Camp Rules!

by Nancy Krulik

  “It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up . . .”

  “I hate Bumblebees!” someone in the Stingray bunk screamed through the cabin window.

  Katie frowned. She didn’t like it when people were mad at her. And from the sound of things, the whole camp was pretty angry with the Bumblebees today. Nobody at camp liked getting out of bed in the morning. Getting woken up by a bunch of girls singing—off-key—was making it that much worse.

  But by the time everyone got to breakfast, it seemed all had been forgiven. In fact, some of the older girls were laughing about what had happened.

  “Don’t feel so bad,” Lexi told her. “We’ve all had to do that.”

  “Yeah,” another girl from Lexi’s cabin said. “And I didn’t go bunk hopping until I was a Sea Horse. I think you guys are the first Bumblebees to ever have the guts to sneak out at night.”

  “Pretty impressive,” Lexi agreed.

  “Gee, thanks . . .” Katie said proudly.

  “But you’d better not do it again,” Lexi warned. “The next punishment will probably be even worse.”

  Katie was surprised. “Worse than having to sing in front of the whole camp?” she asked.

  “Oh yeah. You don’t want to be left out of Color War,” Lexi’s friend told her. “And that’s what they would probably do.”

  That settled it. From now on, Katie was staying put after lights-out. Her bunk-hopping days were over.

  Chapter 15

  Alicia, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care what she was going to miss. That night Katie and the rest of the girls lay in their beds, trying to be good. But Alicia hopped out of hers and grabbed her flashlight.

  “You’re not going bunk hopping again, are you?” Katie asked her nervously. “You might miss Color War.”

  “Big deal,” Alicia answered. “So I might miss a bunch of stupid relay races and singing.”

  “Don’t listen to her,” Gianna told Katie. “Color War is totally awesome. It’s the most exciting part of camp!”

  “Anyhow, I’m not leaving the cabin,” Alicia said. “I’m just going to remake Shannon’s bed for her.”

  “Why?” Rainbow asked. “It looks pretty neat. Besides, she’s just going to get into bed in an hour or two and unmake it.”

  “Exactly,” Alicia said with a big smile. “Only she’s going to have a tough time doing that, because I’m short-sheeting it.”

  “Alicia, that’s not nice,” Gianna warned.

  “What’s short-sheeting?” Chelsea asked.

  “Alicia’s going to fold over the top sheet so it looks normal,” Gianna explained.

  “Yeah,” Alicia agreed. “But when she tries to climb in, she won’t be able to. Pretty funny, huh?”

  “Come on, Alicia, go back to bed,” Gianna said.

  “No way,” Alicia replied.

  There was no stopping Alicia when she had her mind made up. Katie picked up her flashlight and one of the comic books her grandmother had sent her in a package. She read for a while and then fell asleep.

  Katie didn’t know how long she’d been sleeping when she heard a rustling coming from the far end of the bunk.

  She sat up suddenly. Had Rocky come back to visit?

  No. That wasn’t it. As she squinted in the darkness, she could hear Shannon struggling.

  “Darn it,” the counselor muttered as she stood up and pulled the blankets and sheets from her mattress and started to remake her bed. “AAAH!” she shouted out suddenly.

  Her scream woke up the whole cabin.

  “What’s wrong?” Rainbow cried out.

  Shannon ripped her sheets from her bed. “Someone put worms in my bed!”

  “Ooh, worms. Gross,” Chelsea gulped.

  “I’ve got to shake these sheets out,” Shannon said as she opened the cabin door.

  A few giggles came from Alicia’s bed. Alicia had her pillow over her mouth to muffle the sound, but Katie could still hear her.

  “How come you’re never nice, Alicia?” Katie whispered loudly.

  Alicia just laughed.

  But she wasn’t laughing the next morning. As soon as the Bumblebees had woken up and gotten dressed, Shannon said, “You know what, girls? I found out last night that Alicia has a special talent. She is a wonderful bed maker. And to prove it, she’s going to make every one of your beds today.”

  Alicia gasped. “I’m what?”

