Alex's Challenge Read online

  chapter FOUR

  The next day, Alex spotted Adam drinking orange juice at the table right behind her at breakfast. He kept poking Jenna, trying to tell her something. Alex couldn’t help but notice, now that Valerie had said something, that he did seem to be hanging around all the time. She’d seen him at meals in the rec room, in woodworking, and out on the soccer field. But Jenna had been eating and playing soccer with Alex, so Adam was probably just spending more time with his sister because part of what Valerie had said was totally true. Alyssa had been buddy-buddy with Simon’s friend Trevor a whole bunch of times. Alex figured Adam was probably upset about it. She imagined that no one, boy or girl, would enjoy getting dumped.

  It worked out really well for Alyssa—too well as far as Alex was concerned. She couldn’t help but think it: Alyssa got together with Trevor so she could spend a lot more time with Natalie and Simon. Simon was pretty much Natalie’s boyfriend. It was really weird how things worked out, and the whole incident just confirmed for Alex how strange her friends started acting once they became interested in boys. Alex thought camp (and school, for that matter) would be a lot more fun if the boys and girls just stayed friends and stopped flirting so much. Alex knew she sure wasn’t flirting with anyone. She thought she might even talk to her parents about going to an all-girl high school one day.

  “So, I have this idea,” Valerie said, hopping onto her stool at their table later that day during woodworking. Valerie was always a few minutes late for class because she was a free spirit. Alex was used to it—no one she knew was as prompt as she was. When Valerie finally arrived, Adam scurried away from the girls’ table. Thankfully, Valerie didn’t say anything about the situation—surely, she thought Adam was flirting with Alex again. Valerie was so wrong about her theory. Alex and Adam were just good friends!

  “You like to play chess, right?” Valerie asked Alex, unpacking her woodworking supplies. Valerie just figured that Alex was super smart. A few weeks ago, when Grace had to read Call of the Wild because she had fallen behind in her fifth-grade reading class, Alex was the one who had helped her the most. Alex had read the book two times—for fun. In fact, Valerie guessed that some of the other girls, mainly Chelsea, were even jealous of Alex because she was smart in addition to being athletic and well-liked. This thought made Valerie excited for one reason in particular: because really smart people knew how to play chess.

  “Actually, I don’t,” Alex answered, standing next to the metal table in the woodshop. She had come into class with her soccer ball in her hands, and the instructor—a nice college student named Jeremy (a guy who really needed to take the tape off the bridge of his glasses)—had taken it away from her. He wasn’t worried that Alex and Valerie would cause trouble or break things. Instead, he didn’t want the boys in the class to start a game of keep-away right there in the cabin. They were kind of wild sometimes, especially Adam Spasm and his friends.

  “Oh well,” Valerie said, twisting her long black braids and slumping a little on the stool. Valerie was always sitting. Alex always stood.

  “Do you play?” Alex asked, putting her hair in a ponytail with the rubber band that was around her wrist. She wished she had a mirror, so it wouldn’t look so crooked.

  “Yeah, but not here this summer. No one knows how to!” Valerie said. “It’s okay.” She started getting all the tools together for her next project.

  “Wait, I’ve always wanted to learn to play,” Alex said, following Valerie to the supply closet. Alex was telling the truth, too. She’d seen people—all ages and races—playing chess in the park last Christmas when her parents took her to New York City. They were competing on concrete tables outside in the cold—and it was really cold in New York in December. Those chess players had the kind of dedication Alex could admire. She asked her parents to teach her, but they didn’t know how either. At home, they usually played GoStop, a Korean card game that was totally fun.

  “Will you show me how?” Alex asked.

  “You can’t be serious,” Valerie said, staring at her bug-eyed.

  “Oh, I’m serious,” Alex said, sneaking a peek at Adam across the room. She just didn’t get why girls like-liked boys so much. He was cute, but he was teaching his friends how to spit really long saliva wads and then suck them back into their mouths. She wondered if Simon did stuff like that when his friends were around and if Natalie would still like him if she saw.

