She was relieved to see Rebecca’s tears disappear and soon a smile flickered across her face. They finished putting Rebecca’s things away and then Allison said, “Kristi would you mind taking Becca to the lodge? I think I need to stay here and have a little talk with Tiffany.”
Kristi grabbed her camera and then took Rebecca by the arm. “Come on, Becca. Are you hungry? I sure am! Let’s go get lunch!” They started out the door. Kristi glanced back at the young counselor facing the spiteful teenaged girl before her. She felt sorry for Allison.
Kristi shook her head and pressed her lips together tightly as they hurried to the lodge. What is that girl’s problem? she wondered. The week that had looked so wonderful just a few minutes ago suddenly seemed to be spoiled. Oh great! And I get to sleep right above her! She’ll probably kick me in the butt just to be ornery! Kristi giggled at her thoughts then and shrugged her shoulders. Well, we shall see, I guess. Lord, have mercy! she prayed and giggled again.
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CHAPTER TWO
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The Stink Pile
The rest of the girls were at a table just inside the door. Kristi didn’t say anything about what had just happened at the cabin except to mention that Allison would be joining them soon. It was tempting to tell the others about Tiffany’s bad behavior, but she knew that would be gossip, and she and her mother had had several conversations about how wrong and hurtful gossip could be. Besides, with Becca sitting right there between Anna and herself, it would only stir up the hurt feelings inside the mentally challenged girl, and that was the last thing Kristi wanted to do.
Kristi looked around for her brothers. Dan, Skeeter and their friend Pete were sitting on the other side of the dining area. They looked like they were already having a great time with their cabin-mates. Even from here she could see that Skeeter was doing his usual clowning and the whole table was laughing at something he had said.
Amber and Autumn were looking with interest across the dining room at the boys’ table. Autumn nudged Sarah beside her and wondered out loud, “Who’s that? The guy with the red hair from Lodgepole Pine Cabin? He’s kind of cute!”
“What!” Kristi burst out. “That’s my little brother! You think Skeeter is cute?” She looked in amazement at the other girls. This was the first time she’d ever heard anyone say something like that about Skeeter and she could hardly believe it. She was used to hearing that kind of thing about Dan from other girls, and she could kind of understand that. After all, Dan was tall and blond, like their dad, and athletically built. He was popular and a leader back home at their high school and church. But Skeeter had always been just her pesky little brother, the clown, and the bottomless pit when it came to food. She looked again at him now and suddenly she realized that Skeeter was growing up, too, and turning out to be a good-looking guy himself. Wow! She thought. Who knew?
“He’s cute,” Sarah was saying, “but I like the blond guy next to him.”
“Uh-huh,” Gina agreed, “or the dark-haired guy on the other side. I wonder who they are. They’re new this year.”
Kristi didn’t say anything. They were talking about Dan and Pete. She glanced over at Anna. A shadow had flitted across Anna’s face at the mention of Pete, but her pretty Spanish face was soon serene once more and she went back to chatting quietly with Becca.
Robyn, on the other hand, happily filled the other girls in on Dan, Pete and Skeeter. She had questions of her own about several of the other fellows at the Lodgepole Pine table and about a few of the guys from Ponderosa Pine Cabin, as well. They barely noticed when the food arrived at their table, or when Allison finally joined them.
There was no sign of Tiffany. Allison slipped into the empty seat across from Kristi. “You didn’t say anything, did you?” she asked softly.
“No,” Kristi replied. She passed a bowl of French fries over to her counselor and asked, “Is Tiffany coming? Should we save some food for her?”
“I don’t think so. I’m sure she’ll join us for supper, though. She’ll be hungry by then,” Allison said with a sad little smile. “She’s just very unhappy about being here, Kristi. We need to be praying for her.”
Kristi nodded and changed the subject. “What’s on the agenda for this afternoon, Allison?” she asked, raising her voice a little.
The other girls looked their way and Allison addressed them all. “Well, right after lunch there’s a short get-together right outside the lodge for everyone. It’s kind of an icebreaker. You know—so people can meet each other and have some fun together. After that there are a couple of hours of free time. You can go swimming or canoeing, hike or play ball, or just explore the camp if you want to. At four-thirty the bell will ring to let you know you have a half hour to get ready for dinner. Then after dinner there will be some more activities and a chapel service, and an ice cream social to end the day.”
