Free Camp Confidential 03 - Grace's Twist by Melissa J. Morgan Page B

Chelsea at all—Karen must really love those water rides if she was willing to fight for them.
    Suddenly Chelsea gave a little sob. It sounded fake. “I can’t believe you’re changing your mind about this,” she said. “You promised to hang out with me by the wave pool.”
    “I know,” Karen said. “Don’t be mad—”
    “You know that swimming makes me sick,” Chelsea interrupted. “If we go on those rides, I’ll get water in my ears and get an earache. And if water gets in my eyes, it will ruin my contact lenses.”
    But you go swimming in the lake every day, Grace thought.
    “But we go swimming every day,” Karen said.
    “Yeah, in the lake,” Chelsea answered. Her voice wavered as if she were trying to hold back tears. “Where there’s no chlorine to sting my eyes. And where I can keep my head out of the water so my hair doesn’t get ruined. And I don’t get water in my ears.”
    Grace shook her head. Chelsea was coming up with all kinds of excuses, but Grace suspected that the real reason she didn’t want to go on the water rides was that she thought she’d look bad with wet hair and no makeup. Chelsea was so pretty that she’d be gorgeous no matter what. But she took a lot of care with her appearance. Maybe she didn’t feel confident without her makeup.
    Still, it wasn’t fair to keep Karen from doing what she wanted just because Chelsea didn’t want to be alone. Tell her that, Karen, Grace silently willed. Tell her you want to go on the rides.
    “Well, if it means that much to you . . .” Karen said.
    “Thank you!” Chelsea answered, her voice normal again. “We’ll have a great time getting a tan.”
    “I usually just get sunburns,” Karen replied quietly.
    Grace took a deep breath and opened the door. “Oh, hi, guys,” she said casually. “I didn’t know anyone was in here.”
    Chelsea looked startled. Karen just smiled. “We came back to get Chelsea’s sunglasses,” she explained. “The light hurts her eyes.”
    “Plus, who wants to listen to a boring lecture?” Chelsea added, trying to joke. She watched Grace carefully, as if waiting for her to say something. She wants to know if I overheard them arguing about the water park, Grace realized.
    But she had no intention of saying anything about what she’d heard. She wasn’t happy that Karen had given in to Chelsea, but it wasn’t really any of her business.
    “Julie said I could skip the lecture so I can read,” she said, flopping down on her bed.
    “We better get back before Julie comes looking for us,” Karen told Chelsea.
    “Yeah. See you later, Grace.”
    Grace smiled and waved as they left. It was hard to understand Chelsea sometimes. But right now she had to focus on her book.

    “Hey, Grace, your friend is here.” Valerie’s tone was sarcastic.
    Grace looked up from her book. She’d been reading in the bunk for an hour and a half straight. “Huh?”
    Valerie nodded toward the porch. “That girl from 3A. Abby?”
    “Gaby,” Grace corrected her. “She’s here?”
    “On the porch. I guess she didn’t feel like taking siesta with her own bunkmates,” Valerie said.
    “I guess I can’t avoid her, huh?” Grace murmured. “Did you tell her I was here?”
    “Well, I wasn’t gonna lie,” Valerie said. “Just go out and talk to her. The sooner you get rid of her, the sooner you can get back to reading.”
    “Yeah,” Candace said. “The sooner you can get back to reading so you can come to WetWorld.”
    “Oh, all right.” Grace got up and went out onto the porch. She wasn’t in the mood for small talk, but she figured Gaby must have a reason for coming here. She probably wanted to apologize for telling Natalie and Alyssa about Grace’s secret. “Hey, what’s up?” she said when she reached Gaby.
    “Hi, Gracie!” Gaby chirped. “Wanna hang out?”
    “I can’t,” Grace said. “I have to read.”
    Gaby frowned. “Is this because I wouldn’t hang out with you during siesta the other