  “I’d love to!” Alex added. “I mean it!”

  The girls made a plan to get together in the rec room after dinner for serious chess lessons. Valerie told Alex that it might take a few nights for her to pick it up. But then Valerie thought of how fast Alex had learned woodworking. She secretly hoped that they could start playing in two nights because, after all, Alex was really smart.

  “So what’s your idea?” Alex asked.

  “Oh, it’s no big deal,” Valerie said. “I just noticed that the chess set in the rec room is plastic. And it’s all beat-up. My dad always plays with me on this really nice marble set we have at home. I thought it would be really cool if we made one in here to keep at Lakeview.”

  “That’s an amazing idea!” Alex said. She loved doing that kind of stuff. She was always helping the counselors with whatever they needed—and anyone else. Why not help the camp? Maybe they could even carve their initials on the bottom with a dedication. It was the least she could do to give back to Camp Lakeview. And it would be fun to play on “her” board year after year, she thought. The only worry Alex had was that chess would be really difficult to learn. It will be okay. Val will help.

  “I’m just glad you’re into it,” Valerie added, walking over to ask Jeremy how the heck they were going to pull off this project. “Because carving out all of those little pieces would take me forever by myself.”

  The two girls laughed a long time before they got to work. They figured out the dimensions of their board and pieces, and they made a to-do list so they’d be able to get it all done during those last two weeks of camp—or hopefully even earlier. Alex and Valerie were concentrating so intently on this idea that they didn’t even notice when everyone else left the room for their swimming period.

  “Girls,” Jeremy said, “if you don’t go now, I’ll have to lock you up in here.”

  “Okay. We’ll be fine, Jeremy,” Alex said to their instructor while Valerie started gathering their stuff.

  “She’s not kidding, either,” Valerie said, giggling. Alex was still working away.

  “I’m glad to see such enthusiasm,” he said. “But I was kidding. I missed lunch, and I’m starving!”

  “And we have to swim. Come on, Alex, let’s go to the lake!”

  Alex looked up. “Huh?” she said.

  “Class is over. Let’s hit the water,” Valerie said, now gathering Alex’s stuff, too.

  They ran to the bunk, threw on swimming suits, and headed out to the diving board. Alex didn’t even run her post-free period errand that she usually ran. She was in too big of a hurry. She was having too much of an amazing time with Valerie. Plus, her mind was on the chess set, and she just wasn’t being her usual organized, on-time, strictly scheduled self.

  “Let’s be swim buddies,” Valerie said, leading the way toward the blue, or more advanced, section.

  That’s when Alex’s memory kicked back in. She suddenly realized that Brynn was probably standing around the corner waiting for her. But it was too late. Alex and Valerie had already dashed to the end of the dock, and they were all set to hurl themselves into the water. Before her plunge, Alex thought that Brynn would be okay since she had been swimming with Sarah for the past two days. At least Brynn wasn’t alone, and she probably didn’t even remember that Alex was supposed to meet her since she and Sarah had been so tight lately. Alex thought to herself, Brynn is really cool—she’ll totally understand. After all, Brynn was always losing her camp projects and scripts and keys and swimsuits and socks, and Alex was always helping her find them. Surely, Brynn would understand
this one time Alex when just happened to space out.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Valerie said as she looked from the diving board into the water way down below.

  “Oh, nothing,” Alex said. She didn’t want to worry Valerie with any of it, especially if Sarah had been dissing Valerie for Brynn lately. What a mess! Alex thought. Are Sarah and Brynn becoming best camp friends? I don’t understand why everyone can’t just have fun together.

  “So, partners?” Valerie asked, getting antsy to just get into the water already.

  “Sure,” Alex said, knowing deep down that Brynn probably would be upset no matter what excuses Alex came up with. Alex decided to hope for the best, and off the diving board they went, the two of them at one time, even though they were not supposed to do that. Their bodies plunged through the twelve feet between the diving platform and the water. After six more seconds, their heads bobbed back up to the top. Alex and Valerie were laughing and splashing each other so much that they didn’t even hear the lifeguard blow the whistle.

