Hide and Shriek #14

by Melissa J Morgan

  The others also apologized to Gaby for laughing, and Jenna apologized to Gaby for throwing candy at her. Gaby told Jenna that if the mud didn’t come out of her T-shirt, she’d buy her a new one. Then Priya apologized for calling Gaby a brat.

  Even though you are one, she thought.

  Belle added, “All right. Let’s put this behind us. Your keywords this summer, ladies, are ‘kindness’ and ‘courtesy.’ Got it?”

  “Yes,” Priya said, along with the others.

  “You had better all get along, or else,” Belle concluded.

  Then the circle broke up and everyone got into their beds. In her baby tee and boxers, Priya lay in the bunk above Candace, worn out from all the craziness, but still wired for the same reason. After the most supreme freakout of her entire summer camp experience, she had no idea how she was going to fall asleep. That, plus wondering who Spence liked better, her or Chelsea . . .

  He can’t like Chelsea! That violates all the laws of God and man! Have I wandered into the Bizarro World?

  Then Candace whispered, “Priya?”

  “Yes?” Priya whispered back.

  “Belle said we had to get along ‘or else.’ Or else what?”

  “I don’t know,” Priya said into the darkness.

  chapter FIVE

  Morning came way too early, as far as Alyssa was concerned. But Brynn had gotten up already to do some yoga. She claimed yoga helped clear her mind, which helped her with her acting. Alyssa thought she should giit a try, too, except she just didn’t have the heartfor it. The fight upset her. And Tori’s hints about skiller on the loose scared her. She didn’t knoif she ever wanted to hear the full 411 on that su

  On the way to the flag raising, the entire bunk was draggy and awkward around one another. Belle had darker circles under her eyes and she seemed even paler than the day before. She was spooky-lookinand Alyssa kept her distance. The counselor spent most of her time writing on her clipboar and counting heads as they walked down the hill. She was obsessed with making sure that all eleven of her charges could be accounted for. Her anxiety made Alyssa anxious—Tom Esposito had gone home with mono last summer, right?

  After the flag was raised, the campers filed into the mess hall for breakfast. Alyssa watched as David bounded up to Jenna. Natalie, Valerie, and Simon strolled along together. Alex and Adam were clearly in couple mode. Priya looked wounded as Spence walked with Chelsea. What was up with that?

  After Adam peeled off to sit with his bunk, Alyssa caught up with Alex.

  Alex sighed. “Lyss, what is going on? I’ve been waiting all year for camp and now I’m almost sorry I came.”

  “Even though you have a boyfriend?” Alyssa asked.

  “Even though.” Alex sighed.

  “I hear you,” Alyssa agreed.

  “Last night our bunk went psycho,” Alex continued.

  “Totally psycho,” Alyssa concurred.

  Brynn and Jordan walked ahead of them, Jordan’s head bent toward Brynn’s.

  “Brynn and Jordan are still tight. That’s nice,” Alex said. “And I talked Adam out of the three cupcakes he was charging us to give back Tori’s stuff.”

  “Work it, girl,” Alyssa urged her with a little wink. “At least someone’s getting along.”

  But as 5A sat on the two benches at the long wooden breakfast table reserved for them in the mess hall, Brynn squeezed in beside Alyssa.

  “Jordan wants to talk to me about something,” she said under her breath. “He asked me to meet him during siesta.”

  “Cool,” Alyssa replied as she swallowed down some bug juice.

  “I don’t know.” Brynn leaned her elbows on the table. “When you ask to talk to someone later like that? It’s usually something bad. Otherwise you just say what’s on your mind right then and there.”

  “No way. He probably wants to ask you to be his date for the social.” Alyssa took another sip of juice. The second sip was no better than the first. “Maybe he’s too shy to ask you in public.”

  “Oh.” Brynn’s face lost some of its tension. “I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe that’s it.” She grinned at Alyssa. “It’s hard to imagine Jordan being shy.”

  “Who’s hungry?” Clarissa asked, carrying a big round tray. Since Clarissa was a CIT, it was her job to act as the bunk’s server. Her short blond hair reminded Alyssa of Tinkerbell. Her well-developed calves and pointy ears just completed the package. She was very cute and perky, even at this early hour. She offered them Pete’s version of French toast, which was pathetic little squares of soggy burnt bread. Also, bacon, about two notches past “well done.”

