Friends ForNever (9 page)

“No, thanks. I'd never be able to follow in your footsteps,” she said.

“Hey, that's not the point,” said Jerry cheerfully. “You're supposed to challenge yourself, not try to compete with each other. Just go as far up as you're comfortable with.”

But it was obvious that Nic didn't want a turn today. She was ready to leave.

“That was so much fun! I'm really glad we did this. Thanks for coming with me,” I said as we walked back toward the cabin.

Nicole didn't say anything at first. Then, after a long pause, she said, “We'll have to do it again. Considering you're such an expert climber.” Her voice had an edge to it. The way she said
expert
sounded more like an insult than a compliment.

“Oh, is that what you're mad about? So what? I got to the top before anyone else. It's not like I'm making a big deal out of it.”

“You can be a little too competitive sometimes, Darcy. Ya know?”

“What? How am I competitive?” I honestly didn't think of myself as competitive at all. Not with other people, anyway. I only liked to challenge myself.

“Well, you're always saying that you can't believe I get mostly As when you're pretty much a straight-B student,” Nic said, conveniently pointing out that she was a better student than I was.

One time
I'd made a comment to Nic about how I couldn't believe she got such good grades. Now all of a sudden it was
always
? “Nicole, I
admire
the fact that you make mostly As. I thought A students were a myth that teachers made up to pressure the rest of us.”

“Oh, thanks for admiring me.”

“What is wrong with you? Are you mad at me about something?” Why did it seem like lately we were on the verge of fighting about really insignificant things?

Nicole snorted. “No! Why do you always think I'm mad?”

“Because you're always so moody. I'm really getting tired of it. What's your problem anyway?”

“Oh, shut up!”

“Fine. I will shut up,” I snapped.

Now we were both in a vicious mood. Neither one of us said a word. I didn't even care that she was mad. I was mad too. I was getting really sick of her constant attitude.

So I decided to pull out the big guns. I had never suggested that we do separate activities because I didn't want Nic to take it the wrong way. Now I was beyond worrying about hurting her feelings. I actually wanted to make her even madder.

“We don't have to spend every waking moment together, you know! It might be a good thing for us to take a break from each other for a while!”

Nicole spun around and glared at me. “That is the best plan you've had all week!”

Neither one of us said another word on our way back to the cabin. We walked in to find Sarah sitting on her bottom bunk.

She took one look at us and asked, “What's wrong?”

“How'd it go with Whitney?” I totally avoided even looking at Nicole. I was still fuming.

“Forget that. What's up with the two of you? You both look like you're ready to scratch someone's eyes out.” Sarah looked back and forth between Nic and me.

Nic made a snorting sound. “Nothing that major. We just need a break from each other.
Right
?” She glared at me.

Sarah jumped off her bed, her eyes wide. “Oh, no way! You two can't be fighting! We can only have one war going on in this cabin at a time. What happened?”

I refused to say anything. Let Nic tell her own version of the story. This should be pretty interesting.

But Nic kept quiet too. Finally I started off. “Okay. So we went to the climbing tower, I made it all the way to the top for the first time ever, and Nic got mad at me.” I brushed past her and went to sit on my bed. “Sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn't it? You'll have to ask
her
what possible reason she could have for getting mad at me for a thing like that.”

I yanked off my sneakers and sweaty socks and tried to toss them toward the spot where all the shoes were lined up on the bottom shelf, but they just banged against the wall and knocked everything out of order.

“Oh, yeah. That's exactly what happened! You totally left out the part where you said I was being mean and you didn't want to hang out with me anymore! Make it sound like it was all
my
fault! Turn Sarah against me too!” Nic was screaming now. I'd seen her mad before, but this was a surprise.

“I never said that!”

Nic growled in frustration. “But you said all that other stuff, didn't you? About how you don't want to be my friend anymore.”

I hated that Nic and I were fighting like this, but I couldn't help it. I was still mad. I am not
competitive
. Nic was just jealous because I happened to be good at something she wasn't so great at. If the tables were turned, I knew for a fact that I would've told
her
what a great job she'd done. I was always happy for
her
whenever something good happened. Why couldn't she be the same way for me?

“Hey, stop it!” Sarah warned. “If you two don't stop yelling at each other, I'm gonna bang your heads together like coconuts.”

I glanced up at her. “You'll do what?”

“That's what my mom's always threatening to do to my brother and me when we start yelling like this.” Sarah came and sat on the end of my cot. “Okay, start at the beginning. Who said what and why?”

I closed my eyes. “Sarah, do you mind just staying out of this?”

“Hey, don't yell at Sarah!” snapped Nic.

“I am
not
yelling at Sarah,” I corrected her. “I just don't want to talk about this. If you want to tell her your own fictional version of the story, fine by me.” I plopped back on my cot and stared up at the wooden rafters overhead. On the beam right above me, someone had written
GOPHER LOVES BEN
with a thick black marker. I lay there thinking what a strange message that was.

