Read Camp Confidential 03 - Grace's Twist Online
Authors: Melissa J Morgan
Camp Confidential 03 - Grace's Twist
Table of Contents
GROSSET & DUNLAP
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Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Group (Canada), 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
(a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road,
Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park,
New Delhi - 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany,
Auckland 1310, New Zealand
(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,
Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
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Copyright © 2005 by Grosset & Dunlap. All rights reserved. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. S.A.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2004025128
eISBN : 978-1-101-04088-1
chapter ONE
Dear Emily,Hey there, chiquita! What’s up back in Boringtown, U.S.A.? I bet you’ve been spending the whole summer just lying by the pool, right? I’m having a blast here at Camp Lakeview, as if that’s any surprise! My bunkmates rule—they’re almost as cool as you. (Calm down, I said
almost
!) I’m in the same bunk as Brynn, Jenna, and Alex again, which is so much fun. It’s hard to believe I haven’t seen them since last summer—we just slipped right back into our old friendship. I’m lucky to have so many friends here. Not that they’ll ever replace you, my bestest friend in the world! I wish you could come to Lakeview, too. It’s weird not seeing you for the entire summer. And I know you’re probably mad at me. I’m sorry I haven’t written yet, Em, but you know how it is. I keep meaning to, but then—Whatever. I haven’t told you the most amazing thing. One of the new girls in my bunk, Natalie, is the daughter of Tad Maxwell!! Can you believe it?? He came to Lakeview with his girlfriend once in the early days of camp, but he couldn’t make it for Visiting Day last week. If only my parents were famous movie stars so they would be too busy to get here for a visit. But no, they showed up. With another boring book for me to read. Ugh. Can you believe it? Jenna’s parents brought a truckload of food in their care package, and my parents bring The Jungle Book. Why would anyone want to read that when they can just watch the cartoon? Anyway, Mom and Dad spent the whole time lecturing me, as I’m sure you can imagine—
Grace Matthews sighed and put down her pen. Her best friend, Emily, deserved a letter. She’d already sent three letters to Grace at Camp Lakeview, and Grace hadn’t answered even one. But it took so long to write a letter . . . and there was always so much fun stuff to do at camp. Her copy of
The Call of the Wild
lay upside down at the foot of her bed, open to the last page she’d read. Grace grabbed it and pulled it halfheartedly onto her lap. Reading was almost as boring as writing. She glanced around bunk 3C at all her friends. Sure, some of them were reading or writing letters, but lots of them were busy doing more interesting stuff. Well, except for Chelsea, who seemed to be doing nothing but staring at herself in her hand mirror. Chelsea was beautiful, but it still had to be pretty boring to spend all your time looking at your own face. Grace shrugged and turned her attention to one of the other old-time campers like herself.
The Call of the Wild
lay upside down at the foot of her bed, open to the last page she’d read. Grace grabbed it and pulled it halfheartedly onto her lap. Reading was almost as boring as writing. She glanced around bunk 3C at all her friends. Sure, some of them were reading or writing letters, but lots of them were busy doing more interesting stuff. Well, except for Chelsea, who seemed to be doing nothing but staring at herself in her hand mirror. Chelsea was beautiful, but it still had to be pretty boring to spend all your time looking at your own face. Grace shrugged and turned her attention to one of the other old-time campers like herself.
“Hey, Brynn,” Grace called down from her top bunk. “What on earth are you doing?”
Brynn stood in the center of the small room, her feet planted about ten inches apart on the scuffed wooden floor. She was bent over at the waist, her arms hanging down and her short dark red hair falling over her face. She’d been standing like that for at least two minutes. “It’s yoga,” Brynn said, her voice muffled. She was speaking into her knees, after all. “My mom gave me an article on Visiting Day about how lots of actors do yoga to keep themselves focused.”
Grace grinned. She loved acting, and she knew Brynn did, too. In fact, it was the only real interest Brynn had. “Mind if I join you?”
Brynn shook her upside-down head. Grace jumped down from her bunk, took her place next to Brynn, and copied the strange position. Just before she bent over, she noticed Julie, their counselor, shoot a look up at the unfinished letter and book on Grace’s bed. Grace felt her cheeks grow warm, and she quickly leaned over so she wouldn’t have to meet Julie’s gaze.
Hanging head-down wasn’t much better, though. All the blood rushed to her head, making her cheeks and neck feel hot. Her curly red hair was longer than Brynn’s, and it kept getting in her eyes and covering her face. She moved to pull away a strand that had gotten caught in her mouth, but Brynn protested. “You’re supposed to keep still,” she said. “Don’t move; just pay attention to your breathing and to the stretch in your back muscles.”
“That’s right, Grace, don’t forget to breathe,” Jenna Bloom said from across the room. Jenna put on a slow, deep voice as if she were trying to hypnotize someone. “Breathe in . . . breathe out. Breathe in . . . breathe in some more,” Jenna said in her “soothing” voice.
