by Laura Dower
“Since when is there a talent show?” Madison asked again. Did she have time to run home and get something nicer from her closet?
“It was on the permission slip,” Fiona said. “I thought you said you read the list.”
Madison collapsed onto her duffel bag, head in her hands. Seven in the morning and her nerves were jangling already? Why hadn’t anyone mentioned the talent show online last night? Weren’t friends supposed to tell you these things? How could she have missed something as big and important as a talent show? First she’d missed hair dryers, and now this?
Why hadn’t she read the stupid permission slip more carefully?
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Aimee said.
“But I have nothing to wear!” Madison yelped.
Aimee patted Madison’s shoulder. “You can wear anything. You could even wear that.”
Madison looked down at her wrinkled shirt and jeans. “Yeah, I’ll win first prize in this.”
“Has anyone seen Egg?” Fiona asked, distracted, eyes scanning kids inside the gymnasium.
Aimee looked around, too. “He’s usually late.”
“I wonder what Jasper Woods is like,” Fiona said.
“Better be good. I’m missing a major dance practice because of this trip,” Aimee added. “And my ballet teacher wasn’t too happy.”
Madison hung her head and stared at the gym floor. “I want to go home,” she moaned.
“Maddie, don’t stress about the talent show,” Aimee said. “We are going to have the BEST time together no matter what you wear.”
“Yeah,” Fiona agreed.
Madison nodded. “Okay, I believe you,” she said, even though she didn’t believe them at all.
Teachers and chaperones rounded up the seventh graders and lined them up for the bus. Girls and guys stood together so they could pick adjacent seats.
By now, Fiona spotted Egg, so she edged closer to where he stood. Madison saw Hart too, standing there in his duck pants. He almost made her forget the talent show trauma.
“DO NOT PUSH FELLOW STUDENTS,” Mrs. Goode bellowed. “NO ELBOWS ALLOWED!”
Madison chuckled. She had a picture inside her mind of Ivy Daly wedged in the bus aisle next to Madison, fighting for a seat. Madison was ready to give her one good elbow whomp—
“Hey, Finnster!” Hart cried. “What are you doing? You almost hit me.”
“Oh,” Madison said, blushing. “I was only—oh, sorry.”
Everyone lined up by the side of the bus, to load luggage. The driver placed everyone’s bag in a storage compartment underneath the bus. Then kids moved inside to pick seats. Egg, Chet, Dan, Drew, and Hart stood behind Madison.
“What’s up?” Hart asked Madison.
“Nothing much,” Madison said with a shrug. Whenever she had a major opportunity to get Hart’s attention, she always ran out of things to say.
“It’s supposed to rain,” Hart said, eyeing the sky.
“That bites,” Dan said with his mouth full of cookie. He was always eating something.
“DROP OFF YOUR BAG AND SLEEPING ROLL! KEEP THE LINE MOVING!” Mrs. Goode yelled.
Chet nudged Egg, who nudged Dan, who nudged Hart, who jokingly put his fingers on Madison’s shoulders and pushed forward. Madison didn’t mind the contact at all.
“Mrs. Goode is like a dictator,” Aimee complained from her spot in the line ahead of Madison. “This is incredibly dumb.”
Of course Madison didn’t think it was dumb. Not when she was this close to her crush.
The line shuffled slowly inside the bus.
“There are seats here,” Fiona said, picking a row in the middle of the bus. Aimee and Fiona sat on one side of the aisle, while Madison sat alone on the opposite side.
As the boys approached, she wondered if Hart would park himself right there in the empty seat next to her….
But he kept right on walking. Of course.
Egg, Drew, and Chet kept walking, too.
Fiona looked as disappointed as Madison felt.
“Lindsay! Over here!” Madison exclaimed. She caught a glimpse of her other friend boarding the bus. “Sit here with me!”
As she stood up to wave to Lindsay, Madison got an elbow in the side. “OUCH!” she yelled.
Poison Ivy was standing there.
“Why don’t you watch out?” Ivy hissed.
“Over here, Lindsay,” Joan said, mocking Madison’s voice. “Over heeeeere!”
Ivy and the drones burst into laughter.
