Winter Games #12

by Melissa J Morgan

  As a sixty-year-old man finished up his version of Barry Manilow’s “I Can’t Smile Without You,” Tori burst into hoots and overzealous applause, but she was the only one at their table clapping.

  “Okay,” she said, smiling way too enthusiastically at the other girls, “who’s up next? Jenna, I know you’re dying to get up there.”

  But Jenna just shook her head. “Nah, not today. I’m just not feeling the karaoke calling.”

  “Me neither,” Alyssa said quietly. “My sorry attempt at skiing took it all out of me.”

  Grace was in the bathroom, so Tori looked expectantly at Nat, and Nat felt guilt settling down deep in her stomach. “Sorry, Tori,” Nat said. “I’m too sore to move, let alone sing.”

  Tori just nodded, but her eyes brimmed with tears. “This was all a big mistake. I should’ve canceled this whole trip and never asked you to come.”

  “What are you talking about?” Nat asked.

  Tori took a few deep breaths before she could speak again. “You’re all having an awful time. I can tell. Grace has been humming some song from My Fair Lady since yesterday, so I know she’s missing Brynn. And Jenna, you haven’t pulled one prank since you’ve gotten here.”

  Jenna shrugged. “I guess I just haven’t felt much like it.”

  “Exactly.” Tori sighed. “That’s the whole problem. Nobody’s being themselves. You guys didn’t want to come here at all, did you?”

  Nat sighed. Great—this was just great. They’d really screwed up this trip now. “Tori,” she started, “of course we wanted to come. It’s just that . . . we all feel bad about how messed up our friendships with the other girls are right now. But that’s totally not your fault.”

  “Yeah,” Jenna jumped in, putting her arm around Tori. “The problem is that none of us handled the situation very well. I never knew how to bring up skiing without hurting Alex’s feelings,” Jenna added. “Or Abby’s, or Priya’s.”

  “It’s like we’ve all been walking around on eggshells,” Nat said. “It stinks.”

  Tori sniffled. “I wonder what the girls in New York are doing today. I bet they don’t have awful weather like this. I miss them.” She sighed. “If you guys want to fly home tomorrow instead of Monday, that’s okay with me.”

  “What?” Alyssa said. “You planned this incredible weekend for us and there’s no way we’re skipping out on you.” The other girls echoed the same feeling.

  “I think Grace already caught her next flight home,” Tori said. “Where is she, anyway?”

  Nat glanced toward the bathrooms, but then she heard a familiar voice crackle to life on the stage speakers.

  “We’re dedicating this song to all of our Camp Lakeview friends from Bunks 4A and 4C. Even though we’re not in the same place tonight, we still share the same spirit.”

  “Omigod,” Nat squealed, grabbing Tori’s arm. “Look! It’s Grace!”

  The beginning chords to “We Are Family” thrummed through the speakers, and the spotlight shone down on Grace. She was wearing a huge grin as she grabbed the mike with American Idol finesse.

  “Is that her cell phone she’s holding up to the mike?” Tori asked, giggling a little even as she wiped a few lingering tears from her eyes.

  “Yup,” Jenna said, laughing.

  Just then, Grace launched into song. “We are family, all my Lakeview sisters and me.”

  But there was another voice singing along with her into the mike—a voice that Nat recognized right away. “That’s Brynn singing with Grace! Grace must have called her in New York from the bathroom.”

  Nat gave Tori a hug. “See, girl? Everything’s going to be just fine . . . between all of us.”

  “We are family,” Grace and Brynn belted out. “Get up everybody and sing.” Grace sashayed out into the audience and over to the girls’ booth, where she grabbed Tori’s hand and pulled her to her feet.

  “Come on, guys!” Brynn’s voice shouted from Grace’s cell phone. “I want you on your feet and singing with us.”

  Nat formed a conga line with Jenna, Alyssa, and Tori, and the four of them followed Grace onto the stage where they linked arms, dancing and singing to the music.

  “Everyone can see we’re together, as we walk on by,” Nat chimed in, singing with Tori and the other girls. And for the first time all day, she saw Tori break into a genuine, relaxed smile.

