Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick. Tori felt like her watch was louder than a steel drum band. It taunted her with every second passing.
The protest had been supposed to start at twelve noon, and it was twelve twenty-seven.
And they were still half an hour away.
Tori glanced out the window and saw Dr. Steve say something to Ed, then sigh and wipe his forehead. He seemed to be asking Ed a question and not liking the answer. Tori watched as their camp leader shook his head, sighed, and started walking toward the bus door. She felt a trickle of dread in the pit of her stomach as he climbed the stairs and turned to face them all, looking defeated.
“Kids,” he said gently. “I have some bad news.”
“Nooooo!” several of the campers yelled back, shaking their heads furiously. They all knew what he was going to say. They’d been waiting to hear it for the last half hour. But that didn’t make it any easier to hear.
“I don’t think we’re going to make it to our protest,” Dr. Steve went on sadly.
Quiet fell over the crowd, quickly followed by some gasps and then a couple sobs. Tori looked over to see tears leaking from Brynn’s eyes. She swiped at her eyes, frustrated, then sobbed and looked down at her lap.
“We have to make it,” Sloan cried. “We’ve worked so hard! We can’t let our voices go unheard because of some stupid bus engine.”
Dr. Steve looked sympathetic, but Tori could see his mind was made up. “Believe me,” he said to Sloan, “if I could think of any way to get thirty campers to Harrisburg in no time flat, I would do it. But we’re stuck, kids. The bus isn’t moving. We’re going to have to call a tow truck and arrange for another bus to take us back to Camp Lakeview. It might be hours.”
Tori felt tears wetting her eyes. This had to be the worst way to lose Camp Lakeview. To work so hard and come so close to saving it, only to be sent back at the last minute because of something they had no control over.
Dr. Steve looked around and found her in the crowd, meeting her eyes. “Tori,” he said, “I assume you have a phone number for the band?”
Tori nodded. “Yeah,” she replied, and it came out like a sob.
Dr. Steve gave a sympathetic smile. “You’d better call them and let them know we won’t be making it.”
Tori nodded and let out a deep sigh, her chest shaking. She fished her cell phone out of her purse and scrolled down to Todd’s number, trying to get a grip. It’s nothing worse than what we already feared, she told herself. Camp Lakeview will close. I’ll go to Camp Ohana Next year. Life will go on.
But somehow none of that made her feel any better.
“Hey, Tori!” Todd’s cheerful voice seemed totally out of sync with the scene on the bus. “Where are you guys, anyway? Stuck in traffic?”
Tori took a deep breath. “Not exactly.” She paused, trying to keep from sobbing, but realized that she couldn’t. Finally she just let it out in one big rush. “Our bus broke down we’re still half an hour away nobody can make it go and we have to call a tow truck we can’t get to Harrisburg and we’re all so disappointed—”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Todd broke in. “Say what? You’re missing the protest?”
Tori sniffled. “Yes.”
“Because your bus broke down?”
Tori swallowed. Her throat felt hot and raw. “Yes,” she said.
“Oh, no, we can’t have that.” Tori heard Todd cover the phone with his hand and then muffled voices as he spoke to someone else. She wiped some tears from her cheek.
In a few minutes Todd was back on the line. “How many of you are there?” he asked.
Tori looked around the bus. “I’m not sure. Around thirty?”
The hand covering the phone again. And then muffled voices. Questioning voices, turning to excited voices. Then Todd’s own excited voice, back on the line.
“Listen, Tori, don’t any of you move a muscle. Stay right where you are. I have to make a few phone calls, but I think we can make this work.”
Tori was confused. “But—”
“Shh. Stay put. I’ll call you back in ten.”
There was a click as Todd hung up the phone.
For a moment, Tori just held her phone in front of her and stared at it, like it might tell her exactly what Todd had up his sleeve. But soon, her bunkmates surrounded her.
“What happened?” asked Val.
“Yeah,” said Candace. “Are they going home or what?”
