Alex's Challenge (9 page)

“Come on, we've been best friends for so long. We can talk about this,” Alex said, thinking about how she kind of missed whispering to Brynn before they fell asleep at night. She missed their inside jokes, and she missed jumping rope together. They had been practicing the double ropes all summer because Brynn complained that she wasn't coordinated enough.

Brynn said jumping rope made her feel more athletic. Alex had a blast teaching it to her. When they had done it, with Jenna and Valerie taking turns twirling the ropes, Alex remembered feeling how great it was to just hang out and get along. It was like they all had a rhythm that went together.

Where has our friendship gone?
Alex wondered, lost in her daydream.

“What are you just standing there for?” Brynn asked, annoyed and flipping the pages of the magazine so hard, they almost ripped. “We're not best friends anymore. Can't you just deal with that?”

Ouch,
Alex thought.
That was low.
She had meant well, but she didn't know what to say to Brynn anymore.

“Just go hang out with your new best friend, Valerie,” Brynn said, not caring that Chelsea and Karen were just a few feet away. Chelsea wasn't even trying to act like she wasn't listening.

Alex was still standing there, and she was still about to topple over. She had to will away her tears. They were going to fall down her face and embarrass her if she didn't run away soon.

But before she took off, she added, “Fine. Then you go have fun with
your
new best friend, Sarah.”

Alex stomped away, heading toward the bunk as quickly as her legs would take her.

Back at the bunk, Alex couldn't hold back any longer. She was crying. Really crying. Alex wondered if Adam had felt a little bit like this—totally heartbroken—when Alyssa had dumped him. Alex thought that losing your best friend had to be about a million times worse.

Everyone at free swim had seen the whole thing, even if they hadn't heard what the girls had said. But Valerie was the only girl who followed Alex back to 3C. She hugged Alex and asked her what happened. Alex explained, thankful that she had someone she could count on.

Valerie was turning out to be a much better friend than Brynn had been lately. Maybe they really would be best friends one day—but that couldn't happen overnight. Camp was almost ending, and Alex didn't know for sure if Valerie would be back next summer. Alex would be—she always came back.

“I have an idea that might make you feel better,” Valerie said, rubbing Alex's back and handing her tissues. “Do you really miss Brynn?”

“You know, even though she's been impossible lately, I do miss the old Brynn,” Alex said, definitely not missing the new Brynn. “We had so much fun together before she started working on
Peter Pan.
I don't know what's gotten into her, really.”

“Okay, then,” Valerie went on, “I have an idea. . . . But it's kind of weird, and you just have to hear me out.”

“Go for it,” Alex said, slouching and pulling her knapsack close to her like a security blanket.

“We should do something nice for them,” Valerie added, reaching up to mess with her braids as if she were nervous. “Brynn and Sarah, I mean.”

“Who? Brynn? Why? She's been nothing but nasty,” Alex said. She really did think she had tried as hard as she could. “The ball is in Brynn's court now.”

“Don't let her make the decisions for you,” Valerie said. “Why don't we make little friendship boxes in woodshop for Brynn and Sarah? Let's just put a note inside them that says, ‘Whatever happens, remember the good times when we're all apart next fall. Good luck with everything.' Or something like that.”

“Why on Earth would we go to all that trouble for
them
?” Alex asked. She was totally bewildered by Valerie's suggestion. But her tears were drying up at least, and that was a good thing.

“Because it's just the nice thing to do,” Valerie added. “My mom gave me this idea. Whenever someone really ticks you off, and you've done all you can do, just give them a nice token of friendship, like a note or gift, and know that you've done the right thing. My mom brings my dad M&M's, his favorite kind—the peanut ones—whenever they've been at each other's throats, no matter who is right or wrong. And you know what? They always stop fighting. No one stays mad when you do something nice for them.”

“I don't know about this,” Alex said, getting up so she could get dressed for the Color War meeting—she sure wasn't missing
that
.

“Let's just give it a try,” Valerie said, getting up, too. “Instead of the chess set. Our friendships are more important than some game, right? We still have a few more days of woodworking. It can't hurt.”

“What about the stool for your dad that you were working on?” Alex asked, thinking of ways to get out of going through with this crazy plan. It really did seem like Brynn should be making
her
something nice, but Alex tried to stay open-minded about Valerie's idea.

“I finished it. Jeremy helped me yesterday,” Valerie yelled from the shower.

She didn't have anything to lose. Alex decided she'd try it. She did feel kind of good about doing something sweet, even if it was for Brynn. Valerie's suggestion made a little bit of sense, she guessed. Alex was always volunteering to help everyone—especially the counselors—because it made her happy to do so. Good deeds had a way of boosting Alex's self-confidence. And she could definitely use a boost, she figured.

