Heidi Heckelbeck Goes to Camp!

by Priscilla Burris

  Chapter 1: A TRUNK FULL OF SPELLS

  Chapter 2: WHO’S SHE?

  Chapter 3: CLOSETS AND QUILTS

  Chapter 4: RAH, RAH

  Chapter 5: KER-FLUNK!

  Chapter 6: SUGAR AND SPICE

  Chapter 7: SHA-ZING!

  Chapter 8: CHICKEN TALK

  Chapter 9: OOGIE DA BOINGA!

  Chapter 10: “DAKOTA” MEANS “FRIENDS”

  ‘Heidi Heckelbeck and the Christmas Surprise’ Excerpt

  About Wanda Coven and Priscilla Burris

  “Oogie da boinga!” Heidi Heckelbeck said as she grabbed a chocolate chip cookie from the dessert plate.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Henry.

  “Lucy told me about it,” Heidi said. “It means ‘wahoo!’ at Camp Dakota.”

  “It also means you have camp spirit,” said Dad.

  “Well, I have oogie da boinga too,” said Henry. “So why can’t I go to sleepaway camp?”

  “Because you’re a SHRIMP,” Heidi said.

  “Am not.”

  “Are too.”

  “Soon Henry will be old enough for sleepaway camp too,” Mom said.

  “It’s going to feel like FOREVER until I’m old enough,” said Henry.

  “Trust me,” Dad said. “It’ll go fast.”

  “And so will this evening if we don’t hop to it,” said Mom.

  “You two go and pack,” said Dad. “Henry and I will do the dishes.”

  Heidi and her best friend, Lucy Lancaster, were leaving for Camp Dakota in the morning. Lucy had gone to Camp Dakota last summer. Now Heidi and Lucy would get to go together for two whole weeks!

  Heidi’s clothes lay in piles on her bed. Mom had ironed name tags on to all of Heidi’s belongings.

  “Let’s check off the last few things,” Mom said.

  “Okay,” said Heidi.

  “Now all I need are my tap shoes and a laundry bag.”

  Heidi grabbed the shoe box from the shelf in her closet. She had tried tap in the school talent show, but that didn’t count because she had used a tap-dancing spell. Now she wanted to learn for real.

  Mom took one last look at the packing list. “I’ll get you a laundry bag from the linen closet,” she said.

  As soon as Mom left the room, Heidi thought of something else she wanted to pack—something super-important. She kneeled on the carpet and pulled her keepsake box out from under the bed. She opened the box and took out two things: her Book of Spells and her Witches of Westwick medallion. Mom would never allow me to take these, thought Heidi. But what if there’s an emergency?

  Heidi looked up and listened for her mom. Then she lifted a stack of clothes and carefully tucked her Book of Spells and medallion at the bottom of the trunk. She patted down her clothes as Mom walked back into the room.

  “That’s it,” said Mom, tossing a laundry bag to Heidi. “You’re all packed for camp.”

  “Oogie da boinga!” said Heidi.

  Then she shut and latched her trunk.

  Heidi met Lucy at the Brewster Elementary parking lot. The bus for Camp Dakota had arrived. Some kids had already boarded.

  “Time to go!” Heidi said.

  She hugged her mom and dad good-bye.

  Heidi turned to Henry. “You know what’s weird?” she said. “I’m going to miss you.”

  “I’ll miss you too,” Henry said. “Write me, okay?”

  “Promise,” said Heidi. She high-fived her little brother.

  Heidi slung her backpack over her shoulder and boarded the bus with Lucy. The girls waved as the bus pulled out. Then they looked at each other and squealed.

  “This is going to be the BEST two weeks EVER!” Heidi said.

  “I know,” said Lucy. “And I can’t wait for you to meet my two camp friends, Jill and Bree.”

  “Me too,” Heidi said.

  During the ride the girls played hangman and drew pictures of ladybugs and unicorns. Soon the bus pulled onto a dirt road lined with pine trees. Lucy pointed to the cabins and the lake at the end of the road. A bunch of campers greeted the bus in the parking lot.

  “There they are!” shouted Lucy, waving at her friends from the bus window. She pointed them out to Heidi.