  And of course, mass quantities of bug juice.

  “Is it just me, or is this worse than usual?” Alex murmured across from Alyssa, as she experimentally nibbled on a piece of bacon.

  “Everything okay?” Clarissa asked, walking down Alyssa’s side of the table.

  “Sure, fine,” Alyssa assured her. Everyone’s heads bobbed. Lie, lie, lie. It would be too complicated to update Clarissa each and every time there was another dip in bunk morale.

  Seated at the end of the table, Belle made a note on her clipboard.

  All the girls were on their best behavior through the rest of breakfast. Even Chelsea was quiet, and when she spoke, she was actually polite. Bunk 5A might not have been at war, but they were miles away from being a tight bunk, which made Alyssa’s heart sink.

  At the conclusion of the meal, Belle stood at the end of their table and told them to stay seated because Dr. Steve and Tashya were coming to talk to them. Tashya was the head of the fifth division.

  “It’s because we went berserk,” Jenna muttered.

  “You went berserk,” Gaby sniped.

  “Guys, don’t,” Alyssa pleaded as Dr. Steve and Tashya drew near.

  “Good morning, campers,” Dr. Steve began.

  There were scattered subdued replies.

  Alex raised her hand. “Are we in trouble?”

  Dr. Steve looked at each girl in turn before he answered.

  “Not yet.” He crossed his arms over his navy blue Camp Lakeview polo shirt.

  Alyssa didn’t like the sound of that.

  “You may have noticed that a lot of your friends from the fourth division didn’t return to camp this summer,” he said. “We’re not sure why. But those of you who did come back are clearly having problems getting along.”

  “No kidding,” Gaby whispered. Alyssa wanted to kick her. Luckily, Dr. Steve didn’t seem to have heard.

  “We can’t let this kind of situation go on,” Dr. Steve continued. “As of today, you are all on probation.”

  What does that mean? Alyssa wondered as she traded worried glances with Natalie, Brynn, and Jenna.

  “I would rather send all of you home than perpetuate the bad feelings I’m seeing at Camp Lakeview,” the camp director continued. There was a big reaction to that as his words sunk in. Get sent home? This was huge.

  “I want you to prove to me that you can come together and show me some true Camp Lakeview spirit. Where we treat everyone at camp like a member of our family.”

  “Some families are very dysfunctional,” Gaby muttered.

  Dr. Steve looked at Tashya, who took the floor.

  “We’re going to work on some bonding exercises with you girls,” Tashya announced. “And that will start today, when 5A leaves on an overnight nature campout.” As the girls began to talk all at once, Tashya raised her hand to signal silence. “All your slots in your extracurriculars will be held for you and the auditions for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow aren’t until next week.”

  “We’ll be leaving after lunch, during siesta,” Belle said with a little smile. “Clarissa and I have started planning a really fun adventure for you. I hope no one peeked at my clipboard yesterday.”

  Oh. That’s why she’s so into her clipboard!

  Alyssa glanced over at Valerie as the light went on in the other girl’s eyes, too. That must have been what Belle had been hiding f
rom her. So they had already been planning a trip before the bunk went berserko.

  Dr. Steve said, “I really need to see some improvement in your behavior. Please believe me when I tell you that I’m serious about this.”

  He looked at Belle. “It would be very painful for your counselor to report any bad behavior on this overnight, but I’ve asked her to be honest about how it goes. She’s agreed to let me know if she thinks any of you need to be sent home.”

  Alyssa swallowed hard and nodded when his gaze rested on her. Then she heard Chelsea mutter, “There’s no one at my home.”

  After the meeting, the group returned to the cabin to perform their chores. Each girl snapped to. There was no playful arguing or complaining over who had bathroom duty. After the sinks, toilets, and shower stalls sparkled, all the beds were made, and the floor was swept clean, they got their gear ready for the overnight and helped carry it down to the parking lot. There were no smiles. There was a lot of trudging. Going on an overnight together was clearly the last thing anyone wanted to do.

  To make matters worse, lunch was tuna surprise.

