by Julie Bowe
“Why can’t they just take us straight to the hideout?” I ask.
“Because that’s not how it’s done,” Brooke explains. “First, you meet up at a secret spot. Then, you go on a journey. Finally, you arrive at your destination.” She counts off each step on her fingers.
Elizabeth nods. Then she looks at me. “It’s called drama, Ida.”
I give her a squint. “You’re not even going with us. I call that chicken.”
I hear a muffled laugh and look over at Jenna. She gives me a thumbs-up.
Then I look at Stacey.
She gives me a frown.
“But if we don’t bring flashlights,” Meeka says, brushing cobwebs off her shirt, “we’ll never find the platform.”
“Already thought of that,” Brooke replies. “All we have to do is mark the trees with glow-in-the-dark paint! I saw some in the crafts cottage. We’ll be just like Hansel and Gretel, following a trail of bread crumbs!”
“But the birds ate their bread crumbs,” Jolene points out.
Randi nods. “And a witch almost ate them.” She mounts her broom and does a wicked cackle.
“That’s why my plan is better,” Brooke says. “Birds don’t eat paint.” Her eyes hopscotch from girl to girl. “Someone has to go to Alex’s craft this morning and get it. The glow-in-the-dark paint, I mean. Any volunteers?”
“Not me,” Randi says, circling the room on her broomstick. “I’m playing kickball.”
Jenna nods in agreement.
So does Stacey.
“Meeka and I signed up for bird watching,” Jolene says.
“So did I,” Elizabeth puts in. “Tom too.”
“I’m going on a nature hike with Nat and Emillie,” Brooke says. Then she barks a laugh. “Not! Actually, we’re going to hide in Hawk and text their friends!”
She throws me a look. “That means you have to get the paint, Ida. Thank you for volunteering.”
“But I didn’t—”
“It’s next to the glitter,” Brooke cuts in. “You can’t miss it.”
“But I don’t want to—”
“Wear something with big pockets so you can get a lot.”
I narrow my eyes. “I don’t think the trees want to get painted, Brooke. And I don’t want to steal for you.”
Someone clucks like a chicken. I whip a look at Elizabeth.
Brooke does an impatient sigh. “It’s not stealing if we don’t take it away from camp. And since when do trees care about how they look? They have branches, not brains. Besides, you’re not doing it for me. You’re doing it for all of us. Your friends. Remember?”
“Friends don’t make each other do things they don’t want to do,” Stacey puts in.
I blink, surprised she’s defending me.
Elizabeth nods and steps in next to Stacey. “You’re not the boss of us, Brooke. Not even Ida.”
I frown. What does she mean, not even Ida? I’m more a part of the group than she is.
Brooke snorts. “I’m not making Ida get the paint. I’m asking her to get it. Friends help each other.”
Elizabeth links arms with Stacey. “That’s what we’re doing. Helping Ida.”
My stomach burns like I put hot sauce on my pancakes this morning instead of maple syrup. “Brooke isn’t bossing me. And I don’t need your help.” I step toward Elizabeth and punch my fists into my hips. “So butt out, Lizbutt.”
A gasp circles the room. It’s the only time I’ve ever called anyone a name outside of my own head. I swallow hard and turn my face to agate.
Elizabeth steps toward me and narrows her eyes. “If you want me to butt out, then I’ll butt out…I-duh.” She gives my shoulder a jab.
More gasps.
My knees turn into springs.
I pounce.
Elizabeth hits the floor.
Her glasses fly.
I fall on top of her.
“Stop it, Ida!” Stacey shouts. “You’re acting crazy!” She pulls me off of Elizabeth.
I scramble to my feet and push Stacey away, tears brimming in my eyes. “She’s the one who’s crazy!” I shout. I glare at Elizabeth. She’s still sprawled on the floor, her eyes bright with tears too and her face as red as her cowboy boots. “You can’t come back here and act like everything is fine. Stuff isn’t fine. You moved away and never wrote to me. Do you know how sad that made me? It felt like my heart broke. I wish you never came back!”
