Of course, he might be short standing next to Lainie . . . she was a lot taller than Natalie. But still, that didn’t explain the eyes and the hair. What was going on around here?
However it had happened, it seemed clear that Natalie and Lainie liked the same guy. Which made Natalie feel wretched and sour inside. She had to talk to Lainie. She had to make sure this wasn’t all just some big mistake. If only they weren’t in different divisions. If Lainie were a fifth-division camper, Natalie could just wake her up and whisper it all out right now. But instead, she was going to have to wait out the moon and the crickets before she could find an answer.
For the first time ever, Natalie was the first girl in her bunk up, showered, and ready to go in the morning. The second Belle said they could leave for breakfast, she was out the door and running. No one in her bunk was really talking to her, anyway. The Red team was being very cliquey, and the Blue team all seemed to resent her relationship with Lainie—a relationship she was pretty much desperate to save at this point.
Natalie raced along the throng of campers headed for the mess hall and caught sight of Lainie up ahead. The girl was hard to miss since she was so much taller than everyone else and had that thick braid of hair. Nat hooked a left and cut straight through the crowd.
“Ow! Watch it!” a sixth-division girl from the Red team cried as Natalie stepped on her sandaled foot.
“Sorry!” Natalie replied with a cringe.
She finally arrived, breathless and ruddy, at Lainie’s side. Lainie, unfortunately, did not notice. She was too busy gushing to Liliko, Trish, Daniella, and Patty. Each one of them wore their blue T-shirts over gray or black Soffe shorts and colorful sneakers. It was as if the sixth-division had their very own uniforms.
“He was so sweet, you guys. You have no idea,” Lainie was saying, placing both hands over her heart and looking up at the sky. “He even said I was doing a great job leading the Blue team. I couldn’t believe he’d noticed!”
Natalie swallowed a huge lump of bitterness that had formed in her throat. “Hey, guys,” she croaked.
Lainie turned around and her eyes brightened. “Natalie! Hey! There you are! I was just telling the girls how great Christopher was last night.”
“Apparently he loved the outfit you picked out,” Trish told Natalie.
“Who knew Chris was so into jocks?” Daniella said, then snickered.
“He said he likes a girl who shows her team spirit,” Lainie confirmed.
“Yeah? That’s just . . . fab,” Natalie said awkwardly. “So, Christopher . . . he was the guy with the blond hair? The one that always wears that necklace with the medallion?”
Please let her say no. Please let her say she was just talking to Logan before she found Christopher.
“Yep! That’s him! Isn’t he such the hottie?” Lainie gushed, her face shining with happiness.
Natalie felt hot tears of confusion and jealousy sting her eyes and she looked straight ahead. “Yeah. He sure is,” she managed to say. “I thought you said he had light blond hair, though. Isn’t his more dark?”
“You think? I think it’s pretty light,” Lainie replied. “Anyway, who cares? The point is, we’re going to sit together at the singdown on the last night of Color War. It’s gonna be so romantic. The dark, the fire, him and me all cuddled in together . . .”
“Sigh,” Liliko said dreamily.
“Sounds perfect,” Patty put in. “You should have done this ages ago, Lainie. You two are going to be the Camp Lakeview power couple.”
Lainie giggled and preened. “You know it!”
Natalie’s heart squeezed painfully at the thought of Lainie and Christopher/Logan being any kind of couple, power or no. And she couldn’t help noticing that Lainie had yet to thank her for her help. Not that she hadn’t thanked her the night before, but Natalie would have thought that she would have said something now—considering how happy she was.
“Well, better go,” Lainie said as they walked into the mess hall together. “See ya later, Nat!”
“Yeah!” Natalie said, watching as the sixth-division girls hustled off together, laughing and chatting. Then the fifth-division girls came in behind her, doing the same. Suddenly she felt very alone.
“See ya,” she muttered.