“Sounds like fun!” Kristi and Robyn said at the same time.
“It is!” Marlee exclaimed. “There’s something special going on every night. Personally, the bonfire on Friday night is my favorite time during the whole week.”
“Mine, too,” Sherry agreed. “But I like the water sports, too, and the competitions between the cabins.”
“Competitions?” Anna asked.
“Sure. You know—things like scavenger hunts, a baseball tournament, quizzing, races, that kind of thing.”
“Wow! It sounds like they keep us busy!” Robyn said.
Allison laughed. “That’s the point! And I know it goes without saying—Redwood Cabin is going to come in first place every time, right?”
“Right!” the girls all yelled at once. “Go, Redwood! Woooo!” they cheered. The other tables of campers looked over at them, and soon cheers were going up all over the dining room for each of the other cabins, as well. The guys at Lodgepole Pine cheered the loudest and longest, led by Skeeter, of course, and Kristi laughed aloud. The competition was on!
Becca was beaming. Her chubby face was alight with excitement and she cheered for every table, much to her fellow campers’ amusement. Robyn laughingly tried to tell her that she needed to be loyal to Redwood, but Becca just shook her head and kept right on cheering for the whole camp. By the time the cheers had circled the dining room, the rest of the campers had noticed the special girl popping up and cheering for them all, and at the very end they all stood to their feet, clapping and cheering for Becca herself!
“Go, Becca!” they yelled. “Wooo!” Becca blushed and stood up and bowed, clapping for herself. She jumped up and down in excitement, crying, “Wooo! Wooo!”
Kristi smiled. What a nice thing to happen! The sting of the earlier confrontation with Tiffany had totally disappeared. The kindness of the other campers assured Becca that she was accepted and welcome at Hidden Lake. Kristi was proud to be a part of it all. It was going to be a fantastic week, after all!
The teenagers met on the wide expanse of lawn just outside the lodge right after lunch. Kristi, Anna and Robyn got a chance to chat with some of the girls from their own church and discovered that everyone was happy with their new cabin-mates and having a good time already. Jen, Barb, Nicole and Liz were in Hemlock Cabin, while Debbie, Lisa and Jeannie were part of Aspen. “Watch out, Redwood! We’re going to beat the pants off you this week!” Liz teased. “Especially with Kristi, Robyn and Anna in your cabin!”
“Oh, we’ll see about that!” Robyn returned. “Don’t listen to her, girls! She knows we were on the championship volleyball team for our school last year, and placed first in quizzing at church. They’ll be running scared all week!”
Kristi burst out laughing. “Robyn, you’re a goof! They were on the same volleyball and quizzing teams that we were!”
“Well, I know, but we can’t let our new friends here think we’re a bunch of wusses, can we? Okay then, may the best men—er, women—I mean, girls win!” she called out to their friends from Lakeview. They ran over and hugged one another, laughing and spurring each other
on with good-natured challenges.
Kristi looked around for her brothers and saw them on the other side of the lawn, but before she could call to them Pastor Young, who was in charge of the camp that week, gave a sharp whistle to get their attention.
“Hey, campers!” he shouted. “Welcome to Hidden Lake Camp!” A cheer rose from the teenagers. “It’s going to be a great week!” Another cheer. “I hope you’re all happy with your cabins, and are making friends with your roommates. As you know, we like to make things, shall we say—interesting—through the week by running a little competition between the cabins. I was about to say that as of this minute the competition is on, but you beat me to it back there in the dining room.” An even louder cheer echoed around the clearing. “But now, let me make it official—it’s on!”