  “You’re going to make all the beds in the bunk,” Shannon told her. “But not the way you made mine last night. You’re going to make the beds the right way.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alicia lied.

  “Alicia, I know you short-sheeted my bed,” Shannon said. “And you put the worms in there, too.”

  Katie bit her lip. She thought she had been whispering pretty quietly. She hadn’t meant for Shannon to hear her say anything.

  “Tattletale,” Alicia hissed as she walked over to Katie’s bed and began to straighten the covers.

  Chapter 16

  “Water! I need water!” Katie exclaimed as she walked into the mess hall at lunchtime. She was hot, sweaty, and incredibly happy.

  “I did it!” she told the other Bumblebees excitedly. “I served the ball over the net!”

  “It was awesome!” Gianna congratulated her. “I couldn’t return the ball.”

  “You should be proud of yourself, Katie,” Shannon told her.

  “I am,” Katie replied. “I’ve been working all week to learn how to do that.”

  She stopped for a minute. All week. It was hard to believe that tomorrow she would be at Cedar Hill Camp for a whole week!

  Which meant camp was already almost half over. That made Katie kind of sad.

  But before she could think too much about that, she heard a loud banging and clanging from the mess-hall door. Then she heard wild screaming and yelling.

  “COLOR WAR! COLOR WAR! COLOR WAR!”

  Diana, the arts-and-crafts counselor, Maria and Jessie, two of the athletics counselors, and Carrie, the nature counselor, all came racing into the mess hall. They were banging on pots and pans and screaming at the top of their lungs.

  Before long, everyone else in the mess hall was banging on the tables, too. “COLOR WAR!” they shouted. “COLOR WAR!”

  Carrie jumped up on a bench and threw blue confetti in the air. Maria threw orange confetti. Diana threw green confetti. And coach Jessie added a big handful of white.

  Katie looked up as the rainbow of shredded paper fell all around her. It was so pretty and exciting. “COLOR WAR!” she shouted louder.

  The nature counselor picked up a microphone. “Well, I guess you know that Color War has broken,” she said.

  Everyone started to cheer.

  “To find out what color your team is, look inside the can in the middle of your table,” the nature counselor continued.

  Until that moment Katie hadn’t even noticed the tin can on the table. She’d been too excited about what had happened at tennis. But now even that didn’t seem all that important. Nothing did—except finding out what color team the Bumblebees were on.

  Chelsea leaped up and grabbed the can. She twisted the top open and . . .

  BOING! A big green rubber snake jumped out of the can.

  “Aaah!” Chelsea shrieked.

  “I guess we’re on the Green team,” Rainbow said, laughing.

  “Gee, you’re a real genius,” Alicia said. She was trying to sound bored. But Katie could tell she was excited about Color War, too.

  “Team meetings begin after lunch,” Carrie announced to everyone. “The races start tonight. Get ready for two and a half days of crazy competitions. It’s going to be a fight to the finish!”

  “I got it!” Shannon announced a few hours later as she raced into the bunk with a brown paper bag in her hands. She reached into the bag and took out a can of bright green hair dye. She had driven to a nearby town with a couple of other counselors for some Color War supplies.

 
“You’re absolutely sure this will come out, right?” Chelsea asked nervously.

  “Absolutely,” Shannon assured her. “It says right here that it washes out with just one shampoo.”

  Katie reached into her cubby and pulled out a disposable camera. “I’m so glad my grandma sent me this in a package. I want to remember this always.”

  “We’d better do this outside,” Shannon told the girls, picking up the bag of green hair color and heading out of the bunk.

  “Hey, where’s Alicia?” Gianna asked as the girls followed their counselor out of the bunk.

  “She went for a walk,” Chelsea said. “The only race she’s in is the swim marathon, and that’s tomorrow. She doesn’t feel like she has to be around for the rest of the stuff.”

  “She’s on the Green team,” Rainbow said. “She should be here to cheer for her teammates.”

  “Alicia’s on the Alicia team,” Gianna groaned. “She doesn’t care about anyone else.”

