Over & Out (2 page)

“It's a store so expensive that my dad refuses to shop there,” Nat said. “He thinks it's way overpriced.”

“And for your dad the super spy,” Alyssa added, “that's saying a lot.”

Adam stopped at their table and ruffled Jenna's brown hair before she could stop him. She gave him a shove in return.

“Hey, guys, Dr. Steve asked me to introduce his nephew to everyone here today,” Adam explained, nodding to the guy at his side. “This is Blake Wetherly. He's from East Hampton in New York. He's visiting for the last two weeks of camp, and he's bunking with us in 4E.”

“Hello, ladies,” Blake said after Adam had introduced all the girls. He flashed a brilliant grin worthy of a young Brad Pitt. “Nice to meet you all.”

“You too,” Nat, Tori, Chelsea, and Karen all echoed at once.

Jenna nearly choked on a chicken finger as she looked around the table to see nearly everyone's eyelashes batting in unison at Blake. What was wrong with the world these days, when her friends went off the deep end for a guy wearing a pair of overpriced sunglasses? She sighed.

“I'm going to show Blake the ropes today,” Adam explained, “and hopefully he'll get the hang of camp in enough time to get totally prepped for Color War next week, too.”

“Color War? But, but,” Jenna stuttered. “Dr. Steve never lets anyone participate in Color War unless they've been a camper all summer long.” She looked at Blake. “Why didn't you come to camp with everyone else at the beginning of the summer?”

“I was abroad for the last month,” Blake said nonchalantly, as if traveling internationally was something he did all the time. Which, Jenna suddenly realized, he probably did. “My parents have a summer house in Lake Como, Italy. We go there every year.”

“How amazing! Last summer my parents took me to Paris,” Tori chirped, tossing her glossy hair over her shoulder and smiling. “But I've never been to Lake Como. I'd love to hear all about it.”

“Sure thing,” Blake said. “But I'm starving. My dad's jet landed late. We flew here straight from Rome, and I haven't eaten since this morning. And then the limo got lost on the way here.”

“Poor baby,” Jenna muttered under her breath.

“This place is really out in the sticks,” Blake continued. “My uncle's such a hick. You might be a redneck if you live in a place where the mosquitoes outnumber the people.” He laughed as if he'd just told the funniest joke in the world, and Tori, Nat, and Karen laughed right along with him.

“Dr. Steve's great,” Jenna said with a touch of defensiveness. The way Blake had said the word
hick
made it sound like a fate worse than death, and his attitude suddenly irked Jenna, who loved coming here every year, mosquitoes and all.

“And the bugs aren't too bad,” Nat piped up. “I got eaten alive the first week I was here last year, but insect repellent works miracles.”

“And reeks, too.” Blake crinkled his nose up in distaste. “So, is any of the grub decent around here, or should I break out the Pepto-Bismol?”

Jenna resisted the urge to tell Blake to go jump in the lake and gave him a big grin instead. “Give the french fries a try. They're super-yummy.”

“Thanks,” Blake said, flashing his gleaming smile again. “I'll catch you guys later at the campfire.”

“What a snob!” Jenna exclaimed after Blake walked away with Adam. “If his nose were stuck up any higher in the air, he'd have altitude sickness.”

Alyssa laughed. “He did seem a little full of himself.”

“Maybe he just feels awkward because he doesn't know anyone here,” Karen offered. “It's gotta be tough to come into camp right at the end of the summer like this.”

“Not that tough,” Jenna countered. “In fact, I'm guessing Blake hasn't had too many tough times in his life. His dad has a private jet, and a limo to boot? Come on.”

“And he lives in the Hamptons,” Tori said, whispering the word as if it were too special to say out loud. “My parents have been there before to visit some friends. My mom told me they stayed in a house with twelve bathrooms! Can you imagine?”

“I can. I'd never have to fight Stephanie for the bathroom mirror again,” Jenna said dreamily, thinking of her big sister Stephanie's hour-long primping sessions.

“I didn't know you ever looked in the mirror, Jen,” Chelsea quipped. “Not with that hair.”

Jenna chose to ignore that remark. Chelsea was always saying something snippy, and everyone in the two bunks had learned to take her harsh words with a grain of salt.

“Doesn't Donald Trump have a mansion in the Hamptons?” Karen asked, trying to move past Chelsea's comment.

“Donald Trump has mansions everywhere,” Nat replied, and snuck another look at Blake. “He is cute. But not as cute as Simon, of course.”

Nat and Simon were one of the camp's couples, and they'd liked each other since last summer. But Nat was still carrying on the eternal debate of whether or not to actually kiss Simon on the lips. Jenna couldn't imagine getting anywhere near a guy's lips. No way.

Nat lifted the collar of her T-shirt up to her nose. “Does bug spray really smell that bad?”

“
Nat
.” Jenna groaned. “You do
not
smell. And if Blake wants to be all stuck-up about wearing insect repellent, let him be. He'll be covered in bites by tomorrow morning.” She giggled at the thought. “And if you guys had brothers as annoying as Adam, you wouldn't think
any
guy was cute.”

Jenna sighed. Guys were okay . . . some of the time, but she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to get bitten by the
lurve
bug anytime soon. She'd had a
tiny
crush on her brother's friend David earlier in the summer, but when it turned out he liked Sarah, she'd gotten over it pretty quickly. But Nat, Alex, and Tori were a different story—they and over half of Jenna's other friends were involved in major crushes. Thankfully, just when Jenna was getting tired of the boy talk, Andie and Mia, the bunk's counselor and CIT, stood up from the table. “Singdown time!” Andie announced with a grin, and suddenly everyone forgot about boys, at least for the moment.

Jenna wiped another sticky string of marshmallow off her chin and popped it into her mouth. Flopping back in the grass, she basked in the warmth of the campfire's glow.

