Campfire Cookies (8 page)

All along we had been working fast in case Hannah came back. Now that we saw how personal the letter was, we worked even faster. We knew our counselor wouldn't like us snooping. But it was for her own good.

“Here.” I handed Lucy the beginning of a paragraph, then I asked Olivia if she saw any sign of Hannah outside. Olivia didn't answer, and I tried again: “O-
liv-
i-
ah!
”

Again no answer.

Emma got up on her knees and swiveled to see Olivia's face. “Wake up!” She tugged one of Olivia's toes, causing Olivia jump. “
What?
Is she coming?”

“How would we know?
You're
supposed to be watching,” said Emma.

“Well, sor-
ree
!” Olivia rubbed her eyes. “I can't help it if we have to get up before
dawn
around here. I wasn't cut out for guard duty.”

“Done,” Lucy announced.

Emma leaned over her to look. “OMG! You can hardly tell this paper ever used to be torn. You did a great job, Lucy.”

“I know,” said Lucy.

Olivia rolled her eyes. “Enough with the lovefest over there. What does the letter say?”

I returned the wastebasket to its spot. Lucy laid the paper on the desk. Emma studied it a moment and then read out loud:

Dear Hannah,

I hope your flight to Nevada was smooth and that you arrived okay at Camp Moonrise. How are your girls? I hope they are getting along.

Hannah, I have something difficult to write, and there is no point in procrastinating further. I want to break up with you. I hope that wasn't too mean of a way to say it, but we said we would always be honest. Didn't we?

You are a great girl, one of the greatest girls I ever met. It has been really cool being your boyfriend. Any other boyfriend you find will be really lucky to have you as a girlfriend. If he doesn't realize this, or if he doesn't treat you good, then you can have him call me, and I will set him straight.

LOL. I hope you don't mind my little joke. Just trying to cheer you up a little.

Maybe by now you have already met a good-looking guy counselor who is less of a jerk than me. If so, that would be great because then I wouldn't feel so terrible about breaking up with you.

Except maybe I would feel jealous, and how crazy is that? LOL.

From this you can see I still care very much.

The reason I am breaking up with you is I met another girl who is also great. I didn't mean to meet her. It just happened. Her name is Jennica, if you care. It is okay if you don't.

Have a good summer with your girls. I hope it is not too hot there, but I bet it is. It's the desert, right? LOL.

Love always, your friend,

Travis Spooner

P.S. Say hi to your parents for me.

Nevada?

Hello-o-o!? The camp was in
Arizona
!

Not to mention he got the camp's name wrong!

Not to mention, who signs a breakup letter “Love always, your friend”?

And then there were all those stupid “LOLs” like he was some kind of second grader!

Emma shook her head. “It's Jennica I feel sorry for.”

“Me too,” said Olivia. “Hannah is lucky to be done with this loser.”

“How could a counselor have been so dumb?” I asked.

“Love
is
dumb,” said Lucy.

“Don't say that!” said Olivia. “And anyway, Travis Spooner does have one good idea.”

Emma looked up at her. “What's that?”

Olivia's lips had formed a tiny secret smile. “That part about a good-looking counselor?” she said.

“Hmmm,” I said, and I realized I was smiling too.

But before we could even share what we were thinking, there were footfalls outside, the door creaked, and Hannah's voice behind us said, “What is it you girls are looking at, anyway? You're supposed to be resting!”

“Nothing!” all four of us said at the same time.

Meanwhile, my heart went bump. We were busted for sure! The letter was right there on the desk, and Hannah would see it the second she looked down.

Only . . . she didn't. Because when I looked back at the desk, the letter had disappeared, and the only evidence of what we'd been doing was the yogurty smell of wet glue lingering in the air.

The instant I heard Hannah outside, I whisked the letter from the desk into the wastebasket.

Now the only worry was if Hannah happened to glance inside it and see the letter in one piece again. Would she believe the explanation was miraculous intervention from God?

Probably not.

“Well, whatever you girls were doing,” Hannah said,
“siesta is over, and it's time to get a move on. Emma and Olivia, you're coming with me to North Corral, right? Meet-Your-Horse?”

Emma and Olivia nodded and went for their hats and water. At the same time, their eyes kept darting to the wastebasket, like they feared the letter might leap out and give us away.

Grace, meanwhile, was making a lot of noise opening and closing the drawers of her bureau. “Lucy and I have the swim test,” she said. “Uh . . . but I . . . uh, I can't find my bathing suit.”

“Oh, dear,” said Hannah. “Are you sure you packed it?”

“It's here somewhere.” Grace shoved a drawer shut. “It's just going to take me a couple more minutes. You guys should get going, though, Hannah. It's a long way to North Corral. Lucy will wait for me—won't you, Lucy?”

“Sure,” I said.

Truthfully, I was kind of liking it that Grace couldn't find her bathing suit. Usually she is the most organized person on the planet. Was it possible that for
once she had messed up and lost something?

No. It wasn't.

The moment Hannah, Emma, and Olivia walked out the door, Grace hurried to the wastebasket and pulled out Travis's letter, then tore it into a thousand pieces.

“Now if Hannah looks, at least it won't be obvious,” Grace said. “Tomorrow during chores, we can empty the trash.”

“Good thinking,” I said. “So I guess you knew where your suit was all along?”

