“Bye!” she said, trying not to get too flustered. “And be careful where you sit!”
Gabriel laughed and gave her a wink.
Oh no . . . did she just give herself away?
Amelia was still talking to Jared.
“So do you think she’s telling him what she suspects?” Maddie whispered to Liza, who was now standing next to her, when Gabriel was out of earshot.
“Maybe,” Liza replied. “But I’m not going to worry about it. Today’s my last full day at camp. We need to have some fun.”
The last day of the first session was also a wrap-up for most of the activities. In archery, the girls held an elimination tournament, taking turns in rounds to see if they could outshoot one another. In the end, it was Samantha against Liza, and Liza won with a shot right outside the bull’s-eye.
“Nice one,” Samantha complimented her, and Liza grinned.
“I’m leaving on a high note,” she said.
In drama, they put on a skit that they had been practicing for the last week. The girls also wrote a play about camp counselors.
“Faster! Faster!” Maddie yelled in her role as a counselor. “You’re going to miss flag!”
“But it’s three o’clock in the morning!” wailed Liza, who was playing a camper. Tara laughed.
At free time, Libby asked Maddie if she wanted to practice tennis.
“It’s Liza’s last day,” Maddie said. “But next week, we can practice all you want.”
“I bet you’ll be sorry you said that,” Libby said mischievously.
“Thanks, Mads,” Liza said.
“So, what do you want to do?” Maddie asked.
Liza didn’t hesitate. “Let’s swim in the lake!”
Ten minutes later the girls were wading into the cool water. A few of the other campers had the same idea, but the lake was mostly quiet. They swam to the dock and then climbed out, sitting on the edge as they let the afternoon sun warm their skin.
“I’m going to miss you, Mads,” Liza said.
“Me too,” Maddie replied.
They were both quiet for a moment as they gently kicked the water with their feet. Then Liza looked at her.
“I can tell you don’t like talking about your dad,” she said. “But if you ever need to, call me, okay? I mean, when you’re out of camp and electronics aren’t considered evil.”
Maddie couldn’t help smiling. “Thanks,” she said, and then the words just came spilling out. “It’s hard to talk about, you know? Back home everyone treats me different. I’m ‘the girl whose dad died.’ Here I just wanted to be Maddie. And it’s been pretty good so far.”
Liza nodded. “I get it. And maybe when you get back home things will be more normal too. People tend to forget stuff over the summer. You’ll get, like, a fresh start.”
That had never occurred to Maddie before. “I hope that’s true,” she said. “That would be nice.”
“You’ll have to tell me what happens with Gabriel,” said Liza.
“What do you think will happen?” asked Maddie, curiously.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Liza. “Maybe he’ll . . . maybe . . . ” She stopped. “You know what, I don’t know!” Then she started to giggle.
Maddie started to giggle too. She was glad she wasn’t the only one who had no idea what was supposed to happen next.
Liza nodded out to the lake. “Race you to the first buoy?”
Maddie grinned. “You’re on!”
The girls dove into the water with a splash. They swam to the buoy and back. Liza’s hand touched the dock just a second before Maddie’s.
“Told you I was leaving on a high note!” Liza said.
At dinner, Liza ate a veggie burger with Emily. “For solidarity,” she said. Then the evening program was a good-bye to all the departing campers. When it was over, Gabriel walked over to Maddie.
“Go ahead,” Liza told her. “I’ve got to say good-bye to a bunch of people anyway.”
“Thanks,” Maddie said.
Gabriel smiled when he reached her. “Hullo, Maddie.”
“Hul—I mean, hello,” she said.
“It’s okay if you copy my accent,” Gabriel told her. “It happens all the time.”
“Okay,” Maddie replied. “Then, hullo!”
They fell into step as they walked to get their milk and cookies. Maddie’s heart started doing that flip-flop thing again. Being with Gabriel felt exciting and natural at the same time.
But he was hanging out with Amelia last night, a little voice inside her said. Maddie pushed the thought aside. Gabriel was with her now, wasn’t he? Dad always told her to live in the moment. Well, that’s what she was going to do.
