by Laura Dower
But Will didn’t notice. He was already facing in the opposite direction, talking to another camper.
Madison turned around herself and nearly knocked over another girl.
“Hi, I’m from Cleveland,” the girl said, practically thrusting her hand into Madison’s for a shake. “Ann’s my name. Science is my game. Ha-ha. Well, you know. I’m one of those science geeks who can’t get enough science.”
She had feather earrings on, she was about Madison’s height, and she talked with a bit of an accent that Madison couldn’t quite identify. Madison tried to be as friendly as possible.
“Hey, Ann,” she said sweetly.
“How great is this?” Ann said in a much louder voice. “I mean, meeting you like—whammo! You remind me so much of my best girlfriend back in Ohio. I can tell that we will totally become best friends during camp. Totally.”
“Yeah?” Madison pasted on a smile. She appreciated Ann’s enthusiasm, but she wasn’t convinced about Ann’s prediction. After all, the title of “best friend” was reserved for the elite few—and those few were not in the room.
But Madison didn’t want to seem rude or to blow Ann off, so she started talking some more, about school and science. Ann loved to talk. She wouldn’t stop babbling about herself or asking obscure questions. She did have some finer points, however. Like her jersey. It was a bright orange color—Madison’s favorite color in the whole world—and Madison figured that that fact had to be one positive sign.
Or was it just a sneaky omen?
Chapter 6
LEONARD, THE CAMP DIRECTOR, finally showed up, a few minutes late. To get everyone’s attention, he clapped his hands, then grinned a wide, crocodile smile. Madison wasn’t sure what to make of him.
“Welcome to another summer together!” Leonard cried. “We’re so happy to have old campers and new campers alike.”
The kids cheered. Madison glanced around. Old campers? Almost everyone Madison could see from where she was had on camp T-shirts from the year before. It was like some kind of club meeting—only Madison hadn’t really been invited, at least, not yet. They were all paired off already, too, which didn’t seem altogether fair.
The guy she’d just met, Will, was standing with another boy. Ann had cornered some other girl across the room.
There was that pang again.
Aimee? Fiona? Lindsay? Hart? Where are you?
Madison wisely scoped out the room, searching for new campers like herself. She saw a boy wearing a visor, sitting quietly in a corner of the room. He raised his eyebrows every time the director said something. Madison tried to make eye contact, and he grinned. She moved over to him.
“Hey,” Madison said, trying to be friendly. “I’m Madison.”
“Yo, hey. I’m Anthony, but I go by ‘Tony’ sometimes,” Anthony said. “Or Teeny. My friends call me Teeny. It’s all good.”
“Sure,” Madison said. “Um … do you have a partner?”
Tony did not have a partner—so he agreed to be hers. Madison breathed a sigh of relief. She was off to a better start now, or at least, she hoped she was.
Having a partner for the camp tour reminded Madison of having a buddy for fire drills in elementary school. Madison remembered how back then she and Ivy had always been fire-drill buddies. They’d held hands—tight—on the way down the stairs to the outside of the building, and no matter how many times they had tripped on the steps, neither of them had ever let go.
It was funny how things had changed so dramatically since then. Since elementary school, it seemed as if they were letting go all the time.
Leonard led the group of campers around. Madison counted at least twenty-five kids. Everyone was whispering, pointing, and, except for her, embracing old friends.
Teeny and another boy started talking, but Madison kept moving, following Leonard. Maybe she didn’t need a buddy.
She listened as Leonard started to point out the different buildings on the property.
First, he took the entire group over to an old atrium covered with mangroves. Inside, Madison saw clusters of white, purple, and pink orchids, among other plants. There were a few wild birds flying around, too.
Around the corner from the atrium was a more modern, wooden-shingled building. Leonard showed all the campers into a room filled with exhibits on camouflage, animal tracks, and underwater life.
