Jenna's Dilemma (15 page)

“Come in,” Dr. Steve said.

Jenna looked up to find her mother, brow wrinkled in concern, stepping into the room. Her curly hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, and she was wearing her favorite blue sundress and white sneakers. But her eyes looked tired and worried, and Jenna was instantly sorry for giving her anything negative to think about today.

Out of habit, Jenna looked for her father to step through the door after her, but of course, he didn't. It was like there was a big empty hole where he should have been.

“Jenna,” her mother said. And Jenna was out of her chair like a shot, hugging her mother as tightly as she could. Jenna had no idea how much she'd missed her mom until that very second. “Honey, are you okay?” her mom asked. “Shira told me to come right to the office. Is there anything wrong?”

“I'm afraid we have to have a serious talk, Ms. Bloom,” Dr. Steve said.

Jenna looked up at her mom, who looked back at her with that disappointed expression that Jenna knew so well from other after-prank meetings. She felt like she was about to cry. “I'm really sorry, Mom.”

“It's okay, baby. Just wait outside while I talk to Dr. Steve,” her mom said, running her hand over Jenna's hair. “I'll be right out.”

“Hello, Mrs. Bloom,” Dr. Steve said as Jenna slipped through the door. “And will Mr. Bloom be joining us?”

Jenna closed the door before she could hear her mother's response. She dropped down into a chair in the deserted waiting room, closed her eyes against her tears, and waited.

“Let's go for a walk,” Jenna's mother said when she stepped out of Dr. Steve's office. She was clutching her purse, and her mouth was set in a thin line. This was not a happy mom.

Jenna stood up quickly, her knees shaking almost as badly as they had on the diving pier. “I'm not kicked out of camp, am I?” she asked.

“No. You're not kicked out of camp,” her mother said, opening the door for her with a loud creak. “Though I have to say, I find that decision surprising after what you pulled.”

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Jenna thought, practically skipping out into the sunshine. Even though her mother was clearly upset with her, Jenna couldn't help being relieved that she wasn't going to have to go home. There was no way she could have handled living for four summer weeks at that house without her brothers and sister. They may have been annoying to have around camp, but she would need them at home. Especially with everything that was going on.

Jenna and her mother stepped onto the main drive where Pete and a bunch of the counselors were directing parents to parking spaces. There wasn't a paved lot at Camp Lakeview, so they made do with a wide expanse of dirt and did the best they could to fit in all the cars. The tires kicked up a lot of dust, and Pete and the guys were using the bandannas from last night's social to cover their mouths while they coughed.

“So, do you want to go find Stephanie?” Jenna asked brightly, hoping to change the subject.

“Eh! You're not getting off that easily, kid,” her mother said. “You are going to be punished for what you did last night.”

Jenna's heart fell. She had known this had to be coming, but she still didn't want to hear it. “What's my punishment?” she asked as they turned their steps toward the picnic tables at the edge of the woods.

“You'll be getting up early every morning for the next two weeks and helping Roseanne feed the animals and clean their cages,” her mother said.

“Every morning?” Jenna blurted.

“Yes. Every morning,” her mother replied. “And if you ask me, Dr. Steve is going lightly on you. This is the least you can do to make up for that ridiculous prank.”

Jenna tucked her chin and tromped along, her hands hanging heavy at her sides. She knew what she had done was wrong, but that didn't make taking the punishment any easier.

“Jenna, is there anything you want to talk to me about?” her mother asked, dropping down on a bench at one of the tables. She hefted her large purse onto the grainy wood and turned her intent gaze on Jenna.

Suddenly Jenna's insides squirmed. “Like what?” she asked, sitting next to her mom.

“Like why you did this?” her mother asked. “I know you like to play jokes and mess around. I know you have a free spirit. But you're a smart girl. This wasn't a whoopee cushion or a trick pack of gum. You couldn't have thought this prank was harmless.”

“I know,” Jenna said quietly.

“So what made you do it?” her mother asked, reaching out and running her fingers through Jenna's hair, untangling it down her back. Usually Jenna loved her mother's gentle, comforting touch, but after everything she had done, it just made her feel worse—like she didn't deserve the attention.

“I don't know,” Jenna said, knowing it was a lame answer.

“Well, let's think about it,” her mother said, still combing. “What were you thinking about just before you let the animals into the dance? What were you feeling just then?”

Jenna flushed at the memory, her heart twisting in her chest.

“You can tell me, Jen,” her mom said. “You know you can tell me anything.”

“I was . . . I was mad,” Jenna said finally. She stared at her sandaled feet, kicking out one, then the other, from under the bench.

“Mad at whom?” her mother asked gently.

“At Adam. And Stephanie,” Jenna said.

“Your brother and sister?” her mother said, sounding surprised. “Why?”

“Because they were having so much fun!” Jenna blurted, finally looking at her mom. “And I don't get it! I don't get why they get to have so much fun while I'm so . . . so . . .”

“So what, Jenna?” her mom asked her.

“So sad!” Jenna half-shouted, a tear spilling over onto her cheek.

Her mother's eyes softened slightly, and she wrapped an arm around Jenna, pulling her to her side. Suddenly Jenna was crying loudly, pressing her face into her mother's shoulder to hide in case anyone happened to walk by.

“You're sad about me and your dad splitting up?” her mother said quietly.