At the very least, things certainly couldn't get any worse.

The Color War meeting was the best. At least Alex thought so. The whole camp—hundreds of kids of all ages—arrived for the meeting after dinner. There was a small campfire burning near the flagpole. Dr. Steve stood behind the fire, creating a stage for himself, as if he were presenting the Oscar nominations or something. Every kid sat with his or her bunk, excited, knowing that the “enemy” could be sitting right beside you. Once they got their assignments, bunkmate would compete against bunkmate for the victory.

But before that happened, everyone sang silly songs like “Green and Yeller” and “Who Stole My Tree?” to get pumped up. Then Dr. Steve made everyone hold hands and meditate (Alex couldn't believe he added meditation to his weirdness this summer) as a show of solidarity before giving his speech.

Dr. Steve went on for twenty whole minutes, just like he did every year, about sportsmanship and no pranks and healthy competition and team pride and camp rivalry and even went on a tangent about how Color War could teach every person about world peace.

“The leaders of our world should come to Camp Lakeview!” he yelled, waving his fishing hat in the air. The kids only clapped a little bit—mostly, just the counselors cheered because he was, after all, their eccentric boss. Alex and Valerie couldn't help but giggle.

“Oh my dog,” Valerie said, rolling her eyes and nudging Alex in the side. “He's not even kidding!”

“Oh yes, he means every word,” Alex added.

Then, amid hundreds of hushed, anxious campers, the envelopes were handed out. That was something different they were doing this year. Every camper was getting a sealed letter with his or her team assignment on it. For some reason, Dr. Steve thought it would be good for each camper to try to keep his or her team assignment a secret until breakfast the next morning. Then, after breakfast, the competition lists would be posted outside of each cabin.

Color War took place over two days and consisted of a mix of group events and division events. Group events—where kids of all ages competed together in games like singdown and potato-sack race—were worth fifty points for the winners. Division events—where kids competed for their teams against their own age group during games like Scrabble and tug-o-war—were worth twenty-five points for the winners. There were four group events, two per day of Color War, and several division events. The counselors had to do a lot of planning!

Alex couldn't get on board with the secret thing. How was she going to get to bed that night without somehow letting it slip?

“The point is to absolutely torture us, which clearly he considers to be great fun,” Valerie said.

But Alex suspected another reason they were doing it this way. Last year, the Blues stayed up all night making confetti that they threw in the mess hall oatmeal. Maybe he was trying to keep night-before pranks to a minimum. Or maybe this was just another “camp challenge.”

Julie handed Alex her envelope, and she tore it open. Inside, there was a blank white paper with a small blue dot in the center. Alex was thrilled to be a Blue. It was her favorite color, so it had to be lucky. She just hoped that her closest 3C friends were Blues, too.

“What'd you get?” Valerie whispered.

“What'd you get?” Candace yelled before Jessie could put her hand over Candace's mouth.

“I'm not telling till tomorrow.” Alex smiled.

And just then, red and blue balloons fell from a net that was suspended between several trees. Alex was so excited—the next few days would definitely make up for the recent bad ones.

After two more rounds of “Green and Yeller,” all the kids headed back to their bunks—some keeping the secret, some surely not—screaming and yelling and acting like wild safari animals.

Camp is awesome,
Alex thought.
This is the whole reason I came.

“Twinkie time!” Jenna yelled as she ripped open a cardboard box from her parents that night. Julie and Marissa were out at a staff meeting, and so it was party time in 3C. Alex dreaded party time. The other girls looked forward to sharing the treats. But sharing time was always a nightmare for Alex.

“I'll give one to anyone who reveals their team!” she yelled.

“I'm a Blue!” Chelsea yelled. Alex hoped she was just lying, but knowing her own luck lately, she probably wasn't.

“I'm a Red!” Jessie chimed in. “No wait, a Blue! No wait, a Red!”

With that, Twinkies started flying through the air. “Nice pass,” Grace yelled as she caught hers.

Chelsea, Karen, Brynn, Sarah, and Valerie tore into theirs. Alex could hear the cellophane wrappers crinkle. She could hear her bunkmates chewing,
mmm-ing,
and
ahhh-ing
.

She knew as soon as Chelsea took the last bite and wiped her mouth, she'd be all over Alex as usual. But worse, Alex couldn't control herself any longer. She wanted to eat one of those Twinkies so bad that she could taste it. It had been seven months—maybe longer—since she'd had such a yummy, sweet, sugary, totally-bad-for-you treat.

“Alex?” Jenna asked, ever polite even though Alex never said yes. She—like everyone else—just assumed Alex was a health nut.