Extra Credit #22

by Melissa J Morgan

  Chace. Chace in a shadowy corner with a girl.

  Sarah moved a little closer. She couldn’t get a good look at the girl. Chace was standing too close to her. But she could see that he held her wrist in one hand as he fingered one of the charms on her charm bracelet.

  Sarah spun around. Her eyes blurry with unshed tears, she pushed her way through the crowd and ran straight into—

  Avery.

  Avery was here. That explained everything. Everything.

  “You told him, didn’t you!” Sarah demanded.

  “Whoops, you almost made me spill my drink! Hi! I thought I might see you here. Is Brynn here, too?” Avery asked.

  “That’s what you say when you just ruined my life?” Sarah burst out.

  “What are you talking about?” Avery’s forehead crinkled.

  “Let’s talk outside. It’s too loud in here.” And too humiliating. Obviously Avery had told Chace the “Tad Maxwell’s daughter” story. But that didn’t mean everyone in the club had to hear it.

  Sarah took Avery’s arm and guided her through the crowd and out the door. “What is wrong with you?” Avery asked.

  “You told your brother I lied about being Tad Maxwell’s daughter!” Sarah accused. “Did he think it was funny how pathetic I was? Did you get a big laugh?”

  “I’d forgotten about that.” Avery took a step away from Sarah. “I have more interesting things to think about—and talk about—than you, Sarah.”

  “You’re denying it?” Sarah’s voice came out way too high.

  “I said I didn’t tell him,” Avery said coolly. “Believe what you want. I’m going back to the party.” And she did.

  Sarah slumped against the side of the club.

  Brynn and Temple showed off some of their ’50s dance moves to the electronica pulsing through the room. It didn’t quite fit, but it was fun to try to make it.

  Chace and Sarah had disappeared somewhere. Brynn had seen them dancing a while ago. They looked like the perfect couple, with Chace dipping Sarah, all romantic. Brynn missed hanging with Sarah at the party, but she’d played Cupid’s assistant, and she was happy for her friend.

  Brynn did a twirl transitioning out of the ’50s-style dancing—and blinked. Was that—Yes. That was Natalie over there. She gave Nat a wave and hurried over. “You’re here,” she said, a grin spreading across her face. It had been way too long since she’d seen Nat.

  “I’m here,” Natalie mumbled, with a teensy, weensy smile.

  All the phone calls Brynn had had with Natalie came rushing back. The one where Natalie had said she didn’t need to be an extra. The one they didn’t have where Natalie told Brynn about her new guy. The ones Brynn made to Natalie that Natalie never picked up—or returned.

  “Are you mad at me or something?” she asked.

  “Course not,” Natalie muttered, her eyes widening.

  Brynn listed off her reasons. “Because you barely smiled when you saw me. You don’t seem to want to hang with me anymore. I told you I needed company on the set because Sarah got all caught up with this guy, but you—”

  “Stop,” Natalie said loudly and clearly.

  Brynn thought she saw something flash in Natalie’s mouth. Then Natalie smiled, a big, wide jack-o-lantern smile.

  “You got braces!” Brynn exclaimed.

  “And I think they did a partial brain removal at the same time,” Natalie confessed. “I didn’t want anyone to see them. That’s why I backed out of being an extra.”

  “And smiled like this?” Brynn gave a skimpy little smile. “Why would you think anyone would care?”

  Natalie laughed. “People keep asking me that.” Her eyes darkened. “But some people do care. There are definitely other kids at school with braces. But my friends, they treated me like a freak. Hannah even said I was weird.”

  “Really? She said that to you?” Brynn demanded.

  “No. I overheard her say it. I was hiding in a bathroom stall,” Natalie said.

  “Hiding?” Brynn repeated.

  “Yeah, I’d hide until everyone was in the cafeteria, then I’d go to the library and eat,” Natalie explained.

  “If you did this while muttering and not smiling, I would say that the word weird kind of works for you, Nat,” Brynn said gently.