Pastor Young went on to explain that they would get points for where they finished in the sports events and other activities, for memorizing Scripture, for keeping their cabins clean and for on-time attendance at chapel services. Then he said, “And now, your first chance to get points for your cabin! Everyone take off one shoe and put it in a pile right here in the middle of the circle.” There was much laughter and talking as everyone took off a shoe and tossed it into the growing mound. Two hundred and fifty shoes made a good-sized pile and several counselors stepped forward to mix it up. “When I blow my whistle,” Pastor Young went on to say, “everyone dashes to the “stink pile” and finds their own stinky shoe! First cabin back with all their shoes back on their feet and tied, velcroed or clasped wins! One word of caution—make sure you have your own shoe. If you take someone else’s your cabin loses points! And one more thing—try real hard not to kill each other, okay? That would not be a good way to start off camp this week! Now, on your mark, get set, go!” He gave a long, loud blast of the whistle and there was a mad rush for the stink pile.
The pile of shoes was small in comparison to the two hundred and fifty campers trying to get to it and rummage through. To make matters worse, most of the shoes were white tennies—and in the frenzy they all looked very much alike. Kristi was lucky. She’d been wearing sandals, so her shoe wasn’t quite so hard to find. She was the first one back with her shoe for her cabin, followed closely by Becca, of all people! Becca’s tennis shoe had Velcro straps and bright pink soles on them, so they had stuck out like a sore thumb in the pile of more “cool” Nikes, Adidas and Reeboks.
Becca and Kristi jumped up and down screaming for their cabin-mates. It took a while, but one by one the other girls dashed back to their spot in the circle, hopping on one foot as they tried to get their shoes on. Kristi saw Skeeter on the other side of the lawn run to the pile three times. Each time he yelled “Wrong shoe! Wrong shoe!.” Once he added “Yikes! This is a girl’s shoe! Eww—I tried on a girl’s shoe!” His voice echoed around the yard above the others’ and soon those who were already back with their shoes were cheering him on whether he was in their cabin or not.
The whistle finally blew once more as the last camper straggled back to his cabin. A couple people had to sheepishly exchange shoes, but in the end Redwood Cabin had come in second to Ponderosa Pine, with Aspen winning third place. “Wooo-wooo!” Becca cheered. “Go Wedwood!”
“You’ve got a couple of hours of free time now, so go enjoy yourselves!” Pastor Young announced as he dismissed them. “Check out the beach, the pontoon boats and canoes, the tennis courts, craft shack, tether ball, trails, or start a ball game up in the field behind the chapel if you want to. You’ll hear the bell ringing when it’s time to get ready for dinner. So for now—scat! I need a break!”
Kristi headed across the lawn to her brothers. “Hi, guys!” she greeted them. I haven’t had a chance to talk to you since we got here. Well, what do you think of camp so far? How’s your cabin? Have you made some new friends yet?”
“Aww, Kristi! You sound like Mom!” Skeeter complained, obviously embarrassed that his big sister was checking up on him. “The cabin is okay, and yeah, we’ve met a bunch of guys. Oh, and the food is good.”
Dan laughed. “Hidden Lake is great so far, Kristi. The guys in our cabin are cool. We’ll introduce you to some of them. I saw the girls in your cabin checking out our table.”
“Oh yeah! They even thought you were cute, Skeeter!” Kristi teased.
“Yuck!” her little brother protested.
“Your face is turning red, Skeeter.”
“It is not!”
“Yes it is. You can hardly see your freckles now ‘cause they’re blending right in.”
“Kristi!” Skeeter warned.
“So how about you and Anna and Robyn?” Pete asked coming between the sister and brother. “How are you girls doing?”
“Great, Pete! The other girls in our cabin are really nice—well, most of them, anyway. We have one who’s kind of a stinker. And then there’s Becca. You saw her, I’m sure. She’s so cute, but something tells me she may be kind of a handful this week, too. We’re all going to the beach this afternoon. What are you all doing?”
“We’ll be at the lake, too, but I think we’re going to try out the pontoon boats and canoes. I found out we can’t go water-skiing until tomorrow. The cabins are on a schedule for skiing since there are only three boats,” Dan said.
“Well, have fun! I’d better get going. I see the girls are heading back to the cabin to change into their swimsuits. See you later!” Kristi hurried back to rejoin her friends.