“Mmmm.” She gave her friends a goopy smile. “There's nothing better than s'mores.”

“Really?” Nat said, taking a big bite out of her s'more sandwich and giggling as some chocolate dribbled down her chin. “I thought you loved brownies more.”

“Brownies!” Jenna said longingly. “I love them, too. I bet I could make super s'mores with brownies instead of graham crackers.”

“Jenna, is there anything you think about besides food?” Chelsea smirked.

“Right this second, no.” Jenna laughed. She scooted over to where Karen and Alyssa sat singing a funny version of “The Bear Went over the Mountain” that they'd turned into “The Camper Got Lost on the Mountain.” She threw one arm around each girl and joined in, singing the words at the top of her lungs. Soon, the three girls were hiccuping with laughter in between verses. They'd finished the singdown a while ago, but everyone in the division was still in singing mode, making up silly lyrics to songs and belting them out as the fire crackled. A couple of the counselors were writing down lyrics to the songs the bunks were making up, planning to use them for Color War later on.

“Does everyone always sing off-key around here?” a voice said behind them, and Jenna turned to see Blake standing next to Adam and Simon and wearing a look of slight annoyance on his face.

Karen saw him at the same time and froze mid-stanza, gave a little shriek of embarrassment, and dove for a marshmallow to hide her reddening cheeks.

“We sing however we want to,” Alyssa said with a shrug.

Jenna smiled at that. Leave it to Alyssa to say whatever was on her mind. Jenna had always liked that about her, and she was relieved to see that Blake hadn't cast his spell on everyone . . . yet.

“That's the great thing about camp,” Jenna said. “Nobody cares how bad we sound when we sing.”

“Until now,” Blake said, then broke into his easy smile, so that no one could be entirely sure whether he was insulting them or just kidding around.

“Wait until the final banquet,” Nat said. “The whole camp sings the Lakeview Camp alma mater so loud that the windows in the mess hall rattle.”

Blake yawned indifferently. “Yeah, well, we'll see if I'm still around for the final banquet.”

“What do you mean?” Tori asked. “
Everybody
goes to the final banquet. This year will be my first banquet ever, and I can't wait.”

“Yeah,” Adam said to Blake. “You'd miss out on all the great food and fun if you didn't go. Besides, the longer you stick around camp, the better chance you have of seeing some of Jenna's pranks.”

“Pranks?” Blake repeated.

“Last year Jenna let all the animals out of the nature shack and into the mess hall at the camp dance,” Adam explained. “She's the master prankster in these parts.”

“
Retired
master prankster,” Jenna corrected. “No more big pranks for me, not after Dr. Steve threatened to kick me out of camp.”

“That's
so
my uncle.” Blake rolled his eyes. “He just doesn't know how to have a good time. Which is why I'm giving this camp thing a trial run before I decide whether I want to stick around or not. I can call my dad's driver to come pick me up whenever I feel like it.”

Jenna rolled her eyes and leaned over to whisper to Nat. “How about he calls that driver right now?”

Just then, Simon walked over to Nat. “Is this seat taken?” he asked her.

Nat giggled. “It is now,” she said, taking his hand as he sat down beside her.

Jenna sighed, scooting over to make more room for him. If Nat got any more cuddly with Simon, Jenna was going to lose her appetite. So she grabbed another marshmallow while she still had it.

Even though Nat was too lost in her own world to notice it, the next half hour just confirmed for Jenna what she already thought was true. Blake sat down with Adam near Alex and Brynn, but he refused to roast any marshmallows or sing any songs. When Brynn told a spooky ghost story that gave Jenna chills and made her huddle closer to Alyssa and Perry, Blake just rolled his eyes.

“That was lame,” he snorted, standing up from the fire. “I hate to break up the party, but I'm going to find my uncle and see if I can head back to the bunk. It's, like, two o'clock in the morning in Italy right now. I'm still on Lake Como time.”

“You need to find Kenny, our counselor, first,” Adam told him. “He needs to know where we are at all times.”

“Nah.” Blake shrugged. “Uncle Steve's right over there,” he pointed to where Dr. Steve was helping supervise some of the younger campers roasting marshmallows. “He'll let me leave. No problem.”

“Nothing like a little favoritism,” Jenna said, watching as Blake talked to Dr. Steve and then wandered off toward the bunk alone. She couldn't believe Blake was getting special treatment from Dr. Steve, but at least he was gone for the night. That was a relief.

As counselors started ushering campers off to the bunks, Jenna grinned at her friends. “Hey, I've got a fresh candy stash back in the bunk, if anyone's interested.”

“You just ate five s'mores!” Chelsea gasped.

“Exactly.” Jenna patted her stomach. “That leaves room for at least two of my mom's homemade brownies.”

“Count me in!” Nat said.

“Me too!” Alyssa added.

“Will you allow a couple of campers from the bunk next door to crash the party?” Alex asked as she walked over with Brynn and Grace.

“As long as no one mentions boys for the rest of the night,” Jenna said with a smile.

“Deal!” Alex said, and the rest of the girls chimed in.

“And as long as Andie and Mia say it's okay,” Jenna added. She looked at Mia and Andie expectantly, hoping they'd say yes.

“Give us a sec,” Andie said, motioning Becky, the counselor from 4C, over. The three girls talked, and then all nodded in agreement. “You guys can hang out in our bunk for a while, but you'll have to wait for a half hour before you come over,” Andie said. “Because we're all assigning final electives now.”

Alex and Brynn squealed with excitement, and Grace grinned. “That's worth waiting for,” she said. “Besides, the casting list just got posted for the camp play. Becky said we could check it out before we go to the bunk. We're doing
Into the Woods
this year.”