  Natalie’s mouth dropped open. It finally sunk in. “I guess I should probably call Hannah when I get home.”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” Brynn agreed, looping one arm around Natalie’s shoulders. “So what should we do now? Food? Dancing? Karaoke? I’m so glad you’re here! I’ve missed my Natalie.”

  “I missed you, too,” Natalie answered. “Let’s go up to the balcony and—”

  “I suppose you want to yell at me, too,” someone said from behind them.

  Brynn and Natalie turned around. Avery stood there, hands on her hips, chin high.

  “Why would we want to yell at you?” Natalie asked.

  Brynn had a pretty good idea. “You told your brother about—”

  “No. I didn’t,” Avery interrupted. “Although I remembered I sent Peter a postcard from camp a while ago that said Tad Maxwell’s daughter was in my bunk at Walla Walla. But that’s it.”

  Avery turned away. Brynn scrambled around in front of her. “But he found out somehow? What did he say? Is Sarah all right?”

  “I don’t know. I was bored with being screeched at, so I left. She might still be outside,” Avery answered.

  “Let’s go,” Brynn said. She and Natalie started for the exit. Avery didn’t move. “Come on, Ave. Come talk to her with us. She was just upset. She’ll believe you if you say you didn’t tell him now that she’s calmed down.”

  “Fine.” Avery gave an exasperated sigh. “One shriek and I’m out.”

  Brynn made sure she got out the door first. Sarah was propped up against the wall like a discarded mannequin. “Hi. I have Natalie and Avery with me. We want to talk, figure this out, okay?”

  Sarah didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no, and she didn’t shriek, so Brynn led the others outside.

  “Avery said that she did tell Chace—Peter—that Tad Maxwell’s daughter was at camp with her,” Brynn continued.

  “I might have even told him that her name was Sarah Peyton,” Avery admitted. “He’s gotten so into acting and movies. It was the only thing I could think to write that he’d be remotely interested in. But I didn’t tell him when the whole thing turned out to be . . . a mistake.”

  That was remarkably delicate of Avery, Brynn thought.

  “But he ditched me,” Sarah said, her voice flat. “One minute we were dancing, then poof, he was with some other girl. Why would he do that? When he asked me to be his date for the party, he seemed so excited.”

  “Well, nobody but camp people know about the thing,” Natalie said. “So it can’t be about that.”

  “You got braces,” Avery suddenly said, as if she’d just noticed.

  “Yeah,” Natalie answered. “So what else could it be? What else could have changed his attitude so fast?” She, Brynn, and Sarah turned to Avery.

  “I told you, I—” Avery began.

  “I guess we’re just thinking you know him better than anyone,” Brynn said.

  “Not lately. All he does is shut himself in his room and watch DVDs. Of black-and-white movies,” Avery answered.

  “When I was talking to him yesterday, he said he had to eat, drink, and sleep acting because that’s what it takes to become a star,” Brynn said. “For a minute, I wondered why he wanted a girlfriend at all. No offense, Sarah.”

  Sarah waved the comment away.

  “Oh,” Avery said.

  “What?” Natalie asked.

  “I think I see a connection. Maybe Peter wanted a girlfriend who could help him become a star,” Avery explained.

  “Like Tad Maxwell’s daughter,” Natalie said. And Natalie would know.

  “But he zeroed in on Sarah right away. Like two seconds after she came on set he was already flir
ting with her. How did he know who she was?” asked Brynn.

  “Don’t forget, Sarah has been going to Walla Walla for a while. I must have pointed her out in a group picture at some point,” Avery said.

  “But weren’t we saying he still thinks I’m Tad Maxwell’s daughter?” Sarah asked. She straightened up. A good sign.

  “Yeah. He should still want to be with her, then,” Brynn agreed.

  “This one time . . .” Natalie hesitated. “Okay, embarrassing story of my own. This one time, when I was eleven, this really crush-worthy boy who was about seventeen paid all this attention to me at a party I went to with my dad. I felt so grown-up and I thought my powers of flirtation were so on. But then Serena McAllen showed up, and he was suddenly all over her. And she’s about eighty years old.”

