Camp Rules! (3 page)
Authors: Nancy Krulik
“I’ve never gone swimming in a lake before,” Rainbow said as she slipped into her yellow-and-green flowered swimsuit after rest hour was over. “Do you think there are fish in there?”
“There are,” Gianna told her. “Plenty of ’em.”
“I’ve got my goggles,” Katie said, holding them up. “That way I can open my eyes underwater. Maybe I’ll come face-to-face with a fish.”
“I can make a fish face,” Rainbow told her. She sucked in her cheeks and squished her lips in and out.
“That face will
scare
the fish,” Alicia told her.
scare
the fish,” Alicia told her.
Rainbow frowned.
“I love your fish face,” Katie assured Rainbow. “Will you teach me how to do it?”
“Sure,” Rainbow agreed. “Just suck in your cheeks, and then . . .”
Before Katie could make her lips move up and down like a trout, Shannon came bounding into the bunk.
“Okay, girls, it’s swim-test time!” the counselor called out cheerfully. “Is everybody ready?”
“Oh, yeah!” Katie exclaimed.
“We want to swim with the fish!” Rainbow seconded.
Shannon looked over at Chelsea. She was still wearing her shorts and T-shirt. “You’re not in your bathing suit,” she said.
Chelsea shook her head. “I’m not swimming,” she declared. “That lake water is terrible for my hair.”
“But if you don’t take a swim test, you won’t be able to go in anywhere but the shallow water,” Shannon explained.
“I don’t care,” Chelsea said. “My hair is worth it.”
“Okay, suit yourself,” Shannon replied.
“Swimsuit yourself,” Rainbow said, giggling as the girls followed Shannon down to the lake.
“We have to swim all the way to that raft?” Katie asked as she stood on the sandy shoreline of the lake a few moments later.
“Only if you want to be a deepwater swimmer,” Gianna told her.
“Yeah, you can always swim in the shallow end with the other babies,” Alicia said, laughing. “That’s what Gianna did all last summer.”
“But not this summer,” Gianna said proudly. “I’ve been practicing. I’m going to swim there. In the intermediate area.” She pointed to an area of the lake that was sandwiched between two long docks. “The water is deep, but the swim counselors stand on the docks and make sure everyone is okay.”
“What do you have to do to get to swim in there?” Rainbow asked her.
Gianna pointed to the raft. “You have to do two laps of crawl, one lap of breaststroke, and one lap of sidestroke,” Gianna said.
Katie knew all of those strokes. But she was afraid she might be too tired to do four laps.
“I think I am going to take the intermediate test,” she said finally.
“Me too,” Rainbow agreed.
“Yeah!” Gianna cheered. “Then we can swim together at free swim.”
Alicia rolled her eyes. “I guess I’m the only deepwater swimmer in our bunk,” she said, then she dove in and swam out toward the raft. “See you later, Bumblebee babies!”
“Why does she keep saying that?” Rainbow asked. “She’s a Bumblebee, just like us.”
“Alicia was like that last year, too,” Gianna said with a shrug. “She’s just mean.”
Katie shook her head. “Nobody’s just mean,” she said quietly. “Not even Alicia.”
Chapter 5
“Boy, pioneering was so much fun!” Rainbow said at the end of the day as the girls were getting into their pajamas. “I loved cooking s’mores over that fire.”
Katie nodded in agreement. The graham crackers, melted chocolate, and marshmallows had been yummy.
“I’ve never built a fire before,” Chelsea said. “There’s no place to do that in the city.”
“Well, you did a really great job!” Katie said. “The sticks you piled up caught fire right away.”
“I know,” Chelsea said proudly. “I can’t wait to write home and tell my parents.”
“Big deal, so you piled a bunch of sticks into a pyramid,” Alicia groaned. “Like that’s really something to write home about.”
“It is to me,” Chelsea told her. She pulled out a box of stationery. “Anybody want a piece?” she asked. “It smells like bubble gum.”
“Oh, cool!” Gianna said. “I’d love to send a letter to my sister on that. Thanks.”
“I’ve got stationery and postcards,” Katie said. “Thanks, though.”
“My parents would kill me if I sent them a letter on anything but recycled paper,” Rainbow explained. “They’re really into saving the trees. Thanks anyway, Chelsea.”
“How about you?” Chelsea asked, holding her box of stationery out toward Alicia. “You could write your parents to tell them you passed your deepwater test.”
“They already knew I would pass,” Alicia told her.
“Okay,” Chelsea said with a shrug. She started to write her letter.
Katie climbed up in her bed and began to write one, too.
