chapter TEN
That night, Jenna lay on her side in her sleeping bag, staring at the legs on the dresser near the wall. Her eyes were wide open and she listened carefully, waiting for everyone to fall asleep. After several summers sleeping every night in a bunk full of girls, she had learned to recognize the signs. Slowed breathing, loud snorts, the occasional twitch. After about twenty minutes, all her friends were officially down for the count.
Ever so carefully, Jenna slipped her legs out of her sleeping bag and pushed herself up. Tori, who was sleeping next to her, stirred and turned over, but didn’t wake. Quickly, Jenna tiptoed across the room. Being the ultimate prankster, her sneaking skills were top-notch, and she was feeling quite proud of herself. Until she stepped right on Grace’s textbook and slid halfway across the room. Somehow she managed not to shout in surprise, but her heart hit her throat. The book smacked into the wall, and Jenna lost her balance and fell on her bottom on the hardwood floor. She winced and looked around quickly, holding her breath. No open eyes. No one staring at her. She was still safe.
She got up and picked up the book. Darn slick covers. Then she brought it into the bathroom with her so that it wouldn’t cause any more trouble.
Luckily, Jenna had never removed the nightlight her mother had put in the bathroom when she was little. Even though it was kind of childish, it was good for finding her way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Now she was extra glad to have it because it meant she didn’t have to risk turning the light on and waking everyone.
Jenna placed Grace’s book in the magazine basket next to the toilet and opened the medicine cabinet. She grabbed the box of hair dye that Alyssa had found on Friday night and held the directions up to the nightlight. Before bed, everyone had been in and out of the bathroom, brushing their teeth and combing their hair, so she hadn’t had time to read the directions then. Now she scanned them quickly, just hoping they wouldn’t be too complex. If the dye required the use of a hairdryer or something, her plan was toast.
“Perfect,” Jenna whispered to herself, her heart fluttering with excitement.
The kit was just for streaking, so all she had to do was brush the dye on with the little applicator that was included. This was definitely going to work. She quickly opened the box and took out the bottle and brush. Then she took the box and stuffed it into the bottom of the garbage can, covering it over with tissues and cotton balls.
Biting her lip to keep from grinning, Jenna clutched the hair dye and crept through the room again. This time she was even more careful and she made it to the door without a trip. Quietly, she slipped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her. Then she raced down the carpeted hall to Adam and David’s room. When she saw that their door was already open, she could barely contain her giggle.
What was wrong with these guys? At the very least, they should have expected Jenna and her friends to try to get them back for the Silly String attack. But they hadn’t even bothered to close and lock their door. It was like they were asking for it.
Slowly, Jenna stepped inside. The light from the full moon outside illuminated the room just enough so that Jenna could see. Adam was all curled up on one bed with the covers in a ball at his feet. David lay peacefully sleeping on his back on the other bed.
Jenna’s pulse pounded with excitement. She tiptoed over to David’s side and knelt down next to his bed, her knees on the rattan throw rug. He didn’t move a muscle. Just kept breathing slowly and steadily.
This is too easy, Jenna told herself giddily.
She unscrewed the top of the hair-dye bottle and squeezed a bit of the smelly liquid onto the brush. She was just about to touch the brush to David’s hair when she made the mistake of looking at his face.
His totally cute, unsuspecting, sleeping face.
Guilt overcame her. She and David had been having so much fun the past couple of days. He had been so sweet and so funny. And he had told her he liked her. No guy had ever told her that before. Could she really do this to him?
Then she thought of Sarah. Yes, David had told her that he liked her, but he had done it while he was still dating Sarah. He was a pig! A jerk and a pig and a jerk some more. She could do this to him. He totally deserved it. No matter how cute he looked while he was sleeping.
With a deep breath, Jenna touched the brush to David’s hair and got to work.