“Why don’t you shut up?” Aimee snapped, rushing to Madison’s defense.
“Make me!” Joan snapped.
“Let’s go,” Ivy said.
“Sorry!” Joan said, not meaning it.
Madison sat back down. “Yeah. You’ll be sorry,” she grumbled.
The enemy pushed to the back. Where the boys are, Madison thought. She stared out the window and chewed on her bottom lip. She had a funny feeling about this trip. Being superstitious, Madison looked for omens everywhere. This bus overflowed with them. And they weren’t so good.
Lindsay skipped down the aisle with her Hello Kitty mini-backpack and parked next to Madison.
“Hey,” Madison said, relieved.
“Thanks for saving me a seat.” Lindsay smiled.
“Is everyone here?” Mrs. Goode yelled.
Other teachers who were coming on the trip sat up near the front. Mrs. Wing, Ms. Quill, and Mr. Danehy were a few of the many chaperoning faculty who’d come along to supervise. Madison always thought it was funny to see teachers wearing sneakers and sweatshirts as opposed to their usual “teacher” clothes.
The driver turned on the motor to warm up the bus as Mrs. Goode read names from a clipboard. “Angelini, Todd. Armstrong, Stacey. Amman, Paul.”
After roll call, the bus headed for the highway.
“Hey, Lindsay, did you know about the talent show?” Madison asked.
“Of course,” Lindsay admitted. “I brought a dress to wear for it. If we have to sing….”
“A dress?” Madison threw her arms into the air. “A dress!”
“Um, yeah,” Lindsay said. “What’s wrong with a dress?”
Madison sighed. “Everything.”
Aimee and Fiona leaned over to reassure their friend.
“Quit worrying, Maddie,” Fiona said.
The foursome brainstormed other outfits Madison could wear for the talent show if she decided to perform. Fiona had an extra pink top Madison could borrow. Aimee had some patchwork jeans. Lindsay even offered the dress.
The long journey to Jasper Woods went by more quickly than Madison expected. She kept turning around to see who was sitting where in the back. Poison Ivy was near Hart, but Madison tried not to let that bother her.
The farther they traveled away from Far Hills, the grayer the skies got. A light rain began to fall. Drops tapped against the bus windows.
Madison inhaled deeply and sank into the seat.
The adventure had begun.
Chapter 3
WHILE MOST KIDS GOT OFF THE bus at a rest stop to stretch out, Madison curled up in her seat and privately filled out her M.A.S.H. selections.
M.A.S.H. was a tradition among Madison and her friends. It was the perfect way to pass bus-ride time. M.A.S.H. could reveal future love and more. Madison was eager to know all about hers.
Aimee divided a blank page into columns and rows. At the top of each section were simple headings. After Madison filled it out, her BFFs would return to pick a random number. They would use that number to eliminate some responses while revealing one “true” answer for each category.
M.A.S.H.
GUY: CAR:
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
LIVE IN: HONEYMOON:
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
JOB: KIDS:
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
Madison scribbled clever things into some of the spaces. She wrote down BICYCLE, JEEP, MINIVAN, and PRIVATE JET under CAR. Under LIVE IN and HONEYMOON, she included some of the coolest places she could think of, including New York, London, Australia, the jungle, and the North Pole, JOBS were computer whiz, pop diva, movie star, and famous artist, KIDS were numbers: 2, 3, 5, and 99.
Of course Madison couldn’t really imagine herself having 99 kids, but she had to include at least one wacky number in the mix.
“What did you put down?” Fiona asked when she returned to the bus.
Aimee stood behind her. “Come on, Maddie, tell us,” she pleaded.
“I filled out most of the columns, but I don’t know who to put under GUY,” Madison said.
Lindsay, who had just come aboard the bus, too, chuckled and peeked over at Madison’s paper. “She wrote Hart, Dan, and Egg,” Lindsay whispered.
“Lindsay!” Madison said. Luckily none of those boys had come back to the bus yet.
“Did you say Egg?” Aimee teased.
“Egg?” Fiona asked, sitting back down with a disturbed look on her face.
“I just wrote down guys we know from school,” Madison said. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Then put Chet instead of Egg,” Fiona said.
