Jelly Roll by Mere Joyce

Author:Mere Joyce
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459826311
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2020-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“Your whole team is wasting time,” Sarah says the next morning. I didn’t tell anyone what happened last night. But Sarah saw Ollie and Austin talking to me. After she got back to the cabin, she spent the rest of the night bugging me about it. I haven’t given her the details. But she has guessed that Austin’s visit wasn’t friendly.

“Austin doesn’t want our help,” I say. “He wants to control the whole project.” I watch as Sarah paces the room. She’s been annoyed since she woke up and heard the rain pattering outside. She was hoping it would be warm enough for a volleyball game this afternoon. But there is a storm on the way, and the temperature has dropped.

“That loser doesn’t want to do anything more than he has to,” she says. She scowls as she paces. She may be small, but she can be intimidating. “He will probably just throw some apples in a bucket.”

If he does that much, I’ll be impressed. Sarah doesn’t know Austin is planning to make sure our project is a complete failure. It is kind of weird. I’ve seen Austin put a lot of effort into projects at school. Last year he got the highest mark of all the eighth graders on a history project about the Civil War. I’m used to him being mean. But I’ve never seen him intentionally fail before. I can’t stop thinking about what he said about his dad and his dad’s girlfriend. It must suck to be sent away like this.

“You should plan a backup,” Meera suggests. She’s sitting on her bunk and playing on her phone. Katrina is not here. She left the cabin early this morning. She didn’t even come back after breakfast.

“That’s right, you should,” Sarah agrees. “That way, when he fails to plan anything, you can pull something together at the last minute. Besides, at least then the rest of you will have a project to work on.”

“That’s what Ollie wants to do,” I admit. “But Austin would be furious if he found out we were working behind his back.”

“So what?” Sarah asks. She stops and gives me a pointed stare. “Why are you so afraid of him?”

I pick up my book and focus on one of the pages. It’s not just that my nickname makes me uncomfortable. Austin is capable of more than name calling. Last year someone painted Jelly Roll on my locker and shoved a whole bag of cake crumbs in through the slats. I never got proof of who did it, but I know it was him.

A lot of kids at school tease me. But Austin is the only one who has ever gone beyond simply calling me names. He is a total jerk. I can’t believe I was actually feeling bad for him last night.

“Leave her alone, Sarah,” Meera says.

I don’t like the pity in her voice. I don’t want the others to feel sorry for me. I just want them to ignore Austin and stop worrying about my team.

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