by James Ponti
“Don’t rush, and watch out for the mud,” Mitchie reminded Tess, as the other girl grabbed the flippers and put them on.
“Got it,” Tess said, nodding. She took off in first place, and for the first few yards she was doing well.
“Come on, Tess!” her Vibe teammates shouted. “You can do it.”
Meanwhile, the lead Ella had built them was fading. Colby had caught up with Tess and was giving her a duck walk for her money. If she was frustrated, she didn’t show it. She just smiled and tried her best to keep up with him.
Then she looked over her shoulder and saw that a bunch of other teams were closing in on her. Instantly, she panicked and sped up, which was the exact opposite of what Lorraine and the others had told her to do.
The faster she tried to go, the more she tripped over the ends of her flippers. By the time she reached the water’s edge, most of the other teams had caught up to her. She was so focused on that, she completely forgot the other key piece of advice.
“Watch out for the mud!” Mitchie shouted from the other end.
But it was too late. Tess took a step on the muddy lake shore and instantly lost her balance. She flailed in an attempt to catch herself, but it was no use. She landed hard on her butt with a big muddy splash.
The Vibe girls cringed. But then, to their surprise, Tess struggled to her feet. Carefully, she made her way down to the water to get a rubber duck.
Unfortunately, when she reached down, she lost her balance again, and this time she fell face first—right into the water.
The onlookers started laughing good-naturedly, as most people knew that mishaps like this were all part of the fun. But the girls from Vibe knew that not everyone was laughing. When Tess stood back up, she was drenched from head to toe and the look she leveled at the spectators was so cold Mitchie was surprised the water at her feet didn’t freeze. Pulling off her flippers, Tess stormed off toward the cabin, leaving her team stranded.
Most of the teams were too caught up in the race to realize how upset Tess was, but the Vibe girls knew. They exchanged worried looks.
“Someone better go talk to her,” Mitchie said.
Lorraine and Ella stared at her pointedly. It took a moment for Mitchie to realize they wanted her to be the one.
“Why me?” Mitchie asked.
“You’re the captain,” Lorraine said.
Mitchie sighed. “I knew that ‘captain’ thing would come back to haunt me.”
It looked as though she had no choice. Squaring her shoulders, Mitchie took a deep breath and headed for the cabin—and Tess.
CHAPTER FIVE
Tess might not have been into sports, but she was a pretty fast runner. At least, that was what Mitchie thought when she arrived at the cabin to find Tess already there.
Tess was still soaking wet and was angrily digging around for a towel to dry herself off. When she heard Mitchie come in, she just looked up and glared at her.
“Hey,” Mitchie said sheepishly.
“What do you want?” Tess snapped.
“Well,” Mitchie began, searching for the right words, “I wanted to make sure you’re okay. You fell pretty hard in the mud.”
“I’m fine,” Tess said. “Thank you.”
Mitchie didn’t say anything for a moment. Instead, she pulled a fresh towel off of Ella’s bunk and tossed it to Tess. She nodded her thanks and started to dry off her hair.
“I also wanted to see if you were going to be coming back to Sound Off,” Mitchie continued. “I know you’re not a big fan. But we need four people for some of the events. We need you.”
Tess continued to angrily rub her hair. Then she suddenly stopped. “Why do we even have to do this?” she asked, looking over at Mitchie. “What purpose does it serve?”
“I don’t know,” Mitchie answered honestly. “Because it’s fun, I guess.”
“Yeah. Total humiliation,” Tess said. “That’s loads of fun.”
“Good point,” Mitchie said, laughing. “But you shouldn’t feel humiliated.”
Tess shot her a look. “Did you see me out there?”
“Yeah, I did.” Mitchie said, nodding. “You were pretty bad.”
“Gee, thanks,” Tess replied. “Don’t sugarcoat it on my behalf.”
