Goosebumps: The Curse of Camp Cold Lake (2 page)

I sighed. Aaron has already made a bunch of friends, I thought.

Everyone has made friends—but me.

Aaron saw me staring at him. He waved quickly, then turned back to his
friends.

On the next log, three girls had their heads tossed back. They were loudly
singing the camp song.

I listened carefully, trying to learn the words. But they had a giggling fit
halfway through and didn’t finish the song.

Two older girls sat down on the other end of my log. They looked about
fifteen or sixteen. I turned to say hi to them. But they were busy talking.

One of them had a bag of Gummi Worms in her hand. She kept pulling them out
of the bag one by one and slurping them slowly like spaghetti noodles.

Richard, the head counselor, stepped in front of the fire. He had a black
baseball cap turned backwards on his head. His baggy shorts were torn and dirty
from working on the fire.

He raised both hands over his head. “Are we all here?” he called out.

I could barely hear him. Everyone was still talking and laughing. Across the
fire, I saw Aaron standing up, wiggling his whole body in a funny dance.

His friends were laughing their heads off. One of them slapped Aaron a high
five.

“Can we get started?” Richard called out. “Can we start our welcoming
campfire?”

A log cracked in the fire. Red embers shot up all around.

“Oh!” I let out a cry as a hand grabbed my shoulder.

“Who—?” I spun around, startled. And stared up at Briana and Meg.

They leaned over me. In the darting firelight, I saw their frightened
expressions.

“Sarah—run!” Briana whispered.

“Get up—quick!” Meg tugged my arm. “Run!”

“Why? What’s wrong?” I sputtered.

I jumped shakily to my feet. “What’s wrong?”

“Those boys,” Meg whispered. She pointed across the fire. “They threw
fireworks in the fire! It’s going to explode!”

“Run!” both girls cried.

Meg gave me a shove to get me started.

I stumbled—and then lurched forward. As I ran, I shut my eyes tight,
expecting the blast any second.

Could I get away in time? Were Meg and Briana escaping it too?

I stopped short when I heard the laughter.

Shrill, gleeful laughter.

“Huh?” Swallowing hard, I turned back.

And saw half the camp laughing at me.

Meg and Briana slapped each other a high five.

“No. Oh, noooo,” I murmured. How could I fall for such a dumb trick?

How could they play such a mean joke on me?

They must have told everyone to watch. As I stood at the edge of the clearing
by myself, I could feel all the eyes on me.

And I could hear kids laughing and making jokes.

I saw Jan laughing. And I saw Richard and some of the other counselors
grinning and shaking their heads.

I know, I know. I should have laughed too. I should have made a joke of it.

I shouldn’t have let it upset me.

But the whole day had been so terrible. I was so nervous. And so eager not to
make any more mistakes.

I could feel my shoulders start to shake up and down. I could feel tears
welling up in my eyes.

No! I ordered myself. You
cannot
cry! You cannot allow yourself to cry
in front of the whole camp.

Sure, you feel like a total jerk, Sarah. But so what? It was just a joke.
Just a dumb joke.

I felt a hand on my arm. I pulled away.

“Sarah—” Aaron stood beside me. His dark eyes were wide in the shadowy
evening light.

“I’m okay,” I snapped. “Go away.”

“You’re such a bad sport,” he said softly. “Why can’t you ever let things
slide off you? It was just a joke. Why go nuts over a dumb joke?”

Do you know what I really hate?

I really hate it when Aaron is right.

I mean, he’s my younger brother—right? What right does he have to be the
sensible, calm member of the Maas family?

It really steams me when Aaron comes on like the
older
brother.

“Do I need your advice?” I snarled. “Take a hike.” I gave him a shove toward
the campfire.

He shrugged and hurried back to his friends.

I crept to the campfire. I didn’t go to my old seat. It was too close to the
fire—and too close to Briana and Meg.

I dropped down on the edge of a log near the woods, outside the glow of the
fire. The darkness cooled me and helped to calm me down.

Richard had been talking for a while. I realized I hadn’t heard a word he
said.

