Soon, Adam and Alyssa were dancing and laughing it up with Simon and Natalie. Tyler came over and grabbed some punch for Stephanie so she could cool off. The two of them bent their heads close together and whispered and laughed as they sipped their drinks. Finally Jenna couldn’t take it anymore. Everyone was having fun but her. And there was only one thing she could do to change it.
Decision made, Jenna waved to Chelsea, who grinned wickedly, nodded, and headed out through the kitchen. Jenna dropped the ladle and tromped outside. It was time to pull the prank of the year—maybe even of the decade. It was time for Jenna Bloom to truly make her mark on the Camp Lakeview social.
“Omigod! Aaahhhhh! Snake!!!!”
“What is nibbling on my foot? Hey! Is that Snowball!?”
“Get it away from me! Get it away from me!!!”
Jenna and Chelsea doubled over laughing in the corner as the animals from the nature shack took center stage at the camp social. Now this was fun. Rabbits, squirrels, snakes, iguanas, turtles—everything but the fish and the birds had been released amidst the dancing, stomping feet.
“This was the best idea you ever had,” Chelsea told Jenna.
“Couldn’t have done it without you!” Jenna replied.
Ten minutes ago Chelsea and Jenna had snuck into the nature shack, using the extra hide-a-key that Roseanne kept in a fake rock by the door for those mornings when she was spacey from lack of coffee. Chelsea had seen her use it once during her time in the nature elective and had remembered the exact placement of the fake rock. Once inside, Jenna and Chelsea had each grabbed as many cages as they could handle and raced through the darkness back to the rear door of the mess hall kitchen. After three trips they had stacked up almost every cage in the shack and the animals were running around inside their pens, twittering and clawing and raring to go.
“Okay. Let’s turn this in to a real hoedown,” Chelsea had said, crouching in front of one of the bunny cages.
“Ready?” Jenna had added, her heart pounding. “One . . . two . . . three!”
They both opened the doors to their nearest cages and . . . nothing happened. Brownie the mouse just looked at Jenna with his beady black eyes. Snowball the rabbit ran to the back of his cage and crouched there.
“No, silly! You’re supposed to go out! Out!” Chelsea ordered.
“Come on,” Jenna said coaxingly. She reached in and picked up Brownie in her hands, then placed him by the door of the kitchen. “Run! You’re free! You’re free!”
The mouse started looking for crumbs.
“Maybe they just need some friends,” Chelsea said.
So Jenna and Chelsea ran around, opening every cage in sight and dumping the animals out on the floor. Then, working together, they wrangled them toward the door, grabbing Leaky the lizard as he tried to make a break for it and giving Todd the turtle the nudge he needed. Finally . . . finally . . . the animals got the picture and, following Sandy the squirrel’s lead, they fanned out into the mess hall.
Now, campers had scattered everywhere. Girls clambered up onto the snack tables, knocking over bowls of Cheetos and plates of brownies. A first-year girl screamed and launched herself toward the punch bowl, splashing the contents all over Stephanie, who was running to help. Stephanie screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Omigosh! Look at my sister!” Jenna cried, grasping Chelsea’s hand as Stephanie’s flattened hair dripped red punch onto her dress. Her mascara was already running, and she looked like the ax murderer from some bad scary movie.
“Check it out!” Chelsea shouted, pointing.
The Frodo Boy from the meeting was running away from, of all things, a chipmunk. He looked terrified as he ran out the front door and ran off screaming into the night.
“This is the best!” Jenna cried, beyond proud of herself.
“Everybody, calm down!” Dr. Steve said into the microphone. “Counselors and staff, please try to wrangle the animals!”
Pete dipped to the floor and swooped up a snake that was slithering toward a huddled group of senior girls. Daphne grabbed two of the iguanas and held them against her, cooing to them with a gentleness Jenna had never thought the girl could produce. Nate came running out of the kitchen, loaded down with buckets and boxes to try to contain the creatures. In every corner of the room there was screaming and chaos.
“Omigod! Somebody get the rabbit! The rabbit is getting away!” a second-year girl screamed from her perch on the DJ table.
Jenna watched as Adam tore across the room and grabbed Snowball, the white rabbit, by its haunches just before it slipped out the door.
At the sight of Snowball’s panicked eyes, something inside Jenna’s chest dropped, hard and fast. She hadn’t thought of the fact that the animals could get away. Suddenly it seemed like all the creatures were scampering for the door, terrified by the screaming and running and crying.
Crying? Who’s crying? Jenna glanced around the room and saw Marta, the girl from bunk 3A, standing with a drenched Stephanie bawling her eyes out. Julie was on the floor next to her with a Band-Aid and a wet cloth.
