Best (Boy)friend Forever #9 Read online

  He asked for my help as his best friend. And I betrayed him, Priya thought. There wasn’t a worse thing she could have done. That was the lowest.

  Priya dropped her fork and bolted to her feet. “I know I said it was going to be bad. But it’s not going to be that bad,” Grace joked.

  “Oh, yes it is,” Priya muttered. “It’s going to be even worse.” She looked over at Becky. “I need to take Jordan and Brynn outside for a minute.”

  “I’m sure it can wait until after—” Becky began.

  “It can’t. It really, really can’t,” Priya interrupted.

  Becky met her gaze for a long moment. “Okay, but come right back in.”

  “Come on, Brynn,” Priya ordered.

  “I’m eating,” Brynn protested.

  Priya walked over, took Brynn by the arm, and led her over to Jordan’s table. “We need you outside.” She looked over at his counselor. “Becky said it would be okay. Just for a couple minutes.”

  “What are you doing?” Jordan asked as Priya tugged him up from his chair.

  “I need to tell you both something,” she answered as she led them out the door. “Even if neither of you ever forgive me.”

  Priya released them outside the mess hall and forced herself to keep talking. “I lied to you yesterday,” she told Jordan. “I didn’t even see Brynn before I came out on deck. I didn’t hear her say anything. She didn’t say any of those mean things about you, Jordan.”

  “What?” Brynn and Jordan cried at the same time.

  “What did you tell him I said?” Brynn demanded.

  “Why?” Jordan burst out.

  Priya looked over at Brynn. “I basically said you made fun of him, and that you were only acting like you were having fun dancing with him.” She turned back to Jordan. “And I did it because . . .” She couldn’t tell him. At least not all of it. “I did it because I was jealous.”

  “I can’t believe I’m hearing this.” Jordan stared at her like he’d never seen her before. Like she was something that disgusted him.

  “You know how it is when someone, you know, liiiikes someone else. They want to spend all their time with them. It was already happening. You wanted to go to the play with Brynn instead of the museum with me, even though we’d been planning the museum trip since the beginning of summer.” Priya reached for Jordan’s arm. He jerked back before she could touch him. “I just didn’t want to lose my best friend.”

  “Well, you did,” Jordan told her. He took Brynn by the hand. “Let’s go back in. There’s nothing else to say to her.”

  And they left Priya standing there. Alone.

  She couldn’t follow them back inside. She’d die if she had to be in the same room with Jordan and Brynn for even one more second.

  Priya raced off into the darkness.

  Priya knew she couldn’t sit in this stupid tree forever. All the counselors would have to look for her. Dr. Steve would have to call her parents. Everything would just be more of a disaster than it already was. Besides, she had to change her pad soon. Being a girl sucked sometimes.

  She scrubbed her face with both hands, then slowly began to climb down, thinking about how fast she’d climbed up during that extreme challenge between her and Jordan. That wasn’t even a month ago. It felt like about a billion years. Except when it felt like yesterday.

  The walk back to the bunk was too short to come up with anything that felt even close to the right thing to say. Maybe because there wasn’t anything. So all she said was “hi” when she stepped inside.

  “Becky and Sophie are looking for you. I’ll go find them and tell them you’re back,” Alex volunteered.

  “I’ll go with you,” Grace said.

  “Thanks.” Priya walked over to her bunk and lay face down. No one said anything. The quiet felt like it actually had a weight, like it was pressing down on her, flattening out her lungs.

  “So should we all throw pillows at her or what?” Valerie finally said. A couple girls laughed. Priya knew Brynn wasn’t one of them. Val stood up. “There’s still a little free time. I’m gonna go to the rec room and, I don’t know, play Sorry. Who wants to come?”

  Less than a minute later the Bunk of Hideous Silence was empty except for Priya and Brynn. “Is it worth saying I’m sorry again?” Priya asked.

  “Probably not,” Brynn said. She sighed. “Jordan and I talked for a while after dinner. You were right. He really is a terrific guy.”

  Priya nodded. “I hope I didn’t completely mess things up between you guys.”