He stood in front of the crackling fire. He had a deep, booming voice. But
everyone leaned in to hear him better.

I gazed around the circle of campers. Their faces glowed orange in the bright
firelight. Their eyes sparkled.

I wondered if anyone here would be my friend.

I knew I was feeling really sorry for myself. I wondered if any other new
campers felt the way I did.

Richard’s voice droned on in the back of my mind. He was saying something
about the main lodge. Something about the meal schedule. Then he began talking
about towels.

I started to pay attention when he introduced the head waterfront counselor.
Her name was Liz.

Everyone clapped when she stood up beside Richard. One of the boys gave a
loud wolf whistle.

“She’s awesome!” another boy called out.

Everyone laughed.

Liz grinned too. She knew she looked really awesome. She wore tight denim
cutoffs and a dark blue midriff top. She waved for everyone to get quiet.

“Are you all having a good time?” she called out.

Everyone cheered and clapped. Several boys whistled.

“Well, tomorrow will be your first day at the waterfront,” Liz announced.
“And before you go in the lake, there are lots of water rules we want you to
know.”

“Like, don’t drink the water!” Richard chimed in. “Unless you’re
very
thirsty!”

Some kids laughed. I didn’t. The thought of drinking that disgusting, slimy
water made me sick.

Liz didn’t laugh, either. She frowned at Richard. “We need to take this
seriously,” she scolded.

“I
was
serious!” Richard joked.

Liz ignored him. “When you get back to your bunks, you will find a list of
water rules on your bed,” she continued, brushing back her long, frizzy red
hair. “There are twenty rules on the list. And you need to know them all.”

Huh?
Twenty
rules? I thought. How can there be twenty rules?

It will take all summer to learn twenty rules.

Liz held up a sheet of paper. “I’m going to go over the list with you now. If
you have any questions, just call them out.”

“Can we go swimming now?” a boy shouted, trying to be funny.

Lots of kids laughed.

But Liz didn’t crack a smile. “That’s rule number eight,” she replied. “No
night swimming, even if counselors are with you.”

“Don’t
ever
swim with counselors!” Richard joked. “They have germs!”

Richard is pretty funny, I thought. He seems like a good guy.

But Liz seems so
serious.

The sheet of paper fluttered in the wind. She gripped it with both hands. Her
red hair caught the glow of the fire.

“The most important rule at Camp Cold Lake is the Buddy System,” Liz
announced. “When you are in the lake, you must always have a buddy.”

She glanced quickly at the campers seated around her. “Even if you are only
wading in up to your ankles, you must have a swimming buddy with you,” she said.
“You may have a different buddy each time. Or you may choose a buddy for the
whole summer. But you must
always
have a buddy.”

She took a deep breath. “Are there any questions?”

“Will
you
be my buddy?” a boy shouted.

Everyone laughed. I laughed too. The kid’s timing was perfect.

But once again, Liz didn’t crack a smile. “As waterfront counselor, I will
act as
everyone’s
buddy,” she replied seriously.

“Now, rule number two,” she continued. “Never swim more than three boat
lengths from one of our safety boats. Rule number three—no shouting or
pretending to be in trouble in the water. No horseplay. No kidding around. Rule
number four…”

She talked on and on, reading off all twenty rules.

I groaned. She talks to us like we’re five year olds, I thought.

And there are so many water rules.

“Let me repeat one more time about the Buddy System…” Liz was saying.

Gazing past the fire, I could see the dark lake. Smooth and black and silent.

The lake has tiny waves. No current. No dangerous tides.

So
why
are there so many rules? I wondered.

What are they scared of?

Liz talked for at least half an hour. Richard kept cracking jokes, trying to
make her laugh. But she never even smiled.

She talked some more about every rule on the list. Then she told us to read
the list carefully when we got back to our cabins.

“Have a safe summer, everyone!” she called out. “See you at the waterfront!”

Everyone cheered and whistled again as Liz stepped away from the fire. I
yawned and stretched my hands over my head. That was really boring, I thought.

I’ve never heard of a place having so many rules.

