Sleepaway Girls (2 page)

“Give it a rest, Ashley,” snapped the fiery girl, pulling angrily on the pink ribbon of her tank top. “You use that excuse every year. You’re a camper just like the rest of us. It doesn’t mean you automatically get the only single every season.”

“Sam was here first,” Meg tried to intervene kindly, but the way Ashley and the supermodel girl were looking at me, like I had a huge red bull’s-eye on my forehead, made me instantly want to move. I hated being the cause of tension.

“That’s okay,” I said quickly. “I prefer a top bunk anyway.”

The minute I slid off the bed, the three of them dove on top of the mattress. Ashley was on the bottom and she screamed triumphantly. “I was here first!” she said, sounding like a three-year-old. “This is mine.”

Her friend dove on the bunk next to the bed, her chest cushioning her fall. “I call lower bunk! And since we’re short one girl in here, this bunk is mine
alone.
”

The African American girl with short brown hair, whose attitude was growing on me, looked disgusted. “Nice one, Gabby. I wouldn’t do upper bunk again this year anyway. You snore.” She looked at me and smiled. “I guess I’m going to be your bunkmate.” She extended her hand. “Courtney, but you can call me Court,” she said with a smile, and then leaned over and whispered in my ear. “To be honest, I didn’t want the single. I just like watching Ashley squirm.” I tried not to laugh.

“You’re lucky you’re with us, Sam,” said Court as she looked over her shoulder at Ashley. “8A is super cliquish and they’re stuck with Sara for a head counselor. She snores. Loud. Sort of like a few people in here.” Ashley and Gabby glared at her.

“Girls, I’ll give you a half hour to set up and then we can chat,” Meg told us. “I’m just in the other room if you need me.” Meg looked at me. “I share a room with Sara, 8A’s head counselor. Our room bridges the two cabins.” I nodded.

The other girls dove for their duffels and started pulling things out quickly. Within minutes, Ashley and Gabby were fighting over where to hang their Jonas Brothers poster — over Ashley’s bed, or Gabby’s bunk. Em was stacking what looked like romance novels on a shelf above her top bunk and the whole shelf looked like it was going to come crashing down at any moment. Below, Grace was hanging these inspirational sports posters that said things like COURAGE and BELIEVE IN RAW WILL.

Court laid her bright yellow comforter on the bed and fluffed a pair of royal blue pillows. They had bright shiny stars all over them. Then she started to decorate the wall behind our bunk with hot guys from every ad I’d ever seen in a magazine and a Chris Brown poster, and filled her half of the stacked egg crates next to our bed with
US Weekly
s and
Cosmo
s.

How come all I brought was my dated jade comforter and my drab brown trunk? Everyone else was decorating with millions of cool stickers from camp, bands, and their schools. I made a mental note to call Mom and tell her to send some Carle Place stickers, Orlando Bloom pictures, and Magnolia Bakery cupcakes in her first care package so that I had some sugar to bargain with around here. Since I hadn’t brought any decorations, the only thing I had to do was make my bed.

“Has everyone met Sam?” Ashley asked. “Gabby, you haven’t, right?”

“Hey,” Gabby said unenthusiastically, and looked at Ashley out of the corner of her eye. Gabby was just as pretty as Ashley, but in a more California-girl kind of way. She was wearing terrycloth shorts that had the word
sweet
embroidered across the bottom in hot pink, which matched her belly-baring tank top. Suddenly I wished we had to wear camp uniforms. We only had to wear our red Pines counselor tees on a few special occasions.

“So, Sam, other than the fact you’re the Dial and Dash Phone girl, we don’t know anything about you.” Ashley was sitting on her fluffy comforter. “What camp did you go to last year?”

“Warning,” Court whispered to me. “Watch your back.”

“I haven’t been to camp before,” I said uncomfortably.

“Never?” Ashley’s eyes opened wide. I shook my head, aware that everyone in the room’s eyes were on me.

“Then how did you get picked to be a CIT?” Grace asked, sounding more than a bit miffed.

“I applied online and Hitch called me and did a lengthy interview,” I explained. “I had to fax him all these recommendations from teachers and people I babysat for.”

