Camp Payback

by J. K. Rock

  I examined the dusty, dime-store gift. “Ummmmm. Not.” We both laughed.

  Trinity pulled a bra on under her sleep shirt. “So how come Gollum will acknowledge that Vijay was in the wrong and then still give Javier the third degree like it was his fault?”

  “Because life sucks.” I smacked the flyswatter against the window screen, scaring the snoozing moths that hovered on the other side.

  I would have vented more, but the screen door banged open and Emily charged inside, her red-and-black ladybug umbrella spinning water droplets everywhere as she tumbled in out of the rain.

  “Raining cats, dogs, and pine needles out there!” she huffed, tossing aside the umbrella while Piper and Siobhan rushed indoors. “Girls, you’d better hit the showers if you want to make it to breakfast on time.”

  There were more grumbles from Jackie’s bed, and she tossed a wadded-up gym sock in the general direction of the noise but it landed with an ineffectual plop on top of the blue duffle bag emblazoned with her school’s name and volleyball team’s logo.

  “I agree with Jackie.” I made no move to get out of bed. “Who cares about rushing to breakfast only to hear we’ll be stuck inside all day doing some dumb activity Gollum pulls out of his butt?”

  “Someone needs to remember her Kindness Cup manners!” Emily chirped, waving the big pink painted chalice she’d made the year before. “No wonder we’re halfway through the summer and there’s hardly a chip in sight.” She rattled it meaningfully, stirring just a handful of poker chips she’d painted with daisies or covered with unicorn stickers.

  It was tough to think evil thoughts with those unicorns staring up at you with their big, blue anime eyes.

  Piper rattled a worn box beside her bunk. “We could stay in and play with my Secret Camp Angel gift.”

  Jackie squinted at her. “Why would someone give you a Star Wars LEGO set?”

  “Maybe they think she’s really an alien.” Siobhan stopped toweling her hair and headed to the mirror.

  “Or nine years old,” I added, laughing as I forced myself out of bed.

  “Wait until you hear about today’s rain activity,” Siobhan called over the top of the whirring hairdryer she’d plugged into the socket near her bed. She smoothed her dark hair with a round brush, making it shine blue-black even in the dull gray light.

  I was glad to see she’d recovered from the chess loss the night before.

  “I’m afraid to ask,” I said, bored already as I rummaged for a piece of gum to tide me over until I could brush my teeth.

  “It’s going to be a whistling, hog calling, lip-syncing, stunt contest,” Emily blurted, bouncing on her toes and spinning around in a circle for good measure.

  We all stared. Even for Emily, this seemed over the top.

  “What?” I shook my head to clear my ears.

  Piper scrunched up her nose and squinted, as if seeing Emily better might help her figure this one out.

  Behind Emily, Yasmine strolled into the cabin, drenched to the skin and not seeming to notice. She hummed to herself, in fact. What was wrong with that girl?

  “A whistling, hog calling, lip-syncing, stunt contest!” Emily counted out the name on her fingers, her nails decorated with American flags and military stars that were probably some kind of ode to Bam-Bam. “Mr. Woodrow may not remember, but he put me in charge of back-up activities and named me the official Rainy Day Director in a planning session last spring.”

  “I’m sure Mr. Woodrow appreciates your creativity, Emily.” Yasmine smiled warmly at our counselor.

  I tried not to roll my eyes at the obvious suck-up since Gollum had probably wracked his brain to find some task to give our over-eager counselor that wouldn’t wreak havoc on his camp.

  “Aww!” Emily grabbed the Kindness Cup and held it out to Yasmine. “Score one for Yasmine being so sweet!”

  Somewhere, a unicorn lost its horn.

  “Emily?” I toed open my suitcase and scrounged for something clean. “What exactly is hog whistling?”

  “You’ll love this.” Emily shoved the Kindness Cup back up on a shelf over her bunk. “I looked up rainy day activities in a book after Mr. W. assigned me the position. And I saw a bunch of silly little stuff, like a whistling contest. An animal sounds contest. A knot-tying contest.”

  Jackie sat up and yawned.