I swatted another mosquito on my neck. I was starting to feel really itchy.
That’s what being outdoors does to me. It makes me itch like crazy.

The fire had died down. A blanket of purple embers glowed on the dark ground.
The night air grew cool.

To end the campfire, Richard told everyone to stand and sing the camp song.
“You new campers probably don’t know the words,” he said. “You’re
lucky
!”

Everyone laughed. Then Richard began to sing, and everyone joined in.

I tried to follow along. But I couldn’t catch all of the words. I picked up
pieces of the song….

“
Wetter is better…”

“
Get in the swim.

Show your vigor and vim…”

“
Every son and daughter

should be in the water,

the cold, cold water

of Camp Cold Lake.”

Yuck. I agreed with Richard about the words to the song. They were so lame!

Gazing across the fire, I saw Aaron singing his heart out. He seemed to know
every word already.

How does he do it? I wondered, scratching my itchy legs. How does he manage
to be so perfect? To fit in everywhere?

As the song ended, Richard raised his hands for quiet. “I have a few final
announcements,” he called out. “First of all, none of you can carry a tune!
Second…”

I didn’t hear the rest. I turned to find Briana and Meg standing beside me.

I took a step back. “What do you want?” I snapped.

“We want to apologize,” Briana said.

Meg nodded. “Yeah. We’re sorry we played that dumb joke on you.”

Richard’s voice droned on behind us. Briana put a hand on my shoulder. “We
got off to a bad start,” she said. “Let’s start all over again. Okay, Sarah?”

“Yeah. Let’s start fresh,” Meg agreed.

A smile spread over my face. “Great,” I said. “Excellent.”

“Excellent!” Briana repeated, smiling too.

She slapped me on the back. “A fresh start!”

Richard was still making announcements. “Tomorrow at four-thirty, those
interested in windsurfing…”

Aaron will probably try that, I thought. I watched Briana and Meg walk away.

A fresh start,
I thought. I began to feel a lot happier.

The happy feeling lasted for about two seconds.

Then my back started to itch.

I turned to the fire and saw Briana and Meg staring back at me. They were
both giggling.

Other kids had turned away from Richard and were watching me.

“Ohhhh.” I groaned when I felt something warm wriggle against my back.

Something warm and dry, moving under my T-shirt.

“Ohhhh.” It moved again.

I reached one hand back. And poked it under my shirt.

What is it? What did Briana put back there?

I grabbed the thing and pulled it out.

And started to scream.

The snake wriggled in my hand.

It looked like a long black shoelace. With eyes! And a mouth that kept
snapping open and shut.

“Noooooo!” I totally lost it.

I let out a shrill scream. And I heaved the snake with all my might.

It sailed into the woods.

My back still itched like crazy. I could still feel it wriggling against my
skin.

I reached back and tried to scratch with both hands.

Kids were laughing. Telling each other what Briana had done.

I didn’t care. I just wanted to rub away the feeling of that snake against my
skin.

My whole body tingled. I uttered an angry cry. “How
could
you?” I
shrieked at Briana and Meg. “What is your
problem
?”

Aaron came hurrying over to be the grown-up again.

Just what I needed. Mr. Mature Kid Brother.

“Sarah, did it bite you?” he asked softly.

I shook my head. “I can still feel it!” I wailed. “Did you see it? It was
three feet long!”

“Calm down,” Aaron whispered. “Everyone is staring at you.”

“Think I don’t know it?” I snapped.

“Well, it was just a tiny snake,” Aaron said. “Totally harmless. Try to get
yourself together.”

“I—I—I—” I sputtered. I was too upset, too angry to talk.

Aaron raised his eyes to Briana and Meg. “Why are those two girls picking on
you?” he asked.

“I don’t know!” I wailed. “Because… because they’re
creeps
! That’s
why!”

“Well, try to calm down,” Aaron repeated. “Look at you, Sarah. You’re shaking
all over.”

“You’d shake too if you had a disgusting snake crawling up and down your
skin!” I replied. “And I really don’t need your advice, Aaron. I really don’t—”