Lights Out!

by Laura Dower

  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 combination 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?”

  “There’s hardly any time for talent show practice,” Fiona said, looking over the agenda.

  “Like you even have a chance of winning,” Joanie said snidely from across the cabin. She said it softly, but everyone heard.

  Ivy laughed out loud.

  Aimee shot Ivy a cold look. “If we’re going to be in this cabin, we might as well try to get along,” she said, crossing her arms.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ivy shrugged. “Take a chill pill.”

  Aimee huffed and puffed but ultimately backed down. There was no point in getting all worked up now. The trip was only just beginning.

  Madison and Fiona decided to play Switzerland and stay out of this confrontation, too. Fiona went to the other side of the room to talk with Lindsay and another girl in the cabin, Stacey, while Madison opened her duffel and unpacked the orange notebook Mom had given her the night before.

  Inside the front cover Mom had taped a photo of Phinnie. In the photo, Phin wore a glitter-green bobbler Madison had purchased for him at the mall. His little pink tongue poked out. He had that happy-dog look.

  Madison smiled to herself, clicked her pen, and started in on her first “temporary” file.

  FILE: Field Trip

  Laptop, where are you? It’s practically a washout here. Everyone’s fighting and the clouds are getting darker by the minute. I bet there are huge spiders that live in this cabin, too, which freaks me out. But I won’t mention that, because Fiona is scared of spiders and she’ll stay up all night even more freaked out than me. And my bed stinks. I can feel all the springs in the mattress. Nightmares are practically guaranteed here.

  Speaking of nightmares, Ivy Daly is up to her usual tricks. And the bus ride was bumpy, hot, and looooong. Except for M.A.S.H, of course. Unfortunately, I am not going to marry Hart. That bums me out big time. I keep thinking about poor Bigwheels and her ex-boyfriend, Reggie. Maybe they’ve gotten back together? Maybe not. Sometimes I feel like bad news follows ME around like a dark cloud. And what’s with that tower in the middle of Jasper woods?

  Field trips are supposed to be fun.

  Are we having fun yet?

  Chapter 4

  AT TWELVE O’CLOCK, A LOUD bell sounded through the woods and a camp staffer came knocking.

  “Lunches are by the main lodge, girls,” he said.

  Ivy poked her nose out to see who was talking.

  “That was James,” she said, walking back inside the cabin a little breathless. “And—whoa—he is a total hottie.”

  The drones giggled.

  “Would you go out with him?” Joan asked Ivy.

  “He’s not really my type,” Ivy replied.

  Aimee hacked a cough like she would spit, which drew stares from almost everyone. Ivy looked especially grossed out.

  “Got a problem?” Aimee said.

  Madison held back a laugh. Aimee was fearless when it came to Ivy and the drones. She didn’t even mind if she looked disgusting. Aimee would do anything to get on their nerves—and their bad side.

  Madison, Fiona, Lindsay, Aimee, and Stacey strolled down to the main lodge to get their box lunches, leaving the enemy behind. On the way out, Madison heard all three enemies whispering as she shut the cabin door behind her. She wondered what made camp so different from school. As far as Madison could tell, it was the same problems and the same attitudes—just in a different locale.

  The lunch box line wrapped around a table set up near the main lodge. Madison and company jumped right to the front. The boys were across the way. The area was more crowded with grown-ups, Madison noticed. Between camp staff and Far Hills faculty, the seventh graders had more than enough chaperones to go around.

  “Is this supposed to be turkey?” Fiona asked when she opened her sandwich. “It looks too rubbery to be real meat.”

  “I know I requested a vegetarian meal,” Aimee joked. “But I draw the line at rubber.”

  “This sandwich smells!” Chet shouted from across the way. He whipped a piece of whole wheat bread at Egg’s head. The boys doubled over in hysterics.

  Madison watched Hart laugh. The way his hair fell on his face made him look a little like a movie star. He turned in her direction—but she managed to look away just in time.

  “Incoming!” Chet screeched again as he hurled a loose piece of meat at Egg. By now, a few teachers had rushed over to survey the commotion.

  “My brother is so rude,” Fiona wailed, looking embarrassed.

  “How about a ham-and-Egg sandwich?” Aimee whispered, poking Fiona in the ribs. “Get it?”

  “Why do you guys always make fun?” Fiona frowned.

  “What are you talking about, Fiona? All he ever does is make fun of us!” Aimee said.

  Fiona rolled her eyes and looked at Madison. But Madison wasn’t listening anymore. She opened her sandwich and took a bite. Throwing food was for boys only—at least for today.

