Camp Confidential 05 - TTYL by Melissa J. Morgan Page A

cooler!), like yourself. my best friend, hannah, has been acting really weird since i got home. she keeps making snide comments about me liking two boys at once (simon, obviously, and kyle, from school).
    on friday at the dance, kyle overheard hannah talking about simon. i smoothed it over, though, and told him i didn’t have any boyfriends at all. and today, kyle called and asked me to go rollerblading with him in central park tomorrow, and hannah got really mad at me and said that i was acting like she wasn’t important. then she stormed out. i don’t know what to do. can you help?
    luv, nat
    From: MarissaRox
To: NatalieNYC
Subject: Re: help . . .
     
    Hey, Nat! It’s good to hear from you. Sounds like lots of exciting stuff is happening in your life! How fun to go Rollerblading in Central Park. . . . I’m jealous! I’m up to my ears in homework over here . . .
    Here’s what I think is going on with Hannah: She’s afraid you’re growing up faster than she is. If I were in your shoes—I’d have really cute shoes! Just kidding . . . And also, I’d make sure Hannah knows that you aren’t outgrowing her. It sounds like that’s what she’s worried about. Take time to do things with her that don’t involve boys at all. (And I know you already know this, but don’t rush into the boy thing yourself! You’ve got so much time!)
    Let me know if I can help any more, hon. Love to hear from you.
    Love, Marissa

Alex > TUESDAY

    Alex was in a great mood as she entered the locker room and began changing into her clothes for soccer practice. She’d had a pretty good day at school, and it was really warm and sunny outside. She couldn’t wait for the first day of practice to get underway!
    As she slipped her jersey over her head and leaned down to tie her shoes, Alex thought about practice, wondering how it would go. She straightened up and pulled her hair into two pigtails, securing them with two purple elastics that she’d had on her wrist. Then she shoved her school clothes into her locker, slammed it shut, and locked it.
    As she walked through the locker room to the door that led to the practice field, she passed a group of four older girls. One of them, a girl named Cindy who had short blond hair, snickered as Alex walked by. “Nice hair,” she said.
    Alex whipped around, wanting to fire back a retort, but the confident, mean looks on the faces of Cindy and her friends stopped her. The older girls laughed again as Alex slunk out the door red-faced.
    Outside, she immediately pulled the elastics out of her hair and pulled it into a long, sleek ponytail. “That was so mean,” she said under her breath. She smoothed down her practice jersey and shook her head to clear it, then walked toward the field.
    When she had passed the bleachers, she heard the older girls behind her, snickering and laughing. “Oh look,” Cindy said, “she has grown-up hair now!” Alex wished she was the kind of girl who would respond, but she wasn’t. She just steeled her shoulders and continued to walk onto the field.
    There were about ten girls waiting for practice to begin. Alex recognized most of them from tryouts, and walked over to a girl named Trish, who was in her English class. Trish was a tall girl with light brown hair that fell to her shoulders. She’d used barrettes to pull her bangs out of her eyes for practice. “Hey, Trish,” Alex said shyly.
    “Hi, Alex,” Trish said. “Could you believe the homework in English today?”
    “I know,” Alex replied. “I don’t know how I’m going to get it all done!” Their teacher had assigned the class an essay on someone important in their lives, and it had to be three pages long. To make matters worse, it was due on Thursday, giving Alex only two days to write it. “Who are you going to write about?” she asked Trish.
    Trish shrugged. “Maybe my mom? I don’t really know,” she said. “What about you?”
    “I have no idea,” Alex said. She sighed. “I can’t