“So you got picked even though you’ve never done anything to prepare for being a CIT?” Grace looked baffled. “I thought Hitch had a strict system for picking his CITs. I wrote a thousand-word essay on my merits when I handed in my application.”

Essay? What essay?

“That’s because you’re a psycho overachiever, Grace.” Court rolled her eyes. “Hitch didn’t even
ask
for an essay.”

“Your campers are going to eat you alive,” Gabby snorted. “They can spot someone who doesn’t know what she’s doing from across the lake.”

“So what if Sam’s never been to camp before?” Em sounded defensive and I couldn’t help but smile at her gratefully. “Maybe she’ll be better at this CIT thing than any of us because camp is all new to her.” She turned to me and smiled. “I’ve only been coming here for five summers. Before this I went to Bellcrest, but they were super cliquish. The Pines is much friendlier. You’re going to love it.”

“Okay, lame-o, we get it, you want her to be part of your geek squad,” Gabby said, sounding beyond bored. Then there was a knock on our cabin door. A group of girls walked in and rushed over to Ashley, talking a mile a minute about clothes, bunk groupings, and some sort of party they were all keyed up over. Each girl was prettier than the next.

“Do you think you’ll get to have another sleepover at the ranch this summer?” a girl with a midriff-baring top asked.

“Absolutely,” Ashley said. “I can only invite twelve girls, of course, but everyone will be considered.”

I looked over at Court, confused, and she whispered in my ear. “Ashley has this invite-only sleepover at her dad’s ranch, on the property, for her birthday every summer. Girls get desperate to be invited because then it means they’re on Ashley’s accepted list.” She rolled her eyes. “Lucky them.”

A girl who looked like Barbie stared at me. “Hey, you’re the CIT who is in that Dial and Dash Phone commercial, right?” She walked toward me and the others followed. “That guy who played your boyfriend in the commercial was so hot and —”

“Guys?” Ashley interrupted. “I don’t mean to be rude, but we have to finish unpacking. Catch you at dinner?”

As they filed out, I heard Court gasp. “I forgot! Everyone hide your cell phones,” she warned as she started flinging even more clothes out of her bag looking for her phone.

“Meg will find it,” said Em. “She can find anything. She once found the stash of chocolate I stuck below a cut-out in the floorboard. I wasn’t allowed to go to the canteen for a week. She was so mad. She said I could have given the bunk termites.”

“Why can’t you have a cell?” I asked. I had to find a good spot to hide my video camera. I could go without my cell phone, but I was not giving up my palmcorder.

“No cells. It ruins the camp experience,” said Grace without a hint of irony. “Camp would be lame if everyone was walking around with phones all the time.”

“You are such a purist, Grace,” laughed Court. “Sam, I hate to break it to you, your cell phone is a goner, but don’t worry, you can use mine.”

“Meg isn’t taking yours?” I wondered.

“She’s taking what she
thinks
is mine.” Court held up a Voyager. “I’m giving in my old phone, which still works, and keeping my new one on me at all times.”

“Nice,” Em said with admiration. “Wish I’d thought of that.”

“I’ll let you eat up some minutes if you share some of those cookies your mom sends,” bargained Court.

“Deal,” said Em.

“That’s my plan too,” said Gabby, showing everyone two matching pink Coach cellphone cases. “I can’t go a day without talking to Joshy. Have I mentioned my almost college freshman boyfriend?”

“Three times already.” Ashley sounded annoyed. “While we were supposed to be talking about my prospects this year. And my theme for this year’s sleepover.”

“You have nothing to worry about this summer,” Gabby pointed out. “I’m the one who has the major dilemma. Stick with Joshy or go after Gavin. He’s so cute.” She sighed and clutched her pink throw pillow to her chest. “I totally missed camp, but so much happened while I was away. My parents took us to the Greek Islands for Christmas and I got a killer tan. I went out with both Tommy Waters and Blake Edmonds, and then dumped them both when Joshy asked me to go to prom.”

“And that’s got to do with me, how?” Ashley looked bored. “We were talking about
me
finding a boyfriend. I’ve never gone a summer without one.”

“It could happen this year,” said Em, looking up from one of her books. She was holding one of those saucy romance novels that had a guy on the cover with a steriod-looking oiled bare chest and a loincloth as his only cover-up. “You’ve dated almost every guy here. There’s almost no one left.” Ashley glared at her and Em’s face turned pink. “No offense.”