Tori wasn’t sure what to say. “He told us to stay put,” she replied. “He’ll call back in ten minutes.”
The girls all looked at one another, confusion lingering in their eyes. Tori glanced out the window. Dr. Steve was outside again, talking on his cell phone and looking frustrated. Tori assumed he was trying to make arrangements to transport one elderly school bus and thirty extremely disappointed kids back to Camp Lakeview.
Tori stood up. “I don’t know about you guys, but I could use some air,” she said, heading toward the front of the bus.
Her bunkmates looked at one another. “Good idea!” Alyssa agreed. “Especially if we’re going to be here for a few more hours.”
Alyssa fell into step behind Tori, and soon most of the kids on the bus were filing down the aisle and into the bright sunlight. They all stayed far from the highway’s edge, stretching and looking around at the woods that bordered the highway. Dr. Steve and poor Ed were on the other side of the bus, Ed still underneath, trying to figure out what was wrong.
“He wasn’t mad?” Nat asked Tori, leaning back against Logan, who had his arms around her waist.
“No,” said Tori. “I don’t think so. He sounded disappointed, but . . .”
“Do you think they’ll try the protest without us?” Chelsea asked.
Tori shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Do you think they—”
Jenna’s question was cut off by a loud beep from a small gray sedan as it shifted into the breakdown lane, slowed, and slid to a stop just a few feet from the bus.
Tori and her friends regarded one another: What the . . . ?
“Hey!” A slim, twentysomething brunette slid out of the driver’s-side door and shouted to the assembly of campers. “Are you the kids from Camp Lakeview?”
Just then Tori’s cell phone rang. Startled, she fumbled it to her ear and pressed talk. “Hello?”
“Hey.” It was Todd’s voice. “I arranged for some friends of mine to carpool you guys to the protest site. It may take a little while, but just sit tight, and eventually I’ll have enough rides for all of you. Okay?”
“O—” Tori stopped. “Wait a minute! There are thirty of us!”
Tori could hear the smile in Todd’s voice as he replied, “I have a lot of friends.”
Tori laughed. She couldn’t believe he was being so nice. “But—but—”
“But nothing!” insisted Todd. “Get your energized butts into the cars and get down here! We have a protest to make!”
“But—it was supposed to be at noon!” Tori’s heart was beating fast. She loved the idea that they might be able to save the protest, but—wasn’t it too late? Hadn’t they already missed the lunch hour?
“Noon, schmoon!” Todd cried. “We’ve got tons of daylight left! Just get in the cars.”
Even in her shaky state, Tori knew that she’d have to run that one by Dr. Steve. “You should talk to our camp director,” she told Todd, walking around to the other side of the bus and holding her cell phone up to Dr. Steve, who seemed to be between his own phone calls. “Someone needs to speak with you.”
As Dr. Steve took the phone, Tori walked back to her friends.
“What’s going on?!” cried Brynn.
“Yeah,” said Sloan. “Did Todd arrange some way for us to get to the protest?”
Tori nodded, still not quite believing it. “They sent their friends,” she said, waving to the lady by the gray sedan. “They want to give us all rides to the protest and go through with it. Can you be
lieve it?”
Joy seemed to spread through all of the assembled campers. Suddenly the air was filled with laughter and high fives. “Omigod,” Priya gasped, a huge smile on her face. “Omigod! We still have a chance! We can save Camp Lakeview!”
“We missed our protest time,” Tori pointed out, voicing the one reservation she had left. “It won’t be the lunch hour. There won’t be as many people around.”
Jenna rolled her eyes. “Tori! So what?” she asked, smiling encouragingly. “Don’t you think the songs we rehearsed are exciting enough to draw them out of their offices? Don’t you?”
Tori thought for a second, then laughed. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Jenna beamed. “So we’re back in business!” she cried.
Just then, Dr. Steve was walking around the bus with Tori’s cell phone in his hand and a confused expression on his face. “That was Todd,” he told Tori.
