Unscripted - Nicole Kronzer Page 0,6

started braiding her hair over her shoulder. “I was sure we were going to get into super big trouble or whatever, but—”

“But I finally made you see reason.” Sirena smiled, handing Emily a hair binder for her braid.

Emily smiled back, taking it.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I assured her, needlessly pulling at my own curls. “And if it’s not,” I said, “I’ll take the blame.” I put on a voice. “Emily tried to hold me back! She pinned my arms to my sides with her exceptional strength, but she was no match for me . . . The Incredible Hulk of Unpacking!”

They laughed. Sirena nodded a thank-you at me. I smiled and retrieved my luggage from near the screen door. After throwing my backpack on top of the bunk by the window, near Emily and Sirena’s, I unzipped my duffle and pulled out my sleeping bag and pillow.

“So,” Emily said, picking up her stuffed owl and tucking it into her lap. “Are you the only girl on your team back home?”

“What?” I released my bright turquoise sleeping bag from its compression sack and arranged it and my pillow on the mattress. “No. There’s like . . . I don’t know. Half my team is girls, I think. My coach is a woman, too.”

“Lucky,” Sirena said, shaking her head.

“Yeah, I don’t really have a problem with our guys,” I said, trying to decide what to do with the stuff in my suitcase. “We actually do a lot of sketches, and I write most of those . . . I don’t know. Maybe with our coach being a woman and all those girls on the team . . .” I decided everything else could stay in my suitcase under the bed since I was probably moving tomorrow anyway. “Maybe she just shuts that sexist stuff down without us realizing it.”

“You are super lucky,” Emily said. “Our team needs some serious help. Like from Oprah.”

I grinned. “Oprah?”

Sirena raised an eyebrow. “Emily thinks Oprah can solve anything.”

I squinted. “You could do worse than to love Oprah, I guess. What—she built a school, created a publishing boom, launched a media empire—”

Emily interrupted me. “She’s smart. And brave.”

“Too bad she isn’t here,” I said, sitting on the bed across from them.

Emily and Sirena offered me identical quizzical looks.

I smiled. “Cuz I bet she could find your CD.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“I can’t believe I left the schedule at home!” Emily moaned on our trek to the Main Lodge. I had assumed there would be cell reception, so I’d left my paper copy at home, too. We had been walking three wide, but the dirt path narrowed, so I dropped back.

Sirena put her arm around Emily’s shoulders, and Emily peered up at her like a flower seeking the sun. Sirena’s voice was so gentle, I almost missed it. “All you need to know is the next thing on the schedule, right?”

Emily bit her lip a little and nodded.

Sirena hip-checked her. “Well, then, I’m sure we can beg someone to tell us when it’s time for dinner.”

I took two quick steps to catch up to Emily’s other side as the path widened again.

“And short of that,” I assured her, “I’m really good at sneaking food out of kitchens.”

Emily flashed me a small smile and nodded. “I just don’t want to be late. Or get into trouble.”

Sirena gently tugged on Emily’s braid. “We’re not going to get into—”

But Sirena was interrupted by a voice that sounded like a DJ announcing the bridal party at a wedding reception. “Paloma! Do you hear that? Real. Live. Actual. GIRLS!”

All three of us jerked our heads to the right where two girls were dragging their luggage down the intersecting path toward us.

Sirena and Emily and I waved and walked over to meet them halfway. As we drew nearer, I couldn’t help but stare at Announcer Girl. Her skin was white. But not white-person-white. Not pink-ish or olive-ish or even just super pale. Actual White. At first, I didn’t notice her hair because she was wearing a baseball cap, but when I looked more closely, I realized her ponytail was white, too. She wore dark sunglasses, jeans, and a light gray long-sleeve button-up shirt layered over a striped tank top.

I felt like I was staring at this shockingly white girl forever, which felt rude, so I smiled. “I’m Zelda.”

“Zelda!” she spluttered. “Is that seriously your name? Holy god, I thought I was going to be the one to stand out, but you? You’re named after a video