“There are the counselors,” Ashley reminded her. “Technically I am one so it’s okay.”

“Pul-eeze. You’re a CIT and rules are rules,” Courtney corrected her. “We may be almost sixteen —”

“I am sixteen,” Gabby declared. “At least I am in two weeks.”

“Well, the rest of us are almost sixteen and that means we’re barely a step-up from a camper,” Court corrected. “Not that I don’t have my eyes on a counselor myself.”

Gabby squealed. “Who cares about any of that! The point is we’re back here. I’ve been counting down the days till camp for months. TGIH!” she said, breathing in deeply.

I looked at Em. “Thank God I’m Home,” she explained. “Gabby likes to abbreviate everything. Or at least she thinks she is. Sometimes her made-up abbreviations are longer than the real words.”

Ashley was sitting on top of a serene blue comforter and a mound of throw pillows. Behind her head was a black and white poster of two people kissing in the rain along with pictures of her with friends and guys. There was even a picture of her with Hunter and Cole. Cole looked really cute in a navy polo, his curly hair blowing in the wind. “Girls, this is going to be an amazing summer,” she said confidently. “As long as you do things
my
way, of course.”

Gabby laughed sort of uncertainly. Court rolled her eyes at me. Grace and Em just shook their heads.

Ashley caught me staring and smiled thinly. I got the feeling that the “you” she was referring to was me. And that what she wanted to add was: And Sam, don’t you forget it.

4

The third morning of orientation I woke up in a cold sweat. I wasn’t sure if it was a dream or just my imagination, but I could swear I heard Mal from several hundred miles away asking her mom if I’d sent my first video message yet. Which I hadn’t. In fact, I hadn’t even
made
a video yet.

I had no idea orientation would be this busy! Between all the CIT/counselor bonding sessions and the group lectures on everything from what to do if you get poison oak to dealing with a homesick camper, I barely had a minute to myself. But I knew if I didn’t get a tape for Mal done before the campers arrived, I’d probably have to wait several days to do one. So I got out of bed early, even though Hitch was giving us a pre-camper treat — we could sleep in till 8:30 — and headed down to the lake to film in private.

It didn’t take me long to set up my camera on a large rock. I put batteries in the remote control and zoomed in on a shot of the lake for my background. The sun was just starting to peek over the mountains and it had cast a golden glow on the water. Even Mal would have to admit it was gorgeous here. It was eerily quiet, except for the sounds of songbirds and a faraway owl. I looked at my watch. It was only 7:30 AM. I figured I could probably get a video done for Mal and at least two more for my other friends. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about doing more videos for at least a week. Now that I was at camp and saw all that it entailed, I was starting to think I had put my foot in my mouth by promising to send so many people messages.

I sat down on the sand and examined the image of the mini-me on the screen a few feet away. I actually looked really skinny on camera, which was a major plus, and I was wearing my favorite tank top — the green one that had a scalloped v-neck trim, and khaki shorts with flip-flops. (I figured I didn’t have to start wearing sneakers till the next day when the campers arrived.) My hair was sort of curly now that I had taken the braids out that Court had given me the night before. All in all, I didn’t look half bad. Satisfied, I pressed record on the remote.

“Hey, Mal, it’s me,” I said, trying to sound excited even though I was still half-asleep. “It is day three of camp orientation, our last day before the campers arrive, and I’m having a lot of fun already. My bunkmates seem really nice, well, most of them, and this place is gorgeous, as you can tell.” I motioned to the lake behind me. “The only drawback so far is that I feel a little clueless about all this camp stuff,” I admitted. “Someone needs to write a comprehensive camp manual for newbies. Hitch’s lectures are helpful, but they’re not giving me the big picture. For example, how was I supposed to know people decorated their bunks like they would a dorm room? The brochure didn’t mention needing a Channing Tatum poster or Christmas lights for my bunk bed. We’re here seven weeks. I figured all I needed was to pack my clothes, a toothbrush, and enough Secret deodorant. Needless to say, I unpacked in ten minutes — I basically stuck everything I owned in my trunk — while the others decorated for an
hour.
”

Crunch.

