by Julie Bowe
“Then you won’t be needing this.” Joey swipes Brooke’s sundae and takes a lick.
All the boys snicker.
Brooke snarls. “I wouldn’t tell you apes our plan in a million eons.”
“That’s a long time,” Tom says.
Elizabeth nods. “Indefinitely long.”
Quinn snorts. “And not one moment more.”
They do a three-way smile.
I frown. “We’re sneaking out,” I say.
Quinn turns from Elizabeth to me. “Seriously?”
I nod, happy to take the attention away from her.
“You weren’t supposed to tell, Ida,” Brooke snaps.
I eat the cherry off my sundae. “Oops.”
The boys nudge in.
“We need details,” Tom says.
Rusty nods. “Spill it, Brooke.”
Brooke clamps her mouth shut again. But her lips squirm, trying to let the words out. Brooke loves an audience. And right now, eleven pairs of eyes are on her.
“Fine,” she finally blurts. “But you boys have to swear not to tell anyone. The future of my friendships depends upon it.”
“Cross my heart and hope you die,” Rusty says, flicking a freckled finger across his chest.
The other boys flick their fingers too.
Before I can even finish scraping the last of my hot fudge out of my sundae bowl, the whole story gushes out of Brooke like this is Yellowstone National Park and she’s Old Faithful.
“Plus, if we see the monster, we’re going to take his picture and get famous!” Meeka adds.
Joey snorts. “One look at the Meadowlark Monster and you girls will be crying for your mommies!”
Stacey straightens up. “Girls are way braver than boys.”
Rusty slaps the picnic table, laughing. “Good one, Stacey,” he says. “Got any more?”
As soon as we finish our sundaes, Alex takes us boating. Me, Stacey, Brooke, Randi, and Elizabeth in one rowboat. Meeka, Jolene, Jenna, and Alex in the other. We don’t get back until suppertime because rowboats don’t always go in the direction you want them to. Especially when gray clouds are stirring up the wind.
Then, after supper, Alex takes us on a nature hike. When we get to the clearing where the trust fall platform is, she makes us sit on the ground and close our eyes and listen to the sound of evening settling in.
At first, evening doesn’t sound like it’s settling in at all. It sounds like it’s having a slumber party. And all the chipmunks and birds and insects are invited. Chattering. Chirping. Buzzing.
But if you make yourself sit still and silent long enough, all the noisy sounds soften until you swear you can hear the trees yawning and the grass bending and the flower petals folding. It makes you want to open your eyes and look around to see if the animals are sneaking out from behind the trees to gather near you, like fish circling your ankles.
But when I take a peek, I don’t see any animals. I only see Elizabeth Evans, peeking back at me.
I close my eyes again.
“Any takers on the trust fall tonight?” Alex asks, breaking the silence a few minutes later.
Meeka and Jolene say, “Okay.”
I say, “No.”
Elizabeth says, “No thanks.”
Brooke says, “No way.”
I lie awake after Alex gets done reading more about the girl who lives with wolves, listening to raindrops play patty-cake on the roof, and thinking about all the stuff that happened today. Camp stuff. Friendship stuff too.
How Randi and Elizabeth kept splashing everyone with their oars on our boat ride, and how Meeka and Jolene practically fell into the lake, trying to splash them back. How Brooke promised to reward Elizabeth with an extra sucker at the sneak-out because she came up with the clever idea of carrying the candy in a pillowcase. How we sang goofy songs at the campfire. How Stacey’s and Elizabeth’s marshmallows plopped into the flames at the exact same time, and how they hung on to each other, trying to hold in their giggles, while Randi used a stick to dub them the Knights of the Burnt Marshmallows.
I roll toward the wall and pull George under my chin.
“Everyone likes her,” I whisper to him. “Except Jenna and me.”
George shifts in my arms, like he can’t decide whose side he’s on.
I hear scritch-scratching below me. Maybe Elizabeth’s mosquito bites are itching her too.
Scritch…scritch…scratch…
She must have a lot of them, because the sound goes on for a long time.
When it finally stops, her bed creaks.
