I glanced up as Stan approached our table.
“Hey, Andie,” he said. “Thought I’d pick up that magazine you borrowed.”
Andie shrugged like she couldn’t care less.
Stan kept looking at her like the magazine was real important. “It’s the one with the article on John Wayne,” he explained.
“I know which one it is, and I didn’t borrow it; you gave it to me,” she said.
“Well, I want it back.”
“Fine,” Andie snapped. “It’s over there with my music folder.” She pointed to a row of shelves near the entrance. And without another word, Stan left.
“If you wanna know the truth, I never really liked John Wayne,” Andie whispered.
“Too bad Stan’s obsession with his Old West movie hero hasn’t rubbed off on him,” I said, laughing.
Andie snickered, too. “Yeah, John Wayne could teach Stan Patterson a thing or two about women.”
Kayla held her fork in midair. “Our church guys treat us with essentially zero respect.”
“Who needs guys, anyway,” I announced, forgetting about the cute blond cowboy four tables away.
“I’ll say amen to that,” Kayla blurted out.
“Not a-men,” Andie giggled. “Not any-men.” And once again, we totally lost it.
When all of us finished eating, we waited at the door while Andie went to get her music folder. I happened to glance over to where she was standing. By the frustrated look on her face I figured there was a problem. I told the others I’d be right back. Rushing to Andie’s side, I discovered her plight.
“I’m gonna be in such trouble for this.” She gestured wildly. “My piano music for choir practice is gone.”
I looked around. “Where could it be?”
“I put it right here before lunch.” She pointed to the lower shelf next to the window. “Mr. Keller won’t be happy about this.” She looked at her watch. “And choir’s in two hours!”
I felt her rage. Probably because Andie and I had been best friends forever. The way I figured, she had a right to be angry. After all, Andie shouldered the sole responsibility of accompanying our camp choir. And she was good…the best around.
Today was our first scheduled rehearsal. Mr. Keller, the youth choir director from our church, expected promptness and perfection. Nothing less.
“Do you think Stan took it?” I asked, remembering the thing with his movie magazine.
Andie’s countenance changed from frustration to pure anger. “That rat!”
I groaned. “Why did God have to give me such a louse for a brousin?”
Andie frowned. “What’s brousin mean again?”
“It’s the combination of cousin and stepbrother—”
“Never mind!” Andie was freaking out. “What’s Stan want with my music, anyway?”
“He’s probably ticked because you dumped him.”
Her face turned a rare shade of bright purple. “Well…serves him right.”
To top things off, Danny flagged us down as we were about to leave the dining hall. “Holly! Andie!” he called.
“Make it quick,” Andie said.
“I saw what happened with your music,” Danny said.
“We know—we know. Stan took it,” Andie said sarcastically.
Danny’s auburn hair was neatly combed, as usual, and he wore one of his button-down Sunday shirts. He looked like he was ready to claim the nearest pulpit.
“Calm down, girls. ‘A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger,’ ” he said.
“Save your breath, Danny,” I replied. “It’s too late for soft answers or whatever. Stan’s a toad.” I almost added, “and so are you,” but bit my tongue.
Once again, Danny had found one of the many proverbs stored in his vast memory bank and used it against us. Some friend.
Without looking back, Andie and I joined the girls from Cabin B, leaving Danny in the dust.
NO GUYS PACT
Chapter 10
Andie told the girls about Stan and her missing music on the walk to our cabin. “I’ve got to have it back before choir,” she insisted.
“Well, it’s quiet time now,” Paula commented. “Stan’s probably off trying to be quiet somewhere like a good boy.”
I smiled at her insightful remark. Coming from Paula’s lips the comment was hilarious.
“Well, it won’t be quiet around here for long when I get ahold of him!” Andie exclaimed.
Shauna had an idea. “Maybe he’ll just bring the music along to choir.”
“Right, like that’ll happen,” I said. “Not unless Andie begs him first.”
