“Well, it’s true. We’d look horrible if we went on all those rides.”
“But it would be fun.” Karen sounded wistful. Grace was surprised Karen was disagreeing with Chelsea at all—Karen must really love those water rides if she was willing to fight for them.
Suddenly Chelsea gave a little sob. It sounded fake. “I can’t believe you’re changing your mind about this,” she said. “You promised to hang out with me by the wave pool.”
“I know,” Karen said. “Don’t be mad—”
“You know that swimming makes me sick,” Chelsea interrupted. “If we go on those rides, I’ll get water in my ears and get an earache. And if water gets in my eyes, it will ruin my contact lenses.”
But you go swimming in the lake every day, Grace thought.
“But we go swimming every day,” Karen said.
“Yeah, in the lake,” Chelsea answered. Her voice wavered as if she were trying to hold back tears. “Where there’s no chlorine to sting my eyes. And where I can keep my head out of the water so my hair doesn’t get ruined. And I don’t get water in my ears.”
Grace shook her head. Chelsea was coming up with all kinds of excuses, but Grace suspected that the real reason she didn’t want to go on the water rides was that she thought she’d look bad with wet hair and no makeup. Chelsea was so pretty that she’d be gorgeous no matter what. But she took a lot of care with her appearance. Maybe she didn’t feel confident without her makeup.
Still, it wasn’t fair to keep Karen from doing what she wanted just because Chelsea didn’t want to be alone. Tell her that, Karen, Grace silently willed. Tell her you want to go on the rides.
“Well, if it means that much to you . . .” Karen said.
“Thank you!” Chelsea answered, her voice normal again. “We’ll have a great time getting a tan.”
“I usually just get sunburns,” Karen replied quietly.
Grace took a deep breath and opened the door. “Oh, hi, guys,” she said casually. “I didn’t know anyone was in here.”
Chelsea looked startled. Karen just smiled. “We came back to get Chelsea’s sunglasses,” she explained. “The light hurts her eyes.”
“Plus, who wants to listen to a boring lecture?” Chelsea added, trying to joke. She watched Grace carefully, as if waiting for her to say something. She wants to know if I overheard them arguing about the water park, Grace realized.
But she had no intention of saying anything about what she’d heard. She wasn’t happy that Karen had given in to Chelsea, but it wasn’t really any of her business.
“Julie said I could skip the lecture so I can read,” she said, flopping down on her bed.
“We better get back before Julie comes looking for us,” Karen told Chelsea.
“Yeah. See you later, Grace.”
Grace smiled and waved as they left. It was hard to understand Chelsea sometimes. But right now she had to focus on her book.
“Hey, Grace, your friend is here.” Valerie’s tone was sarcastic.
Grace looked up from her book. She’d been reading in the bunk for an hour and a half straight. “Huh?”
Valerie nodded toward the porch. “That girl from 3A. Abby?”
“Gaby,” Grace corrected her. “She’s here?”
“On the porch. I guess she didn’t feel like taking siesta with her own bunkmates,” Valerie said.
“I guess I can’t avoid her, huh?” Grace murmured. “Did you tell her I was here?”
“Well, I wasn’t gonna lie,” Valerie said. “Just go out and talk to her. The sooner you get rid of her, the sooner you can get back to reading.”
“Yeah,” Candace said. “The sooner you can get back to reading so you can come to WetWorld.”
“Oh, all right.” Grace got up and went out onto the porch. She wasn’t in the mood for small talk, but she figured Gaby must have a reason for coming here. She probably wanted to apologize for telling Natalie and Alyssa about Grace’s secret. “Hey, what’s up?” she said when she reached Gaby.
“Hi, Gracie!” Gaby chirped. “Wanna hang out?”
“I can’t,” Grace said. “I have to read.”
Gaby frowned. “Is this because I wouldn’t hang out with you during siesta the other day?”
“No,” Grace said honestly. “Although it is a little weird that you feel comfortable coming over to my bunk when you told me to stay away from your bunk.”
“I told you I was just kidding about that.”
“Yeah, I know,” Grace said. “It still seems a little weird to me, though. And it sure didn’t sound like you were kidding. Anyway, I really have to read.”