Tiffany was on her bunk, her back turned toward the rest of the room, when they returned. She ignored them. At first Kristi thought she might be asleep, but then she saw the other girl’s back stiffen and her fists clench. She was still angry about the hateful words Tiffany had said to Becca, but somehow she couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for her, as well. She looked lonely and miserable lying there like that on the bunk.
Kristi sighed and said softly, “Tiffany? We’re all going down to the beach for a little while. Would you like to join us? It’ll be fun. And maybe we could all start over again and get to know each other.”
There was silence for a moment and then, “No!” That was all. Tiffany drew her sheet up over her shoulders and Kristi could see it would be of no use to try to coax her into going. She shook her head sadly and turned back to her own bunk.
Anna and Robyn looked at her. They had heard the exchange between Tiffany and Kristi and they looked concerned. Kristi shrugged her shoulders and dug in her duffle bag for her swimsuit and towel. She headed for the bathroom to change and then stopped to look at Becca. “Becca? Aren’t you going to put on your swimsuit?” Becca was sitting on her bunk looking sadly at Tiffany.
“No, I go to cwaft shack, I think,” the retarded girl said. “I like cwafts! I do cwafts with Mommy at home.”
“Hey, I think I’ll go with you!” Sherry said from across the room. “Do you mind, Becca? I like to do crafts, too.”
“Me, too!” Jennifer chimed in. “Is it okay with you, Becca?”
“Sure! That will be fun!” Becca’s face lit up. She looked over at Tiffany once more and said, “You like cwafts, Tiff? Wanna go?”
There was no hesitation this time—just a strong, “NO! And don’t call me Tiff!”
Rebecca flinched and whispered, “Sowwy.”
Sherry and Jennifer hurried over to her and took her by the hands. “Come on, Becca. Let’s go,” Jennifer said, glaring at Tiffany’s back. They left the cabin and the rest of the girls went into the bathroom to change into their swimsuits.
Robyn, Anna and Kristi sat on their beach towels a short time later discussing the situation. The other girls were out in the water. “Why did you invite her to come with us, Kristi?” Robyn asked as she put her blonde hair into a ponytail. “She obviously doesn’t want to have anything to do with us. She didn’t even try to get to know us.”
“I know, Robyn, but I can’t help feeling sorry for her. She must have a pretty awful life to be walking around with that huge chip on her shoulder.”
“Awful life
! Did you see her luggage and bedding and the clothes she wears? That is all designer stuff—really expensive stuff.”
“Robyn, you know very well that money doesn’t buy happiness,” Anna said. “It can’t buy you love or friends, either—not real friends, anyway. I think Kristi’s right. Tiffany seems to be a very lonely, unhappy person. I don’t think we should give up on her yet. Maybe if we keep trying to reach out to her we can crack that hard shell a bit.”
“Well, I think it’s a hopeless cause, but okay, I’ll be friendly to her—even if it kills me!” Robyn said dramatically.
Kristi laughed. “I don’t think that will happen, and I sure don’t think it will hurt us, either. We can start by praying for her, you know.” She bowed her head right then and prayed simply, “Lord, please give us wisdom and patience in dealing with Tiffany. Help us to be kind and tenderhearted to her, forgiving when we need to be, just as you tell us to be in Your Word. Help us not to gossip about her, but to be good examples of a Christian before her. And Lord we especially pray that Tiffany will come to know You as her Savior, even this week at camp. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Kristi lifted her head and looked out at the lake. “Well, I feel peace about the whole situation. We’ll just do what we know is right and let the Lord handle it.” She looked around. “It is peaceful here, isn’t it? Even with all these people around. There’s something so tranquil about a lake hidden in the trees like this. I can see how it got its name. Do you see how the lake is reflecting the sky and clouds? It’s such a bright blue!”
Robyn laughed. “I don’t know how you can say this place is peaceful with a couple hundred teenagers making all this racket! And listen—you can hear Skeeter all the way across the lake! See—that’s him with Dan and Pete out there on that pontoon boat.” They watched as Skeeter dove off the side of the boat into the lake. A moment later Dan dove in after him and pulled him back to the pontoon. Skeeter was yelling and holding the side of his head.
Storm Over Hidden Lake (Kristi Cameron Book 6) Page 2