Fearless (20 page)

“Just wait till Mama, Daddy, and Eric see you singing.” Madison was shaking her head in amazement.

“Good idea!” said Molly. “Jordan and I could do it for all the parents.” She looked around at Erin, Brittany, and Melissa. “We won't have you guys there, though.”

“No, I'm talking about the video,” said Madison. “I can't wait to show them the video.”

“What video?” I asked, a sudden shock rippling through me.

“The video Eda took. You know she always tapes these things,” Madison told her.

Video? Eda got the whole thing on video?

“Was it good?” I asked Madison.

She nodded and smiled at me. “It was
so
good! I'm so proud of you!” She squeezed me again, but I was already imagining the scene.

All of us in our living room, the TV on; maybe we'd be eating popcorn. And we'd be watching me and my cabinmates performing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” during Pine Haven's talent show.

Talk about a movie moment.

“You can do it if you feel like it. Or you can just trot around the ring a few times. Whatever you feel like doing,” Wayward told me.

“Okay,” I said.

It was our last riding lesson of the summer, and we were all warming up, walking around the ring. But at the far end of it, the crossrail was set up. And I could try the jump today, if I wanted to.

I liked how there was no pressure. Nobody was here with a video camera. Madison wasn't watching. It was just our regular class—Whitney, Amber, Molly, and me.

We walked around the ring several times, and then we moved our horses into a trot. I still hadn't made up my mind if I wanted to do it or not.

I'd be happy if I could say that I'd done it. But at the
same time, I didn't think I'd feel too bad if I decided
not to.

We trotted around the ring a couple of times, and then Wayward brought us to a halt. “Should we speed things up?” she asked. “Everyone want to canter one last time?”

“No,” I said suddenly, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Wayward turned around.

“I think I want to try it now.”

She nodded. “Okay. Let's do it.” She walked toward the crossrail. Molly gave me a thumbs-up.

“But I might change my mind!” I warned them.

I lined Odie up, and we trotted toward the jump. We were a little off center, but it looked okay. As we made the approach, I got into two-point.

Heels down. Eyes straight ahead. Don't look at the jump.

He was heading straight for the crossrail. I grabbed his mane, and then . . .

We made the jump.

A few more strides and I eased down in the saddle. Wayward was standing off to the side. “Very Zen,” she called out as we passed her. I could hear everyone clapping. I tightened the inside rein, and we turned
around to face everyone.

“How was it?” Wayward asked me.

I smiled at her. “It wasn't that big of a deal!”

“Want to try it again?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Not really. I know Molly wants to, though.”

And so for the rest of the class, Wayward let everyone take turns jumping over the crossrail a few more times. I could've gone again, but I didn't really want to.

But I was glad I could say that I'd done it.

It was really sad when we had to dismount and lead our horses out of the ring. Wayward let us feed them some baby carrots, and Molly cried when we said good-bye to our horses.

“I am going to miss you, you crazy horse,” I told Odie. His lips tickled the palm of my hand as he took the carrots from me.

We made the long walk back to camp for the last time. “The end of camp is so sad. I have to say good-bye to Merlin. And then tonight, we'll have the Circle Fire, and everyone's going to cry at that. And then tomorrow we all have to leave!” said Molly.

“But let's think about next summer. By then you'll be able to start jumping a course, like me,” Whitney
said, trying to cheer her up.

“Right. After crossrails, we can do verticals. And then walls and oxers and all kinds of other jumps!” said Amber.

“Yeah, just think how advanced we'll be by the end of next summer,” I told Molly. I made a point of saying
we
, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep working on jumps. I could see Molly doing an advanced jump course like Madison at some point. But I didn't really think I wanted to do that.

Maybe. I wasn't sure yet. Luckily, I had a whole year to figure it out.

“Everything looks so deserted,” said Molly.

“I know. It's kind of sad,” I agreed. “But it's also really peaceful like this.”

We were sitting on the hill, just the two of us. From here, we could see a few counselors in their matching green shirts walking around and being helpful to the last few families who were picking up their daughters, but mostly all the campers were gone now. We were the last two in our cabin to leave.

Mama and Eric had actually gotten here early, right before lunch, but they'd been busy helping Eda with all the endless details of Closing Day. So Molly and I had spent the whole day saying good-bye to all our friends and helping them carry sleeping bags, tennis rackets, and pillows down to their parents' cars.

We'd watched the big charter bus pull out of camp before lunch, and the vans full of people leave for the airport. It had been a really sad day, with everyone crying and hugging and promising to keep in touch.

At the bottom of the hill, we could see Madison waving to us to come down. “Time to go!” she yelled.

Molly stood up and brushed the grass off the backs of her bare legs. “I hate to leave this place. I love Pine Haven so much.”

“Don't worry. You can come back with us over the holidays, and we can see Pine Haven all covered in snow,” I told her. I was carrying
Our Town
because I didn't want to pack it in my trunk.

Only a couple of caretakers lived at Pine Haven when camp wasn't in session, but Eda and her family came back at different times during the year to check on things, and sometimes we'd come along to help them.

