Em hugged me. "We'll be here if you need us," she said. "You don't have to be worried about doing this alone."
"Thanks," I said to all of them. "I don't know what I would do without you guys."
Grace smiled. "Now that Sam has a game plan, let's get to bed." She started to gather her things.
"You mean you don't want to talk about Tim?" Court teased.
Grace shook her head. "Not tonight. I just want to get out of here and back to our bunk. I feel like we're being watched."
Court laughed. "You've seen one too many horror movies, but fine, let's g --"
Before Court even got out the word "go" the canteen door swung open. Ashley and Gabby blocked the exit.
"How long have you two been out there?" Court demanded.
"Long enough," Ashley said smugly and looked directly at me with such a chilly expression I actually felt cold. How much did she hear?
She didn't get a chance to say because Hitch came running up behind them, sounding out of breath. He had under-eye circles and bed head, and I got the impression he had been woken from a sound sleep. He was still in his pajamas -- green sweats and a Navy Seals tee. "I came as fast as I could," he said frantically. "Is everyone okay? No one's hurt?" He looked around in confusion. "Did you put the fire out?"
Court, Em, Grace, and I looked at each other. "What fire?" Grace asked, alarmed.
"Ashley said the canteen was on fire," Hitch said, looking at his daughter for answers.
Meg was the next to arrive, sprinting up to the doorstep and pushing her way inside. When she saw us, she burst into tears. "Thank God you guys are okay." She threw her arms around us.
"What are you guys talking about?" I couldn't help asking. "There was no fire."
"If there was no fire, then why did you tell me there was one, sweetie?" Hitch asked Ashley.
She looked up at him with big, round eyes. "I'm sorry," she quivered. "I woke up and didn't see any of my bunkmates."
"So she woke me," Gabby interrupted.
"And we ran to the window and we saw the girls heading toward the canteen, so we followed them," Ashley said worriedly. "We didn't want them to get hurt."
"And that's when we saw the lights in the canteen," Gabby added. "We thought the place was on fire."
"Those lights were our flashlights," Grace growled.
"We didn't know that," Ashley snapped, and then quickly composed herself. "We were worried so we called you, Daddy. And we woke up Meg."
Meg looked away. I got the feeling Meg wasn't in bed either.
"I also ran and told Alexis, but she said she couldn't leave her bunk unattended," Ashley added, looking directly at me.
Of course she told Alexis. Ashley was still determined to make Alexis hate me.
"Well, I'm glad there wasn't a fire, but I don't understand what you were all doing at the canteen at midnight." Hitch frowned.
"We were just talking," Court tried to explain.
"You couldn't have this conversation tomorrow morning at breakfast?" Ashley wanted to know. "Why do you guys leave us out all the time?" She started sniffling and tearing up.
I glanced at Em nervously. Ashley was out for blood and she was going to use every trick in the book to make sure she got it. I looked at Hitch. His expression was pained. He put an arm awkwardly around his daughter.
"Hitch, I can handle this," Meg interrupted. "This is obviously a bunk issue and I'll be sure that the girls are spoken to and reprimanded properly."
"Since I'm here, I think I should handle this, Meg." Hitch looked at the four of us. "Is there anything you want to say?"
"Ask them if they were stealing more clothes," Ashley said.
"That's enough, Ashley," Hitch's voice sounded stern. He turned back to us. "I didn't expect this sort of behavior from you four."
I glanced at Grace. She looked like she might cry as she waited to hear what Hitch was going to say. If he took away Grace's Color War status I would die. This was yet another thing that was my fault.
Normally if a camper was caught sneaking out, they'd be punished by their counselor. Hitch didn't get involved unless there was a vicious prank occuring or the person was a repeat offender. But Ashley had gotten him involved and now he wasn't going to walk away.
"We're sorry," Grace pleaded. "We weren't doing anything wrong. We swear. We didn't take anything. We just wanted someplace private to talk."
