G12 Gossip Attack
I pulled myself towards the wall, and groaned. My stomach hurt really bad and to add on to that my bunkmates made it worse by fighting. Nicole and Ally started gossiping again, mostly about Caitlyn. Soon they hopped off Nicole’s top bunk, ripped up some paper, threw it in the trash can, called “going to the creek”, and then bolted for the door. Caitlyn rushed to the trash and pulled out the paper. She started piecing the bits of crumpled paper together
“I knew they were writing about me.” Caitlyn growled. “My names in here like 10 times!
Carolin popped off her bed, and spilled everything that made my neck sweat, I cringed. “Oh no” I muttered as Carolin finished saying everything she knew. This could not turn out well, not when Nicole and Ally return.
“Hey Mars.” Nicole’s voice broke through Izzy and my conversation.” We’re playing Mafia, want to join?”
“Sorry I’m helping Izzy with ‘what to do for a man over board’. It’s for boating.” I explained, rolling off Izzy’s bed pretending to be overboard so Izzy could ‘save me’. Only 2 days has passed since we arrived at camp, but all 10 bunkmates acted as if we’d been friends forever.
“Attention G12ers,” Abbie started barging through our rickety door. “Mail cart will be here in 3, 2, 1” she opened the door and in preceded our CIT, Paris, holding stacks of boxes and letters. During free swim Nicole, Ally, Abbie, Carolin, Izzy, and I lounged on the floor, our beds, or personal chairs. When Paris shouted “Mail call”, we all hopped to our feet.
“What’d I get, what’d I get?” Carolin cried racing over to Paris’ bed. Paris handed her a box and Carolin tore it open.
“Wow, leave it to my mom to give math homework during summer camp!” Carolin pulled out paper and a box of flash cards. Then she burst out laughing.
“What?” Ally cried bouncing over.
“Care Bear flash cards!”
“Ooh origami.” Ally dug into the box.
“Hey, before you start making inflatable boxes, free swim’s pretty much over and after the other girls come back Suz and Fran will tell you about what we’re doing tonight.” Paris told us, reloading her lips with lipstick. My cabin loves nick names, no one calls me Marissa at camp, everyone calls me Mars. So no one calls Suz, Suzanne or Suzy. Suz is much shorter and easier. Same with Fran it’s shorter and easier than Francine.
Soon everyone piled into the cabin, so Suz started talking about the casino night.
“In the rec hall,” she spoke as we all gathered in the center of the cabin.
“We created a casino, everyone will receive 5 paper dollars, and you use them to bet and gamble in the games. At the end, all the money from the bunk will add together for something we bid on. We all cheered at the idea right as the horn sounded to tell us to leave.
At the ‘casino’ we saw everything from bottles to knock down, to ‘lottery tickets’, to a podium where you and a friend pay a dollar and they hand you a fake ring and say “your married.”
“Hey Mars lets get married.” Hannah cried grabbing my hand.
“I call being the dude.” I shouted over the loud music from the freeze dancers.
While we hurried over, I felt a rush of happiness, these are true friends and I knew it.
Until the next day at least, Nicole and Ally filled me in about why they’re almost inseparable. They both shared the same interest –They hated Caitlyn, another bunkmate. Now Caitlyn’s my friend, last night we wrote notes to each other because after taps the bunk needed to stay completely silent.
“Caitlyn’s not bad.” I defended her.
“Oh please!” Ally cried, laughing, and then she told me all about what ‘bad things’ Caitlyn’s done but I couldn’t believe almost any of it. When I tried to stick up for her, Nicole told me yet another thing that she apparently did.
“That girl is so annoying, believe me, I have to spend school with her too.”
During free swim the following day things got out of hand. I felt really sick so I lay on my bed, writing a note. Above me, Nicole and Ally talked or should I say gossiped about Caitlyn. I heard them talking…not the nicest conversation ever. Caitlyn tried to listen and become a part of the talking too, but they kept yelling at her to stop listening and then started writing to each other instead. Once in a while I heard them start to giggle and I felt a wave of rejection. I kept telling myself “Duh, Caitlyn is the reason they’re writing not me. But I couldn’t help feeling sort of dumped out of the conversation. Then Carolin asked,
“Why are you guys writing instead of talking to each other?”
Ally simply answered “we’re seeing how long we can go without talking to each other.”
Hmm well that’s interesting because you know you’re passing them to each other anyway! I wanted to say, but seriously no ones falling for that I mean it’s exactly the same as if they were talking, except no one knows what they’re writing and they’re not using up any extra oxygen! After Caitlyn tried looking over at what Nicole wrote, the two girls popped off Nicole’s top bunk, tore up the pieces of paper, called “be at the creek”, then they dashed out the door like two hungry boars chasing their prey. Caitlyn rushed to the trash can and started fishing out the torn paper. I felt a lump in my stomach; suddenly my sick feeling became the least of my problems. I knew something really bad’s happening really soon.
“I knew it!” She declared. “I knew they were writing about me my names in here wayyy to many times to be an accident or a small conversation about me!”