  “Girls, girls!” the lifeguard called. “We can’t have that. One at a time, you know that.”

  They ran off before they could cause any more mischief. They went to the nearby swimming area where the rest of their friends were sure to be. By the shore, Natalie was lying on a blanket reading her magazines like always. Alyssa was right beside her. Alyssa was so funky and cool, Alex couldn’t believe she’d just go and dump Adam like that for Trevor. But Alex would never get involved or say anything to either of them about it—she stayed out of other people’s business. Alex decided not to join them and headed toward the lake.

  “Hey, Alex,” Natalie said. “Hey, Valerie.”

  Valerie stayed by the blanket to talk for a while. Alex smiled at everyone and said she had to go say hello to Brynn. She and Sarah were floating ten feet off the shore on two separate rafts. Alex swam out to them—assuming she could triple-up with them as a buddy—and gave Brynn a small, playful splash. She acted like nothing had happened, took a gulp, and hoped for the best.

  “Ow!” Brynn yelled. “You just got water right in my eye. Geez!”

  Alex’s stomach dropped. She had been right all along—Brynn was annoyed.

  “What were you guys laughing about?” Alex asked, starting to feel sick to her stomach.

  “Nothing,” Brynn answered, not even looking at her best friend. “You wouldn’t get it, anyway.”

  “Yes, I would!” Alex said back to her. And she did get Brynn’s jokes—better than anyone else did, for that matter—and Brynn knew it, too.

  “Well, maybe if you had bothered to meet me like you said you would,” Brynn added, “I would’ve told you.”

  Sarah paddled a discrete few feet away. But Alex was sure Sarah was in hearing distance. She didn’t swim that far away.

  “You know, that was just so incredibly rude,” Brynn said to Alex. She was still on the raft, and she used her toes to flick water in Alex’s face. “Sarah wouldn’t do anything like that to me.”

  When Alex looked over to Sarah, Sarah looked away. She heard the whole thing! Alex thought.

  That really ticked Alex off—she hated for other people to be involved in her and Brynn’s business. Besides, she and Sarah weren’t close or anything, but they had been friends for the past two years. Sarah was quiet and proper, but still competitive. Alex figured she was from a really wealthy family because her parents had houses in Maine, New York, and Florida. And Alex didn’t know anyone else with more than one home. Sarah could sometimes be aloof, but she had the best manners—she always congratulated the losing team and asked politely for Alex’s untouched desserts.

  Alex had never seen Sarah cry or yell or even get upset. Her even temper was why they played so well together. But now what would she think of Alex? Alex wished she weren’t the kind of person who cared what other people thought of her. But she was.

  “Brynn, I didn’t mean to! I was having such a good time in woodworking, and I stayed in class too long. Then I ran and got my swimming stuff, and everyone was already out here. I just wanted to jump off the diving board so bad before I got here,” she said, pleading with Brynn.

  “Yeah, with Valerie,” Brynn said sarcastically.

  “What’s wrong with Valerie?” Alex asked. “I didn’t know her too well, but she’s super cool. You would think so, too!”

  “I can’t think about that right now. Do you know that this kind of stress—you blowing me off—is going to make me forget my lines? I’m rehearsing twice a day now—it’s so hard. The play is in just over a week! Do you even care?” Brynn asked, now looking at Alex with teary eyes. Alex couldn’t believe being swimming partners—or not—was that big of a deal. She and Brynn had met almost every day for free swim for weeks on end. It couldn’t hurt them to hang out with other girls. Surely, Brynn understood that she was still Alex’s best friend even if Alex did have a lot of fun with other girls sometimes. Like Alex and Jenna—they often took walks together after dinner at night, something Brynn would never want to do.

  “Do you only care about the play?” Alex asked. Brynn was being bratty no matter how wrong Alex had been. Alex started to get a sick feeling in her stomach, and she thought that maybe that moment wasn’t the best time to pick a fight with her best friend.

  “I can’t believe you!” Brynn said. “It’s not like I was the one who did anything wrong!”

