Jenna tipped her head back and groaned. Perfect. So much for getting away from her family. Two whole weeks stuck in the darkroom with her twin brother. Wasn’t it enough that they’d had to share a womb for nine months? When was the torture going to end?
chapter TWO
That night in the mess hall, everyone was even rowdier than usual. There was a rumor going through camp that there was going to be some big announcement, and all the campers were buzzing, wondering what it might be. Voices and laughter bounced off the wooden rafters high above, filling the room with a crazy mix of happy noise. It was so loud, Jenna swore she could even see the cobweb-covered lights swinging on their wires overhead.
“What do you think the big news is gonna be?” Karen asked Jenna excitedly, digging into the orange sherbet that the kitchen staff passed off as dessert. Usually, Karen was the shyest girl in the bunk. She kept to herself during free period and barely spoke at meals—or ever—but even she couldn’t help but be affected by the excitement in the air.
“It’s going to be a dance,” Alex said, cutting in before Jenna could answer. “It’s always some kind of dance.”
“Really?” Natalie asked, leaning forward in her seat. “That could be cool!”
“Yeah, they actually are,” Jenna said, eager to
share her Lakeview info. “They usually have all these great decorations and crazy amounts of snacks, and everyone gets all dressed up.”
“Well, as dressed up as you can get around here,” Grace put in. “I’ve been saving my favorite rhinestone barrette just in case,” she added with a grin. “Last year, I had nothing cool to wear.”
“Well, my mom called ahead to see what I would need, and when she found out about the yearly dance she bought me a new sundress,” Chelsea said, tossing her blond hair back. “I haven’t even cut the tags off yet.”
Jenna caught Alex’s eye, and they both stifled a groan. Chelsea was new this year, and they had found out early on that she was smart and funny. But she could also be a bully and was totally into her looks. Plus, she loved to show off.
“This is so beyond cool,” Natalie said. “I brought all kinds of stuff that I never thought I’d get to wear once I got here. Like my new denim miniskirt and that purple tank top with the appliqué flowers . . . I’m going to have to do some serious outfit planning.”
“Well, I have no dance-worthy clothes,” Alyssa said. “Who knew they had dances at camp?”
“You can borrow something of mine, if you want,” Natalie offered. “So, do people have, like, dates for this dance?”
Please! Dates? Jenna thought. I’d rather eat all the leftover sloppy joe surprise!
“Some of the older kids ask each other,” Alex said. “But I don’t think anyone in our year will.”
“Oh,” Natalie said, her face falling.
“Why? Did you want Simon to ask you?” Jenna asked. “Natalie and Simon sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” She glanced over at Simon and Adam’s table and found them and a bunch of their friends trying to get their spoons to stick to the ends of their noses. Adam’s spoon clattered to the table, and they all cracked up laughing. “What do you see in them, anyway? They’re such losers,” Jenna said.
“But cute losers,” Chelsea put in, raising one eyebrow.
Jenna stuck her finger in her mouth to fake gag. Two weeks ago, Chelsea had claimed to be just as grossed out by the boys as the rest of them, but clearly that was a big fake out. Lately it had become obvious that she was almost as boy-crazy as Natalie.
“I just hope none of you think my brother is cute,” Jenna said, pushing away from the table. “Because that would just give me nightmares.”
“You’re going over there, aren’t you?” Natalie asked as Jenna stood up.
“Yep. I have to talk to my evil twin,” Jenna replied.
“Tell me if Simon says anything about me?” Natalie begged.
Jenna tried not to roll her eyes. “No problem,” she replied.
“Uh, Jenna? Where are you going?” Julie asked, sounding worried.
“To talk to my brother,” Jenna replied.
“To talk to him? Not to pull some prank on him?” Julie asked.
Jenna smiled. “No, Julie, I swear.” She crossed her heart with her pinkie for good measure.
“Okay, then!” Julie said with a smile, though she still looked doubtful.
Wow. Pull a few lousy pranks and one raid and nobody trusts you anymore, Jenna thought. Well, one raid each summer. Maybe two. She walked over to Adam’s table and dropped down into a chair next to him.
“Jenna? What are you doing over here?” Adam’s bunk counselor Nate asked, with an expression that looked a lot like Julie’s just had.
“I’m not pulling a prank!” Jenna half-shouted.
“Like you could really pull one over on us,” Adam said.
“Hello? I’ve only done it, like, a million times before!” Jenna reminded him.
“But not tonight,” Nate said.
Jenna rolled her eyes. “Not tonight. I promise,” she told Nate. She turned to her brother while the rest of the guys continued their stunning spoon tricks. “So, Adam, we need to talk.”