“Fine. I will.” Nic came and sat on her cot. For the first time all summer, I regretted that our beds were three feet apart. “Here's what really happened, Sarah. We were on our way back from the climbing tower, and for no reason at all, Darcy made this comment about how I was acting totally mean.”

She glanced at me and then looked back at Sarah. “Okay, maybe she never said ‘mean,' but she implied it. And then she said, ‘What's your problem? I think we've been spending way too much time together and we need to take a break from each other.' I mean, that really hurt my feelings!”

I sat up and looked at her. “Nic, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to hurt your feelings. It hurt
my
feelings that you got all mad at me for being good at something. And she called me competitive!” I told Sarah.

“But you know how sometimes you can be—,” Nic started to protest.

“Wait a second!” Sarah yelled. “I think I see the problem here. Darcy, you apologize for saying you don't want to hang out with Nicole anymore. You didn't really mean that, did you?”

I sighed. “I said I was sorry five seconds ago, but obviously nobody heard that.” I glanced at Nic. “And you know I didn't mean that. Of course I still want to hang out with you.”

Nicole looked a little relieved, but then she started yelling again. “No, I didn't know that! How else was I supposed to take that comment? I figured—”

“Hold it!” Sarah raised her hands over her head. “Stop right there. Okay. Now, Nicole—you apologize to Darcy for calling her competitive.”

Nicole frowned. “I will, but Darcy, you have to admit that you were making a big deal out of something that's not—”

“Nope! Don't say anything you'll regret. Just apologize,” Sarah directed.

“Fine. I'm sorry I called you
competitive
,” Nic said with just a slight touch of sarcasm in her voice. It wasn't the best apology I'd ever gotten in my life, but it was better than nothing. I guess.

“Okay. Now you two hug and be best friends again.” Sarah stood up and brushed her hands together. “My work here is done.”

Neither one of us moved. We just sat on our cots and looked at each other. “You know we never fight,” I said finally.

“I know.”

“Well, I
am
sorry,” I said.

“Me too.” This time she sounded like she meant it.

Fighting was weird. When you were in the middle of it, you always felt like you'd rather swallow broken glass than apologize or admit you did anything wrong. You're always so sure it was the other person's fault. It's like running up against a wall, and you're not going to back down for anything. But then, little by little, the wall starts to crumble.

“See? Now that wasn't so bad, was it?” asked Sarah. She stood there smiling.

“So what happened between you and Whitney?” I asked. “Did you go to tennis together?”

Sarah's smile evaporated. “Uh . . .”

“Uh what? You were supposed to ask her to go play tennis and apologize to her then,” I reminded her.

“Yeah, like that's a good idea!” Sarah threw up her hands. “How can you possibly carry on a meaningful conversation with someone when you're on opposite sides of a tennis court!”

“So I take it you didn't go to tennis. Did you at least talk to her?” I asked.

Sarah heaved an exhausted sigh. She refused to make eye contact.

“Okay, then. You settled mine and Nic's fight. Now let's finally take care of this Whitney situation.”

Sarah took a couple of steps back. “Just . . . I want to do it my own way.”

“Sarah! You're a total hypocrite! Nic and I had a fight that lasted all of ten minutes and you insisted that we make up. I'm gonna go find Whitney right now so we can settle this.” I stood up and started to grab my shoes, but Sarah jumped in front of me to block my way.

“Darcy, don't! Please, please just let me handle this by myself.” Nic kept quiet and watched us.

“Sarah, today's Wednesday. It's been
days
and you haven't handled it yet. Come on. I really think it'll be easier if Nic and I are with you when you talk to Whitney. You know, you're not the only guilty party here.” I looked at Nic for support.

Nic finally spoke up. “If Sarah doesn't want to do it, we shouldn't force her.”

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Obviously, having a referee had really helped us, but now neither one of them was willing to let me do the same thing for Sarah and Whitney. I could totally understand why Sarah was nervous about talking to Whitney, but I thought Nic would back me up on this.

“I swear I'll talk to her soon. Just let me do it alone, okay?” Sarah pleaded.

I let out a sigh. “Well, okay. Anyway, thanks for being here for us.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Nic looked at me shyly. “You're not still mad, are you?”

“No, of course not. Are you?” We both felt better, but we were still a little shaken up over the fact that we'd had a fight to begin with. It was our first one.

“No. But for a second there, I did wonder if you were going to dump me.”

I was shocked to hear her say that. I threw my arm around her shoulder. “Not a chance. BFFs, remember? The second F stands for
forever
.”

“Hey, Nic. Are you asleep?” I whispered. In the dark I could see her outline in bed, but I couldn't see her face at all. Lights had been out for almost an hour by my guess, which meant it was probably around eleven o'clock.

“Not yet. What's up?” We had to be really quiet so Libby didn't shush us.

“I just wanted to say one more time that I'm sorry. It was a stupid argument.”

I could see Nicole prop herself up on one elbow. “I know. I'm sorry too. But it's not your fault. You were pretty moody today.”

We both chuckled softly. I was so glad we'd made up, because there was something I wanted to talk to Nic about.