They got their milk and cookies and sat on their usual rock. Maddie had a lot of questions about London, and Gabriel answered them all. The most interesting thing she learned was that Gabriel liked to eat baked beans on toast for breakfast.
“Sorry, but that’s a little weird,” she said with a laugh.
“That’s okay,” he said. “I think the way everyone here puts ketchup on everything is weird. Seth even puts it on his scrambled eggs.”
“I do too,” Maddie admitted. “It’s yummy.”
Gabriel shook his head. “See? Weird.”
They talked until it was time to head back to their bunks. When Maddie caught up to her friends, they were full of questions.
“Is Gabriel your boyfriend?” Libby asked directly. “I mean, you guys are with each other all the time.”
“Well, he hasn’t asked me to be his girlfriend,” Maddie replied.
“But if he did, would you?” Emily asked.
“Guys!” Liza said in a warning tone.
“No, it’s okay,” Maddie said. “I don’t mind talking about it. I guess, it’s just, I don’t know. I mean, if he were my boyfriend, how would things be different? We’d still just hang out and talk, right?”
The girls were silent for a moment as they considered this.
“It would have to be different,” Libby said finally. “I mean, you’d have to do everything together and stuff.”
“Ew, you would not,” Emily joined in. “I mean, that would be boring, wouldn’t it?”
“My mom says I can’t have a boyfriend until I’m sixteen,” Samantha offered.
“Maybe she’s onto something,” Maddie said. Crushing on a boy was one thing, but having an actual boyfriend? That sounded like a lot of work. Right now, it would be nice if everything could just stay the same.
They hadn’t noticed that Amelia had been sitting on her bed, listening to them. “You guys don’t know what do to with a boyfriend?” she said. “That’s really pathetic.”
“It is not pathetic, Amelia,” said Liza. “We just have other things that we are interested in besides boys. Well, in addition to boys.”
Amelia ignored her.
“You talk to a boyfriend every day. And you text, and e-mail. And things get assumed. Like when you have a dance or something you know that you will dance with him. You don’t have to worry about him asking you because he’s always your boyfriend. Seriously I cannot believe none of you have ever had a boyfriend before.” She sighed and got under her covers, presumably to text again.
Maddie thought about what Amelia said as she settled in. It sounded good. The not worrying part. Because right now she was worried about pretty much everything.
chapter 12
MADDIE WOKE THE NEXT MORNING TO THE SOUND of shrieks and squeals. She sat upright in her bed, startled.
Emily and Libby were still asleep, but the other beds were empty. Samantha came running out of the bathroom area, giggling.
“What’s going on?” Maddie asked, yawning.
“Oh my gosh, it’s awful!” Samantha said, still giggling.
“Then why are you laughing?” Maddie asked.
“It’s just—it’s that—oh, I can’t!” And then Samantha flopped down on her bed, trying to smother her laughter in a pillow.
Ma
ddie jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom. Both Liza and Amelia were standing in front of the mirrors, wrapped in towels and still dripping from the shower. They both looked like they were in shock, and it was easy to see why: Liza’s blond hair was now orange, and Amelia’s light brown hair was streaked with bright purple!
Maddie put a hand over her mouth. “What happened?”
Amelia was too angry to reply, but Liza broke into a grin.
“I have to admit, it was brilliant,” she said. “The boys pranked us. They must have put bug juice in our shampoo bottles.” She leaned in closer to look at her hair.
Amelia ducked into the shower and came back with her shampoo bottle. She dumped it into the sink, and grape bug juice flowed out.
“Those idiots!” she shrieked. “There has got to be some way to get this out!”
“It happened to that girl Holly last year, and she couldn’t get the color out for, like, a week,” Liza reported calmly. She was clearly enjoying Amelia’s freak-out.
“No way!” Amelia cried. She went back into the shower, angrily tossed her towel over the stall door, and turned on the water.
Liza shook her head. “She can try, but bug juice is pretty powerful.”
