Friends ForNever (20 page)

“I know, but that's a long way away,” sobbed Whitney. “Who's going to make fun of me till then?”

Whitney hugged me before she got into her parents' car. “Thanks, Darcy. If it hadn't been for your intervention, we probably never would've made up. I hope you and Nicole stay in touch.”

“Thanks,” I told her, but I doubted that we would.

Then Ashlin left, and then Claudia. A group of us were standing around saying good-bye to Patty when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see Nic.

“My dad's here.”

I was surprised that she was even going to say good-bye to me. But I was happy, too. It would have broken my heart if she'd left without even speaking to me.

“Really? Already?” I asked. Down by the road I saw Nic's father and stepmother standing by their car, loading Nic's stuff into the trunk.

“Yeah. I have to go.” Nic's face was tense. She'd cried last night at the Circle Fire, but now she was holding back the tears. I didn't want to say anything that might make her break down. I knew she just wanted to get into the car and leave.

“I hope you have an okay time at your dad's. Go ahead and use the towels, and don't worry what Elizabeth says,” I said. I wanted to ask,
So, are we friends again or not
? Instead I just said, “I'll be thinking about you.”

“Yeah, me too. Keep me posted on all the baby news, okay?”

“I will,” I said.

She stepped forward and gave me a quick hug. I was glad she'd hugged me, because I wasn't sure whether or not I should hug her.

And that was it. She said good-bye to a few other people on her way to the car, and then she got inside and they pulled away.

I wiped tears away, but I didn't really cry too much. Sarah was standing nearby. “You should IM each other when you get back,” she suggested. “It's a lot easier talking to people that way than it is face-to-face. I'll bet by next summer, you'll be even better friends than ever.”

“Maybe,” I said. But I knew the truth.

Now the bus was loading, and since Natasha was leaving on it, Sarah and I went to say good-bye to her. In the group of girls standing around waiting to get on, I saw Mary Claire. She had a unicorn backpack on her shoulders, and she was carrying her pillow. When she saw me, she ran up and gave me a hug.

“Bye, Darcy!”

“Bye. I hope you had a good time at camp,” I told her.

“I had a great time! Gracie and Samantha are my best friends now. I wish Nicole was riding the bus with me, but she's going to her dad's. Anyway, on the trip here, she wouldn't let me sit by her.”

While Mary Claire was talking, I'd noticed something. “Cute earrings,” I said, my pulse pounding a little. They were little hearts.

Mary Claire touched her earlobe. “I know. Nicole gave them to me before she left with her dad. You know what else? She said I can tell everyone that she's my stepsister now. She can be really nice sometimes.”

“I know she can. If you ever have a problem, talk to her about it. She's really good at giving advice,” I said, my voice choking a little.

Eda was motioning everyone onto the bus, so Mary Claire got in line. Sarah and I stood and waved with the crowd as the bus pulled away.

And then I looked up and saw our minivan driving up the road with Paul at the wheel. “My parents are here!” I yelled to Sarah.

I raced over and opened the passenger-side door almost before the van came to a complete stop. Mom stepped out and I grabbed her, giving her a giant hug.

“You look beautiful! How do you feel?” I patted her belly, which wasn't any bigger, but I couldn't wait till it really started growing.

“Lousy. These mountain roads don't mix well with morning sickness,” she said.

Blake slid the side door open and jumped out. I tried to hug him, but he ducked out of the way. He still had his stitches in, of course, but now his black eye was a yellowish green. Paul came around the van and lifted me off my feet when he hugged me. “We had to stop a couple of times so your mom could hurl,” he whispered.

We all walked up the hill together to get my trunk and the rest of my stuff from the cabin. Sarah stayed down by the road, in case her parents showed up.

“We were expecting you to be crying your eyes out,” said Paul. “Remember last year how we had to peel you off Nicole? I've never seen such waterworks.”

“Well, Nicole got picked up early,” I said, leaving it at that.

We walked into the cabin to get my stuff, but there was something lying on the top of my trunk that made me stop. It was my pot holder—the one I'd made and had given to Nicole when she gave me the one she'd made.