Adjacent to the exhibit room was the ELC Aquatic Center (at least, that was what the carved wooden sign said). Inside were individual tanks of fish and turtles and way too many snakes. Leonard told everyone to have a look around.
On one side of the room, Madison saw an enormous, open tank with another skate like the ones at the restaurant, as well as crabs, smaller fish, and sea grass. She moved toward it.
“Cool stuff, right? Did you see the turtle wall?”
Madison turned around. Will was standing there.
“Turtle wall?” Madison said. “No. Where?”
Will pointed to the corner of the room opposite the place where they stood. Up on the wall was a row of turtle shells and little plaques with text underneath describing the different turtle breeds. Madison read the plaques quickly. She had a lot to learn in the next two weeks.
“Okay, everyone,” Leonard announced. “That’s a quick tour for you. Now, follow me back to the main auditorium so we can split up into smaller groups.”
“What does Leonard mean about splitting up into groups?” Madison asked Will.
Will ran his fingers through his hair. Madison stared, then quickly looked away when she realized she was staring.
“Well,” Will explained. “It’s like this. We do some things as a large group. I think there are, like, twenty or thirty people or something. We barbecue or play games together. Or have marsh walks. That kind of stuff. But for the studying—and the hatchling night, which I think is the best part of all—we work in groups of five or six.”
“Five or six?” Madison asked. “How do the camp leaders split us up?”
Will shrugged. “Leonard pulls names out of a hat. I don’t know. He sees who you hang with. Look, I have no clue. I know he tries to mix it up so people meet new people.”
“Wow,” Madison said. “So we spend the two weeks with mainly five or six campers?”
“Pretty much,” Will replied. “Plus, the camp leaders, of course. They swap around, so we work with everyone at some point. Some leaders are turtle experts. Other ones are fish experts. Some are just, like, nature police to make sure we don’t destroy the grounds. Last year some kid got mad for no reason and ripped out all these plants. He got sent home.”
“Gee, you know a lot about this place,” Madison said.
“Well, yeah,” Will said. “My grandfather—his name was Will, too—was one of the people who started it up. He was a conservationist. That’s what Mom calls him …”
“Someone who conserves nature and wildlife,” Madison said simply.
“You’re really smart, aren’t you?” Will asked.
Once again, Madison couldn’t quite tell if Will was being serious or if he was joking around. But she chuckled a little, deciding on the latter. She also found herself staring at him just a little bit again. She wasn’t sure why. Something about him seemed nice, almost familiar.
“It must have been cool having a grandfather who made a place like this,” Madison said.
“Yeah,” Will said. “I’ve hung out here during summers and winter breaks from school ever since I was a kid.”
Madison and Will followed the other kids out the door. Leonard lead the way. Someone grabbed Madison’s elbow. It was Ann.
“Don’t forget me-e-e-e-e!” Ann said.
Madison smiled politely, even though Ann had pinched her skin as she grabbed her. Madison tried to wriggle free without making a big deal out of it.
All at once, Teeny appeared. He poked Madison in the side.
“Yo, where did you go?” Teeny asked.
“I’m sorry,” she said, trying hard to look c
ontrite. “I thought you were talking to someone …”
“Yeah, for, like, two seconds I talked to someone, and then you were gone. I thought we were going to be partners.”
Madison glanced at Will and then Ann and then back at Teeny.
“Hey, Teeny,” Madison said. “Do you know Will and Ann?”
Teeny shook his head. “Nope. How you doing?” he asked the other two.
“Where are you from, again?” Madison asked Teeny, as they all started to walk.
“I live in Florida,” he said. “Just north of here. My grandmother wanted me to come here. She said I should learn something instead of wasting the summer surfing. So I figured I’d try it. I love fishing.”
“We won’t be fishing, will we?” Ann asked aloud.
“Not for dinner,” Madison joked.
Will and Teeny both laughed.
By then, they had walked across a wide plank bridge over to the auditorium, where Leonard was gathering everyone. The four new friends sat down in a row together.