"Since this is a first offense, I'm going to go easy on you," Hitch said despite Ashley's obvious gasping. "Even so, your senior counselors will be told of this infraction. Your punishment is that you'll be excused from all activities tomorrow and will have to help Beaver in the kitchen all day. You'll eat all your meals in there and will have no contact with anyone. In the evening, we'll meet again and talk."
"You're not going to take away our Color War privileges?" Grace asked tearfully.
Hitch shook his head. I thought I saw a small smile on his lips. "You worked hard for that position, Grace. It was meant to be yours."
Ashley had a coughing fit. "But they broke into the canteen! And they were out after curfew! They could have set the place on fire. You're not taking away anything but a stupid day of activities? What about the talent show? Don't you think they should be banned from it?"
"Ashley, I said I would handle this," Hitch told her. "I suggest you get back to bed before I decide to make you go home to your actual bed this evening."
Ashley shut her mouth and glared at her father. "Fine," she huffed. "Come on, Gabby."
Hitch sighed and turned to Meg. "You'll see to it that they get back to bed?"
"Yes, sir," Meg said, blushing slightly. Meg was a model counselor. I knew getting caught with her whole bunk out after curfew couldn't be easy on her. I had really made a mess of things.
"Well, then, I'm going back to bed," Hitch said. "And I'll see you four bright and early in the morning. Make it seven."
It was just us and Meg. She sighed heavily. "Girls, I know counselors and campers sneak out sometimes, but after what happened with that prank last week, I thought you guys would have been more careful. Ashley still thinks it was one of you who took her stuff. She's watching your every move."
"This is my fault, Meg," I started to say. "I begged the girls to come out tonight because I was having a problem and I needed their advice. Don't blame this on them."
Meg shook her head. I noticed her eyes catch something and she stopped. She grabbed Grace's flashlight and shined it at Court's feet. The video camera! Court looked like a deer caught in headlights. "What's that?" Meg asked and grabbed it before Court could. "Whose is this? Is this the camp's?"
"It's mine," I said quickly. "I brought it from home."
"Sam, you know you're not allowed portable electronic devices at camp, and especially not something this expensive!" Meg scolded. "I'm going to have to hold on to that till the end of camp."
I looked at the girls. Our sleepaway girls conversations were sacred. I knew if they were safe with anyone, it was Meg, but I hated the idea of being banned from making more. We had already filled up three ninety-minute tapes with our other conversations. The last few weeks of camp weren't going to be as fun if we couldn't have sleepaway girls confessionals.
Court reluctantly handed over the backpack containing my tapes, and Meg tucked my camera inside.
"Let's talk more in the morning," Meg suggested and slung the backpack over her arm. "Right now, I just want to get to sleep."
Meg led the way back to the bunk with the four of us walking slowly behind her.
"I can't believe Ashley did that to us," Court seethed. "It's bad enough she's going to try to destroy your chances with Cole. She has to get us put on probation too?"
"It's not that bad of a punishment," Grace said. "It's just one day without camp activities. At least he didn't take away Color War."
"Or the talent show," Em added.
"Meg did take away our camera," Court grumbled.
"We'll have to talk to her about ho
w important that camera is to us," Em said.
I stopped walking. "Guys, I just realized something. If we're on kitchen duty all day tomorrow that means I won't see Cole. What if Ashley gets to him first?"
Em looked as if someone just called and said her cat died. "It will be fine. It's only for one day, right?" Em said uncertainly.
It was just one day. But one day was an awfully long time when you were at camp and people spent every waking moment together.
One day could be all it took to ruin my life.
17 Food for Thought
Desperate times called for desperate measures. It was time to reach out to the big guy upstairs.
