Rumors (4 page)

Crickets, definitely. But there were some other loud sounds.
Burap, burap, burap, burap
. What on earth was that? And why wasn't everyone else sitting up and commenting about how noisy it was outside? After about five minutes of listening, I figured out that maybe it was frogs making that sound. The next thing I noticed was cows mooing. Was I ever going to fall asleep?

It seemed like half an hour passed with me just lying there, listening to all the crazy noises. About that time, I heard another sound I could easily identify.

The sound of somebody crying.

And I could tell where it was coming from: Shelby's bunk right above me.

I guess I wasn't the only one who had a bad day.

“Hi! You're Kayla Tucker, right?” asked Eda Thompson, the camp director, when I came through the screen door.

“Yes. I'm supposed to get a phone call today from my parents,” I reminded her.

“That's fine, Kayla. You can have a seat there,” she said, pointing to a chair by the wall. She went into another room, and I sat down to wait.

This was the first time I'd been inside the camp office. It had the same form of air-conditioning that every other building in camp had—window screens—but there was also a ceiling fan whirring overhead.
In front of me was a desk, and a clock was ticking on the wall.

We'd just finished lunch, and I'd discovered my new favorite thing about Pine Haven: We got to check our mailboxes after lunch every day. There were rows of little cubbyholes on the dining hall porch, each with a name taped above it. And today, in my box, I'd had an amazing surprise. There were postcards inside it. Nine postcards! My friends had all written me already.

I sat in the chair and looked through all the pictures. There was one with the Hollywood sign, another from Universal Studios, one with a California beach scene, a couple with pictures of old movie stars. I loved all the variety, and I wondered if my friends had made a point of each buying different cards to send me.

My school orchestra was in Los Angeles right now on a trip. A fantastic trip that I would've been on too. If we weren't moving.

I couldn't believe they'd all written me—Danielle had to be behind this. She was my best friend, and she was very good at organizing things. She'd even gotten Brian to write me a postcard. He was sort of my boyfriend.

Just then the phone rang, and I jumped a little. Eda came out of the room she was in to answer it. “I wonder
who that could be?” she asked me with a wink. “Camp Pine Haven for Girls. This is Eda,” she said into the receiver.

I stood up, shuffling all my postcards together in a pile. “Why yes, she's right here,” she said, smiling and holding the phone out for me. Then she disappeared again.

“Hello?”

“Hi, cutie! How are you?” Mama's warm voice poured through the receiver and wrapped around me like a hug.

“Fine, Mama! Everything's going really well so far!” I said, trying to make my voice sound happy. I told her all about the flight yesterday, and how excited Samantha was about the camp.

Then I asked about how the move was going. The movers were coming in two days, so it sounded like things were super busy. Mama let me talk to Daddy for a few minutes, and then she got back on again.

“Well, don't worry about us,” I told her. “This camp was a good idea. I don't get to spend a lot of time with Samantha, but I did see her in between activities this morning. She'd been to canoeing and the climbing tower, and she loved them. And it seems like she's made about fifteen or twenty new friends already.”

“Well, that's wonderful. I'm glad to hear all about
how your sister's doing. But now I want to hear about you. How's my big girl?”

That was when my throat closed up and my eyes started to sting. All of a sudden, I felt like crying. I had to take a deep breath to keep myself under control.

“Kayla, cutie? Are you okay?”

“Oh, I'm great! I went to tennis this morning, and archery. And the girls here are so nice, Mama. There's Laurel-Ann, and Shelby, and Chris, and Maggie.”

“Well, I'm glad to hear it. But honey, remember what I told you. It's okay to be sad about leaving all your friends and—”

“Oh, Mama! I'm sorry—I have to get off now. The bell just rang and we're about to start a new activity. Are you going to call again on Saturday?” I asked. I hoped Eda hadn't heard me from the other room, making up stuff to my own mother.

“Yes, I'll call Saturday morning at ten o'clock. How's that?”

“Perfect! Love you. Love Daddy. Bye!”

I hung up the phone and sat there until I was sure that I could control myself. There was a box of Kleenex on the desk, so I took one and dabbed at my eyes. I hated rushing through our phone call. But there were some things we just didn't need to talk about.

When I stepped outside, bright sunlight blinded me for a couple of seconds. The whole camp looked empty now because it was rest hour, and everyone was in the cabins. And since I was already late, I hurried up the hill to the row of cabins that was called Middler Line.

Cabin 4 was really quiet when I walked in. Everyone was on her own bunk, reading or writing letters, and on Side A, Wayward was sound asleep on her cot.

The second I came through the door, Boo snapped at me, “Where've you been? You're late!”

I just shrugged a little before going to my bunk. The last thing I wanted to do right now was draw attention to myself.

“Hey, what's the deal? Kayla comes in late for rest hour, and everybody's fine with that? Don't you even want to know where she's been?” Boo was looking back and forth between me and Gloria.

“Shh,” Gloria said softly. “It's okay. She was in the office making a phone call.”

That made Boo sit up in her bed and stare at me. “A phone call? How come she gets to make a phone call? I thought campers weren't allowed to use the phone, ever.”

I tried to keep from groaning out loud. Why did Gloria have to say that?

“Boo, never mind, okay? Kayla has some special
circumstances,” Gloria told her. I could feel my cheeks getting warm. At least Gloria hadn't gone into a really long explanation about the fact that I couldn't write letters to my parents like everyone else because there wasn't any place for me to mail them to at this point. What address should I use? Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Tucker, Somewhere between MD and FL, ZIP code: Your guess is as good as mine?