  “I think we’re going to be friends,” Brynn answered. “But just friends.”

  Priya stared at her. “Why?”

  “You know that hot shiver thing Sarah said she got when David held her hand?” Brynn plucked at her bedspread. “I didn’t get that with Jordan.”

  “Oh.” Priya thought for a minute. “Does he know?”

  “Yeah, that’s one of the things we talked about.” Brynn picked up her pillow and tossed it lightly at Priya’s head. “Now you’ve got to do it, too.”

  “What?” Priya cradled the pillow in her arms.

  “Talk to Jordan.”

  Priya snorted. “Didn’t I talk enough tonight? I doubt he ever wants to hear my voice again.”

  “You’ve got to tell him the truth,” Brynn insisted.

  “Wh-what?” Priya stared at her. Brynn raised her eyebrows. Priya nodded slowly. “Okay. I like him like him. But I didn’t know at first. I didn’t know until I was sitting in the bathroom with you telling you why you should give him another chance. And then it was too late. Well, it should have been too late. Then I turned into glitter-covered evil.”

  “Hey, I’m the drama queen, remember?” Brynn asked.

  “So, do you forgive me?” Priya found it hard to ask the question, because she was afraid to hear the answer.

  “On one condition. Make that two,” Brynn said.

  “Anything,” Priya promised.

  “First, give me back my pillow.”

  Priya smiled and tossed it to her. “That was easy.”

  Brynn smiled back. “Second, tell Jordan how you feel.”

  The smile slid off Priya’s face. That was going to be almost impossible.

  chapter ELEVEN

  Priya stretched out on a beach towel by the lake and closed her eyes. She was allowed to skip swimming today if she wanted to, because of her period. At least it would be gone soon.

  And maybe she could use the time to finally get some sleep. Last night, she couldn’t. Not even after she’d found Marc and apologized to him, too.

  She kept thinking about what she’d promised Brynn. How was she possibly going to tell a boy who hated her that she liiiiked him? With all those iiiis?

  She felt something wet on her forehead and brushed it away without bothering to open her eyes. Another wet drip. Then another. Had it started to rain? Priya cracked her eyelids—and saw Jordan standing over her in his bathing suit.

  “Are you avoiding me now?” he demanded. “Because I’m the one who should be avoiding you. You’re the one who acted like a butt.”

  “I’m not avoiding you,” Priya said.

  “Right. Keep on lying. You’re getting good at it,” Jordan shot back, his eyes narrow.

  “I’m not lying.” She was going to tell him the truth, the way Brynn wanted her to. But that didn’t include spewing the fact that she had her period. You just didn’t tell a boy you liiiiked that.

  “You never skip swimming.”

  “Well, today I did. Deal with it.” She locked eyes with him, willing Jordan to believe her. Finally, he turned around and started back toward the lake. “Wait!” Priya called.

  “Why? Why should I?” But Jordan turned around and strode back over to her.

  “I told you pretty much everything outside the mess hall, but I left something out,” Priya began.

  “Unbelievable.” Jordan slapped his hands on his head. “What? Did you go to my house and pinch my dog?”

&n
bsp; “No.” Priya pulled in a long, shuddering breath. Here goes, the absolute end of our friendship. Like it isn’t pretty much dead already, she thought. “Here’s the deal. I was jealous, when I found out you liked Brynn.”

  Jordan rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you said that. Selfish much?”

  “But it wasn’t because we wouldn’t be able to spend as much time together,” Priya admitted. “When I was telling Brynn all the reasons she should want to go to the dance with you, I realized I wanted to go with you myself.” She dug her fingers into the sand. They were shaking and she didn’t want Jordan to see.

  Her knees were shaking too, she realized. She didn’t think she’d be able to stand up if she wanted to. “But I didn’t want to go with you as a friend,” she continued, speaking to the tiny grains spilling across her hands. “I wanted to go with you as my boyfriend.” She forced herself to look back up at Jordan, because since she was doing this, she should do it all the way.

  He looked back at her, his face expressionless. Then he turned and walked away.

  She thought it had hurt when she’d helped him prep to impress Brynn. But she hadn’t known what pain was.