Leonard stood at the podium and ran through the list of camp activities. He passed around a calendar describing what they would be doing for the next two weeks. Then he clapped his hands together, smiled his crocodile smile, and cleared his throat.
“Now, on to the camp, groups.”
Everyone in the audience shifted in his or her seat. The veteran campers pushed close together as if that would somehow ensure their being assigned to the same groups again this year.
“Okay, let’s start over on this side of the room,” Leonard said. He pointed to the row in front of him and counted off a group. “One, two, three, four, five—you will be Group A, for ‘Alligators’.”
Madison couldn’t believe it. If he was just going to count off people like that, in the rows where they sat, then she and Will would end up in the same group.
It was too good to be true.
A second group was counted off, from a different row, and named Group B, for “Butterflies.”
The third group was called C, for “Crabs” (although the kids in that group didn’t like their name much). The fourth group was D, for “Dolphins.”
Madison held her breath. There were only two more groups to be counted.
“One, two, three, four, five,” Leonard said, pointing at Madison’s row.
At Will’s seat, he stopped counting. He didn’t point to Madison.
“You will be Group E, for Egrets,” Leonard said.
Madison took a deep breath. She thought she saw a look of disappointment on Will’s face. Or was it just that she wished she had seen that look?
She knew she had a look of disappointment on her own face.
But before he started to count again, Leonard waved his hands in the air. “Wait!” he cried. “Go back for a moment. I miscounted.”
He pointed to Madison.
“I should have said, ‘One, two, three, four, five, and six,’” he said, now pointing his finger at Madison’s forehead. “You should also be a part of the Egrets. Okay?”
“Okay!”
A smile spread across Madison’s face. Her skin tingled with excitement and happiness. She was an Egret after all! Hurrah! Her entire body wanted to jump right out of the seat and high-five everyone in the room. But instead of making a scene, she scrunched down in her seat.
Lay low, Maddie, Madison told herself as she leaned back.
Will leaned over to Madison. “That’s so cool,” he said. “I was hoping we’d be in the same group. You know, since we’re both from New York and all that.”
“Yeah,” Madison said. “Since we’re from New York.”
“Oh, my God!” Ann squealed. She leaned right over Will’s lap, stretching all the way to Madison. “I told you we’d be together!”
“Excuse me,” Will grumbled.
Ann grinned. “Sorry,” she said. Madison thought maybe Ann was trying too hard, but she couldn’t be sure. Ann seemed to be over the top about everything.
Madison glanced back to the seat where the Egrets’ row started. She saw Teeny there, and another boy and girl she hadn’t met yet.
The boy turned and looked over toward Madison.
“I’m Logan,” he said. Then he turned to the girl at his side. “This is Laura.”
“No, no. I am Suchita,” she said. She spoke with an accent.
Logan had a head of thick, red-brown hair and brown glasses. He wore a T-shirt with a picture of a spaceship on it. He held up two fingers in a peace sign.
Madison tried very hard not to chuckle at him when he held up his fingers like that.
Leonard asked the different groups to go to lunch together and to spend the afternoon reviewing the camp schedule. That way, fellow campers would be able to get to know each other. From then on, those five or six partners would be the most important part of being at camp. Working together was as important as learning how to deal with sea life and turtle hatching.
The Egrets had lunch with the Dolphins and the Flounders (the last group to get chosen after Madison’s). Madison was impressed by how much her camp experience had changed since the morning. Now she really did feel like a part of camp. It wasn’t the same thing as Far Hills Junior High, with her cluster of friends, but it was the next best thing for now.
Stephanie came alone to pick Madison up when camp ended for the day. Dad was working. When Stephanie walked over, Madison introduced her to the rest of the Egrets. Then they said good-bye and walked back to the car.
Madison was grinning from ear to ear.