  “Exactly!” Emily shouted, pointing at Jackie. “Yawn, right? But if we combined them…” She peered around the room, her smiling growing wider and wider until she was all teeth and gums. “We’ve got a fun day of stunts and talents and silliness that will have us all laughing. It’s going to be great!”

  She cranked up a contraband radio and started dancing to the beat. Talk about being high on life.

  I still had no idea what hog calling involved, but as I slogged out of the cabin and into the rain toward the showers, I wished I could at least sit next to Javier during the event. As friends. A shared laugh would be good for us, even if I wasn’t his girlfriend/friend with potential anymore.

  Then again, maybe I never had been.

  Javier had one more chance at Camp Juniper Point, but it seemed like I’d already used up mine.

  ……………….

  Tough to share a laugh with the boy you like when he doesn’t even bother showing up. And watching Buster—one of the Warrior guys—actually compete for a bird call prize was fairly entertaining. His turkey call might be dead-on accurate for all I knew, but the contortions involved in drawing in his cheeks and clucking in his throat had potential for hysterics.

  While he gobbled and cooed on stage, I slumped in my chair at the rainy day extravaganza and wished Javier had at least come out of the kitchen after breakfast. But I’d watched the double doors for a long time while helping set up the mess hall with a stage and something vaguely resembling theater seating, and my handsome Russian-Venezuelan kind-of-boyfriend had never made an appearance.

  “Are you all right, Alex?” Emily slid into the empty seat beside me while the acts changed and a ten-year-old camper in pigtails took the stage with a hula hoop.

  “Yeah.” I tried to force a smile. “You did a great job on the event.”

  “You have to admit Buster’s hog call was great!” Even Emily couldn’t quite pull off that fib. Her toothy grin seemed a little lopsided.

  “It was a turkey call,” I told her, smiling for real this time.

  “Oh! Well, that explains that.” She bit her lip hard because—true to her Kindness Cup and Secret Camp Angel roots—she wasn’t the snarky type.

  And Buster’s turkey impression would test anyone’s anti-snark powers.

  “Emily?” If I didn’t ask her now, I’d lose my nerve.

  And I needed a favor to distract myself from what I was feeling about Javier.

  “Mmm?” Eyes on the stage, she pumped her fist in the air and whooped as the pigtailed hula-hooper spun the neon green ring on one arm.

  “Will you ask Mr. Woodrow about doing the play this summer?” She’d seemed excited about it the night before. “We could do it instead of the talent show. You could direct it.”

  The play could distract me from Javier. Or it could bring us together, since he had agreed to be Tony in the production. I really, really needed that play to happen.

  Emily forgot about the hula-hooper, her eyes meeting mine while the audience applauded politely.

  “Me?” She was already shaking her head. “No way, missy. You’re the expert on acting, and this is your idea. You should be directing.”

  “I’m just a camper!” What was she thinking? Gollum had barely let Emily direct the rainy day activities. What made her think he’d let me direct West Side Story? “Gollum will never put me in charge of something so big.”

  “So adapt it and just do a few scenes from West Side Story as a skit. Camp Juniper Point needs a Skit Night, and I’ve been telling Mr. W. that very same thing since last summer.” She sat straighter in her seat as a couple of guys from Wander Inn dragged old wooden r
amps out onto the stage. “Look, girls! They’re making a half-pipe!”

  How could Emily do this to me? I’d hoped to do an entire play, maximizing my time with Javier.

  Siobhan and Yasmine slid closer to us on the table bench.

  “Did you hear who’s back at camp?” Siobhan whispered while the whole mess hall buzzed with some kind of gossip.

  Something was definitely going down.

  “Not really,” I shot back glumly, not caring so much about gossip these days.

  “Remember Nick Desanti?” Siobhan prodded, pointing to a cute guy with dark hair who strode out onto the stage in some kind of colorful athletic suit like a biker might wear. Or a NASCAR driver. There were patches on the knees and elbows. Sponsor names sewn on the sleeves.

  “He used to be in Wander Inn a long time ago, right? Then he started snowboarding. Won some medals.” My gaze landed on Kayla West, who’d dated Nick once upon a time. Well, date the way you do when you’re little. Which is to say that they held hands during bonfires until her friends convinced her Nick wasn’t good enough for her—or any of the Divas.

