Read Camp Confidential 01 - Natalie's Secret Online

Authors: Melissa J Morgan

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BOOK: Camp Confidential 01 - Natalie's Secret
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“For a city girl, you sure can be a baby,” Chelsea said, and wandered off to play with the rabbits.
As soon as Chelsea was out of earshot, Natalie rolled her eyes at Valerie. “Funny, I’ve never seen
her
touch the snake,” she commented. “She just likes to annoy me.”
“She likes to annoy
everyone
,” Valerie pointed out.
“But me especially,” Natalie insisted.
Valerie shrugged. “Yeah, maybe. I wouldn’t worry about it. She’s probably just jealous.”
“Of me? Why?” Natalie asked. “What’d I ever do to her?”
“Well, let’s see, you’re the only other girl in the bunk who’s anywhere near as pretty as she is, and you also wear makeup and are into boys, just like her. So you’re like some kind of big threat to her.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Natalie scoffed. “She’s the one who’s totally gorgeous and always put-together. I think her body is naturally programmed to wake up before the bugle! And she’s way more into camp than I am. I mean, she’s good at all the sports and stuff. I’m no good at anything other than ballet and yoga. I’m, like, the anti-camper.”
“It’s not ridiculous, Natalie,” Valerie protested. “For starters, you’re an amazing swimmer, even if you hate to go in the lake. And let’s not forget the one thing you’ve got that she
really
wants.”
Natalie eyed her friend questioningly. Val winked and tilted her head in the direction of the rabbits, where Chelsea was replenishing the animals’ water. There was only one other person over by the rabbits. Simon.
“For starters, I do not ‘have’ Simon, and secondly—do you really think Chelsea likes him?” Natalie asked. But before Val could answer, Roseanne clapped her hands and called for everyone’s attention.
“Girls, guys, gather round! I have an announcement to make,” she said loudly.
But Natalie couldn’t concentrate on what Roseanne was saying. She was still thinking about what Valerie had said. Simon did always go out of his way to talk with her in nature, which was nice, but she didn’t know if he
liked
her, liked her. Or if she even wanted him to. Still, when she thought that maybe Chelsea was into Simon—well, the idea didn’t make her feel very good. Not good at all.
But there were worse things to worry about at Camp Lakeview, as Natalie was about to learn.
“Next week, on Thursday, we’re going on a camp-out,” Roseanne said.
Suddenly, Chelsea’s feelings for Simon were the least of Natalie’s concerns.
 
