Alex's Challenge (6 page)

Alex's stomach dropped. She had been right all along—Brynn was annoyed.

“What were you guys laughing about?” Alex asked, starting to feel sick to her stomach.

“Nothing,” Brynn answered, not even looking at her best friend. “You wouldn't get it, anyway.”

“Yes, I would!” Alex said back to her. And she did get Brynn's jokes—better than anyone else did, for that matter—and Brynn knew it, too.

“Well, maybe if you had bothered to meet me like you said you would,” Brynn added, “I would've told you.”

Sarah paddled a discrete few feet away. But Alex was sure Sarah was in hearing distance. She didn't swim
that
far away.

“You know, that was just so incredibly rude,” Brynn said to Alex. She was still on the raft, and she used her toes to flick water in Alex's face. “Sarah wouldn't do anything like that to me.”

When Alex looked over to Sarah, Sarah looked away.
She heard the whole thing!
Alex thought.

That really ticked Alex off—she hated for other people to be involved in her and Brynn's business. Besides, she and Sarah weren't close or anything, but they had been friends for the past two years. Sarah was quiet and proper, but still competitive. Alex figured she was from a really wealthy family because her parents had houses in Maine, New York, and Florida. And Alex didn't know anyone else with more than one home. Sarah could sometimes be aloof, but she had the best manners—she always congratulated the losing team and asked politely for Alex's untouched desserts.

Alex had never seen Sarah cry or yell or even get upset. Her even temper was why they played so well together. But now what would she think of Alex? Alex wished she weren't the kind of person who cared what other people thought of her. But she was.

“Brynn, I didn't mean to! I was having such a good time in woodworking, and I stayed in class too long. Then I ran and got my swimming stuff, and everyone was already out here. I just wanted to jump off the diving board so bad before I got here,” she said, pleading with Brynn.

“Yeah, with
Valerie
,” Brynn said sarcastically.

“What's wrong with Valerie?” Alex asked. “I didn't know her too well, but she's super cool. You would think so, too!”

“I can't think about that right now. Do you know that this kind of stress—you blowing me off—is going to make me forget my lines? I'm rehearsing twice a day now—it's so hard. The play is in just over a week! Do you even care?” Brynn asked, now looking at Alex with teary eyes. Alex couldn't believe being swimming partners—or not—was that big of a deal. She and Brynn had met almost every day for free swim for weeks on end. It couldn't hurt them to hang out with other girls. Surely, Brynn understood that she was still Alex's best friend even if Alex did have a lot of fun with other girls sometimes. Like Alex and Jenna—they often took walks together after dinner at night, something Brynn would never want to do.

“Do you only care about the play?” Alex asked. Brynn was being bratty no matter how wrong Alex had been. Alex started to get a sick feeling in her stomach, and she thought that maybe that moment wasn't the best time to pick a fight with her best friend.

“I can't believe you!” Brynn said. “It's not like
I
was the one who did anything wrong!”

All of a sudden, Alex got so dizzy that her heart started to beat fifty times too fast. She was really scared. She could just imagine passing out in the water where she might drown or something.

She was so terrified of getting hurt that she forgot all about Brynn for a second. Her head started to fall backward, and she grabbed Brynn's raft to help balance herself. The dizzy feeling went away, but Alex knew it would be back soon, and she pointed her body toward the shore.

“What are you doing?” Brynn asked, pulling her raft out of Alex's reach.

“I, I'm not feeling so good. Just give me a second,” Alex said. She moved her body toward the shore, wobbling all over, and tried to get to her knapsack. She reached inside, grabbed the Tums-like tablet and started chewing it. She plopped her bottom down on the ground and put her head between her legs.

“You okay?” Valerie said, running over to where Alex had squatted, underneath a tree and away from the rest of the group.

“Oh, I'm fine,” Alex answered, her wobbliness going away. She looked up at Valerie's concerned eyes.

“I'm so sorry I let you go out there by yourself,” Valerie said. “I guess that's why we're supposed to swim in pairs. You just never know what's going to happen. Did you see a shark or something?”

Valerie was just joking—everyone pretended there were great whites and barracudas and Loch Ness monsters in the clear, creature-free waters at Camp Lakeview. Alex felt her dizziness going away, and she started laughing. It felt really good to laugh—Alex had been so freaked out just a few seconds before. She really did think she was going to pass out!

Brynn came to the shore and stood next to Alex and Valerie. She saw the two girls talking and then exploded. “I cannot believe you, Alex Kim! You are just so completely overdramatic! Why can't you just face me out there without the act?”

“What act?” Alex answered, wondering which one of them was the drama queen.

“You know what act—you're playing sick to avoid a fight. You know you'll do anything to avoid a fight, Alex,” Brynn said, stomping away.

Alex felt too weak to run after her. She really wanted to tell Brynn she was sorry, and she also needed to know why Brynn was making such a big deal out of everything. Maybe something else was bothering Brynn, or else she was just having a really cruddy day.

“What's got her?” Valerie asked, watching Brynn run off.

Alex shrugged her shoulders, worried that Brynn was super mad at her. Alex just hated big old arguments, and she didn't understand why they couldn't just enjoy the last couple weeks of camp together. She and Brynn wouldn't see each other very much during the year, after all. But then again, Alex was starting to feel like she didn't know Brynn as well anymore.

“Probably the same thing that's gotten a hold of Sarah in the last week,” Valerie answered.

“What's that?” Alex asked, feeling better and better.

