by Jen Calonita
"Guys, could you excuse me for a minute?" Cole asked the peeps. Cole walked out to the mess hall porch and I followed. Kids were still streaming in around us. I was surrounded by kids eager for sugary pancake syrup, zipping by us on their way to their tables, yet I couldn't hear them. I could have heard a pin drop as I stood next to Cole waiting to hear what he was going to say. I had to beat him to the punch.
"Please let me explain," I said hurriedly. If I could just get it out before he interrupted me, I might be able to salvage things.
"You don't have to," Cole said. "I get it."
"You do?" I asked incredulously and Cole didn't say anything. "I swear, I didn't mean for it to happen. You have no idea how sorry I am. I haven't been able to eat, or sleep or do anything but think about talking to you. I was under arrest all day yesterday," I added. "I hated not being able to tell you myself."
"It's fine." Cole shrugged. "You like Hunter. I knew you did. I kept telling you that. I just wish" -- his face was pensive -- "you would have been honest with me."
"I don't like Hunter! The kiss was an accident. He kissed me. I swear! I was looking for you. I was coming to tell you that I liked you. That's why I came down to the lake. Someone told me you were there, but then Hunter was there instead and he kissed me," I said, feeling queasy.
"Did you kiss Hunter back?" Cole asked quietly.
I felt the wind whip up behind me and a shiver ran down my spine. How could I answer that honestly? I didn't pull away immediately, that was true, but I was in shock. And yet, I still felt guilty. It was my nature. "I, well, you see, not really." Cole's face darkened.
"That answer says it all," Cole said. "Ashley told me the rest. At first, I thought she was lying, considering it was Ashley and knowing how much we don't like each other. But then I confronted Hunter and he confessed. He told me he kissed you and you didn't stop him."
I felt like the bottom of the porch dropped out from under me. Suddenly I could hear again. The noise was deafening, but somehow my voice was louder than any of the kids. "Did he tell you that I gave him a huge speech about liking you?" I practically cried. "Did he tell you that I thought you were dressed as a knight and that's why I said all those things to him?"
"No," Cole said. "I hit him before he could say anything else."
My jaw dropped for the second time. Cole hit his senior counselor?
"The fact is, Sam, you didn't stop Hunter," Cole said softly. "You didn't pull away. If you were looking for me to kiss, you would have turned Hunter away, but you didn't."
"Cole," I tried again and reached for his hand. He slipped his away.
"I can't look at you right now, Sam," he said. "I'm sorry." Then he walked down the porch steps, away from the mess hall. That's when I snapped. ASHLEY. She had gone too far.
I pulled open the mess hall doors and thundered through the room to my own CIT table. Meg wasn't there yet, but my bunkmates looked up at me. All but two of them.
"Sam." Em said it so gravely that I wanted to cry. I wanted to cry anyway, but not there. Not then. Not until I had said everything I needed to first.
"You and I need to talk," I told Ashley and made sure I sounded like I meant it.
She looked up at me with those doe eyes of her and said, "What?"
I didn't know if it was her sarcastic "what?" or her face, but the whole interaction just made me madder. I was aware that the room around me was quiet, except for the quiet scraping of silverware. I had an audience. Ashley seemed to realize the same thing, and she didn't like it.
"Keep your voice down," she hissed. "We're not putting on a show."
I wasn't thrilled either. Somewhere nearby, my peeps were hearing this, and I was embarrassed. But I couldn't back down now. "You couldn't keep your mouth shut," I said shakily. "You just had to tell Cole what you saw."
Ashley flashed me a vindictive smile. "Why wouldn't I? Cole is a good guy. He deserved to know the truth."
"BFD," Gab defended her best friend with an equally ghoulish grin and I knew she meant big freaking deal. "Cole had a right to know the girl he likes is a two-timer."
"He had a right to know the real story!" I couldn't help but shrill. "He deserved to hear it from me, not some bystander out for my blood."
Ashley shrugged. "I saw what I saw. There's no denying the truth."
"He kissed me," I said hoarsely, "even though he knew I was looking for Cole, and that my whole confession about liking Cole was not for him. Not that you deserve to know any of this, but it's the truth. Now Cole won't even listen to me."