A papery shadow rises up from the crack by the wall.
I shine my flashlight on it and see lots of words.
Ida,
I know you’re mad at me for not sending you any letters. I knew it before I even moved back. But I thought once you saw me again, you’d be so happy you’d forget about being mad. And then I wouldn’t have to explain why I did what I did. It was D-U-M-B dumb of me to think that way.
I know you have new friends now. I’m glad you do. Really. It’s okay if you don’t want to be friends with me. I just wish we didn’t have to be enemies.
Liz
I read the note again.
I let George read it too.
When he’s done, I wait for him to say something. But, like always, he doesn’t say a word.
So I stick the note under my pillow and turn off my flashlight.
George snuggles in.
Thunder rumbles in the distance.
I lie awake for a long time.
Chapter
12
We’re supposed to be cleaning our cabin on Tuesday morning while Alex is at her staff meeting, but we voted 7–1 to give ourselves the morning off. We’re all tired and a little cranky from the storm that rolled through last night. Thunder sounds a lot scarier when you’re away from home. Even if you are with mostly friends.
Instead, we’re sitting on our bunks, eating the candy Brooke rationed out for today. One sucker each. Green or red because those are her least favorite colors. She’s saving all the rest of the candy for our sneak-out tomorrow night.
I look across the room at Stacey. She’s lying on her bunk, twirling a red sucker in her mouth, looking at a magazine and pretending to listen to Brooke babble on and on about Nat and Emillie.
“Hey, Stacey,” I say, pulling the green sucker out of my mouth.
Stacey looks over.
I flick my green tongue in and out like I’m a frog catching flies. Then I smile and wait for her to laugh.
But she doesn’t. She just shifts the sucker in her mouth and turns the page in her magazine.
I sigh. She’s mad because of what I did to Elizabeth at breakfast this morning. When Elizabeth asked Jolene to please pass the last cinnamon roll, I snatched it first and took a bite. I also accidentally on purpose knocked over Elizabeth’s cup, sopping her in orange juice. Instead of apologizing, I fake said, “I’m soooo sorry.”
Stacey saw it all. I tried to link up with her on the way back to the cabin after breakfast, but she pulled away from me like my arm was electrified or something.
Stacey doesn’t know about the note I got from Elizabeth last night. I’d show it to her if she’d give me a chance. Then she’d understand why I’m being a tiny bit mean.
Elizabeth knew I’d be mad at her for never writing to me. Still, she made it sound like I’m supposed to feel sorry for her. But I was just as sad, and I mailed lots of letters. Why couldn’t she?
I should show the note to Jenna. She’s good at organizing mixed-up stuff. And right now, I’m feeling very mixed up inside.
But Jenna would say the same thing whether she reads the note or not. She would tell me I don’t need Elizabeth Evans as long as I have her around. Which is true. I have new friends. I don’t need an old one. So why am I worried about it?
Because of Stacey.
She’s not as organized as Jenna—seriously, you should see her room. Still, if you were at her house
and asked to borrow her magenta hair band—the one with the silky white flower—she would say “Help yourself” and you would say “I would, if I had X-ray vision,” and then she would scan around her messy room for a minute and, one second later, reach into that mess and pull the magenta hair band out.
Stacey can see things that other people can’t. Plus, she knows how it feels to move away. I think that’s why she wants me to give Elizabeth another chance.
But I did give Elizabeth chances.
Tons.
She let them all slip away.
I don’t want a friend who doesn’t even try.
I finish my sucker and then reach under my pillow for my sketchbook. I’m taking it with me to morning activities so Alex can see it. Me and Jenna are going to walk with her to the crafts cottage.
But as I pull out my sketchbook, Elizabeth’s note from last night comes with it. I pick it up and read it again. What does she mean…“I wouldn’t have to explain why I did what I did”? What did she do, besides not write to me?
“Garbage,” someone says.
I look up.
Elizabeth is standing next to my bunk. She’s wearing a different outfit now. One that doesn’t smell like orange juice.
“Huh?” I say.
“Garbage,” she says again, holding out her hand. “Sucker wrappers and sticks? I’m collecting them before Alex gets back. General Jenna’s orders.”