Jenna nodded into her mom's arm and sniffled. “And no one else cares! They all act like there's nothing going on! They act like dad is still going to be living there when we get home. Like . . . like everything hasn't changed!”

“Oh, Jenna, I'm sure that's not true,” her mother said. She wiped Jenna's tears with her thumbs and smiled down at her. “Everyone reacts to this kind of thing in his or her own way. Are you really telling me that neither of them—not Adam, or Stephanie—has acted any differently this summer?”

Jenna sniffled again and thought hard. She thought about Adam and how he had tried to talk to her a couple of times about the upcoming divorce—how she had avoided talking about it. And come to think of it, Adam
had
been spending a lot of time taking pictures and sitting alone in the darkroom, when in the past he had been as active and athletic as Jenna was. Plus, Stephanie was even more mothering than usual this year. Maybe each one of them
was
just dealing with their family's troubles in a different way.

“I guess,” Jenna said finally. “I guess they have been acting a little weird.”

Her mother sighed and looked out across the camp, watching as parents hugged their kids and walked off with them to tour the grounds. Jenna wished she were one of them. She wished she was happy and excited and rushing her mom and dad to meet her friends, like she had on every other Visiting Day. Jenna was sick of being upset.

“I'm sorry this is so hard for you guys,” her mother said. “I wish there was something I could do to make it easier.”

“I know,” Jenna said sadly. “I'm just sorry I made it harder for you,” she added, thinking about Matt's letters and how he had warned her to not get into trouble this year. He had been trying to protect her parents because they had enough to deal with: the divorce, her father moving. But instead of helping him protect their parents, Jenna had made things worse.

“Oh, sweetie!” her mother said, kissing her quickly on the forehead. “Please! I'm not your responsibility. I'm supposed to worry about
you
, not the other way around.”

Jenna smiled slightly. “Well, okay, but I promise I'm not pulling any more pranks this summer,” she said. “You're not going to get one more freak-out phone call.”

“Freak-out phone call?” her mother asked.

Jenna laughed. “Long story.”

“You're a good kid—you know that?” her mother said, reaching out to hug her again. “A little nutty, but generally good,” she joked. Jenna grasped her mother tightly and closed her eyes. Everything was changing. She wished she could just stay here, hanging on to her mother forever, and that the rest of the world would just go back to the way it was.

“Hey! Look who's here!” her mother said, releasing her.

Jenna turned around to follow her mother's gaze, and her jaw dropped. There, walking toward her with her brothers and sister behind him, was her dad. He had a huge grin on his tanned face and was carrying a picnic basket bursting with food.

“Daddy!” Jenna shouted, running to him. Her brother laughed as she nearly tackled her father to the ground, but she couldn't help it. She was so surprised to see him—to see them all together—that she could hardly control herself.

“Hey, Boo!” he said, planting a kiss atop her head. He handed the basket to Stephanie and put his hands on his hips. “I have a bone to pick with you.”

Jenna's heart skipped a beat. Was her dad mad about the prank as well?

Her father pulled a folded copy of
The Acorn
out of his back pocket and opened to the list of awards.

“Now, I really think you should stop winning so many events,” he said. “It's just not fair to the other kids.”

Jenna laughed as her dad ruffled her hair and draped his arm over her shoulder. Stephanie and Adam greeted their mother, and they all gathered around the table.

“Hello, Christine,” Jenna's dad said, nodding as he sat at the other end of the bench.

“Hi, David,” her mother replied with a small smile. “How was your drive?”

“Fine, thanks. Yours?” he asked.

“Great. Such a beautiful day,” her mother replied.

Jenna exchanged a look with her siblings as their parents made small talk and unwrapped various sandwiches from the basket. It was weird, having them sit so far apart—having them talk to each other like strangers. But at least they were here, together. Things were definitely going to be different when Jenna got home after this summer, but maybe they wouldn't be as horrible as she had thought. She had imagined that her parents would never want to see each other again, that they would never be sitting all at the same table together like they were just then.

So her family wasn't perfect, but they never
had
been (especially not with Adam as part of it). Now they were just going to be a different kind of imperfect. Maybe, just maybe, Jenna could get used to it.

“I know what Jenna wants,” her father said, opening the waxed paper around a white-bread sandwich. “A little peanut butter and banana?”

“Ugh!” her sister groaned as Jenna happily took the sandwich. “You're such a freak!”

Jenna took a huge bite and smiled a peanut-buttery smile. “I know,” she said, her mouth full. “I like me that way.”

And she meant it. However imperfect her family was, however imperfect
she
was, Jenna liked her life. From this moment on, she was going to start remembering that.

chapter THIRTEEN

Jenna sat in the darkroom that afternoon, determined to get at least one picture right before her two-week elective was over. Her parents had left half an hour earlier, after showering their kids with food and new clothes. Jenna had watched them talking as they'd walked to their cars, and even saw them hug good-bye. She knew enough to not hope that her parents were getting back together, but at least it seemed like their divorce wasn't going to be nasty and full of fights, like some of the divorces her friends had lived through.

“How's it going over there, Jenna?” Faith asked. She was working on her own pictures in the corner and now she looked up and checked her digital watch. “There's only about a half hour more of free time before dinner.”

“I think it's going okay,” Jenna replied, though she was at a total loss.

“Well, if you need any help . . .”

“I'll ask,” Jenna assured her. But she didn't want to ask for help. She wanted to prove she could do it on her own.

Just then the door opened and in stepped Adam