Read Camp Confidential 01 - Natalie's Secret Online

Authors: Melissa J Morgan

Camp Confidential 01 - Natalie's Secret (3 page)

BOOK: Camp Confidential 01 - Natalie's Secret
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“Well, in that case, I’m sure they’ll be here soon,” Julie said. “I arranged everyone’s luggage—I mean, the stuff that was shipped beforehand, anyway—in front of a bed. Yours is right there,” Julie said, indicating the second bunk in the right. “Alex will be in the same bunk bed, so since you’re here first, I guess you get to choose top or bottom. Lucky you.”
“Well, I personally prefer the bottom. But what if Alex does, too?” Natalie worried.
Julie laughed. “These things usually work themselves out. If Alex is dead-set on a bottom bunk, there will definitely be someone willing to trade with her. You’d be surprised how many girls actually prefer the top bunk, you know,” she said. “Look—Karen does.”
For the first time, Natalie noticed that there was another girl in the bunk. She was hunched quietly over in the corner.
“Hey, Karen,” Natalie said. “Where are you from?”
Karen spun around. “I’m from Chicago,” she said.
Natalie blinked. “That’s a long way away,” she commented.
“My mother grew up in Pennsylvania, and she used to go to this camp for years and years,” Karen said. “So that’s why she sent me here. My plane got in really early this morning—I’ve been here forever.”
Natalie nodded, taking Karen in. Natalie wasn’t a snob, but she was pretty confident, and she made friends and could read people easily. A quick glance told her all she needed to know about Karen. The girl had thick brown hair pulled back into two braids going down either side of her head. Natalie knew lots of girls who wore their hair that way, but on Karen it really looked babyish, rather than cute. The hair, coupled with Karen’s brown-and-green striped capri pants and a T-shirt that said LAKEVIEW ATHLETICS suggested that Karen was weird. Natalie’s heart instantly went out to her. “Well, it’s good that you had time to settle in before things got really crazy,” Natalie told her.
Karen just shrugged and dove back into her trunk, leaving Natalie feeling a little bit foolish. She’d only been trying to be friendly, after all. It wasn’t her fault Karen was odd. Also, if she’d been here all day, why was she still unpacking? Bizarre.
Stranger yet was when Karen re-emerged from inside of her trunk with three stuffed animals.
Teddy bears?
Natalie thought incredulously. “Cool bears,” she offered, trying again to keep an open mind.
Karen nodded coolly. “The rest are in my duffel.”
The rest?
Natalie thought.
Yikes.
Natalie crossed over to the cubby wall and looked around again. Before she could even take a breath, though, Julie’s bright, blond face was close to her own. “You can pick any cubby that you like!” Julie asserted, sounding like she thought this was a huge source of comfort to Natalie.
Four weeks,
Natalie thought. It would only be four weeks until Visiting Day. Then her mother would come up, see the horror of Natalie’s surroundings, and bust her out of Lakeview once and for all. There was no way her mother could be immune to things like moldy shower stalls and spiders on the toilet seats, right?
Was there?
chapter THREE
“Can somebody
please
get the door for me? Ugh, I think I broke a nail!”
Natalie was sitting on the edge of her bed, actually hard at work filing her own nails, when she overheard the cry for help. She had finished unpacking over an hour ago, and had witnessed each new bunkmate walk in. There were only two more left to arrive, and the suspense was killing her. Glad to have something to do, Natalie sprung up and raced to be of help.
She threw the door open to be greeted with the sight of a very pretty older girl. “Hi, I’m Marissa, your CIT,” the girl said, green eyes wide. “Thanks for opening the door.” She sounded slightly out of breath, and she was balancing a bright pink milk crate overflowing with tons of cool stuff: a metallic blue iPod, a pair of fuzzy purple slippers, a hot pink clip-on lamp . . . Natalie’s eyes flickered over the goods, appraising what Marissa had thought to bring. She’d have killed for the purple slippers, now that she saw the floor of the bunk.
“I’m Natalie,” Natalie said. “And you probably want to get by.” She stepped aside to let Marissa in. Marissa rushed in and immediately dropped her things on the floor next to the unclaimed single, then turned to embrace Julie.