“That would be really cool,” said Molly. “I bet I'll hardly recognize it.”

Mama and Eric were still talking to Eda. Maddy was leaning against the car, waiting. All of our luggage was already crammed into the trunk.

“Thanks for all the help,” Eda was saying as she gave Eric and Mama hugs. “I can't believe this session is
already over. It always goes by so fast.”

“Yeah, the summers fly by, but the winters drag on,” said Molly, quoting a line from one of our camp songs.

Eda laughed and hugged the rest of us. “Thanks for sharing these wonderful girls with me.”

“Oh, feel free to borrow them anytime,” Mama joked.

It took another fifteen minutes of small talk and good-byes until we were finally able to get in the car and close the doors. I was in the middle this time, between Molly and Madison. Eda waved good-bye to us as we pulled away.

Mama sighed. “I don't know how she has the energy for it. Two more days, and then the second summer session starts up.”

“Next year I'll be a CA,” Madison announced, “so I'll be able to stay for first and second session.”

“I can't wait till we're counselors,” said Molly.

“Don't rush things,” Mama said.

As soon as they'd gotten here this morning, I'd run down the hill to greet them. “I did the jump. I really did it. Madison didn't get to see it, but Molly did. I did it yesterday.” Mama had grabbed me and hugged me, and Eric messed my hair up.

“You did? That's wonderful! We knew you could
do it.”

But it really didn't seem like that big of a deal.

Madison held up a disc. “I have a copy of the talent show,” she told me. “I asked Eda to make me one so we could watch it tonight.” She leaned forward and showed it to Mama and Eric. “You guys have to see this. You won't believe it.”

“What is it?” Mama asked, taking the disc out of her hands.

“Well, Thursday night we had the talent show, and every cabin does something for it. And believe it or not,
your
daughter came strolling out with her friends and sang a song. Up on stage. In front of the whole camp.”

I slumped down in the seat a little, but I was secretly glad that Madison was bragging about me.

Mama turned around in the front seat and smiled at her. “Really? What did you sing, sweetheart?”

“Not me. Your other daughter. She sang that ‘Lion Sleeps Tonight' song. And she belted it out! She was so good!” Madison leaned against me. I stared out of Molly's window because I didn't want Mama to see me blushing.

“The ‘oweema-way' song?” asked Eric, and he started singing the opening.

“Yep, that one. All this time we've been living with a
superstar, and we didn't even know it,” said Madison.

“It was great! You've got to see the whole thing,” Molly added. “And Jordan basically planned everything—the costumes, the choreography, everything.”

Mama was beaming at me, and Eric winked at me in the rearview mirror. “Honey! That sounds wonderful!” said Mama.

I was holding
Our Town
and fanning the edge of the pages with my thumb. “Yeah. Well, I haven't seen it yet. I'm sure I look really nervous. Because I was.”

“I had no idea you were so talented!” said Mama. “Well, no. I take that back. I've always known you were very talented. We can't wait to see it!”

Now was as good a time as any. I opened up my book and pulled out the blue sheet of paper. “Remember when Daddy took us to see
Oliver!
in May?” I asked Maddy. “I saw this. And I've been thinking—just
thinking—
about maybe doing this.” I handed Madison the folded-up paper. Then I leaned back in the seat and closed my eyes.

Madison read all the words on the page out loud. “Oh, this is cool! Way cool! You should definitely
do it!”

When I opened my eyes again, Mama was reading the paper. “Honey, are you really interested in trying
this?” she asked, and I could hear the concern in her voice.

“I don't know yet. I haven't made up my mind. Maybe I will. But maybe not.”

Molly leaned forward in the seat and looked at Madison. “Don't worry. I have ways to make her do it.”

“Stop it! I don't want everyone pressuring me, okay?” I yelled.

“My little sister's going to be an actor! I'm so proud!” said Madison. “I'll go with you to the audition.”

“But I might not even do it!” I told her.

“Well, if you do, you'll want me there. You'll need me to hold your hair back for you when you're puking in the bathroom before the audition.”

“You're so gross!”

Madison hugged me and planted a sloppy kiss on my cheek. “I'll be there.”

It was slightly annoying that she just invited herself to come along with me without me even saying I wanted her there.

But also majorly comforting.

 

Don't miss a single camper's
story—here's a sneak peek at
Chris's, in Summer Camp
Secrets: Tug-of-War!

Five minutes. We'd barely been at Camp Pine Haven for five minutes, and I was already tempted to push my best friend Devon into the lake.

We were standing on the edge of Lakeview Rock, this gigantic rock formation that loomed up over one end of the lake, giving us a great view of just about everything from up here.

Not only could we see the lake below us with the wooden dock sticking out over the water and the rows of canoes lined up on the banks, but we could catch a glimpse of the tennis courts nearby, slightly hidden by the trees.

Devon and I had just gotten off the bus, and since she'd hated every minute of the ride here, I decided I'd give her a quick tour while our stuff was being unloaded.

Devon took a step closer to the edge and looked down, her arms crossed in front of her. We were about thirty feet high, I figured.