Sleepaway Girls (9 page)

But I didn’t feel like laughing. My hands were cold and it wasn’t because it was nine at night and we were in the mountains. The guilt was overwhelming me and my mouth was so dry I could barely speak.
Hunter
kissed me, my brain wanted to scream, but my mouth thankfully kept quiet.

Hunter kissed me and I didn’t stop him. And Ashley saw me. Ashley saw me! She was going to tell Cole. He wouldn’t know that it was all an honest mistake on my part. And then any chance I had at being with Cole would be over.

“Don’t say anything,” Cole said. “I want to ask you this before we’re interrupted again.” He moved closer and grabbed my hand. His felt warm and sweaty. “What I was trying to tell you the other night was that I wanted you to go to the dance with me. I know that probably sounds strange since everyone at camp
has
to go to the dance, but I want to feel like I’m there with you and only you.”

Cole was saying exactly what I hoped he’d say and I couldn’t even look at him. I was staring at the ground. He put a finger under my chin and made me look at him and I thought I might cry. My perfect moment with Cole was ruined because of Hunter, and I knew that when Cole found out he would be crushed.

“Sam, I like you,” he said. “I’ve liked you for a while and I wanted you to know.”

“Cole,” I said hoarsely. I should tell him right now what happened. Before he heard it from someone else. It wasn’t fair to keep it from him. I had to be honest. It was an honest mistake. An accident. He
had
to understand. Right? “Cole, listen,” I started to say.

Somewhere far away I heard Hitch’s whistle again. Cole tugged on my hand.

“We should get to the mess hall, but you have to give me an answer first,” he teased.

A group of screaming campers ran by us and my heart sank. I couldn’t tell Cole in front of other people. We needed to be alone. Here. Now. And we had to go. “Cole, I…”

Even in a black robe, Cole couldn’t help but look good. His curly hair was kind of matted thanks to the
Scream
mask, but his eyes looked amazing in the moonlight. His face was so open and hopeful.

“Cole, we’ve got to go!” one of his bunkmates yelled as he hurried past.

Cole pulled on my hand again and I looked down at our fingers. They were intertwined. I was afraid to let go. “Of course I’ll go with you to the dance,” I said.

That made Cole smile wider, which only made me feel worse. “I was hoping you’d say that,” he said. “Ready to go?”

I wanted to hold Cole’s hand and walk back to the mess hall more than anything, but I couldn’t. I felt too guilty. I shook my head. “I have to wait for Em,” I said. “You go ahead.”

Thankfully, Cole didn’t question me. “Don’t take too long.”

“I promise,” I said weakly.

When Cole was gone, I sank onto the grass and let the tree support my limp body. Maybe they could plant me there and I’d never have to move.

“Sam! Sam!” I heard Em’s voice. “Guys, she’s over here.” Em ran over. “We just saw Cole
and he was smiling!
” Em said gleefully. “Did you tell him, Sam? Because I was all set to tell Dylan when I got captured. Then Dylan turned up in the holding cell and he said it to me first. We’re going to the dance together!”

My face must have said it all because suddenly Em’s face was dark and it wasn’t because the moon had just hidden behind a few clouds. “Sam?” she said nervously.

“She doesn’t look good,” Grace said, leaning down to my level and taking my pulse. “Sam? Talk to us.”

“She’s fine!” Court said. “She’s probably just in shock. Did you kiss Cole? What happened? Was he a bad kisser?”

I never got to answer that question. Ashley was standing right in front of us.

“Hi girls,” she said, a little too cheerfully. “Did you have fun?” She smirked at me. “I know you did, Sam, but we can talk later. Kiss
kiss!
”

Court looked at me. “What is she talking about? Did Ashley see you kiss Cole? Who cares! I’m so proud of you! You did it, Sam! How was it?”

I felt faint. “No,” I said weakly. “
Hunter
kissed me. And Ashley saw it happen.”

18

“In all my years as a camp director, I have never seen two CITs behave this irresponsibly,” Hitch ranted at Ashley and me as orange juice continued to drip off his shorts. “We’ve never had a camp-wide food fight before! What do you two think this is? A Disney Channel movie?”

“She started it,” Ashley mumbled.

Alexis, Meg, Morgan, and Hitch were standing in front of us. They all looked furious and I felt like I was in front of a firing squad. Meg had egg in her hair, Alexis had pancake syrup down her shirt, and Morgan was covered in jelly.

“I am so disappointed,” Meg seconded as yolk dripped from her hair onto her shirt. “I never expected your rivalry to go this far.”

“Rivalry?” Ashley snorted. “She isn’t even worth rivaling.”

Sadly, even covered in chocolate Quik and jelly, Ashley still managed to look beautiful. She could have done a commercial for the cleaning power of Tide right then and it still would have been an instant YouTube hit. I was sure I didn’t look anywhere near as cute with peanut butter up my nose.

