Camp Confidential 05 - TTYL (17 page)

Read Camp Confidential 05 - TTYL Online

Authors: Melissa J Morgan

“I’ll keep working hard,” Grace promised. She swallowed the rest of her milk and finished her last bite of apple.
Posted by: Grace
Subject: Drama club!
 
Hey, guys!
Crazy news!
My parents found out that I was lying to them about drama club, and they got really mad, but then this morning Mom told me that she was going to let me stay in it! She said she thought a lot about it and she is still mad at me for lying, and I’m grounded and have to do a bunch of chores and stuff, but I can stay in it!
And Lara offered to help me with some of my English homework. She’s so smart, and she’s so cool, I bet she won’t mind. And now I won’t feel like I’m lying to her anymore.
I read some more of
The Pinballs
today. It’s so good!
Talk to you later!
Love, Grace
chapter
ELEVEN
Jenna>
FRIDAY
Jenna pounded on Nicole’s front door at exactly seven fifteen, according to the Swatch watch her dad had bought her at the mall the weekend before. She was sweaty from running all the way to Nicole’s house, and also, she supposed, a little nervous. While she waited for Nicole to answer the door, she glanced behind her, almost expecting to see her mom’s car pulling into Nicole’s driveway.
This has to work
, she thought frantically.
Because it’s my only chance.
Nicole swung the door open and pulled Jenna inside. “Hey!” she said. “I am so glad you could come!”
“Thanks!” Jenna said. “I can only stay till about nine or so. My mom could get back from my dad’s any time after that.”
“No problem,” Nicole said. “There’s a pizza coming in ten minutes, and we’ve got chips and soda. Everyone’s downstairs.”
“Awesome!” Jenna replied.
The two girls headed for the basement, where a movie was playing on the TV and a dozen kids were sitting in front of it eating chips and drinking soda.
“Look who’s here!” Nicole announced. Everyone swiveled around to see Jenna and say hello.
“Hey, guys,” Jenna said.
She and Nicole sat down to watch the movie. After a few minutes, Nicole’s mom called down the stairs that the pizza was there, and Nicole went upstairs to get it. She brought back three pizza boxes, and everyone dug in, then went back to watching the movie.
After about half an hour of movie-watching, Jenna was starting to get pretty bored. She didn’t know what the big deal was about Nicole’s parties. So what if there were boys there? No one was even talking.
What this party needs is a fun party prank,
she thought. Even though she had promised not to pull them anymore, of course. Something needed to happen in order to liven things up. She didn’t say anything, though, just kept watching the movie and chewing absentmindedly on slice after slice of pizza. She wouldn’t have had time to pull anything really great, anyway, so she let herself get swept up in the action on screen.
When the movie ended, Jenna realized that she must have been at Nicole’s for two hours, and checked her watch. It was nine thirty. “Oh no!” she exclaimed.
“What’s wrong?” a boy named Bobby said.
“I have to go home! My mom might be back already. She’s going to kill me if she finds out that I snuck out!”
“You’d better hurry,” Nicole said. “Do you want my mom to drive you?”
“No, she might tell my mom. I’ll just run,” Jenna said. She stood up. “Bye, everybody.” She ran up the stairs and out the front door, jogging through the neighborhood toward her house.
She couldn’t believe it. She had risked getting into serious trouble—and for what? A lame party that wasn’t even worth the effort. She could sit and watch movies (and eat pizza, too, for that matter) at her father’s any time she wanted! But there was no way to turn back time, and so Jenna just continued to run as fast as she could, heart pounding all the way.
Please don’t let Mom be home
, she thought. She knew it was a long shot, but it was the only chance she had.
She crossed her fingers as she ran. Just for good measure. She hoped it would help.
When she got to her house, her heart sank—her mom’s SUV was in the driveway, and the lights were on downstairs. She walked slowly up the pathway to her front door, dreading opening it. She slowly pushed the door open.
“Jenna?” her mom called from the kitchen.
“Yeah?” Jenna replied tentatively.
“Oh, thank God,” Jenna’s mom said, rushing into the living room. “I was so worried about you! I was about to call 911!”
“I’m okay,” Jenna said quietly. She looked down at the floor, and then up at her mom.
The look on her mother’s face changed from worry to confusion. “In that case, Jen, where have you been?” she asked pointedly.
“Um . . .” Jenna said, stalling for time.
“I mean it, young lady,” her mom said, crossing her arms. “Where have you been? I was worried sick.”
Jenna looked at the floor again and pretended to be interested in her shoes. “I went to Nicole’s,” she said quickly. “She was having a party.” She looked at her mom out of the corner of her eye, and watched her mom’s face turn red with anger.
“So you were only pretending to be sick,” her mom said quietly.
“Yes,” Jenna admitted. She looked her mother in the eye. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
“You pretended to be sick so that you wouldn’t have to go to your dad’s, and so that you could sneak out and go to the party,” her mom repeated.
“Yes.”
“You’ve never been so grounded in your life,” her mom said.
