Reality Bites #15 Read online

Brynn offered to let Gaby lean on her to hobble back to the cabin, and Gaby gratefully accepted. Together, they all walked the quarter mile or so back to their bunk. Soon the conversation shifted away from Gaby’s toe, but this time, they were all together and Gaby was part of it. The icky feeling she’d had on the dock was forgotten.

  Their counselor, Belle, was sitting outside the cabin on a big rock, watching for them to come back. “Hey, guys!” she cried, jumping up as soon as they came out of the woods. “Have I got a surprise for you! You’re going to be so psyched!”

  “What’s up?” asked Natalie, walking ahead to the cabin.

  Belle pulled open the cabin door, and out walked Grace. All the girls went wild.

  “Grace!” cried Alex. “Oh my God! I thought summer school didn’t end till next week? I missed you so much!”

  Pretty soon everyone was gathered around Grace, shooting questions at her, talking about how much they’d missed her, how camp hadn’t seemed the same without her. Gaby hung back on the outside of the crowd, trying to conceal her annoyance. Grace was fine. There was nothing wrong with Grace. Gaby was the one who was hurt.

  It was half an hour—after all the girls had changed and had been hanging around talking for another ten minutes—before anyone remembered Gaby’s broken toe.

  “Hey,” Brynn said suddenly, jumping up from her bunk. “Don’t you have to go to the infirmary, Gaby? I thought your toe was, like, about to fall off.”

  Gaby sighed. She was sitting alone on a bunk across the room, while everyone else was crowded onto two bunks, questioning Grace. “You know what?” she said. “It actually feels fine now. Forget it.”

  chapter TWO

  “It feels amazing to be back,” Grace was telling her best friend, Brynn, as they walked to the mess hall for lunch. “Omigod, summer school was so boring. Two weeks of sitting in a classroom, when all I could think about was being out here with you guys!”

  Brynn smiled. “It’s good to have you back, Grace,” she said. “I missed you like crazy! It felt like we were missing something without you. Maybe that’s why things got so weird while you were gone.”

  “What do you mean?” Grace asked. But before Brynn could answer, Chelsea ran up to them.

  “So,” she interrupted, “notice anything different about camp this year, Grace?”

  Grace shrugged. “I’ve only been here half an hour.”

  Chelsea nodded and gestured to the other kids gathered around the mess hall. “I’ll give you a hint,” she said. “It’s not about who you see. It’s about who you don’t see.”

  Grace scanned the crowd outside the mess hall. She felt the corners of her mouth drooping as she noticed how few people she recognized. She knew Sarah and Abby had gone to sports camp. But there was no Karen. No Jessie. No Tiernan. Of course she’d noticed they weren’t in bunk 5A, but she’d assumed they’d still come to camp and were just in another bunk. Now she realized they actually hadn’t come.

  “Why?” Grace asked, unable to keep the disappointment out of her voice. “I mean, so many people are missing. Cool people. Did something happen?”

  Chelsea snorted. “A lot happened in the two weeks you weren’t here, Grace. But I don’t know why so many people didn’t come to camp. They just decided not to come.” She leaned in and whispered into Grace’s ear: “Dr. Steve thinks it’s because we’re too cliquey.”

  Grace frowned. “Us? Cliquey? Do you really think that’s why they didn’t come back?” Grace had always been tight with her camp friends, but it had never occurred to her that other girls might feel left out.

  Chelsea shrugged. “I don’t know. You’d have to ask the girls that didn’t come. Look, the doors are opening. I’m starved.”

  As Chelsea ran off into the mess hall, Grace looked at Brynn. “It must be weird with half the group gone.”

  Brynn sighed. “It was really weird for a while, but things seem to have calmed down now. I’m just glad you’re here. Let’s eat.”

  Inside the mess hall, most of the bunk had already sat down at their usual table. Brynn had to show Grace where it was, over in the corner near the fireplace. Conversation was already going strong when Grace and Brynn joined them.

  “It’s the best female part,” Nat was explaining to Alex. “Adelaide is, like, the center of the whole show. She has the best song. My dad took me to see it on Broadway a couple years ago.”

  “Wow,” Alex said. “Congrats, Brynn! Nat was just telling us about your new role.”