 
“What color today, Nat?” Marissa asked, spreading out a beach towel on the sand next to Natalie.
Natalie was a fantastic swimmer—she’d had all sorts of private lessons in New York. She didn’t mind instructional swim, but she wasn’t crazy about the lake and all of the actual fish that swam in it. So when free swim rolled around, she preferred to work on her tan.
The head of the waterfront, an extremely tan and fit counselor named Beth, seemed to think this was okay, though she was often trying new and inventive tactics at getting Natalie up and into the water. Just yesterday, she had tried to convince Natalie that lake water was good for the skin. While Natalie appreciated the approach—“A for effort, Beth,” she’d said—she wasn’t biting.
Natalie’s new hobby was lying on the shore by the lake, painting her toes, and watching her bunkmates swim. Fortunately, free swim was the one thing in camp she could get out of if she wanted to, as long as she came down to the waterfront. Lately, Marissa had been joining her, which was especially cool because she always brought her magazines with her.
“Ice Princess,” Natalie read off the bottom of the bottle. “Want me to do yours?” Her heart wasn’t in it, though, after Roseanne’s alarming announcement. Marissa instantly picked up on Natalie’s mood.
“No, thanks, Steph did them for me after kitchen duty,” Marissa said, wiggling her toes at Natalie by way of demonstration. “Passion Fruit.”
“Nice,” Natalie said approvingly.
“I brought
People
and
YM,
and if you’re nice to me, I’ll braid your hair,” Marissa promised. “Steph’s abandoning us today to flirt with Tyler.” She indicated the swim shack, where, in fact, Jenna’s older sister was attempting to read the palm of an older and
very
cute swim staffer. “She is shameless,” Marissa commented. Then, sensing Natalie’s mood, she asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Did you know that I have to go on a camping trip with the nature group?” Natalie blurted out.
Marissa nodded her head. “Well, yeah. All the specialties have something big they do sometime during the session. The drama kids do a play, the newspaper prints an issue, ceramics, arts and crafts, woodworking, and photography all have a ‘gallery day’ where they show their work. Didn’t you know that?”
“I do now,” Natalie said.
“I thought you were starting to like nature,” Marissa pointed out.
“Hey, just because I’ve managed to avoid walking head-on into a poison-oak patch does not mean that I’m a born-again nature girl,” Natalie said. “This trip sounds like bad news. We have to canoe out to some deserted island. When has anything good ever happened on a deserted island?” Natalie demanded.
Marissa laughed. “Slow down, drama queen,” she said. “The nature kids go on the same trip every year, and nothing has ever gone wrong. I’m sure this year won’t be any different.”
Natalie glared at Marissa. “Okay, and then after we dock our boats, we have to hike—which I think is just a fancy term for walk, except maybe it’s hilly and rocky and hard. Hike up a mountain, and then set up camp. And then we
cook
on the mountain and sleep there!”
“It’s called ‘roughing it,’” Marissa said. “Some people enjoy it.”
“Not
this
people,” Natalie said, frustrated. “I’m here, aren’t I? I’ve tried to be a good sport. I eat the food. I sweep the porch. I come down to the lake during free swim. I haven’t had access to my cell phone or e-mail since we got here. Marissa—” Natalie murmured, her voice lowering, “I even clean the toilets. I’ve
been
roughing it!”
“Well, do you want me to talk to Julie about getting you out of the trip?” Marissa asked with sincerity.
Natalie thought seriously for a moment. Did she? The idea was awfully appealing. It was easy to spot poison ivy in the clearing behind the nature shack, but she had a feeling the wilds on the deserted island would be more . . . well . . .
wild
. Nothing about the trip sounded like fun.
But.
She had promised Julie she would be strong, and for the most part, she had been. She had gotten to know Val, and liked her. She put up with Chelsea’s snotty comments. She even learned a little something about nature. Just last week, Roseanne had complimented her on the bird-feeder that she’d built. So being strong wasn’t so bad, and even though Natalie really didn’t love nature, she wasn’t a quitter. And besides, Simon would be on her trip.
Of course, so would Chelsea.
Simon. Think Simon
, she reminded herself. That was a reason to go on the trip.
In fact, it might be all the reason she needed.
She turned to Marissa, squaring her shoulders with determination. “No,” she said. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll go.”
Marissa squealed and hugged her. “You rock! Scoot over then, sister. I’ll braid your hair.”
 