  “Bye, Jordan,” Priya whispered after him.

  Priya caught up to Brynn on the way to the campfire that night. “I did it. I told him.”

  “So what happened?”

  “He stared at me like this.” Priya made her face a blank mask. “Then he walked away.”

  “Boys. Not so great with the communication skills,” Brynn commented as they sat down on one of the dead logs around the fire.

  “Thanks for making me do it, though,” Priya said. “I probably would never have slept again for the rest of my life if I hadn’t.”

  “That’s what girlfriends are for, right? Making you do the things you don’t want to do,” Brynn said.

  “I’m still trying to figure the girlfriend thing out,” Priya admitted. “I mostly hang with boys. I mean, at camp I do stuff with whoever is in my bunk, but . . .”

  “But no secrets or confessions or advice?” Brynn started toasting herself a marshmallow.

  “When I asked you guys what you thought it meant when Jordan brought up kissing—that was my first real girlfriend conversation, I think,” Priya said.

  “Hey, you made me a marshmallow for my s’more. How sweet,” Grace said, plopping down next to Brynn and commandeering her marshmallow.

  Priya laughed. “I’ll make you one,” she told Brynn.

  “Later,” Brynn said. “Jordan’s coming over to talk to you.”

  “Maybe he wants to talk to you,” Priya said, her heart starting to do an imitation of bumblebee wings.

  “He’s looking right at you,” Brynn answered.

  “Right at you,” Grace agreed. “I’ll sign an affidavit or whatever they’re called.” She moved down to the next log. So did Brynn. Priya started to move.

  Brynn pointed at her. “Stay!” she ordered.

  Priya stayed. She still owed Brynn . . . about a million. And if Jordan wanted to talk . . . well, she owed him about a billion, so she’d let him talk.

  Jordan sat down next to her. But he didn’t say anything. He stared straight ahead at the fire. Then he reached out and took her hand.

  Oh, wow. Wow! Jordan was holding her hand. Did that mean . . . ? It seemed like maybe her best friend wanted to be her boyfriend.

  Priya stared straight ahead too. They looked into the fire without speaking. Priya’s shoulders started to cramp up, but she was afraid to move. This was so . . .

  It was so . . . strange. And there was no hot shiver.

  She shot a glance at Jordan out of the corner of her eye and caught him looking at her. It wasn’t a lovey-dovey look. It was a this-is-strange look. Priya got a zap of best-friend telepathy. Jordan wasn’t getting the hot shivers, either.

  So . . . hmmm. What did that mean? Priya wished she could have a confab with all her new girlfriends. But she was pretty sure it meant that maybe Jordan wasn’t meant to be her boyfriend after all. Maybe he was meant to be just her best friend.

  Priya let go of his hand and gave a little shrug. Jordan gave a little shrug back. Then they both cracked up.

  They were back!

  Muscles loosened all over Priya’s body. Muscles she hadn’t even realized she’d been tensing.

  This was . . . good. This was better than good. Like being best friends was better than anything.

  “What were you doing holding my hand?” Priya joked. “I’m the nutso who thought I was in like with you. Not the other way around.”

  Jordan rolled his eyes. “I started thinking that if the only way I could stay friends with you was to be your boyfriend, I’d have to at least try it. Even if it was kind of insane.”

  “Which it was,” Priya agreed. “Hey, you know today at the lake? When you thought I was avoiding you?”

  Jordan’s shoulders tightened up.

  Priya lowered her voice. “I wasn’t going in the water, because I have my period. It felt weird to tell you when I thought I was in like with you.”

  “Whoa. Too much information.” He held up both hands.

  “Wimp,” Priya teased.

  “That’s not wimpy. No guys want to know that. Not just me,” Jordan said.

  Yeah, they were sooo back!

  Priya pounded down the court, feinted left, then shot the ball to her right. She knew Jordan would be there. And he was. In the perfect position to take the shot. Swish! Beauty.

  “That’s the game, my friends,” Jordan called. He slapped hands with Priya. “Nice one.”

  “Back at ya,” she told him. “I have some contraband soda. Want to go sneak one? Maybe do some burping?”

