School Spirit

by Meredith Badger

  ‘By the way,’ he called out after her, ‘I bought some chips for you to take to camp. They’re in the cupboard.’

  Sophie stopped and groaned.

  How did her dad always know what she was up to? It was too weird.

  Once she’d finished packing Sophie helped her dad cook. They were having pasta and it was Sophie’s job to make sure the spaghetti didn’t stick together.

  While she stirred the pot, Sophie started thinking. What if Megan was right about the food at camp? What if it was terrible?

  Her mum always told her to just eat the bits she did like. But what if they served stuff she hated? Sophie only liked veggies that were crunchy. If they just served soggy cauliflower and mushy carrots she might starve!

  Sophie usually told her dad about her day while they ate dinner, but tonight she was too busy worrying about camp to talk much. She might get homesick or stung by a bee. She might fall in the lake when they went canoeing. Was she a good enough swimmer to make it to the bank?

  ‘You must be so excited about going on your first school camp, Monster,’ her dad said.

  Sophie poked at her pasta. ‘I guess so,’ she said.

  By the time she went to bed Sophie had even more worries. What if she needed to go to the toilet in the middle of the night? It would be pretty dark out there in the bush. It wasn’t that she was afraid of the dark, but it was nice having a light switch nearby.

  She curled up under her doona and tried to get to sleep, but her eyes wouldn’t close. Her backpack was casting a strange shadow on the wall. It looked a bit like a bear. A big bear with pointy teeth and sharp claws.

  Her dad came in to say goodnight.

  If she told him she didn’t want to go on camp anymore, would he let her stay home? She could help him work by sharpening his pencils and stuff like that.

  Her dad sat on the end of her bed and handed her a small parcel. On it he had drawn a picture of a monster wearing a backpack.

  ‘The monster looks worried,’ she said.

  ‘It’s a bit nervous, but it’s also excited,’ explained her dad. ‘Why don’t you unwrap it and see what’s inside?’

  Sophie tore the wrapping off. Inside was a silver penlight — small enough to fit in her pocket. Sophie turned it on. It was very bright.

  The bear-shadow on the wall completely disappeared.

  ‘When I went on my first camp I kept a torch under my pillow,’ said her dad. ‘It stopped me feeling scared.’

  Sophie was surprised. She didn’t think her dad was afraid of anything.

  ‘I won’t be scared,’ said Sophie, hugging her dad. Now she had the torch she knew it was true.

  The next morning when Sophie’s dad dropped her off there was already a crowd outside the school. Two big buses were parked in the street.

  ‘See you tomorrow!’ said Sophie, giving her dad a kiss.

  ‘Have a wonderful time, Monster,’ he said. ‘I’ll miss you.’

  There was a lump in Sophie’s throat as he disappeared around the corner. For a horrible moment she thought she might cry, right in front of everyone.

  Then she heard her name being called. Megan and Alice were already on one of the buses and they were waving to her from different windows. They both looked so excited that Sophie couldn’t help feeling excited too.

  But once Sophie climbed on board she discovered something terrible. Both her friends had saved her a seat next to them. This was a big problem. Sophie stood in the doorway, not knowing what to do.

  Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Mrs Tran.

  ‘Hello, Sophie,’ she said, smiling. ‘Your mum just called to remind me that you get bus sick. You’d better sit up the front with me.’

  Sophie went red. Her mum could be really embarrassing sometimes. She was about to tell Mrs Tran that she would be OK sitting up the back when she thought of something. If she sat next to Mrs Tran then she wouldn’t have to choose between her friends.

  ‘OK,’ she said, feeling a bit silly. ‘That’s a good idea.’

  Sophie turned to Alice and Megan.

  ‘Maybe you can sit next to each other?’ she suggested.

  ‘I should probably sit with Katie,’ said Megan.

  ‘I’ll sit next to Marie,’ said Alice.

  The two girls changed seats. Sophie sighed. It was going to be a difficult day. They hadn’t gone very far when Sophie felt someone kicking at her seat. She turned around and groaned when she saw who was there — Patrick Lee.

