Politically Incorrect (2 page)

“Okay, I have to say it,” Sloan said with a wide grin. “Yuuuuum!”

Just as Natalie and the other girls burst out laughing, Dr. Steve stepped in front of the podium and tapped the microphone a few times to make sure it was on. Then he cleared his throat, causing some feedback to echo throughout the room. Natalie covered her ears and winced.

“Sorry! Didn’t mean for that to happen,” Dr. Steve said in a flustered manner. He nervously ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath. “What I meant to say was, welcome back to Camp Walla Walla, folks!”

Natalie clapped cheerfully with the rest of the campers as she scanned the crowd a bit more for familiar faces.

“As one of the greenest camps in America, we are fully equipped to conserve energy by using only natural resources,” Dr. Steve said to the crowd of campers who were all listening intently. “That being said, we’re going to have to implement a few changes to our way of life here, which might take some getting used to.”

“I don’t like the sound of this,” Chelsea mumbled under her breath.

Dr. Steve continued. “First of all, we are going to start composting our waste so we can fertilize the soil here naturally. That means there will probably be more slugs and worms hanging around, but don’t worry. They’re an important part of the biodegradable machine!”

“Ew, gross!” Brynn said.

“We’ll also be strictly monitoring our water use. Everyone here will only have three minutes to take a shower,” Dr. Steve added.

Natalie’s eyes widened.
Three minutes?! It takes me that long just to condition my hair!

“And we’re also going to grow a lot of our own produce in our beautiful new vegetable garden,” Dr. Steve continued.

“All these things are great, but when is he going to talk about Tricia?” Priya whispered into Natalie’s ear.

“Hopefully soon,” Natalie whispered back. While Natalie thought the vegetable garden sounded pretty cool, some of the other changes at camp weren’t sounding so good, especially the shower thing.

Dr. Steve went on. “I’m sure you will all be happy to hear that we’ve modified the no computer rule here at camp. We realize that allowing you folks to communicate with your family and friends at home via e-mail will cut down on the use of paper, and a generous parent donated one PC that everyone can share. Isn’t that great?”

Natalie sighed underneath her breath. “
One
PC? Well, that works for me, but what’s everyone else going to use?”

Dr. Steve took a deep breath into the microphone. “I’m also sure the word has spread that the president’s daughter, Tricia, is visiting Camp Walla Walla for a whole week,” he announced.

At this, all the campers erupted into wild applause. Some girls even jumped out of their chairs, shrieking like crazed fans.

“All right, settle down,” Dr. Steve said with a chuckle. “I hate to disappoint you, but Tricia is in Vienna with her parents, so she won’t be here until Thursday.”

The shrieking girls immediately groaned and sat back down in disappointment.

“We’re all thrilled that she is coming here to spend time with us and speak at the Green Festival, which is an event that we’re holding next Saturday and Sunday in celebration of our new green initiative. And here to tell you about that is one of our new counselors, Jasmine.”

Dr. Steve stepped away from the podium to let a tall young woman with cocoa-colored skin and brown eyes approach the microphone.

Jasmine leaned into the microphone. “Hi, campers. I’m super-excited to be here, and I’m especially excited to help with the Green Festival. In a nutshell, the festival is all about honoring nature, and there’s no better way to do that than by asking our local community to join us here for two days of organic food, games, and all sorts of family fun.”

Natalie turned to Sloan and saw a wide smile form on her friend’s face. This was just the kind of New Agey thing that Sloan lived for.

“Of course, there will be a lot of planning involved, so Dr. Steve and I are forming a committee to oversee the event. And the committee will need a chairperson to lead them in the right direction.”

Now it was Natalie’s turn to break into a big, cheesy grin. Even though her mom was a little zany for wanting to prep Natalie for college super early, Natalie couldn’t help but think that this chairperson gig would make her extra desirable to universities down the road. Maybe if she did this job really well, all the Ivy League schools would come knocking at her door. And it didn’t exactly hurt that Nat’s mom had promised her a brand-new iPod touch when she got back if she did anything college-application worthy while she was away.

