by Nancy Krulik
“Raccoon tracks!” Katie cried out.
“Shhh . . .” Carrie whispered. She pointed to a nearby tree. “I think this story is going to have a happy ending.”
Katie looked toward where Carrie was pointing. A big mother raccoon and her baby were sitting on a low branch. The baby looked a lot like Rocky.
“Is that Rocky’s mom?” Katie asked her.
Carrie shrugged. “Could be. Anyway, he won’t be alone with her here. She’ll take care of him. He’s got a family now.”
Katie nodded.
“Come on, we’d better get back to camp,” Carrie told her.
“Okay,” Katie said. She felt kind of sad. She was going to miss Rocky. And so would Rainbow.
But thanks to Katie, Rocky was going to be a very happy raccoon. As she and Carrie headed back through the dark woods toward Camp Cedar Hill, Katie began to cheer. “I’m Katie Kazoo. Couldn’t be prouder. And if you can’t hear me, I’ll shout a little louder!”
Chapter 11
Alicia’s angry voice was the first thing Katie heard when she entered the Bumblebee cabin.
“Who knocked all my stuff onto the floor?” Alicia demanded angrily.
“Not me,” said Chelsea, who stood by the bathroom mirror brushing her long, silky hair. “I was playing basketball.”
“It wasn’t me,” Gianna told Alicia. “I was at arts and crafts, cooking, and tennis this afternoon. I haven’t been back to the bunk since lunch.”
“And Rainbow’s on that hike,” Alicia recalled. She stomped across the cabin toward where Katie was standing. “Which means it had to be you!” she shouted. “You’re the one who dumped all my clothes out of my cubby.”
Katie bit her lip. That was sort of true. Except she hadn’t been Katie when she’d done it.
“Alicia, stop yelling at everyone,” Shannon said as she walked into the cabin. “It’s your own fault that your clothes are on the floor. You left food in your cubby. A raccoon came in here looking for it. Then he escaped through that window.” She pointed to the torn screen.
“A raccoon!” Alicia gulped. She knew she was in trouble.
“And that’s why tonight, while the rest of us are at a campfire roasting marshmallows, you’re going to be here, helping someone from maintenance fix the window,” Shannon continued.
Alicia said nothing and kicked at the ground. Katie could tell she was upset about missing the campfire.
Katie bit her lip. After all, the torn window was as much her fault as it was Alicia’s. She should probably be staying behind to help with the work, too.
But Katie could never explain how she’d torn the window to Shannon and the other Bumblebees. They’d never believe her.
Still, Katie felt pretty bad about what had happened. “Let me help you fold your clothes,” Katie offered.
“Why? So you can snoop through my stuff ?” Alicia demanded.
“No,” Katie said. “I just thought you could use the help. I could fix the window with you, too, if you want.”
“I don’t need anything from you, Bumblebee baby,” Alicia snapped back.
Alicia was going to take the punishment all by herself. And even though Alicia was a big mean bully, Katie still felt kind of guilty about it.
“Okay, everybody, mail call!” Shannon shouted a few minutes later as she returned to the bunk with a pile of letters and packages. The girls all raced over to see if they’d gotten anything.
“Here’s a big box for you, Chelsea,” Shannon said, handing her a package. “There’s a package for Rainbow, too. You got a postcard, Gianna. And there are three letters for you, Katie.”
Katie smiled and took the three envelopes from Shannon’s hand. She could tell who they were from right away.
One letter was from her mom. She always wrote SWAK (which meant Sealed With A Kiss) on the back.
The one with glitter stickers all over it had to be from Suzanne. No one loved glitter more than Suzanne Lock.
The third letter was from George Brennan. Katie could tell because he’d written jokes all over the envelope. On the front he’d written Katie Kazoo before crossing out Kazoo and spelling Carew over it.
“Hey, you guys, where do baby dogs sleep when they camp out?” Katie read aloud.
“Where?” Gianna asked.
“In a pup tent!” Katie answered, laughing.
Shannon chuckled. “That’s a good one, Katie.”