  With the help of staffers at Jasper Woods, Mrs. Goode explained the field-trip rules (because there were always a million rules). She also reviewed each item on the trip agenda. Madison listened closely as Mrs. Goode described the talent show. The main event would
be lip-synching. The teachers had brought a cheesy karaoke machine. It hooked up to one of their music players, so students could select a song, memorize it, and work out a skit. There were plenty of song choices downloaded from the Internet.

  “Are we doing our skit together?” Fiona asked Madison and Aimee.

  “Can I be in it, too?” Lindsay asked.

  “Sure,” Fiona said.

  “Do we have to wear costumes?” Dan said. “I saw that some people have them, but I didn’t bring anything.”

  “Don’t worry so much,” Madison told Dan, even though she was the one who’d been worrying all day.

  Pam reappeared and gathered everyone into a semicircle. “Kids, we’re going to split into four groups for a short tour of the woods. I will need your full cooperation along the way.”

  Since tour groups weren’t assigned by cabin, boys and girls mingled together. Madison’s group started their tour at the main lodge and then moved around the property toward the lake. The water rippled with each breeze. More rain was coming. The earth was still muddy from the bad morning weather.

  As they walked along, Aimee pointed to a small clearing where she saw a row of cabins. “There it is! I swear! That one!” Aimee cried, pointing.

  “What? The haunted cabin?” Fiona asked.

  “What are you talking about?” Drew asked.

  Aimee retold everyone the story of how her brother Dean came to the camp for a field trip when he was in seventh grade. The one cabin he’d been assigned to clean out—was haunted!

  “He saw a ghost that screamed,” Aimee said, mouth wide open like even she couldn’t believe it.

  “Are you kidding?” Lindsay said, half laughing. “Ghosts don’t scream.”

  “I’m just telling you what he said. I don’t know if the ghosts are still here.”

  “Ghosts don’t just go away for no reason,” Madison said. “Do they?”

  “And if they left, they could come back again, right?” Dan said.

  Madison eyed the haunted cabin. It looked like nothing more than a run-down shack…

  “Boo!” Egg yelled.

  Madison, Fiona, Aimee, and Lindsay all jumped like startled cats.

  “Don’t do that!” Madison shrieked.

  Egg backed off. “Can’t take a joke, huh, Maddie?” He poked her on the arm and when she grabbed his wrist, he pretended to wrestle her to the ground.

  “What’s going on here?” Mrs. Wing rushed over, nearly tripping on a root.

  Egg and Madison broke off their mock struggle, laughing. He brushed leaves from Madison’s hair.

  Fiona didn’t like all their playing around. She walked on ahead of the group, sulking. Aimee ran after her.

  At the edge of the clearing where the cabins stood, the kids saw an awesome sight rising up through the trees like a wooden monster. It was the Tower. It stood tall with wooden beams and planks, rubber tires and ropes.

  Mrs. Goode explained to everyone the Tower’s history. The family who owned the camp had constructed it years before. It was a training tool like the kind army boot camps use—to test endurance, strength, and skill. And now the seventh-grade class from FHJH would be using it, too.

  Madison made a mental note for her orange notebook. Rude Awakening: Just because a field trip takes you out of school, doesn’t mean you stop being tested. She would have to write that down.

  Several student groups converged under the Tower, which meant another run-in with Ivy and her drones. Everyone was telling their own scary camp stories. Dan Ginsburg said he had heard a rumor about a camp counselor who had gone crazy and started attacking all the campers—

  “No-no-no-no-no!” Drew interrupted. “I heard that story too. And it wasn’t a camp counselor. It was a fisherman.”

  “Wait a minute!” Egg said. “That’s a movie. Not real life.”

  “Yeah, like Friday the 13th or something!” Hart said.

  “No, it’s I Know What You Did Last Summer Chet corrected him.

  “You guys are twisted,” Dan said, laughing.

  “I heard there is an old woman who has this mega-big ax and goes around chopping off people’s feet,” Rose Thorn said. “You’re not the only one who has brothers who went here before,” she sneered at Aimee.

  “Your brother told you that?” Madison asked. “What else did he say?”

  Rose shrugged. “How should I know? What do I look like, a search engine?”

  “My older sister, Mariah, never said anything about some crazy lady with an ax. I think you’re wacked, Rosie,” Egg said.

  “My name is Rose,” she corrected him.

  Ivy put her hands on her hips. “How long do we have to stand here looking up at this tower? I mean, this whole field trip is so easy. You just climb it and you’re done. Big deal. I want to go home.”

  Madison gazed up at the ropes and pulleys. Was she the only one who was too scared to try? Was everything about this trip just beyond Madison’s reach? Once a noncamper…always an outsider?