The next morning, Jenna and her friends were out on the back deck bright and early, getting ready for their final rehearsal before the talent competition. Val was leading everyone in stretching, but Jenna was always one step behind. She kept glancing over her shoulder at the sliding doors to the house, wondering when David was going to wake up.
“Jenna! We’re doing our arms now,” Val said impatiently.
Jenna popped her head up from her calf stretch and smiled. “Sorry. Just . . . feeling the burn!”
Everyone laughed and rolled their eyes. Jenna looked at the doors again. Her heart jumped when they slid open, then fell when she saw that it was only Grace.
“Found it!” she said, holding up her textbook. “Anyone know why it was in the bathroom?”
“Maybe you were sleepwalking with it,” Brynn joked.
“Actually, I stepped on it when I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night,” Jenna said. “That thing is a menace.”
“Tell me about it,” Grace said, blowing out a sigh. “Sorry if it got in your way.”
Jenna recalled how she had almost cracked her head open the night before—and alerted everyone to her latest prank—and smiled. “Not a problem. I didn’t know you were looking for it or I would have told you where it was.”
“Believe me, part of me did not want to find it,” Grace told her.
Suddenly the girls heard a shout from inside and Jenna’s heart slammed into her ribcage. A window slid open overhead and Adam pressed his face into the screen.
“Jenna! What did you do!?” he cried.
All Jenna’s friends turned to look at her. They were all very well aware of her long prankster tradition. With everyone staring at her, Jenna had a hard time keeping a straight face.
“Jenna . . .” Alex said in a scolding tone.
“What? I’m innocent,” Jenna said.
Two seconds later the back door slid open and out ran David, still in his pajama pants and T-shirt. His hair was sticking straight up from his head and it was striped with blue. He looked hilarious, but the best part was the blue eyebrows. Jenna had thought of it at the last minute before leaving his room. She had been scared out of her mind that he would wake up the entire time she was working on them, but he hadn’t. The results were totally worth the effort. He looked absolutely insane.
“Jenna! Omigod!” Natalie cried, putting her hand over her mouth.
Everyone cracked up laughing. Val even doubled over, she was laughing so hard. Jenna was overwhelmed by a feeling of total triumph. They thought she liked David? Ha! Would she really do that to a guy that she liked?
“You did this to me?” David blurted, walking over to Jenna.
Jenna grinned back at him. “I admit nothing.”
She waited for him to freak out and yell at her. She waited for him to demand that she fix it. But instead, he backed up a few steps and smiled.
“Well I . . . love it!” he cried. He placed his fists on his hips and looked up at the sky, all regal. “I am The Blue Menace!” he shouted, hamming it up. “You will all bow in the face of my extreme blue power!”
“Omigosh. He’s nuts,” Alex said. “He’s completely and totally nuts.”
David walked over to the CD player and hit the play button. The second the music started he launched into a silly superhero dance, thrusting his arms over his head and pretending to fly around the deck. Jenna was stunned. David wasn’t mad at all. He was, in fact, enjoying this.
So much for getting him back for telling her he liked her. If anything, she had made his day.
All the girls laughed and clapped to the beat
as David continued with his silly show. Even Jenna couldn’t help cracking up when he jumped up on a chair and wagged his hips back and forth. This was great. She liked a guy who had a good sense of humor—a guy who could take a joke. David was even cooler than she had thought.
The moment Jenna realized this, her heart fell. Thanks to her little prank, she had just discovered something else she liked about David.
This whole plan had really blown up in her face.
chapter ELEVEN
“Why didn’t I think of this before?” Valerie wailed, standing in the center of the guest room after lunch. “What are we going to wear?”
“We’ll look like total losers if we don’t have costumes,” Tori agreed.
Jenna looked around the guest room, which looked as if a department store had exploded all over it. Everyone had pulled out all their clothes, and they were arranging them on the beds to see if anything would work.
“You guys will come up with something,” Jenna said, patting Val on the back. “This is the most creative bunch of people on the planet.”
