Camp Confidential 01 - Natalie's Secret

by Melissa J Morgan

  “Ugh, gross,” Karen said, echoing the sentiment of all the bunkmates. Everyone erupted into a chorus of, “eew,” and, “barf,” and Brynn leaned over and made hearty retching noises.

  “Enough, people,” Marissa broke in. “Trust me—soon enough, you won’t be thinking that boys are all that gross.”

  “Boys like Pete?” Natalie asked. “Or other boys?”

  “Any boys,” Marissa confirmed, dodging the question skillfully. “And anyway, Nat, you never answered the question. What electives are you gonna go for next?”

  Natalie scrunched up her face as if in deep concentration. “You know? I think I’ll stick with nature,” she joked.

  Her bunkmates cracked up and pelted her with their pillows. Natalie found herself laughing, too. She couldn’t believe that just two weeks into the summer, she’d already made some amazing friends and a maybe-boyfriend—and survived overnight in the woods. She had no intention of taking nature again—and she knew Julie would say she’d already paid her dues. So now she could try anything else she wanted. Even something she’d never done before. Something that could be hard or scary or different. Something that she might not even be good at.

  No matter what, Natalie knew she was ready. After two weeks at Camp Lakeview, she could handle anything that came at her. And more than that?

  She’d probably even enjoy herself, too.

  Turn the page for a sneak preview of

  camp CONFIDENTIAL

  Jenna’s Dilemma available now!

  chapter FOUR

  “Okay, Jenna, what scares you the most about diving?” Marissa asked as she, Jenna, and Alex stood on the edge of the beginner’s pier again that afternoon.

  “Everything,” Jenna replied.

  “It can’t be everything,” Alex said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “Okay, fine. I just don’t get how you’re supposed to go headfirst,” Jenna said, gesturing toward the water. “The water is so far down. And doesn’t it hurt?”

  “It totally doesn’t,” Alex said. “You just need to do it.”

  Jenna was starting to get tense with Alex breathing down her neck. It seemed like her idea of helping Jenna was to stand there telling her to just do it. She was like a walking, talking Nike ad. It was a good thing Marissa had offered to help. If the CIT hadn’t been there, Jenna probably would have given up by now.

  “Okay, how about this?” Marissa said. “Why don’t you try jumping into the water feetfirst? You can do that, right?”

  “Everyone can do that,” Jenna said with a scoff, stepping to the edge.

  Marissa reached out and touched her arm before she could jump. “But this time, I want you to pay attention to your feet. Really think about how your feet feel when they hit the water, okay?”

  Jenna blinked. Think about her feet? Was Marissa losing it? “Um . . . okay,” she said.

  She jumped off the platform, closed her eyes, and concentrated on her feet. They hit the water, Jenna felt the splash, and then went under. The water rushed up around her, refreshing and cool. Jenna smiled as she swam back up to the surface. She really did love to swim. If only she could just avoid the diving.

  “Well?” Marissa asked.

  “Well what?” Jenna replied, paddling over to the ladder.

  “Did it hurt? Did your feet hurt when they hit the water?” Marissa asked.

  Jenna paused as she climbed, thinking about it. “No.”

  “So if it doesn’t hurt your feet when they go in first, it’s not going to hurt your head, especially when your hands are breaking the water first,” Marissa said happily.

  “Wow. She’s good,” Alex said.

  Jenna couldn’t have agreed more. Marissa definitely had a point. Why would diving hurt any more than jumping?

  “Okay, but what if I hit a rock?” Jenna asked, pulling her wet bathing suit away from her stomach to make the sucking sound she loved and then letting it go.

  “Did you even hit the bottom of the lake when you jumped in just now?” Marissa asked.

  Jenna felt her face flush slightly. “Um . . . no.”

  “Well then you’re not going to hit it when you dive,” Marissa told her. “Besides, there are no rocks down there. It’s all sand.”

  “Swear?” Jenna asked.

  “Cross my heart and hope to never wear eyeliner again,” Marissa said. She crossed her heart with her finger and held up a flat hand like a Girl Scout.

  “And for her, that’s serious,” Alex said.