Andie fussed. “Well, I’ll just have to go track him down.”
“I’ll go with you,” I offered. So did the rest of our cabinmates.
A sudden breeze came up, making the aspen leaves rattle. I noticed that the sky had darkened; clouds were rolling in from the south. A summer storm was on its way.
Reaching back, I pulled the fork out of my bun and twisted my hair into an even tighter knot, hoping it would stay.
“Why don’t you just let your hair hang free?” Amy-Liz suggested. “It’s so long and thick.”
“And glamorous,” Kayla added.
Andie disagreed. “What she really oughta do is trim it—about ten inches worth.”
“Don’t you wish,” I said. Andie was always hinting that I should lop off my locks.
“I know, I know, your hair is your best feature, right?” Andie said. I knew she was still fuming over Stan, so I overlooked her cutting remark. A loud clap of thunder and a burst of wind sent us scurrying up the path to the safety of our cabin.
Inside, I dug through my luggage and pulled out my bag of toiletries. Lip gloss. Sunscreen. Deodorant. Toothbrush…I groaned as the truth set in.
“What’s the matter?” Andie asked.
“I forgot to pack my hair ties,” I moaned. “Anyone have some I can borrow?”
I looked around. Everyone had that sorry-can’t-help-you look on their faces. Paula and Kayla usually wore their hair down. Andie was definitely not into hair clips and things. And Shauna, Joy, and Amy-Liz didn’t wear their hair up, either. I was sunk.
“Maybe someone from another cabin might have one you could borrow,” Amy-Liz suggested.
“I can’t ask a complete stranger.” I couldn’t believe this. At home I had zillions of hair ties—at least two for every day of the month. But in my early morning rush, I’d forgotten to pack extras. How could I have been so stupid?
Wrong, I corrected myself. How can Jared be so stupid.
I stood up, a frown of determination on my face. “It’s time we women unite,” I declared.
Kayla looked up. “How?”
Our first quiet time at camp turned out to be full of noise—booming thunder outside, pounding rain on the roof, and heated discussion inside. Fortunately, Rhonna Chen was occupied for the moment in a counselor’s meeting somewhere. I’m not sure what she would have thought of the conversation we had.
“We could report Stan to the camp director and get him kicked out,” Shauna said. But by the looks on everyone’s face, no one was in favor of that.
“Or…we could form a society,” I suggested, lowering my voice. “A secret society.” I motioned for the girls to gather round. “We could make a pact—a no-guys pact. It’s fabulous.”
“Yeah,” Paula said softly. “For girls only.”
“Tell us more,” Amy-Liz said, fooling with her tie-dyed tights.
I nodded. “Here’s the deal: We create a pact with rules and stuff. And the first big rule will be to ignore boys.”
Andie cheered. “Count me in!”
“You’re amazing, Holly,” Amy-Liz remarked. “What’ll we call our secret society?”
“How about…” I thought for a second, then began laughing nearly uncontrollably.
“What?” Andie grabbed my arm.
I still couldn’t stop.
“What’s so funny?
” Joy asked.
I coughed and sputtered, choking down the giggles. “It’s perfect. Are you ready for this?”
My cabinmates leaned in even closer.
“Since the guys need a little help from their friends,” I began, “we’ll call it SOS, which stands for Sisters of Silence. Get it—SOS? Help for the guys—to teach them how to treat women.”
The girls applauded.
“You and your wild abbreviations,” Andie said.
“Remember that scrutiny test she put Jared through last fall?” Kayla asked. “What did you call it again?”
“STAN—Scrutiny Test to Analyze Nascence,” Andie recited.
“Thanks,” I said, tickled that they’d remembered. “So…what do you think about SOS?”
“I’d be delighted to join,” said Kayla. “Show me where to sign.”
“I’ll show you, all right,” I said, pulling my suitcase out from under Andie’s bed. Thank goodness I’d packed my new spiral notebook.
