Camp Confidential 01 - Natalie's Secret by Melissa J. Morgan Page A

Natalie hoped she was sleeping.

    “Why didn’t you say anything?” Alex said. She looked a little bit sad. “We wouldn’t have cared. But I feel so stupid for all of those times I went on about him, and he—he was your father . . .” Her voice trailed off.

    “I know,” Natalie whispered. “I just . . .”

    Just what? she asked herself. But she just couldn’t come up with a good enough answer. “I’m sorry,” she finished finally. “I have to go. I’ll be back later.”

    “Sure!” Julie agreed. Her enthusiasm was out of sync with the mood of the room.

    Natalie trudged out the front door, wondering how she was going to make things right with her friends. Why had she lied to them? Why had she hidden the truth about her family? How could she expect them to trust her again?

    “Hey, uh, can I talk to you?”

    Natalie looked up and gasped. “Simon,” she said. “I, uh . . . what’s up?” Duh. What’s up is that your father is a movie star and you never said anything and now everyone thinks you’re weird and secretive and probably all stuck-up and spoiled. That’s what’s up.

    “So, uh . . . your father. Tad Maxwell,” Simon said, stating the obvious.

    “Yup,” Natalie said, swinging her arms back and forth nervously. “That he is. And I, um, didn’t want to say anything . . . I don’t know why I didn’t want to say anything,” she said at last. “I guess I suck. I wouldn’t blame you if you were mad at me.” Oh, please don’t be mad at me, Natalie thought.

    “Well, it’s just—”

    Natalie’s heart dropped to her stomach. “Well, it’s just” was not the same thing as “of course I’m not mad.” Not at all. And suddenly, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the end of that sentence. Her friends were upset with her, her secret was out, and now Simon—well, whatever was on his mind, it was too much. She couldn’t deal with it just then. And her father was still waiting for her down at the entrance to the camp.

    “Look, I’m really sorry, okay?” she said pleadingly. “I know I wasn’t completely honest with you. And I know you probably hate me. But I can’t talk right now. My father . . . my father’s waiting. And I have to meet him. Now.” She turned and began to walk off down the path, doing her best to ignore the hurt look in Simon’s eyes.

    Quickly, almost against her own will, she turned back again. He was still staring at her, looking very confused and disappointed. “I’m sorry,” she repeated.

    Then she took off to find her father.

chapter TEN

    “Well, Natalie, I do have to give you credit. I don’t know if I would be able to survive in the wilderness all summer long,” Josie said, delicately picking at a salad.

    After several hours of attempting to shop, Natalie and Josie had finally given in and accepted that rural Pennsylvania didn’t have that much to offer them. There were lots of cute crafts shops and antiquey places, but the truth was that Tad’s house in LA was totally done out in an ultra-mod design, and none of the things they would find in Pennsylvania would really mesh with his decor. And the outlet shops, it turned out, were hours away. Once the trio had gotten past the disappointment (well, Natalie and Josie had been disappointed, and Tad had just done his best to seem sympathetic), they opted to drown their sorrows in milkshakes and burgers at the nearest roadside stop. Her father thought it would be great fun to eat at an authentic diner. Josie, however, was accustomed to healthy California food and was busily picking out the cheese and croutons from her salad.

    Natalie laughed. “It’s not quite the ‘wilderness,’ you know. I think you just got the wrong impression when they told you they didn’t have low-fat dressing here. I mean, we do have running water and indoor toilets.” She flashed back to the spider she’d encountered on her first day of camp and shuddered. “Most of the time,” she amended. “Anyway,