“What happened?” Nurse Helen asked, appearing on the scene.
“It was Rocco, the guinea pig,” Marissa said, lifting the little pink-nosed animal in her arms. His eyes were darting around wildly. “He got scared and bit her ankle.”
Nurse Helen pressed a piece of gauze into Marta’s wound and when it came back all bloodstained, Jenna almost fainted.
“This is great!” Chelsea said as the chaos continued around them.
But it wasn’t. It wasn’t great at all. The animals were petrified and in danger. Marta’s crying had sparked off a wave of tears among the younger girls. Everyone was miserable. And it was all her fault.
For the first time in her prank-filled life, Jenna knew immediately that she had gone too far.
chapter TWELVE
“I’m very disappointed in you, Jenna,” Dr. Steve said, leaning back against the front of his desk. Jenna had to tip her head back to see up into his face. He blinked rapidly, as always, but now it wasn’t funny. His expression was so harsh—so serious. Before Jenna knew it, she was looking at the floor again. “I know you’ve always been a prankster. Your whole family is famous for it. But you’ve never done anything that caused injury or true harm. What were you thinking?”
I was thinking I was miserable, Jenna thought, sinking lower in her seat. I was mad at my sister and my brother for having fun. I needed to do something.
She wasn’t about to say any of this to the camp director. It hardly made sense to her—how was it supposed to make sense to him?
“Is Marta okay?” she asked finally, her voice small.
“She’ll be fine,” Dr. Steve said. “Of course each of our animals have had their vaccinations, so there’s no chance of rabies or infection.”
Jenna let out a sigh of relief. If Marta had been mad at Jenna after Stephanie’s reaction to the love-note
prank, she must have hated Jenna now. But that didn’t really matter. As long as Marta was okay, Jenna could deal with getting dirty looks from 3A for the rest of the summer. It was nothing new.
“But that’s not the point, Jenna. The point is, it took over an hour to round up all the animals. Roseanne was beside herself with worry,” Dr. Steve said, getting up and pacing to the other side of his desk. “On top of which, the camp social was ruined. There are over a hundred campers here who are none too happy with you.”
“I know,” Jenna said, her heart heavy.
She looked out the window at the bright blue sky. Even from here she could see the colorful helium balloons that were tied up all around the mess hall, welcoming the parents to camp for Visiting Day. Car doors slammed and kids shouted as they greeted the families they hadn’t seen in four full weeks. Shira raced around, playing the happy hostess. Jenna knew that back in her bunk, all her friends were putting on their best clothes, brushing their hair, getting ready for one of the biggest days of the summer. And where was she? St
uck in the director’s office, waiting for her mom to come in for a meeting.
The prank had not been worth it. Not by a long shot.
Jenna wondered how many of the kids had already told their parents about the social. By the end of the day she was going to be famous—but in a bad way. Not exactly what Jenna had imagined.
There was a quick rap on the door, and Jenna’s stomach turned.
“Come in,” Dr. Steve said.
Jenna looked up to find her mother, brow wrinkled in concern, stepping into the room. Her curly hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, and she was wearing her favorite blue sundress and white sneakers. But her eyes looked tired and worried, and Jenna was instantly sorry for giving her anything negative to think about today.
Out of habit, Jenna looked for her father to step through the door after her, but of course, he didn’t. It was like there was a big empty hole where he should have been.
“Jenna,” her mother said. And Jenna was out of her chair like a shot, hugging her mother as tightly as she could. Jenna had no idea how much she’d missed her mom until that very second. “Honey, are you okay?” her mom asked. “Shira told me to come right to the office. Is there anything wrong?”
“I’m afraid we have to have a serious talk, Ms. Bloom,” Dr. Steve said.
Jenna looked up at her mom, who looked back at her with that disappointed expression that Jenna knew so well from other after-prank meetings. She felt like she was about to cry. “I’m really sorry, Mom.”
“It’s okay, baby. Just wait outside while I talk to Dr. Steve,” her mom said, running her hand over Jenna’s hair. “I’ll be right out.”
“Hello, Mrs. Bloom,” Dr. Steve said as Jenna slipped through the door. “And will Mr. Bloom be joining us?”
Jenna closed the door before she could hear her mother’s response. She dropped down into a chair in the deserted waiting room, closed her eyes against her tears, and waited.
“Let’s go for a walk,” Jenna’s mother said when she stepped out of Dr. Steve’s office. She was clutching her purse, and her mouth was set in a thin line. This was not a happy mom.
Jenna stood up quickly, her knees shaking almost as badly as they had on the diving pier. “I’m not kicked out of camp, am I?” she asked.