  He grinned at her and stuck his finger up his nose. Sophie quickly turned away. How had she ended up sitting in front of the grossest, most annoying boy in the whole school?

  It seemed like every week Patrick came up with a new way to annoy Sophie. Sometimes he threw paper planes at her head. Sometimes he made fart noises and pretended they came from her. Sometimes he pulled faces when it was her turn to read aloud. The faces he pulled were so strange that everyone who saw them couldn’t help laughing.

  Everyone except for Sophie. She didn’t think they were at all funny.

  The next time Patrick kicked the seat Sophie turned around and glared at him.

  ‘If you don’t stop doing that,’ she whispered angrily, ‘I’m going to tell Mrs Tran.’

  Patrick’s grin grew even wider.

  ‘You wouldn’t dob on me, would you?’ he said.

  ‘Don’t be so sure,’ muttered Sophie.

  Sophie knew that threats wouldn’t normally stop Patrick, but luckily just then someone up the back started singing a bus song. Patrick stopped kicking and started singing instead.

  It was sung to the tune of ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’.

  I know an annoying song

  Annoying song

  Annoying song

  I know an annoying song

  And this is how it goes.

  When the kids reached the end they started again. It was the perfect song because it was very, very annoying!

  Sophie could hear her friends singing up the back of the bus. She wished more than ever that she was sitting with them, having fun.

  Mrs Tran let them sing the song ten times in a row.

  Then she said, ‘I know an annoying sentence. It goes like this: the next person who sings that song will be walking the rest of the way!’

  Everyone stop singing but there was still some giggling from the back.

  It didn’t take long before Patrick started kicking Sophie’s seat again. She sighed.

  It already felt like they had been driving for hours. How much longer was this going to take?

  Finally, the bus pulled off the dirt track and the campsite came into view. It was surrounded by tall, shady trees.

  Nearby was a big lake with sparkling, clear water. On the bank was a row of brightly coloured canoes.

  Sophie was excited all over again. The horrible bus trip had been worth it. This was going to be a great camp.

  Megan came up beside her.

  ‘What a dump,’ she said, gloomily. ‘It’s even worse than Survivor.’

  Sophie felt cross. Why did Megan always have to hate everything?

  Mr Perelli clapped his hands and called everyone over. Sophie stood between Alice and Megan.

  ‘OK, everyone,’ he said. ‘I’m going to call out the tents now.’

  ‘Don’t we get to pick?’ Alice asked, sounding surprised.

  ‘Not this time,’ said Mr Perelli. ‘We’ve mixed up the classes so you get to know each other better.’

  Mr Perelli started reading out names, giving each group a tent.

  ‘Tent number twelve,’ said Mr Perelli, finally. ‘Sophie, Megan and Alice.’

  The three girls stared at each other in shock. They stood there as if they had turned into statues. Sophie was the first to speak.

  ‘Come on, guys,’ she said. ‘We’d better put up our tent.’

  She picked up the tent-bag and they set off in search of a spot to pitch the tent.

  Sophie had always thought the worst tent-mates wo
uld be people with smelly feet. Or people that snored. Or someone just straight-out gross like Patrick.

  She would never have guessed that the worst people to share a tent with would be your two best friends.

  The trouble started straight away.

  Alice had put up tents before and she started telling to Sophie and Megan what to do. Sometimes Alice could be a bit bossy. And she got annoyed when other people weren’t as quick at doing things as she was.

  ‘Sophie,’ said Alice, ‘hold up that pole.’

  Sophie picked up a pole.

  ‘Not that one, der-brain!’ said Alice. ‘The short one.’

  Sophie didn’t like being called a derbrain, but she didn’t say anything. She just wanted to get the tent up as quickly as possible.

  ‘Now, Megan,’ said Alice, ‘you have to stretch out the rope really tight.’

  Megan glared at Alice. ‘I don’t have to do anything,’ she said.

  Alice glared back at Megan. ‘Yes, you do,’ she said. ‘Or the tent will fall over.’

  Megan let go of the rope she was holding. ‘Good,’ she said. ‘I hope it does fall over — on your head!’