“I know,” Tori replied, suddenly nervous. Would Dr. Steve let them get into cars with people he didn’t know? Would the protest be killed by him?
“He had an unusual request,” Dr. Steve went on.
Tori nodded seriously. “I know,” she said.
Dr. Steve nodded gravely, stroking his chin in thought. “So three of you had better get going,” he said, gesturing to the gray sedan, where the driver was still waiting with a smile on her face.
It took Tori a second to figure out that he’d said yes. But when she did, before she could think about it, she threw herself at him in a hug. “Oh my god, thank you!” she cried. “Thank you! Thank you! I’ll go!”
She pulled away and looked at her friends.
“Me too,” said Brynn.
“Me three!” cried Sloan.
Together they ran over to the gray car and introduced themselves to the driver, whose name was Tessa.
“Thank you so much, Tessa,” Sloan said as they settled into the car, buckling their seat belts.
“Any friend of Todd’s is a friend of mine,” Tessa replied. “We went to high school together, and I know his causes are very important to him.”
“This is the most important cause of all,” Brynn told her. “Saving Camp Lakeview!”
Tessa smiled, turning the key in the ignition and putting the car in gear. “Then let’s get to it, shall we?”
chapter ELEVEN
An hour later, all of the campers stood together on a small green across from the statehouse. The members of Judy Renaissance bustled around, making last-minute adjustments to their instruments and arranging themselves around the crowd. Nat felt her heart beating a million miles an hour. This was it. The protest was about to start. This was their last chance to save their camp.
Todd faced the group of campers, his guitar resting on his hip. He looked to Brynn, who stood in the middle, their unofficial leader.
“Are we ready to rock Harrisburg?” Todd asked.
Brynn broke into a huge smile. “Ready!” she cried.
“Then let’s get started!”
Todd played the opening chord of the first song Brynn had written, “Lakeview Pride.” Nat felt her heart beating in time with the music. All of the campers began bouncing nervously, getting ready for their first line. And then it was time, and thirty voices rose together to belt out the lyrics:
“You say you want to close Camp Lakeview
I don’t think you know what that means
My heart resides in its old cabins
My soul rests in the auditorium’s beams.”
Instantly the whole area was filled with music, and passersby paused to take in the spectacle of thirty teenagers and three grown men dancing around and belting out these bouncy songs. Nat sang her heart out, swaying with the music, snuggling with Logan, and dancing with her bunkmates when the music picked up. Soon they were all dancing like goofballs, showing off all kinds of crazy moves and laughing almost as much as they were singing. Nat couldn’t remember the last time she had had so much fun. It was probably, she figured, the way she used to feel about lots of things at camp before Dr. Steve had announced it was closing and she had forgotten what fun was.
“Up next!” Brynn shouted when the first song was over. “A song I cowrote with my friend Sloan, called ‘Power to the People’! It’s about the citizens’ right to make their voices heard! And that’s just what we’re doing!”
Todd began the song, and Nat sang forcefully about something she had come to believe in: making her voice heard. Maybe, she thought as they all sang together, maybe this protest won’t work. Maybe the state congress won’t change their mind. But at least we can know we did somethiNg—we Used our voices.
And people seemed to be listening. Lots of people were stopping to take the pamphlets Sloan had made up explaining the Camp Lakeview story, and many of them also signed the petition she’d quickly thrown together. When the second song ended, a tall redhead paused in front of the group.
“Hey!” she said. “I went to Camp Lakeview for three years when I was a little younger than you kids! I didn’t know it was closing.”
Sloan nodded. “The state congress wants to use the land to build a highway.”
The woman bit her lip. “Wow! What a waste of that beautiful spot!” She shook her head. “Well, I signed your petition. I hope you stop them!”
“Thanks!”
As the woman walked away, Brynn turned around and smiled. Nat smiled back.
“I’m so glad we’re doing this,” Brynn said. “I’m so glad we’re at least trying.”