“No. You’re not kicked out of camp,” her mother said, opening the door for her with a loud creak. “Though I have to say, I find that decision surprising after what you pulled.”
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Jenna thought, practically skipping out into the sunshine. Even though her mother was clearly upset with her, Jenna couldn’t help being relieved that she wasn’t going to have to go home. There was no way she could have handled living for four summer weeks at that house without her brothers and sister. They may have been annoying to have around camp, but she would need them at home. Especially with everything that was going on.
Jenna and her mother stepped onto the main drive where Pete and a bunch of the counselors were directing parents to parking spaces. There wasn’t a paved lot at Camp Lakeview, so they made do with a wide expanse of dirt and did the best they could to fit in all the cars. The tires kicked up a lot of dust, and Pete and the guys were using the bandannas from last night’s social to cover their mouths while they coughed.
“So, do you want to go find Stephanie?” Jenna asked brightly, hoping to change the subject.
“Eh! You’re not getting off that easily, kid,” her mother said. “You are going to be punished for what you did last night.”
Jenna’s heart fell. She had known this had to be coming, but she still didn’t want to hear it. “What’s my punishment?” she asked as they turned their steps toward the picnic tables at the edge of the woods.
“You’ll be getting up early every morning for the next two weeks and helping Roseanne feed the animals and clean their cages,” her mother said.
“Every morning?” Jenna blurted.
“Yes. Every morning,” her mother replied. “And if you ask me, Dr. Steve is going lightly on you. This is the least you can do to make up for that ridiculous prank.”
Jenna tucked her chin and tromped along, her hands hanging heavy at her sides. She knew what she had done was wrong, but that didn’t make taking the punishment any easier.
“Jenna, is there anything you want to talk to me about?” her mother asked, dropping down on a bench at one of the tables. She hefted her large purse onto the grainy wood and turned her intent gaze on Jenna.
Suddenly Jenna’s insides squirmed. “Like what?” she asked, sitting next to her mom.
“Like why you did this?” her mother asked. “I know you like to play jokes and mess around. I know you have a free spirit. But you’re a smart girl. This wasn’t a whoopee cushion or a trick pack of gum. You couldn’t have thought this prank was harmless.”
“I know,” Jenna said quietly.
“So what made you do it?” her mother asked, reaching out and running her fingers through Jenna’s hair, untangling it down her back. Usually Jenna loved her mother’s gentle, comforting touch, but after everything she had done, it just made her feel worse—like she didn’t deserve the attention.
“I don’t know,” Jenna said, knowing it was a lame answer.
“Well, let’s think about it,” her mother said, still combing. “What were you thinking about just before you let the animals into the dance? What were you feeling just then?”
Jenna flushed at the memory, her heart twisting in her chest.
“You can tell me, Jen,” her mom said. “You know you can tell me anything.”
“I was . . . I was mad,” Jenna said finally. She stared at her sandaled feet, kicking out one, then the other, from under the bench.
“Mad at whom?” her mother asked gently.
“At Adam. And Stephanie,” Jenna said.
“Your brother and sister?” her mother said, sounding surprised. “Why?”
“Because they were having so much fun!” Jenna blurted, finally looking at her mom. “And I don’t get it! I don’t get why they get to have so much fun while I’m so . . . so . . .”
“So what, Jenna?” her mom asked her.
“So sad!” Jenna half-shouted, a tear spilling over onto her cheek.
Her mother’s eyes softened slightly, and she wrapped an arm around Jenna, pulling her to her side. Suddenly Jenna was crying loudly, pressing her face into her mother’s shoulder to hide in case anyone happened to walk by.
“You’re sad about me and your dad splitting up?” her mother said quietly.
Jenna nodded into her mom’s arm and sniffled. “And no one else cares! They all act like there’s nothing going on! They act like dad is still going to be living there when we get home. Like . . . like everything hasn’t changed!”
“Oh, Jenna, I’m sure that’s not true,” her mother said. She wiped Jenna’s tears with her thumbs and smiled down at her. “Everyone reacts to this kind of thing in his or her own way. Are you really telling me that neither of them—not Adam, or Stephanie—has acted any differently this summer?”
Jenna sniffled again and thought hard. She thought about Adam and how he had tried to talk to her a couple of times about the upcoming divorce—how she had avoided talking about it. And come to think of it, Adam had been spending a lot of time taking pictures and sitting alone in the darkroom, when in the past he had been as active and athletic as Jenna was. Plus, Stephanie was even more mothering than usual this year. Maybe each one of them was just dealing with their family’s troubles in a different way.
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