  “What are you talking about?” Grace asked as their CIT, Clarissa, reached the table with a tray of sloppy joes.

  “The play this session,” Brynn replied, reaching for a sandwich. “It’s Guys and Dolls, and I’m playing Adelaide.”

  Grace felt her heart sink. She knew the music for Guys and Dolls by heart—her mom was a huge fan of musicals and played the cast album when she was doing housework. “Wow. Good for you, Brynn. Um, I guess you guys already chose electives, then?”

  Tori nodded, looking at her like she was nuts. “Oh, yeah,” she said. “Last Friday, so . . .” She paused to grab a sandwich, looking concerned. “I wonder what they’ll have you do? Since we have electives after lunch. You won’t have anywhere to go!”

  Belle, who was sitting a seat away on Grace’s right, reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “No worries, Grace,” she promised. “We’ll get you some electives. You might have to wait till next session to get your first choices, though.” She pushed back her chair and stood up. “Actually, I’ll go now and see what electives have space for you.”

  Chelsea smirked. “Yeah, hope you like nature.” Nature was always the last elective to fill up. Grace actually didn’t mind it—sometimes it required touching slime or getting a little dirty to collect “specimens,” but that was cool with her.

  “Actually, a few of us are in the show,” Brynn said, gesturing at Gaby. “Gaby is playing Sarah Brown, Candace is in the chorus, and David’s playing Nathan Detroit.”

  Jenna smiled. She and David were in like-like territory. “He’ll make a good gangster, too, if he can stop goofing off for five minutes.”

  Grace glanced at Gaby. Sarah Brown was her favorite role in the show—it wasn’t the biggest part, but she had Grace’s favorite song, “If I Were a Bell.”

  “That’s great,” Grace said encouragingly. “I mean, good for you, Gaby. That’s a really great role.”

  Gaby was busy picking the onions out of her sloppy joe. She looked up, surprised at Grace’s compliment, but still wore a bored expression. “Thanks, I guess.” She shrugged. “It’s not as cool as Adelaide.”

  “You just got interested in drama, like, yesterday,” said Brynn. She sounded like she was trying hard not to sound annoyed. “You’re not going to waltz right in and play the best part. I’ve been acting since I was eight.”

  Gaby glanced over at Brynn, still looking bored, and shrugged. “I guess . . .”

  Brynn looked like she was about to boil over, but Nat cut her off at the pass, talking a mile a minute. “You have more than one song, Gaby. It’s a really important role, and I’m sure the play will be great.” She took a deep breath and turned to Grace. “Change of subject! How was summer school?”

  Grace shrugged. “You know. It was boring. All I could think about was finishing up and getting up here.”

  Chelsea nodded. “You missed so much, t—ow!”

  Alex was elbowing her in the side. “She knows that, Chelsea. It’s not a big deal.” She looked over at Grace and lowered her voice confidentially, even though she was all the way across the table. “Seriously, Grace? Most of the stuff you missed, you should be glad.”

  “Well, Nat filled me in on the camping trip and that Cropsy story,” Grace said defensively. “So I kind of know all about—”

  Chelsea cut Grace off. “Guys? Seriously. Let’s not even bring him up. I’d like to sleep tonight.”

  Suddenly everyone looked sympathetic. Except for Gaby, who was murdering her sloppy joe crust with
a fork. And Grace, who was lost in thought. Why did she feel like she was fighting for her right to belong?

  “Sorry, Chelsea,” Alex said with an apologetic smile. “I forgot you still get scared.”

  Every girl seemed to go into her own world, nodding or shaking her head. Grace took a few bites of her sloppy joe, waiting for an explanation, but her friends seemed to have forgotten she was there.

  “That’s not even all,” Jenna piped up after a few minutes. “Remember Dr. Steve’s lecture? The reason we had to go on the overnight in the first place?”

  Everyone moaned. “It’s so stupid,” said Chelsea. “We’re not cliquey. We’re nice to everyone!”

  Grace put down her sandwich and looked around the table. She felt so out of the loop. “Um. Guys?”

  “Totally!” Priya was saying. “Anyone could just sit down at our table and feel completely at home. We’re equal opportunity.”

  “Guys?” Grace asked again.