  Natalie pulled in a deep breath. “Next day, I read in a tabloid about how this guy was working the party. First flattering Tad Maxwell’s little girl, then moving on to bigger fish and wooing Serena McAllen, who happened to be about to make a comedy about a senior citizen falling in love with a high school guy.”

  “Awww, poor little girl, Nat,” Brynn said.

  “Maybe Chace is like that guy. Maybe he found somebody higher on the Hollywood food chain at the party,” Natalie suggested. “Who was the other girl you saw Chace with?”

  “I don’t know,” Sarah admitted, her voice soft and sad.

  Brynn slapped her forehead. “You don’t know, but I bet I do! I was at the table where they’re making crepes, and I saw Kobie Armstrong, who plays Sam Quinn’s son in our movie, hug this girl. He kept thanking her,” Brynn told the others. “After they moved away from the table, somebody said that Zan always has her daughter help with casting teen roles, because she thinks teens know what other teens like.”

  “Director’s daughter who helps with casting—and Zan is going to be casting a new movie next month—tops Tad Maxwell’s daughter,” Natalie said.

  “I’m so stupid,” Sarah moaned. “Why didn’t I get it? I’m not eleven like Nat was. I even thought that it was weird that he picked me out of all the girls on the set, just walked up to me. But I didn’t think . . . I just believed he thought I was special.”

  “You are special, Sarah. But that’s not what Chace is interested in. He’s just interested in whether someone has the connections that can help his career,” Brynn told her. “And I believed he liked you, too. I believed it so much, I got a little jealous.”

  “We’re going in,” Avery announced. “If he’s with the director’s daughter, I’ll take care of it.”

  “What does that mean?” Sarah asked.

  “It means you’re not the only one I’ve got the goods on,” Avery said. “I’ve lived with Peter a long time. Maybe I should go with the time he was hanging upside down on the jungle gym, then realized he had to go to the bathroom and couldn’t remember how to get down. That’s not an image you want of your boyfriend.” She looked directly at Sarah. “Or maybe I’ll tell her about his latest—when he made one of my friends think he was in love with her because he thought she could help him become a star.”

  Sarah scratched her head nervously. “Isn’t that a little harsh? I mean, I’m touched that you’d stand up for me in that way, but you are his sister and all. You don’t have to take my side.”

  Avery put her arm around Sarah’s shoulders. “I may be his sister, but I’m also a member of the sisterhood. Peter needs to learn a lesson and this is the best way to teach him.”

  Natalie saw herself and her friends projected all over the room on flat screen TVs as she, Brynn, Avery, and Sarah blasted out “Watch Me Shine” in front of the live band. She grinned, and watched her screen image grin back. It felt gooood!

  A redheaded boy jumped up onstage with them for a minute. He sang a few lines, then grabbed Sarah’s mike. “Zan just invited me to audition for her new movie!” he cried. He broke into a break dance. It was the worst break dance Natalie had ever seen, but the crowd went crazy with applause, anyway.

  “Go, Lowell!” Brynn and Sarah shouted as he jumped off the stage.

  Brynn nudged Sarah in the side with her elbow, then jerked her chin toward the crowd. Avery’s brother was shoving his way toward the stage.

  “What did you tell Zan Lazarus’s daughter?” he yelled at his sister, his face red and sweaty. The girls could barely hear him over the roar of the crowd and their own singing.

  Avery just waved at him, without stopping her singing.

  He turned his attention to Sarah. “By the way, I found out you aren’t really Tad Maxwell’s daughter!” he shouted. “There are people here who have met her, and you’re not her!”

  “But I am!” Natalie called.

  Chace’s mouth dropped open.

  She pointed to Sarah. “And this—this is one of Tad Maxwell’s daughter’s best friends!” Natalie started to wave at Chace along with Avery.

  Then Sarah started to wave. Brynn began waving at Chace, too.

  All four girls began dancing, working the wave into their moves, giving everything to the song. Natalie caught another glimpse of the four of them on one of the TV screens. We do shine, she thought. Especially with the light bouncing off my braces!