  Natalie groaned. “No! No! I can’t stand tuna surprise! Throw the tuna back into the lake!”

  The whole bunk laughed, all in fun. It was the first lighthearted moment they had shared since the meeting with Dr. Steve.

  “Here we are,” Clarissa announced, carrying her large brown tray topped with a steaming bowl of the wretched casserole. “Who’s hungry?”

  “Natalie Goode is starving. Give it all to Nat!” Jenna cried. “Tuna surprise is her favoritest thing in the world.”

  Everyone cracked up and Clarissa chuckled as she sailed to the end of the bench to serve Natalie first.

  “Give her a doggy bag for the bus, too. She can’t get enough of it,” Tori called after Clarissa.

  “Ha-ha,” Natalie said. “Lucky thing I have plenty of PowerBars to see me through.” Then she blanched. “I forgot to pack them!”

  “You’re going to have to rough it like the rest of us,” Valerie informed her. “Hot dogs and hamburgers all the way.”

  “Except for the tofu hot dogs I packed,” Alyssa said. She was a vegetarian.

  “Yuckorama.” Jenna crossed her eyes. “I’d rather have tuna surprise three times a day for the rest of the summer!”

  “Tofu hot dogs are great,” Tori said. “My friend Kallista and I get them all the time.”

  “Eww, eww, eww.” Jenna shook her head. “There’s no accounting for taste.”

  “Right,” Chelsea jumped in. “Sometimes you just wonder how someone can like something . . . or someone.” She flashed a superior grin at Priya.

  “That’s right. You just wonder,” Priya retorted.

  “Girls, cut it! Nix on the smackdown!” Valerie cried.

  “Guys, probation, remember?” Alyssa reminded them in a hushed voice.

  “Dr. Steve wouldn’t send any of us home,” Gaby insisted. “They’d have to return our camp fees.”

  “Maybe he doesn’t have to give back our fees,” Alyssa said. “Maybe there’s something in our registration papers that says if they have to send us home because we misbehaved, Camp Lakeview gets to keep the money.”

  Gaby blinked as if she hadn’t thought of that. “Well, they wouldn’t do that to all of us. Eleven campers sent home? They would get bad publicity.”

  “You heard Dr. Steve,” Alyssa argued. “They’ve already had some bad publicity or something. So many girls our age didn’t come back.”

  “Maybe they heard about Cropsy, too,” Tori said.

  “Cropsy again!” Gaby made a fist and lightly banged the table with it. “Either tell us the whole story or stop talking about it!”

  “I’ll tell you tonight,” Tori promised.

  During siesta, 5A climbed aboard the bus. As they prepared to leave, Brynn paused on the steps and gazed over the landscape. Her stomach fluttered and she sighed.

  “Afraid you’ll never see it again, woo-ee-uu?” Jenna teased her. “Good-bye, Camp Lakeview. We who are about to die salute you!”

  But of course that wasn’t it. Brynn didn’t think they were going to die on a camp-sponsored overnight. But it did feel almost as dire. The thing was, she was going to have to leave without talking to Jordan.

  Brynn sat beside Priya on the bus. “Tell me the truth, Priya. Do you know why Jordan wanted to meet up with me during siesta?”

  Priya crossed her forefingers and held them up, as if to ward off the evil eye. “Brynn, please don’t ask me to get between you two this summer. It makes Jordan and me fight. Besides,” she added before Brynn could say anything, “he didn’t tell me.”

  “But . . . has he said anything lately about us?” Brynn asked. She shrugged. “He hasn’t been hanging out with me as much as I thought he would.”

  “No, he hasn’t said anything,” Priya said. “And he hasn’t said anything because I gave him the same rule. No speak-y.” Then she softened a little and added, “Although he breaks it all the time to tell me that he really, really likes you.”

  Brynn’s face broke into a huge smile. “Really?”

  “Argh.” Priya rolled her eyes.

  “Sorry,” Brynn said, not really very sorry. “But . . . really?”

  “We are camping in the forest?”

  Tori sat two seats behind Bob the driver, pressing her hands against the window frame as the bus zoomed off the main highway and onto a narrow, two-lane road. It was lined with pine trees, straight as sentries, their lush boughs concealing all kinds of great hiding places for insane knife-wielding criminals.