“Ash, that’s enough,” Alexis said wearily. And then to me Alexis added: “I’m used to Ashley getting into mischief, but Sam, I’m stunned — and not because it’s going to take three showers to get this sticky syrup out of my hair. I never expected this sort of behavior from you.”

I hung my head sadly. I hated to let Alexis down, but I didn’t regret what I’d done to Ashley. I wanted her to look as dirty as she really was for spilling the beans to Cole. I would have poured ten more gallons of OJ on Ashley if I had been given the chance.

Hitch sighed. “I knew you two weren’t getting along, but I didn’t know it was this bad. Camp is about gelling with people you normally wouldn’t and learning how to live together despite your obvious differences. No one said you had to be best friends. We just wanted you to coexist. Instead, you two have caused camp-wide chaos and destruction in the mess hall.”

“And wasted all that food,” Morgan added sternly.

“What kind of example is that for CITs to be setting?” Alexis pointed out.

Ashley rolled her eyes. “Sam humiliated me on several occasions and all you care about is how our food fight affected the camp atmosphere?”

“Do either of you want to apologize for what happened?” Hitch asked, incredulous.

“I’m sorry,” I said, and I meant it. I wasn’t sorry for hitting Ashley with a plate of pancakes, but I was sorry that I had disappointed all the counselors and Hitch and had disrupted the camp schedule. I overheard Beaver tell Hitch they needed to move lunchtime to try to get the place clean in time. There was even talk of having a barbeque outside if they couldn’t.

“I’m sorry Sam started it,” Ashley sniffed.

Hitch crossed his arms, making his biceps bulge. “I think the best punishment would be to make the two of you clean up the mess hall all by yourselves.”

“Eww,” Ashley said under her breath.

“Okay,” I agreed, afraid to even look at Alexis or Meg.

“That’s it?” Morgan asked, stunned. “All they have to do is clean up their mess? These two set a bad example for the entire camp.”

“And their loathing of each other has been a sore point all summer,” Meg added.

“Counselors, calm down. That was just the
first
part of their punishment,” Hitch said. He waved them over into a group huddle. “This is what I also had in mind, as long as it was okay with you.”

I heard the words “lesson,” “compromise,” “fit the crime,” and “team,” but it was hard to hear more over Ashley’s moaning.

“If I have to sit the talent show out because of you, you’re dead,” Ashley threatened me as she continued to pull stray pieces of egg whites from her hair. How it still looked perfectly straight, I had no idea. Between the humidity and the syrup, mine probably looked like a clown wig.

I rolled my eyes. What more could Ashley do to me? She’d already ruined my chances with Cole. And she couldn’t steal my friends. “Bring it on,” I told her, my voice dripping like the syrup all over me.

“Girls,” Hitch interrupted. “We’ve decided on an appropriate punishment for your actions.”

Ashley cried out. “You’re not taking away the talent show from me, are you?” Her lip quivered and for a moment I thought she might actually cry. Over the talent show. I knew the performance was a big deal to all the CITs, since this was their last year performing as campers. After that, they’d get to do the group counselor number, but it wasn’t the same thing.

“You’ll still get to be in the talent show,” Hitch said and Ashley breathed a sigh of relief, “but you’re not doing the routine you’ve rehearsed. Your bunk will do that without you.”

“Good,” Ashley said happily, “because Court’s routine was so beyond boring. If we go back to my original suggestion, I’m sure —”

“You won’t be doing that either,” Hitch cut her off. “Instead you’ll be doing a new routine.” He paused. “One that you come up with
together.
”

“What?” Ashley and I said at the same time.

“Her and me?” I clarified. “Together? Alone?”

“Your punishment is that you’re going to spend the next several days together and only together.” Hitch sounded proud of himself. “You’ll spend all your time as a team, figuring out a performance that the two of you will give.”

If our punishment started right away, that meant we’d be… “We’re missing Color War?” I asked. I felt a tinge of disappointment. I still didn’t understand what all the fuss was about, but the nine million daily reminders — via posters or campers talking, plus Grace’s daily Color War talks — had gotten me excited.

“Yes,” Hitch said firmly. “We all feel that your behavior today merits being excluded from this activity. Color War is about teamwork and togetherness, two qualities you both need to learn before you can participate.”

I side-eyed Ashley. She didn’t look crushed, not that I was surprised. I’d overheard her say on more than one occasion, “I don’t run because I hate to sweat.”

“I’ll miss Color War,” Ashley said, as if she was devastated, “but I’m not performing with
her.
I won’t commit social suicide in front of the whole camp.”

If I had to spend every minute in Ashley-confinement, how was I going to hunt down Cole and explain myself? Just the thought of having to live with the unfinished conversation in my head for several days was making me nauseous. “Shockingly, I agree with Ashley,” I piped up. “Given our history, I don’t see how we can team up together.”

“You don’t have a choice,” Hitch said calmly. “Ashley, it’s either this or Boca Raton and your grandmother’s condo. And I mean it.”

“Noo, not there!” Ashley looked horrified.