“Yeah, Maddie,” Aimee added. “Or Joey. He picks his nose.”
“Just remember, Egg is not available,” Lindsay said.
Fiona gave her a teeny punch. “Don’t be so loud when you say that,” she said, looking embarrassed. “Someone might hear you.”
“Egg is not available,” Lindsay repeated, speaking barely above a whisper this time.
“Nah, Egg is FRIED!” Aimee joked.
The girls burst out laughing—even Fiona.
Meanwhile, the remaining seventh graders began to file back onto the bus. Ivy came prancing down the aisle with her drones. She paused near Madison’s seat and glared.
“Hey, Maddie, did I happen to mention that Hart and I are going to the Spring Fling?” Ivy said. The Spring Fling was a school dance coming up in a few weeks.
Madison glared right back. “No, you forgot to mention that.” She knew Ivy was probably exaggerating or lying. She always tried to make Madison jealous when it came to Hart. It was bad enough having an enemy—but it was even worse when you liked the same boy.
As Poison Ivy passed, Lindsay nudged Madison.
“You have one more name to fill in,” Lindsay said, pointing to the M.A.S.H. sheet.
“Your destiny awaits… Let’s get a move on!” Aimee said.
Madison thought for a minute and then scribbled down the fourth name of a guy for her list. She thought of writing Drew but put down Roger Gillespie, as a joke. Roger was Aimee’s oldest brother.
“Get out!” Aimee cried when she saw the name. “Roger? That’s disgusting!”
Madison laughed and filled in the rest of the page.
After selecting a random number, the girls crossed off answers until Madison’s M.A.S.H. destiny was revealed. In the final tabulation, Madison was a pop diva, riding in her private jet, living in the jungle in a shack, honeymooning in the North Pole, and having 99 kids.
Yeah, right.
Her perfect guy? Egg Diaz.
Madison immediately crumpled up the paper. As usual, M.A.S.H. came out sillier than expected. Much to Fiona’s dismay, everyone else discovered that she was destined to marry Egg. At least no one got Hart.
The bus pulled out of the parking lot, back onto the highway, and drove on for at least two hours more. Some kids dozed off, but Madison stayed alert throughout the ride.
“We are coming up to the Jasper Woods area in just a few moments,” Mrs. Goode’s voice boomed through the bus. Everyone shifted and stared out the window to see where they would be spending the next few days.
“I saw Bigfoot!” a voice from the back of the bus squealed. “Look!”
A bunch of kids bolted from one side of the bus to the other. Madison could feel the whole bus shake.
“Sit down! Sit down!” Mrs. Goode yelled. “We will be arriving momentarily. Please collect your belongings and sit…”
As the bus jerked forward, Madison grabbed the seat so she wouldn’t crash sideways into Lindsay. From the back of the bus Ivy wailed.
“Look,” a boy said, pointing out the window to a clearing with a grassy hill. “I hope we go there.”
High up on the hill, Madison saw what he was pointing to: a tall tower. Lindsay said it looked rusted, but Madison thought maybe it was just painted orange. A tower in her favorite color? Was this a good omen? The tower wasn’t that big, but it looked ominous, with its giant ladderlike steps and ropes and pulleys hanging off the sides.
As they drove ahead, a thicket of tall trees and darkness descended upon the bus. They came to a stop near a sign that welcomed visitors to the camp. Half hidden in shadows, its message was chiseled in wood.
JASPER WOODS WELCOMES YO
The U was hardly readable.
“Well, YO, it’s about time!” someone joked from the back of the bus. “We’re HERE!”
Fiona giggled. Egg had said it.
“This is fun,” Aimee squealed as they stood up. “Way better than being in school.”
Madison looked around. She wasn’t sure yet if she liked this place.
“DON’T PUSH!” Mrs. Goode said to some kids down in front. She waved her arms frantically in front of her like windshield wipers.
As they disembarked, Madison and her friends clustered together near a tree. Camp staff carted bags up to the main lawn, where they would be retrieved later.
