Camp Confidential 03 - Grace's Twist Read Online Free PDF Page A

me,” Grace said. “I’m going on every single ride in the park. Twice, if I have time!”
    Her bunkmates laughed.
    “That’s okay. Karen will hang out with me and not go in the water. Right, Karen?” Chelsea asked, turning to the shy girl.
    Karen didn’t look too happy with that prospect, but she nodded. “Sure,” she said quietly. Chelsea smiled, satisfied.
    Grace frowned. Why did Karen always go along with anything Chelsea said? She obviously didn’t want to spend her time at the water park sitting on a lounge chair. But it was always that way with the two of them—Chelsea called the shots. “You guys are crazy,” Grace told them. “One day in the pool water isn’t going to do anything to your hair. And besides, it would be worth looking like the Bride of Frankenstein to go on the rides!” She pulled the elastic off her ponytail and quickly teased her hair with her fingers. It never took much to make her mass of red curls stand on end. Within five seconds, she had a mop of hair standing straight up.
    Everyone cracked up. Even Chelsea. And, more importantly, even Karen.
    Out of the corner of her eye, Grace noticed Kathleen, the head counselor for the third division, leaning over to talk to Julie. Julie always ate with the bunk, sitting at the head of their table. But Kathleen sat with the other division heads, up at the table in the front of the room. What was she doing here? Neither she nor Julie were smiling. It didn’t seem as if they were talking about the water park.
    “Hey, Grace, have you ever gone on one of those inner-tube rides?” Jenna asked.
    “Um, yeah,” Grace said, dragging her attention away from Kathleen and Julie. “That’s always my favorite ride at water parks. I love when you get to the end and you go down that little tunnel thing. It feels like you’re being flushed down the drain!”
    Everyone was still laughing, but Grace felt a sinking feeling of dread as she noticed Julie winding through the happy campers toward her.
    “Grace, can I talk to you for a sec?” she called over the din.
    Grace didn’t answer. She just followed Julie toward the door of the mess hall. The sounds of hooting and cheering were all around her, but right now the water park seemed very far away.

    “Where have you been?” Alex asked when Grace got back to the bunk. It was chore time, and everyone was busy sweeping, dusting, or cleaning the bathroom.
    “Yeah, what did Julie want?” Chelsea added. “Are you in trouble or something?”
    “No, but thanks for asking,” Grace mumbled. As if she didn’t feel bad enough already!
    Alex rolled her eyes and gave Grace a smile. “Never mind,” she said. “You better get going—it’s your turn to take out the garbage.”
    “Whoo-hoo,” Grace joked halfheartedly. But it wasn’t the garbage that was bothering her. It was the memory of her meeting with Julie and Kathleen. She’d been expecting the worst, and that’s what she’d gotten. All she wanted to do was hide under her sheets. If her bunkmates found out what was going on, she would be humiliated.
    And Chelsea was still watching her like a hawk.
    Grace quickly headed over to the cubby where the trash bags were kept and pulled out one for the bathroom garbage and one for the main-bunk garbage. Usually she liked to sing or whistle while doing chores—it got the other girls giggling, and sometimes they joined in. But today she just wasn’t in the mood.
    “Hang on a second!” Sarah cried as Grace picked up the bathroom garbage can. “I have a handful of hair to throw in there.” Sarah wore the bunk’s giant, blue rubber gloves, but she still picked hair out of the shower drain with two fingers, holding it away from herself as if it might attack her. “In fact, I think it’s your hair,” she added, scrunching up her face in disgust.
    Grace squinted at the mass of red hair dangling from Sarah’s outstretched hand. It could just as easily have been Alyssa’s hair, but she decided not to