  Alice’s ears started to go red and her mouth scrunched into a tight little line. Sophie knew what this meant. She had to do something — fast — before Alice exploded.

  ‘Megan,’ she said, thinking quickly. ‘Could you ask Mr Perelli for some extra tent pegs? We don’t have enough.’

  For a moment Megan looked like she might refuse to go.

  ‘OK,’ she sighed, after a moment. ‘But I’m doing it for you, Soph.’

  Once Megan had left, putting up the tent seemed much easier.

  ‘Megan is such a pain,’ said Alice, as she hammered in tent pegs.

  ‘She can be a bit of a brat sometimes,’ Sophie admitted.

  Alice looked at Sophie in surprise. Normally Sophie stood up for Megan no matter what. But today she was feeling cross. It felt good to complain about Megan, just for once.

  ‘I was getting so mad I wanted to tie her to a tree with the ropes!’ giggled Alice.

  Sophie giggled too. ‘I don’t think Megan would like that,’ she said. ‘The ropes wouldn’t match her outfit.’

  The moment Sophie had said this, she felt bad. Megan was her oldest friend, after all.

  When Sophie had failed a spelling test it was Megan who danced around acting silly all recess just to cheer her up. The day Sophie forgot her lunch, Megan gave her half of her own. And whenever Sophie stayed over, Megan always let her have the top bunk.

  ‘I know Megan can be annoying,’ Sophie said, ‘but she can also be really funny and kind.’

  Alice didn’t say anything, but Sophie could see that she didn’t believe her.

  After the tents had all been pitched, Mrs Tran called everyone together again.

  ‘We’re going canoeing this afternoon,’ she said.

  Alice grabbed Sophie’s arm in excitement.

  ‘There are some rules, though,’ said Mrs Tran. ‘Firstly, everyone must wear a life jacket.’

  At her feet was a pile of red life jackets.

  ‘The second rule is no splashing or tipping other people’s canoes. Anyone caught breaking this rule will be sent off the lake. Is that clear?’

  Everyone nodded.

  ‘Finally, there are only two to a canoe.’ Sophie looked around at Megan and Alice. Both of them were staring at her.

  ‘Come on, Soph,’ said Megan. ‘Who will you pick?’

  Luckily Sophie remembered what her dad did when he couldn’t make a decision. She felt in her pocket and found twenty cents.

  ‘I’ll flip this coin,’ she explained to the others. ‘If it’s heads, I’ll go with Megan. Tails, Alice.’

  Megan and Alice nodded. This seemed fair. Sophie tossed the coin into the air and caught it. Heads!

  ‘Yes!’ said Megan, jumping up and down.

  Alice shrugged. ‘Whatever,’ she said, walking away. ‘I’ll just find someone else to go with.’

  Mrs Tran gave out the life jackets and showed them how to put them on.

  Megan scrunched up her face. ‘I don’t want to wear that thing,’ she said, holding the life jacket away from her. ‘It looks horrible.’

  Sophie sighed. There were lots of kids already out on the lake in canoes, laughing and paddling around.

  ‘It’s not supposed to look good,’ Sophie said. ‘It’s for safety. If you don’t put it on, I’ll go canoeing with Alice instead.’

  So Megan put on the life jacket.

  Sophie looked at her and laughed.

  ‘It actually kind of suits you,’ she said.

  ‘Really?’ said Megan.

  Sophie nodded. It was typical. Even a life jacket looked cool on Megan!

  Everyone else was on the lake by the time Megan and Sophie finally got their canoe into the water.

  Mr Perelli canoed over to give them some tips.

  ‘Paddle in time with each other,’ he called out to them. ‘One stroke on each side will make you go in a straight line.’

  Sophie got the hang of it straight away but Megan found it hard. She kept paddling on the same side as Sophie, and the canoe started going around in circles.

  Sophie started to feel very frustrated.

  But Megan wasn’t listening. It was like pitching the tent all over again.

  Alice and Marie paddled over, looking like they’d been canoeing all their lives.

  ‘Isn’t this excellent fun?’ said Alice. Her face was glowing.

  ‘No,’ said Megan, grumpily. ‘It’s boring and stupid.’