  Heidi peeked at the girls. Jill had shoulder-length brown hair, brown eyes, and freckles. Bree had short blond hair and blue eyes. Both girls bounced up and down and waved. Wow, they sure are happy to see Lucy, she thought.

  Heidi turned to say something to Lucy, but Lucy was already getting off the bus.

  “Hey, wait for me!” shouted Heidi, bumping the seats with her backpack as she ran down the aisle.

  But no one was listening to Heidi.

  Jill, Bree, and Lucy clasped arms and danced in a circle. Then they took turns doing a secret handshake. Heidi tried to follow their moves. It started with a regular handshake, followed by a thumb clasp, a palm slide, and latched fingertips. They topped it off with fist taps, then peace signs across their eyes. This made Heidi feel a bit left out. Luckily, Lucy noticed.

  “This is my friend Heidi,” said Lucy.

  Jill and Bree stopped talking and looked Heidi up and down.

  “Oh, hi,” they both said. Then they each grabbed Lucy by an arm.

  “Come on, Lucy,” said Jill. “Want to see our cabin?” They took off skipping down the path.

  Heidi walked behind the girls and listened to them talk. They went on and on about all the fun things they had done last summer.

  Some camp greeters followed with Lucy’s and Heidi’s trunks.

  “Remember that huge rainstorm and the big mudslide we made on Huckleberry Hill?” asked Bree.

  “That was SO fun,” Lucy said.

  “I didn’t even notice when I scraped my arm!” said Jill.

  “I didn’t think we’d ever get all that mud off! It was really caked on!” said Bree.

  “What about the time we snuck cookies from the dining room?” asked Lucy.

  “We almost got caught,” Jill said.

  “That was the best part!” said Lucy.

  “How about the HAUNTED COMB that flew across the cabin in the middle of the night?” Bree said.

  “You threw it and you know it!” said Lucy.

  “Did not!” said Bree. “That comb really WAS haunted. Last year was the best!”

  The girls kept talking and giggling as they walked up the log stairs to cabin eight. The cabin had a view of the lake. Heidi heard the hum of a motorboat in the distance. The sun sparkled on the water. I’ve only been at camp for ten minutes, she thought. But instead of feeling excited, I feel all alone.

  “Lucy, this bed is yours,” Bree said as she pointed to a blue-and-white-striped mattress on a metal cot.

  Lucy’s bed was in between Jill’s and Bree’s.

  Lucy plopped her backpack on the bed. “Where’s Heidi going to sleep?”

  “Over there, I guess,” said Jill as she pointed to a bed on the other side of the cabin. The only other bed on that side was the counselor’s.

  “Is that okay with you, Heidi?” Lucy asked.

  Heidi looked at the lonely bed in the corner. No! she thought. It’s not okay! Why can’t Lucy sleep on MY side of the cabin and Jill and Bree sleep on the OTHER side? That would be fair. But Heidi didn’t dare complain. She didn’t want Lucy’s friends to think she was a baby.

  “Sure, it’s fine,” said Heidi.

  She walked over and sat on her mattress. She looked around the cabin. Everyone had a bed and an orange crate. Jill and Bree had already filled their crates with their bathroom kits, flashlights, bug spray, batteries, and stationery. The back of the cabin had five changing closets. Each one had a cotton curtain with a different pri
nt. There were checks, stripes, flowers, and polka dots. One curtain was plain.

  The camp greeters set Lucy’s and Heidi’s trunks beside their beds and left.

  “Let’s make your bed, Lucy!” said Bree.

  Jill and Bree had already made their beds. Jill’s had a swirly polka-dot quilt, and Bree’s had a pink-and-orange daisy quilt.

  “What does your quilt look like, Lucy?” asked Bree.

  “Mine has butterflies,” Lucy said as she pulled her quilt from her trunk.

  “It’s SO cute!” said Jill.

  “How about you, Heidi?” asked Lucy. “What’s your quilt like?”

  “Mine’s boring purple with a whole bunch of nothing,” said Heidi.

  “Oh, I LOVE purple!” Lucy said, trying to make it sound wonderful.