 
Just before dinner that evening, Natalie and the rest of her bunkmates gathered outside the mess hall. Before and after meals was a time when campers could really visit with friends from other bunks, or even other divisions, since everyone ate at the same time. Lots of campers chose to hang out on the steps of the mess hall itself, but Natalie still had the camping trip on her mind, and so she wasn’t that interested in socializing. She wandered off a little ways down the path to a nearby wooden pagoda. Once she reached it, however, she realized it wasn’t empty.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, retreating from the pagoda before she could intrude.
“No, hey, it’s totally cool.”
Natalie peered more closely into the pagoda and realized with a start that she had actually walked in on Simon! She flushed.
“I guess they haven’t let us into the mess hall yet?” he asked.
Natalie shook her head no. “Not that I mind, to be honest.”
Simon grinned. “True. I can’t decide if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that I’m a vegetarian. On the plus side, I get to avoid the random mystery meats. On the other hand, the selection leaves a
lot
to be desired.”
“You’re a vegetarian?” Natalie asked, nearly swooning. To her, that sounded very cosmopolitan. Almost New York, even.
“Yeah, why? Are you?”
Natalie nodded. “Yeah. I mean no. I mean, I was,” she finished, appalled at her awkwardness.
“Why’d you give it up?” Simon asked, sounding genuinely curious.
“Well, I don’t eat too much meat, but I guess I just decided that I couldn’t go without sushi. It was just too much of a sacrifice. Plus, half the time, it’s all that my mom and I even eat,” she explained.
Simon raised an eyebrow. “Sushi? Wow. Raw fish—that’s pretty brave.”
Natalie giggled. “Brave? Hardly. You’re talking to the girl who lives in terror of poison oak. I’m like, totally freaked about our camping trip,” she confessed.
“It’s nothing,” Simon assured her. “It can even be fun, I promise.”
“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Natalie said.
“I swear,” Simon insisted. “Roseanne does this trip every year, and she hasn’t lost a camper yet. I did it last year.”
“So you’re like a seasoned pro,” Natalie teased.
“Totally,” Simon said. “I can be your guide.”
Yes, yes, you can,
Natalie thought to herself. She racked her brain to come up with a reply that wouldn’t sound lame or over-eager but came up empty.
Say something, Nat,
she begged herself.
“Nat!”
Natalie looked up to see who was calling her.
“Dinner! Come on! We’re all going in!”
It was Jenna. Normally, Jenna’s loud voice, bright eyes, and bouncing ponytail were a source of amusement for Natalie, but right now Nat could have killed the girl for her timing.
“Oh, ah,” she hemmed, not wanting to walk away from the conversation with Simon.
Simon stood up and dusted himself off. “You go,” he said to Natalie. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk on the hike, right?” He winked at her and walked off to rejoin his own bunk.
“Ooooh, Natalie, do you have a
boyfriend
?” Jenna singsonged.
Natalie whirled around as if just then realizing that Jenna was still there. She was completely unfazed by Jenna’s little joke. “We’ll see,” she said, with a little smile on her face. “We’ll see.”
 
 
At dinner, everyone in 3C was talking about all the activities they had planned in their specialties. “Will you read my newspaper piece before it’s published?” Alyssa asked Natalie shyly. The girls had learned that professional writers called their articles “pieces,” and they liked to use the grown-up terminology.
Natalie pushed a rubbery piece of chicken back and forth across her plate. Maybe it was time to reconsider vegetarianism again? At least for the summer, anyhow. “Of course. I mean, if you’ll read mine,” she said. She had conducted an interview with Brian, the sports counselor, on what had prompted him to come over from Australia for the summer, and she was really excited about it, but she knew that Alyssa was the better writer. Alyssa would definitely give her piece a great once-over. “I
may
have gone on a little too long about his accent,” Natalie joked.
“How could you not? It’s so cool!” Alyssa agreed.
“The best part is that he let me give the interview
instead
of taking sports!” Nat exclaimed, causing Alyssa to nearly choke on her food in laughter.
“Ow,” Alyssa grimaced as Jenna slid into the bench next to her, giggling mischievously. “And you’re sitting on my lap because . . .”
“Sorry,” Jenna said, slightly breathless. She was peering across the table, over Alex’s shoulder, to the table behind them.
“What did you do?” Alex asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. Of all the girls in 3C, Alex was most disapproving of Jenna’s pranks, mainly because she hated to get into trouble herself.
“Nothing,” Jenna said, but she looked ready to burst out of her seat with excitement.
“Something,” Sarah, who sat directly to Alex’s right, chimed in softly. “Definitely something.”
Suddenly, the boys at the table jumped up, all mumbling variations on “ugh,” “ew,” and “gross.” Jenna burst out laughing.
“Isn’t that your brother’s bunk’s table?” Sarah asked Jenna.
But Jenna just looked off to her right, humming a little bit to herself. Whatever she’d done to her brother and his bunkmates, she wasn’t telling. And it looked like for now, at least, she wasn’t going to be found out.
BOOK: Camp Confidential 01 - Natalie's Secret
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