“Ooh, look at what my cousin sent me,” Chelsea squealed suddenly. She reached into her box and pulled out a pile of hair ribbons. “They’re from my favorite store in the city.”
“Wow, can I wear one to the campfire tonight?” Gianna asked, running over to Chelsea’s bed.
“Sure,” Chelsea told her. “How about this red ribbon?”
“Thanks!” Gianna exclaimed.
“This headband matches your eyes, Katie,” Chelsea said, holding up a green-and-white striped stretchy band. “You should wear it tonight.”
Katie smiled. “Gee, thanks,” she said.
Alicia, who didn’t have any mail, rolled her eyes. “Why are you guys getting all dressed up for a campfire?” she groaned. “This isn’t the city, Chelsea. You don’t have to look all fancy. Besides, those ribbons and headbands are going to smell like smoke if you wear them.”
“That’s okay,” Chelsea said, reaching in and pulling out a bag of clips. “There are plenty more where they came from.”
“Friends, friends, friends we will always be. Whether in fair or in dark stormy weather, Camp Cedar Hill will keep us together . . .”
Katie smiled as she and Rainbow wrapped their arms around each other and sang. She looked over at Gianna and Chelsea. They really were all friends. Just like the song said. And it was pretty amazing, because they’d only been at camp for three days, but already Katie felt as if she had known them her whole life.
“Ahhh! My marshmallow’s on fire!”
Chelsea yelled out suddenly. She held up a metal skewer with a burning marshmallow on top.
“Blow it out!” Rainbow shouted.
Chelsea blew hard. The fire went out. All that was left was a blackened marshmallow.
“Oh man, it’s ruined,” she said.
“They taste best that way,” Gianna assured her. “Try it.”
Chelsea looked doubtful. But she pulled the ooey-gooey burned marshmallow from the skewer and took a bite anyway. “Mmmm,” she purred. “This is good.”
“Told ya,” Gianna replied. “The counselor I had my first year here taught me that.”
“We’re so lucky to have you in our bunk,” Chelsea said. “You know all about this place.”
“We’re all lucky to be in the same bunk,” Gianna told her.
Just then an older girl walked over to where the Bumblebees were sitting. “Hi, Katie,” she said.
“Hi, Lexi,” Katie greeted her.
“See, I told you you would have a great time here,” Lexi said.
“You were right,” Katie agreed. “Are you having fun?”
“The best summer ever,” Lexi told her. “I learned how to water-ski today. You’ll get to do that, too, when you’re in the Stingray cabin.”
“I can’t wait!” Katie exclaimed. And she meant it. She knew she wanted to come back to Camp Cedar Hill every summer for as long as she was a kid. This place was the best.
As Lexi walked away, Katie put another marshmallow on her skewer. “Come on, you guys,” she said to her fellow Bumblebees. “Let’s see who can toast the gooeyest one!”
Chapter 12
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The rain was the first thing Katie heard when she woke up in the morning. She lifted up her head and looked out the window. Sure enough, the leaves on the trees were heavy and wet. The ground was covered with soggy puddles.
Camp didn’t look nearly as pretty in the rain. It was just a big, wet, muddy mess. Katie pulled the covers over her head and sighed.
The heavy downpour had woken Alicia, too. “Man, this stink
s!” she groaned. “I hate rainy days. You can’t play ball or go boating or anything. I’ll be stuck in this cabin with Bumblebee babies all day.”
Katie rolled her eyes. She didn’t get upset when Alicia called them all babies anymore. Nobody did. They ignored her.
“Sometimes we go to the movies or the bowling alley in town when it rains,” Gianna recalled. “Remember, Alicia?”
“That’s only if it rains for a few days in a row,” Alicia reminded her.
“My hair is going to frizz,” Chelsea moaned, sitting up in her bed. “I always look like a mess when it rains.”
Katie frowned. This was the first time she’d woken up unhappy at camp. Only Rainbow had a big smile on her face. “This is awesome!” she exclaimed, leaping out of bed.