  Alice and Marie looked at Megan in surprise. Sophie was embarrassed — she wished Megan wouldn’t say stuff like that.

  Suddenly, from nowhere, raindrops pattered onto the girls’ heads.

  Sophie looked up at the sky, but it was perfectly clear. What was going on? Then Sophie heard someone laughing. It was a laugh she knew only too well.

  Patrick paddled up beside them. He was sharing a canoe with Joel Haddon. When Megan saw him she smiled for the first time since they had arrived at camp.

  ‘Hi, Joel!’ she said, waving.

  She opened her mouth to say more, but before she could speak the rain fell again. Except it wasn’t rain at all — it was Patrick.

  He scooped his paddle through the water and another shower came pouring down on the girls’ heads.

  ‘Hey, no splashing!’ Sophie shouted.

  Patrick grinned. ‘What are you going to do?’ he said. ‘Dob?’

  ‘What do you reckon?’ Sophie whispered to Megan. ‘Should I tell Mr Perelli?’

  Megan shrugged. ‘Let’s just splash him back,’ she said.

  Before Sophie could stop her, Megan started splashing the boys. But most of the water landed on Alice and Marie.

  ‘Hey!’ yelled Alice, and started splashing back at Megan.

  ‘Stop it!’ cried Sophie, and tried to grab Megan’s paddle. Somehow, in the struggle, she ended up splashing the boys even more.

  None of them noticed that Mr Perelli had appeared beside them in his canoe.

  ‘Girls! What did we say about splashing?’ he said, sounding angry.

  Sophie looked at him in horror. ‘It was an accident, Mr Perelli,’ she said.

  ‘It didn’t look like an accident to me,’ he said. ‘You heard the rules. You four will have to get out.’

  Sophie felt tears welling in her eyes as they paddled to the bank. She couldn’t believe this was happening.

  ‘Well, that’s a relief,’ said Megan as they pulled the canoe out of the water. ‘I didn’t want to go canoeing anyway.’

  Alice was beside her.

  She looked mad. Really mad.

  ‘Maybe you didn’t want to go canoeing,’ she said, ‘but we all did. We were really looking forward to it.’

  ‘All you ever think about is what you want, Megan,’ Alice went on. ‘You’ve wrecked the whole camp for the rest of us.’

  Megan looked shocked. She opened her mo
uth to speak but nothing came out.

  Alice put her hands on her hips. She had more to say.

  ‘I can’t understand why Sophie is friends with you. All you care about is clothes.’

  Megan folded her arms. ‘I do NOT just care about clothes,’ she said. ‘And I can’t understand why Sophie is friends with you. You’re so bossy!’

  Sophie looked at her two friends yelling at each other. It was then that she realised she’d had enough. She was sick and tired of always being in the middle.

  ‘You can stop fighting about who I should be friends with, because I’ve decided for myself,’ she said.

  Alice and Megan both went quiet. For once they were actually listening to her.

  Sophie took a deep breath. ‘I don’t want to be friends with either of you anymore.’

  Then she turned and ran away.

  There was a big tree in her dad’s backyard, and whenever Sophie felt cross she climbed it. She was good at climbing and being up high always made her feel better.

  So after the fight Sophie went and found the tallest tree at the campsite and climbed until she was high above the tents. From up there she could see the kids on the lake, canoeing around.

  She was still upset but she felt much better being in the tree. How long could she stay up here? Maybe she could even sleep on one of the branches, holding onto the trunk. Sophie was just wondering if she should go and get her sleeping bag when she heard a voice from down below her.

  It was Alice.

  ‘Please come down, Sophie,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry I made you mad.’

  Alice sounded really upset, but Sophie didn’t answer her. She stared at the lake instead. When she looked down, Alice had gone. But a few minutes later she heard another voice.

  This time it was Megan.

  ‘This is dumb, Soph,’ she said. ‘Come down so we can at least talk about it.’

  ‘Go away,’ said Sophie. ‘I’m staying here.’

  Then she heard new footsteps. Someone else was coming to annoy her. Why couldn’t they all just leave her alone?