I sat on the floor, using the top of Andie’s suitcase as a desk. With pen in hand, on lined paper, I wrote the pact. The girls sat on the floor peering over my shoulder, some of them whispering to themselves as they read each sentence. Bottom line: We would ignore all boys to the best of our ability for the rest of camp week. Here’s what I wrote:
The No-Guys Pact
We, the Sisters of Silence, on this twenty-third day of June, do promise and resolve to ignore the boys at Camp Ouray for the space of one week.
We may speak quickly to them, such as “Hey,” or respond to a boy’s greeting, but we will not be involved in any extended conversation.
We will not walk anywhere with a boy alone.
We will not sit with a boy in chapel.
We will not eat meals with a boy.
We will not sit around the campfire with a boy.
By following the above provisions, we hope to help the male population of this camp learn to respect us.
Everyone cheered when I wrote the final words. Andie was the first to sign her name. She handed the pen back to me, and I signed next. Then Paula, Kayla, Amy-Liz, Shauna, and Joy.
We sealed the pact with bright pink nail polish, the Miller twins’ expensive stuff. When the polish dried a bit, I pressed my pen into the gooey substance and printed the letters SOS.
There. Now our pact was signed and sealed.
This was just the beginning.
NO GUYS PACT
Chapter 11
Paula broke the solemn silence. “When does the pact legally begin?” She flipped her hair for no obvious reason.
“Immediately,” Amy-Liz replied.
“Hurray!” shouted the Sisters of Silence.
It was time for celebration all right. If I’d been at home, I would be reaching for my journal. So I went to the cabin window and stared out just as I did every day on my window seat at home. The rain had slowed up, and the sun had created a golden ribbon around the thunderclouds above.
Andie came up to me. “What’s up?”
“Oh, just thinking about that rotten Jared person we used to fight over. Remember?” I turned to face her.
“The first crush of your life is a thief, Holly,” she said softly.
Sadly.
I nodded. “I want my hair tie back so bad I can taste it.”
Andie stopped nibbling on her candy bar and offered it to me. “Here, try this.”
I laughed. So did Amy-Liz, who’d overheard us talking. But the missing piano scores were no laughing matter. Andie had to find her music before choir. And I mean had to!
It was already one-thirty. Time for craft class for some of us. Archery class for the rest.
“We’d better get going,” I suggested. “Rhonna probably won’t be back here before we are. I’ve heard how long-winded those counselors meetings can be.”
“How can we secure our cabin?” asked Andie.
“Yes, we have some very expensive make-up and clothes and things,” Paula spoke up.
Kayla suggested pushing a chair under the doorknob so no one could just waltz in and rip off our stuff while we were gone. “But, then, how will we get out of here?” she asked.
Andie spied the back window and went to check out the situation. “Looks like this one’s close enough to the ground,” she said. “We can jump out over here.”
Which is exactly what we did. We stuffed a chair under the doorknob and exited through the back window.
Just as I was swinging my left leg over the windowsill, I heard someone jiggle the doorknob. I froze—sat right there on the ledge like a stunned pigeon.
“C’mon, Holly,” Paula said from outside, reaching up to assist me. “Are you scared to jump?”
“It’s not that,” I said, lowering my voice. “Someone’s at our front door!”
I heard knocking. “Anyone home?” a voice called.
I whispered out the window to the girls, “It’s Rhonna!”
The Sisters of Silence freaked out.
“Quick! Everyone back inside!” Then to Rhonna I called, “Uh, just a minute. I’ll be right there.”
It was the only logical solution. If we were caught leaving through the window and barring the door like this, well, I wasn’t sure what might follow.
My heart pounded as Andie and Shauna pulled Joy back through the window and into the cabin.
“Not a word about anything,” I whispered, thinking of the pact we’d made against the guys. Quickly, I removed the chair from under the doorknob.
Rhonna came inside, smiling big as you please. I’d expected a tongue-lashing for blocking the door like that. But she was as cool as you can get—still wearing her red cap. Only now it sat sideways on her jet black hair. “Having a private meeting, girls?”