A short, round woman wearing a whistle and a red T-shirt with the word TRUST on it called for everyone’s attention. Kids stopped chattering and looked in her direction. Everyone was handed a map of Jasper Woods. On the map, certain key places were listed and marked: Jasper Lodge, the main building; the cafeteria, otherwise known as the snack shack; a few cabins with tree names like Willow and Maple; the swimming cabana and docks on Jasper Lake; and other cabins. Madison saw a tower illustrated in the center of the map. The orange tower!
Amid the chaos of students trying to find their backpacks, several teachers tried to lead students toward the sleeping cabins to get ready for the rest of the day’s activities.
“You’ll find an agenda for the seventh-grade trip on your bunk,” the red-shirted woman yelled over the voices of the one hundred and three seventh graders who had made the trip. She said her name was Pam.
“There’s something about this place…” Madison said aloud.
“Huh?” Aimee asked. “What are you talking about?”
“Maddie, are you being weird again?” Fiona said. “Look at the trees and lake. Everything is perfect.” Fiona spun around to catch a glimpse of Egg. The boys headed toward the Elm cabin on the other side of the woods.
“I think I like this place,” Lindsay said. “Beats doing homework.”
Madison shrugged. “It’s too rustic for me,” she said. “I miss my laptop already.”
“Give me a break,” Aimee cracked.
“We better get our bunks before all the good places are taken,” Fiona said.
Lindsay led the way to Maple cabin, where they had been assigned bunks with at least fifteen other seventh-grade girls. Unfortunately, Ivy and the drones were assigned to the same cabin. They had gotten there before anyone else.
Poison Ivy stood in the center of the room, hands on her hips. “You snooze, you lose,” she said to Madison and the other latecomers. “We have dibs on these beds.”
Aimee rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe we have rats in the cabin!” she said. “Somebody call the exterminator.”
“Like, you should talk,” Joan said.
“Let’s unpack,” Fiona said, trying to make nice.
Madison glanced around the cabin. The whole place smelled like a strange combinatio
n of mothballs, antiseptic, and burnt wood. Lindsay grabbed a single bed. Madison tossed her bag up onto an upper bunk, just to be a good sport. What was proper camp etiquette?
Graffiti covered the cabin walls. Madison silently read different words and names carved and printed on the beams overhead.
Daisy-n-Jake
2 Good 2 Be 4 Gotten!!!!
I Camp
On top of each mattress, the girls found an agenda.
Seventh Grade,
Far Hills Junior High AGENDA
Thursday, April 24
10:30 A.M.: Arrival
11 A.M.: Settle into cabins
12 P.M.: Box lunch
1 P.M.: Tour of property
3 P.M.: Talent show meeting
5 P.M.: Announcements
5:30 P.M.: Dinner
7 P.M.: Singdown & campfire
10 P.M.: Lights out!
Friday, April 25
7 A.M.: Bird walk
8 A.M.: Breakfast
9 A.M.: Activities
12 P.M.: Box lunch
1 P.M.: Talent show practice
3 P.M.: Scavenger hunt
5 P.M.: Talent show practice
6 P.M.: Dinner & cleanup
7:30 P.M.: Talent Show
10 P.M.: Lights out!
Saturday, April 26
7 A.M.: Morning hike
8 A.M.: Breakfast
9 A.M.: The Tower
12 P.M.: Arts & crafts/award lunch
1 P.M.: Lunch/awards
3 P.M.: Departure
“There is so much to do!” Madison said.
“What’s a bird walk?” Rose asked.
“I’m starved. Is it time for the box lunch yet?” Joan the drone whined.
Madison noticed The Tower listed twice. She wondered if this meant her tall orange tower that she’d seen looming in the field.
“I heard that we have to climb to the top of the tower,” Lindsay said.
“The top?” Madison’s stomach flip-flopped.
“We have to fix up the trails or something, too,” Rose said. “Gosh, I am so NOT in the mood for this.”
“You’re never in the mood,” Ivy snapped jokingly. Rose stuck out her tongue.
“My brothers told me that this place is haunted.” Aimee said. “One of the old cabins has a ghost.”
“Ghost?” Madison said.
“I’m not afraid of this place,” Ivy said with an annoyed sigh. “Are you?”