“But so what?” Mitchie went on, ignoring Tess’s sarcasm. “So you’re not good at running in flippers. You’re an incredible singer and dancer. I think if you asked most people here, that’s what they’d rather be good at.”
“That’s a good point,” Tess replied.
“It’s not like I was doing much better,” Mitchie went on. “I just managed to stay out of the lake.”
“Smart choice,” Tess joked. “By the way, you’re a really good singer and dancer, too.”
Mitchie smiled. Tess was not one to throw around compliments. She must have meant it. Maybe this game day would be good for more than just a plaque. Maybe she and Tess would finally put their past behind them.
“I’m certainly not good at sports,” Mitchie said. “In gym class, I’m always the last one picked.”
Tess laughed. “So am I. And, of course, my mother is an amazing athlete. Last year she ran the New York City Marathon with Diddy.”
Mitchie cringed. “I think I saw that on Hot Tunes.”
“Oh, yeah,” Tess said. “They had cameras following their every move.”
“And I thought the trophy case was bad,” Mitchie said.
“What trophy case?”
Mitchie rolled her eyes. “The trophy case at my school. My mom was some star basketball player, and there’s a picture of her in the case next to the gym.”
“And you’ve got to pass it every day at school?”
Mitchie nodded.
“Brutal,” Tess said. “It’s just like those plaques up in the mess hall.”
“Yeah. I was looking at those today,” Mitchie said, nodding.
“My first summer, I was determined to get my name up there,” Tess said. “That was before I realized how uncoordinated I was. And here’s the part I don’t get. Why am I uncoordinated? It’s not like any of these events are harder than those dance moves I’ve been working on.”
“You mean the one you ‘sprained your ankle’ on?” Mitchie joked, making air quotes with her fingers.
Tess laughed. “Yeah, that one.”
“Show it to me again,” Mitchie said.
Tess did the move. It was a spin that led into a toe stop and ended with a moonwalk.
“That really is cool,” Mitchie said.
“But if I can do that, why can’t I do a silly duck walk?” Tess wanted to know. “What’s the trick I’m not getting?”
“I think it’s the music,” Mitchie observed.
“What do you mean?” Tess asked, her blue eyes curious.
“Well, when you dance, you hear music,” Mitchie explained. “The music is what helps make your body move so well. And when you’re doing sports, there’s no music.”
Tess cocked her head as she absorbed Mitchie’s observation. “You know, you might be right.”
They both smiled. It occurred to Mitchie that this was the first time that she and Tess had ever really just talked—like friends. It was funny. Of all the things they could bond over, it would be something neither one was any good at.
While Mitchie and Tess were bonding, Caitlyn was stressing—big-time. After two events, Sound Off was already falling behind her meticulously orchestrated schedule.
The drama of Tess falling in the water and Mitchie chasing after her was bad enough. After all, that meant half of the Vibe team was gone and not ready for the next event. But Caitlyn didn’t even have time to worry about that, because she had a bigger problem on her hands.
She wasn’t ready, either.
Jason and Nate were supposed to have arrived at Camp Rock thirty minutes earlier. There was still no sign of them—and they were part of the next event.
Now she was standing with Brown, Dee, Peggy, and Shane, her heart r
acing and her palms sweaty. Meanwhile, Shane was trying to reach the guys on his cell phone.
“Any luck?” Caitlyn asked hopefully.
Shane just shook his head. “There’s no service.”
Caitlyn took a deep breath and started flipping through her binder. She had no choice. She’d just have to find another event and swap the order.
“We could do the Connect Three-Legged Race,” she offered.
Brown gave her a look.
“Except, not without Connect Three,” she continued as she resumed flipping. “How about the Hip-Hop Sack Race or the Reggae Row Off?”
Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling from the camp’s entrance. Everyone turned.
“There they are,” Peggy said happily. The Connect Three bus was pulling into the parking lot. The side was painted with the cover art from the band’s soon-to-be-released new album. From the front of the bus, Jason pulled a cord, and the horn blared a musical tune that caught everyone’s attention.