“Of course.” Grace displayed the rolled-up beach towel she' d pulled from her top drawer. “It's in here with my goggles. Let's go.”

The Moonlight Ranch swimming pool is on the other side of Boys Camp. Since obviously a girl can't go through Boys Camp, we had to skirt the fence and then walk past the camp office.

We talked about Hannah and Travis and what four campers could possibly do to help her feel better. Then, just where the Boys Camp fence turned one way and we turned the other, Grace said, “So, Lucy, I have a
question.” She was trying hard to sound casual, and she was failing.

“Ask it,” I said.

“Why was Vivek late getting here? You said he told you, right?”

“He did tell me,” I said, “but it's private.”

Grace spun around, eyes flashing.
“What do you mean it's private?”

I stopped walking. “Grace, are you going to go ballistic again? Because if you are, I want to be ready.”

Grace snapped, “I will if I want,” but once the words were spoken, her anger was gone, and she kicked a toe in the dust. “Look, Lucy. Here's the thing. There's this person deep inside me I don't like very much. I call her Snot-Nosed Grace. Sometimes she comes out, and it's like I can't help it.”

“Snot-Nosed Grace,” I repeated. “That's funny. I guess maybe there's snot-nosed versions of most people.”

“Do you think so?” Grace asked. “Is there a Snot-Nosed Lucy?”

I had been happy when I'd thought Grace had lost
her swimsuit, hadn't I? “Yes,” I said. “There is.”

“So I guess I'd better watch out,” Grace said. “But, uh . . . can you tell me
why
it's private?”

“Snot-Nosed Lucy?” I said.

“The reason Vivek was late!” Grace said.

“Oh, that,” I said, but what to say after that? Telling her why would be telling her what—and then it wouldn't be private.

“You were laughing when he told you,” Grace prompted.

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“Because I was watching,” Grace said.

“That's creepy,” I said.

“It's not like I have a crush on him,” Grace said.

“Okay,” I said—even though her denying it convinced me that she did. My mom's been on a romance roller coaster pretty much my whole life. One thing I've learned is that human feelings often operate backward.

Grace was still talking, but my own thoughts distracted me. The swimming pool was going to feel so
nice. Maybe there' d be pasta with pesto for dinner. What should I paint tomorrow in watercolor activity? Maybe a picture of my horse, Spot.

“ ‘Spot' is a dumb name, don't you think?” I asked.

“Wait, what?” said Grace. “Lucy, were you even listening?”

“Ye-e-es,” I said, wondering (but only a little) what she had been saying. “But don't you think—”

“Lucy, look!” Grace stopped in her tracks and so did I. We were almost to the pool by this time, and here came Vivek walking toward us on the path. He was wearing blue swim trunks. His hair was dripping wet. There was a red towel around his neck.

He said, “Hi, Lucy. Hi, Grace.”

I said, “Hi, Vivek.”

Grace didn't say anything. When I looked over, I saw she looked the way a fly probably looks when it's just been paralyzed by a spider. I mean, if you could see the fly's face, which I never have, but we learned about how spiders paralyze their prey in science. It's cool, so long as you don't happen to be the fly.

“Look, Grace!” I finally said. “It's Vivek! That's a shocker, huh?”

It was a stupid thing to say, but the alternative was standing there till the end of time. And besides, it worked. Grace said, “Hi, Vivek” in an almost normal voice. Then she said, “It's very nice to see you. That is, I already saw you. We were in the mess hall at lunch. But it's very nice to see you, uh, here on the path to the pool. How are you doing?”

At this point I wouldn't have blamed Vivek for wondering about Grace's mental health. First she yelled at Olivia in the mess hall, and now she was talking crazy. But if this was on his mind, he didn't say so. Instead he explained that since he had gotten to camp late, he'd had to take the swim test during siesta, and now he was going to his cabin to change before going to North Corral.

“So, Vivek,” I said, “how about if you explain to Grace why you only got here today.”

“He doesn't have to,” Grace said, “not if it's private.”

“Private from who?” Vivek said.

“Private from me,” Grace said.

“Why would it be private from you?” Vivek asked.

“I have no way of knowing,” Grace said, “because it's private from me.”

“Lucy?” Vivek looked at me. “Are you confused too?”

“No,” I said, because I wasn't, and also because this conversation was boring and I was ready to go swimming. “Can we go now?” I asked Grace.

“My mom is having a baby,” Vivek said.

“She is?” Grace's jaw dropped, and then she grinned. “But that is
so exciting
!”

I grinned too. “Can't you totally picture Vivek as the best-ever big brother?”

“I can,” Grace said, “but I'm still confused. Is that is why you got here late?”

“Yeah, kind of,” Vivek said. “My parents were supposed to go to India this summer. The baby's not due till October. But then my mom had some pains, and the doctor said she shouldn't go so far away.”

“So you stayed home an extra day to make sure your mom's all right?” Grace said.

Vivek nodded. “And it looks like she is, and the baby, too, but she has to get a lot of rest.”

“Can I ask one more question?” Grace said. “Why did you tell Lucy not to tell me that?”

Vivek looked at me. “I didn't.”

I said, “He didn't. It's just a private kind of thing. A thing it was Vivek's business to blab, not mine.”

Grace shook her head. “I'm not sure I understand you, Lu.”

I sighed. “That's okay. No one else does either.”