God, if you're listening, it's me, Samantha Montgomery -- you know, the girl who is always praying you'll permanently de-frizz my crazy hair, and for six months last year asked that you let one guy at Carle Place High be more interested in me than in my best friend? It's okay that you haven't answered my prayers yet. I know you're really busy and all, with the polar ice caps melting, and having to deal with Amy Winehouse's meltdowns on an almost daily basis. But my last shout-outs were nothing compared to the urgency of this one. If you could PLEASE see to it that no one tells Cole that Hunter kissed me before I have a chance to explain myself, I promise to do anything you want. I'll be more green and stop using so many paper towels. I'll be a better granddaughter and not groan when Grandma visits and wants to eat every meal at Olive Garden. I'll even come clean to my mom about being the one who put her favorite wood Crate and Barrel bowl in the dishwasher even though I claimed it was that housekeeper, Stella, who only lasted a week. And... oh! Wait! That's Meg's alarm clock. I have to get in the shower before Ashley stops snoring and someone hears the alarm. But don't forget -- I'm counting on you with this one. Amen.
When I was finished, I tiptoed around the bunk, trying not to disturb Courtney, who flipped and flailed all over the place when she was sleeping. I moved stealthily to the bathroom, grabbed my best camp shirt (the tie-dyed one we had made the week before in arts and crafts -- everyone said it wasn't a camp session if you didn't at least tie-dye something) and my khaki shorts that made my thighs look killer, and then I dove into the shower. I used as much hot water as I wanted since I was the first one in. To make up for being less green, after having just promised God I would be more so, I rescued a spider on the shower door by dropping him into my shave gel container top. I needed as much good karma on my side as I could get. By the time I'd tied my sneakers, Gabby was just starting to stir, which meant her snores were about to turn into snorts, and would wake up the entire room. Thankfully, I slipped out the door before her first grunt.
The sun hadn't even poked its lazy head above the mountains yet and the air outside the cabin was cool. I put my shower gel container on the ground and let the spider rush to safer surroundings. I was shivering in just shorts and a t-shirt, but I wasn't going back for a sweatshirt. I hadn't had a face-to-face with Ashley in almost eight hours and I wasn't about to now.
I knew she saw Hunter kiss me. All I could hope was that she hadn't gotten to Cole yet. Grace had tried to get some information for me. She'd stolen a few minutes with Tim during the dinner rush the night before when she told Beaver a table requested an extra helping of his sloppy joes (as if that would ever happen). She asked Tim if he saw Ashley with Cole at all -- when the rest of us were on mandatory kitchen duty -- and he said no. He told her Cole was fine. But what did fine mean? Did he not know about Hunter and me yet? Or was he fine hating me? I had to get to Cole and find out. I knocked on my peeps cabin door and Alexis answered.
"Hey," she said. She was still in her pajamas. "Mackenzie is all ready for you." Mackenzie skipped to the doorway, clutching her bear.
I'd never been so thankful to be the one who took her for her allergy shots before. Hitch wouldn't let me take her yesterday because of my probation so Alexis had to take the whole bunk with her and go. I wondered what Cole thought when he saw Alexis there instead of me. Cole and I took our campers at the same time every morning, which meant I was guaranteed some alone time with him before breakfast and I needed that today of all days.
"We'll see you at the mess hall in a half an hour," Alexis said to me with a smile. I knew she knew about my punishment for sneaking out after-hours, but she wasn't saying anything about it in front of the peeps. I was sure I'd hear it later.
Mackenzie and I trudged up the hill to the nurse's station and my heart was pounding the whole way there. I was seconds away from seeing Cole, and as much as I wanted to be the first one to tell him what happened with Hunter, I was scared too. Mackenzie burst through the door first, and a rush of cool air greeted me. My eyes immediately went to the waiting room bench. Caleb was there, but Cole wasn't. Caleb was actually alone.
"Where's Cole?" Mackenzie asked before I could.
Caleb yawned. "He went for an early jog. He dropped me off here first. He said I was a big boy and I could come by myself today," Caleb said proudly.
"I want to come by myself too!" Mackenzie tugged on my sleeve, but I couldn't concentrate enough to actually answer her.
Cole went jogging this late? He usually got up an hour earlier and went. I could never understand why he did it. They gave us so much mandatory exercise around this place I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to do more on their own. Even my waistband was loose, although that could be on account of the fact I was eating less since I couldn't stand looking at another burger or nacho salad surprise.