“Look, I’m sorry,” Gaby blurted out. “I shouldn’t have told your bunkmates that you lied about WetWorld.”
It didn’t seem like much of an apology, but still Grace felt a little better. At least Gaby realized that what she’d done was rude and wrong. “That’s okay,” Grace said. “I might get to go to WetWorld after all.”
“Cool,” Gaby said. “How?”
“I have to finish this book by the end of the weekend,” Grace explained. “And then my parents are going to give me a quiz. That’s why I can’t hang out right now. I have a lot of reading to do.”
“Okay. How about at free swim? Do you want to be swim buddies? It’s so hot out, I’m dying to go in the lake.”
“Um, I don’t think so,” Grace said. “I was planning to read during free swim. Julie even let me get out of arts and crafts this morning so I could read.”
“Then you don’t have to read during free swim,” Gaby said. “Give yourself a break. Get some exercise.”
“But I can’t,” Grace insisted. “There’s no way I can finish the book unless I spend every single second reading.”
“Oh, come on, don’t be so boring,” Gaby said. “I thought you were supposed to be fun.”
“I am fun,” Grace replied. “Just not right now. Being too much fun is what got me into this mess. If I’d paid more attention to school and spent less time having fun, I wouldn’t have to be cooped up in here reading all day.”
“It’s only one hour,” Gaby pointed out. “And we just made up after our fight. Please?”
Grace sighed. How could she say no to that?
“Okay,” she said. “I guess I can take one hour off from reading.”
Once Gaby had gone back to her own bunk, Grace managed to finish the chapter she was on and start the next one before it was time for free swim. Changing into her bathing suit, she decided Gaby was right. She’d been reading nonstop for hours. She could use a break.
It was hot out, with no wind. The lake barely even had ripples on its surface. Perfect for swimming laps, which Grace couldn’t wait to do. When she got in the water, she knew her stress about the quiz on Sunday would start to melt away. She’d cool down, enjoy the feel of the water against her skin, and clear her mind from the adventures of Buck for a little while. She couldn’t wait to get into the lake. She put her swimming clip on her nose and looked around for Gaby.
Grace found her sitting on a towel near the shallow part of the lake. “Hey!” Grace called, walking over. “Ready to swim?”
“Oh, I don’t want to swim,” Gaby said, squinting up at Grace. “I figured we’d sunbathe.”
Grace almost laughed. She and Gaby were two of the palest, most freckled kids at camp. Neither one of them was ever going to get a tan—all sunbathing would do was burn them to a crisp or leave them with twice as many freckles. “I’d rather swim,” Grace said. “If we were just going to lie in the sun, I would’ve brought my book.”
“I would’ve brought my book,” Gaby repeated in a high-pitched imitation of Grace. “Can’t you talk about anything but that dumb book?” she added.
“I have to finish it,” Grace cried. “I told you that! You said you wanted to swim.”
Gaby heaved a huge sigh. “Oh, all right,” she said as if she were doing Grace a big favor. “Let’s go in.”
“Cool.” Grace turned and start
ed toward the deeper section where they could swim laps.
“Let’s just go in over here,” Gaby called behind her. “Like we did the other day.”
Grace glanced back, surprised to find Gaby standing near the shallow end where all the little kids swam. “Why?” she asked. “We can’t really swim there. It only comes up to our waists.”
“We don’t have to swim swim,” Gaby said. “We can just splash around and get cooled off.”
“But I want to swim laps,” Grace said. She tried to remember whether she’d ever seen Gaby swimming in the lake. “Aren’t you a green yet?” she asked. Maybe Gaby hadn’t learned to dive this summer, in which case she’d still be in the yellow group of swimmers. They weren’t allowed to go in the deep part during free swim.
Gaby snorted. “Please. I’m a blue already.”
Now Grace was really confused. If Gaby was in the blue group, it meant she was an expert swimmer who’d already passed her swimming safety test. So why didn’t she want to go in the deep section? “Well, come on then,” Grace said. “Let’s go swim.”