  As they wrapped up the song, the audience burst into loud applause, and Jenna launched into a Lakeview cheer, with Brynn, Grace, and the other girls joining in. When they finally sat down at their table to catch their breath, Grace put her cell phone in the center of the table so that they could all hear Brynn.

  “Thanks for the backup vocals,” Grace said to her. “Where are you, anyway?”

  “I’m at this restaurant—Jekyll and Hyde—with everyone else. Luckily, it’s loud in here, so no one really noticed me singing . . . I hope,” Brynn said, laughing.

  “I was worried you wouldn’t pick up when I called. We weren’t sure if you guys would want to hear from us this weekend.”

  “Actually,” Brynn said, “we were just about to call you guys, too!”

  “Wow,” Alyssa said, smiling. “See, even though things are weird, we’re all still on the same wavelength. How cool is that?”

  “This whole thing has been so stupid,” Brynn said, “and tonight we decided that it wasn’t worth messing up our friendships anymore. Besides, we miss you guys!”

  “We miss you, too!” Tori said. “I’m sorry we couldn’t all be together this weekend.”

  “And I’m really sorry I forgot to ask you about your audition,” Grace told Brynn. “I feel awful that I didn’t know you played Eliza. That’s amazing!”

  “Well, my parents filmed the play, so I can still mail you guys all a copy of the DVD they made.”

  “Great!” Nat said. “And we’ll send you some pics of the mountains here.”

  “And some of Nat falling down the ski slopes,” Jenna teased.

  “Watch it.” Nat glared at Jenna jokingly.

  “Well, Nat,” Brynn said. “You might not be great at skiing, but I know you’re great at boy advice. And I’m in desperate need of some of that right now.”

  “I have to warn you,” Nat said, “I’m having some boy troubles myself, but I’ll try.”

  “It’s about Jordan,” Brynn started.

  As she listened to Brynn, Nat looked around the table at the happy faces of her friends. For a split second, she forgot that they were three thousand miles away from the girls at the reunion. She had no idea how Grace had done it, but somehow, she had started to bring the Lakeview girls back together again. And just like that, what had began as a dreary day turned into great one. It felt like camp all over again.

  Even though talking to Nat about the whole Jordan sitch did make Brynn feel a little bit better (and the karaoke had helped, too), it was obvious that none of the girls—not even Nat or Tori—could come up with a good explanation for why he was a no-show. But just the fact that all the girls were talking again lifted Brynn’s spirits. And so did the fun atmosphere at Jekyll & Hyde.

  The whole place was set up like a haunted mansion, with skeletons and mummies hanging from the center of the room and dangling from dark corners. Black-and-white horror movies played on televisions hanging from the ceiling, and creepy music oozed from the corner where a skeleton in a tux sat playing an ancient, dust-covered organ. Dr. Steve had reserved a special section of the restaurant just for Lakeview, overlooking Dr. Jekyll’s laboratory. Flickering orange candles lit up the lab where an animated model of Frankenstein was strapped to a long table, struggling to free himself. It was all so much fun that Brynn couldn’t help but feel cheered.

  While she ate her Mummy Burger, she put the girls in Tahoe on speakerphone so that Alex, Abby, Sarah, and the other girls could say hi. Once everyone started talking, the floodgates opened up. Nat wanted to hear every detail about Stomp!; Sarah and Abby wanted to know what the scenery was like in Tah
oe; Jenna wanted to tease Alex about Adam; and Tori wanted to apologize to everyone one more time for not being able to invite all the girls on the ski trip.

  “Hey,” Jenna said, “I’m going to send a picture of us to Brynn’s cell right now.”

  Valerie, Priya, Chelsea, Abby, and the rest of the girls crowded around Brynn’s cell phone as a picture popped up of Nat, Tori, Alyssa, Jenna, and Grace grinning and making faces from their table at the Overlook. And Sarah snapped a picture of Brynn and the other girls holding up their glasses of Dr. Jekyll’s elixir to send to Grace’s phone in Tahoe.

  As the girls talked, Dr. Jekyll himself came onstage and announced a big round of applause for the Lakeview Campers, and then asked for volunteers to participate in one of Dr. Jekyll’s “experiments.”

  Brynn didn’t even notice Abby and Sarah pointing to her until Dr. Jekyll said, “Would the girl with the lovely singing voice at Lakeview table four please come to the stage! We heard her performance of ‘We Are Family’ a few minutes ago, and now we’d love for her to do a duet of the ‘Monster Mash’ with our very own mystery guest, Tobias Werewolf.”

