“Oh, I’m sorry,” Grace said, taking it from her and shaking her head. “I wrote that. I got it mixed up. We were hurrying and—”
“I should have known. I mean, you have trouble reading, right? So of course you can’t spell either,” Chelsea interrupted.
Grace blinked. She looked stunned. Everyone else just stared at Chelsea. They couldn’t believe how rude she was being.
“Let’s feed you,” Julie said quickly. She smiled at Chelsea and led her away from the table.
“Yeah, because I think she has low blood sugar,” Alex muttered.
“Wow, she’s cranky even for Chelsea,” Natalie said.
“Way cranky,” Candace said.
“Well, you know she heard us talking about her,” Alex reminded Natalie.
Natalie winced. “I feel awful.”
“Me, too,” Alex confessed.
“Make that three,” Grace added.
“Four,” Jenna put in.
“Well, let’s have a do-over again and try to have a good time,” Natalie suggested. “My mom says that a good mood can be contagious.”
“Okay, let’s try,” Alex said.
They started talking and eating. The dance beat picked up. Natalie’s toes were tapping and she wondered again where Simon was. Then, almost as if he had heard her thought . . . there he was, grinning down at her!
Wow! Simon had grown at least four inches since she had last seen him! His face was thinner, too. His eyes, just as amazingly blue, surrounded by his jet black hair. He had on a black leather jacket, a black T-shirt, and jeans. He looked like a rock star.
“Hey, Natalie,” he said. His voice made rockets go off all up and down her spine. Her cheeks tingled. “How are you?”
“Great,” she said.
“Oh, Simon,” Grace teased. “Natalie totally missed you!”
“I like your hair,” he said.
Natalie flushed. Then Simon said, “Would you like to dance?”
Dance? With Simon? Of course! She had only been daydreaming about it for six months!
“Okay.” Somehow she managed to get up out of her chair.
He took her hand and electricity sizzled through her fingertips. She ignored the giggles behind them as they walked to the dance floor.
It was a fast dance, so they started moving to the hip-hop beat. Simon was a great dancer. That was cool. A lot of boys weren’t very good dancers.
The song ended and the beat changed. Natalie recognized the new song as a sort of techno version of the theme song of her dad’s latest movie. Simon recognized it, too, and he grinned at her.
“Freaky,” he said, and she nodded. Then his grin became a wonderful smile and he took her hands and put them on his shoulders.
They danced for a long time. She saw Grace and Devon, and Alex with Adam . . . hmm, maybe something was heating up between those two! But what about that eighth-grader, Peter, who liked her?
Then she saw Marissa and her own crush, dark-headed, ponytailed Pete, making goo-goo eyes at each other, standing off to one side holding drinks and talking.
All the songs were fast, and Natalie wondered if the grown-ups had planned it that way.
Finally Simon said, “I’m thirsty.”
“We have soda at my table,” Natalie said.
They walked hand-in-hand back toward the table. Some of the other girls were missing, but Chelsea was there, nibbling on a piece of pizza. She looked no happier than before.
Natalie assumed the other girls were getting more food or dancing. Dr. Steve had explained that the first hour of the reunion was for eating and mixing, and then they would be free to explore the rest of Village Bowl—watch Josie’s movie, or bowl, or race go-karts.
“Hi, Natalie! Hey, Simon,” Pete said as he and Marissa caught up with the two campers. “I think you’re headed our way.”
“It’s so good to see you,” Natalie said to Pete. “How have you been?”
“Great.” Pete looked relaxed and happy, the way he usually looked. Except maybe when he had just burnt all the French toast. “Especially since I didn’t have to do any of the cooking for the party.”
Everyone laughed. “Yeah, that makes us pretty happy, too,” Simon jibed. Natalie noticed his use of the word “us” and she thought that was extremely cool.
They reached the table. Pete smiled broadly at Chelsea and said, “Hey, how you doing, Chelsea? Long time no see.”
“Only six months. That’s not all that long,” she said in a flat voice. She didn’t stand up to hug him or anything.
