaky long hair who plays elevator music. I swear he hypnotizes old people into liking him. Oooh! But wouldn’t it be so cool if you could hypnotize people into liking you?” she added, her eyes bright.

  Jenna and her bunkmates laughed at this latest babble of Grace’s. “Don’t worry. Everybody already likes you,” Jenna assured her, causing her friend to blush under her freckles.

  “We would like the campers to be as involved as possible in planning this event,” Dr. Steve continued. “After all, this is your party. To that end, we’ll be creating a planning committee made up entirely of campers.”

  Jenna’s eyes widened, and she looked from Alex to Brynn to Grace. Now this was new. Campers had never been involved in the planning of the annual event before. If Jenna could get on the committee, she could make sure that it was the best social/dance/whatever in the history of Lakeview. And she could help them avoid the classic mistakes. Like Kenny G.!

  “This is so cool!” Grace said, clasping her hands together.

  “Counselors, we will be taking two volunteers from each cabin. Please bring the names of your volunteers to my office tomorrow morning,” Dr. Steve said, shouting now to be heard over the excited chatter. “Thank you for your attention,” he said. Then he gave up and sat down at his table again.

  “I totally want to be on the planning committee!” Chelsea said instantly.

  “Me too!” Jenna put in.

  “So do I!” Natalie added. “Don’t you, Alyssa?”

  “Yeah,” Alyssa said. “It could be fun.”

  The whole table erupted as everyone tried to volunteer for the committee.

  “You guys, you can’t all be on the committee,” Julie said, holding her hands up. “Then none of you would get to be surprised on the night of the social.”

  “And besides, Dr. Steve said there could be only two from each bunk,” Brynn added.

  “You’re right,” Alex said, sitting back. “I’m out. I wanna see what the rest of you come up with.”

  Jenna couldn’t have been more surprised if Alex had just unzipped her face and revealed that she was actually an alien. Alex didn’t want to be in charge of something? Not possible.

  “Yeah, it’s okay,” Candace put in. “I’m not really into it, anyway.”

  “Me neither,” Karen added.

  “I don’t have to do it, either, Julie,” Jessie offered.

  Julie looked at the rest of them expectantly, waiting for more of them to back down, but no one did. “The rest of you want in?” she asked.

  The table erupted again as everyone tried to make her case.

  “All right! All right!” Julie said, attempting to quiet them. “Like Brynn said, I’m only supposed to submit two names.” She picked up her ever-present clipboard from under her chair and tore off a page of blank paper. “I’ll write everyone’s name down on strips of paper, and then we’ll pick—sound fair?”

  Natalie and Grace and a few others nodded their approval, but Jenna’s heart sank. Her name was never pulled out of hats or barrels or bowls. She was just not lucky with those things.

  “Sarah? Can I borrow your hat?” Julie asked when she was done tearing paper and writing names.

  Sarah pulled off her Red Sox cap, her ponytail flopping through the hole in the back, and handed it to Julie. All the names were dumped in the hat, and then Julie shook it up.

  “Alex, since you were the first to gracefully bow out, how about you do the honors?” Julie asked, holding the hat out to Alex, who was sitting to her right.

  Alex sat up straight and made a very serious face as she dipped her hand into the hat. Jenna held her breath. Alex unfolded the first strip of paper and held it up for everyone to see. “Chelsea,” she said.

  “Yes!” Chelsea cheered.

  So unfair, Jenna thought. Why should a newbie get to be on the committee and not me? At least I’ve been to these things before.

  Julie shook the cap again, and Alex put her hand inside.

  Please just say Jenna, please just say Jenna, please just say—

  “Jenna!” Alex announced.

  “No way!” Jenna blurted, causing everyone to laugh. Alex leaned over to high-five her, and Jenna slapped her friend’s hand. She couldn’t believe it. Her name had actually been chosen! She was going to be on the planning committee!

  “So Chelsea and Jenna will represent us,” Julie said, dumping out the rest of the names and handing the hat back to Sarah. The rest
of the bunk sat back, disappointed.

  “Don’t worry, you guys. We’ll all come up with ideas, and then Chelsea and I can give them to the committee,” Jenna suggested.

  Everyone brightened a bit at this plan, and Julie grinned. “Now that sounds fair, doesn’t it?”

  “Yeah,” Grace replied, chorused by the others. “Thanks, Jenna.”

  “No problem,” Jenna said, her mind already brimming with possibilities. She couldn’t wait to put her own personal touch on the camp-wide social. Now all she had to do was figure out what her personal touch would be.

  “I can’t believe Chelsea got picked,” Brynn complained as she, Jenna, Alex, and Grace walked back to the bunk together after dinner. “She’s a newbie. Julie should have done it by seniority.”

  “You only think that because I said no, and then you and Jenna would have been after me in line,” Alex said.

  Jenna, Brynn, and Alex would have been at the same point in line, actually, but Jenna didn’t bother to point that out. They all knew it, anyway.

  “So?” Brynn said, kicking at a stone on the walkway.

  “Don’t worry, Brynn. Like I said, if you have any ideas, I’ll bring them up at the meetings,” Jenna told her.

  “Good, because I have about a million,” Grace put in, fiddling with her colorful plastic rings. “We could have a fifties theme! You know, like Grease? Or like a Gone with the Wind theme? Like a Southern ball? Ooh! Or maybe it could be a Mardi Gras theme! I went to Mardi Gras with my aunt and uncle one year, and it was so cool! Well, I didn’t get to see a lot of it because I had to go to bed early, but in the morning there were beads everywhere.”

  “Good ideas,” Jenna said. “Maybe you should write them down or something so I remember them.”

  “Totally!” Grace said, putting a little skip in her walk that made her crazy red curls bounce all around. “I’ll do it when we get back.”

  “Just make sure you give it to Jenna and not Chelsea,” Brynn suggested. “I don’t trust that girl yet.”

  “That reminds me,” Alex said, walking backward to look at Jenna. She glanced around at the other random campers walking and talking nearby and lowered her voice. “Whatever happened to the initiation prank?”