Priya sat at a table in the newspaper cabin, updating the scores and stats from all the Color War events that had taken place so far so that the list could be printed in the next issue. She was very aware of the fact that Tori was in the room, and even more aware of the fact that Tori hadn’t spoken a word to her since the day before. Just then, Tori was on the other side of the cabin chatting with Dana. Priya wished she could just go over there and apologize to Tori again, but she had a feeling it would get her nowhere. Or that Tori would yell at her right in front of everyone. That didn’t sound like fun.
“Priya!” Dana called suddenly. She got up from her chair and hustled over to Priya’s table, with Tori following reluctantly behind. Dana had a pencil behind each ear, making her hair stick out messily, and her blue T-shirt was wrinkled beyond belief. She was not a girl who cared much about appearances. “You didn’t tell me that you and Tori were both captains of your Color War teams!”
Priya glanced at Tori, who set her jaw and looked quickly away. Where was this going?
“Yeah. We are,” Priya said. “Should I have told you that?”
“Of course you should have!” Dana exclaimed. “This is the perfect opportunity for a special column. The experiences of two captains from the same cabin. Opposing views, one Red, one Blue. It’ll be like a she said, she said. You know?”
Priya stared at Dana, baffled. No, she didn’t know. In fact, she had no idea what Dana was talking about. But she knew from experience that the more Dana tried to explain an idea, the more confusing the idea usually became. “Uh . . . sure. I guess,” she said.
“Great! Now get to it, you two!” Dana slapped both Tori and Priya on their backs, then walked over to her computer.
Tori and Priya locked eyes. Priya felt all uncertain and shaky inside. What was she supposed to do here? Try to apologize again? The last time she had done that she’d gotten her head bitten off. Then Tori blew out a sigh and sat down.
“Sorry. I was just talking to her and now we’re doomed,” Tori said, pulling her blond hair forward over her shoulder and slumping.
Priya’s heart warmed. Tori was talking to her again!
“I don’t care about the stupid assignment. We’ll deal with it,” Priya said. “I just don’t want you to be mad at me anymore. I’m so sorry if I hurt your feelings.”
Tori took a deep breath and wrapped some hair tightly around her finger, staring at her fingertip as it turned bright red. “I just never thought you were like that,” she said quietly.
“Like what?” Priya asked.
“All egotistical,” Tori said matter-of-factly, dropping the hair. “Like you’re the best or whatever.”
Priya felt as if she’d just been slapped. “Whoa. Was that how I was acting?”
“Kind of,” Tori said, looking at her for the first time. “You thought your team was so great that the only way I could win was if you let me win. I mean, come on.”
Priya swallowed hard. She placed her pencil down on the table and stared at it. She hadn’t thought of it that way. She had just thought she was helping Tori out. But Tori was right. It took a pretty inflated head to think that trying to lose was the only way to help Tori.
“Man. I guess I really let the captain thing get to my head, huh?” Priya said.
“Kind of,” Tori said with a small smile.
“I am so sorry, Tori,” Priya said. “You must hate me for ever suggesting we throw an event.”
“I don’t hate you,” Tori said. “I know that your heart was in the right place. You only wanted to make me feel better. But just so we’re clear, from here on out, I don’t need any help. The Blue team is going to be fine.”
Priya smiled, impressed. “Good attitude.�
��
“Thought you’d like that,” Tori said, grinning now.
That one smile told Priya all she needed to know. Whatever happened in the Color War, everything was going to be fine between her and Tori. She felt as if someone had just lifted a wet towel off her shoulders.
“So, any idea what we’re supposed to do with this column?” Tori asked finally, picking up a pen and pad.
“Not a clue,” Priya said, turning in her seat to face the desk. “But I’m sure that as long as we work on it together, it’ll be awesome.”
“Can someone pass the sandwiches?” Jenna shouted down the table at lunch.
“I don’t think so,” Gaby replied, pulling the platter closer to herself. “You eat any more grilled cheese and you’re gonna turn into one.”
Tori laughed along with her other Blue team members. They were all giddy today, psyched for the next Color War event. They had no idea what it would be, but for the first time Tori really felt like they could win it—whatever it was. And she knew her friends were feeling that way, too.