  By now, it was almost two-thirty, and the students split up for the rest of the property tour. Madison’s group headed to Jasper Lake. Everyone was hoping it might get warm enough to swim. Unfortunately, the water looked murky green and sludgy around the edges, not clear blue like the lakes Madison remembered where she’d been swimming before. Her Gramma Helen lived right near a lake in Illinois that was a real beach, but there was barely a patch of sand to sit on here.

  “As you can see, this lake is primarily for boating activities and summer swim classes we run off the docks,” one of the camp staffers pointed out.

  There was a series of connected docks at the far side of the lake inlet.

  Madison leaned over and picked up a whirlybird, a sapling seed that had come flying off one of the trees. She stuck it in her pocket so she could paste it into her orange notebook. That was how she’d get through the next few days, she thought. Madison would make a collage about it.

  One of the teachers blew a whistle and announced that there would be a brief snack break in the main lodge, followed by the first talent show meeting. Aimee, Fiona, and Madison walked slowly toward the lodge together.

  “I feel like we’re being programmed,” Aimee complained. “If this is a field trip, then why aren’t we in the field? We have so much on this agenda. Tours, trips…towers. We just got here and I’m already tired.”

  “That tower looks fun, though,” Fiona said. “I love climbing things.”

  “I don’t.” Madison groaned to herself. “And what am I supposed to do for the talent show?” She was worried again.

  “Relax,” Aimee said. “We talked about this already. Just pick a song. We can do a song together.”

  “That’s cool!” Fiona said. “And Lindsay, too.”

  “Thanks,” Madison said, relieved.

  Overhead, the sky still threatened rain with its thick gray cloud formations. The wind was picking up, too. Madison and her friends arrived at the lodge, grabbed cookies and orange slices, and gathered in the main room.

  “We know that an overnight isn’t much time to prepare for our talent show,” Pam, the camp director, said. “But we do have items to help make the process a lot more fun.”

  The camp staff brought out boxes of assorted costumes. They kept these handy for school visitors, who almost always held talent nights during their stay at the camp.

  Madison beamed. The box was filled with silly hats, boas, scarves, and more. She had been worried for nothing! Here was a costume!

  Aimee loaded the song “That’s What Friends Are For” for Madison, Lindsay, Fiona, and herself.

  “What do you think? It’s perfect!” she said. “I’m not sure how it goes, but I think we can do it….”

  Hart, Egg, Drew, Dan, and Chet walked over.

  “Hey, Finnster!” Hart asked. “What are you guys doing for the talent show?”

  Madison shrugged. “Who wants to know?”

  “Maddie,” Egg said, whispering. “Can you come with us for a m
inute?”

  Madison followed Egg and the other boys across the grass near a gate. She could see out of the corner of her eye that Fiona was watching her every move.

  Egg quietly asked Madison to be a part of the boys’ routine.

  “Me?” Madison asked. She wasn’t sure if she should…or if she even could. “Why me?”

  “Because you’re my best friend who’s a girl,” Egg explained.

  “Maybe you should ask someone else,” Madison hinted. “Like Fiona?”

  “No way!” Chet interrupted, shaking his head. “I will not perform with my sister.”

  “Come on, Maddie,” Egg pleaded. “All you have to do is stand there. We’ll do all the singing.”

  Hart insisted. “Yeah, Finnster, why don’t you do it? It will be fun.”

  Madison felt her cheeks blush when he said that. She turned. Aimee and Fiona were walking over. They pulled Madison away from the boys.

  “Enough private conversation,” Aimee whispered. “What’s the big secret?”

  “Yeah, Maddie, what’s the big secret?” Fiona said. Her arms were crossed tight.

  Madison glanced back at Egg. “Nothing,” she said. “Egg wanted me to do the talent show with them…but I said no because I’m doing it with you.”

  “Of course you’re doing it with us,” Aimee said. “What was he thinking?”

  “We should practice before dinner,” Fiona said, looking relieved.

  Madison knew Fiona was probably wondering why Egg didn’t ask her.

  “Sorry to ditch you,” Madison said as she walked back over to the boys. “But I can’t do it.”

  “Yeah, whatever,” Egg said, making a face. He turned to Chet and the other guys. “Now what do we do?”

  “What about Ivy Daly?” Drew suggested.

  “Yeah, we can ask Ivy,” Hart said.

  “She’ll do anything to be the center of attention,” Chet said.

  “Good idea!” Egg said. “Easy come, easy go,” he said to Madison.

  Madison stood there, stunned. They were going to replace her with the enemy?

  And just like that, the boys disappeared back across the lawn toward Ivy and the drones.

  Chapter 5

  Is every summer camp in the world like this? The bathrooms are outside, thank you very much!!! We have to walk all the way down this little hill to get there. I have already decided to stay dirty for the remainder of the trip because I am NO WAY taking a shower. It has spiderwebs as old as Gramma Helen.