Friends Forever? (11 page)

Chloe glanced down at the crutch. “That's what we were trying to figure out.”

“This is your second warning this week,” Mr. P told them. “I think we might have to take some disciplinary action.”

“But someone banged against the wall of the cabin and woke me up,” Zee defended herself.

“Really?” Mr. P sounded concerned. “Who?”

Zee decided that she probably shouldn't try to explain
that a hairy one-legged mountain creature in search of his missing limb had interrupted her sleep. Mr. P was a really cool teacher, but without more evidence, he might not be ready to hear the truth.

“Um…I don't know,” Zee told him.

“We'll talk about this when we get back to school next week—as long as I don't see you out here again.” Mr. P rubbed his head and turned to go.

Chloe quickly bent down and picked up the crutch. Then the girls carefully went back up the cabin steps.

T
he next morning, all the seventh graders met in the lodge for announcements. As she waited, Zee watched the door. She had saved a seat for Ally—just in case. Chloe sat on the other side of her next to Jasper.

When other kids tried to sit in the empty seat, Zee politely explained, “I'm saving that for someone.”

But when Ally arrived with Missy, they sat at the far end of the row. Zee was sure Ally saw her—even though Ally tried to make it look as though she didn't.

Marcus, Conrad, and Landon came in together.

Landon smiled and waved at Zee. As Marcus and Conrad went to sit by Ally and Missy, Landon came over to Zee.

“Can I sit here?” he asked.

At first, Zee couldn't answer. Didn't Landon feel weird about the kiss? Her heart felt like it was planning an escape—right through her ribs.

Jasper spoke for Zee. “She's saving that seat.”

Wait! No!
Zee thought.
That's not what I want to say!
She took a deep breath to calm herself down, then said, “Actually, you can sit there.”

Jasper looked shocked. “You were saving it for Landon?” he asked.

“Uh…um…,” Zee said.

“Thanks!” Landon said, ignoring Jasper, to Zee's relief.

With Landon next to her, Zee expected her face to turn red and her heart to start pounding again. She looked down at her hands to see if they were shaking.

Instead, Zee was surprised that she felt completely normal. After the kiss, Zee expected everything to change. But it was like her period. On the outside she wasn't different at all.

In fact, the only person who seemed to be noticing that something out of the ordinary was happening was Jasper.

And Ally. When Zee looked at her, she looked away.

“Okay, everyone, just a couple of quick announcements before we break for breakfast,” Mr. P said. “Please have all of your belongings packed before the talent show this afternoon. We're going to leave as soon as it's over.”

As quickly as Zee's heart had risen when Landon sat next to her, it sank as she thought about performing in the talent show without Ally. Zee had really tried to make things right with Ally, but now there was nothing more she could do.

“Also—” Mr. P continued, pointing to the door in the back of the room marked
INFIRMARY
, “the nurse reported that a crutch is missing from her office. She accidentally left it leaning against a tree near cabin fifteen. So if you find it, please return it to her. Okay, that's all.”

A crutch?
Zee thought. She and Chloe looked at each other and knew they were thinking the same thing. “That's
the crutch we found!” they said together.

“But how did it get all the way over from cabin fifteen to our cabin?” Chloe wondered out loud.

“And why did whoever brought it over pound on the cabin and grumble about his leg?”

Then the girls heard a sudden burst of laughter. They looked around. At the other end of the row, Conrad and Marcus were high-fiving each other as they hurried toward Zee and Chloe. Landon doubled over laughing and Jasper joined in.

“Has anybody seen a crutch?” Conrad asked.

“Or a leg?” Marcus added.

“Yeah, if you find a leg, you should probably give that to the nurse, too,” Conrad agreed.

“Very funny,” Chloe said, giving Marcus a shove.

“
You
were the Mountain Man this whole time!” Zee accused.

“Yup,” Conrad confirmed.

“We weren't sure if you'd fall for it, but it was actually way too easy,” Marcus put in.

“I don't get it,” Zee said, still trying to put the prank together. “What about when you were dragged in the woods?”

“That's right!” Chloe said. “We saw the piece of ripped shirt stuck to the tree branch.”

“Thanks to the lost and found,” Conrad explained. “They've got all sorts of cool stuff in there.”

“That doesn't make sense. I know I saw something huge run into the woods,” Zee reminded the boys. “You're not that tall.”

Conrad climbed onto a chair, then onto Marcus's shoulders. “Something about this tall?” Marcus asked.

Chloe stamped her foot and shook her head. “I can't believe you tricked us!”

“Actually, we had no idea it would be so easy,” Conrad said.

The teasing continued through breakfast. “Aaaaa! It's the Mountain Man!” Marcus said in a high-pitched voice.

“Oh, he's so scary,” Conrad joined in.

“And hairy,” Marcus added.

“I thought you were going to tell Mr. P everything last night,” Conrad went on. “That would have been hilarious.”

By now, all of the Beans
knew about the boys' trick and were laughing.

“Okay. Okay,” Zee said when she stopped. “You can stop talking about it now.”

Secretly, though, Zee wished Ally would say something—even if it were just “I told you so.” Instead she continued to pretend that she didn't even know Zee was there.

Then Zee realized that Jasper was laughing loudest of all. She looked at him suspiciously. “Did you know what they were up to?” she asked.

“Give me back my leg,” Jasper said in a weird voice with a strange accent.

“How could you make Jasper do that?” Chloe accused Conrad and Marcus.

“Make him do it?” Conrad said. “It was his idea!”

Zee's mouth dropped open. “I thought you were my friend!” she said.

“I am,” Jasper told her. “But I'm also friends with my cabin mates.” He looked in Marcus and Conrad's direction, but Zee noticed he avoided looking at Landon. “Everyone needs lots of friends.”

Of course!
Jasper was right. He didn't have to choose between Zee and Chloe and the boys. They could all be friends.

 

 

Zee got her chance to make things right with Ally later that morning when they both finally got their computer time.

Zee started to send an IM to Ally; then she stopped herself.
No, that's not right,
she thought. “Hi” was enough to start a chat under normal circumstances, but these weren't normal circumstances. Zee had much more to say. Zee might have only one shot to get Ally back. She hit the delete key and tried again.