  Marissa and Jenna laughed, and Jenna walked to the edge of the platform once more, looking down. Suddenly, the water didn’t seem as far away. Her stomach was still full of nervous butterflies, but for the first time, she felt like she might actually be able to do this. Marissa had done it when she was scared. Even Alex had told her that she had been a little frightened on her first dive. If they could both do it, why couldn’t she?

  Jenna turned to Marissa and Alex with a smile. “Okay! I think I’m gonna—”

  “Hey, Marissa!”

  Jenna’s face fell when she saw her sister Stephanie walking the planks toward them. She was wearing her new pink tankini and her hair was back in a perfect French braid.

  “Hold that thought, J,” Marissa said.

  “What are you guys doing out here?” Stephanie asked, slipping on her Hollywood-style tinted sunglasses.

  “We’re helping Jenna with her diving,” Alex announced.

  Stephanie looked at Jenna sympathetically. “Oh, yeah, I heard about that, Boo.” She stepped over and gathered Jenna’s hair behind her head, running her fingers through it like Jenna’s mother always did when Jenna was sad. Who did Stephanie think she was, Jenna’s personal babysitter? This whole mothering thing was worse than ever this summer. “Anything I can do?” Stephanie asked. She stuck out her bottom lip slightly like she was talking to a pouting baby.

  “Yeah. Stop calling me Boo,” Jenna replied, stepping out of her sister’s grasp.

  “Oh, right! Sorry!” Stephanie said with a quick smile. She didn’t actually seem sorry at all. “Listen, can I borrow Marissa for a sec? It’s kind of important.”

  “Sure,” Jenna said, mostly because Stephanie was already dragging Marissa aside.

  “So, we need to talk about the social,” Stephanie said.

  “I know!” Marissa said. “We have to decide on wardrobe, makeup, and, most importantly—”

  “Guys!” Marissa and Stephanie said at the same time, then giggled like a couple of crazy people.

  Jenna and Alex looked at each other and rolled their eyes. It seemed like all the older girls talked about was which boys they liked and which boys liked them. Didn’t they know there were about a million more important things in life? Like the fact that five seconds ago, Jenna had been ready to announce that she was going to take her first dive. Marissa was helping her with the most embarrassing problem of her life, and Stephanie had stolen Marissa away. To talk about what? Stupid boys!

  I’m never going to be able to dive now, Jenna thought, staring down at the water sadly. The moment of confidence had passed. She was back to being petrified. What had she been thinking?

  “Don’t look now, but here comes your uglier half,” Alex joked.

  Ugh! Could things get any worse? Adam, Simon, Natalie, and Chelsea were all walking toward them, and Adam had that look on his face. That superior look he always got when he was feeling proud of himself about something. What had he done now, dove off the high dive?

  Simon, Nat, and Chelsea stopped a few feet away to chat with Alex, and Adam joined Jenna at the edge of the pier.

  “Hey, Jen,” Adam said. “Why so bummed?”

  “Stephanie,” Jenna grumbled, glaring at her sister and Marissa over her shoulder. “Marissa was helping me out, and Stephanie came over, and now it’s like I’m invisible.”

  “You could never be invisible!” Adam said. “Especially not in that bathing suit,” he added with a laugh, eyeing her yellow-and-pink Hawaiian print tank. />
  “Shut up!” Jenna shot back.

  “Okay! Okay!” Adam said. “God! Freak out a little more, why don’t you? What’s the big deal?”

  Jenna glanced at Stephanie and Marissa, who were laughing and whispering. The big deal was that Marissa was supposed to be hanging out with her. But once again, one of her siblings had to come along and ruin her afternoon for her.

  “Just forget it,” Jenna told Adam.

  “Well, if you want help with your diving, I can help you,” Adam offered.

  Like I really want my twin brother coaching me. How humiliating, Jenna thought.

  “Thanks, anyway,” she said.

  “Come on, Jen, I’m already at blue level,” Adam said. “I can help.”

  “Oh, you’re so cool,” Jenna snapped back. “You’re already at blue level.”

  I would kill to be at blue level, she added silently.