Truth be told, Natalie imagined that when the time came, people would assume that she could get into any college she wanted because her father was the famous Tad Maxwell. Natalie was never comfortable with people thinking that she had it so easy. Which was why it was important for her achievements to be her own. This chairperson gig seemed like just the thing.

“Dr. Steve and I have no doubt there will be a lot of interest in the chairperson position, so we’d like those of you who want to be considered to write an essay on what ‘going green’ means to you. The camper with the best essay will get the spot,” Jasmine explained.

Natalie’s smile vanished instantly.

She could feel her face growing hot and her palms getting sticky. While she consistently maintained an A average, written expression had always been her one trouble spot. So much for Green Festival Chairperson.

“Good luck, everyone,” Jasmine said before switching places again with Dr. Steve.

Yeah, luck isn’t going to help me
, Natalie thought, her hopes of Ivy League colleges and new technology dwindling in her mind.

“That pretty much covers the big announcements,” Dr. Steve said when he returned to the podium. “Now let’s start having an unforgettable summer!”

Chelsea hated rainy days at camp, especially early in the season. Thankfully, her friends knew exactly how to turn a Monday afternoon rest period indoors into a Friday night slumber party. Jenna had hooked up her MP3 player to some minispeakers and Natalie had dumped the contents of her overstuffed duffel bags in the center of the room so all of the girls could try her clothes on.

“I wish Tricia were here to see how much fun we can all be,” Brynn said as she applied some of Natalie’s fire-engine red lip gloss to her lips.

“Tricia’s in Vienna, Brynn. Camp Walla Walla is cool and all, but I’m sure it’s going to seem rather hokey to someone as sophisticated as she is,” Joanna answered.

Jenna let out a huff. “You’re making her sound like a snob. She probably likes the same things we do.”

“I’m with Jenna. I bet Tricia is really down-to-earth and nice,” Chelsea agreed.

Chelsea hoped she and Jenna were right. Just because Tricia was worldly and smart didn’t mean she wouldn’t be as sweet and friendly as she was in TV interviews. In fact, Chelsea had started to really look up to Tricia, especially after reading an interview she did in
Gloss Magazine
. Chelsea loved how Tricia seemed kind of glitzy like a supermodel, yet on the inside she was totally a normal girl. It turned out, Tricia never felt as if she had a real best friend. Chelsea could definitely relate to that, even if she would never admit it to the other girls. From that amazing interview alone, Chelsea could tell Tricia was a really great girl—one she would love to be true friends with.

“But what if she doesn’t like us?” Sarah asked.

“God, that would be horrible,” Brynn replied.

Chelsea felt a quick chill sprint up her spine. The thought of Tricia thinking she was a dork or something bothered her a lot. In all honesty, Chelsea saw how tight some of the other girls were, and she often wished she had someone who totally understood her. Chelsea knew she might be silly for thinking this, but she was starting to hope maybe Tricia could be that person.

“Guys, could you keep it down for a few minutes? I’m trying to get this essay finished.” Sloan was sprawled out on her bed, flat on her stomach, scribbling in a three-subject notebook.

“Give it a rest, Sloan! You’ve been working on that thing for hours. I’m sure it’s great,” Priya said as she rubbed some coconut-vanilla lotion onto her elbows.

Sloan didn’t take her eyes off her paper. “Thanks, Pree. But I just want to make sure it’s perfect.”

Chelsea shook her head. While the Green Festival did sound like it was going to be a great time, she didn’t really see it as something worth stressing over. Though she definitely appreciated some of the really cool changes at Camp Walla Walla, like how pretty she and her friends looked in the tents’ new soft lighting, courtesy of eco-friendly, low-watt bulbs.

Still, was any of that going to matter when Tricia came to camp? Chelsea didn’t think so.

“Well, I admire your dedication, Sloan,” Sarah said as she tuned down the music. “I thought about writing an essay, but isn’t camp supposed to be about fun, not homework?”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Chelsea chimed in. “I spent all year writing papers and taking tests.”

Priya pulled a sleeveless, cobalt blue top out of the clothing pile and put it on over her white tank. “I already wrote my essay. It only took me twenty minutes.”