At least getting these postcards had cheered me up, and I still had all of them to read. I spread them out on my blanket with the picture sides up, and now I turned them over one at a time. The first one I read was from my friend Maricela. It was short and sweet, telling me how the string section just didn't sound the same without me on the viola, but they were still having a great time in L.A. Then I read cards from Emily, Megan, Elizabeth, Nadeem, Taylor, David, and Brian.

Brian did say he missed me, and that made me smile. But in some ways, knowing that Brian did like me made me feel worse. Just when I was getting my first boyfriend, we had to move. Maybe Brian would find a new girlfriend this year. Or maybe he wouldn't. Either way, there was one thing I knew for sure.

I'd never be his girlfriend now that I was moving away.

I had saved Danielle's postcard to read last, so now I turned that one over.

Kayla,

I can't even believe that you're not here on this trip with us. You should be here!! It's so messed up that you had to move. I HATE IT!! I MISS YOU SO MUCH!!!! Call me the SECOND you escape from that camp so we can plan a visit. I'm going to make my parents let me come to Florida to visit you before school starts. Write me back as soon as you get this!!

Love ya,

Danielle

I gathered up all the postcards and got up to put them away in my trunk. Then I lay down on my bunk
and stared at the metal springs of Shelby's bed above me. It was really nice of my friends to write me. To let me know they missed me and were thinking about me. But I just felt so sad all of a sudden.

There they all were, in Los Angeles, having so much fun with the orchestra. But I wasn't with them. I wasn't a part of that group anymore, and I'd never be a part of it again. I didn't belong.

I just wished I could talk to Danielle right now. Maybe I could write her and then mail her letter tomorrow. It would be there waiting for her when she got home from the L.A. trip.

I reached for the box of blank note cards on the shelf beside my bed and took one out. Then I grabbed a pen. But as I stared at the whiteness of the page in front of me, I couldn't think of anything to say.

I knew Danielle and I would try to keep in touch, but I also knew how these things went. The last time we'd moved was between fourth and fifth grades. My best friend in fourth grade was Leslie Shillingburg. I couldn't even remember the last time I'd heard from her. It seemed like forever. And yet we'd been best friends too, just like Danielle and I were now.

I put the note cards back on my shelf. Maybe I could write her later when I was in a better mood.

Rest hour ended when we heard someone ringing the big bell on the dining hall porch.

Shelby climbed down from her top bunk and put away the Batman comic book she'd been reading. Even though I suspected she'd told everyone about how stupid I looked during the states game last night, I still felt sorry for her after hearing her cry last night. She was obviously homesick, but at least she seemed okay now.

Boo stood up and tugged on her blond ponytail while staring at me with her big glassy eyes. “Where'd all those postcards come from?” she asked me.

I swear, I'd never met anyone as blunt as this girl.

“From my mailbox,” I answered. I knew it sounded snotty and mean, but I couldn't help it. Why wouldn't she leave me alone?

“You got mail? Already? We just got here yesterday, and you already got a stack of mail? Plus you get to use the phone whenever you feel like it. Aren't you special!”

Laurel-Ann was pulling on her sneakers. “I love getting mail. I didn't get any today, though. My parents said they'd write me this week, and my sister, and my grandma's going to write too.”

“Maybe you'll even get a letter from Mr. Bootsie Tunabreath,” said Boo.

“That's not my cat's name!” Laurel-Ann corrected. “His name is Mr. Cuddle Fluff.”

Boo shook her head in disbelief. “And you actually admit that in public.” She looked at me again. “Who's writing you so many letters, anyway? Do you have your own private fan club or something?”

“Not at all,” I said. I couldn't wait to get out the door, but Laurel-Ann cornered me before I could escape.

“Hey, Kayla—do you want to go to tennis with me? We could play doubles together. If you don't know how to play, that's okay. The counselors will teach you some strokes to start out. I'm not very good, but I'm trying to get better. But what do I know—maybe you're a great tennis player and—”

“Um, no thanks. I actually went to tennis this morning. But maybe we can do something together another time.” I slid past her to the door. Laurel-Ann looked really disappointed.

But I had gone this morning. I'd watched the Side A girls argue their way through a three-person match. It seemed like Devon and Maggie both wanted Chris's undivided attention. They hadn't even noticed I was there, which was just fine with me.

Outside on Middler Line, girls were pouring out of the doors of their cabins and talking and laughing. It
was hard to believe it was only the second day of camp. Already everyone seemed to have friends.

But there were worse things than being alone. What if there'd been a giant mudslide that had trapped all of us inside the cabin together? Then I'd have to listen to Laurel-Ann talk while Boo gave me the third degree in the middle of a fight between Devon and Maggie over who was going to get Chris's attention. Wayward would tell us to “be Zen,” and Gloria would want us all to get along.

So if I had to choose between spending the afternoon with all my cabinmates during a giant mudslide or being alone, there was really no competition.

I stopped in the bathrooms, which I could not get used to calling Solitary. As I pushed open the door to one stall, I glanced around quickly because yesterday I'd seen a spider crawling down the wall.

I'd just fastened the little hook into the eye to lock the door when I heard several girls walk in. I probably wouldn't have noticed except one word caught my attention.

“Who? Kayla? What makes you think that?”

Hearing my own name made my heart pound. I held my breath and listened.

“Shhh! Lots of things. Number one: her clothes. Everything she wears is …”

There were voices, several voices. I couldn't tell how many. Two, three, maybe even more than that. But they were whispering, so it was hard for me to recognize them.

“… isn't it weird about all that mail and …”