Pete was cool, though. He sat down in Marissa’s chair and faced Chelsea, his hands between his knees. Marissa sat on the other side and Natalie and Simon took Julie and Grace’s chairs.
“Did you have any trouble getting to the reunion?” he asked.
“Just trouble deciding whether or not I should bother to come,” she replied. She kept eating her pizza.
“Well, I’m glad you did.” Pete replied.
Chelsea shifted in her chair. Natalie caught her glancing toward the dance floor, and on impulse, she whispered to Simon, “Would you ask her to dance?”
He raised his brows. She nodded encouragingly.
“If you want me to,” he whispered back. “She does seem kind of lonely.” He cleared his throat. “Hey, Chelsea, would you like to dance?”
She gave him a withering glance. “I only dance with cool boys.”
Simon’s face turned bright red. Natalie was just about to let Chelsea have it for being so rude when Adam and Alex came trotting over. Alex looked flushed from dancing.
They both said hi to everyone at the table and then Adam asked Natalie, “Is it true my sister got herself delivered to your apartment building in a trunk?”
“He doesn’t believe me!” Alex informed them.
Natalie giggled. Then she pointed as Jenna came skipping back to the table nibbling on a big piece of chocolate cake. “Ask her!” She turned to Simon. “Let’s go bowling and ride go-karts!”
“You’re on,” he said.
Natalie glanced over at Chelsea. Her head was tucked down as she steadily ate her pizza. She seemed so uncomfortable that Natalie felt sorry for her, despite how rude she had been to Simon—and everyone else. She wanted to say to her, “Please just relax and have a good time. We want to be friends with you. You’ll see later at my house that we really want you to be happy.”
But she was hesitant to talk to her at that moment. She was afraid Chelsea would just twist whatever she had to say and try to hurt her feelings.
So she regretfully walked past her with Simon. Then they pushed through the double doors, laughing and giggling, and headed for the elevators. Bowling was on the next floor down, and the go-karts were on the lowest floor.
“What shall we do first?” Natalie asked Simon.
“Everything!” Simon replied, and they both cracked up.
The rest of the reunion was a blur. Natalie and Simon ran into everyone from the bunk, either bowling or riding go-karts, and watching part of Josie’s movie (Natalie had already seen it at a sneak screening at her dad’s over Christmas break). It was like a wonderful dream that went by all too fast.
Before she knew it, she had hugged and said good-bye to Julie and Marissa. Then Simon walked with her to the two limos her mother had hired to transport the girls of Bunk 3C to Natalie’s apartment. The seven girls who had come straight to the reunion had their suitcases and sleeping bags with them. The limo drivers quickly stored their luggage and instructed the girls where to find the sodas and snacks.
“We know the drill!” Grace said airily. She waved her hands at Natalie as she popped out of the moon roof. “C’mon, Goode, let’s kick it!”
Simon and Natalie faced each other. The girls hung out of the two limos making kissing noises and chanting, “Natalie and Simon, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”
They both tried to ignore the others. “It was so awesome to see you,” Simon said to Natalie. “Maybe we could hang out
over spring break?”
Natalie didn’t know how she managed not to shout “Yes!” Instead, she said warmly, “I’d like that.”
“Cool.” His smile was shy. The girls in the limos whistled and cheered.
Wincing, Natalie grinned back and said, “I have a sleepover to host.”
“You’ll do great,” he said, and she realized that he knew she was nervous even though she hadn’t told him.
“I hope so,” she confessed.
He gave her a quick wink and squeezed her hand. All her bunkmates made groaning and barfing noises. “I have complete faith in you, Natalie.”
“Thanks.” Her hand was tingling. So was her face.
She turned and climbed into the first limo. Grace, Jenna, Alyssa, Karen, and Chelsea were already seated. She was disappointed that Alex was in the other limo, because she wanted to ask her how it had gone with Adam.
Chelsea still looked as miserable as ever. Natalie was a little nervous about Karen sitting beside Chelsea, because Chelsea had really pushed her around at camp.
Everyone except Chelsea yakked and helped themselves to sodas and pretzels. Karen offered a handful of pretzels to Chelsea, who said, “I’m not hungry.” She could have said, “No thank you,” or “Maybe in a little bit.” But, no. Chelsea had to be superblunt and kind of mean about it.