“What's that?” asked Mom.

“A pot holder,” I said, holding it up for her to see. “We made it in crafts. I guess I forgot to pack it.” I unzipped my duffel enough to stuff it inside.

Blake and Paul both grabbed an end of my trunk while Mom carried my sleeping bag and pillow. I slung my duffel over my shoulder, and we walked out together, leaving empty Cabin 3 behind.

I thought about the pot holder as we walked down the hill. A token of our friendship. Was Nicole giving it back? Or was she giving me a new token since I'd given hers to Mary Claire? I didn't know how she meant it. I could take it either way.

Maybe it was just something for me to remember her by. I decided to put it in my camp box along with the Circle Fire candle stub and this year's name tag.

Sarah's parents had just pulled up when we were loading the van, so I was glad she wouldn't be stuck here all alone.

“Thanks for everything,” she said, giving me a big hug. “I'll see you next year, right?”

“I guess so,” I said. “Probably.” But I wasn't so sure. Maybe Mom would need my help next summer.

Libby and Jamie were the last ones I said good-bye to, and then we closed all the doors and slowly pulled away. It was sad to leave, but I felt better than I'd expected. At least I had a baby brother or sister to look forward to.

Despite everything, it had still been a good summer. And nothing could erase all the happy memories I had.

“As soon as those stitches come out, I'll start rubbing Vitamin E on the scar so it won't be so noticeable,” Mom was telling Blake.

“No! I want it to look cool. I like having a scar.”

“Well, it'll always be there—to remind you of your first summer at camp. At least Darcy managed to get through the summer scar free,” said Mom, sighing.

I sat on the back bench so I could look out the rear window as we drove out of Pine Haven. I had so many great things to look forward to later. For now, I wanted to remember what I was leaving behind.

Don't miss a single camper's story—here's a sneak peek at Kelly's, in
Summer Camp Secrets: Pranked!

This was definitely going to be the worst summer of my life.

I got out of the car and looked at all the people swarming around. It was mostly parents, but there were some other girls too, and even some brothers who looked as thrilled as I was to be here. Everyone was carrying something, and everyone seemed to know what to do and where to go. Except for us.

I just stood there holding my pillow. Then this woman who seemed to be in charge walked up. She had on a green polo shirt with a little pine tree on it. “I'm Eda Thompson, the camp director. Welcome to Pine Haven!”

My mom smiled with relief, and the two of them started talking. Dad tried to wink at me, but I acted like I had to scratch my knee.

“This is our daughter, Kelly,” my mom said.

“Hi, Kelly.” The director smiled at me, then checked her clipboard. “Kelly Hedges, right? And you're twelve?”

I said yes, but it came out all croaky. I cleared my throat. “That's right.”

She probably thought I didn't look twelve because I'm so vertically challenged. The director walked over to a group of people wearing green polos just like hers and motioned one of them to follow her back to us.

“This is Rachel Hoffstedder, and she's your counselor.” Rachel shook hands with Mom and Dad, and then she shook my hand. She looked okay. She had really short dark brown hair, and she seemed friendly. And she was pretty vertically challenged herself. “Rachel will take you to your cabin.” Then the director left to say hello to some other unhappy campers.

“Our cabin's that way.” Rachel pointed up a steep hill. I could kind of see some cabins at the top of the hill, hidden in a bunch of trees. My dad was trying to wrestle my new metallic blue trunk out of the back of the car. The website had said we needed trunks to keep all our stuff in because there wasn't any place to store luggage.

“Why don't I get this end?” Rachel grabbed one of the trunk handles before my dad made a complete idiot of himself. Mom had my sleeping bag and tennis racket. I didn't have anything to carry but my pillow, which was better than nothing. At least it gave me something to hold on to.

We passed a bunch of other campers and parents going up the hill. I could tell some of them were really nervous. But then a lot of them acted like old friends. Girls kept shrieking at each other and hugging. It was beyond stupid to watch. I tried to relax my face and look casual, but my heart was pounding so hard I could feel the pulse in my throat.

