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feeling now?” the doctor asked, checking Jenna’s toes and knee for swelling.
    â€œWay better,” Jenna lied. “I think we can take the splint off now. No problem. Nothing’s broken, right?”
    The doctor slid Jenna’s X-ray out of a large envelope and clipped it onto a lit-up screen on the wall.
    â€œWell, Jenna,” he said, “it’s not good news, but it’s not as bad as it could’ve been, either. You have a hairline fracture in your tibia.” He pointed to a very thin, barely perceptible crack on the X-ray of her calf bone.
    â€œThat means it’s not broken, right?” Jenna asked, her heart giving a small leap of hope. “That means I can play sports again? If it’s just a fracture.”
    â€œI’m afraid not,” the doctor said gently. “A fracture is still a broken bone. You’re lucky it wasn’t a worse break. This type of fracture heals relatively quickly. But we’ll have to set it, and you’ll need a cast for about six weeks.”
    â€œSix weeks!” Jenna cried. “But that’s forever!”
    â€œIt’ll go by faster than you think,” the doctor said as he took down the X-ray, snapped Jenna’s medical chart shut, and stepped toward the door. “I’ll send for one of the nurses to apply your cast and show you how to use your crutches.”
    â€œCrutches, too?” Jenna flopped back on the bed as the doctor gave her one more patient smile before walking out of the room.
    â€œThe doctor was right,” Andie said, squeezing Jenna’s shoulder. “The next month will fly by. I broke my wrist when I was ten, and I had the cast off in no time.”
    â€œBut you didn’t break it at camp, right before Color War, did you?” Jenna asked, not even trying to hide the crabbiness in her voice.
    â€œNo,” Andie admitted reluctantly, “but you’ll still have a blast in Color War. You’ll see!”
    â€œNot in sports,” Jenna said.
    â€œYou can be our token cheerleader!” Andie cried. But when Jenna shook her head, she tried again. “Mascot? Coach?”
    â€œIt won’t be the same,” Jenna whispered. She bit her lip, trying to fight back the tears. But she couldn’t hold them back anymore, even as the nurse wrapped the plaster cast around her leg. There went her chance to compete in Color War. There went the rest of her summer . . . down the drain.

    Just the sight of the Lakeview campground as they drove in from the hospital made Jenna feel even worse. As she looked out at the lake, which she wouldn’t be swimming in, and the soccer fields, which she wouldn’t be playing on, her heart took a plunge to at least six feet under. She wobbled uncertainly on her crutches as she pulled herself out of the car, and she nearly tipped forward on her first awkward step. Luckily, Andie was there to steady her. Jenna didn’t even have the energy to protest when Andie had to help her maneuver from the car to the bunk.
    â€œDo you want me to see if I can get Pete to make a plate for you from the mess hall?” Andie asked as they slowly climbed the few steps to the bunk.
    â€œI’m not really hungry,” Jenna said. Suddenly she felt exhausted. Her leg felt strangely heavy and clunky in its cast, and her armpits hurt from leaning on her crutches, even though she’d only been using them for a few minutes. Great. How were her arms going to feel tomorrow after a full day of crutching it? She didn’t even want to think about it. All she wanted to do was crawl into her bed, pull the pillow over her head, and forget about this whole awful day.
    But as she hobbled into the bunk, she saw that she wouldn’t be getting her wish anytime soon.
    â€œJenna!” Natalie cried, leaping off her bed and rushing toward her. “Are you okay? We’ve been so worried.”
    Alyssa, Tori, Karen, and Jessie surrounded her, trying