For once, I could relate.

Hitch looked at me. “Same goes for you, Sam. If you don’t do the show, then I will send you home early, which, of course, means I have to tell your mom what happened.”

Gulp. Mom wouldn’t be too thrilled to hear I’d disrupted the entire camp’s meal with a food fight and everything was wasted. She got aggravated when I pushed my peas around on my plate and didn’t finish my organic burrito because it tasted like paste. “There are children out there who would kill for a cup of rice,” she always said. Even brown, whole-grain rice? I found that hard to believe.

“And while I know missing Color War is a huge blow,” Hitch said sadly, “it’s just the first of many things you’ll miss if you don’t accept your punishment like adults. If you’re leaving early, you’ll also miss the luau dance and the sleepover on the lawn.”

The sleepover on the lawn was supposedly the best thing ever. I didn’t want to miss that. Or the luau, even if Cole was avoiding me. I sighed. “I’ll do it.”

“Ashley?” Hitch asked.

“I guess,” she said with a loud sigh.

“Good.” Hitch looked satisfied. “I know you’ll both work together and come up with a brilliant routine. You’ll have to. You’re closing the show.”

Double groan. Court said the final number was usually reserved for the best group. Camp gossip traveled faster than wildfire so it wouldn’t take long for everyone to hear that Ashley and I were the ones doing it. How was I going to face Cole?

“Your counselors will take you back to your bunks to collect some things and then you’ll report to the mess hall to start cleaning,” Hitch told us. “We’ll be putting you two in the isolation cabin near the horse stables for the next few days. This is the first time it’s been used the whole summer.” He shook his head sadly. “I’ll check in on you later.” Then Hitch left, presumably to go shower, something I wished I could have done.

“Can we at least change out of these gross clothes?” Ashley complained.

Meg, Morgan, and Alexis looked at each other. “Okay,” Meg said. “Alexis will take Ashley back first, and I’ll head down with Sam in a few minutes. That way you both have some alone time before your confinement.”

I smiled gratefully at Meg. When it was my turn to go, I quickly washed up, grabbed my things, and stuffed them in my duffel bag. Meg escorted me back to the mess hall. Ashley wasn’t there yet, but I was so keyed up, I wanted to start cleaning anyway, just to blow off some steam. But I stopped short when I walked into the mess hall and saw the aftermath.

The floor was littered with syrup, assorted jellies and cream cheese. Orange juice was still oozing off the tables, and pancakes hung to the walls like plaques. The floor was so filthy with food and broken dishes that you couldn’t even see it. The whole place smelled awful too. The combination of all that food, sitting in a hot room for two hours, made an unbearable stench. I quickly ran to the windows to open them higher.

“I guess you should start cleaning,” said Meg, looking around in horror. “I’ll leave you to it.”

Ashley still wasn’t here yet — of course, she was probably delaying her arrival as long as she could — but I knew this job was huge and I should probably dig in. I grabbed a mop and bucket, filled it with soap and water and began scrubbing, but there was so much food in the way that I had to get down on my hands and knees and start throwing stuff away before I could even begin to clean the floors. Thankfully I had gloves. I wanted to throw up several times as I grabbed squashed pancakes, toast and jelly from the floor. When I had finally cleared the area around two tables, I started to mop and the stains came right up. That was the nice thing about housework. No matter how dirty something got, you could fix it. I wished the same could be said for what had happened between me and Cole.

When the mess hall door finally opened, Ashley strode inside looking like she was ready for a date. Her hair was pulled softly into a low bun. Her foundation was flawless, her eyes had been freshly painted, and she was wearing lip gloss. I, on the other hand, had scrubbed my face and walked back out the cabin door. No one would be seeing me for three days, so eyeliner wasn’t a necessity. I felt like the two of us were acting out a scene from
Beauty and the Beast.
I couldn’t help but smile at the irony.

“What?” Ashley growled.

“Nothing,” I said. “You just look good. As usual.”

Ashley snorted. “You can drop the act. There’s no one here but me to hear it.”

“I’m serious,” I said, exasperated. “You always look perfect, even after we’ve done the high-ropes course. That’s why I don’t get it.”

“Get what?” Ashley asked, as she picked up a pair of gloves and stared at the room in disgust. Rather than sounding aggravated, for once she sounded intrigued. She slid them on and then remarkably got right to work, grabbing a black garbage bag and depositing food from the tables into it.

Maybe I’d said too much already, but it was too late to stop now. I wanted to ask a question that had been on my mind since the beginning of the summer. “I’m not a supermodel,” I pointed out. “I’m not an actress. My commercial was a one-time-only thing. I haven’t stolen any of your friends. Yet you go out of your way to make my life miserable. I don’t see how hating me is even worth your time.”

Ashley didn’t say anything at first. I figured she was going to give me the silent treatment. Either that or she was going to direct her answer to the antler chandelier hanging above her head. Then she said three words I never expected to hear: “I was jealous.”