  Alex nudged her. “Hey, Brynn, that’s you.”

  “Get up there, girl!” Abby said, whistling and clapping for her.

  “No way! I already embarrassed myself with the karaoke and I am not going up there!” But Abby, Sarah, Adam, and David were already pulling her out of her seat.

  Reluctantly, Brynn took the stage with Dr. Jekyll while the rest of the Lakeview campers broke into earsplitting cheers.

  “You have to look the part first,” Dr. Jekyll said, handing her a lab coat, glasses, and a poofy mad scientist wig to wear. Brynn put them on, and when she did, she could feel herself putting on her best drama face, too.

  “And now, here comes Tobias, your duet partner,” Dr. Jekyll said. “He told us he traveled all the way from Transylvania to see you tonight. And boy, let me tell you, he can howl with the best of them.”

  The spotlight shone down on a werewolf who walked over to Brynn and—to her surprise—pulled a dozen red roses from behind his back.

  “For me?” Brynn asked in confusion, and the werewolf nodded his shaggy head. It was the last thing she would’ve expected, but she took the roses as the “Monster Mash” began, and then danced the entire song with the werewolf by her side. When the song finally finished, Brynn was blushing and breathless, but smiling. What happened next, though, surprised her even more than the roses had. The werewolf clasped her hand between his paws and bent to kiss it.

  “Thanks to both of our ‘Monster Mash’ dancers,” Dr. Jekyll said, handing them each a Jekyll & Hyde Club T-shirt. “We hope you’ll come back to visit us again soon.”

  Brynn stepped off the stage, but just as she was about to sit back down, the werewolf tapped her on the shoulder. Then he slowly pulled off his werewolf headpiece, and Brynn gasped. There was Jordan, looking tired and disheveled, and giving her a very sheepish smile.

  “Hi,” he said quietly as the Lakeview Campers broke into deafening cheers. He glanced over Brynn’s shoulder at their friends, who were hooting and hollering even louder than before. “Do you think we could talk for a minute . . . alone?”

  Brynn nodded, still not quite believing her boyfriend was here (wearing a werewolf costume to boot) and followed him to a quieter hallway near the bathrooms.

  “I didn’t think you’d come,” Brynn said, not sure whether she was angry, worried, relieved, or just plain confused to see him. “And I definitely didn’t expect to see you wearing that.”

  “I only just flew in a couple of hours ago,” Jordan said. “And I wanted to surprise you, so when I got here I volunteered to dress up like this for the ‘Monster Mash.’ Kenny, Adam, and David helped rig it all beforehand. I was hoping it’d keep you from yelling at me for at least a few minutes.” He smiled. “Brynn, I’m so sorry I missed your show, and for not being able to call you this week.” He motioned to the roses. “I hope those’ll make up for the ones I was planning to give you on your opening night. But I don’t blame you if you really hate me.”

  “Thanks for the roses,” Brynn said, cradling them in her arms. “And no, I don’t hate you.” She paused and took a deep breath. “But I would like to know why you didn’t come, and why you didn’t call.”

  Jordan kept his eyes on the ground. “Last Saturday, on the morning of your opening show, my parents found out that my grandpa had had a really bad heart attack. We had to fly down to Florida right away, and I didn’t have time to call you before I left. I was going to call from Florida, but we left in such a hurry that I forgot my cell phone. And without my cell phone I didn’t have your number. Priya was out of town, so I couldn’t get your number from her, and I tried information once, but your number’s not listed. My parents are still down in Florida, but they agreed to let me fly straight into JFK tonight so I could come to the reunion.”

  Brynn cautiously took Jordan’s hand, er, paw. She wasn’t used to being so forward, but Jordan looked so sad and stressed, she knew it was the right thing to do. “That’s awful,” she said. “How’s your grandpa doing now?”

  “He’s still in critical condition,” Jordan said, “but the doctors say he’s getting stronger every day, and that he stands a good chance of recovering.”

  “That’s great,” Brynn said.

  Jordan nodded. “But I’m really, really sorry I couldn’t call. And my grandpa doesn’t have a computer in his house, so I couldn’t e-mail you, either.”