Grace couldn’t help it—she got the giggles. “How can I pay attention to my breathing when I can’t breathe?” she asked. Leaning over like this made it hard to take a deep breath, and she felt herself getting a little dizzy. She stood up quickly and got a head rush. “Whoa,” she cried, stumbling backward. Luckily Marissa, bunk 3C’s CIT, or counselor-in-training, was there to catch her.
“I’m not sure you’re mellow enough to do yoga, Grace,” Marissa joked.
Brynn stood up very slowly. “It’s too bad,” she commented. “You could be such a good actress if you tried. Yoga could really help you be more centered.”
Grace decided to ignore her. Brynn’s whole goal in life was to be a famous actor, and she could never understand why Grace wasn’t as focused on that as she was. But to Grace, acting was just something fun to do. She loved it—she
totally
loved it—but mostly because it was easy, and she was good at it, and it gave her a chance to be someone else for a few minutes. She didn’t need to be famous or anything. She just loved acting. Whenever things got tough in school, acting was her favorite way to escape from the pressure. But none of her bunkmates knew that. None of them had any idea how it was back at school. Summer camp was for fun, not stress, and that was exactly how Grace liked it.
totally
loved it—but mostly because it was easy, and she was good at it, and it gave her a chance to be someone else for a few minutes. She didn’t need to be famous or anything. She just loved acting. Whenever things got tough in school, acting was her favorite way to escape from the pressure. But none of her bunkmates knew that. None of them had any idea how it was back at school. Summer camp was for fun, not stress, and that was exactly how Grace liked it.
“There’s no more time for yoga now, anyway,” Marissa said. “Dinner’s ready. I just came back to grab my hair band—I forgot it.” Marissa snatched a pink elastic band from her cot and took off, letting the screen door bang shut behind her as she scooped her long hair up into a ponytail. She and the other CITs were responsible for serving the meals in the mess hall. If you could call them meals.
“Okay, everyone, let’s go chow down,” Julie called.
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Jenna joked, heading for the door. She was so athletic that she spent lots of time eating—she needed plenty of fuel to burn out on the soccer field. She, Alex, and Sarah were the big jocks in the bunk. Grace liked sports well enough, but she wasn’t as obsessed with them as some of her friends.
“I think it’s spaghetti night,” Alex said. She rolled her eyes at Brynn, her best friend. “In other words . . .”
“. . . cardboard strips in tomato soup,” Brynn finished for her. They both laughed.
Grace had to admit, the food at Camp Lakeview wasn’t gourmet. In fact, it was even worse than the cafeteria food back at school. But eating every night in the noisy mess hall surrounded by all the other Lakeview campers was enough fun that the food didn’t matter.
She climbed down the two rickety steps from the cabin and followed her bunkmates along the path toward the mess hall. Natalie and Alyssa, another 3C camper, walked right behind her.
“I didn’t even get to dance with him,” Alyssa was saying. “It’s no big deal.”
“But he obviously likes you,” Natalie replied.
Grace grinned and turned around to walk backward so she could talk to them. “Still talking about the camp social?” she asked. “It was almost a week ago!”
Alyssa shrugged, making her orange hair swing. She’d dyed it that color the night before the social—by accident. It was supposed to be red, but something had gone horribly wrong. Grace was secretly a little relieved not to be the most Ronald McDonald-like girl in the bunk for a change. But on Alyssa, the strange color actually looked good—sort of punk. Alyssa was so artsy that she could make anything weird seem stylish.
“Adam was totally flirting with Alyssa at the social,” Natalie said. “And I know she likes him, too. She’s just being shy.”
Alyssa stuck out her tongue at Natalie. “And
you’re
just trying to make us forget about you and Simon,” she teased.
you’re
just trying to make us forget about you and Simon,” she teased.
Grace laughed. It was true, Natalie’s relationship with Simon had been the big topic of discussion in bunk 3C for the past few weeks. Well, first it had been Natalie’s famous father, and then Natalie’s sort-of boyfriend, Simon. But for the past few days, talk had been a little more serious in the bunk.
Grace glanced over her shoulder to see where Jenna was. She was tromping through the trees at the head of the group, as usual. “Hey, do you guys think Jenna’s doing okay?” she asked, lowering her voice.
Natalie squinted at Jenna’s back. “She’s been kinda sticking to herself, I guess,” she said. “But I think that’s normal.”
Alyssa nodded. “She’s probably still embarrassed about the Great Animal Escape.”
Grace shuddered just thinking about it. Jenna had always been a prankster—some of the best memories Grace had from the previous summer were of helping Jenna prank their rival bunk, 3A. But the night before this year’s Visiting Day, Jenna had gone too far. She’d let all the animals from the nature shack out of their cages . . . and into the camp social. It had been mayhem, and Jenna had gotten in a lot of trouble.
“Adam says she’ll be fine,” Alyssa said. “And he should know, he’s her twin!”
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