Camp Confidential 09 - Best (Boy)friend Ever by Melissa J. Morgan Page A

to help you find it?”
    “It’s okay. I’ll ask one of the ice-cream men.” Priya gave Grace a little wave, then headed toward the closest guy in a white uniform and hat. He pointed her to a bathroom and she got herself inside as fast as she could without running. Her eyes started to burn the second the door swung shut behind her. At least she had the place to herself.
    Priya leaned on the closest sink and stared at herself in the mirror. “You are not going to cry. You are not a crier. You aren’t going to cry now, because who knows what would happen to all this gunk on your face.” She straightened up, and continued to lecture herself. “Jordan was just joking around. He doesn’t really think you look like a psycho who eats his own flaky skin.” She brushed a few specks of glitter off her neck. “He was just being funny. Like always.”
    The thing was, she didn’t want him to treat her like always. That was the whole point. She’s been turned into a complete 2.0 version of herself—with the slick stuff on her lips, and the sort of itchy stuff in her hair, and the pad between her legs, and the perfume Abby had sprayed on her. Couldn’t Jordan see that she was totally different? So why was he treating her the same?
    Duh. Because all he can think about is Bryyyynnnnnn , that horrible voice in her head volunteered.
    Priya slammed out of the bathroom, hoping she had left the voice inside. “Sodas on the main deck,” Abby called to her. “Come on.”
    “Okay.” Priya obediently followed Abby out on deck. Her eyes immediately did a Jordan scan. She saw Brynn first. Brynn was smiling, smiling at Jordan. The be-yourself non-plan plan seemed to be working.
    “Cramps?” Abby asked sympathetically.
    “What?” Priya asked. “Oh, yeah. Yeah. Bad ones.”
    “I use this stuff called Flying Fox temple balm. You rub it on your temples and the inside of your wrists, or even right in the inside of your nose. It has all these essential oils that are mood soothers,” Abby told her. “I’ll give you some as soon as we get back to the hotel.”
    By then I’ll have to coat my entire body in the stuff , Priya thought, shooting another glance at the smiling combo of Jordan and Brynn, even though she knew it was a very bad idea.
    “You guys looked thirsty,” Spence said as he came up to Priya and Abby. He held up two glasses of Coke and studied them like he’d never seen such things before. “They aren’t bright red. And they can’t be used as bug repellent. And I don’t think Jenna has loaded them with salt or anything.” Spence frowned at the sodas. “But I’m pretty sure you can drink this strange brown substance, anyway. I’ve heard people outside camp do.”
    “Thanks,” Priya and Abby told him. Priya tried to remember if she’d ever talked to Spence—or if he’d ever talked to her —when they weren’t playing Spoons. She didn’t think so.
    Priya heard Brynn laugh. She had this really loud, dramatic laugh. What was she laughing at? She didn’t think Jordan was funny. She thought he was an idiot. Priya looked over at Jordan and Brynn, trying to look like she wasn’t looking.
    Abby elbowed her in the side. What? Was she being really obvious? “Spence was talking to you.”
    “Oh. Sorry.” Priya grimaced as she forced herself to look at Spence. “What’s up?”
    “I, uh, I was just saying that one of the crew guys told me that those houses over there, generals live in all of them,” Spence blurted. “It’s called General’s Row or something.” He hurried away.
    Abby shook her head. “That’s not what he said. He said he liked the, quote, shiny stuff in your hair, unquote. And you missed it. What were you thinking about, anyway?”
    Brynn gave another look-at-me-I-should-be-onstage trill of laughter. “Nothing,” Priya said. She heard Jordan laugh back. “I was thinking about absolutely nothing.”

    Priya sat down at the table that was the farthest away from the one Jordan and Brynn