“No one!” I shout as I jump out of bed.
“Charlie Davis?” Aunt Jeanie asks again. “That’s cute. He used to be Sally’s little crush.” I quickly look at Sally. I knew it! Why didn’t she tell me?
“Ma!” Sally leaves in a huff, embarrassed. Aunt Jeanie thinks it’s funny. And mothers wonder why we don’t like telling them anything.
“Charlie and Sally went to the same elementary school, and she used to talk about him all the time. How cute he was and how all the girls tripped over themselves for him.” She goes on. “And I guess he’s got you under his spell too, huh? This is too cute.” Aunt Jeanie has no idea the can of worms she just opened up, even if she thinks it’s so “cute.” Sally’s not acting like her crush is fully over. “Well, come on, lady, have some lunch before you two head out.”
On our way to the gym, Sally rides her bike a lot faster than usual. I can barely keep up with her.
“Wait up!” I scream. “Sally, I didn’t know!” She doesn’t answer me. I speed up and get ahead of her. She slows down as I pull my bike in front of hers. She stops.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know you liked him,” I say. “Why didn’t you just say something?”
“I didn’t say anything because there’s nothing to say. It’s no big deal!” insists Sally. “Charlie likes you and not me and that’s it.” I don’t think that’s it. She’s hiding something.
“I just don’t want you to be mad at me,” I say sincerely. “We’ve actually become friends this summer. I mean, you’re my cousin, but you know what I mean. It’s cool being friends.” Sally just looks around. “So are we cool?” She hesitates, then:
“It’s that I really used to like him since second grade, like almost every girl in this town, and he never paid me any mind,” she admits. “Then you come around and he kisses you—right in front of me! I thought I’d be okay with it, but when I saw it happen, I guess I wasn’t.” I don’t know what to say. I just stare at her. “I guess I’m just…jealous.” Wait a minute…My cousin. Is. Jealous. Of. Me? I take a moment to think before I speak, something I’ve never done before, but she’s my cousin and I think it’s best to go easy on her feelings. I need to say the right thing or else things could get ugly between us again, and honestly I really don’t want that.
“Well, he is a cute boy. I think anybody would be jealous of any girl he likes,” I say.
“Yeah, that’s true, but you’re my cousin and it’s just a little…”
“Awkward?” I finish her sentence.
“Yeah, awkward,” agrees Sally.
“If you had told me in the beginning, maybe I wouldn’t have paid him any attention,” I say. “But you made it seem like you were okay with him liking me. You were the one who even pointed it out. You know what, forget it. I’ll just tell him to leave me alone.” I cringe inside because I really like Charlie, but Sally’s my cousin, and like Aunt Jeanie said when I first got here, we’re family, whether we like it or not.
“No, don’t do that!” Sally says. “I mean, admitting I was jealous would’ve sounded stupid. So I just thought I shouldn’t say anything.”
“Sally, being jealous isn’t stupid,” I say. “I mean, I’ve always been jealous of you.” Sally listens up. “The way I see it…you have everything. Your mom and dad get along, and they pay attention to you. You have an older brother who’s got your back, and you practically have everything you want. Why do you think I make fun of you and call you a princess all the time?” I look away. “I’ve never been treated like a princess.”
“I’m sorry.” She tries to console me.
“Sally, that’s nothing to apologize for. That’s just the way it is, and it’s okay. I’m the one who has to deal with it.”
“Just like I have to deal with the fact that Charlie likes you and not me,” she sighs.
“I guess that’s just how life works, huh?” I conclude.
“Well, at least we’re better than we were when we were little.” Sally smirks a bit, and I smile back.
“Yeah, but you played with baby dolls!” I laugh.
“I was seven!” Sally laughs. “And you took all my baby dolls and threw them into the tree.”
“I wanted us to climb the tree, build a tree house or something,” I say with a smile. “I thought if I put your babies in the tree, we’d have fun climbing up there to get them, but no. You sat and cried and I got in trouble.”
“I had fifteen dolls!” Sally yells.
“And I was bored!” I yell back as I hop onto my bike. Sally follows. “But you have to admit, Baby Alive pooping on your face was pretty funny.”
“To you it was.” Sally smirks. “I had just fed her chocolate pudding too.”
As we ride to the gym, we reminisce about some of the craziest things we did when we were little. I’m just glad my cousin isn’t mad at me over a boy—the neighborhood It boy, but a boy nonetheless. We hustle to the gym to make up for lost time.
At the camp, it’s weird not to see everyone running around. It’s like a ghost town, but there are cars parked outside the gym, so we head inside with the bikes.
The divas are there, sprawled on the floor, stretching. Melissa and Tina run to our side.
“They’re talking about putting us together!” Tina starts right in.
“What?” Sally asks.
“Why? We already have our team,” I add.
“Hi, girls,” a voice from across the room calls. “Why don’t you come in and sit down.”
There are two people, a guy and a girl, both dressed in jeans and button-down shirts, semibusiness, I guess. I’ve never seen them before, but they look somewhat official. Our team settles down on
