Fearless (3 page)

My heart was racing again. What was I getting myself into? But there was something about the way that Madison looked at me. An
I'll believe it when I see it
look.

“Okay, whatever. Good luck with that,” Madison said. She made a little snorting sound that wasn't quite a laugh before putting her earbuds back in.

At that moment, I wished more than anything I could be on the back of a horse, racing up to a five-foot-tall fence. My horse and I would go sailing over the top, and everything would be in slow motion, so I'd have a chance to turn and look at Madison standing there in the ring, watching me, her eyes the size of two dinner plates. I'd smile briefly at her and then turn forward, just before my horse and I made a graceful landing.

If only I could make my real life as perfect as my fantasies.

“This is great! I am
so
excited,” Molly said, not even noticing how Madison had snubbed me and my whole plan.

“Yeah, I can't wait,” I said, sliding down low in the seat again.

Maybe jumping was easier than I thought. Maybe it only looked scary and dangerous.

I squinted from the sunlight shining in through my window and gazed at the cars speeding past us on the
interstate. It would've been a long, boring drive without Molly. She'd brought along some Mad Libs in her backpack, so those kept us entertained for more than an hour.

After a while, Eric cleared his throat and announced, “We're just about to enter North Carolina.”

That made us all excited, because it meant we were that much closer to camp. But soon the steep mountain roads got very twisty and curvy. The Dramamine I'd taken earlier did the trick, though, and I didn't have to ask Eric to pull the car over, luckily. I patted my stomach gratefully. You're supposed to reward bad dogs for good behavior, so maybe all it needed was a stomach whisperer to make it behave.

“There's the sign! I see it!” Molly shouted. Madison pulled out her earbuds, and a big smile spread across her face. I sat forward in my seat. After a long three-hour car ride, we were all happy to finally be here.

Mama woke up right on cue and looked at the three of us in the backseat. “Everyone excited?”

The wooden sign by the road said
CAMP PINE HAVEN FOR GIRLS, EST.
1921
.
It was hard to believe that Pine Haven was that old, but it was. And driving into camp sort of felt like we were going back in time, because everything had a rustic, woodsy feel.

We turned onto the road that led into camp. Overhead, the tree branches arched across the road and met in the middle, so it was like driving through a tunnel lined with green leaves. There was the dirt path that led through the woods to the riflery range, and then we rounded a corner and came out into wide-open space.

We passed the archery range on the left—basically an open field with colorful straw targets at the far end—and to the right of us was the lake. I smiled when I saw it. Sunlight danced on the water, and even though it was completely empty of people right now, I knew that in a few hours girls would be lined up, waiting to take swim tests.

“I can already feel how cold that water is!” I whispered to Molly.

“Just think of all the baby tadpoles swimming around in there now!” she added.

Last summer, I'd been ultra nervous about swimming in a lake. At first the cold, cold water was majorly shocking, but once you got used to it, you realized just how refreshing it actually felt. And the tadpoles didn't bother us if we didn't bother them. It was fun to watch them grow tiny arms and legs and change into little frogs as the days went by.

Overlooking the lake was Senior Lodge, a big stone
building with a wooden porch across the front of it. Eda had told us that except for a few repairs over the years, most of the lodges, cabins, and buildings looked the same as when they had first been built years and years ago.

Behind the lodge, hidden among the trees, were the Senior cabins for the oldest girls, thirteen and up. Molly and I were Middlers, the ten- to twelve-year-old age group. The youngest group was the Juniors, nine and under.

As we got to the center of camp, we could see people
walking around, but we were definitely ahead of the huge crowds of Opening Day.

“It's so awesome that we got here early. I hope I'm the first CAT here. I'll get the best bed in the Perch,” Madison announced.

“The CATs are so cool! I can't even believe I know one of them personally.” Molly flashed a big grin at Madison, who was doing her best not to gloat over the fact that she was one of the elite this year—a Counselor Assistant in Training. The CATs practically ran Pine Haven in some ways, because they got to plan lots of evening programs and assemblies. Since they were sixteen, they weren't old enough to be counselors yet, but they weren't considered campers anymore.

“I guess we'll have to help you move into the Perch,
won't we?” I said casually. “You've got lots of stuff to carry, so just leave it to Molly and me.”

“Ha ha, nice try. Stay away or you'll set off the alarm system,” she warned us.

“There's no alarm system!” Molly yelled.

“How would you know? You've never seen the inside of it. And you won't for another four years.”

The CATs were so privileged they had their own cabin, deep in the woods behind the dining hall. A lot of newbies didn't even know where it was. None of the campers were allowed to go inside it or even go near there. It was called the Perch because it was high up on a hill, and cats like to sleep on high perches.

Eric pulled the car over and parked on the side of the road. We climbed out, and Mama scanned the crowd of people for Eda. When she saw her friend surrounded by a bunch of counselors, she headed straight in her direction.

“Who's in charge around here?” Mama yelled so loudly that all these people turned around and stared at her. “Is this any way to run a summer camp?”

Eda was caught completely off guard when she first heard someone shouting—until she saw that it was Mama. Then they ran up to each other and started laughing and hugging. Everyone was watching them.
OMG—could they possibly be more embarrassing?

Eric started unpacking all the luggage from the trunk
of the car. Mama and Eda came over to us, still talking and cracking jokes. They'd been friends since college, and whenever they got together, they practically acted like they were in college again, or even worse, high school.

“Love that shirt! But don't look now—I've seen at least three other people with one just like it,” Mama teased her, because Eda and all the rest of the staff were wearing matching green polo shirts with the little Pine Haven emblem on them.

Eda threw up her hands in frustration. “I just bought this shirt too! How did I know it was the hottest fashion statement of the season?”