It was like a rock-and-roll ice-cream truck. Within moments, it was surrounded by campers.
“Hello, Camp Rock,” Jason said as he stepped off the bus. He looked down and saw an anxious Caitlyn making her way to the front of the group. “And hello, Caitlyn.”
“Tell me you remembered,” she said to him.
“Remembered what?” he said, teasing her. “The Jell-O balloons? Of course we did.”
“Awesome.” Caitlyn checked her watch. They were a little behind schedule, but they could make it up.
Jason went back into the bus, and when he came out of he was carrying a large cooler. Nate was right behind him with a second one.
“Here is the Jell-O,” Jason said, opening the lids of the two coolers. “And here are the balloons.” He unzipped his backpack and pulled out a brand-new bag of balloons.
He smiled, but he could tell by Caitlyn’s wide-eyed stare that something was wrong. He looked down at the bowls of Jell-O that filled both coolers and then looked at the balloons. Finally it dawned on him.
“Wait a second,” he said. “Was the Jell-O supposed to be in the balloons?”
Caitlyn started hyperventilating.
“Uncle Brown,” Shane said; he was calling for help.
“I’m on it,” Brown said as he moved in and put a reassuring hand on Caitlyn’s shoulder. “Hey, sweetie, why don’t you take a break for a minute? And Peggy, why don’t you and Dee and Mrs. Torres go up to the kitchen and see if you can figure out a way to get all of that Jell-O into those balloons?”
“We can use cake icers,” Mitchie’s mother said. “I’ve got two of them in the kitchen.”
“Perfect,” Brown said. “Shane, what do you say we get everything ready for the Connect Three-Legged Race?”
“Sure,” Shane said.
All throughout this exchange, Caitlyn stood in a motionless daze, staring at the coolers filled with Jell-O. Finally, she spoke, answering a question from earlier.
“Yes,” she said, in disbelief. “The Jell-O needs to be in the balloons. That’s why they’re called Jell-O balloons!”
Brown gave her another reassuring pat on the shoulder. “I think they’ve finally figured that out. Why don’t you go up to the kitchen and help them?”
CHAPTER SIX
When Mitchie rejoined her group, she was alone. She and Tess had had a good talk, but at the end of it, Tess hadn’t said whether she was done for the day or not.
Mitchie knew the balloon toss had been scheduled to take place next. She had figured that it would still be going on, but now there was no sign of it. That meant either that her talk had gone on longer than she realized or that something had come along to upset Caitlyn’s schedule.
Looking around, she tried to spot Caitlyn. Instead of her friend, she saw Brown talking to Shane and the boys from Connect Three. Whatever they were doing, they seemed to be making it up on the spot.
“How’d it go?” Ella asked as Mitchie walked up to her and Lorraine.
“Pretty good,” Mitchie said. “But I don’t know if we’re going to see her again.”
“That’s kind of what we figured,” Lorraine said.
“What did I miss?” Mitchie asked.
“A lot, actually,” Ella said. “Apparently, Jason and Nate were supposed to bring a whole bunch of Jell-O–filled balloons. Except, they didn’t realize the Jell-O was supposed to go inside the balloons. So there have been some schedule changes.”
Mitchie groaned. “I don’t imagine Caitlyn took that well.”
“Not really,” Ella said. “She went up to the kitchen with your mom, Peggy, and Dee to try to fix the balloons.”
Mitchie knew how hard Caitlyn had worked. She hoped this wasn’t making her too crazy.
“So instead of the Rhythm and Balloons, we’re going to have the Connect Three-Legged Race,” Lorraine added as she handed her the sign-up sheet.
“Okay,” Mitchie said, looking it over. “That takes three of us.” There weren’t a lot of options, so she started to write in the names: Mitchie, Ella, and—she looked up and something made her smile—“Tess?”
The others turned to see that Tess had come back to join them. She was wearing her pink Vibe shirt.
