"Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom."

-Hannah Arendt

Chapter Nine

"You guys, I have no idea what shirt to wear," Bailey complained as they were getting ready for the dance. The minute the words came out of her mouth, she immediately clamped her hands over her mouth. She had never, ever in her entire life thought let alone utter something so, so completely girly before.

She was hoping her new friends hadn't heard her, but from the looks on their faces as they turned to her, they had.

"What in the world did you just say?" Madison calmly asked her.

"Somebody is hoping to get the hook-up tonight," Beth added in, turning back to the mirror to finish applying some make-up. As she said that, Shannon entered the bathroom.

"Better not be with Scott," Shannon sneered at Bailey, "because he will once again be mine tonight."

"I thought you two broke up," Madison's bemused voice spoke up.

"Oh we did, but mark my words, we will be back together by the end of tonight," Shannon informed her. With that, she swirled out of the room.

"I think I liked her better depressed," Jennifer muttered.

For the last two days Shannon had been so depressed that she didn't want to do anything. Everyone else assured her that it was better that way for Shannon, but Bailey couldn't help but feel really bad for her. Not to mention the fact that she had the feeling Scott had been avoiding her. Maybe tonight he really was planning on winning his ex-girlfriend back.

---

"You do realize that you are going to have to talk to your parents sooner or later, right?" Craig asked Vanessa nonchalantly as they sat at one of the tables outside of the sno cone place.

Craig and Vanessa had been getting a lot of sno cones recently. As of right now, Craig was the only one who happened to know that Vanessa was adopted and that Vanessa knew that she was adopted. Vanessa had come to rely on him to talk about this major part of her life. She wanted advice on how to deal with it all, and while not really giving much advice, Craig gave her plenty of time to talk about it.

"I know," Vanessa sighed, "but I keep playing the scene over in my mind, and I think that the chances of me actually getting through to my mom or my dad that I know about it are slim."

"What are you talking about?" Craig asked, "your parents aren't stupid."

"No, their not," Vanessa admitted, frustrated, "just, for the past couple of years, the three of us have gotten so caught up in our own lives that we barely have time to sit down and actually have a conversation anymore."

"So, do you think maybe that's what's bugging you more?" Craig quietly asked, "Are you afraid that maybe your parents don't really love you the way that they would their own kid? And you use as evidence the fact that you guys haven't had a real conversation in awhile."

Vanessa looked away from Craig at that time. She knew he was right. It was totally irrational for her to even be thinking this way. Heck, she even knew the advice that she would give somebody else in her situation, "Just talk to your parents. The chances are that if you are this worried about them knowing then they really love you. Remember also that family are those who are there for you, not necessarily those whose genes are in your body."

But, if it was so easy to give that advice to somebody else, why couldn't she use it on herself?

---

"Lainey, you want to go and get some food?" Margaret asked as she quickly appeared in the doorway of the room Lainey was using. Lainey silently shook her head and buried herself back under the covers.

Lainey looked about like she felt. She couldn't believe that she had fought with her best friend. Over a guy especially. Of course, the guy was Marcus. Lainey's crush. Most of her life in junior high and the first part of her high school career had been built around how she was going to approach Marcus. And she finally had. And it had been good for about nine hours. Then it all went downhill faster than she could even say, "I like Marcus."

Fitting the pieces together hadn't been that hard after she had left Rachelle's in a huff. Of course Donny would have been nice to her at the airport if he knew Marcus was going to break the news to her. Of course Rachelle would want to use the phone away from them. She was dating him, who wouldn't want to talk to their boyfriend away from the group?

Lainey never wanted to get out of bed again.

---

"Hey Sarah," Vanessa greeted evenly as Sarah came into McDonald's.

Sarah was a complete wreck. She had stayed up half the night wondering who was right about Carlos. I mean ... Susie and the others hadn't ever given her reason not to trust them, but Vanessa and the editor guy just seemed more like the trustworthy types. Which confused her, because if Carlos was really a bad guy surely Susie and the others would know and tell her. Right?

But Sarah had a sinking feeling that she was wrong about that.

"Hey," she mumbled in return.

"So, did you have fun flirting with Seth?" Vanessa asked her, an amused spark in her eyes.

"Seth?" Sarah inquired.

"Newspaper editor," Vanessa filled her in, "he called me this morning to tell me about some girl calling to try and get me kicked off the newspaper."

"I'm so sorry," Sarah gushed, "I never meant to actually ...,"

"It's okay," Vanessa waved off, "most people get sucked into the web that is Susie. I mean, how were you to be any different?"