  “Nope. I’m meeting up with Brynn.” Priya could tell Jordan was trying not to smile, but a big, doofy grin spread across his face.

  “Um, Jordan, Brynn told me she told you that—”

  “—that she just liked me as a friend,” Jordan finished for her. He nodded. “Turned out that she said that because she didn’t want to get in the middle of whatever was happening between us. She liiiikes me.”

  “Whoa. I’m—I’m shocked. She is so much nicer than I am!” Priya exclaimed. She was going to have to find something super cool to do for Brynn. The girl knew how to be a true, true friend.

  “Not hard to be nicer than you,” Jordan said with a grin. He gave the basketball a bounce. “Oh, yeah. She likes me. She thinks I’m fun-ny. She really likes me.”

  “Does she like the way you brag?” Priya asked, using two fingers to flick the ball away from him.

  “It’s one of her favorite things.” Jordan got the ball back and spun it on his finger. “Listen, I feel like saying this is a very bad idea, but you know Spence?”

  “Spence? As in Spence who we play cards with practically every night?” Priya shook her head. “Of course I know him.”

  “Well, he wants to hang with you after dinner during free time,” Jordan said.

  “We can still play cards if you and Brynn want to do something different,” Priya told him. “We will manage to survive without your presence and your freaky food phobias.”

  Jordan lightly bounced the ball off her forehead. “No, moron. He wants to do something just the two of you. Cause he liiiikes you.”

  “Are you messing with me?” Priya demanded. “This is payback, isn’t it?”

  “I’m not mean the way you are,” Jordan told her, stopping the rolling ball with his foot. “So, what should I tell him?”

  “Spence is a cool guy. It could be fun. So tell him . . . tell him yes.” Priya said. “Except saying that makes me feel a little nauseated. I hope he doesn’t expect me to be some sort of girly girl. I know I was sort of girly on the cruise, but I’m not always like that.”

  “Take it from me,” Jordan advised. “All you have to do is be you.”

  Priya thought she could handle that.

  Turn the page for a sneak preview of

  camp

  CONFIDENTIAL


  OVER & OUT OVER & OUT

  available soon!

  chapter ONE

  Hey Matt (aka Einstein wannabe),

  How’s it going, Dr. Bloomenstein ? I can’t believe Mom let you set up a mini - science lab in the basement. That’s a scary thought. With all those test tubes you’ve got, you could be creating radioactive cockroaches down there or something. Just be sure to let them loose in Adam’s room, not mine, k?

  I can’t believe there’re only two weeks left here at camp. The summer’s gone by way too fast. It’s such a downer to think about leaving. But I’m still planning on getting in as much fun as possible while I’m here. No, Big Bro, before you start with one of your lectures, this doesn’t mean pranks. Since I got in trouble with Dr. Steve last summer for all my pranking (the animal-shack fiasco in particular), I’m breaking new records for good behavior (even without Stephanie around to play the “Third Parent” . . . ha -ha). I only raided Adam’s cabin once so far—talk about exhibiting amazing self-control. Besides, I’ve got way more important things to worry about right now.

  Color War starts next week, and I’ve been putting in some serious preparation time on the soccer field and basketball court. Remember how I was voted MVP for the Blue team last year? It’ll be tough to top that, but I’m gonna try! Alex and I have been scrimmaging on the soccer field in all of our free time. She’s even better than last year, Matt! I really hope we’re on the same color team again this year. If we are, we might be able to bring home a Lakeview Champion title. Even though we’re in different cabins (which was a major bummer at the beginning of the summer) we’re still awesome friends like always. And we’re ready to kick some big-time Color War butt!

  Anyway, enjoy your—ugh—science. Just don’t blow any thing up unless it’s Mom’s spinach casserole. That I can live without. I better sign off. Natalie and Alyssa are threatening to toss my candy stash in the lake if we don’t go to dinner RIGHT NOW. Yeesh. They must really be starving if they’re this excited about the mess-hall food . I’m just hoping it’s not a mystery meat loaf day. I miss you, and I’ll see you soon.