  “I’m sorry I’m ahead of you, all right? But if you don’t learn how to dive, you’re going to be stuck back here in yellow while the rest of your friends move on to green and blue,” Adam said.

  Like I don’t know this, Jenna thought, heat prickling at the back of her neck. Why couldn’t everyone just leave her alone? Why did they have to keep reminding her of what a failure she was?

  I want to call Mom, Jenna thought, then felt like a big baby. Her mother had plenty of other things to worry about this summer. She didn’t need her daughter calling her up to whine about diving like she was some kindergartner.

  “Come on. I’ll practice with you,” Adam said.

  “Thanks, anyway, but I don’t need your help,” Jenna said, backing up. Thinking about her mother had made the hot prickling move into her eyes. “I’m fine.”

  “Jenna—”

  “Really, Adam,” Jenna said, turning. She had to get out of there before she started crying in front of everyone. “Just leave me alone!”

  She turned and jogged to the beach, grabbing up her board shorts and flip-flops from the end of the pier. Jenna would have loved to have run back to the bunk and cried her eyes out, but she wasn’t allowed to leave the lake area during free swim. The rest of the girls from 3C were lounging over by the first-aid shack and swimming in the shallow end, but she couldn’t face her friends when she was all red-eyed and upset. Instead, she headed for a huge oak tree behind the water-sports cabin. She dropped to the ground in front of it, pulled her knees up under her chin and hugged them to her.

  I am so sick of my brothers and sisters, Jenna thought, burying her face behind her legs. Next year, I’m going to a different camp. Or better. I’ll make Mom and Dad send all of them to a different camp.

  “Jenna? Are you okay?”

  Sniffling quickly, Jenna looked up to find Chelsea hovering over her.

  “I’m fine,” Jenna said grouchily.

  Chelsea tucked her blonde hair behind her ear and sat down next to Jenna. After two weeks at camp, Chelsea already had a deep tan, and the freckles across the bridge of her nose were more defined. She wore a baby blue bathing suit that brought out the stunning color of her eyes. In fact, Jenna now realized, all of Chelsea’s bathing suits were blue, and for the first time she wondered if Chelsea had matched her eyes on purpose. Jenna looked down at her own bright suit. Matching her clothes to her eyes was something she never would have thought of doing. But that was Chelsea.

  “Hey, I’m sorry I picked on you before,” Chelsea said, putting her arm around Jenna. “I didn’t know it was such a big deal.”

  “It’s not,” Jenna replied automatically.

  “Okay,” Chelsea said quickly.

  They both stared at the ground for a moment. Jenna watched a trail of ants returning to their anthill in a perfect line.

  “I am so glad I don’t have a brother,” Chelsea said finally.

  “Adam is such a jerk,” Jenna replied.“‘I’m in blue, you know.’ Like we don’t all know he’s ahead of the rest of us.”

  “He’s so obnoxious,” Chelsea agreed. “We need to get back at him.”

  Jenna lifted her head fully for the first time. Chelsea’s eyes gleamed with mischief. “Get back at him? How?”

  “Nothing big,” Chelsea said with a shrug. “Just a small, innocent prank. To remind him who he’s dealing with.”

  Jenna smiled slightly. A prank. Yes. That would make her feel better. Pulling a prank always made her feel better. It would take her mind off diving, off Adam and Stephanie, off her parents. She grinned at Chelsea. Just that morning, Jenna had been beyond mad at the girl, but suddenly that didn’t matter anymore. If there was one thing Chelsea was good for, it was pranking. She was fearless and smart, the perfect partner-in-crime. And that was exactly what Jenna needed at the moment.

  “We need a plan,” Jenna said. “A really, really good one.”

  Chelsea and Jenna stood in the bathroom that evening, huddled in the corner by the second toilet. It had started to drizzle outside toward the end of free swim, and the light rain tapped against the windowpane above their heads. As always, the rain brought out the slight moldy smell of the bathroom and made the air thick. Out in the bunk, the rest of Jenna’s friends killed the free time before dinner by writing letters to their parents and friends. Jenna, however, was doing what she did best—plotting.

  “Are you sure you can do this?” she asked Chelsea under her breath. “I can if you want me to. I can fake it better than anybody.”