Grace, Jenna, and Alyssa gazed at Natalie as if they were all thinking the same thing she was. But no one said anything. Everyone pretended not to notice Chelsea’s rudeness, just as Pete, Julie, and the other people at the party had overlooked it as well.
“That was so fun,” Karen said. “I went to a bowling birthday party a few weeks ago, but it was nothing like this!”
“Bowling parties are so over,” Chelsea snapped. “Get a clue, Karen.”
Natalie started to seethe, but Alyssa gave her a look that said, “Chill.”
Before anyone could say anything more, Chelsea looked at Natalie and said, “I hope we’re not going to stay up all night. I’m really tired.”
Then why did you come? Natalie wanted to ask her. But she held back, muttering, “I think I’ll have some pretzels.”
She had been right to worry about tonight’s sleepover. Chelsea was going to do everything in her power to ruin it.
It had begun to snow by the time the two limos stopped at the curb in front of Natalie’s building. The doors flew open before the drivers could get to them, and all eleven girls tumbled out, laughing and catching snowflakes on their tongues.
Chelsea thought about her mother, throwing back her head and pretending to taste delicious flavors. Her hands were sweating. She didn’t know how to explain to the others how scared she was. All she could think to do was try to stay as calm as possible. And to stay calm, she needed these noisy, immature girls to be quiet for a while.
As if, she thought angrily. I can’t believe how silly and loud they’re being!
The entire bunk managed to cram into the elevator and zoom up to Natalie’s apartment. Natalie’s mom was out, and would be back at midnight. As with the Friday night sleepover, all the parents had consented to let the girls stay alone because Natalie’s neighbor, Mrs. Goldberg, was available in case of emergencies.
Alex was astounded at how fancy Natalie’s apartment was. She had known that Natalie’s family was very wealthy, but it was like being in a movie. The island decorations were very elaborate, and she laughed when she found out that the “Fun Shack” was actually the trunk Jenna had arrived in.
After everyone had admired Natalie’s bedroom (and all the pictures of her with movie stars and other celebrities), Natalie broke out more sodas and snacks. Alex had some bottled water. She was relieved to see that Natalie had made sure to provide lots of veggies and cheese. One condition of her coming to the overnight was that she would eat carefully.
Natalie gave everyone some ground rules and explained that they would keep the sodas in the fridge, with spares to restock as they drank the cold ones. Then they talked about the reunion for a long time. Alex got teased big-time about Adam and Peter both. She didn’t mind. It was actually kind of fun to get teased about boys!
After a while, they moved on to other things, and Alex had a sense that the sleepover was officially beginning, just the way Dr. Steve had announced that the party at Village Bowl had just begun.
“Okay! Alyssa has made something really special for everybody,” Natalie announced as her guests arranged their suitcases and sleeping bags in the living room.
Alyssa stood up while Natalie and Jenna walked to a pile of what looked like canvas tote bags. Natalie picked one up and handed it to Alyssa.
Alyssa showed it to the girls. There was a moon, a star, and a pine tree, and the words CAMP LAKEVIEW REUNION BUNK 3C in a semicircle. “I designed the logo, and Natalie’s mom got twelve bags made,” Alyssa explained, as the others ooh’ed and aah’ed.
Then Grace and Natalie passed out the bags.
“Mine’s smeared. No surprise there,” Chelsea muttered as she examined the front of her bag.
Alex looked over at it. Sure enough, the moon and the star had run together, and the letters were smudged.
“Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t notice,” Natalie said, reaching for it. “I’ll trade with you.”
Chelsea firmly held it in her lap. “It’s okay. I’m not going to use it anyway,” she snapped.
There was an awkward moment. Natalie said, “I can get my mom to make you another one.”
“Natalie, hello?” Chelsea said angrily. “I said it’s fine.”
“Okay, then. Moving right along.” Grace cleared her throat as she stood up. “Welcome to the Camp Lakeview Book Club. I am your fearless book club leader. My two assistants will now pass out notebooks and pencils. And then we’ll have a little quiz.”