Valerie looked at Jenna, her forehead all wrinkled. “I’m so sorry we won’t be able to come to the water-balloon toss to cheer for you,” she said. “But we have to figure this out.”
“It’s okay,” Jenna said.
Jenna would have loved to have stayed to help, but she was supposed to be competing in the water-balloon toss with David in a few minutes. They still had a chance to win the olde-tyme competition if they took first or second place.
Unfortunately, Jenna wasn’t even sure if she wanted to be around David right now. She had a feeling it was just going to be awkward and awful. That morning she had even entertained the idea of quitting the competition, but that had lasted all of five seconds. Quitting was not Jenna’s style, especially when she had such a good shot at winning.
Still, it would have been really nice to have even one friend there to back her up and cheer her on.
“Are you sure none of you can come?” Jenna asked, looking hopefully at Brynn.
“I would, Jen, but I kind of want to be here for Alex,” Brynn whispered, glancing over her shoulder at where Alex was helping Alyssa sort clothes. “She and Adam haven’t said a word to each other all day, so she’s not going to compete.”
Jenna took a deep breath. She knew that Brynn was right. Alex really did need her more than Jenna did right now. It looked like she was just going to have to be brave and head to the competition on her own.
“Okay. Well then, I guess I’ll see you guys at the show,” Jenna said, the butterflies in her stomach going crazy.
“We’ll bring your costume there,” Natalie told her, holding up a black T-shirt to inspect it. “If we have one.”
“Okay, well, good luck!” Jenna said, heading for the door.
“You too! Break a leg!” her friends called after her.
Jenna closed the door behind her and looked down at her skinny legs sticking out of her shorts. Breaking a leg might not be a bad idea. Then she wouldn’t have to go through with this whole thing. But, of course, she knew that wasn’t actually an option. Nope. She was going to have to face David. With a water balloon.
Taking a deep breath, Jenna turned and started down the stairs. Time to get this over with.
A huge crowd had gathered to watch the water-balloon toss. So huge that for a second Jenna was worried she might not even be able to find David. But then she saw a shock of blue hair and snorted a laugh. Like he would ever be difficult to find with that hairdo.
Her knees quaking, Jenna walked up behind David and poked him twice on the shoulder. He turned around and smiled. He had a blue water balloon in one hand. Very color-coordinated.
“Hey! I was starting to think maybe you weren’t going to show,” he said.
“Like I would miss this,” Jenna said. She noticed that a bunch of people around them were pointing and staring. And laughing. Her mouth twisted into a smirk. “That’s a good look for you,” she told him.
“Ya think?” he said, touching his hair with his free hand. “Maybe you should try it. Problem is, I have no idea who my stylist is, so I can’t tell you who to go to.”
His eyes were dancing as he looked at Jenna. She felt her skin start to grow warm and shrugged. “That’s too bad.”
“Jenna, come on. I know you did this to me,” David said.
“Me? Please! Where would I get blue hair dye?” Jenna said automatically. “Have you seen me go to a store this weekend?”
David laughed. “I don’t know how you did it, I just know you did. And I think I know why, too.”
Jenna’s stomach twisted into knots and she looked away.
“I think you did it because—”
“All competitors, please take your places on the white lines!” the announcer’s voice boomed over the loudspeakers. “That’s right, line up across from your partner on the white lines!”
“Gotta go!” Jenna said, more than happy to put an end to their conversation.
She jogged over to the white line farthest from her and turned to face David. Gradually everyone else fell into place. Jenna was glad to see that Adam hadn’t shown up. If he’d come here thinking that Alex would be here and then Alex hadn’t arrived, Adam would have been crushed.
The announcer stepped up to the end of the two lines of competitors. He was wearing a tremendous red cowboy hat with a blue ribbon around it. His red, white, and blue plaid cowboy shirt looked as if it was about to burst at the seams trying to hold his jolly stomach.