I paused the video and shot up like an arrow. I had definitely heard something. I wasn’t sure what, but it sounded loud, which in my book meant
big.
Was it a wolf? A bear? Hitch still hadn’t given us any information on wolves, as much as I was hoping he would, so I wasn’t sure what to do if I saw one. I stared at the woods for what seemed like an hour, looking for any sign of movement. There was nothing, so I sat down and hit record again. Maybe it was just leaves blowing in the early morning breeze.

“The chore wheel was another shocker,” I added, looking at the woods again just to be sure. “I knew we’d have to clean up after ourselves, but scrub the toilets? EWWW! One of my bunkmates, this really nice girl named Em, must have seen my face turn green when our counselor Meg said that because she told me that sometimes people trade favors to get out of doing the more unseemly chores. Kitchen duty, which CITs have to do once or twice a week, isn’t so bad, but I’d give all my canteen snack money to get out of cleaning the toilet. Then there’s the problem with the showers. I’m wondering if bathing in the lake is a better bet.”

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

I scrambled to my feet and looked around for the nearest branch or log to defend myself with. I wielded it like I was Obi-Wan Kenobi preparing for a duel. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at the video camera again. The red light was illuminated. I had forgotten to press pause. I burst out laughing. Maybe it was just a branch rustling.

“You must think I’m a total moron,” I said to the screen. “I keep hearing noises and I thought it was a wolf. You know how that was my biggest fear about coming here? Well this guy named Hunter — who is really hot, by the way — told me that there ARE wolves here and I’ve been flipping out.” I glanced around again, just to be sure, but I didn’t see anything so I sat back down, keeping the stick handy. You know, just in case.

“Okay, now that the action part of this video is over, I’ll return to our regularly scheduled message,” I joked. “I’ve decided there should be a warning on all camp info packages that says: CAMP SPIRIT REQUIRED. I’ve never seen such togetherness before, Mal, and I know we come from a close-knit high school with fewer than a thousand students who all think ‘Go green’ means ‘Go Carle Place!’ Sure, we have pep rallies and sometimes people wear our school colors to a football game, but Mal, we don’t break out into song at a moment’s notice. I’ve already heard three chants of ‘The Pines has spirit, yes we do! The Pines has spirit, how about you?’ And we’ve only been here THREE DAYS. This other girl in my bunk, Grace, says camp solidarity is as big a part of camp as something called Color War. She said not to worry about that part yet or I might freak out. But the only thing I am freaking out about is this guy Hunter. He’s so cute, Mal. He’s older and a counselor so he’s sort of taboo, but —”

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

The sound was louder and getting closer by the second. I grabbed my stick and started screaming, running over to the large rock my camera was on. I swung the palmcorder strap over my shoulder and jumped up hoping I’d be out of reach of a wolf. “HELP!” I called out. “If anyone can hear me, I’m being attacked by wild animals!”

Who was I kidding? Everyone sane was still asleep. I was done for.

“Sam?”

Huh? Since when could bears or wolves talk?

Walking out of the woods was Cole. He looked like he had been out for a jog. He was in sweats and a faded blue tee that was wet around his neck all the way down to his waist. The wet outline highlighted his abs. Cole’s curly hair was matted to his head. He had a slightly comical expression on his face, and his eyebrows were raised. I could tell he was ready to burst out laughing at the sight of me, standing on a rock, holding a large stick, and screaming for help.

“I’d offer to rescue you, but the only thing in these woods are squirrels, and maybe an occasional jogger,” Cole said with a wry grin. “That would be me.”

“You scared me half to death,” I said and started to climb down off the rock. Cole reached out his hand and, not thinking, I took it. His hand was warm and I held on as I jumped off into the sand. I slowly let go and folded my arms self-consciously across my chest. “How much of my conversation did you hear?” I asked nervously. I prayed he didn’t hear me talking about Hunter.

“Not much,” Cole admitted. “I thought I heard someone talking, but every time I got close, the sound stopped.” Cole looked at my palmcorder. “So what are you doing with a recorder here anyway? Composing a love letter for Hunter?”

I pushed the palmcorder strap behind me. “It’s none of your business what I’m doing,” I said huffily.

“Yep, it’s for Hunter,” Cole said as if to himself.