“Oh,” I say, giving her mine.
“Thank you soooo much,” she replies. Then she glances at the note in my hand. “Catching up on your reading?” She blinks, all innocent, behind her glasses.
I squint. And crumple the note. “No,” I say, plunking it into her hand. “This is garbage too.”
Elizabeth’s eyes flash. She sucks in a sharp breath, like she’s getting ready to shoot poisoned words at me. But then she hesitates and lets the breath out again.
She turns around, clomps to Brooke’s backpack, and stuffs all the garbage away.
“These are great drawings, Ida,” Alex says, turning pages in my sketchbook as we walk with Jenna to the crafts cottage a little later. “You’re a good artist!”
“Told you so,” Jenna tells her. She looks at me. “Go on, Ida. Give Alex the tour.”
I smile and turn to a new page, happy to be away from Stacey’s frowns and Elizabeth’s poison glances. “That’s my mom and dad,” I say, pausing on a picture of a woman and a man with very white teeth. I even drew sparkles. Plus, musical notes in the air. “My dad is an orthodontist,” I explain, “and my mom teaches piano.”
“They look nice,” Alex says.
“They are,” I reply, and flip to a new picture. But when I see which one it is, I quickly flip past it. “And that’s my house,” I say, pointing at the next page. “See the window? That’s my room.” I flip again. “This is my school. And that’s my whole class. See the guy with the ponytail? He’s our teacher, Mr. Crow.”
“Was our teacher,” Jenna corrects me. “We’ll be in fifth grade now.”
“Wait,” Alex says, flipping back. “You missed one.” She stops at the picture I skipped. “That looks like you, but who’s the other girl?”
Jenna glances over. Does a sniff. “No one,” she says.
“She must be someone to Ida,” Alex replies. “Look at the cool border she drew around her!”
I don’t look at the picture. I don’t need to. I have it memorized. Two girls with their arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders. Matching hair. Matching friendship bracelets. One with a bandage on her chin.
“The other girl is Elizabeth,” I mumble. “Liz, I mean. She didn’t have glasses back then. Or short hair. We were”—I glance at Jenna—“she was…in our class. But then she moved away.”
Alex nods. “You must be excited that she’s moving back!”
“Thrilled,” Jenna puts in.
“What happened to her chin?” Alex asks, pointing to the bandage I drew on Elizabeth’s face.
“Rollerblade accident,” I reply. “We sort of collided. She got a cut on her chin. I got a bruise on my butt that was shaped like a lightning bolt. It would have been a great show-and-tell if I could have shown anyone.”
Alex chuckles. “You two have been through a lot together, huh?”
I shrug.
Jenna takes my hand.
“Please pass the cheese turds.”
Joey points to a plastic bag that’s lying next to me, filled with little lumps of yellow cheese. You’re supposed to call the lumps cheese curds, but the boys never do.
I throw the bag at Joey. Not that I really need to. He’s sitting three butt scoots away. The other boys aren’t much farther behind.
Normally, I don’t sit within scooting distance of them unless a teacher makes me. But, normally, I don’t eat lunch with them on a raft. Alex and Connor rowed all of us out here after morning activities, plus our food. Mini bagels. Peanut butter. Grapes. Cheese curds. Punch. It’s all spread out like a picnic in the middle of the raft. We make a sloppy circle around it.
“Sheesh, Ida,” Joey says, nabbing the bag before it tumbles into the lake. “Work on your throw. No one likes soggy turds!”
The boys do a snort quartet.
Some of the girls glance over. I try to catch Stacey’s eye, but she looks away before I can. I’ve been trying to catch it since me and Jenna met up with her and the other girls after our morning activities.
But Stacey isn’t interested in having an eye conversation with me. She isn’t interested in having a mouth one either.
I nibble a mini bagel and try not to look at Elizabeth. But my eyes keep darting to her anyway.
She’s pulling off her clunky cowboy boots.
Now she’s peeling off her mismatched socks.
Now she’s dangling her feet in the water.
Picking up a grape.