“I think I’m going to get another soda,” Jessie announced.
“And I have to use the bathroom,” Sarah said. “Go ahead and start without me.”
Grace blinked, a little thrown. Natalie and Alyssa passed out small notebooks and pencils to six of the girls sitting cross-legged on the floor: Candace, Alex, Natalie, Alyssa, Chelsea, and Brynn. Natalie didn’t know where Karen had gone.
Grace rustled her papers. “Okay. These are questions about famous books, okay? The first section is titles. First question. This book is about adult females who are about three inches tall. What’s the title of it?”
Alex got it right away. She chuckled. Beside her, Brynn muttered, “What?”
“Are these supposed to be trick questions?” Chelsea demanded.
Alex said, “I got it!”
“You would. You’re such a brain,” Chelsea grumbled.
Ignore it, be nice to her, Alex reminded herself. “Thanks,” she told Chelsea. She said to Grace, “It’s Little Women.”
“Bing!” Grace imitated a bell. “That’s correct!”
“That was too hard,” Chelsea groaned.
“Okay.” Grace pushed on, reading off the next clue. “This book is about the god of jewelry.”
The girls frowned at Grace. Not one pencil moved. This time Alex was stumped, too.
“The Lord of the Rings!” Grace smiled weakly. “Get it?”
Chelsea rolled her eyes and shook her head.
Grace looked down at her list. Brynn shifted restlessly. Natalie stifled a yawn.
“And that’s all the time we have for the Book Club Quiz!” Grace said, flinging open her arms.
“Yay!” Chelsea cried.
Alex winced at Chelsea’s rudeness. She could see that Grace had prepared a lot more questions, and that she had stopped the quiz early. She was probably disappointed that it hadn’t gone very well.
As if Grace had read her mind, she winked at Alex and wadded up the papers into a ball. She tossed it into the air a couple of times and said, “Time for a soda.”
“I’ll get you one,” Alex offered.
“Cream soda, please,” Grace said. “And thanks!”
“You’re welcome,
” Alex said warmly as she got up and walked into the kitchen.
Natalie and Alyssa caught up with her.
“I’m trying so hard to be nice to you-know-who,” Natalie said to her two friends as they got the sodas. “But it’s really difficult.”
“I know,” Alyssa said. “I’m afraid to say anything. She takes it all wrong.”
Natalie popped open a root beer. She leaned against the counter and took a sip. “I just want to stay in here for, like an hour. I’m totally on edge. It seems like the nicer we are to her, the meaner she acts.”
“I know,” Alex said. “It’s nerve-wracking.”
“But we have to be nice,” Alyssa reminded them. “No matter what.”
“You’re right,” Natalie said. She took another sip of root beer and sighed. “Well, I can’t hide out in my kitchen during my own sleepover. I should go back out there.”
“No, you can’t hide, but you can take a moment to regroup,” Alyssa said loyally. “You’re under a lot of pressure, Nat. And whether she means to be a pain or not, Chelsea’s not helping,” she added.
“You guys are really sweet,” Natalie told them, giving them both big hugs.
The three friends walked back into the living room. Chelsea glared at them and said, “Secrets are not cool at sleepovers.”
Natalie’s face tingled. Feeing guilty, she said, “No secrets, Chelsea.” She looked around the room at the rest of the bunk. People seemed unsure what to do next. “Hey, why don’t we all get our sleeping bags out and change into our pajamas? Then we can relax.”
“It’ll be good to relax,” Candace said.
Jessie and Karen walked over to the pile of sleeping bags. Chelsea waited a moment, and then she did, too.
As Chelsea approached, Karen looked nervous. She was hugging her sleeping bag; and Natalie wondered if she didn’t want to sleep next to Chelsea. The other girls were standing around, too, as if no one wanted to be the first one to put down their bag.
“We’re going to be crammed together,” Karen said, sliding a glance toward Chelsea. That confirmed it for Natalie: Karen wanted some space—literally—between herself and Chelsea.
“Crammed,” Candace agreed.
“Why don’t you sleep next to me, Chelsea?” Sarah offered.
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