“I’m so glad we get to work together!” Julie squealed, running her fingers through Marissa’s wavy, light brown hair. “And I cannot
believe
how long your hair got!”
“You cut yours!” Marissa giggled.
“I did, too,” a bold voice interrupted.
Natalie rolled her eyes. After just a few hours in the bunk, she already knew that voice all too well. It was Alex Kim. Alex had arrived just a few minutes after Natalie and had instantly made herself at home. It wasn’t that she was so awful, really, just that . . . well, she was a Camp Lakeview regular. This was, like, her fifth summer or something. She knew all the ropes and was definite model-camper material, which made Natalie feel a little weird. Back in New York City, after all,
she
was the one who knew everyone, was friends with everyone, was the center of a million different groups of people. But obviously things would be different at Lakeview. For one, Marissa and Alex were embracing like long-lost relatives on a daytime soap opera.
“It looks great!” Marissa gushed, stepping back to admire Alex’s straight black hair. Natalie herself thought the haircut was a little basic, but she supposed it suited Alex.
“Yeah, I needed to cut it to get it out of my face during soccer,” Alex said, “but I like it so much that I’m probably not going to grow it back.”
“No, short hair’s great,” Marissa said. “Now we can put all sorts of cool clips and stuff in it. And if you’re feeling bold, we can even use some eye makeup, once your hair is pulled off your face.”
Alex grimaced. “Gunk around my eyes? No, thanks.”
Natalie smiled to herself, thinking of her own makeup kit stashed under her bed. At least that was one thing that she and Marissa could share.
“Are you into makeup?” Alex asked, turning toward Natalie. She was so direct that she somehow made it sound like an accusation.
“Um, yeah, I am,” Natalie said, somewhat taken aback. She felt like she was expected to apologize for it or something.
Alex took a long look at Natalie, checking her out. Natalie bristled unintentionally. Who did this girl think she was? Just because she had been here a few summers in a row? That wasn’t so special, in Natalie’s opinion.
Well, Natalie knew at least one other girl here, and right now, she was especially glad for that. “Hey, Alyssa,” she called out in the direction of the ceiling. Alyssa had shown up just after Natalie (the two of them having been on the same bus, and all), and had taken a cool fifteen minutes to put her things away before diving onto the bunk on top of Natalie’s (it seemed like Julie had been right about the whole top bunk thing. Alex and Alyssa had swapped almost instantly). Alyssa had been there ever since. Natalie was into her and her whole low-key approach to camp. Alyssa seemed like the type of girl who hardly ever got bothered by anything.
“Yeah?” Alyssa called from her perch on her bed.
“Wanna go outside and play cards until the cookout? I will totally kick your butt at rummy 500.”
There was a pause during which Natalie wondered if she’d somehow said the wrong thing. Maybe artsy, sensitive girls didn’t like to play cards? Then, finally, “Yeah, right,” and the sound of a ballpoint pen being capped. Natalie almost couldn’t believe she’d succeeded in tearing Alyssa away from her notebook.
“We’re leaving for the cookout in an hour!” Julie called as the girls left the bunk. “Don’t go far!”
Natalie wasn’t planning on going far, of course. But the stuffy bunk and everyone’s unpacking was starting to make her uncomfortable. And for the first time since she’d arrived at Lakeview, Natalie felt like she could use some fresh air.
 
 
“So, you’re new, huh?” Natalie prodded as Alyssa shuffled the deck. They had settled in a grassy patch just outside the bunk and were waiting for the last two campers in 3C to arrive. Natalie had a sinking feeling that once they were all present and accounted for, there’d be icebreakers and more rounds of endless introductions. She was thankful to have a few moments, at least, outside and away from the chaos.
“Uh-huh,” Alyssa nodded. “For the past two summers, I’ve been doing these drawing classes at a college in Middletown—that’s right near where I live.”
“In Pennsylvania?” Natalie asked.
“Nope, it’s Jersey. Way in the south. Anyway, there’s nothing special about the school, but, you know, I like to draw, so that was a pretty cool way to spend the summer.”