“Oh Liza, I can’t believe this happened on your last day. How awful!” Maddie said sympathetically.
“It’s okay,” Liza said with a shrug. “It actually looks kind of cool.”
Liza ducked back into the stall to get dressed, and Maddie returned to the sleeping area.
“You guys might want to skip showers this morning,” she told Libby, Samantha, and Emily. “Looks like the boys have sabotaged our shampoo.”
“What do you mean?” Libby asked sleepily.
Then Liza emerged from the bathroom, and Libby gasped.
“That looks really cool,” Emily said.
“Thanks,” Liza replied.
The girls got ready for flag while Amelia stayed in the shower, fruitlessly trying to get the bug juice out of her hair. Tara entered the bunk and frowned when she heard the shower running.
“Seriously?” she asked.
“Go easy on her,” Liza said, pointing to her hair. “The boys got us.”
“Bug juice?” Tara asked, and Liza nodded. Tara just sighed walked into the bathroom area.
Five minutes later the girls were gathered with the other campers for flag. Liza’s hair was orange but nicely dried, and Amelia’s hair was purple and still dripping. She stomped over to the boys’ side and poked Jared in the arm.
“You were supposed to do the other shampoos, not mine!” she hissed, loudly enough so that Maddie and Liza could hear her.
Jared just shrugged. “I couldn’t remember which was yours, so I just did them all.”
Maddie couldn’t help smiling. “Looks like her own evil plan backfired on her.”
Then Patty and Jim Lewis addressed the campers.
“As you all know, today is changeover day,” Patty announced. “Today we’ll be saying good-bye to some of our campers, and welcoming new ones. It’s also visiting day, so all of our normal activities are on hold for today.”
“Tonight at dinner we’ll be handing out a new activity chart,” Jim added.
“So remember, be sure to wish your old friends well, and get ready to welcome some new ones with some Camp Wimoway spirit!” Patty said.
Maddie turned to Liza. The fact that her friend was leaving was finally sinking in.
“I’m going to miss you so much,” Maddie said, hugging her.
“Me too, Mads,” Liza replied.
The girls all headed to breakfast, where Liza drank a giant glass of orange bug juice. They were barely finished when Liza’s parents came into the mess hall, scanning the room for their daughter.
Liza spotted them first and ran up to them, nearly knocking over her mother with a hug. Maddie slowly approached them, and Liza’s dad gave her a big smile.
“Maddie, look at you! You must have grown three inches!” he remarked.
“Thanks, Mr. Harry,” Maddie said.
“Liza, what did you do to your hair?” Mrs. Harry shrieked, when Liza let her go.
The girls told Liza’s parents the whole story as they packed up all of Liza’s things. It seemed to Maddie that it took no time at all before Liza was ready to go home.
Libby and Emily joined them as they carried Liza’s bags to her car. Liza hugged each one of them good-bye. When she got to Maddie, she whispered in her ear. “Let me know what happens with Gabriel,” she said.
Maddie felt herself blush a little and nodded.
Liza got into the car and waved good-bye as the car pulled out. Maddie, Libby, and Emily waved and waved until the car was out of sight.
Maddie suddenly felt supersad. It would probably be a whole year before she saw Liza again.
Libby and Emily linked elbows with her.
“Come on,” Libby said. “Let’s get ready for our visitors.”
chapter 13
BACK IN THE BUNK, THEY FOUND SAMANTHA ON THE porch, next to her packed-up bags.
“Oh my gosh, I totally forgot you were leaving too!” Maddie cried, hugging her. She had been so focused on Liza that she forgot that she would miss other people too.
“That’s okay,” Samantha said.
“Well, I didn’t forget,” Emily said. She ran inside the bunk and came back out with a small box wrapped in purple tissue paper. She handed it to Samantha. “Open it!”
Samantha obeyed and took out a handmade necklace with the words CAMP WIMOWAY spelled out in alphabet beads.
“I love it!” Samantha cried, giving Emily a warm hug. “I will never forget you guys. And I will definitely be back next summer.”
