Friends ForNever (3 page)

Walking back to the cabin, she bumped me with her hip and I bumped her back. Nic and me together again at Camp Pine Haven for another incredible summer. That definitely made me smile.

On the afternoon of every Opening Day, all the campers had to go down to the lake and take a swim test, whether it was our first year or our fifth. I'd always thought that was strange; I mean, if we proved we could swim last summer, why would we have to do it again?

Nic and I had just gotten back to the cabin after our mandatory first-day swim tests when Sarah Bergman arrived.

“Oh, yippee!” she said, spotting the bottom bunk. “I get to fold myself up under here every night?”

At five foot five, Sarah towered over the rest of us. All the girls in our cabin were twelve, but Sarah could've easily passed for fifteen. Her dark hair was pulled back in a French braid. Her forehead was usually wrinkled up in a really serious expression, like she was concentrating on solving a complicated math problem.

“Hey, it could've been worse. The new girl, Patty, picked the top bunk. At least you're not climbing up there every night,” I told her. Nicole and I pulled out dry clothes from our trunks and changed out of our wet swimsuits.

“Where's Miss Whitney Louise Carrington?” Sarah asked in a perky voice that was supposed to be an imitation of Whitney. Even though Sarah mocked Whitney constantly, they were still best friends.

“I think she's giving all the newbies the grand tour,” said Nicole.

“My mother was a camper at Pine Haven from 1977 to 1981, and my grandmother was a camper from 1951 to 1960,” Sarah said in her chirpy Whitney voice. Nic and I fell over laughing. We were definitely in for a fun summer with Sarah around.

“So four new campers? What are they like?” asked Sarah, hunching over to sit on the bottom bunk.

“Well, let's see—I've already mentioned Patty in the top bunk. Seems nice. Kinda quiet, though. She's Asian, long dark hair. I think she's going to be really easygoing. The other three are on Side B with Whitney—Ashlin, Natasha, and Claudia.”

“Natasha was on the bus with me,” added Nicole. “She sat behind me with that really obnoxious girl.”

“But Natasha seems like a real sweetie,” I pointed out. “She's very petite, glasses, African American. You can tell she's a little freaked over meeting all these new people. Now, is Claudia the one with dark hair?” I asked Nic.

“No, that's Ashlin. The first time I saw her, I thought she was somebody's little brother. Girls who are that flat-chested shouldn't wear their hair so short,” said Nic.

Okay, that was a little mean. “Like you and I have so much to brag about,” I said. “So Claudia must be the one with reddish hair—long, parted in the middle. She seems sort of . . .” I tried to think of a way to describe my first impression of Claudia.

“Bored,” Nic put in. “This may be her first summer at Pine Haven, but she told us at lunch that she's been to three other summer camps. She's not exactly a newbie.”

“And Whitney already has them all under her spell? Amazing!” Sarah snorted.

“Need any help getting your bed made?” I offered.

Sarah groaned and closed her eyes. “Don't bother. I just want to veg for a while.” She stretched out on her unmade bunk.

Since we had some free time before dinner, Nic and I left Sarah to chill while we went up and down Middler Line, trying to find all our old friends.

“Look, there's Alex! And Jennifer's with her!” I said. Alex was our counselor from last year, and Jennifer was our old cabinmate. We all had a happy little reunion in front of Cabin 1.

“You got braces!” I said, and Jennifer moaned and gritted her teeth.

“Two months ago. I hate them.”

“Where's Reb?” asked Nicole. That was Jennifer's BFF.

“Not here yet! Can you believe it? She had a really late flight.”

“I'm just so glad I've got a whole new batch of
good
campers this year,” Alex teased us. “I hope they don't give me as much grief as I had last year.”

That homesick feeling hit me again, like a wave in the ocean when you weren't expecting it. If only I could relive last summer, with everything exactly the same.

“Oh, really?” I asked. “Well, Libby Sheppard and Jamie Young are our counselors, so Nic and I got someone decent. For a change.” Teasing Alex made the feeling go away a little.

When I looked up, Mary Claire, Nicole's eight-year-old stepsister, was walking toward us. When she saw Nic and me with our friends, she stopped and acted like she wasn't sure what to do next.

“Mary Claire! Hi! Remember me?” I walked up and gave her a little pat on the arm. I'd met her a couple of times when I went to visit Nic. Mary Claire's dad was married to Nicole's mom. Usually it was just Nicole and her mom and stepdad living together, but Mary Claire stayed with them two weekends a month. “Nicole told me you were coming to Pine Haven this year. How do you like it?”

“Um, good.” Mary Claire glanced at Nicole, who was still talking to Alex and Jennifer. She chewed on the neckline of her T-shirt, seeming unsure whether she should go talk to Nicole or stay with me.

“What cabin are you in? Who's your counselor?” I asked.

“Junior Cabin Two.” The neck of her T-shirt had a big wet spot where she'd been sucking on it. “My counselor . . . um.” She closed her eyes for a second, then opened them and smiled at me bashfully. “I forgot her name already.”

“Well, when you see her again, check her name tag, all right?” I advised. For the first week of camp, everyone wore name tags. We all had ours on now—they were little oblong slices of wood with a loop of lanyard string to go around our necks.

I glanced at Nicole, who seemed completely oblivious to the fact that her little sister was waiting to talk to her. Younger, I should say. For an eight-year-old, Mary Claire was a rather large girl. She came up to my nose, and by my guess she outweighed me by at least twenty pounds.