Ashley sighed. "It's just as well," she said. "Cole's too good for you anyway."
"You insensitive, pampered brat," Court seethed and slid out of her chair to come to my aid. Ashley, sensing danger, ducked behind Gabby, who reached for a fork and held it menacingly at Court's chest.
"Stay out of this," I told Court and gently pushed her aside. "This is between Ashley and me." I continued to glare at Ashley and she actually stood up. She folded her arms over her chest defiantly and I could see she was wearing her tie-dyed t-shirt. She'd been bragging about how perfect hers was all week. Hers had her name painted on the front with little hearts all around it. You had to watch out for a girl who put hearts around her name or dotted her i's with little valentines. Erin Marble, who sat behind me in third grade, always did that and she was the one who told the whole class I was a baby because I still believed in Santa Claus.
"You're right, Sam, this is between us," Ashley said, knowing all eyes were on her. "And we should finish it right here. So let's go. You've been jealous of me from the moment you arrived. You hated how popular I was. You were embarrassed that I didn't invite you to my sleepover. And that's why you pulled that prank with all my clothes."
I hated that my peeps could be hearing this. I was nervous that Alexis was too, but it was too late to turn back now. "Fine, I'll admit that I was part of that prank with your clothes, but if you think I did it because I was jealous of you, you're wrong. I was tired of you pushing me around. I hated how you embarrassed me in front of my peeps and how you always had it out for me. I can't help it if I settled in to camp just fine, without any help from you. I can't help it if I happened to be part of my mom's commercial and you felt threatened. It's also not my fault that I got your sister as my senior counselor. I tried not to rock the boat, but that was never good enough. You telling Cole was cruel." My voice was starting to crack. "That's one thing I've never been to you."
Ashley's eyes darkened. "You think you're so hot," she seethed, "but you want the truth? My dad made a huge mistake by hiring you. Everyone knows it. You aren't cut out to be a CIT. My sister can't stand you. She says you're the worst excuse for a CIT she's ever had. I doubt you'll be asked back next year."
"Give it a rest, Ashley," Grace warned.
If I was angry before, my body felt like it was on fire now. Ashley was lying. I knew it, but my mouth was too dry to contradict her. I was too tired to yell anymore. I didn't have the words in me to fight. My hands, however, were fine. I spied the plastic pitcher of bug juice on the table. Not thinking, I picked it up and hurled the whole pitcher at her with full force. The pitcher splashed over her shirt, over Gabby, and dripped down her hair. Ashley started to scream and I couldn't help but grin. Good. She deserved that.
I was so proud of myself, and the reaction of everyone at the table, which was total shock, that I wasn't quick enough to see Ashley retaliate. She grabbed the orange juice and heaved it in my direction. The ice cold drink drenched my shirt and my arms.
The rest of the scene seemed to play out in slow motion. I couldn't stop. I grabbed the cheap, no-name brand pancake syrup and squirted it at Ashley's head, causing her to jump out of the way, and making me hit Gabby. A furious Gabby grabbed the eggs and flung them across the table, hitting me and Court in the process. Court stood up and spilled the pitcher of water in Ashley's lap. It wasn't long before Em was throwing pancakes. Even Grace was flicking jelly out of the jelly jar. Everyone was grabbi
ng for food now, pulling at the table for everything and anything left. Ashley took the butter and smashed it into my already frizzy hair. I grabbed a handful of cream cheese and stuffed it in her chest. We both stopped when we saw a platter of waffles, which weren't even on our table since Gabby claimed waffles gave her heartburn, fly past our heads. We both ducked.
When we turned around, Ashley gasped.
My stomach churned. It wasn't a good sight.
We weren't the only table having a food fight. The entire mess hall had joined in and the place was in chaos. Counselors were trying to stop it, but it was no use. We'd caused a war. Beaver had come out of the kitchen, wielding wooden spoons, but he didn't make it far before he slipped on a pancake and crashed into a table. Meg was across the room and trying to reach us, but she got hit with a flying orange juice pitcher. Hunter had finally made it here. Thankfully, he was too caught up in separating two peeps fighting over a plate of sausage to see me. Ashley's CIT counselor, Morgan, was two tables away from us when she got sideswiped by a carton of milk.