We nodded, grinning like crazy.
She glanced at her watch. “So, who’s doing crafts today?” she asked, looking around.
Andie, Paula, and I raised our hands.
“Anyone for archery?”
That took care of Kayla, Amy-Liz, Shauna, and Joy.
“Okay, let’s go,” Rhonna said, still smiling. It was like she actually remembered being a teen at camp. Without another word, we split up and headed in different directions.
During basket-weaving class, my hair came loose three times. I had to keep winding it into a bun because it was too thick and heavy to stay put. Mrs. Campbell, an expert basket weaver and our instructor, finally gave me a long pencil to stick in it. The pencil worked much better. Probably looked better, too.
More important than my hair, though, was Andie’s music. She was worried sick. And I had to do something. After all, Stan was my brousin. If I couldn’t outsmart him, no one could.
Finally I excused myself, using the rest room as my reason to leave.
I left the great hall via the same exit as Stan had at lunch almost two hours ago. Which way did he go? I wondered, following the dirt path to the front of the building.
I needed something to go on. Just one minuscule shred of evidence…
Hiding behind the trunk of a dripping wet poplar tree, I spied out the land. Peering down, I scanned the path carefully and the wild grass on either side of it, hoping to find a clue.
To my far right were the guys’ cabins; to my left, the girls’. In front of me, the commons area stretched across a flat, wide meadow bordered by tall pine trees that rose like pointed arrows straight to the sky. A flagpole stood in the center of the area. Behind that lay the sports area and pool.
I decided to scout things out in Stan’s cabin. Surely, that’s where he’d hidden the music folder. But I’d have to go around to the back of the great hall so I wouldn’t be seen by the kids in the craft class. Mrs. Campbell would know I hadn’t gone to the rest room if she spied me sneaking across the commons area to the boys’ side of the camp. A definite no-no.
I backtracked, heading around to the rear of the dining hall. Down the steep slope behind it was the amphitheater, and even farther down, a rugged, wild area of rocks a
nd cliffs leading to the valley floor. I sneaked down low so I wouldn’t be seen by the cooks in the back windows.
Crouching, I noticed the blond cowboy carrying his raincoat and hurrying to the boys’ cabin. Curious, I followed close behind.
He hurried inside the cabin. Probably to drop off his raincoat, I thought. One look at the sky and I knew the thundershower had passed. I stood outside the cabin, wondering what to do now that I was here. I certainly couldn’t barge right in with him inside!
That’s when he came out, looking mighty surprised to see me. Surprised…and, I must say, definitely pleased.
“Hey,” I managed.
His eyes searched mine.
“Have you seen a music folder with ‘Andie Martinez’ written on the top?” I described the size and color.
“Oh, that.” He disappeared into the cabin and emerged carrying the folder under his arm. “Stan Patterson found this somewhere,” he said.
“No, he didn’t find it,” I insisted. “Stan stole it!”
He frowned. “Are you sure?”
“Positive. Danny Myers saw everything,” I said. “Stan must be mad at Andie. That’s why he’d do something like this.”
His face lit up, bright with amusement. “Looks like you’re mad, too.” Suddenly I remembered the pact. No extended conversation.
“Uh, thanks for the music folder,” I said, turning to leave. “You saved Andie’s life.”
But he called after me. “Wait!”
I turned around.
“I hope I’ll see you again, Holly.”
He knows my name!
The afternoon sun enhanced the blondness of his hair. And the blue in his T-shirt brought out the blue in his eyes. “My name’s Todd Stillson.” He paused. “What’re you doin’ later?” he asked. “Maybe we could take a walk…or something.”
“We will not walk anywhere with a boy alone.”
“Look, I’m sorry…I’ve gotta go.” I forced my gaze away from his face and started down the path toward the dining hall, proud of myself for sticking by the rules of the SOS pact.
“Holly?” he called after me.
But I just kept walking.
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