To: Jeremy Fox
Camp Arrowhead
USA
Camp Arrowhead
USA
Dear Jeremy,
Hi. How is your camp? Mine’s great. I took my swim test today. The bottom of the lake was kind of slimy, but the water was really clean and nice. I didn’t see any fish, but were some little tadpoles swimming around in tha shalow part. I guess we’re going to have a lot of frogs hopping around here soon.
At night we had a campfire and made s’mores. Do you make those at your camp?
Please write back soon.
Your pal,
Katie
“Okay, Bumblebees, everyone into bed!” Shannon told the girls cheerfully. “It’s time for lights-out!”
Katie climbed up into her top bunk and crawled under the covers.
“Good night, sleep tight,” Shannon said. “Don’t let the bedbugs bite!”
“Oooh. Don’t say bugs!” Chelsea groaned.
Shannon laughed. “If you have any problems, there are two counselors on duty outside in the field. Just call for them and they’ll come help you.”
Katie lay there for a minute, feeling the scratchy camp sheets against her arms and legs. It was weird not being able to sleep in her own bed. Suddenly a big knot began to form in her stomach. She got a lump in her throat.
For the first time all day, Katie felt homesick. She let out a long, sad sigh.
“What’s the matter, Katie?” Rainbow asked her.
“I miss my dog,” Katie told her. “He always comes into bed with me at night.”
“You’re so lucky to have a pet,” Rainbow said. “My parents think all animals should be free. But I think dogs like living with people.”
“I think so, too,” Katie said. “Pepper sure likes living with us.”
“We can’t have pets in our apartment building,” Chelsea said sadly.
“I just don’t know if I’ll be able to fall asleep without him,” Katie told the girls.
“Sure you will,” Gianna assured her.
“Yeah, we’re all really tired,” Chelsea said. “You won’t be able to stay awake much longer.”
“Besides, there are plenty of wild animals around here,” Alicia added in a nasty voice. “If you’re lucky a big old grizzly bear will crawl into bed with you.”
Chelsea gulped. “There are bears here?” she asked nervously.
“I’ve never seen one,” Gianna assured her. “And this is my third summer. Alicia’s just teasing.”
“If you say so,” Alicia said. “Of course, if it’s not a bear, it could be a ghost,” she continued. “I did hear about the ghost of an evil camper who roams the campgrounds, looking for unsuspecting campers to haunt.”
“Stop it!” Chelsea shouted from her bed. “I hate ghost stories.”
“That’s all it is,” Gianna assured her. “Just a story. There are no ghosts here.”
“I hope not,” Chelsea said with a shudder.
“I can’t stay up another minute,” Rainbow told the other girls. “I’ll see you all in the morning.”
A few minutes later, everything was quiet. Katie lay there in the darkness. She was pretty sure she was the only one in her cabin still awake. And that just made her feel more lonely.
Just then, she heard a scratching noise coming from outside the bunk. It was the kind of noise Pepper made when he wanted to come into her room, but the door was closed.
Katie’s eyes opened wide. What if there was a grizzly bear out there?
For a minute, Katie thought about calling out to one of the counselors on duty. Then she changed her mind. There were no grizzly bears at camp. Gianna had told her that.
The scratching was probably just her imagination.
And imagine how badly Alicia would make fun of her if she made a counselor come into their cabin for nothing!
Katie shut her eyes tight and stuck her fingers in her ears to block out the scratching. “There are no bears here,” she told herself. “No bears. No bears.”
Chapter 6
The next thing Katie knew, the sun was shining in through the screened windows of the cabin.
“Rise and shine, Bumblebees,” Shannon called out loudly. “It’s a beautiful day!”
Katie rubbed her eyes and sat up in her bed. It
was
a beautiful day. She could see the sun shining above the rows and rows of pine trees in the woods.
was
a beautiful day. She could see the sun shining above the rows and rows of pine trees in the woods.
The woods! Suddenly Katie remembered what Alicia had said about the bears that lived there. She thought about the scratching noise she’d heard the night before.
“Uh, Shannon?” Katie asked nervously.
“Yes, Katie?” Shannon answered.
“Are there any bears in the woods here?” Katie continued.
Shannon shook her head. “I’ve never seen a bear. Not even a bear track. Why?”
“Because I heard something scratching on the side of the cabin last night,” Katie told her.
“My guess is you heard a raccoon,”
Shannon told Katie. “There are lots of them around. That’s why you girls shouldn’t leave any food out in the bunk. The raccoons will come in and eat it.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Rainbow asked her. “If the raccoons are hungry, shouldn’t we feed them?”
Shannon shook her head. “Raccoons are wild animals. And they can bite,” she told Rainbow. “Besides, they really do have plenty to eat out there in the woods—the food nature provides for them, like berries and acorns and bugs.”
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