Alex's Challenge (8 page)

Alex really didn't know what to do. Arguing was not her style, and she just wasn't used to it. She felt herself mentally checking out of the situation. She just wanted to run out into the woods—and run and run and run. She couldn't make Brynn happy, and she was tired of trying.

“I don't want your help, anyway!” Brynn yelled as the other girls started to whisper about the impending altercation. When Chelsea chewed out Alex, it was easy for everyone to take Alex's side.

But the fight between Alex and Brynn wasn't so clear-cut. Both girls had a point: Alex was standing Brynn up, and Brynn was being self-involved, not to mention bossy. The other girls—Natalie, Alyssa, Karen, and the others—didn't know what to do. They just looked at one another and shrugged.

Only Sarah and Valerie got involved.

“I'll help you, Brynn,” Sarah said, moving to stand next to Brynn.

“Come on, Alex,” Valerie said. “Cool down for a while, and then try to talk about it again.”

Alex wanted to add one more thing before Brynn walked away. “If Sarah helps, then it's okay if I go to the meeting with Julie?” At least she knew Brynn would have an extra hand, which was the important part, anyway.

“
I said
, I didn't want your help, anyway,” Brynn stated, stomping off.

What has Brynn done for
me
lately?
Alex wondered. Brynn hadn't even said anything to Chelsea when she harassed Alex just before. Alex honestly didn't think she should be the one to apologize this time.

“It's okay, Alex. Let's just go the scavenger hunt and forget about it,” Valerie said. “It will all blow over soon.”

“Yeah. Sure.” Alex shrugged, trying to shake off the icky feeling the fight had given her. Valerie had to be right. This couldn't go on forever.

Could it?

chapter
SIX

 

When the girls returned after the scavenger hunt—they had lost to their rival bunk 3A—no one was in a giddy mood. Before lights-out, Brynn and Alex used to sit around and talk. They'd often share their dreams and secrets and rehash the day. Nothing of the sort happened that night.

Alex hadn't expected it, but it still stung when Brynn took her script over to Grace's bed and started reading.

It was getting more and more awful by the day—not just for Alex, but also for the other girls who felt like they were being forced to take sides. The most worrisome thing for Alex was that Chelsea and Brynn had been talking more. Alex was terrified that the two of them would gang up together against her and make the last days at camp one big pile of steaming Hamster Surprise.

This was not how Alex had imagined the end of camp! She was so disappointed. She'd managed to have a little fun—like at the formal banquet planning meeting—but she just couldn't enjoy the other camp activities with Brynn acting like they weren't even friends anymore. Alex started wishing that she had gone to paint with Brynn that night instead of to the planning meeting.
Maybe then nothing would've gotten this bad
, Alex thought. But then another, less quiet voice perked up inside her head.

Why should Brynn always get her way?
Alex asked herself, vowing to stand her ground on this one.
It's like she just
expects
me to go play with her.

As the days went on, woodworking was a much-needed break once a day from the girls and their dramas. Valerie didn't care much about it. She mentioned a few times that her friendship with Sarah was totally over.

“If she's that sensitive, and if I can't talk about my girls at home, then so be it,” Val explained. “My mom says sometimes friendships fade, and you should let them go gracefully. If Sarah wants to dump me over one little stupid comment I made, I guess we weren't that close in the first place. Hmph.”

“It still stinks, though,” Alex added, feeling totally dumped herself. “I hate the way Brynn ignores me.”

“Likewise,” Val said. “Did you see the way they were holding hands at the flagpole this morning? I couldn't even giggle about Dr. Steve's mismatched knee socks—did you see he had one blue and one orange on today?—because I was fuming over the way those two are acting.”

“He did?” Alex asked, shocked that she hadn't noticed.

“I am not kidding. He did,” she answered. Val never said anything nasty about Sarah or Brynn, and Alex knew she must've been steamed to have an outburst like that. Alex tried so hard not to say mean things about people, either—though sometimes she did drop an opinion of Chelsea. Alex wondered if Brynn was talking badly about her.
Oooh, she better not be,
Alex thought.

“I don't know about me and Sarah,” Valerie said, “but you and Brynn will make up soon. Maybe Brynn is just wigging out about the play.”

“That's true. She always stresses out before performances,” Alex said, rolling her eyes. “It's so stupid. I mean, I don't freak before Color War or soccer games.” For Alex, it was just the opposite. She was so excited for the activities she was good at that her mood actually improved when the pressure was on.

“I know,” Valerie added.