“But our towels and stuff are over here,” Gaby argued. “I don’t want to have to walk all the way back from the deep part to get a towel.”
“It’s a hundred degrees out!” Grace pointed out. “It’s not like you’ll be cold walking ten feet farther.”
“I’m not in the mood to swim,” Gaby said. “My contact lenses are bothering me.”
“Oh. I didn’t know you wore contacts.”
“Yeah, and I can’t put my face in the water with them in,” Gaby said. “So I can’t really swim. All I can do is go in over here where I can keep my head out.”
Grace frowned. “Then how did you pass your test to be a blue?”
“I wore my glasses that day and took them off to swim. Are we done with the third degree?” Gaby said. “Come on.” Without waiting, she walked into the water in the shallow section.
Frustrated, Grace pulled off her nose clip and followed. Wading around in muddy water wasn’t exactly her idea of a good time. She was annoyed at Gaby, but she was even madder at herself. No matter how hard she tried, she just didn’t seem able to say no to Gaby.
Walking around in the shallow water was boring, so they only stayed in the lake for ten minutes. Then Grace had to sit on shore and listen to Gaby tell gossipy stories about her bunkmates until free swim was over. Grace had never been so happy to hear Tyler blow his whistle.
“Everybody out!” he yelled. “See you tomorrow!”
“Okay, bye,” Grace said in a rush, gathering up her towel.
“What’s the hurry?” Gaby asked.
“I have to go read.”
“Well, hang on, I’ll walk with you.” Gaby slowly picked up her towel, shook it out, and folded it neatly. Grace bounced from one foot to the other in impatience. Finally Gaby was ready to go.
“Should we catch up to Marta and Sharon?” Grace asked, spotting two of Gaby’s bunkmates on the path ahead of them.
“Nah.” Something in Gaby’s voice made Grace suspicious. She looked around. None of the other girls from 3A were anywhere near them. In fact, none of Gaby’s bunkmates were ever around. It didn’t seem as if Gaby hung out with them at all away from the bunk. And based on her nasty stories during free swim, Gaby didn’t seem to mind.
“So who’s your best friend in the bunk?” Grace asked.
Gaby shrugged. “No one. It’s better to have a best friend from outside the bunk.”
Grace didn’t answer. She’d given up on thinking that Gaby could be her best friend at camp. Gaby was too unpredictable to count on. One minute she was nice, and the next she was mean.
“Oh, hang on,” Gaby said suddenly. “I have to fix my shoe.” She dropped to her knees and began fiddling with the Velcro on her sandals. But Grace noticed that there was nothing wrong with the shoe to begin with. Gaby had just pulled it open and then started playing around with it. Was she trying to hide from someone? The only people on the path behind them were Julie and Lizzie, Gaby’s counselor. All the other campers were way up ahead.
Julie and Lizzie stepped around them and kept walking. The second they were gone, Gaby popped back up. “Okay, let’s go,” she said cheerfully.
But Grace didn’t buy it. Gaby had been trying to avoid Julie and Lizzie—she was sure of it. “Hey, Julie!” she called without warning Gaby. “Wait up!”
Julie and Lizzie turned around and waited for them.
“What’d you do that for?” Gaby whispered. Grace ignored her and hurried to catch up to the counselors.
“Hey, Grace, I was surprised to see you without your book,” Julie said. “Are you finished with it?”
Gaby snorted. “Yeah, right. With how slow she reads?”
Grace felt a wave of anger wash through her body. How would Gaby know how fast or slow she read?
“Don’t be nasty, Gaby,” Lizzie said seriously. “You finally finished your week in the yellow zone. Do you want to make it another week?”
Gaby shot Grace an angry look. “Sorry,” she said, not sounding sorry at all.
Grace waited until they’d reached the bunk area before pulling Gaby aside. “What did Lizzie mean back there?” she demanded. “She said you had a week in the yellow zone.”
Gaby rolled her eyes. “Oh, my stupid bunkmate Christa went whining to Lizzie about me using up her shampoo. So I got in trouble. Christa’s such a baby.”
A hard knot formed in Grace’s stomach. “You were being punished?” she said angrily. “You had to stay in the shallow part of the lake with the yellows?”