  “Not liking this, either,” Brynn murmured beside Priya.

  Priya raised a brow. “Brynn, be serious. Tori’s little hints about this Cropsy guy don’t really scare you, do they?”

  Brynn wrinkled her nose. “Kind of,” she admitted.

  Priya shook her head. “Think about it. First of all, have you ever heard about an insane psycho killer around here?”

  “Pree, four years ago, I had never heard about a summer camp around here,” Brynn said.

  Just then, Jenna slid from her place with Candace across the aisle into the seat in front of Priya and Brynn.

  “I am seriously worried about Candace,” she announced in a whisper.

  “Oh?” Brynn and Priya glanced discreetly at Jenna’s seatmate, whose head was ducked down as she read a book and busily gnawed on her thumbnail.

  “She’s worried about the lions,” Jenna deadpanned.

  “No way,” Priya said.

  Jenna nodded.

  “Jordan, you are a dead man,” Priya murmured, trying to hide her smile. “Allow me,” she said to Jenna.

  Then she scooted around Brynn and sat beside Candace across the aisle. Thinking of Jordan’s nutty story about the escaped circus lions, Brynn grew pensive as they rode along, the bus passing into shade as it rolled through the tunnel of pines. As she wondered what Jordan had wanted to discuss, the temperature dropped, a momentary break from the oppressive, moist heat.

  “I’m going to need some serious help out here in the wilderness,” Jenna said. Brynn raised her brows, giving Jenna her full attention. “The possibilities for pranking are so endless. It’s going to be hard to behave, and I really need to behave.”

  Brynn smiled fondly at her old friend. “I totally get that,” she said. “Just fight it, Jenna.”

  “I’m trying,” Jenna gasped in a husky voice. She made her hands shake. “Must . . . not . . . prank . . . pranking . . . bad . . . ”

  They giggled together. Jenna paused. Then she muttered the word lion under her breath.

  “Don’t make fun,” Brynn admonished her. She gazed out the window. “I’m thinking about all those slasher movies I wish I had never watched.”

  “Adam has the world’s most extensive collection of gore-fest flicks,” Jenna said, nodding. “All I have to say is that I am really, really, really glad the boys didn’t come with us. They would be merciless. They would think scaring us to death
would be a totally awesome bonding experience.”

  “Boys,” Brynn said.

  “Boys,” Jenna agreed. “We should sic Cropsy on them.”

  “If we knew who Cropsy was,” Brynn added.

  They rode along for what seemed like forever. The sky began to darken.

  “Was that thunder?” Candace called out, her voice high-pitched and nervous. Priya, who was still sitting with her, gave her a pat.

  The bus rolled onto a rickety-looking wooden bridge and Brynn gazed down at the dark water. Shadow Lake was well named; mysterious swirls of black and gray rippled, formed, and reformed.

  As she stared down into the eddies and currents, she thought she saw a gray, whispery mist waft above the surface.

  “You guys know the story of the Headless Horseman, right?” Gaby piped up. “How he came after Ichabod Crane on a bridge just like the one we’re on now?”

  “And he threw a flaming pumpkin right at Ichabod!” Natalie said from across the aisle, doing a pantomime of someone throwing something over their head with both hands.

  “Are you auditioning for Katrina, too, Brynn?” Natalie asked her. Natalie hopped up from her original seat and plopped down behind her, even though they weren’t supposed to move around on the bus. “Because if you do, I don’t have a ghost of a chance.”

  Brynn pretend-bopped Natalie on the head. “Bad pun, bad,” she chastised her.

  “I have to say, the play selection surprises me,” Belle said. “I mean, I’m new to Camp Lakeview, but I was looking over the list of productions the camp has put on in the past. You usually do something light and fun. Last year was Annie.”

  “You should have been here the year we did The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” Jenna said. She mimicked holding up a chain saw and yanking on the starter. Then she let ’er rip.

  “Jenna Bloom, it’s not nice to try to fool the counselor,” Belle said, wagging a finger at Jenna. Alex, Natalie, Tori, and Valerie broke into guffaws, and some of the tension in the bus dissipated.

  Then thunder really did rumble. The laughter died down and Belle turned to the window, studying the sky.