“Well, I think I accidentally made her mad,” Valerie said, scooping up the muddy lakeside sand in her hands and squishing it through her fingers. “I told her that I really missed my crew back home, and I couldn't wait to see them when camp was over in two weeks. See, I have these friends Rachel and Shelly from school, and we've been writing a lot of letters this summer, and I just said that I wished they were here. I didn't mean to make Sarah feel bad at all, but she got up from the table and stomped off. Things have been weird between us ever since.”

“No way—you could never make anyone mad,” Alex said.

“I guess I was a little insensitive, but Sarah . . . you know, it's kind of hard to get her to open up,” Valerie explained. “She doesn't share things with me—she keeps secrets, and that's fine. I mean, I love her—she's awesome. I just wish I hadn't said anything.”

“Ohhh, that sucks. So that's why she's been buddy-buddy with Brynn?” Alex asked, feeling less alone.

“I guess so. I can't think of any other reason,” Val said. Alex noticed how sad she seemed.

“They'll get over it,” Alex said. “I hope.”
Why don't Brynn and I see things the same way anymore?
she thought.

“Maybe the mysterious Loch Ness monster ate their brains,” Valerie joked.

“Or a shark,” Alex answered.

They both laughed, but not for real. They were feeling bad about their friends, or former friends, whatever the case was. They sat together silently for the longest time, just thinking.

chapter
FIVE

 

For the entire rest of the day, Brynn acted like Alex didn't exist. They usually hung out in between their activities and they almost always walked to dinner together.

But Brynn was nowhere to be found at their usual meet-up times. Alex thought that was really strange. If Brynn was mad, she didn't usually have any trouble telling Alex all about it. In fact, Alex dreaded seeing her because Brynn was sure to chew her out.

As it turned out, though, not talking it out actually made Alex feel worse than a confrontation would have. Alex couldn't shake that awkward, uneasy feeling that something was very, very wrong.

She wondered where her best friend had sneaked off to all day, and while she was upset, she also just hoped that Brynn was okay. Alex had not meant to blow her off as swim partners, and she would tell Brynn she was sorry if she ever got the chance. Alex looked for Brynn everywhere—in the rec room, in the woods by the bunk, in the drama hut, but she still couldn't find her.

At dinner, finally, the two girls were together again. Alex didn't know if she should go sit next to Brynn at their table in the mess hall. Brynn was with Sarah, and they were giggling and being loud.

Nervous, Alex plopped down next to them. She decided that would be the right thing to do. Alex took a deep breath and got ready to apologize. Even if Brynn had been a little hard on her, it was just easier for Alex to say she was sorry and end the disagreement. Alex had no problem making the first move, and she wanted the uneasiness to go away.

“Hey,” Alex said, smiling.

“Hey,” Brynn answered back, not smiling at all.

“Are you still mad about earlier?” Alex asked her while she fiddled around with her napkin.

“I'm over it,” Brynn said, rolling her eyes and acting sarcastic. “I mean, really, it's not that big of a deal.”

“Oh.” Alex was surprised that she didn't get chewed out again. “Because I really didn't mean to—” she started to say.

“It's okay, really. Where's Valerie?” Brynn asked.

“She's coming,” Alex answered, feeling awkward about the subject of Valerie.

“Great,” Sarah added, rolling her eyes. She was turning out to be a lot more competitive than Alex thought!

“I really think we should all just hang out. It would be fun!” Alex said. It seemed like she was always the one rallying and trying to bring everyone together.

Before they could finish their nonconversation, Valerie arrived, asking if she could sit down with them. Sarah and Brynn shrugged their shoulders in unison, their way of saying “whatever” and started talking super-quietly to each other.

The situation didn't feel any less awkward than it had before Alex tried to be nice. In fact, Alex thought things were getting worse. But since she felt like Brynn was shafting her, she just turned to Valerie, and they talked about their chess set and swimming and the boys who had been teaching one another how to spit in woodworking. They ended up making the best of the situation, and dinner wasn't so bad.

Jenna really helped the situation—she told jokes so goofy that mashed potatoes actually oozed out of Candace's nose. Marissa, who served Pete's poor excuse for food, almost spilled a tray, she was laughing so hard when Jenna told the one about the hippopotamus that rode a bicycle through Weehawken, New Jersey. Marissa was laughing so hard, she had to rush back to the kitchen to calm herself down.

“Hey there.”

Julie had been off talking to the camp director, Dr. Steve. Now she sat herself down at the table with all the girls. Relief rushed through Alex's veins. She hoped her counselor had noticed the tension at the table and could help them all to work it out.

“Does anyone have any sparkle lotion I could borrow?” Julie asked, humming a happy little song Alex couldn't make out—it might have been “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Julie continued, “I can't find Marissa's anywhere, and I don't want her to know that I might have, um, misplaced it.”

“I do!” Brynn said, and they started talking about how Julie needed it for her mystery date this weekend. She had the night off on Saturday, and she clearly couldn't wait.

Counselors weren't really supposed to hook up, but it happened, like in the cases of Marissa and Pete, and Stephanie and Tyler. It was cool that Julie trusted the girls enough to tell them about it. They certainly wouldn't spill her secret to anyone. But they did want to know whom Julie liked—and her lips were zipped on that front. A hookup was exciting news even to Alex, who swore she didn't care about boy-girl gossip.

“So, Alex,” Julie said, turning toward her, “can you come see me after dinner in the kitchen? I need to ask you something.”

“Sure,” Alex answered, as usual.

Alex was always helping Julie or Marissa or Pete, one of the chefs, with something. Sometimes they just needed an extra hand to carry something. Other campers were enlisted every so often, too, but it seemed like Alex did the most, which was fine with her. After all, the counselors had their reasons for keeping her busy and keeping an eye on her. She understood. Heck, she appreciated it.