  He’d left camp after that and hadn’t been back since.

  “Right.” Siobhan spun her magenta-colored Secret Camp Angel bracelet around and around her wrist.

  Jackie leaned forward, animated. “I can’t believe he’s back. Amazing.”

  “He used to be so short,” I blurted.

  Yasmine sighed dreamily, for once not frowning at me. “He’s hot.”

  I followed her gaze and agreed Nick was cute. Not brooding-Javier-sexy, but definitely good-looking.

  “He can’t snowboard here,” I pointed out as the volume level in the cafeteria got louder and louder.

  “It looks like he’s going to do a skateboard trick instead,” Siobhan explained, pointing to a board propped on one side of the stage. “Did you see where Rafe went?”

  “Rafe?” I had no idea who she meant.

  Her cheeks went pink.

  “Rafael Cruz.” Her voice caught as she said his name.

  I’d never seen someone advertise a crush so clearly.

  I couldn’t hold back a giggle. “Oh, so it’s Rafe now?” I shouted loud enough to turn a few heads our way. “Siobhan, you’ve got it bad.”

  She bolted out of her seat and rushed away.

  “What did I say?” I wondered. I hadn’t been making fun of her.

  Yasmine tsked at me and slid back down the bench seat, putting a few feet between us like we were junior campers and I had cooties. For crying out loud.

  “Rafe is Siobhan’s first crush. I don’t think she wants it advertised,” Emily pointed out kindly, getting to her feet. “I’m going to go announce Nick’s act.”

  I nodded, hating that I’d embarrassed Siobhan. Geez, if Emily was more sensitive to someone’s feelings than me, I was seriously falling short in the emotional intelligence department. My parents had blogged about that topic once, and I remembered thinking they were both pretty emotionally clueless. I would not let myself turn into them.

  “Alex, I want you to organize that skit night, okay?” Emily stared down at me with her hands on her hips, all serious-like.

  “Really?” I swallowed hard.

  Who would put me in charge of anything?

  Yasmine had scooted as far away from me as the seat would allow, and I’d just embarrassed one of my oldest friends. Oh, and the guy I was crushing on didn’t want anything to do with me since I, apparently, threw gasoline on simmering drama. It was shaping up to be a real banner year at camp.

  “Yes, really. This is a good idea. You take it and run with it.” She pointed her finger at me, the American flag on her finger making me feel like it was an order directly from Uncle Sam himself. “I’m telling Gollum to set aside a Friday night slot for a scene from West Side Story presented by the senior campers.”

  Would Gollum even listen to the camp Rainy Day Director and let us do a skit night? I gave Emily a shaky nod, not sure if I should be thrilled at the opportunity or scared to death.

  Alex

  “Fire!”

  My fingertips vibrated on the quivering string as my arrow flew at an archery target. I squinted in the morning sunshine at the untouched yellow, red, and blue circles.

  Darn. A total miss again. There should be a prize for not hitting the target at all. It took hard work and dedication to suck that bad.

  “Alex, sight the target. Look before you release.” Jackie raised her elbow to eye level and pantomimed pulling back on an invisible arrow. She straddled a white powder line that ran the length of the field. The rest of my cabin mates ranged along the chalk boundary with Jackie to my left and Trinity to my right.

  “Yes, ma’am.” I fake-saluted her. Like I cared. Although it was nice of her to give me pointers on my least favorite activity. I raised the unloaded weapon.

  “And keep your elbow still when you pull back.” Jackie leaned over and steadied my straining arm. I couldn’t help it if my skinny guns didn’t pack any muscle. I’d give anything for Jackie’s toned biceps.

  “Got it. Thanks.” I tried to keep my aching limb from shaking, then dropped it. We’d been at this for over a half an hour. How much longer until lunch? And Javier?

  “You can do it, Alex,” called Piper from farther down the line. Her blonde hair was twisted in an elaborate knot, two patterned hair sticks holding the improbable bun in place. “Try to hit the target at least once today.”

  I pulled my hair off my heated neck, wishing I had an elastic band. It might only be 11:00 AM, but the temperature had already kicked into high gear. If anything, the muggy air was a thick soup full of swimming gnats. “I think I hit Trinity’s.”