  “All right, Grace!” Grace felt a hand on the back of her shoulder and turned to face Belle, who was smiling and holding a piece of notepaper. “I apologize in advance—you’re going to have to go where we have room for you this session. That means if you had your heart set on sports or drama, you might be disappointed.”

  Belle handed Grace the piece of paper. She had scrawled CERAMICS AND NEWSPAPER in her funky handwriting. “You’ll have newspaper this afternoon. And then you can start ceramics tomorrow morning.”

  Grace felt a little disappointed. She knew that auditions had already passed, but she’d hoped—a little ridiculously, she realized now—that maybe she could be squeezed into drama and just put in the chorus or something. Now she realized that wasn’t going to happen. And it stunk, because she only wanted to be in the play because it was Guys and Dolls, and when was Camp Lakeview ever going to mount that show again? Never.

  Still, she tried to smile. Ceramics was okay, and while she’d never worked on the newspaper before, she was sure she’d learn something about . . . something. It would be very “educational,” as her mother would say.

  Or something.

  Just as Grace was about to thank Belle and ask about the camping/cliquey stuff again, the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Before Grace could open her mouth, everyone was on their feet, forming little twos and threes and heading off in different directions. Grace looked down at the paper and sighed, shoving it in her pocket. When she looked up, Alyssa and Candace were standing there, waiting.

  “Come on, Grace!” Alyssa said with a big smile. “Look at you, two weeks of school and you’re already all slow and out of it.”

  Grace laughed in spite of herself. “I’ll get back into the camp groove. Just give me a couple days.”

  “Come on,” said Alyssa, gesturing toward the door. “Candace and I are in newspaper, too. I think you’re really going to like it.”

  “Totally,” agreed Candace. “You’ll totally like it.”

  They turned and started walking as Grace pushed back her chair and stood. “I hope so,” she muttered under her breath.

  “Seriously?” Dana, the counselor who taught newspaper, scrunched up her blond eyebrows in surprise. Her hair was twisted and stuck to her head with pencils jutting out in various directions, and she looked a little frazzled. “They told you to come here?”

  Grace nodded. “My counselor, Belle, did,” she explained. “She said you guys have room? I mean, if you don’t, that’s cool, and then maybe I can squeeze into drama . . .”

  Dana frowned and shook her head. “No, forget that. They’ve already cast and started rehearsals. You’ll be fine here, it’s just . . .” She paused to look around the room. “We’ll need to find something for you to do.”

  “Maybe I can help Alyssa and Candace?” Grace suggested. Her bunkmates were already camped out in front of a computer, researching on the Internet for some big article they were working on.

  “Nah.” Dana shook her head. “They’re halfway done with a big opinion piece about donating the camp’s leftover food to a shelter. I don’t like to put more than two people on one article—it gets distracting.”

  Grace nodded. Alyssa and Candace did seem to be totally in the zone. In fact, within two minutes of reaching the newspaper room, Grace felt like they’d forgotten she was ever there.

  “I know!” Dana smiled as her eyes settled on a table across the room. “I’ll put you on the arts column with Spence. He could probably use a little help.”

  Grace followed her gaze and saw Spence, a guy who had been crushing on Priya last summer, sitting at a table surrounded by scraps of notepaper. Dana leaned in and whispered, “He’s a little disorganized.” Grace couldn’t help smiling. She hadn’t talked much to Spence the summer before, but he seemed like a nice guy. And maybe if she made herself useful, she could shake this weird unnecessary feeling.

  “Hey!” she called, walking over to Spence. “Spence! I think I’m going to be helping you out.”

  Spence glanced up, examining Grace with light blue eyes that sparkled through his glasses. His hair stuck up a little bit where he’d been leaning his head on his hand. “I know you,” he said slowly. “You’re Priya’s friend. And Chelsea’s. Right?”

  Grace nodded. “I’m Grace,” she said. “I was at summer school the first two weeks of camp, and I missed electives sign-up, so they kind of stuck me in here.” She stopped short, wondering if that sounded snotty. She didn’t want to make it sound like she didn’t want to be there, or like she was too good for newspaper or something. “I mean, they put me in here, and I’m totally psyched to work on the arts column with you—”

  “Great,” Spence said agreeably, standing up and grabbing his notebook and a recorder off the table. “’Cause I think we’d better get started on our first assignment. The play!”