“Well,” Stephanie said. “I don’t have to ask how your first day at Camp Sunshine went. I can see it all over your face. You look like sunshine.”
Madison giggled. “I know it’s dumb. I was so worried about camp. But it was better than I could have imagined.”
“So, tell me,” Stephanie said.
Madison explained about the turtle wall and the aquatic center and all the other topics Leonard had covered during their introductory day.
“And …” Stephanie said.
“And?”
“What about the other kids?”
Madison shrugged. “Oh, they’re nice. I think. I like my group.”
“Mmmm,” Stephanie mused. “I saw you smiling at that one boy.”
“So?” Madison started giggling again. “I was not smiling. I was just being nice. That’s what we were all being.”
“Well, your dad will be very pleased to know you had a good day. He was worried about you and camp. You seemed so unsure when you arrived. And we want you to have the best summer ever.”
“Thanks,” Madison said. “I’m fine, really. I like Camp Sunshine way more than I thought. And we haven’t even had the best parts yet.”
Stephanie turned the car onto the main highway.
“I can’t wait to hear about those,” she said with a wide grin.
Chapter 7
BACK AT THE APARTMENT that evening, Madison’s mind was still buzzing about her first day of Camp Sunshine. She called Mom to check in.
“Honey bear!” Mom gushed. “I’ve been waiting for your call. How was it?”
“You would not believe it, Mom,” Madison explained. “They had live sharks, and we had to put on scuba gear and get into the tank with them—”
“What?”
Madison burst into laughter.
“As if, Mom,” Madison said. “It was great, though. The camp is very cool. The people are nicer than nice.”
“So, you’ll make some new friends this summer after all,” Mom said. “See? And you were so worried.”
“Yeah,” Madison sighed.
“Hey, Aimee called up yesterday and asked if she could bring over her dog, Blossom, to play with Phin. We went over to the dog run in the park together.”
“So, what’s going on with Aim?” Madison asked. She felt one of her I miss my friends so-o-o much pangs coming on.
“Aimee is very, very excited about her dance performance,” Mom said. “I told her I would definitely
go to see her. She got me a ticket.”
“Thanks, Mom, that’s really nice of you. I wish I could see her perform.”
“I know you do, honey bear,” Mom said. “I’m sure all of your friends miss you as much as you miss them. Not to worry.”
“By the way, I started a blog,” Madison said. She gave Mom the exact address. “It’s mostly for me and my friends, but you can check it out.”
“Well, I will do that.”
“What are you working on?” Madison asked.
Mom paused. “A little of this and a little of that. Budge Films asked me if I’d oversee this small documentary feature being directed by this incredible Chinese woman. It’s a movie about the Great Wall.”
“A movie about a wall?” Madison asked.
“The Great Wall,” Mom said. “It’s part of an even larger project Budge is sponsoring to find new voices in documentary film. My company is doing some big things, heading in new directions. Since my promotion, things have been getting very interesting.”
“I know what that means,” Madison said. “You’ll have more and more work, right?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that,” Mom said. “Maybe.”
Madison couldn’t keep track of Mom’s film career. Mom always seemed to be working around the clock on some new project. Sometimes she filmed in the jungle. Sometimes she filmed inside caves. Sometimes she interviewed people for documentaries about historical figures. But mostly, she captured animals and wildlife on camera. That was the one thing Madison liked about what Mom did for a living. Madison knew that Mom’s love of animals was, in part, where she’d gotten her own love of nonhuman creatures.
“I’m so glad you called tonight,” Mom said. “I was just sitting here in my studio office with a cup of coffee and thinking about how much I miss you. Phinnie misses you too, of course.”
“I know,” Madison said, feeling momentarily choked up. “Give him a chew toy for me.”
“Will do,” Mom said. “And you keep me posted on that great camp adventure.”
“Okay,” Madison said. She puckered up and kissed the air, sending a long-distance smooch to Mom through the phone line. Then she hung up and reached for her laptop.