“I know,” he said. “Did you get the cupcakes from Mom today?”
Jenna’s heart turned over in her chest. “Yeah, but that’s—”
“Unbelievable, right? I mean, it’s like they’re trying to bribe us or something. I didn’t even finish the candy Dad sent over the weekend yet,” Adam said, looking down.
Jenna did not like the way this conversation was going. “Yeah, well, that’s because you don’t share,” she said. “So listen, do you really have to take photography?”
“Photography?” Adam asked, blinking. “That’s why you came over here? I thought you wanted to talk about—”
“Yeah. I want you to drop it,” Jenna said, cutting him off. “Drop photography and take something else.”
Adam sat up straight in his chair, and she knew she finally had his full attention. “Why?”
“Because I’m taking photography. And, you and me? We can’t be in the same elective at the same time,” Jenna said.
“Why not?” Adam asked.
“Because! You . . . you . . .” And that was when Jenna realized she didn’t have a real reason. What was she supposed to say? “I don’t want you around me?” Adam had thick skin, but even he would probably be upset by that. It didn’t even really make sense to her, but it was how she felt.
“Because I what?” Adam asked.
“Because you smell!” Jenna said, blurting out the first thing that came to her mind.
All of Adam’s friends cracked up, and her brother’s face fell. For a split second Jenna felt beyond awful. She couldn’t believe she had just made fun of her brother like that in front of everyone. But then his face broke into his silly, wide grin. He lifted his arm and took a huge, long whiff of his T-shirt at the armpit.
“Ugh!” Jenna groaned, along with some of the guys.
“Fresh as a flower patch,” Adam said, picking up his spoon and digging into his dessert. “Sorry, sis, but if you want to avoid me, you’re gonna have to drop photography. You’d better get back to your friends. I’m sure you’re missing some very important lip-gloss tips or something.”
All the boys cracked up laughing, and Jenna felt her skin turn blotchy and red. She stood up and stalked back to her table, humiliated. She knew it was a little jerky to ask Adam to quit photography, but she just wanted one thing to herself. Why couldn’t she have been an only child? Or, at the very least, the only one born on her birthday?
“All right, everyone! Settle down, settle down.”
Dr. Steve stood in front of the microphone at the front of the room next to the long table where the camp directors and coordinators ate. An excited twitter raced through the mess hall.
“This is it! The big announcement!” Grace said with a grin. She pulled her legs up and tucked them under her to give her added height so she could se
e better. Ever positive and always up for fun, Grace had a way of getting excited about everything—even Dr. Steve’s unsurprising announcements.
The camp director was a tall man with thinning blond hair and a high forehead. His face was constantly pink because, no matter how much sunblock he wore, he always seemed to burn. During the day, he was always seen in a fisherman’s hat, shorts, and a white Camp Lakeview polo. But at dinner, he wore khaki pants and a dark blue Camp Lakeview polo. He had worn this uniform every single night since the beginning of time. Even Jenna’s older brother Matt had confirmed this. In fact, Matt had asked Jenna to let him know the first time Dr. Steve changed his outfit, because Matt would have to throw a party to celebrate the event.
Dr. Steve tapped at the mike. He tried to shush the campers with a few dozen “shhhs” and “ahems,” but it wasn’t until a huge peel of feedback split the room that everyone finally shut up.
“Thank you,” Dr. Steve said, blinking rapidly as he leaned toward the mike. Jenna glanced at Alex, and they shared a smile. They had noticed Dr. Steve’s crazy blinking habit their first summer at Lakeview, and Alex had come up with the nickname “Dr. Flutter Bug.” Ever since then, neither of them could see him without thinking of it.
“First off, I’d like to remind everyone that Visiting Day is in just two weeks,” Dr. Steve announced.
The entire room exploded in a roar of cheers and applause, and Grace even threw her fists in the air as she whooped. Everyone loved when their parents came to visit, no matter how embarrassing they were. Visiting Day meant three things: tons of food, clean clothes, and lots of presents.
As Dr. Steve tried to get the room to “settle down” once more, Jenna picked up her spoon and dipped it into the orange soup her dessert had become. She lifted it and stared as the goo dripped off the end and back into the bowl. Lift, turn, drip. Lift, turn, drip. It was mesmerizing.
“Jenna? You okay?” Julie asked as the room began to quiet again.
Jenna dropped her spoon with a clatter. “Yeah. Fine. Why?”
“You don’t seem too psyched about Visiting Day,” Julie pointed out.
“Yeah. Even I can’t wait, and my mom’s a total freak and my dad’s a total flake,” Alyssa put in. “At least you know both your parents will show up.”