“Yeah, can you believe that?” Gaby said. “No swimming in the deep end for a week! Just because I borrowed some shampoo.”
Grace had a feeling that Gaby hadn’t borrowed anything. Christa was a shy girl in 3A. She’d always reminded Grace of Karen. And knowing their two personalities, Grace thought Gaby had probably just used up Christa’s shampoo and expected her not to tell. But that wasn’t what bothered Grace most.
“You mean, all week you’ve tried to keep me from swimming in the deep part just so you would have company while you were being punished?” she asked.
“Well, I didn’t want to hang out with the little kids all by myself,” Gaby said.
“They’re not all little,” Grace pointed out. “Some of them just aren’t strong swimmers yet.”
“Still,” Gaby said. “I’m not friends with any yellows.”
“Why didn’t you just ask me to stay in the shallow part with you?” Grace said, exasperated. “If you’d asked me as a friend, I would’ve been happy to do it for you.”
“What’s the difference?” Gaby said.
“You’ve been lying all week!” Grace cried.
Gaby shook her head. “You should talk. You lied to your bunkmates about the field trip.”
“Well, I shouldn’t have,” Grace retorted. But Gaby was already walking away.
Grace turned toward her bunk with a heavy heart. She clearly wasn’t going to be friends with Gaby at all: She hadn’t had any fun during free swim, and worst of all, she’d missed an hour’s worth of reading time!
chapter NINE
“Hang on a minute, Grace,” Julie said as Grace reached for the door of bunk 3C. Julie and Marissa were sitting on the rickety railing around the porch. “We need to talk to you.”
Uh-oh, Grace thought. If there was one thing she’d learned in a summer and a half at camp, it was that when both the counselor and the CIT wanted to have a talk with you, it meant you were in trouble. But what could she possibly have done in the five minutes since she last saw Julie on the trail?
She followed them over to the picnic table and sat down.
“Grace, your parents called during free swim,” Marissa said. “I had to tell them you couldn’t come to the phone because you were busy swimming.”
“Oh, no.” Grace dropped her head onto the wooden table. “And they were mad that I wasn’t reading.”
“Yes,” Marissa said. “Alt
hough I told them that you’d been reading all day, and that I didn’t think there was any harm in taking one hour off to let your eyes rest.”
“Thanks,” Grace mumbled without lifting her head.
“But that’s not what we’re worried about,” Julie said. “You really buckled down and worked today, Grace. So why did you decide not to read during free swim?”
“Gaby talked me into being her swim buddy,” Grace said, looking up at them. “I figured doing a few laps might wake me up a little so that I could read all night tonight. But then we spent all our time in the shallow end, so I didn’t even get to do laps.” Grace sighed. “Believe it or not, I would rather have been reading.”
Julie chuckled. “That’s a new Grace, all right.”
“Didn’t Gaby tell you that she had to stay in the shallow part when she asked you to be her swim buddy?” Marissa asked. “Stephanie told me a week ago that Gaby was being punished.” Jenna’s sister Stephanie was the CIT for Gaby’s bunk.
“Nope.” All of Grace’s annoyance crept back into her voice as she spoke. “She didn’t bother to mention that until after free swim.”
Julie and Marissa exchanged a glance. “How come you agreed to be swim buddies, Grace?” Julie asked. “I don’t mean to sound harsh, but it doesn’t sound as if you even like Gaby that much.”
“I don’t know,” Grace said. “She’s weird, but it’s nice having a friend at camp.”
“You have a million friends,” Marissa cried. “Everybody loves you, Grace!”
“Yeah, I know. But I don’t have a best friend,” Grace said. “Everybody pairs off, but not with me. I guess I thought it would be cool to have one best friend here.”
“It’s okay to have a lot of friends,” Marissa said. “It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you if you don’t have a best friend, you know. It just proves that you’re well-rounded!”
“But I miss my best friend from home,” Grace said with a sigh. “If she even is my best friend anymore. I owe her a letter, big time.”
“You miss your best friend, so you thought you’d feel better if you found a best friend here,” Julie said. “And you thought that Gaby was that friend?”
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