When Mackenzie's shot was over, I practically carried her to the mess hall. I didn't want to have my conversation with Cole there, but I didn't have a choice. At the front doors, I was greeted by Court.
"What's wrong?" I panicked.
"Nothing," Court said soothingly. "What about you? Did you talk to him?"
"Mackenzie, why don't you go inside?" I said. "I'll be over to the table in a minute." Without hesitation, she opened one of the doors and I could hear the noise level increase. Then I told Court what happened. "I don't know if he wasn't there because he was avoiding me or if he really just slept late before his jog."
Court was deep in thought. "I'm not sure either," she admitted. "If Ashley got to him first, she isn't acting any differently. The gruesome twosome have been in the bunk all morning acting completely normal. And by normal, I mean complaining that someone used all the hot water, telling Em her shirt was ugly, and forcing Grace to abandon her K.T. Tunstall CD for Chris Brown." Even though we weren't allowed electronics, every bunk at the Pines had a CD player for communal use.
"That is pretty normal," I admitted. Maybe Ashley was holding on to the Hunter kiss as a way to blackmail me. I wouldn't put it past her. That meant I still had time to get to Cole first.
Thank you, God, for hearing me! Seriously, I don't know if you have Verizon FiOS up there or what, but you worked your magic in record time.
"Thanks for making me feel better," I told Court.
"I told you everything would be fine," she said. "You want to know how I knew? I was at the flag-raising and Donovan came up to me, and in front of Gabby said, 'Court, I hear you're taking over the talent show with that cool routine of yours.' Me. Cool! Can you imagine? Then he said he'd see me at lunch. That's a major improvement over last week's 'see ya!'" Court stared at the nearby meadow and I half expected to hear the flowers singing.
"That is an improvement," I told her. All of the sleepaway girls had made progress in the guy area since we'd started our camp confessionals. Em and Dylan had kissed, and Grace and Tim were Color War captains. In sports speak, that was true love.
Court patted me on the back. "Now go in there and get your man! We'll be waiting at the table for you." She opened the door and pushed me through.
I took a deep breath. The walk to Cole's table felt like the longest walk I'd ever taken, and that's not just because Hitch stopped me on the way to tell me how much he appreciated my "grown-up" attitude during yesterday's kitchen confinement. When I broke free, I strode over to Cole's usual table. Dylan saw m
e and pointed to the peeps. My heart sunk. Cole was sitting with his charges today? That meant Hunter would be at the same table. But when I looked over, I saw Hunter wasn't there yet. It was just Cole and a few of the kids. They were drawing on a piece of paper and Cole was scribbling furiously while a few kids laughed. That had to be a good sign, right? If Cole was making people laugh, he couldn't be upset about anything as major as me kissing a guy he didn't respect.
When I reached the table, my hands were shaking. Cole was inches from me, but he didn't look up. "Hey," I said casually, hoping he couldn't hear the nervous-ness in my voice.
"Hey," he said. Just hey. No smile, no jokes. No flirting.
"Mackenzie and I missed you this morning at the nurse's office," I said. "They had the Today show on in there and I actually got to hear the weather forecast for someplace other than here."
"I got going on my jog late," Cole said, still not looking at me. "And Caleb wanted to go on his own for once."
I was starting to sense that Cole was anything but okay, and my heart beat out of my chest, kind of like the way it did when I'd drank too much hot chocolate before bed, or when I was watching The Eye with Jessica Alba. Still, I couldn't help babbling.
"Mackenzie is really jealous. I'm sorry I wasn't around all day yesterday," I blurted out. "I was on mandatory kitchen duty with Beaver, and let me tell you, you do not want to see what goes on in that kitchen when you're there all day. You'd never eat again."
Caleb laughed at my joke, but Cole still didn't say anything. I finally glanced at his paper. He was playing a game of hangman.
"Cole?" I said it almost like a question and he looked up at me.
I instantly wished he hadn't. His blue eyes were sort of partly cloudy, just like his expression. And that's when I knew for sure: Cole knew. Even though Court told me to act calm and unaffected, I was anything but.