At least, with Valerie, Alex felt like she had someone to talk to who really understood. Valerie was always cracking jokes to make Alex smile when she felt like kicking trees. Alex's feelings about Brynn were so up and down. One second, she'd hate her for causing such a big fight. The next second, Alex missed her as if she were a long-lost member of her family. Alex would have given anything to have Brynn back the way she had been during the earlier part of the summer.

“Nice.”

“What?” Alex looked up to see Adam standing over her. He nodded appreciatively at the wood she was sanding. She had to admit that the chess board was really coming along.

Valerie excused herself and went to the bathroom. Alex knew what Val must've been thinking. Val thought Adam would be a good match for Alex, so she left the two of them alone together whenever she got the chance. Alex wanted her to stay, though! Adam was hanging around too much and making her really nervous. It was weird.

“What are you guys working . . .” Alex trailed off, realizing that by the time she could get her thoughts together into a normal speech pattern, Adam was already gone.

She could see, from where she was sitting, that Adam and his friends were making a wooden table. It was simple, just a round slab of wood with a base and a pole to hold it up, but it was beautiful. Camp would be over soon, and the boys were working hard to get finished. They were sanding down their project and starting to stain the pieces. They hadn't practiced spitting or tried to steal her soccer ball for three whole days. It was nice when boys acted normal. Alex just wondered if they really would finish that table.

She wasn't too worried about Adam anymore—at least not about his broken heart, anyway. If Alyssa had dumped him, he seemed to be over it. He was laughing and having fun with Jenna and his other friends. He didn't even seem to be bothered when Alyssa/Trevor and Natalie/Simon hung out together in front of him. Alex just thought it was weird that they would parade around considering what had supposedly happened.

At lunch, Alex heard Jessie and Jenna gossiping about it.

“Your brother really did get shafted, didn't he?” Jessie said in her usual to-the-point way.

“I wouldn't say
shafted
,” Jenna answered. “There's probably more to the story than we realize.”

Jenna did not like that Adam was starting to flirt with girls—in fact, she made that gesture with her mouth and her finger where she gagged herself any time the subject came up. But she also didn't like anyone other than herself even remotely putting him down.

“It's just too weird,” Jenna said, turning to Alex. “Why does everyone act crazy about boys? And about my brother? Ewww!”

Alex put her granola down; she was done. She didn't think Adam liked her as anything more than a friend. But if he did, as Valerie said, that would completely have freaked her out, and Jenna, too.
Ugh, this is so not me!
Alex thought.

“I definitely do not want to talk about boys,” she added.

Later, Alex and Val headed to free swim as usual. They had become regular partners by default ever since their respective “friend breakups.” Alex kept hoping that Brynn would just come up to her and apologize or at least try to work it out. They couldn't go home for the summer not speaking. That would be awful. But instead of the two of them making up, things just kept getting worse.

Brynn was walking to the shoreline holding hands with Sarah and laughing so loud that people in Los Angeles could probably have heard her. Even though Alex and Val were only a few feet away, Brynn didn't even bother to acknowledge their presence.

At least Sarah and Val were being civil to each other even if they weren't best friends anymore. Brynn was just being impossible. Alex didn't understand what was going on, or what she had done.

“I'm going to talk to her,” Alex said to Valerie after they jumped off. The girls were dripping wet, and they were tired from playing Frisbee earlier. Brynn was sitting with Natalie on the blanket, and Alex thought that would be as good a time as ever to work their differences out.

“Are you sure? You want me to go with you?” Valerie said, looking at her waterproof watch. If Alex was going to talk to Brynn, she didn't have much time. Free period was over in five minutes, and then they had to hurry to their Color War meeting to find out which teams they were on.

“I'll be fine, but thanks,” Alex said, feeling scared about speaking to Brynn. But she also just wanted to get it over with. This not talking for a few days was just ridiculous. They'd barely gone an hour without speaking before!

Alex headed toward the girls, forcing herself to stop thinking about how mad she was and focus on smoothing it out. Val had been telling her in woodworking not to think any bad thoughts—about herself or about Brynn. Val insisted that not dwelling on drama kind of made it undramatic (and that was a good thing!). Alex thought about how she and Val were kicking tail on the chess set (so what if it was because Jeremy had been helping them?). Things were going slightly better for Alex, so she hoped that Brynn would come around, too.

Natalie and Alyssa watched wide-eyed as Alex walked toward the three of them. They started gathering their notebooks and lotion, taking the hint to go somewhere else.

“Thanks, you two,” Alex told them. Then she looked Brynn in the eyes. “Can we talk, Brynn?” she asked. Alex kept standing while Brynn changed positions on her blanket. Alex felt like a tree that was getting ready to topple over.

“I have nothing to say to you, Alex Kim,” Brynn answered, not even looking up from her teen magazine.