Ma.s.sie, Alicia, and Claire held hands, hoping they"d be together.
"Claire Lyons, Olivia Ryan, Josh Hotz, and Cam Fisher, and your captain is Coral McAdams."
Strawberry jumped for joy. "I love that I"m captain!" She stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled. "Over here, team!"
Claire looked at Ma.s.sie and silently begged for help. Cam and and Josh? She didn"t know if she should celebrate or tie a rock to her leg and walk straight into Lake Placid. Josh? She didn"t know if she should celebrate or tie a rock to her leg and walk straight into Lake Placid.
"Olivia," Alicia whispered.
"Yeah." Olivia stepped under the tree.
"Find out who Josh likes," Alicia ordered. "But don"t let him know I want to know."
"Given." Olivia nodded. "Come on, Claire."
Claire looked back at Ma.s.sie one last time, but all Ma.s.sie could do was wave goodbye with a half-smile on her face. Was she actually enjoying this?
"Pod three is Alicia Rivera-"
"You"re hot!" shouted one of the boys.
Mr. Myner ignored the interruption. "Carrie Randolph, Layne Abeley, Marc Cooper, B. J. O"Brian, Adam Freeman. Your captain is Ma.s.sie Block."
"Wait, what about me?" Chris Plovert asked, perplexed.
"I thought you might want to sit this one out because of the leg," Mr. Dingle said.
"No way, man," Plovert snapped. "That"s discrimination. I can do this."
"Are you sure, Mr. Plovert?" Mr. Dingle pushed his gla.s.ses up his nose. "It is is a race, you know." a race, you know."
"I know."
"O-kay." Mr. Myner sounded doubtful but willing to give Plovert a chance. "Who would like to welcome Chris to their team?"
No one volunteered. Not even Dylan.
"Aw, come on, guys," Chris pleaded.
"Dude, we"re playing for fooood." Kemp rubbed his skinny belly. "No hard feelings, but you gotta understand."
"He can come on our team," a sweet voice offered.
Chris"s face lit up when he saw that it belonged to the beautiful Olivia Ryan, the blond half of the Twenty.
Dylan stomped her foot and scowled.
"O-livia," Strawberry snapped. "What are you doing? I"m the captain and I say who joins this team."
But it was too late. Plovert was already hobbling over.
"You just kissed our chance at a good lunch goodbye." Strawberry punched the trunk of a spruce tree. "What were you thinking?" Her face turned dark red.
"Trust me, it"s part of my strategy," Olivia whispered. "If one of us gets hurt, we"ll have a pair of crutches." She winked. "How smart is that that?"
Strawberry punched the tree again while the rest of her pod welcomed their newest member.
"Are all pods ready?" Mr. Myner asked.
"Ready," everyone said, almost at the same time.
"On the count of three I want you to head toward the back of the cabins and find your pod"s trailhead. I have marked a different entry point for each: green for pod one, blue for two, and yellow for three. Ready? One-"
And they were off.
Strawberry marched ahead of her pod, tearing down every leaf and branch that crossed her path. She swung her arms like the speed-walking mothers that Claire and Ma.s.sie always pa.s.sed on their way to school.
"Let"s go, people!" Strawberry shouted without turning around.
Claire looked at Cam and rolled her eyes, hoping he would join her in making fun of Strawberry, but he immediately looked up at the blue sky. It was obviously going to take more than an eye roll to win him back.
The thick woods swallowed up the compet.i.tion"s voices and crunching footsteps as they all went their separate ways. Soon silence hugged them like a sleeping bag. Claire wondered if anyone could hear how hard her heart was pounding.
"Hey, Claire, want me to take your picture?" Josh scurried up beside her and pulled a digital camera out of his blue wool pea coat. He twirled it around his finger by its gray string.
"Hey, how"d you get that?" Claire stopped and looked into his warm dark brown eyes. "Mr. Myner took took mine." mine."
"I didn"t tell Dingle I had it." His eyelashes were so thick and dark, Claire wondered if he was wearing mascara. And then she realized why Alicia thought he was so cute: he looked exactly like her.
"I wish I"d thought of that." Claire kicked a pinecone. It accidentally hit the back of Strawberry"s hiking boot.
"Let"s go, people!" she shouted again. "Less kicking and more walking, please."
Claire snickered and looked at Cam again, but Josh was blocking him.