  Chace opened his mouth as if he were about to say something. For a moment he stood there with his mouth agape. Eventually he closed it. He must have known. There wasn’t anything he could say that would make a difference. So he turned on his heels and walked away. Quietly and alone.

  Turn the page for a sneak preview of

  camp CONFIDENTIAL

  Politically in correct

  available soon!

  chapter PROLOGUE

  Posted by: Natalie

  Subject: oh. my. GAWD!

  guys, you’ll never guess who i just saw on the nightly news! (brief sidebar—my mom has been so busy with the gallery lately that her idea of “quality time” these days is discussing current events after thirty minutes of katie couric. insert yawn here.) our very own dr. steve! apparently camp walla walla is one of the first camps to “go green” and he is planning this amazing festival to open the summer season.

  i know, some of you might be thinking, “um . . . so what?” or “natalie, do you have ice cream-related brain freeze again?” but wait . . . it gets BETTER!!!

  the president—as in the president of OUR COUNTRY—is sending his daughter, tricia, to camp walla walla! since, as everyone knows, he’s our first green president, he wants his daughter to participate in the festival. isn’t that INSANE?! we are going to be sharing a bunk with the daughter of the leader of the free world! i don’t think i’ve been this excited about camp in the history of forever. only two more days to go! = )

  Posted by: Jenna

  Subject: The prez’s daughter? Fo realz?

  Seriously?! The president’s daughter is going to be at Camp Walla Walla?! You better not be pranking us, Nat. That’s my job! Tee-hee.

  Posted by: Chelsea

  Subject: The reports are all true!

  My parents saw the segment on the news, too! I am soooo psyched about meeting Tricia. Every time I see her on TV, she looks amazing. Great designer clothes. Perfect makeup. Precious mini-cavadoodle in her oversized purse! Eek! I’m freaking out over here. To the point where I might faint. Must find a paper bag to breathe into. BRB.

  Posted by: Sarah

  Subject: Question

  Do you think Tricia’s bodyguard will have to share a bunk with us? That could be weird.

  Posted by: Sloan

  Subject: Facts about the First Daughter

  I googled Tricia and here’s what I found out.

  1) Her favorite food is seedless red grapes.

  2) She loves to read, especially about vampires.

  3) She has an A- average and she’s studying three languages.

  4) Paris is the name of her cavadoodle.

  5) She volunteers once a week at an organic food co-op, is vice president of her school’s recycling club, and her favorite gym course
is yoga.

  Wow! I like her already. Can’t wait to see all of you in a few days!

  Posted by: Brynn

  Subject: American Idol

  Volunteers? A- average? Studies three languages? I’m impressed! Not too fond of red grapes, though. I mean, isn’t everyone’s favorite food pizza? Just sayin’.

  Posted by: Natalie

  Subject: can’t wait

  here’s to a fantastic season at camp! see you all on sunday. yippee!!!!

  chapter ONE

  Late Sunday morning, Natalie Goode dumped two large, purple duffel bags on her twin-size bed and wiped her glistening forehead with the back of her hand. Even though she was never big on working up a sweat, she couldn’t have been happier to finally arrive at Camp Walla Walla. Not only was she going to see all of her best friends again, but she’d also have the opportunity to get to know the president of the United States’ daughter at “The Greenest Camp in America.”

  Truly, there was nothing cooler than that.

  “Only two bags this summer, Nat? You’re definitely slipping.”

  Natalie was still a little gun-shy about smiling since she got her braces, but she couldn’t stop herself from breaking into a toothy grin at the sound of the familiar voice. She spun around and saw Sloan, decked out in a pair of canvas sneakers and a light green T-shirt.

  “Shut up and give me a hug!” Natalie grabbed Sloan and wrapped her arms around her friend tightly.

  “Okay, okay. You’re crushing me,” Sloan said, her cheeks turning pink.

  Natalie laughed and let go. “I’m sorry. I’m just excited to see you!”

  “If that’s how you greet me, I’m afraid of what you’re going to do when our celebrity camper arrives,” Sloan joked, as she rolled her suitcase over to the bed adjacent to Natalie’s.