Chelsea was about to poke fun at Priya’s work ethic when her eyes zoomed in on the shirt her bunkmate was wearing. Chelsea couldn’t believe her eyes—she’d seen it before. Tricia had worn the same shirt during the Oprah special! Who could forget that bejeweled neckline and the beautiful blue silk? Not Chelsea!

“Oh my God, Nat. Where did you get this?” Chelsea asked as Priya admired herself in a mirror. Chelsea had to bite her lip to keep from squealing like those frenzied girls from yesterday morning. If her bunkmates knew how much she idolized Tricia, they would definitely make fun of her.

When Natalie didn’t answer, Chelsea spun around and saw her friend sitting cross-legged on her bed, peering out the window at the pouring rain. Natalie had been moping around like this ever since yesterday’s orientation meeting. In the beginning she had seemed so excited about the festival and Tricia, but now it was like she was a total zombie.

“Hey, are you okay?” Chelsea forgot about her excitement over Tricia and the shirt and sat beside her friend, waiting for her to speak up.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Natalie finally answered in a weak voice.

Chelsea looked at Natalie skeptically. “I’m finding that a little hard to believe, Nat. You’ve been in such a weird mood lately.”

Before Natalie could answer, Sarah tapped Chelsea on the shoulder. “Time to brave the storm and run to the dining hall, campers.”

Chelsea glanced back at Natalie, who was still staring out the window. She looked like food was the last thing on her mind. “You guys go ahead. We’ll be right behind you.”

Everyone grabbed their rain ponchos and boots and scurried out of the tent in one big, squealing cluster. Everyone except for Chelsea and Natalie.

“The coast is clear. Now tell me what’s up,” Chelsea asked again. Normally she wasn’t this pushy when it came to her bunkmates, but she could tell that something was bothering Natalie, and Chelsea’s curiosity was getting the best of her.

Natalie turned to look at Chelsea, her lips curled into a pout. “It’s the essay.”

“What about it?”

“I tried to write one, like three or four times, but they were all terrible,” Natalie whimpered.

“I’m sure they weren’t that bad,” Chelsea said, trying to reassure her.

“Ugh, and I was so excited about being the leader of the festival committee. It would be such a great thing to add to my extracurricular record,” Natalie said as she pounded a fist into her pillow. “And then Dr. Steve had to turn it into a writing competition. I mean, since when does writing an essay have anything to do with planning a festival?”

“Well, maybe you should come up with an outline first and then write the essay based off that. I learned how to do it in English class this year and got an A on almost every paper,” Chelsea suggested.

“Really?” Natalie asked hopefully.

“Yup! So why don’t you start with an outline, and give this essay another shot?” Chelsea asked.

Natalie slouched her shoulders in defeat. “Because I won’t be able to get it done in time. The essay has to be turned in by tomorrow night, and I’m such a slow writer to begin with.”

Chelsea thought a moment, and then took a quick breath. She had the perfect solution! “Wait a sec. What if I wrote the essay for you?”

Natalie chewed her bottom lip nervously. “Um . . . I don’t know if I’m comfortable with cheating.”

“It won’t be cheating. I could interview you and then piece it all together, kind of like what a ghost-writer does,” Chelsea suggested.

“Huh. Maybe you’re right. But don’t ghost-writers usually get paid or something?” Natalie asked.

“Well,” Chelsea said, grinning. “You could always pay me with that blue shirt of yours. What do you think? Pleeeeeease?”

Natalie giggled. “Wow, Chelse, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you beg before. Why do you want the shirt so badly?”

Chelsea took a deep breath. A voice inside her head told her not to admit the truth—that she wanted the shirt to impress Tricia. Natalie would definitely think she was lame and immature, especially since her father was a gigantic movie star with tons of his own obsessed followers. But she couldn’t think of a cover fast enough.

“Promise not to laugh?” she asked hoping that the truth would at least earn her some leniency.

“Promise,” Natalie said.

Chelsea cleared her throat and said, “Well, that shirt . . . it’s the same one that Tricia wore in her Oprah interview.”