“Okay, I think she’s finally gone crazy,” Alicia grumbled as Rainbow pulled a bathing suit from her cubby.
“I don’t think we’re going to be swimming today,” Katie told Rainbow kindly.
“Oh, I’m not going swimming,” Rainbow told her. “I’m taking a shower.”
“In your bathing suit?” Gianna asked.
Rainbow nodded. “I’m going to take a shower in the rain.”
“Cool!” Katie exclaimed and leaped out of bed. “Wait for me.”
“Me too!” Chelsea cried. “I’ll bet rainwater is really good for your hair.”
“Wow. I’ve never done this before,” Gianna told Rainbow. “Not once in the three years I’ve been here.”
“Are you coming, Alicia?” Katie asked as she grabbed her shampoo bottle and headed for the door.
Alicia sighed. “Well, I guess I have to shower anyway,” she said, slowly getting out of her bed.
By the time Alicia made it outside, the other Bumblebees were all lathered up. Shannon walked out on the porch and smiled at her girls. “Now that’s the Bumblebee spirit,” she said. “When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.”
“I’m glad it’s not raining lemonade,” Chelsea told her. “That would make my hair really sticky.”
Katie giggled. Then she waved her hands high in the air, wiggled her hips, and did a little happy dance.
At camp even the rain was awesome!
Dear Suzanne,
You won’t believe what I learned how to do today.
My friend Chelsea taught me how to French braid my hair! When you wear your hair that way you look so grown-up! I’ll show you how to do it when I get home.
I also found out that rainwater makes your hair really shiny. That’s right. I actually took a shower in the rain! You can get pretty clean that way- your entire body except your feet, which get kind of mudly. You have to rinse them off after. Write back soon.
Love,
Katie
Chapter 13
The next day the sun was shining brightly. Katie and the other Bumblebees were busy all day long.
Katie had had an especially busy day. She’d played a game of softball during athletics, gone out on the lake in a sailboat in boating, made tea out of dandelions in pioneering, and played flashlight tag during evening activities.
Before bed, everybody wrote letters. Everybody except Alicia.
“You guys want to have some real fun?” she asked the girls right before lights-out.
“I had real fun all day,” Gianna told her. “Now I want to get some real sleep.”
“Me too,” Katie agreed, putting away her stationery. “I’m bushed.”
“You guys are so boring,” Alicia said. “Let’s go bunk hopping.”
“What’s that?” Katie asked.
“Sneaking out of the bunk and visiting other cabins,” Alicia told her.
“That’s not allowed,” Katie told her. “We’re supposed to stay here after lights-out.”
“Come on,” Alicia said. “Don’t be such a goody-goody.”
Katie frowned. Sometimes her friends at school called her that, too.
And she hated it. She just believed in following rules, that was all.
“It’s no big deal,” Alicia told the girls. “They expect us to do it. It’s a camp tradition.”
Chelsea looked over at Gianna. “Is it?” she asked.
Gianna shrugged. “I’ve heard a lot of the older girls talking about how they go bunk hopping some nights.”
“Exactly,” Alicia agreed. “And the Bumblebees can’t do anything the older girls can.”
“She’s got a point,” Rainbow said. “We’re only a few months younger than the Sea Horses. But they got to go on that sleepover canoe trip and we didn’t.”
“Yeah, and didn’t that friend of Katie’s tell us the Stingrays get to water-ski?” Rainbow recalled.
Alicia nodded. “I’m a better swimmer than most of them, but I don’t get to do that,” she pointed out.
“It’s not fair!” Rainbow shouted.
“I know,” Alicia said. “Which is why I think we should go bunk hopping.”
“Me too,” Chelsea agreed.
“I’m in,” Rainbow said. “It’s a matter of principle.”
“Well,” Gianna said slowly. “When you put it that way . . . Let’s just not get caught.”
“We won’t,” Alicia said as she grabbed her flashlight. “We’re too smart for that.”
Katie watched as one by one her friends slipped their sneakers on and took out their flashlights. They were all going bunk hopping. If she didn’t go, Katie would be the only one left.