She then turned away from the cash register, giving one of her co-employees a look, and he then stepped up to the register.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Sarah opened her mouth before quickly shutting it and running out of McDonald's.

---

Bailey looked down at her outfit before turning to her friends.

"No way," she protested.

"You're the one who didn't know what to wear," Jennifer said, amusement in her voice.

"But I didn't say I wanted to dress like a skank," Bailey explained.

"You are so not dressed like a skank," Maddie rolled her eyes, "so what if you're showing a little bit of skin. You look hot. Especially with those jeans on."

Bailey looked down at her outfit once again. She was wearing the traveling pants and a shirt that she had borrowed (against her will) from Maddie. The shirt was a black haltertop that tied around the neck in the back. She also had to wear some of Maddie's black high heels to compliment the outfit. Throw in the big black necklace and earrings and she was fully equipped. Or so they told her. Bailey personally couldn't see how walking around in high heels when she could barely walk in tennis shoes was going to help her win Scott over. Unless she fell into his arms. Which ... actually didn't seem like that bad of an idea.

"Let's just go," Bailey muttered before she could change her mind about the outfit. The other three did silent cheers before they left the cabin.

"You guys, I have another problem," Bailey said right before they entered the dance. Maddie, Jennifer, and Beth turned to look at her.

"Yeah?" Maddie asked, worried.

"I have no idea how to dance," Bailey warned them.

"Well, it's a little late for that one," Beth pointed out, "we can't teach you to dance in, like, two seconds."

"Thanks guys," Bailey murmured to herself as she pushed open the big doors and walked through to the gym.

---

Vanessa saw her mom sitting at the kitchen table when she got home. She decided that now was as good a time to talk to her mom as any. She knew that if she kept holding this in then it would nag away at her all summer until she couldn't properly function anymore. And here was her chance. Her mom was actually here.

"Hey mom," Vanessa greeted, sitting down with her at the kitchen table.

"Hey Ness," her mom smiled back, looking up from her work for about a second at her daughter.

"Can I talk to you mom?" Vanessa hurriedly asked.

"Well, sweetheart, I'm kind of busy," Carmen told her, a slight raise in her voice as she answered her daughter. Vanessa knew that she should just let it rest, but she couldn't. She had to talk to her mom about it.

"Mom ... this is really important," Vanessa protested.

"Ness, look, I don't have time for your petty teenager issues right now. We'll talk later," Carmen dismissed. Vanessa quickly stood up and ran upstairs to her room.

Before she could stop herself, she punched her wall. She looked startled at the wall. She had never been one to express many emotions before, and here she was punching her wall just because of this stupid adoption. As if on command, Vanessa picked up her phone and dialed a number.

"Hey Craig ... you want to go get some food?" she asked, trying to keep her emotions in check.

---

"May I have this dance?" a voice behind Bailey spoke up about five minutes into the dance. She turned around and noticed Scott standing behind her. She gave him a smile as a sense of relief watched over her. So, he hadn't been avoiding her.

"My dancing skills aren't exactly up to par," Bailey admitted to the boy who was now offering her his hand.

"It's okay," he assured, grabbing her hand and leading her to the dance floor, "it's a slow song. They are always the easiest."

"May I cut in?" a voice nastily asked before the two had even started dancing. Bailey looked up to see Shannon standing in front of her.

"Can't you see I'm dancing with Double B?" Scott asked her, irritated. Shannon looked between the two and quickly exited the gym. Scott then turned back to Bailey and asked, "so, where were we?"

"I ... I can't," Bailey muttered.

"What, why not?" Scott asked, a bewildered expression crossing his face.

"Because Shannon is hurting," Bailey explained.

"You do realize that she has been waiting to relish in your hurting this whole time at camp and your telling me that you don't like the fact that she's hurting?" Scott seemed stunned.

"I'm sorry," Bailey muttered before heading out of the gym after Shannon. After about two seconds she spotted her underneath a tree near the cabins.

"Hey Shannon," Bailey said carefully as she approached the crying girl.

"Why don't you just leave me alone?" Shannon asked, through her tears.

"I'm sorry," Bailey told her, "I never meant to upset you. I ... I didn't mean for you and Scott to break up."

"Of course you didn't," Shannon waved off, "It's not like everybody in this camp wasn't cheering when it happened. They all hate me."

"Probably because you are such a jerk to them," Bailey pointed out.

"And you don't hate me?" Shannon asked, a smile crossing her face. Bailey was taken aback by the fact that this seemed to be the first real smile that had crossed Shannon's face.

"Nah," Bailey announced, "I'm too nice to hate you."