Tears flood my eyes. All the girls’ faces swim around me. Wide-eyed. Mouths open. Like they’re looking at a monster.
Elizabeth gets up and stands boot to sneaker with me.
“Do you know how sad it made me to move? It felt like my stomach broke. It hurt so bad I had to go see a doctor. She made me write about the hurt and mail it all away. I even had to send letters to my dog, Champ. Stupid, huh? But when I tried to send letters to you, my stomach hurt more than ever. Because it reminded me that I missed you more than anyone.”
Tears stream down her cheeks, but she doesn’t wipe them away. “I wrote lots of letters to you. Tons. They’re all inside my valentine volcano. I stuffed them in until the lava cork wouldn’t stay stuck. Then I stopped writing. Because I figured you had new friends by then and didn’t need an old friend like me. I was hoping I was wrong, but now I know it’s true.”
Elizabeth turns away, crying harder. Stacey puts an arm around her.
Jenna hops down from her bunk and puts an arm around me.
Brooke does a big sigh. “Look, I hate to interrupt the dramarama, but Alex will be back any second. And I. Need. Paint.” She looks at me. “Pull yourself together, Ida.”
“Sheesh, Brooke,” Randi says. “Some things are more important than your stupid plan.”
Brooke glares at Randi. “My plan is not stup—”
The cabin door opens. Brooke quickly pulls her sleeping bag over the candy.
“Hi!” Alex says, stepping into the room. “I’m ba—”
She stops short, taking in the scene. Stacey holding Elizabeth. Jenna holding me. Both of us crying.
Alex rushes up to us. “What happened?”
“It’s the funniest thing.” Brooke hops down from her bunk and picks up Elizabeth’s glasses. “Ida fell off her bunk. Thunk! She landed right on top of poor Liz.”
Brooke hands the glasses back to Elizabeth. “No harm done, though. Her lenses didn’t even get scratched.”
Alex checks us up and down. “Does anything hurt?”
“No,” Elizabeth says, straightening her glasses and glancing at me. “Nothing hurts.”
I rub my eyes, sniffling. “Same here.”
Stacey gives me a squint. “Don’t you want to tell Liz you’re sorry for falling on her?”
“Why should she?” Jenna cuts in. “Like Brooke said, it was an accident.”
Brooke pins on a cheerful smile. “All’s well that ends well!” She looks at Alex again. “Ida was just saying how much she wants to do crafts this morning.”
Brooke turns to me. “Isn’t that right, Ida?”
I pin on a smile too.
“Great, if you feel up to it,” Alex says to me, still looking concerned. “We can walk over together.”
“And Liz is just dying to do the trust fall,” Brooke continues. “Aren’t you, Liz dear?”
“Can’t wait,” Elizabeth mumbles.
Alex gives her a smile. “We’ll go after lunch.”
Brooke grins.
I hurry to the bathroom and splash cold water on my face while the other girls change into sneakers and rub on sunscreen and head out to play kickball and watch birds and go on a fake hike through nature. I pat my face dry and take my time smoothing down my damp bangs. I’m in no hurry to see that look on Stacey’s face again. The one she had when I didn’t apologize. Like I let her down.
I wait until I hear the screen door snap shut for the last time. Then I peek out. And hurry to my bunk.
I reach around under my sleeping bag, searching for my notepaper and a pen, but I fi
nd a monkey first.
George grunts and comes up for air.
“Did you hear what happened?” I ask him.
George gives me a Duh look. Sock monkeys have excellent hearing.
“The girls think I’m a monster,” I continue. “Stacey, mostly, because I didn’t apologize. But what about Elizabeth? You heard her, George. She didn’t say sorry once for never sending those letters.”
George studies me as I search around for my notepaper. “I need to write one more note. Then things will be right again.”
The cabin door creaks open. Jenna steps in. “Are you coming?”
I tuck George back inside my sleeping bag and turn around. “I thought you were going to kickball,” I say to Jenna.
Jenna shrugs. “Change of plan. I’m sticking with you.”
I walk over to her. “You’re not mad?”