  “Well, I’m not going to let her spoil my fun,” Chelsea said, spraying some bright green color on her braids. “I’m in tonight’s softball game. And I’m planning on hitting a home run.”

  “I’m in the water-balloon toss,” Rainbow said.

  “I’ll come cheer you on,” Gianna said. “My races don’t start until tomorrow. I’m in the rowboat race and the canoe race.”

  “How about you, Katie?” Rainbow asked.

  “I’m in the obstacle course tomorrow,” Katie told her. “And I’m on the arts-and-crafts committee—I’m going to help make our banner for the big sing.”

  “I can’t wait for the sing,” Shannon said. “It’s the best part.”

  Katie couldn’t wait, either. At the team meeting the counselors had explained what a sing was.

  On the last night of Color War, all the teams got together on the tennis courts. Each team had a chance to sing one song and give one cheer. The cheer had to be one the girls made up. They also had to show their team banners. A group of judges voted on whose was the best.

  At the end of the evening, after the judges added up the points from all the races and the sing, they announced the winner of Color War. And finally, there would be fireworks over the lake!

  “GREEN TEAM! GREEN TEAM!”

  Shannon began to cheer as she sprayed some green dye on her bangs.

  “WOO! WOO!” Katie screamed as she covered her red hair with green dye. “GREEN TEAM! GREEN TEAM!”

  Chapter 17

  “Go, Chelsea, go!” Katie shouted as she watched her friend run toward second base during the evening softball game. “Faster! Faster!”

  “I can’t believe she hit a double!” Rainbow exclaimed excitedly.

  “She’s really good,” Katie observed.

  Alicia shrugged and scratched at her arm. “She’s all right.”

  “Oh, and you could do better?” Gianna asked her.

  “I’ll do fine in the swim marathon,” Alicia told her. “I always do.” She scratched lazily at a mosquito bite on her knee.

  “Boy, you must have been out in the sun too long today,” Katie told Alicia. “Your face is kind of red.”

  “Yeah, well, yours is kind of green,” Alicia snapped back.

  “That’s paint from the arts-and-crafts shack. I’ve been working on the team banner,” Katie explained. “It’s really pretty.”

  “Sure,” Alicia said sarcastically.

  “I’ll bet it’s a great banner,” Rainbow told Katie. “I can’t wait to see it.”

  “I have to go finish it tomorrow,” Katie told Rainbow. “So I might not be able to come cheer for you at the water-balloon toss.”

  “That’s okay,” Rainbow assured her. “You’ll be there in spirit.”

  “Man, these mosquitoes are really biting tonight,” Alicia said.

  “I haven’t gotten bitten yet,” Rainbow said.

  “Me neither,” Katie agreed.

  “Maybe these mosquitoes just don’t like baby blood,” Alicia said. “Because they’re biting me.”

  Katie frowned. She was tired of Alicia being so mean all the time. She was sick of being called a baby. “You should be glad you’re getting bitten,” Katie told her. “At least the mosquitoes like you. No one else does.”

  “Whoa! Good one, Katie!” Gianna congratulated her.

  “That was funny,” Rainbow added.

  But Alicia didn’t seem to think it was funny. In fact, Katie was pretty sure she saw her face get even redder.

  Suddenly Katie felt bad. She didn’t like hurting anyone’s feelings. Not even Alicia’s. What was the matter? It was as if Alicia tried to make people not like her.

  “Rise and shine!” Shannon exclaimed happily early the next morning. “It’s a beautiful day for a Color War!”

  One by one the Bumblebees crawled out of their beds. Katie went to her cubby and sleepily pulled out her green-and-white polka-dot shirt and green shorts. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and wrapped Chelsea’s green hair bow around it.

  By breakfast time the other Bumblebees were also dressed in green from head to toe.

  All except Alicia. She was still lying in bed.

  “My head hurts,” she told Shannon. “Can’t I just sleep through breakfast?”

  “You might feel better if you eat something,” Shannon suggested. “You’ll need all the energy you can get for your swimming race.”

  Alicia just groaned. “Man, these mosquito bites really itch!” she said as she popped out of bed.