  All of a sudden, Alex got so dizzy that her heart started to beat fifty times too fast. She was really scared. She could just imagine passing out in the water where she might drown or something.

  She was so terrified of getting hurt that she forgot all about Brynn for a second. Her head started to fall backward, and she grabbed Brynn’s raft to help balance herself. The dizzy feeling went away, but Alex knew it would be back soon, and she pointed her body toward the shore.

  “What are you doing?” Brynn asked, pulling her raft out of Alex’s reach.

  “I, I’m not feeling so good. Just give me a second,” Alex said. She moved her body toward the shore, wobbling all over, and tried to get to her knapsack. She reached inside, grabbed the Tums-like tablet and started chewing it. She plopped her bottom down on the ground and put her head between her legs.

  “You okay?” Valerie said, running over to where Alex had squatted, underneath a tree and away from the rest of the group.

  “Oh, I’m fine,” Alex answered, her wobbliness going away. She looked up at Valerie’s concerned eyes.

  “I’m so sorry I let you go out there by yourself,” Valerie said. “I guess that’s why we’re supposed to swim in pairs. You just never know what’s going to happen. Did you see a shark or something?”

  Valerie was just joking—everyone pretended there were great whites and barracudas and Loch Ness monsters in the clear, creature-free waters at Camp Lakeview. Alex felt her dizziness going away, and she started laughing. It felt really good to laugh—Alex had been so freaked out just a few seconds before. She really did think she was going to pass out!

  Brynn came to the shore and stood next to Alex and Valerie. She saw the two girls talking and then exploded. “I cannot believe you, Alex Kim! You are just so completely overdramatic! Why can’t you just face me out there without the act?”

  “What act?” Alex answered, wondering which one of them was the drama queen.

  “You know what act—you’re playing sick to avoid a fight. You know you’ll do anything to avoid a fight, Alex,” Brynn said, stomping away.

  Alex felt too weak to run after her. She really wanted to tell Brynn she was sorry, and she also needed to know why Brynn was making such a big deal out of everything. Maybe something else was bothering Brynn, or else she was just having a really cruddy day.

  “What’s got her?” Valerie asked, watching Brynn run off.

  Alex shrugged her shoulders, worried that Brynn was super mad at her. Alex just hated big old arguments, and she didn’t understand why they couldn’t just enjoy the last couple weeks of camp together. She and B
rynn wouldn’t see each other very much during the year, after all. But then again, Alex was starting to feel like she didn’t know Brynn as well anymore.

  “Probably the same thing that’s gotten a hold of Sarah in the last week,” Valerie answered.

  “What’s that?” Alex asked, feeling better and better.

  “Well, I think I accidentally made her mad,” Valerie said, scooping up the muddy lakeside sand in her hands and squishing it through her fingers. “I told her that I really missed my crew back home, and I couldn’t wait to see them when camp was over in two weeks. See, I have these friends Rachel and Shelly from school, and we’ve been writing a lot of letters this summer, and I just said that I wished they were here. I didn’t mean to make Sarah feel bad at all, but she got up from the table and stomped off. Things have been weird between us ever since.”

  “No way—you could never make anyone mad,” Alex said.

  “I guess I was a little insensitive, but Sarah . . . you know, it’s kind of hard to get her to open up,” Valerie explained. “She doesn’t share things with me—she keeps secrets, and that’s fine. I mean, I love her—she’s awesome. I just wish I hadn’t said anything.”

  “Ohhh, that sucks. So that’s why she’s been buddy-buddy with Brynn?” Alex asked, feeling less alone.

  “I guess so. I can’t think of any other reason,” Val said. Alex noticed how sad she seemed.

  “They’ll get over it,” Alex said. “I hope.” Why don’t Brynn and I see things the same way anymore? she thought.

  “Maybe the mysterious Loch Ness monster ate their brains,” Valerie joked.

  “Or a shark,” Alex answered.

  They both laughed, but not for real. They were feeling bad about their friends, or former friends, whatever the case was. They sat together silently for the longest time, just thinking.

  chapter FIVE