All alone in the cabin at night? That was just too scary!
Katie leaped out of bed and grabbed her flashlight. “Wait up!” she whispered hoarsely.
“Now be really quiet,” Alicia told them as she slowly opened the door and tiptoed down the cabin steps.
The girls all followed Alicia as she slipped behind the bunk, taking care to stay out of sight of the on-duty counselors, who were sitting at a picnic table near a tree.
“Where are we going?” Chelsea asked.
Alicia put her fingers to her lips and glared at her.
No one said a word after that.
Katie looked up at the night sky. She’d never seen so many stars before. And they were all so bright and shiny. Katie had to admit it was kind of cool being out so late at night. The danger of sneaking around was a little thrilling. Katie had never done anything like this before!
The camp was quiet, except for the sounds of the crickets chirping and the occasional whisper or giggle from one of the on-duty counselors.
Crack. Just then, a twig snapped beneath Katie’s feet.
“Shhh . . .” Alicia hissed.
“I . . .” Katie was about to say she was sorry, but she stopped herself. It was better to keep quiet.
The girls continued to follow Alicia. They snuck between the Stingray and Sea Horse bunks, across the athletic field, and behind the mess hall. Alicia finally stopped when they reached the nature shack. She looked around to make sure no one was around. Then she opened the door of the shack and walked inside.
“What are we doing here?” Rainbow whispered.
“I thought we’d play a little joke on Shannon,” Alicia told her.
“Why would we do that?” Gianna wondered.
“Because she was so mean,” Alicia said. “I had to miss the campfire, remember?”
“But she wasn’t mean to the rest of us,” Chelsea pointed out.
“Oh, come on, you guys, it’s just a joke,” Alicia told them. “I’m just gonna put a lizard in her bed. I want to see how scared she gets.”
“That’s not a nice thing to do—to Shannon or the lizard,” Katie said.
“Don’t be such babies,” Alicia snarled.
“Stop calling us that!” Katie shouted back.
Alicia shrugged and walked over to the lizard cage. Slowly she removed the lid. Then she reached her hand into the cage and . . .
Flick! Just then the lights went on in the nature shack.
Katie gulped. This was sooo not good.
Chapter 14
“I am really up
set!” Shannon shouted after the girls returned to the bunk. The nature counselor was very angry, too. “I can’t believe my girls went bunk hopping!”
Katie bit her lip. She didn’t know what to say. The last thing she ever wanted to do was disappoint her counselor.
“We’re sorry,” Gianna said quietly.
“We just wanted to see what it felt like,” Rainbow added.
“All the bigger girls do it, so . . .” Chelsea added.
“Who told you that?” Shannon asked.
No one said a word.
Shannon nodded quietly. “Well, since you girls like wandering around camp when no one else is around, I guess I should let you do that.”
Katie looked at her counselor with surprise. Was she really going to say it was okay for them to go bunk hopping?
No such luck.
“Tomorrow morning you’re all going to get up extra early,” Shannon told them. “And then you’re going to walk around the whole camp, singing. It will be your job to wake everyone else in the camp in time for breakfast.”
“We have to get up early?” Chelsea exclaimed.
Shannon nodded. “And be ready to sing.”
“In front of everyone?” Katie asked nervously. Somehow she didn’t think she could do that.
“Oh yeah,” Shannon told her. “And loudly, too. Remember, you have to get everyone up. So I guess that means you girls will want to climb into your beds and go to sleep now.”
The girls all did as they were told.
After Shannon shut off the light, Alicia began to grumble. “I told you we should have put that lizard in her bed.”
Katie folded her pillow over her ears so she couldn’t hear her. She wasn’t going to listen to anything Alicia said. Not for the rest of the summer!
“It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up in the morning!” the Bumblebees sang out as they trudged through camp from cabin to cabin.
“Ahhh, be quiet!” someone yelled from the Sharks’ bunk.
But the Bumblebees couldn’t be quiet. They had to sing. And loud.