  “The play?” Grace asked, her excitement faltering.

  “The play.” Spence shuffled around the scraps of paper until he found the one he wanted. “They’re doing Guys and Girls?”

  “Guys and Dolls,” Grace corrected him. “It’s a musical. About gangsters.”

  Spence tucked his scrap paper into his pocket and grinned at Grace. “See?” he said, placing his hand on Grace’s back and guiding her to the door. “You were born for the arts beat.”

  “Didn’t you used to hang out with Devon last summer?” Spence asked as they walked over to the gym, where rehearsals were being held.

  Grace smiled. “Yeah, a little,” she agreed as they walked up the gym steps. “I haven’t seen him yet! I can’t wait to catch up.”

  “Well, that’s going to be hard to do,” Spence said, grabbing the door. “Unless you have a plane. Devon’s in Hawaii this summer with his parents.”

  Grace felt her heart sink a little deeper in her chest. It wasn’t like she and Devon had been serious or anything—they’d exchanged a few e-mails over the past year—but she’d liked the idea of having someone else who’d be happy to see her.

  “Bummer,” she muttered.

  “Not for Devon!” Spence said cheerfully. “Seriously, how much would you love being on a tropical beach right now, drinking out of a coconut? I’m so jealous of that guy.” He glanced at Grace and flashed a quick smile. “I mean, Camp Lakeview’s almost as nice.”

  “Right.” Grace chuckled. Up onstage, Brynn was rehearsing her big number, “Adelaide’s Lament.” Grace had to stop herself from mouthing the words along with the song. In a corner, she spotted Gaby reading a magazine and totally not paying attention. Gaby tended to zone out sometimes—especially when she felt people weren’t paying enough attention to her.

  Grace sighed.

  “What’s up?” Spence asked, shooting her a concerned look. “You and Devon weren’t that serious, were you?”

  Grace shook her head. “No, not at all. I mean, I liked him. It’s just . . .”

  Spence tilted his head sympathetically. “Now you don’t know how to tell him you’re dumping him for me?”

  Grace couldn’t
help it. She busted out laughing. “HA! Ha ha ha! Oh, please . . .”

  Spence was laughing, too, but he seemed more in control of himself. He clamped a hand over Grace’s mouth to stop her from disrupting the rehearsals. It was too late, though. The music had stopped, and Brynn was squinting to see who was losing her composure over at the far side of the gym.

  “Grace?” Brynn asked. “Is that you?”

  Grace tried to take deep breaths, calming herself down. It was tough, though. Somehow the horribleness of stopping the whole rehearsal made the whole thing seem even funnier and more ridiculous. “It’s—hee-hee—it’s me, Brynn. Sorry. I just—remembered something really funny.”

  Brynn smiled a little, like she was trying to understand. “What are you doing here?”

  “We’re covering the play for the newspaper!” Spence called. “We just . . . had a moment back here. Sorry to interrupt.”

  Brynn glanced quizzically at Grace again, then back at the piano player. The music started again and Brynn went back to singing. The last thing Grace noticed before turning back to Spence was Gaby, her attention now totally on Grace and Spence, scowling in their direction.

  “You jerk!” Grace whispered, but she was still smiling. “No. For your information, I was just sighing because of this play. I wanted to be in it.”

  “Really?” Spence pulled out his notebook and made a couple notes. “You like acting?”

  Grace shrugged. “Sometimes. I’ve done it before. But I really like this play.”

  “How do you know it?” Spence asked, still scribbling. It was weird—Grace knew he wasn’t scribbling about her, but she still felt like he was paying total attention to their conversation. It impressed her that he could do two things at once.

  “My mom,” Grace replied. “She likes musicals. She plays the cast album all the time.”

  Spence stopped writing and stuck his pen in his jeans pocket. “That’s cool,” he said. “My uncle’s way into plays. He takes me whenever something good comes to D.C. I just saw Wicked.”

  Grace was surprised. Most of the guys she knew would rather die than admit they’d seen some girly musical. But Spence seemed totally unbothered. “What part would you want to play?” he asked her.