Then she put her arm around Madison. “Ah, one of my CATs! This might be your best summer ever at Pine Haven! I'm expecting you girls to be leaders. You know how all the younger campers look up to you.”

Translation: Oh, Madison! Everyone wants to be you. Let me place this crown on your beautiful head so you can be Princess Perfect of Pine Haven.

“I am
so
ready for this! I've wanted to be a CAT ever since I was a little bitty Junior,” Madison told her.

Molly and I were just standing there, squinting in the
sunshine. Then Eda noticed us, too. “Hi, Molly! I can tell you're excited to be here! I bet you can't wait to get down to the stables, right? And Jordan, how are you feeling, sweetheart?”

Yes, it was very important to check with the invalid and see if she was feeling okay. Was Eda waiting for green slime to shoot out of me and my head to turn backward?

“I'm great!” I said, planting a big smile on my face. “It's going to be an awesome summer!”

Mama and Eda both looked surprised by my reaction. Eda patted my back. “I'm glad to see such enthusiasm from you this year.”

“Yeah, Jordan's got big plans this summer, right?” Madison smiled sweetly at me.

I tried to freeze her mouth shut with an icy glare, but it didn't work.

“Big plans?” asked Mama curiously. Even Eric peered around from the rear of the car, where he'd now piled up a small mountain of luggage in the grass beside it.

“Go ahead. Tell them what you and Molly were talking about in the car.” Madison poked me with her elbow. Where was a tube of superglue when I needed it? I'd give Madison a giant spoonful, and maybe it would shut that big blabbermouth of hers for the rest of the summer.

“Jordan and I want to learn to jump this summer on horseback!” Molly blurted out.

“Hmm, I'm not sure Jordan is ready for that.” Mama frowned a little.

“No, really, it was Jordan's idea. She wants to try it,” Molly insisted. Was this a conspiracy? Had she and Madison planned to totally put me on the spot like this?

Then I saw Mama's face. It was lit up like a sunrise. She was
glowing
. There was really no other word for it. Instead of giving me the
Jordan, I'm so worried about you
look, she gave me something else I've hardly ever seen. The
Madison, I'm so proud of you
look.

If I had just announced that I'd discovered a cure for cancer and that I was marrying Prince William, she couldn't have been happier.

“Honey, really? You want to try jumping a horse?” Mama asked.

Now Mama, Eric, Eda, Molly, and Madison all stood around me in a semicircle. All eyes were on me. Staring. Waiting.

What else could I do?

“Yeah, I guess so,” I heard myself say. “I mean, I actually want to try it. I'm going to jump a horse this summer.”

That was definitely a movie moment. There were certain moments when I felt like my life was playing out like a scene in a movie. When something really wonderful or terrible or scary would happen, it seemed like everything would freeze. And then, instead of me living my life, I would suddenly feel like I was watching my life—seeing the way it would look on a movie screen.

I hadn't meant for this to become some major announcement in front of the entire world. Already I was feeling slightly panicked. Now would probably be a good time for my liver to pop through my shirt like some alien trying to escape.

“Let's get Jordan and Molly moved in first, and then we'll take care of Madison,” Mama was saying.

One good thing about Opening Day was that so much was going on, I didn't have a lot of time to worry about this now. Plus, riding lessons wouldn't start till tomorrow. That meant I could probably hold on to my various organs for the time being.

“I'm going to see if any of my friends are here yet,” said Madison, scanning the crowd of people that was getting bigger by the minute.

“So—Jordan, Molly, you two are in Middler Cabin One on Side B,” Eda told us, checking the list of names on her clipboard.

“Who else is in our cabin?” asked Molly.

Eda let her see the clipboard, and Molly read off the names. “Rebecca Callison and Jennifer Lawrence are on Side A. So is Melissa Bledsoe. Erin Harmon is on Side B with us, and the rest are newbies. It looks like Amber's in Cabin Two.” She handed the clipboard back to Eda. “It'll be fun to have Reb and Jennifer in our cabin. The Evil Twins!”

“Twins?” Mama asked.

“They're not really twins,” I told her. “They're just best friends like Molly and me. And that's just a nickname they had last year. Reb likes being the center of attention.”

I was glad we were now considered old campers
instead of newbies. Pine Haven campers returned year after year, and coming here for multiple summers automatically increased your coolness level.

“I'm going to leave you all on your own for now,” Eda told us. She had a lot of new arrivals to welcome. More and more cars were pulling in all the time.

Between Molly and me, we had a lot to carry—trunks, duffels, sleeping bags, pillows. It didn't help that the Middler cabins were at the very top of a huge hill in the center of camp.

Pine Haven happened to be very hilly. And there were trees everywhere. From the heart of camp, we had a great view of the Appalachian Mountains on the horizon, looking bluish gray in the sunlight.

We were partway up the hill when we heard the sound of stampeding footsteps running up behind us. “Hey, wait for us! I found your counselor!” Madison yelled.

Madison had Andrea Tisdale with her, which completely stunned me, because Tis was practically Madison's age.

Tis was the sporty-girl type, tall and lanky. She always wore her sandy blond hair in a ponytail and dressed in oversize tees with the sleeves rolled up. Hardly anybody called her by her first name. Probably most people at
Pine Haven didn't even know what it was.

“You're a counselor now?” asked Molly, adjusting the duffel bag she had on her shoulder so she could carry it more easily.

“I'm a CA this year. So I'm half a counselor,” Tis said with a laugh. Counselor Assistants were the youngest counselors, seventeen or eighteen. “I'm so glad I've got Maddy Junior in my cabin!” She gave me a pat on the back.