Jenna sighed. “Mom, this isn’t fair, having to go to Dad’s every weekend. I never get to do anything I want to do!”
“So you’re missing out on your social life?” Jenna’s mother asked angrily. “Jenna, this divorce isn’t easy for any of us. And I can appreciate that it’s rough on you kids—probably in ways your dad and I don’t realize. But you are lucky to have two parents who love you so much. You are lucky to have a dad who wants to see you, and who looks forward to seeing you so much that he puts away his entire weekend for you and your brothers and sister.” She shook her head. “You’re lucky to have a dad who loves you so much,” she finished.
“I know,” Jenna said meekly. She moved her foot back and forth. “I love you and Dad, too.” She thought about Natalie, who never got to see her dad because he was a famous movie star who was always in California working on movies. And then she remembered Chelsea.
“I’m so sorry, Mom,” she blubbered. “I just thought—”
“You just thought you’d get away with it,” Jenna’s mom said. “Well, you almost did, Jen. Are you glad you got to go to the party? Was it worth it? You had me scared to death.”
“Are you going to tell Dad?” Jenna asked softly.
Jenna’s mom sighed. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “You lied to me, so this is between the two of us. On the other hand, you’re obviously feeling very frustrated. I know you wouldn’t have deceived me otherwise. So I think I am going to have to talk to him.”
“Okay,” Jenna said meekly. “You can tell him. It’s okay. You can punish me, too. You can ground me or give me extra chores or whatever. I deserve it.”
Jenna’s mother laughed softly. “You do deserve it, Jenna—but just because you lied to me and snuck out of the house, which made me incredibly worried. I guess I didn’t realize how much this was taking you away from your friends, and trust me, I know how important your friends are.” She shook her head. “Maybe I’ll talk to your dad about letting you guys all stay home one weekend a month, or something. Maybe he’d like to have you for Christmas, instead, and that can be the trade-off.”
“Really?” Jenna replied hopefully. “It isn’t that I don’t like going to Dad’s. It’s just . . . I want to see my friends. And eat something other than pizza,” she added.
Her mom laughed. “Really? What did you eat at Nicole’s?”
Jenna laughed too. “Pizza,” she admitted. “A bunch of it. The party was boring, too. It wasn’t at all what I thought. I thought it’d be worth it.”
“Come here, honey,” her mom said, holding out her arms. “This will all work out.”
Jenna walked toward her mom and wrapped her arms around her. They hugged for a moment, and then Jenna pulled back. “Mom?” she asked tentatively. “Would you take me to Dad’s tonight?”
“No,” her mom replied. “But I’ll take you tomorrow morning. Tonight, why don’t you and I watch a movie and eat some ice cream?”
“That sounds good,” Jenna said.
“I miss you guys when you’re gone, you know, Jen. And so does your father.”
“I know,” Jenna said. She followed her mom into the kitchen. From the freezer, her mom took out a pint of mint fudge ripple and Jenna grabbed two clean spoons. As they walked to the TV room, Jenna said, “My friend Chelsea’s dad is really sick.”
Jenna’s mom looked sad. “Your friend from camp? How terrible.”
“Yeah,” Jenna replied. “I want to do something to help, but I don’t know what.”
“Did you e-mail her?”
Jenna settled into the couch and took the ice cream her mom handed her. “No,” she said. “She wouldn’t want that—she’d die if she thought anyone was feeling sorry for her.” She was thoughtful for a second. “It’s weird, that it didn’t make me want to spend time with Dad when I first heard about it. I just felt bad for Chelsea, I didn’t think about my own dad, who I’m lucky to have.”
Jenna’s mom smiled. “You’re really growing up, Jen,” she said. “I’m proud of you. I’m still mad at you for lying to me, skipping school, and sneaking out of the house, but you really are starting to grow up.” She picked up the remote. “Want to watch something R-rated?” she asked.
“Seriously?” Jenna replied, surprised.
“No, not seriously,” Jenna’s mom said, laughing. “How about
Mean Girls
, though? I think you can handle that.”
“Okay,” Jenna said. She snuggled up to her mom as she turned on the TV and pressed Play on the DVD player.
“I was going to watch it myself,” her mom confided. “But I’d much rather watch it with you.”
SATURDAY
Posted by: Natalie
Subject: two weeks down . . .
 
hey, everybody. two weeks of school down, thirty-four to go! i’m having a pretty good time, but i do miss you guys. boys are confusing, friendships are hard work . . . and don’t even get me started on how much more homework there is now that we are big old sixth-graders! i have been talking to simon on the phone, which is so cool. it’s nice that just because we’re not at camp doesn’t mean we can’t still get along just like we did then. minus the whole actually getting to see each other in person thing.
pluses about being back in nyc: cabs, air conditioning, hannah, clothes shopping, frappuccinos, central park. minuses: i miss you guys!
anyway, i wanted to update everyone, and to ask if you guys want to work on a project i came up with for a certain friend of ours. i want to keep it a secret, though, so e-mail me for details.
love, nat

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