We walked over to the others. “This is Mary Claire. She's”—I started to say “Nicole's sister,” but Nic stepped on my foot and pressed down with all her weight—“She's a Junior. This is her first year,” I managed to say through the pain.

“Well, we should probably go,” Nicole said to Jennifer and Alex. “It was great to see you!”

“Hi, Nicole,” Mary Claire said as we walked toward Cabin 3.

“Hi,” Nicole muttered back, and then as soon as we were far enough away, she snapped at Mary Claire, “Stop sucking on your shirt.”

Instantly Mary Claire opened her mouth and released the edge of her shirt.

“You know your dad hates when you do that. We all hate when you do that. Why are you on Middler Line, anyway? You're supposed to stick with the Juniors.”

Mary Claire didn't say anything. “I think she wanted to come see our cabin,” I said lightly. “Maybe we'll come by and see yours tomorrow.”

Nic threw me a dirty look and then turned her attention back to Mary Claire. “Look, you can come to our cabin for a few minutes, but then you have to go back to your cabin. You can't be coming over here all the time. You go to activities, evening programs, and assemblies with your age group. Got it?”

Mary Claire nodded.

“And remember what I told you. We kind of know each other, but that's it.”

When we got to Cabin 3, Nicole blocked the doorway with her body and pushed open the screen door with one hand. “Darcy and I are on Side A.” Nic pointed to the right side of the cabin. “I'm in that bed. Now go.” Nic shooed her away like a puppy. “Make some friends. In
your
cabin.”

“Okay. Bye, Nicole.” Mary Claire walked away down Middler Line.

“I think she's a little homesick,” I said. I looked around for Sarah, but she wasn't in the cabin. Maybe she'd left to find Whitney.

“She'll get over it. Let's go sit out on the hill till the bell rings for dinner.”

The hill was like the center of camp. From there you could see the lake, the tennis courts, and the dining hall down below you. Also, the view of the mountains on the horizon was really beautiful.

We found a good spot to sit in the grass. The sun was just below the ridge of the mountains, and a soft, shadowy light hung over everything. Already the whole camp was much quieter with all the parents and cars gone. People were walking around and hanging out and enjoying the nice, cool evening.

“Nic, maybe we should look out for Mary Claire. Make sure she gets adjusted and everything.”

“She needs to make her own friends. She can't hang around us all the time.”

“Yeah, I know. What was that about you and Mary Claire kind of knowing each other, but that's it?”

Nicole hugged her knees. “I don't want anyone to know that her dad is married to my mom. That doesn't make us sisters, you know. She is
not
my sister.”

“Well, why do you care if people know that or not?” I asked.

“I just don't want people to know, okay? I am so glad we have different last names. And we certainly don't look like we're related. No one will ever make the connection between us unless she goes blabbing it all over the place.”

“Okay, fine. It's just that . . . remember how scared we were on our first day of camp? And we were ten; she's only eight. We can at least be nice to her when we see her.”

Nicole snorted. “We'll be nice to her when we see her. But don't expect me to go looking for her. And don't you dare introduce her as my stepsister to anyone.”

“I won't from now on. I didn't know you were disowning her for the summer.”

Nic smiled at me. “Oh, not just for the summer. For always.”

That seemed like a pretty extreme reaction—to hide the fact that they were related. Mary Claire was kind of a geeky younger kid, but she wasn't
that
bad. Lots of people have geeky little brothers or sisters. But I would keep my mouth shut. And I'd also keep an eye out for Mary Claire. Somebody should look out for her.

When we walked into Middler Lodge after dinner, I had a sudden rush of memories of all the funny skits, games, and contests we'd done in here during past summers. The lodge was a big open room with high rafters, lots of benches for sitting, and a stone fireplace. But tonight it was too warm for a fire, and all the benches had been pushed along the walls to leave an open space in the middle.

All the counselors were lined up in front of us, and they started off the evening program by having us sing some camp songs: “Pine Haven Forever,” “Nothing Is Better Than This,” and “The Middler Charge.” The new campers all looked around and tried to mumble some of the words. I remembered what that was like—to have a bunch of people around me singing songs I didn't know the words to yet.

“Good evening, ladies!” said our counselor, Libby. “We have a lot of activities planned to help you get to know each other. So here's what we want you all to do.” Libby explained that we were going to be grouped into categories based on different things about ourselves.

The first game was called “Where are you from?” and counselors scattered all over the lodge and held up signs from different states. We were supposed to get into the group with other people from our state, which meant Nicole and I had to split up.

Then they grouped us by zodiac signs. The groupings turned out to be a good way to get people to talk to each other. I found out that Ashlin, one of the new girls in our cabin, had a birthday two days after mine. The weirdest category was hair color. Nicole and I got to be together in the brunettes group, but it wasn't like having the same hair color gave the group a lot to talk about. The blondes kept yelling, “We're having more fun!” It was pretty lame.

Then the counselors told us to group ourselves by whether we were the oldest, youngest, or middle child in our family. There was also a group for only children. I automatically walked over to the “Oldest” group, but then I had to stop and think about it. I could've gone to the “Middle” group too. Paul has two sons, Jonathon and Anthony, but sometimes I forget that they're my stepbrothers now. They almost feel more like cousins than brothers. They're both in college, and we hardly ever see them. Usually just at holidays. I wondered if eventually I would start thinking of Jonathon and Anthony as brothers.