“Hey! You can’t hoard the food!” Jenna said, kneeling on her chair. “Belle! The Blue team’s trying to hoard the food!”
“No hoarding the food, girls,” Belle said, not looking up from her clipboard.
“Tattletale,” Gaby said under her breath. She shoved the platter toward the other end of the table.
“Yeah! Tattletale!” Candace echoed.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but I got the cheese!” Jenna sang. She grabbed a half of a sandwich and ripped into it with a smile. The rest of the Red team laughed.
“Does she ever stop eating?” Gaby asked under her breath.
“Sure she does. Once she eats right through all the food and the plate and her teeth hit the table,” Grace joked. “Then she definitely stops.”
Alex reached over to high-five Grace.
“Hey! They’re talking about me!” Jenna said, pointing at them. “Belle, make them stop talking about me!”
“You’re on your own there, kid,” Belle replied.
“Now, ladies, we don’t need to talk about the Red team,” Tori said, folding her hands primly on the table. “They already know how superior we are to them.”
“Oh!” the Red team shouted.
“That is so wrong!” Brynn cried.
“Aw, yeah!” Alex said.
“Woot! Woot!” Grace said, pumping her hands in the air.
Gaby smacked hands with Tori, and Candace did the same. Tori glanced at Natalie, who glanced quickly away. Why did she refuse to get involved in the fun? Tori just could not figure it out. Was it because the sixth-division girls were too cool to high-five and woot-woot? Tori could hardly believe that less than a week ago she was the one that thought all this stuff was immature and Natalie was telling her to get in the spirit.
“Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” Dr. Steve called out suddenly, his megaphone letting out a shriek. Everyone winced and groaned, but quickly quieted. These days, when Dr. Steve spoke, it was all about Color War. The entire camp turned its attention to the head table at the front of the room. Dr. Steve stood behind his chair with his megaphone.
“It’s time for a Color War update,” Dr. Steve said, looking down at a card in his hand. “As of right now, the standings are as follows. Blue team, you have 210 points.”
The Blue team erupted in applause throughout the room. Tori clapped as hard as anyone.
“Red team, you have 300 points!”
The roar of the Red team was deafening. Tori narrowed her eyes as the girls at the other end of the table went absolutely nuts, dancing and bumping hips with each other. So unsophisticated. She could understand if Natalie didn’t want to participate in displays like that.
“But there is still plenty of time for the Blue team to catch up!” Dr. Steve announced to a chorus of cheers and jeers. “Now tomorrow, we’re going to do something a little different. Our next Color War event will be an arts and crafts event!”
“An arts and crafts event?” Alex said, her brow creasing. “What’s that?”
Tori was confused. If Alex didn’t know what something at camp was, then it didn’t exist.
“For the first time, you’re going to get to put all the skills you’ve learned in arts and crafts to good use in Color War,” Dr. Steve continued. “Each team will have to conceptualize and construct a project that reflects the spirit of Camp Lakeview. And you’ll have all night to work on it. Tomorrow afternoon, we’ll have a presentation right here in the mess hall. You’ll be judged on creativity and how well we think you’ve represented the camp. So have fun, and good luck!”
Dr. Steve switched off his megaphone and Tori turned to her team. Unfortunately, they were all busy slumping in their chairs.
“Well, we’re dead,” Grace said, blowing a curl of red hair out of her face.
“What? Why?” Tori asked.
“They have Alyssa,” Gaby said, throwing her hand up toward the Red team and letting it slap back down. Sure enough, the Red team was already gathered in a huddle around Alyssa herself. “She’s the most artistic girl in camp.”
“Hey. A lot of us are artistic,” Tori said. “We just have to come up with an original idea. Something spectacular. Something no one would expect.”
“Yeah, that’ll be easy,” Gaby said.
“It’s gonna be hard,” Candace agreed.
“Not if we put our heads together,” Tori said, glancing at Natalie, who was staring off into space. “Now, what represents the spirit of Camp Lakeview?”