  Trinity’s laugh rang in the still, humid air. “That doesn’t count and you know it.”

  “It’s our last shot of the session,” Yasmine put in. A lime-green scarf encased her hair, the crisscrossing fabric looking like it might engulf her head. “Plenty of time to redeem yourself.”

  It was practically encouragement. Sometimes Yasmine wasn’t awful.

  I glanced past her to Siobhan. Her small shoulders were stiff and squared, her jaw set as she stared down the field. Usually she’d have something to add about angles and trajectory lines, but she’d been quiet around me all day. I shouldn’t have teased her about Rafe and needed to find a way to make it right. I used to think it was just having a temper that got me into trouble. But it was my lack of filter, too, apparently.

  “Clear down range!” barked our activity director. Everyone was safely in line and out of danger.

  I stiffened my stance, aligned my hips and shoulders, and planted my left foot over the white powder streak.

  “Nock!”

  I inserted an arrow and brought up my trembling arm.

  “Not clear! Not clear!” One by one we lowered our bows and stared as a tall, older boy ambled out of the bushes behind our targets. He pulled up short at the sight of so many armed young women. A short gust blew his longish, dark blond hair off his face, and Trinity gasped as fear turned my stomach inside out.

  Had BLISS Network caught up with me at last? Despite my brave words to Javier, I wasn’t ready to face the reality of my parents’ world and the crappy role I played in it.

  “It’s Seth,” Trinity whispered.

  Seth? I blinked through the sunlight and realized she was right. A former Wander Inn camper, Seth had dated my B.F.F. for years until an outsider swooped in and stole her away. I’d always liked Seth, though. We all did.

  “Hi, Seth!” Trinity shouted, waving. All the other Munchies did the same until he grinned and waved back.

  “What are you doing here?” she called again. Mr. Barry, the archery instructor, shushed her.

  “Working!” Seth shouted back. “I’m staying at my grandparents’ house.” He lifted a hatchet before he waved again and stalked out of sight.

  “Who is it?” Yasmine asked.

  “Seth Reines, a former camper,” Siobhan said as we all took
up our positions again at Mr. Barry’s command. “His grandparents own Camp Juniper Point, so he must be down here visiting them for the summer and helping out.”

  “I heard he’s doing some volunteer work to rebuild the old gazebo area out by Crystal Falls where we used to picnic,” Jackie chimed in. “Some of the Wander Inn guys are signing up to help him during their free period.”

  “Cool.” Piper stretched her arms over her head. “It’s great to reuse those building materials. It’s just been sitting in a heap for years.”

  “Ready!” Mr. Barry shouted. “Aim.”

  I tried to concentrate on my target even as Trinity whispered, “I wonder if anyone can sign up to help?”

  “Fire!” came the command.

  The air reverberated with the collective release of our arrows and Trinity’s deep sigh. We all knew she’d had a secret crush on Seth since forever, but he’d been off-limits because girl code wouldn’t let her poach on Lauren’s guy. Except…Seth wasn’t Lauren’s guy anymore.

  “I can’t believe he’s working here.” Trinity shook her still-stinging hand. “Isn’t it weird to have him so close by and not have him hang out with us?”

  Siobhan and Piper nodded. But then, we’d spent a lot of time hanging out with the Wander Inn guys. Until this mess with Vijay, I had, too.

  Jackie jogged closer to thump me on the shoulder. “Good job, Alex!”

  I’d almost forgotten about my shot. I smiled at the arrow sticking on the left edge of the board.

  “Isn’t that Trinity’s?” Yasmine retied the ends of her head scarf.

  “Oops,” giggled Trinity. “That is my yellow-stripe. Guess I was distracted. Sorry, Alex.”

  I shrugged. At least I had one arrow on my target, even if it wasn’t mine. Done and done.

  “All right, ladies, retrieve your missiles, we’re finished.” Mr. Barry gave the order that set us free.

  Hallelujah. I stumbled down the field after my cabin mates. Because we weren’t stopping at our cabin on the way to dinner, I’d worn my three-inch wedge sandals to class. Definitely not the most steady footgear on rough terrain, but they added the height I needed to catch Javier’s eye.