  Jill and Bree didn’t say anything.

  Then the girls picked out closets.

  “The one with the pink-checked curtain is yours,” Bree said.

  “Okay,” said Lucy. “Heidi, you can have the one on the other side of mine.”

  Heidi looked at her closet. It had a plain blue curtain that was lopsided. One of the thumbtacks had fallen out.

  Heidi hung up her stuff. Then a loud bell rang.

  “Lunchtime!” said Jill.

  Heidi followed the girls out the door. She didn’t feel hungry, but she did feel something. It was the same feeling she’d had when she was the new girl at school. She felt like an alien.

  Voices chattered and silverware rattled in the log-cabin dining hall. The girls stopped next to the door to look at their table assignments.

  “We’re at table four,” Lucy said, pointing to a list of names.

  The girls piled into the dining hall, but the door snapped shut in Heidi’s face. Lucy turned back and opened the door.

  “Come on, Heidi,” she said.

  Heidi followed the girls to table four. Lucy sat next to Jill and Bree. Heidi found an empty seat next to the counselor at the head of the table. Everyone chatted except Heidi. She just stared at the bowls of food on the table: taco shells, ground beef, corn bread, lettuce, and tomatoes. She helped herself to a glass of red punch. Even aliens get thirsty, she thought.

  Then the counselor tapped her glass with a butter knife. All the girls at the table stopped talking.

  “As most of you know, I’m Lila, cabin eight’s counselor,” she said. “Welcome to Camp Dakota!”

  Lila had long, straight brown hair and friendly blue eyes. She looked like an athlete, and she had a golden sun tan.

  Lila looked around the table and then turned to Heidi. “You must be Heidi.”

  Heidi nodded.

  “I’m glad to have you in my cabin. Tell me, is there anything special you’d like to do at camp?”

  “I’d like to tap-dance,” said Heidi.

  “I like tap too,” said Lila. “Did you know I’m the dance teacher?”

  Heidi shook her head.

  “Well, I am,” Lila said. “We’re going to have a blast.”

  Heidi smiled. Lila’s nice, she thought. Maybe camp won’t be so bad after all. She ate half a taco and had some more punch.

  At the end of lunch, Lila walked to the front of the dining hall. Two other counselors ran to join her—one had red hair in a ponytail and the other had short black hair.

  “Welcome to Camp Dakota!” the red-haired girl said. “I’m Jenna.”

  “I’m Paige,” said the black-haired girl.

  “I’m Lila.”

  “First, we have to go over camp rules,” said Paige. “So listen up! Rule number one: Always have a buddy at the beach.”

  Lila held up a big sign that said BUDDY UP!

  “Rule number two: Always stay on the camp’s grounds,” Jenna said.

  Paige held up a sign that had a map of the camp. It said STAY PUT!

  “Rule number three: Always follow the counselors’ instructions,” said Lila.

  Jenna held up a sign that said WHO’S THE BOSS? Then she flipped it over, and it said WE ARE!

  “Now for the camp no-no’s,” said Jenna.

  “No matches.”

  “No hair-dryers.”

  “No hand-held devices.”

  “No water balloons or shaving cream!”

  “Unless we say so!” added Lila.

  “No radios,” continued Jenna.

  “No food in the cabins.”

  “No rubber duckies!”

  “And no rubber chickens!”

  The campers laughed.

  “Okay, we’re only joking about the rubber duckies and chickens,” Paige said. “But we’re not kidding when we say ‘No monkey business.’ Follow the rules and be safe.”

  “Okay, sign-up sheets for activities are at the back of the room!” said Lila. “If you have any questions, come see us.”

  Everyone began to talk and clear dishes. Heidi scraped the food from her plate into the trash and put her dishes into a plastic tub. Then she headed for the sign-up tables. Jill and Bree were still stuck to Lucy like Super Glue. Heidi stood behind them.

  “What are you going to sign up for?” asked Lucy.

  “Tap-dance, riding, arts and crafts, swimming, and basketball,” Heidi said excitedly.

  “Me too!” squealed Lucy. “Except instead of tap, I’m going to take gymnastics with Jill and Bree.”