Suddenly there was a loud whistle. And another. And another. I felt myself getting dragged by the back of my shirt. Ashley was being pulled right next to me.
"Let go of me! I didn't do anything! She started it," Ashley screamed, punching the air with her fists.
It was Beaver. He'd survived his brush with pancakes and had gotten to our table. He pulled us through the stunned mess hall all the way up to Hitch.
"THAT IS ENOUGH!" I heard Hitch yelling into his megaphone. I wiped peanut butter off my eyelid and took a good look at his face. OH. Um...
Hitch's hair was covered in jelly, and an orange and bug juice concoction was dripping down his army-navy game shirt. He looked at Ashley and me and pointed his finger shakily in our direction. "YOU TWO. IN MY OFFICE. NOW."
18 Crime and Punishment
"In all my years as a camp director, I have never seen two CITs behave this irresponsibly," Hitch ranted at Ashley and me as orange juice continued to drip off his shorts. "We've never had a camp-wide food fight before! What do you two think this is? A Disney Channel movie?"
"She started it," Ashley mumbled.
Alexis, Meg, Morgan, and Hitch were standing in front of us. They all looked furious and I felt like I was in front of a firing squad. Meg had egg in her hair, Alexis had pancake syrup down her shirt, and Morgan was covered in jelly.
"I am so disappointed," Meg seconded as yolk dripped from her hair onto her shirt. "I never expected your rivalry to go this far."
"Rivalry?" Ashley snorted. "She isn't even worth rivaling."
Sadly, even covered in chocolate Quik and jelly, Ashley still managed to look beautiful. She could have done a commercial for the cleaning power of Tide right then and it still would have been an instant YouTube hit. I was sure I didn't look anywhere near as cute with peanut butter up my nose.
"Ash, that's enough," Alexis said wearily. And then to me Alexis added: "I'm used to Ashley getting into mischief, but Sam, I'm stunned -- and not because it's going to take three showers to get this sticky syrup out of my hair. I never expected this sort of behavior from you."
I hung my head sadly. I hated to let Alexis down, but I didn't regret what I'd done to Ashley. I wanted her to look as dirty as she really was for spilling the beans to Cole. I would have poured ten more gallons of OJ on Ashley if I had been given the chance.
Hitch sighed. "I knew you two weren't getting along, but I didn't know it was this bad. Camp is about gelling with people you normally wouldn't and learning how to live together despite your obvious differences. No one said you had to be best friends. We just wanted you to coexist. Instead, you two have caused camp-wide chaos and destruction in the mess hall."
"And wasted all that food," Morgan added sternly.
"What kind of example is that for CITs to be setting?" Alexis pointed out.
Ashley rolled her eyes. "Sam humiliated me on several occasions and all you care about is how our food fight affected the camp atmosphere?"
"Do either of you want to apologize for what happened?" Hitch asked, incredulous.
"I'm sorry," I said, and I meant it. I wasn't sorry for hitting Ashley with a plate of pancakes, but I was sorry that I had disappointed all the counselors and Hitch and had disrupted the camp schedule. I overheard Beaver tell Hitch they needed to move lunchtime to try to get the place clean in time. There was even talk of having a barbeque outside if they couldn't.
"I'm sorry Sam started it," Ashley sniffed.
Hitch crossed his arms, making his biceps bulge. "I think the best punishment would be to make the two of you clean up the mess hall all by yourselves."
"Eww," Ashley said under her breath.
"Okay," I agreed, afraid to even look at Alexis or Meg.
"That's it?" Morgan asked, stunned. "All they have to do is clean up their mess? These two set a bad example for the entire camp."
"And their loathing of each other has been a sore point all summer," Meg added.
"Counselors, calm down. That was just the first part of their punishment," Hitch said. He waved them over into a group huddle. "This is what I also had in mind, as long as it was okay with you."
I heard the words "lesson," "compromise," "fit the crime," and "team," but it was hard to hear more over Ashley's moaning.