Jenna’s forehead crinkles. “For what? Liz pushed you first. She got what she deserved.” Jenna lifts her chin and flicks back a braid. “Time for Lizbutt Evans to move on.”
I do a half smile. I’m happy Jenna is on my side. But I know Stacey isn’t. And she won’t be, until I write that note.
“Just give me one second,” I say.
Jenna sighs and checks her watch. “Okay, but hurry. I’ll tell Alex you’re on your way.”
Jenna marches out.
I grab my notepaper and write as fast as I can.
I’m sorry for what happened. Please don’t stay mad at me.
Ida
Then I walk over to Stacey’s bunk.
And leave the note on her pillow.
Chapter
14
“Looks like Pete dropped off our mail while we were at lunch,” Alex says, later, when we get back to Chickadee for Quiet Time. A stack of letters is sitting on her desk. She passes them around. Two for Meeka…three for Randi…one for Jenna…one for me. Everyone gets something.
Stacey takes her mail from Alex and brushes past me on the way to her bunk.
She hasn’t had a chance to find my Sorry note yet because after morning activities we went straight to the dining hall for lunch. When she does read it, she can stop being mad and start talking to me again.
Brooke, on the other hand, has had a conversation with me. Several. Because I didn’t take any glow-in-the-dark paint this morning.
I explained to her that we went straight to the beach, instead of the crafts cottage, and pressed our hands in the wet sand and hunted around for interesting rocks and shells and arranged them in the handprints and covered them with goopy plaster. And how that took a long time. Then I explained how we didn’t even go to the crafts cottage while the plaster dried. We all just sat on the stone wall and sang the Camp Meadowlark theme song and counted mosquito bites and discussed lip gloss flavors and summer movies and who would win the Silver Paddle and whether or not a monster really lives in the woods.
But Brooke wasn’t interested in hearing any of my excuses. She blamed me for messing up her perfect plan. And said she would hold me personally responsible if I didn’t skip swimming and get that paint this afternoon. And that it was my fault she had to waste her sweetest smile on Alex when she pretty-please asked her to reschedule Elizabeth’s trust fall for later in the day.
Elizabeth heard Brooke’s whole bossy speech to me. But, this time, she didn’t butt in.
I climb onto my bunk and start reading my mail.
Hi, Ida!
We hope you’re having lots of fun at camp!
Guess who we ran into the other day? Elizabeth’s mom and dad! They told us you two are at camp together, and that their family is moving back to Purdee. You must be SO excited!
See you soon!
Love,
Mom & Dad
I stick the letter back inside its envelope. “They think I’m excited, George,” I whisper to the lump inside my sleeping bag. “They think nothing changes too.”
I hear a snort come from Jenna’s bunk. She unfolds a piece of paper and holds it up for me to see.
A crayon drawing of a big green frog with a note underneath it in little-kid print.
Get me one!
Frum, Rachel
Jenna shakes her head. “She never gives up.” Then she props the picture on her pillow and gets busy reading the letter that came with it.
The bunk below me creaks. I hear that scritch-scratch sound again. Elizabeth must be writing another letter home. That makes two so far, because I saw her mail the orange bird yesterday.
Maybe she’s telling her parents about the shoving incident. Her dad is some kind of lawyer. He’ll probably sue me. Or have me arrested. I wonder if they’ll put me in prison. I hope they allow sock monkeys there.
The sound stops.
Her bunk creaks again.
A note rises up from the crack.
I shake my head, just like Jenna. She never gives up either.
I’m just about to take the note when someone clears her throat behind me.
I turn and see Stacey standing by my bunk. “I’m not the one you should be apologizing to,” she says, crisp as burnt toast. Then she drops my Sorry note on my bunk, turns around, and walks away.
I glance at the crack again.
The note is still there.
My heart chugs as I read the words.
Don’t go to the crafts cottage right away.
Meet me at the beach.
I have a plan.
Liz
“It’s all Jenna’s fault,” Elizabeth says to me and Jenna when we meet up with her at the beach. Randi, Meeka, and Jolene went for a boat ride. Stacey and Brooke are already on the raft with Nat and Emillie. Brooke is so busy jabbering, she hasn’t noticed that I’m here instead of at the crafts cottage.