What was I thinking when I agreed to this? Did they hypnotize me? Was it one of those weird parental mind control things? How had my parents ever talked me into spending a month at summer camp?

They started talking about camp back in March. They showed me the brochure and the website, and at that time it looked pretty cool.
Camp Pine Haven for Girls, located in the scenic mountains of North Carolina. A camping tradition since 1921.
Anyway, my best friend, Amanda, was going to be in Hawaii for two weeks, lying on a beach surrounded by a hundred gorgeous surfers. I figured she could miss me for two weeks after she got back from her dream vacation. In March camp seemed like a good idea. But that was March.

We walked up a dirt path and came to this big stone building with a porch. “That's Middler Lodge,” said Rachel, and then we turned up another path and climbed a bunch of stone steps that went up yet another hill. There sure were lots of hills. My dad tried desperately not to pant, because Rachel wasn't breathing hard at all. She'd told us she was on the hiking staff, so she probably walked about thirty miles a day or something.

By now we were finally at the top of the hill where all the cabins were. There was a really wide dirt path, and all down one side was a long row of cabins. “This is Middler Line, and we're in Cabin 1A. You guys are in the middle between the Juniors—the little kids—and the Seniors—the oldest girls.”

Rachel pushed open the screen door of the first cabin we came to, and she and my dad stumbled in and plopped my trunk on the floor. They each took a big breath.

“How many girls in each cabin again?” asked Mom.

“Eight, with two counselors. This is 1A, Kelly, and that's 1B.” She waved to the left side of the cabin.

“You're number one! You're number one!” Dad chanted. I wanted to hit him with my pillow, but I just looked around at everything.

Rachel laughed at his stupid joke, then spread out her arms. “Well, here it is. Your home away from home.”

I'd seen the cabins in pictures on the website, but that didn't really give me an accurate view. I wouldn't be surprised if this cabin was built in 1921. It was all gray wood. The top half of the front and back walls were really just screens. The ceiling had wood beams across it with a couple of bare lightbulbs hanging down from them. But the weirdest thing was that there was graffiti
all
over the walls. Everywhere you looked, you could see where someone had written her name. There wasn't a blank space of wall anywhere. The website had called the cabins “rustic.” “Primitive” was more like it.

“You're the first one here, so you get your choice of beds. This is mine, of course.” Rachel pointed to a made-up cot against the wall. I had my choice of one set of bunk beds or two single cots next to them. They all looked uncomfortable. “The bottom bunk has extra shelf space. That's always a plus.”

“Okay.” I dropped my pillow on the bed.

“Let's get your bed made,” said Mom. Rachel and my dad stood around looking useless, and I wandered toward the other side of the cabin, which was also full of empty bunks. And then I noticed something.

“Ah, excuse me, but . . . where's the bathroom?”

“They're not in the cabins. They're in another building down the line.”

“You're kidding.” I crossed my arms and glared at my dad. At home we didn't have to hike to the bathroom.

“Oh, it's not that bad.” Dad tried not to smile. “It's like a college dorm. Let's see the rest of camp before your mom and I take off.”

Just then another counselor and camper came in. Rachel helped them with all the stuff they were carrying. Then she introduced the counselor in 1B, Andrea Tisdale, who she said was a CA—a Counselor Assistant. I'm sure Mom and Dad were glad I didn't get her, because she was, like, in training or something. She said her activity was tennis. She was a lot taller than Rachel, and her long blond hair was in a ponytail.

As we were leaving, Andrea leaned over to Rachel and kind of whispered, “No sign of the Evil Twins yet, huh?”

Rachel laughed and shook her head.
Evil Twins?
What was that supposed to mean? My heart skipped three beats.

Rachel showed us the bathrooms. They were in a building that looked kind of like the other cabins, except it was larger and had no screens. One side had a bunch of sinks, and the other side had a bunch of stalls. “This is ‘Solitary.' And the showers are over there.” She pointed to another building across from the bathrooms.

“Solitary?” I asked. I watched a granddaddy longlegs crawl down the wall of one stall.