  “I know, but Julie’s never going to believe you have a stomachache,” Chelsea said. “You’re you.”

  “Yeah. I guess I have used it too many times,” Jenna said, checking her plastic watch. “Okay, we gotta do it now, or we won’t have time.”

  “Let’s go,” Chelsea said with a nod.

  Jenna lifted a twenty-ounce bottle of Sunkist her dad had sent in a care package. She nodded at Chelsea, who coughed so that no one would hear the hiss as she popped the bottle open. Then Jenna nodded again, and Chelsea started making some of the most convincing barfing noises Jenna had ever heard.

  Stifling a laugh, Jenna dumped the Sunkist into the toilet so it would sound like Chelsea was actually throwing up. When they heard an “Ew” and some movement in the bunk, Jenna tossed the bottle into the trash, and Chelsea hit her knees, quickly flushing the toilet. Seconds later Julie appeared in the doorway with half the bunk gathered behind her.

  “Who’s sick?” Julie asked, her eyes darting to Chelsea.

  Chelsea took a deep, heaving breath. Her hair stuck to her forehead as she looked up at Julie with heavy eyes.

  “I don’t feel so good,” Chelsea said.

  “She threw up. A lot,” Jenna confirmed, doing her best grossed-out face.

  Julie crouched next to Chelsea and pushed her hair back from her face. Jenna was impressed to see Chelsea swallowing hard and hanging her head. The girl knew what she was doing. If Jenna didn’t know better, even she would have believed Chelsea was ill.

  “Can you make it to the nurse’s cabin?” Julie asked.

  “I don’t know,” Chelsea said weakly.

  “I’ll take her,” Jenna volunteered. As if the idea had just come to her.

  Julie helped Chelsea to her feet, where she stood leaning sideways slightly like she was about to fall over.

  “Chelsea? Do you need me to go with you, or is Jenna okay?” Julie asked.

  “No. Jenna’s fine,” Chelsea said, adding a burp. “You have to take everyone to dinner.” She put her hand over her stomach and grimaced. “Uh. Dinner.”

  “I better get her out of here before she ralphs again,” Jenna said, wrapping her arm around Chelsea. Together, they staggered to the bathroom door, where everyone parted to let them through.

  “Here, you guys,” Grace said, helpfully grabbing their windbreakers from the pegs by the door. “It’s raining out, and you don’t want Chelsea to get even sicker.”

  “Thanks,” Jenna said, feeling a little guilty over Grace’s concern and thoughtfulness. She and Chelsea struggled into their jackets and headed
out into the drizzle.

  “Feel better!” Brynn called after them.

  Then the screen door slammed shut, and Jenna and Chelsea made their way around the bunk. As soon as they were safely out of sight, Jenna stopped pretending to hold Chelsea up, and they took off at a run, heading for the mess hall. The plan was simple, but it had to be done within the next five minutes, or they were sure to get caught.

  Jenna’s heart pounded as her feet slammed along the muddy path through the woods. She loved this energized feeling she got whenever she was about to pull a prank. She was half psyched, half nervous, but couldn’t stop grinning. When Jenna was pulling a prank, it was like the rest of the world and all its problems melted away. All that was left was fun.

  Chelsea emerged into the clearing behind the mess hall first. Jenna looked both ways. The coast was clear. They sprinted to the back of the building and leaned against the wooden planked wall.

  “Whew. Made it,” Chelsea said, wiping some rain off her cheek.

  “I’ll peek inside,” Jenna offered.

  As always, the back door to the kitchen was open to let the air in while the cooks slaved over the hot stoves. Ever so slowly, Jenna checked around the side of the door. The three cooks and Pete were all standing at the huge silver stoves, talking and laughing as they stirred huge vats of torture food.

  Ugh. Smells like beef Stroganoff, Jenna thought, scrunching up her nose. This would be one of those bread-only nights for her, but it was good news for the prank. Her brother loved that gooey brown mess.

  “Jenna! Come on!” Chelsea whispered.

  Pulse pounding in her ears, Jenna reached up to the shelf next to the door and grabbed a five-pound bag of sugar. She was pressed back into the outside wall again before anyone was the wiser.