"I feel so bad you don"t have your camera." He shook his head and smiled affectionately. "You"re too honest. That"s what I like about you."
Claire whipped her head around to see if Olivia had heard that. If she she had, then Alicia would, and ... The rest was too terrifying to think about. had, then Alicia would, and ... The rest was too terrifying to think about.
But Olivia was too busy sc.r.a.ping a mud clump off the end of Plovert"s crutch to hear.
"Hey, Strawberry, can I take a look at that map?" Cam shouted as he ran ahead. A faint trace of his sweet-smelling Drakkar Noir cologne lingered behind in his absence. Claire inhaled deeply as she moved through it, hoping to reclaim a little piece of him. But Josh inched closer to Claire. Now that Cam was gone, Josh"s spicy Polo cologne seemed to chase the last bits of Drakkar away for good.
"Who"s hungry?" Strawberry barked.
"Me," everyone answered at once.
"THEN MOVE!"
Two white-breasted sparrows darted out of their nest and everyone jumped.
"Relax," Plovert said. "You"re scaring the wildlife."
"Less talking and more hopping, gimp-boy," Strawberry hollered.
Olivia and Plovert scurried to catch up.
"So, Josh." Olivia cut Claire off the narrow trail so she could walk beside him. "Let"s play a game."
"Can I play?" Plovert was out of breath.
"Later." Olivia quickly dismissed him. "You need your energy right now to keep up. This game is just for Josh."
"Uh, okay." Josh sounded a little afraid.
Claire could barely see Cam. He was up ahead with Strawberry. Did he like her her? Maybe he thought her pink-dyed hair was edgy and cool. What if she liked the Strokes as much as he did? What if they were talking about their-favorite Strokes song right now? She searched her mind for an excuse to catch up to them.
"Okay, Josh, I"m going to name two girls and you tell me which one you would rather lip kiss," Olivia said.
""Kay." He tucked his camera away and stuffed his hands inside his coat pockets.
"Jessica Simpson or Ashlee?"
"Jessica."
"That one was easy," Plovert shouted.
"Okay, how about Princ.i.p.al Burns or Hillary Clinton?"
"Ew, neither." Josh made a face like he had just sniffed dog poo.
"You have to pick one, that"s the game."
"Fine, Hillary."
"Good. Okay, Strawberry or, uhhhhm, Alicia," Olivia whispered.
Claire suddenly realized what Olivia was doing. It was a clever yet subtle way to figure out who Josh liked.
"Alicia," Josh answered.
"What about Alexandra or Alicia?"
"Is Alexandra the one with the green braces?" Josh asked.
"Yup."
"Alicia."
Olivia smiled to herself.
"Carrie, Livvy, or Alicia?"
"Alicia."
"Layne Abeley or Alicia?"
"Alicia."
"Nice." Olivia smiled.
"Claire or Alicia?"
Claire and Cam stopped walking at the same time. This was not happening. Please, no!
"Don"t you want to give Plovert a chance to play?" Claire quickly chimed in.
"Yeah, ask me one," Plovert huffed.
"Okay, Merri-Lee Marvil or me?" Olivia"s short attention span had never been more appealing.
"Dylan"s mom or you you?" Plovert asked.
"Come awn awn, you guys," Strawberry whined. "Focus."
Cam and Claire started walking again.
"Yeah." Olivia giggled. "Merri-Lee or me."
"You."
"You liiiike me. You liiiike meeee," Olivia sang.
"Hey, that"s not fair." Plovert pretended he was angry. Then he fell. "Owww!"
Everyone stopped to help him up. But as soon as he was standing, he fell again. Strawberry checked her manly Seiko diving watch and sighed while Cam and Josh lifted him back up.
"You okay, man?" Cam"s hand was still resting on Plovert"s shoulder.
"Yeah, thanks." Plovert looked at Olivia and turned red. "I"m fine. I think the doctor gave me a pair of b.u.m crutches."
"You should sue him," Olivia suggested. "Alicia"s dad is a very successful lawyer. He can help."
"Plovert, buddy." Cam studied him. "Try to take it easy."
Claire found herself wanting to trade places with Plovert. She would have gladly taken a broken leg if meant Cam would be nice to her.
"Hey, Josh." Olivia beckoned. "Did you know Alicia"s dad was a successful lawyer?"