"If I have to sit the talent show out because of you, you're dead," Ashley threatened me as she continued to pull stray pieces of egg whites from her hair. How it still looked perfectly straight, I had no idea. Between the humidity and the syrup, mine probably looked like a clown wig.
I rolled my eyes. What more could Ashley do to me? She'd already ruined my chances with Cole. And she couldn't steal my friends. "Bring it on," I told her, my voice dripping like the syrup all over me.
"Girls," Hitch interrupted. "We've decided on an appropriate punishment for your actions."
Ashley cried out. "You're not taking away the talent show from me, are you?" Her lip quivered and for a moment I thought she might actually cry. Over the talent show. I knew the performance was a big deal to all the CITs, since this was their last year performing as campers. After that, they'd get to do the group counselor number, but it wasn't the same thing.
"You'll still get to be in the talent show," Hitch said and Ashley breathed a sigh of relief, "but you're not doing the routine you've rehearsed. Your bunk will do that without you."
"Good," Ashley said happily, "because Court's routine was so beyond boring. If we go back to my original suggestion, I'm sure --"
"You won't be doing that either," Hitch cut her off. "Instead you'll be doing a new routine." He paused. "One that you come up with together."
"What?" Ashley and I said at the same time.
"Her and me?" I clarified. "Together? Alone?"
"Your punishment is that you're going to spend the next several days together and only together." Hitch sounded proud of himself. "You'll spend all your time as a team, figuring out a performance that the two of you will give."
If our punishment started right away, that meant we'd be... "We're missing Color War?" I asked. I felt a tinge of disappointment. I still didn't understand what all the fuss was about, but the nine million daily reminders -- via posters or campers talking, plus Grace's daily Color War talks -- had gotten me excited.
"Yes," Hitch said firmly. "We all feel that your behavior today merits being excluded from this activity. Color War is about teamwork and togetherness, two qualities you both need to learn before you can participate."
I side-eyed Ashley. She didn't look crushed, not that I was surprised. I'd overheard her say on more than one occasion, "I don't run because I hate to sweat."
"I'll miss Color War," Ashley said, as if she was devastated, "but I'm not performing with her. I won't commit social suicide in front of the whole camp."
If I had to spend every minute in Ashley-confinement, how was I going to hunt down Cole and explain myself? Just the thought of having to live with the unfinished conversation
in my head for several days was making me nauseous. "Shockingly, I agree with Ashley," I piped up. "Given our history, I don't see how we can team up together."
"You don't have a choice," Hitch said calmly. "Ashley, it's either this or Boca Raton and your grandmother's condo. And I mean it."
"Noo, not there!" Ashley looked horrified.
For once, I could relate.
Hitch looked at me. "Same goes for you, Sam. If you don't do the show, then I will send you home early, which, of course, means I have to tell your mom what happened."
Gulp. Mom wouldn't be too thrilled to hear I'd disrupted the entire camp's meal with a food fight and everything was wasted. She got aggravated when I pushed my peas around on my plate and didn't finish my organic burrito because it tasted like paste. "There are children out there who would kill for a cup of rice," she always said. Even brown, whole-grain rice? I found that hard to believe.
"And while I know missing Color War is a huge blow," Hitch said sadly, "it's just the first of many things you'll miss if you don't accept your punishment like adults. If you're leaving early, you'll also miss the luau dance and the sleepover on the lawn."
The sleepover on the lawn was supposedly the best thing ever. I didn't want to miss that. Or the luau, even if Cole was avoiding me. I sighed. "I'll do it."
"Ashley?" Hitch asked.
"I guess," she said with a loud sigh.
"Good." Hitch looked satisfied. "I know you'll both work together and come up with a brilliant routine. You'll have to. You're closing the show."
Double groan. Court said the final number was usually reserved for the best group. Camp gossip traveled faster than wildfire so it wouldn't take long for everyone to hear that Ashley and I were the ones doing it. How was I going to face Cole?
"Your counselors will take you back to your bunks to collect some things and then you'll report to the mess hall to start cleaning," Hitch told us. "We'll be putting you two in the isolation cabin near the horse stables for the next few days. This is the first time it's been used the whole summer." He shook his head sadly. "I'll check in on you later." Then Hitch left, presumably to go shower, something I wished I could have done.