“No, it’s not,” I said. I didn’t know what it was about Cole, but for some reason, he seemed to get under my skin. “If you must know, I was sending a message to my best friend, Mallory.”

Cole was stretching now and he put one leg up on the rock I was standing next to and leaned in. I couldn’t help but stare at it. His calf muscles were huge. “Haven’t you ever heard of a phone?” he asked me with a grin.

“We like taping our messages,” I said as I tucked the palmcorder safely into my backpack. “It’s more personal this way. Whenever one of us is on vacation, or grounded, this is what we do.”

“That’s cool,” Cole said. “My mom’s lucky if she gets two phone calls and a postcard all summer.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, my mom probably won’t do much better,” I admitted. “I promised Mal I’d video all the time, and some of my other friends asked for video messages too, so Mom has kind of been pushed to the back burner.”

“Are you sure you’re going to have time to do CIT duties with all your directing?” Cole questioned. “Sounds like you made an awful lot of promises.”

In the distance, we could hear a trumpet blare. It was 8:30 AM. Our very own alarm clock was going off. I kind of preferred the sound to the old, annoying beep on my clock radio at home. The sound meant we had a half hour to get to breakfast.

“Are you hungry?” Cole asked. “I bet Beaver is already flipping pancakes. If we get up there early, we might actually get a warm breakfast this morning.”

“Sure,” I said awkwardly. I didn’t know why, but I felt a little nervous. The two of us slowly started walking up the hill back toward the main part of camp and the mess hall. The camp was still pretty quiet. All of the action stations, like the arts and crafts cabin, were empty, and the only sound I could hear was birds and the faraway neighing of horses down at the stables.

“So, Sam,” Cole said, looking at me as we walked past the camp vegetable garden, “I’ve done some checking up and here’s what I know about you: You starred in the Dial and Dash commercial, you claim you wish you hadn’t been in it, you’re from Long Island, and this is your first time ever at camp, right?”

“How do you know all that?” I asked, surprised.

“I have my sources,” Cole said cryptically. “But seriously, what brought you to camp? We don’t get many stars up here, you know. Except for Ashley, who thinks she’s one. No one has the heart to tell her that the Pines video won’t win her an Oscar nomination.”

I laughed. “I don’t know,” I said. “I guess I was looking for a change of scenery. I saw my summer in front of me and I didn’t like it so I decided to try something new.” I figured it was better not to tell Cole I was trying to get away from my best friend and her suffocating boyfriend. “Why do you go here?”

“I’ve been coming here since I was seven,” Cole told me. “I couldn’t imagine spending my summers anywhere else. My family lives and breathes camp, even all winter long. I’m the youngest of three siblings who are all Pines veterans. My brothers are always teasing me about whether I’ll actually make senior counselor. I keep telling them I have to make it past CIT first.” He grinned and I noticed that his teeth were all perfectly straight, unlike mine. Even after braces, my mom liked to joke that my eye teeth still looked like fangs.

“I’ll just be happy if I survive being a CIT,” I admitted.

“You’ll be fine,” Cole told me. “Everyone acts as if you have to be a lifer to do this job, but to be honest, you just have to be good with kids. The rest will come to you.”

I smiled. “You know, you’re not so bad, Cole, when you’re not bothering me about what’s-his-name.”

Cole grinned. “We were just getting warmed up,” he said. “So about Hunter…”

I groaned. “Why do you care so much if I like him?”

Cole’s sunny face got a little foggy when I said that. But before he could answer me, I heard someone calling my name. Cole and I turned around and I saw Grace, Em, and Court hurrying toward us.

I grabbed Cole’s arm. “Listen, they don’t know about my palmcorder,” I said awkwardly. “I know I’m not supposed to have one here, but it’s more than that. I just… I just… I kind of…” We’d totally bonded, but my videotaping was something I felt was private. I wasn’t ready to share it just yet. “I…”

Cole grabbed my hand and smiled. “It’s okay, Sam,” he said. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“Thank you,” I managed to get out before the girls were in front of us, all dressed in some variation of the standard camp outfit — a cute tee (in Court’s case, one with a flashy logo. Hers said “Princess-in-training”) and shorter-than-short shorts. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be pulling the baggy gym tees I had brought with me out of my trunk all summer.