They said good-bye to Samantha and went inside the bunk, where Amelia was packing her bags.
“I thought you were staying all summer!” Maddie said.
“I am,” Amelia replied, sounding defensive. “I’m just moving over to the Sarah bunk. No offense or anything. But those girls are a little older and, um . . . well, more experienced with things.”
Maddie, Libby, and Emily exchanged glances.
“No offense taken,” Maddie answered. “You made friends with those girls pretty fast.”
Amelia softened a bit. “Yeah, right. Well, I’ll see you guys around.”
She zipped up her big duffel bag, picking it up, and started trying to pick up all her other bags too.
“We’ll help you,” Maddie said, and Amelia nodded gratefully.
“Thanks!”
Maddie, Libby, and Emily helped Amelia carry her bags to her new bunk.
“Good riddance!” Emily said, as they dumped Amelia’s bags on her new porch. They all smiled at one another. Maddie wondered whether Amelia moving to a new bunk meant she’d start focusing on the other boys’ bunk, too. She hoped so. She didn’t like Amelia anywhere near Gabriel.
As they were walking back to their own cabin, they saw three girls loading their bags onto the porch.
“Oh my gosh, it’s the volleyball girls!” Maddie cried, stopping in her tracks.
“The volleyball girls?” Libby asked.
“You guys have never met them,” Maddie explained. “They always come for the second session. They’re like, obsessed with volleyball, and they’re awesome at it. They don’t even take siesta or free time or anything—they’re always on the volleyball court.”
“That sounds intense,” Emily remarked.
“Wait until you meet them,” Maddie said.
They walked up to the porch toward their three new bunkmates. Each girl had her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. One of the girls bounded down the steps toward Maddie.
“Hey, Maddie!” she said, holding up her hand for a high five.
“Hey, Ashley!” Maddie said, high-fiving her back. She nodded behind her. “This is Libby and Emily.”
“Nice to meet you,” Ashley said. Then she pointed to the porch. “That’s Alexis and Abigail up there.”
“Wow, Trip
le-A,” Emily remarked.
“How did you know we called ourselves that?” Ashley asked, and didn’t wait for an answer. “Hey, after we put our stuff away we’re going for a run. Want to come?”
“Well, our parents will be here soon,” Maddie answered.
“I don’t run,” Emily said flatly. “Unless someone is chasing me.”
“L-O-L!” Ashley said. “Well, catch you guys later.”
Libby shook her head as Ashley, Alexis, and Abigail brought their stuff inside the cabin.
“You were right,” she said. “They are intense!”
Then they heard the beep of a horn, and Maddie turned to see a car pull up to the bunk—her grandma’s car!
“Grandma!” Maddie yelled, practically leaping off the porch. She ran to the car. Her mom hadn’t said anything about Grandma coming on visiting day.
The car doors opened, and her grandmother, grandfather, and mother all got out. Maddie didn’t know who to hug first, she was so happy to see all of them. But Maddie’s grandmother ran up and hugged her first.
“Surprise!” she said, squeezing Maddie tightly. Her grandmother was a small, thin, woman with brown hair streaked with gray, and Maddie was always surprised at how strong her hugs were.
“Save some for me,” her grandpa said in his deep voice. He was twice as tall as Maddie’s grandma, and he had to lean way over to hug her.
When Maddie finally escaped the hug, her mom was waiting for her.
“You didn’t tell me!” Maddie accused.
“Then it wouldn’t have been a surprise,” her mom said. She let go of Maddie and looked in her face. “You look beautiful! I missed that face.”
“I missed yours, too,” Maddie said. She turned to her grandparents. “I’m glad you guys drove. I was worried she was going to end up in California or something. You should have seen her on the ride over.”
“Hey, I got us here,” her mom said, pretending to sound hurt.
The sound of the lunch bell rang across the camp.
“We should get to the mess hall,” Maddie said.
Mom grinned and pulled a small cooler from the back seat. “I packed us a lunch. All your favorites. I figured you’d need a break from camp food.”
Maddie's Camp Crush Page 6