Peeling off the skin.
I twitch a tiny smile because we always used to peel our grapes. Then we’d pretend they were slippery eyeballs and dare each other to eat them. Then we would. Which was gross. But also fun.
I take another nibble and glance again.
Stacey has scooted in next to her now. She starts peeling grapes too.
Talking with Elizabeth.
Laughing.
Squealing and gobbling down eyeballs together.
“Ignore them. She’s just trying to punish you.”
I look over and see Jenna rearranging herself closer to me.
“Huh?” I say.
“Stacey’s mad because you’re not being all huggy-huggy with Liz, right?” Jenna asks in a low voice.
I nod.
“So now Stacey’s pretending to be friends with her just to make you mad. Don’t give in and she’ll give up. You and Stacey will be friends again. Nothing changes.”
I pick up my punch cup and take a sip.
“Am I right?” Jenna asks, reaching for one of my grapes and popping it into her mouth. She looks like she already knows the answer is yes.
“You’re one part right,” I reply.
Jenna stops chewing. “One part?”
I nod. “And two parts wrong.”
Jenna frowns.
“You’re right about Stacey being mad at me,” I explain. “But you’re wrong about her fake friending Elizabeth. Stacey never fakes friendship. She’s friending Elizabeth for real.”
Jenna grabs another grape and starts chewing again. “That’s only one wrong.”
“You’re also wrong about things not changing,” I continue. “Because they already have. Elizabeth is back even though I don’t want her to be. The other girls are her friends now. And no matter what, friendship changes things. Not always in the way you want.”
Jenna sniffs. “Very touching,” she says. “But you’re wrong about something too.”
“What?” I ask.
Jenna stands up and pops my last grape into her mouth. “You do want her back.” She checks her watch and turns to Alex and Connor. “Lunchtime is over.”<
br />
We clean up the raft and then row back to shore. I spend the rest of Tuesday keeping as far away from Elizabeth Evans as possible, just to prove that Jenna is wrong again.
Chapter
13
The next morning Brooke glances up from stuffing candy into her pillowcase. It’s Wednesday, the day of our sneak-out. She zeros in on Jenna. “Who’s next on the trust fall schedule?”
Jenna looks up from refolding the clothes in her suitcase. She’s making us clean Chickadee extra-good today, since we outvoted her yesterday and didn’t clean up at all. She even got Stacey to put a pair of socks on her hands and pick dead flies off the windowsills. Plus, she sent Randi, Meeka, and Jolene outside with brooms to sweep cobwebs from the cabin walls. “Technically, you, since you skipped your turn.”
“I’m planning the whole sneak-out,” Brooke replies, adding a package of gum and a fistful of suckers to the pillowcase. “I’m not falling too.”
“Then Ida and Lizbutt are tied for next tallest,” Jenna tells her.
Elizabeth stops rearranging the pinecone critters. She scowls at Jenna. “I’ve told you a million times. My name is Liz.”
Jenna rolls her eyes. “Buttever.”
“One of you has to fall as soon as possible,” Brooke says to me and Elizabeth. “We need Alex to take us to the platform before it gets dark.”
“So the monster won’t get us?” Randi asks, coming inside again with Meeka and Jolene.
Brooke huffs. “I don’t care about that silly monster. All I care about is my plan.” She sets the pillowcase aside and scoots to the edge of her bunk, like she doesn’t want us to miss one word. “Jenna, you should be writing this down.”
Jenna grumbles and scoots her suitcase away. She isn’t in favor of Brooke’s sneak-out plan, but she is in favor of being organized. She climbs onto her bunk and pulls out her clipboard and a pen. “Go,” she says to Brooke.
Brooke clears her throat and begins again. “We’ll leave Chickadee at the beep of midnight. Jenna will set the alarm on her watch.”
Jenna makes a note on her clipboard.
“Everyone wear regular clothes to bed so we can leave quietly without waking up Alex. Dark clothes. And no flashlights, or someone might see them shining through the trees. Liz will keep watch by the cabin. The rest of us will go to the trust fall platform. Nat and Emillie are meeting us there.”