Yeah. Sure. Right, Jenna thought, a pit of sour sadness forming in her stomach. The perfect Blooms will definitely be here to see all their perfect kids.
“Everything okay?” Julie asked again.
Jenna opened her mouth to reply, but Dr. Steve tapped the microphone again before she got a word out.
“But before Visiting Day, there is one other event that I think you will all be very excited about,” Dr. Steve put in. “The night before Visiting Day, we are going to have . . .”
Jenna saw Natalie cross her fingers. Valerie and Chelsea sat up a little higher in their seats. Grace was beaming so brightly, she could have lit up the entire camp. Even Sarah, the bunk’s major jock, who would never even think about getting dressed up, looked excited.
“A camp-wide social!” Dr. Steve announced, just as Alex mouthed the words, “A camp-wide dance.”
Half the room gasped in excitement, and Jenna glanced at Alex.
“Dance, social. What’s the difference?” Alex asked.
“What is the difference?” Natalie asked.
“Nothing, really,” Marissa replied, sitting down at the end of the table with Julie. As a CIT, Marissa also had the job of waitressing at meals, and she always joined the table when her duties were done. “There will still be dancing. They just decided not to call it a dance because the younger kids get all weird about it.”
Jenna knew this was true. Every year while all the older girls danced with the older boys, the younger girls stood around and looked awkwardly at the boys across the room. Some kids didn’t want to dance at all because they felt silly. Other kids were terrified of asking someone to dance and even more terrified of being asked to dance. A lot of kids got stressed out about it in the days leading up to the event. Of course, Jenna had never been one of them. She just saw the camp dance as a chance to eat snacks and hang with her friends. And she didn’t think that using the word “social” was going to fool anyone. They all knew it was still the camp dance.
“We’ll be having all kinds of sweets and snacks, and Pete, the assistant cook you all know and love, has graciously offered to deejay the event,” Dr. Steve continued.
Pete took a step away from the wall where he had been lounging and threw his fists in the air to loud cheers and hoots from all the guys. Gangly and sweet, Pete was a camp mainstay. Up until this year, he had been a counselor and definitely one of the cooler ones. This summer, he had taken a job in the mess hall, although Jenna had no idea why. Even looking after the boys had to be better than working with the so-called food they served around here.
“A DJ? That’s so cool!” Valerie said, her eyes wide.
“I hope he’s got some good music,” Alyssa put in.
“Last year at the camp-wide dance, they actually played Kenny G.,” Grace said, scrunching her face up. “I mean, my grandmother listens to Kenny G.”
“Who’s Kenny G.?” Jessie asked. For the first time, she lifted her nose from the book it had been buried in the whole time she had been eating.
“Exactly!” Grace said, raising a hand. “No one knows! He’s, like, this weird old guy with freaky long hair who plays elevator music. I swear he hypnotizes old people into liking him. Oooh! But wouldn’t it be so cool if you could hypnotize people into liking you?” she added, her eyes bright.
Jenna and her bunkmates laughed at this latest babble of Grace’s. “Don’t worry. Everybody already likes you,” Jenna assured her, causing her friend to blush under her freckles.
“We would like the campers to be as involved as possible in planning this event,” Dr. Steve continued. “After all, this is your party. To that end, we’ll be creating a planning committee made up entirely of campers.”
Jenna’s eyes widened, and she looked from Alex to Brynn to Grace. Now this was new. Campers had never been involved in the planning of the annual event before. If Jenna could get on the committee, she could make sure that it was the best social/dance/whatever in the history of Lakeview. And she could help them avoid the classic mistakes. Like Kenny G.!
“This is so cool!” Grace said, clasping her hands together.
“Counselors, we will be taking two volunteers from each cabin. Please bring the names of your volunteers to my office tomorrow morning,” Dr. Steve said, shouting now to be heard over the excited chatter. “Thank you for your attention,” he said. Then he gave up and sat down at his table again.
“I totally want to be on the planning committee!” Chelsea said instantly.
“Me too!” Jenna put in.
“So do I!” Natalie added. “Don’t you, Alyssa?”
“Yeah,” Alyssa said. “It could be fun.”
The whole table erupted as everyone tried to volunteer for the committee.
“You guys, you can’t all be on the committee,” Julie said, holding her hands up. “Then none of you would get to be surprised on the night of the social.”
“And besides, Dr. Steve said there could be only two from each bunk,” Brynn added.
“You’re right,” Alex said, sitting back. “I’m out. I wanna see what the rest of you come up with.”
Jenna's Dilemma #2 Page 2