“Everybody got a balloon?” the announcer asked.
David and all the other balloon-tossers on his side held up their balloons.
“Okay. You know how this works,” the announcer said. “You toss the balloon to your partner. He or she catches it and throws it back. If you get through that without a splash, then the person holding the balloon takes one step back and it starts all over again. Whoever finishes this thing dry is our winner.”
The crowd laughed as one and the announcer beamed.
“All righty, then. On your marks! Get set! Toss!” he shouted.
Jenna got ready to catch. All the balloons flew. All except David’s. He looked at Jenna and smiled.
“What are you doing? Toss your balloon!” she said through her teeth.
“I think you did it because you like me,” David said.
All the color drained out of Jenna’s face.
“What? Why would I do that to someone I liked?” Jenna said.
“Exactly!”
David tossed the balloon underhand to Jenna. She was still so stunned by what he’d said to her that she almost dropped it. Almost.
“You’re not making any sense,” she said.
“I think you did it because you like me and you were trying to make me and everyone else think that you don’t,” David said with a triumphant smirk. “Am I right?”
Jenna’s jaw dropped. He was, of course, right. But she couldn’t believe he was saying all of this to her. Right here in front of all these people! Thank goodness her friends had decided not to come. This could have been even more awful than it already was.
“I knew it! I am right!” David cheered.
Then Jenna pulled back and flung the water balloon right at his feet as hard as she possibly could. The balloon popped and splashed water all up David’s legs and onto his shirt. He closed his eyes and wiped a few drops of water off his cheek.
“Uh-oh! There goes our first couple!” the announcer called out.
David stared at Jenna and grinned. “You are so dead!”
He turned and ran over to a huge bucket holding dozens of water balloons. Jenna’s eyes widened and she started to run, but it was too late. Suddenly a balloon exploded on her back, soaking her T-shirt and shorts. A bunch of the competitors sprang away.
“I can’t believe you did that!” Jenna cried.
She raced over to the bucket, cutting David off from it.
“Now, now, now!” the announcer calle
d out. “This is not a water-balloon fight.”
“It is now!” Jenna shouted.
She grabbed two balloons, one in each hand, and backed up. The moment she was clear of the bucket, David did the same. They circled each other, ammunition at the ready, each waiting for the other to make their move. David kept balking—pretending he was about to throw—and every time he did, Jenna flinched and shrieked. Finally she couldn’t take it anymore. She pulled back and let her first balloon fly. It glanced off David’s shoulder and bounced harmlessly to the grass.
“Darn it!” Jenna shouted.
“You missed me! You missed me!” David taunted.
Jenna narrowed her eyes and immediately threw her second balloon. This time she got him right in the chest and the balloon exploded. David closed his eyes as water dripped from his chin. Jenna laughed.
“Oh! Is someone all wet?” Jenna said, pretending to pout.
“Nice one,” David said, opening his eyes. “But now you’re unarmed.”
He pulled his arm back and ran right at her. Jenna screamed and sprinted away. The crowd parted, people jumping left and right to keep out of the line of fire. Jenna finally made it to a huge oak tree near the edge of the field and crouched behind it.
“You can’t stay back there forever!” David called out.
“Oh, yes I can!” Jenna shouted back, laughing.
A balloon slammed into the bark right next to her left arm, soaking her all over again. Jenna ran right and found herself face-to-face with David. He held up the second water balloon. Her heart pounded right through her T-shirt. How could he be all blue-haired and drenched and still be cute?
“Aren’t I soaked enough?” she asked.
“I won’t use it if you admit it,” David said with a smile. “Admit you like me.”
“No!” Jenna said, but she couldn’t stop grinning.
David lifted the balloon over his head. Jenna backed into the tree. Her curls were plastered to her face and neck, and her soaked T-shirt clung uncomfortably to her arms. “Admit it!” he said.
A Fair to Remember #13 Page 8