Jenna’s face scrunches. “Nothing is my fault.”
Elizabeth sighs. “I said that wrong. I just meant…you gave me my idea.”
Jenna crosses her arms. “I never gave you anything. Ida, I told you this was a bad idea.”
Elizabeth nods. “No, you did.” She points at Jenna’s hair. At the ladybug barrettes clipped above her braids.
Jenna reaches up and clips them tighter. “I’m not giving you my barrettes. They were a gift from Ida.”
“I don’t want them,” Elizabeth replies. “But they made me think of a way to get glow-in-the-dark paint without taking it.”
“We’re going to paint Jenna’s barrettes?” I ask, confused.
Elizabeth smiles. “No,” she replies. “We’re going to paint rocks to look like ladybugs. If we use the glow-in-the-dark paint to make their dots, it won’t be stealing. It will be art!”
Jenna huffs. “How’s that going to help us—”
“We’ll drop the ladybugs in the woods,” Elizabeth interrupts. “By day, they’ll blend in. By night, they’ll glow!”
My eyes brighten. “We won’t have to paint the trees,” I say, catching on. “The ladybugs will lead the way.”
Elizabeth nods.
Jenna frowns. Shifts her jaw. Thinks things through.
But even Jenna Drews has to admit it’s a good plan. A moment later, she unclips a ladybug from her hair. “We’ll use this one for a model,” she tells us. Then she punches her fists into her hips and scrutinizes the rocks on the beach. “Not much of a selection, but it will have to do.”
She looks at us again. “You two get busy collecting rocks. I’ll find Pete and get a bucket.”
Jenna marches off toward the maintenance shack.
Me and Elizabeth look at each other. This is the first time we’ve been alone since the shoving incident. It’s easier to ignore stuff like that when other people are around. We look away again.
I pick up a rock and pretend to be very interested in rubbing the sand off it. I glance at Elizabeth. She’s busy rubbing sand off a rock too. I think about what Stacey told me. I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.
“About what happened,” I say. “I’m—”
“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth blurts
before I can get out another word. She looks at me. “For fighting with you.”
“I’m the one who’s sorry for that,” I reply.
Elizabeth shakes her head. “I shoved you first.”
“I shoved you harder.”
“Only because I never wrote to you. I’m so sorry, Ida. I never meant to hurt you.”
“Well, you did write. You just need to work on your mailing skills.”
We look away again.
“Do you still have it?”
“Have what?”
I look up. “The valentine volcano?”
Elizabeth nods. “I lost the lava cork when we moved back, but the volcano is in my new closet. All the letters are still inside.”
I do a half smile. “Good. I’d like to read them sometime.”
Elizabeth does a half smile back. “Come over whenever you want.”
If Brooke Morgan were here right now, instead of out on the raft trying to impress Nat and Emillie, she would be rolling her eyes. And telling us that it’s L-A-M lame for friends to be wearing the exact same swimsuits.
Lamer for them to be hugging each other on the beach.
But who cares what Brooke Morgan thinks.
“Hey, look!” Rusty shouts as he and the other boys hop down from the stone wall after me and Liz start collecting rocks again. He points at our matching swimsuits. “Tweedledee and Tweedledum!”
Joey snorts. “Dee and Dumb. Good one!”
Quinn laughs.
I give him a squint.
Tom gives us the once-over. “I think they’re more like Yin and Yang.”
Joey does a puzzled frown. “Yin and Yang? When are they on? Saturdays?”
“It’s not a show,” Tom replies. “It’s a Chinese symbol. Two tadpoles in a circle.” He draws the symbol in the sand. “They represent balance. You can’t have one without the other.”
Joey studies Tom’s drawing. Then he looks at the two of us again. “I like Dee and Dumb better.”
Quinn bobs his head.
So annoying.
Rusty looks past us. Taps Joey’s arm. “Watch out,” he hollers. “Here comes Tweedledumber!”