“Did I miss anything?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Ella said.
“Nice shirt,” Mitchie commented.
“My other one’s wet.” Tess said. She looked at Lorraine and added, “Besides, this one’s too nice not to wear.”
Lorraine smiled, and for the first time all day, the group felt like a real team.
“You ready to make a fool of yourself?” Mitchie asked.
Tess smiled and nodded. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”
“Great,” Mitchie said. “Then let’s do this— together.”
They gathered with the other teams and watched carefully as Shane, Nate, and Jason demonstrated the proper technique for doing the Connect Three-Legged Race. Unfortunately for everyone, Jason was the one doing the explaining. He had a way of . . . complicating things.
“Don’t think of it as a Connect . . . three-legged race,” he told them. “Think of it as a Connect Three . . . legged race. Do you understand the difference?”
The campers stared at him blankly.
“Why don’t you let me try,” Shane said, much to everyone’s relief.
“This was something we came up with back when we were at Camp Rock,” he began. “Instead of a normal three-legged race, which has two people tied together, this one actually uses three people.”
He demonstrated by standing between Nate and Jason and putting his arms around their shoulders so that the three of them were linked together.
Brown bent over and quickly tied one of Shane’s legs to Jason’s and the other to Nate’s.
“You see,” Jason said, trying to jump back into the explanation, “Brown has connected three of us, so it’s Connect Three.”
“I think they get it,” Nate said. “Why don’t we show them how to walk?”
“Good idea!” Shane added. “It takes a little getting used to, so you should practice before the race begins.”
“This can’t go well,” Mitchie said as she took the middle position. Tess was to her right and Ella to her left, and she had her arms around both of them. Lorraine tied their ankles together, making sure the bands were strong enough to hold, but not too tight.
The trio took a couple of practice steps— and promptly fell.
“Think dance class,” Mitchie joked.
Tess’s eyes lit up. “You’re right. That’s exactly what we should do.”
Ella looked confused. “We should what?” she asked.
“We should act like this is dance class,” Tess explained. “We choose a song and sing it as we race. It will give us rhythm.”
“That’s brilliant!” Mitchie said, getting it. “If we move on the beat, we’ll keep in step perfectly. Just like when we’re in dance class.”
Ella started nodding. “Okay, but what song should we
pick?”
Unfortunately, the race was about to begin. They didn’t have much time.
“On your marks,” Brown announced.
This only made them flustered. “What about one of your mother’s songs?” Mitchie suggested.
“Which one?”
“How about ‘Bound by Love’?” Mitchie offered.
Tess shook her head. “It’s too slow. We’d finish dead last.”
“Get set,” Brown announced.
Ella just blurted out the first song title she could think of. “How about ‘Jingle Bells’?”
“Go!” Brown shouted.
Every team took off except for the three girls from the Vibe Cabin. After a moment they all shared a look.
“‘Jingle Bells’!” they cried in unison, and they began singing.
As strange as it was for the three of them to be singing about sleigh rides and snow in the middle of summer, it was even stranger to see that their plan was working. They were rocking. Or at least caroling.
While the other teams struggled to keep in step, the Vibe team just sang “Jingle Bells” and rapidly moved through the crowd. Near the halfway point, they moved into first place. Back at the starting line, Lorraine was furiously cheering them on.
Not only was the song helping them all keep in step, it was also distracting the other teams, who couldn’t quite figure out what the girls were doing.
The only problem came when they ran out of lyrics, about five yards short of the finish line. They stumbled a bit, but still finished well ahead of everyone else. Only when they were at the end did they collapse.
The first person to congratulate them at the finish line was Brown. After they untied their ankles, he helped them up and gave each one a high five. The last one up was Tess. “I’m glad your ankle’s feeling better,” he said with a wink.
“So am I,” she replied, a huge smile on her face.
The team spirit that had worked so well in the Connect Three-Legged Race carried over into the next event, the much-delayed balloon toss.