  “Sounds good,” said Heidi. Except for the part about Jill and Bree, she thought.

  “So, what do you think of camp so far?” asked Lucy. “Isn’t it fun?”

  “It’s a blast,” Heidi said. “Rah, rah.”

  Heidi stuffed her tap shoes in her backpack.

  “See you at riding!” Lucy said as she left for gymnastics.

  Jill and Bree followed Lucy down the cabin stairs. They didn’t say good-bye to Heidi.

  I wonder why those two don’t like me, Heidi wondered. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed for tap class.

  Lila taught the class how to shuffle.

  “I want you to brush the floor with the ball of your foot forward and backward,” she said. “Like this.”

  Lila brushed her foot across the floor from front to back. “Try it with me,” said Lila.

  Heidi did a shuffle. She liked it when her tap shoes clacked on the floor. Then Lila taught the class to shim sham.

  “A shim sham is a shuffle and a step,” said Lila as she turned on some music.

  The class did a combination of steps: Shim sham. Jump. Toe. Step. They did it again and again to the music. This is so much fun! thought Heidi. I can’t wait to show Lucy. Then Heidi’s heart sank. She remembered that Lucy had been taken over by Jill and Bree. Maybe they’ll be nicer to me at riding, she thought.

  Heidi arrived at the riding ring in a sweatshirt, jeans, and scuffed cowboy boots. She’d had to borrow a stinky helmet from the stable. Lucy, Jill, and Bree had on riding pants, hunting coats, and fancy riding helmets. Bree stared at Heidi’s outfit.

  “Are you really going to ride in THAT?” asked Bree.

  Heidi looked down at her outfit.

  “We all wore jeans when we rode last year,” Lucy said. “Remember?”

  “Let’s just go and choose our horses,” said Jill.

  The girls ran to the stables. Each stall had a name above the door. Lucy chose a horse named Peaches. Jill chose Tinkerbell, and Bree chose Sundance. Heidi got a horse named Fred.

  “He’s gentle,” said Jenna. “And he always follows the other horses.”

  Jenna helped Heidi get into her saddle. But Fred did not follow the other horses. He stood still, eating grass. Jenna tried to get Fred to move. But Fred wouldn’t budge.

  Heidi sighed. Not even a dumb horse likes me, she thought.

  Later, in swim class, everyone had to pick a buddy.

  “Want to be buddies?” asked Lucy.

  “Sure,” Heidi said.

  First the girls had to take a swim test. Heidi had never gone swimming in a lake before. The lake water looked dark and murky. What if there ar
e snapping turtles in there? Heidi thought. She tightly shut her eyes and jumped in the water.

  Heidi then swam a few strokes, but all she could think about were snapping turtles. She was so scared that she grabbed the safety pole before the test was over. That meant Heidi had flunked the test. Now she would be placed in Beginners. In the meantime, Lucy, Bree, and Jill had passed the test with flying colors, so they were placed in Intermediates.

  All day everything seemed to go wrong. On the basketball court nobody passed the ball to Heidi. In arts and crafts, they ran out of beads, so Heidi had to braid the strings of her friendship bracelets instead. At Campfire, Heidi got squished between two strange girls. And to top it off, the smoke blew right into her face.

  I’m getting out of here, thought Heidi.

  She wiggled off the log and ran back to the cabin.

  Nobody noticed Heidi had gone.

  Heidi sat on her bed and pulled out a sheet of turtle stationery. She wrote:

  Dear Henry,

  Camp stinks. The beds are really squeaky. The bathrooms are smelly. And the lake is full of snapping turtles. The only friends I have are mosquitoes.

  Yours truly,

  Heidi

  PS Stay out of my room—or else!

  Heidi stuck the letter in an envelope and sighed. Jill and Bree have taken my best friend prisoner, she thought. If only they liked me, then camp would be fun. Suddenly, Heidi had a wild idea. What if I MAKE them like me?

  Heidi flung open her trunk and pulled out her Book of Spells. She flipped through the pages and found a spell called A Friendly Foe. Perfect, she thought. A friendly foe is an enemy who becomes a friend. She read over the spell.