Jenna smiled. “Me too.”
“Me too!” cried Tori.
“Me too!” chorused Nat and a bunch of the other campers.
“Are we ready for the next song?” Todd asked, and when the campers affirmed that they were, music filled the air again. The girls all got really into the music, dancing and making crazy faces as they belted out the song. Pretty soon people who stopped to watch were dancing along, sometimes even singing the chorus with the campers. The whole green had turned into a party.
One song blended into the other, and even when Nat’s feet were sore from dancing and her throat was sore from singing, they all kept going, still as into the songs as they had been when the protest started. Soon their petition was filled with signatures and the green was filled with sympathetic bystanders who sang along with their songs and pumped their fists in time to the music. It was getting late, and they had all been through their whole program of songs and had started again at the beginning. Two more songs and Nat knew they’d probably have to pack it up.
Suddenly a petite, well-dressed woman appeared on the green, watching them with an amused, impressed expression. She waited until their song ended, then stepped forward.
“What was the title of that song?” the woman asked.
Brynn smiled. “It’s called ‘Power to the People,’” she explained. “It’s about how important it is for citizens to speak up about issues that are important to them— like us, speaking up about how Camp Lakeview can’t close!”
“Yeah!” called Sloan, and several other campers hooted their agreement.
“Well, that’s very impressive.” The woman smiled, exposing perfect white teeth. “Maybe I should introduce myself. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m State Representative Tanya Bierden.”
Nat felt her jaw drop. She looked around at her bunkmates: Wow. This was her—the woman responsible for the decision to save Camp Lakeview!
Sloan looked just as surprised as Nat felt. “Wow,” she said. “Did you—I mean did we—have you changed your mind about closing the camp?”
The woman smiled again, and her expression was warm. “I’m afraid I can’t commit to anything right now,” she said. “But I just wanted to tell you how pleased I am that you’ve come today and, like you said, made your voices heard. It’s the citizen’s job to tell us what’s important to him or her! I wish more people your age believed in their power as strongly as you do.”
Sloan grinned. Most of the campers smiled proudly.
“
Thank you for coming out to tell us that,” Brynn said quietly.
“You’re more than welcome,” Representative Bierden said. “I would love to shake all of your hands, if you’d grant me the privilege.”
The campers all looked at one another and silently formed a line to shake hands with Representative Bierden. When it was Nat’s turn, she smiled proudly. She had never been involved in any sort of protest before—it had never even occurred to her that she could protest something. But she had to admit, it felt great to speak out.
“Thanks again, ladies and gentlemen,” Representative Bierden said when she was done. “If it is at all possible to save your camp, I promise to look into it. I hope you all enjoy the days you have left and have safe travels home.” She smiled again and then turned and walked back to the statehouse.
“Wow,” breathed Sloan.
“Wow,” agreed Dr. Steve, who had been standing off to the side during the protest but now stood before them, smiling proudly. “Campers, I think we’ve accomplished what we set out to do. Now we should head back where we belong—back to Camp Lakeview.”
Alex made a face. “But wait—how will we get home?” she asked. “The people who drove us here live around Harrisburg. They’re not going to want to drive us two hours away.”
Dr. Steve just grinned, gesturing behind him. “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you—your bus!”
Nat looked past Dr. Steve, and sure enough, there it was—she wondered how long it had been parked there! The ancient Camp Lakeview bus idled at the curb, with their trusty driver and handyman, Ed, waiting in the doorway.
“Ed kept fiddling with it and was able to find the problem about half an hour after you all left! The bus is running well now and, Ed promises us, has plenty of power to get us home. So let’s load on!”
Nat looked at her friends and smiled, pausing to take one last look at the green and burn these last few hours into her memory. The protest had been everything she loved about camp—hanging out with her friends, just having fun and expressing themselves. She wanted to remember it forever—especially if it was going to be one of her last camp memories.
Suddenly Last Summer #20 Page 10