  “You can go to sick call at the infirmary after breakfast and get some lotion to put on them,” Shannon suggested.

  “That stuff never works,” Alicia complained.

  “Well, it’s the best we have,” Shannon said, trying to sound cheerful. “Besides, that cool lake water will make you feel better.”

  “I won’t be in there very long,” Alicia told her. “I’ll win that race so fast, I’ll be out before anyone knows what’s happening.”

  Katie thought that sounded pretty stuck-up. But Shannon didn’t seem to.

  “That’s the spirit!” the counselor said cheerfully. “Go, Green!”

  Breakfast during Color War sure was loud. All the girls cheered for their teams, practically forgetting about their eggs and juice. (Of course, camp eggs were pretty forgettable anyway!)

  “Hurry up, we’ve got to get to our races!” Gianna told the other Bumblebees.

  “Chill out,” Alicia argued. “We don’t get points for finishing first in breakfast.”

  “I can’t eat,” Rainbow said. “I’m too stressed out about the water-balloon toss.”

  “You’ll be great,” Shannon assured her. “Mighty Green will reign supreme!”

  “Oh no, is it raining?” Rainbow asked.

  “Not that kind of rain, ding-dong,” Alicia said. “Reign. It means rule.”

  “Don’t call her a ding-dong,” Chelsea shouted at Alicia.

  “I’ll call her anything I want,” Alicia argued.

  Katie sighed. She was sooo tired of all the fighting that Alicia caused. “Shannon, I have to go to arts and crafts and get working on the banner,” Katie told her counselor. “Can I be excused?”

  Shannon nodded. “Sure can. Go, Green!”

  Chapter 18

  The camp was quiet as Katie walked into the arts-and-crafts shack. Everyone was still in the mess hall finishing breakfast.

  But Katie didn’t mind the silence. In fact, it was kind of a relief to be by herself.

  Katie pulled out the green paint and found the banner she had been working on. Suddenly she felt a cool breeze blowing on the back of her neck. At first she was happy about that. It was nice to feel some fresh air on such a hot, sticky day.

  But then Katie noticed that the wind didn’t seem to be blowing anywhere else. Not in the trees. Not in the grass. Just on her.

  The magic wind was back! Katie wasn’t going to be herself for much longer.

  “Oh no! Not now. Not during Color War!” Katie shouted out. But t
he magic wind didn’t stop blowing. In fact, it blew faster and faster, spinning wildly just around Katie.

  And then it stopped. Just like that.

  Katie Carew was gone. One, two, switcheroo.

  She was someone else.

  But who?

  Katie didn’t even have to open her eyes to figure that out. Her itchy mosquito-bitten arms and legs told her right away!

  Katie had turned into Alicia—right before the big race.

  This was sooo not good. There was no way Katie could win the swim marathon. She’d never been to the raft in the middle of the lake before.

  And now was not the time to try it.

  Katie was not going to try to be Alicia in the race. She knew what a disaster that could wind up being.

  Like the time she switcherooed into Kevin before his big karate tournament. She hadn’t been able to break a board. In fact she hadn’t even hit the board. Instead she’d missed and landed on her tush.

  And then there was the time the magic wind turned her into Suzanne during a fashion show. She’d put her pants on backward and walked down the runway like Frankenstein in those awful high heels. Suzanne was so embarrassed—and it hadn’t even been her fault.

  But a swim race? This could be the biggest disaster of all time.

  Katie didn’t like Alicia. But she didn’t want to make a fool out of her. She had to find a place to hide. A safe place where no one could find her.

  How about the woods?

  No. That wouldn’t work. It was scary out there. And besides, that was against the rules.

  The bunk! That was it. No one would be there. Everyone was out at Color War activities.

  Quickly Katie raced to the Bumblebee bunk, taking care not to be seen by anyone.

  Phew. A few minutes later she was safe inside. No one could find her.

  Or could they?

  Chapter 19

  Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

  Suddenly Katie heard footsteps coming up the stairs toward the bunk. Oh no! Someone was coming. Quickly she dove beneath the bottom bunk of Alicia’s bed.