  “Hey,” Brynn said. “I’m not mad anymore.”

  “Really?” Relief flooded his face.

  “Really. You had an important reason for not coming to the show. I just hope your grandpa gets better soon.”

  “Thanks for understanding,” Jordan said. “That means a lot to me.”

  “Sure,” Brynn said. “I feel so much better now that I know what happened. And you can always come see my next play. I’m planning on trying out for The Music Man in a few weeks.”

  “I’ll make sure I don’t miss another one again.” Jordan smiled. Then, before Brynn knew exactly what was happening, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

  “You’re the best, Brynn,” he said.

  Brynn leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath. But then David whistled from the booth. “Hey, Jordan, are you going to continue your reunion romance or eat your food? Because if you don’t, I will.”

  “Don’t even think about it,” Jordan said. “We’re coming in a minute.”

  “Ooh la la,” Priya started teasing then, eyeing Brynn’s roses. “There must be a full moon tonight.”

  “Watch it,” Jordan said, growling playfully. “Werewolves have a mean bite. And speaking of werewolves, I think it’s time I retired Tobias.” He scratched his neck. “This thing weighs a ton, and it’s giving me hives.”

  Brynn laughed. “Well, when you’re done transforming back into human form, come have some fried bat wings at our table.”

  As Jordan disappeared into the bathroom to change out of the costume and return it to Dr. Jekyll, Brynn headed back to her table, where she quickly filled the girls in on everything that had happened. Sarah had already sent Tori and the other Tahoe girls a pic of Brynn and Jordan’s duet, and then Tori sent them a clip of Jenna belting out “Karma Chameleon.” When Jordan sat down next to Brynn, she beamed at him and then glanced down at her mood ring, which was shimmering a bright blue for happiness, just like she’d guessed it would be.

  After dinner finished up, it was time for everyone to go their separate ways. Brynn hugged Jordan good-bye, and he promised to call her first thing next week to plan another date soon. After Alex and Sarah said good-bye to Adam and David, all the girls headed back to the hotel with the counselors. Even though it was almost eleven o’clock by the time they got back, nobody was tired. Andie pulled out Cosmo Girl, and pretty soon Brynn and the rest of the girls were crowded into her room in their pj’s to take some romance quizzes and find out their horoscopes.
Then, Brynn, Abby, Alex, and Sarah stayed up way past midnight talking, laughing, and pigging out on the stash of candy Andie had given them earlier in the day.

  When Brynn finally crawled into bed, she couldn’t stop smiling. Yesterday afternoon, she hadn’t been sure she’d have any fun at the reunion, especially if she didn’t hear from Jordan. But the weekend was turning out much better than she’d ever expected. She’d figured things out with Jordan, and the Lakeview girls were back on track. The rest of the weekend would be terrific, too, she was sure, but for now, it didn’t get much better than this.

  chapter ELEVEN

  Tori couldn’t have asked for a better day for skiing if she’d tried. She smiled up at the crystal clear sky and the bright sun as she rushed down the slope. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, just cold enough to keep the fresh powder from turning slushy, but warm enough to keep the girls’ hands and toes from freezing. And the day seemed even more perfect because, for the first time since she’d found out about the camp reunion, Tori was relaxed and amazingly happy.

  It had been such a relief to get everything out in the open with the girls in New York last night, and now she didn’t have to worry about whether Nat, Alyssa, Grace, and Jenna were having a good time with her in Tahoe. She could tell, just by their easy smiles and nonstop chatter, that the girls were back to normal with each other, and with her.

  She swiveled her body to pull to a stop midway down the slope and wait for the other girls, but when she turned, she saw Jenna was right on her heels. She’d mastered snowplowing this morning in their lesson with Heidi, and now she was already parallel skiing and using her poles like a pro.

  “Avalanche!” Jenna cried, sliding sideways the last few feet to send a huge wave of powder crashing over Tori.

  “This means war,” Tori sputtered through her laughter as she wiped the snow off her face. She used her poles to pop the bindings on Jenna’s skis, and Jenna’s boots flew out from under her, sending her crashing onto the packed snow. As the grand finale, Alyssa and Grace used their skis to send their own tidal waves of snow over Jenna.