“Bug juice?” Alex suggested, lifting her cup of red punch.
Everyone laughed. Over Alex’s shoulder, Tori caught a glimpse of Nurse Carrie getting up to go talk to Dr. Steve, those scrubs of hers as baggy and blah as ever. That woman could really use a new wardrobe.
Wait a minute . . . that was it! Suddenly Tori was hit with an amazing idea. Could it work? Belle had told her to play to her strengths. She had a feeling that with a little creativity and hard work, she just might be able to pull it off.
“Ladies,” she said, leaning in toward the table. “I think I’ve got it.”
chapter TEN
“Hey, Nat. Are you okay?”
Natalie glanced over her shoulder to find Alex jogging to catch up with her. They were walking to the lake for ghost story night, and Natalie had thought everyone in her cabin was ahead of her, their flashlights bobbing along the trees. Lately it had been her habit to drop back to the rear of the pack so that she could look for Lainie. Tonight, however, she’d done it so that she could look for Logan/Christopher and maybe get some answers. Still, somehow Alex had ended up behind her.
“Yeah. I’m fine,” Natalie said distractedly. She looked past Alex’s baseball cap into the dark, trying to make out the faces of the guys to their left. They looked too young and scrawny to be sixth-division boys, though. “Why? Do I look not-okay?”
“Actually, you seem kind of . . . out of it lately. Especially tonight. If you don’t mind me saying,” Alex told her.
Natalie looked into Alex’s concerned eyes and almost laughed. Leave it to Alex to always get right to the point.
“If it’s about what Grace and I said about Lainie, I’m really sorry,” Alex said. “If you say you guys are real friends, then I’m sure you are.”
“Thanks,” Natalie said, her heart warming slightly. Alex was the first and only person to try to understand Natalie’s new friendship, and she appreciated it. Maybe she should talk to Alex about what was going on. It could be good to get it off her chest and hear someone else’s opinion. Unfortunately, just as she was about to spill her guts, Nat finally spotted Logan/Christopher on the other side of the pathway. Her heart caught in her throat. She couldn’t risk losing him in the crowd now. “But I gotta go,” she said quickly. “I’ll see you later.”
She had just enough time to see Alex’s face fall before she took off. Darn it. Now she was going to have someone else mad at her. But she would ha
ve to deal with that later. She had to find out what was up with the double-named boy.
Natalie grabbed Logan/Christopher’s arm and yanked him right off the pathway into the woods. A couple of the other sixth-division boys shouted in surprise, but no one tried to stop her.
“Hey!” Logan/Christopher said with a laugh. “This is so totally against the rules.”
Still, he followed her a few steps into the trees. Natalie caught her breath and glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone had noticed their escape other than his pals. A few yards away, dozens of pairs of sneakers tromped by and laughter wafted up toward the sky, mixed with various Color War chants. They were safe.
“Wow. You must have really missed me, Lee,” Logan/Christopher said, lowering his voice in a way that made Natalie feel warm all over. Suddenly she was very aware that she was alone in the dark with her crush, and he was standing so close to her that she could see the weave in his polo shirt. But she had to ignore that. This was not supposed to be a romantic moment. Nat had questions and she wanted answers.
“Hang on there a second,” Natalie said. She placed her hand on his shoulder and pushed him back until her elbow was locked. “There’s something I need to know.” A little line formed between his eyebrows and, if possible, he looked cuter than ever. Suddenly she realized that there was no telling whether his eyes were blue or green. What was up with that? “What color are your eyes?”
Somehow, he looked even more baffled. “They’re sort of blue-green. They change depending on what I’m wearing. Why?”
Oh, God. Things were starting to fall into place. “Okay, is your name Logan, or is it Christopher?”
“It’s both,” he said. “It’s Christopher Logan.”
“What?” Natalie blurted. “I thought your first name was Logan.”
“That’s just what the guys call me. We all use our last names,” he said, only growing more confused. “What’s the problem?”
Camp Confidential 16: Golden Girls Page 8