“Why’d you come here?” Natalie wanted to know. Alyssa didn’t seem like any more of a camp person than Natalie was.
Alyssa made a face and pushed her long dark hair off her shoulders. “You know. Parents. They decided I need to be more ‘social.’” She made air quotes with her fingers and wrinkled her nose.
Natalie laughed. “I know what you mean. My mother told me that camp would help me build character. I told her I already have enough character.”
“Totally. And you know”—Alyssa paused conspiratorially—“I bet Alex has enough character for the three of us combined.” She winked to take the edge off her words. “Anyway, my mother wouldn’t budge. I even tried to sic my dad on her, but he wasn’t biting.” Alyssa dealt the cards out. “What about yours?”
“What about my what?” Natalie asked, pretending not to get the question. She wasn’t prepared to talk about her father just yet.
“Your dad,” Alyssa said slowly, as though Natalie were a five-year-old. “Did he think you need more character, too?”
Natalie shrugged. “My dad’s not really in the picture,” she said simply, hoping that Alyssa would let the subject drop.
Alyssa flipped over the first card of the deck. “Ace of spades.” She raised an eyebrow in Natalie’s direction.
If she was wondering about Natalie’s father, she didn’t ask.
“My name is Grace, and I like gummy bears,” Grace said, giggling. She gestured to the girl sitting beside her, Indian-style. “This is Chelsea and she likes cheesy music, and that’s Alyssa and she likes art class. And Candace likes card games and Jenna likes jewelry.” She paused, frowning in concentration. “Alex likes athletics.” She exhaled.
Natalie and Alyssa hadn’t gotten very far in their game before they had been called back in. The last two girls had arrived and it was time to do the “get-to-know-one-another” thing before dinner. Natalie’s suspicion about icebreakers had turned out to be dead-on, and now she and her bunkmates were seated on the floor of the bunk, each offering one piece of information about herself and then forced to recite the names and details provided by the others before her. Based on where in the circle the game had begun, Natalie counted that she would be responsible for remembering every girl but two.
Natalie had a terrible memory.
“I’m Brynn,” said the girl seated to Grace’s left. Brynn had very short, very dark red hair and very pale skin. Her eyes were a bright, twinkly green. She had been one of the last two girls to show up, and it turned out she was best friends with Alex. They had even requested to bunk together, and they’d been inseparable since Brynn had arrived. Well, nearly inseparable, anyway—at least they weren’t sitting next to each other in the circle.
Brynn had a very loud voice for such a small girl. She wanted to be an actress, she explained, and was planning to spend most of her summer in the drama shack. Natalie had to admit that Brynn seemed very dramatic, so maybe that was a good thing. “I’m Brynn and I like Broadway shows. Grace likes gummy bears—so do I, Grace”—she beamed—“and Chelsea likes cheesy music and Alyssa likes art class and Jenna likes jewelry. Candace likes card games. And Alex likes athletics,” Brynn said, flashing a blinding grin at her friend.
The bunk erupted in applause. Brynn hadn’t faltered on a single name or detail. Even Natalie had to admit that she was slightly impressed. She took a moment to survey the circle of strange faces once more. In addition to the names that Brynn had just rattled off, she had also met Sarah, a friend of Alex and Brynn’s and another big-time jock who was very into running (Natalie couldn’t understand why anyone would be into running. What was the rush, anyway?), Karen, of course, the strange and youngish girl who’d been there all morning and had arrived with a collection of stuffed animals so large that it almost concerned Natalie, and Valerie, whose dark skin and cornrows reminded Natalie of Hannah from back home. Finally, there was Jessica, who wore her long, light brown hair in a sloppy bun on the top of her head and refused to answer to anything other than “Jessie.”
The circle grew quiet, and Natalie realized that everyone was looking at her.
Right, my turn.
She took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “My name is Natalie and I like . . . new experiences,” she said, cringing inwardly at how corny the words sounded coming from her lips. Apparently, it was the right thing to say, though, because Alyssa was giving her a sly grin and Julie was smiling away, full of encouragement.
Anyway, maybe if she tried hard enough, she could make herself believe it was true.
BOOK: Camp Confidential 01 - Natalie's Secret
5.64Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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