“Well, don’t jump to conclusions,” I tried, “they might not have been talking bad about you.” But I knew better I knew that Nicole and Ally purposely wrote about Caitlyn and my stomach did too. It knotted up really badly so I stopped talking.
“Mars” Caitlyn’s voice broke through my tummy troubles. “You shouldn’t be sticking up for them, your names in here too.”
My heart dropped along with my mouth.
“Oh.” I spoke so quietly that only I could hear.
I tried telling myself that I wasn’t the victim here, and after my brain remembered, Caitlyn’s brain found out.
Carolin rolled off her bed. “You know I don’t mean to be rude to Nicole and Ally but yesterday they told me some things that I think you should know.” She began then started spilling everything she knew, which being everything they told me too, couldn’t be good. I cringed by the thought of what could happen when the twosome arrived back at the cabin, nothing good I know.
“And if you don’t believe me there’s a witness on that bed over there, the girls told Mars too.”
Caitlyn started to become red in the face, but not from embarrassment that many of her bunkmates have been talking about her behind her back, mostly from anger.
“She’s going to blow!” Carolin cried, racing for her top bunk for protection.
I knew she’d been trying to lighten the mood but Caitlyn didn’t find it funny.
“Where are those butt-brained weasels anyway?”
“My guess at the creek since they said ‘be at the creek’.” I stated, trying desperately to sneak away to the bathrooms or somewhere else away from the bunk.
“You know what? I’ll let them have their time away from me.” Caitlyn grinned, her face turning back to normal.
“Really?” I asked, “Good.”
“I didn’t say I would let them off the hook, though.” She continued.
“Uh oh.”
“I won’t walk over to that creek.”
“Great” I smiled “That would definitely be a good choice.”
“No I’m not talking to them, you are!”
“What, me, no way.” I cried, launching myself towards the wall.
“Oh yes you are. You always know how to fix things please?” Caitlyn, who began to beg, started pushing me to the door. “I’d do the same for you, if you were being stabbed in the back.”
When Caitlyn’s mind is made up, there’s no backing out of it.
“Fine.” I growled defeated, heading for the door. “But if I’m not back before free swims over, come looking for me.” I announced, dramatically, walking through the door that led to the back porch. I moved away from the musty, damp smelling cabin. As I trudged I wondered what to talk about.
“Caitlyn told you that you could fix anything. So why don’t you say what happened?” I thought to myself
“No way, that would ruin everything that’s not already messed up.”
“She believes in you, why cant you?”
“I know I’ll avoid it then occasionally add her name into the conversation to see what happens.”
Even though I found an idea of what to say, I became less and less excited as I became closer to the creek. When I neared the water, my footsteps slowed so much that my feet felt like cinder blocks in jeans. But soon the two girls saw me and to my surprise brought me right into their conversation.
“Hmm…” I thought. “This might be easier than I thought it would.”
The rest of free swim went okay, but at the cookout things started to reveal themselves to Nicole and Ally about what the talk inside the bunk between Caitlyn and Carolin had been. Exactly as I thought would happen they became mad, no they became furious.
“What?” they started to yell. “Why would you guys do this, we told you that because we thought you were friends, our thoughts are our thoughts.”
“Well, I can’t believe you would say that about me.” Caitlyn shot back.
I for one was undecided and I didn’t want to become part of it either. So I hurried over to Izzy, who’d actually been swimming during free swim.
“Your lucky.” I frowned.
“Why.” She asked, we side-stepped the screaming group.
“You actually swam during your free swim.”
Neither Nicole nor Ally talked to us or even sat with us for the cookout. “Do you think they’re okay?”
“Hmm…” I thought, a sly grin appearing on my face, I looked at Izzy and she smiled back.
“We’ll be right back.” I called out as we walked away.
We headed toward their spot and in case it didn’t turn out well I snuck two extra cookies!
“Hey!” Izzy started.
“Hey.” Nicole answered, not turning her gaze away from the lake.
“Why would you guys talk about us behind our backs like that?” Ally finally cried.
“Well, you did the same thing to Caitlyn. I muttered quietly.
“Well why you too?” Nicole shot back at me
“Whattt?” I cried. “I didn’t-
“I thought I could trust you more than almost anyone, why did you go and say everything too?”
“Mars you were telling Caitlyn too?” Izzy asked.
“No!” I nearly shouted. “I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, look we’re sorry this happened but we can still fix it, and we came over here to make that happen.”
“Yeah, listen most of the other girls really care that something happened and they want to fix it, including Caitlyn.” Izzy continued, frustrated.
Still not convinced, the two girls looked at us. So I reached into my pocket.
“Want a cookie?” I asked, their eyes lit up, and soon they cracked and were back to themselves again. So victory became ours and by the end of the cookout they became fine and actually friends with Caitlyn. There weren’t any more secrets between the cabin mates… well not between the campers, there was still Hannah and Paris’ giant candy stash that we pig out on every time Paris is on night duty! We all stuck up for each other, no matter what happened. I realized what a real true friend was and that I was actually surrounded by them, all 10 of us!
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