Sound Off!

by James Ponti

  For two girls who had been dreading Sound Off that morning, Mitchie and Tess were downright cheerful as they walked back to the stage.

  “How you doing, roomie?” Mitchie asked when they reached Caitlyn.

  “Going a little crazy, but I’m doing all right,” she answered.

  “You were right, by the way,” Mitchie said.

  Caitlyn gave her a confused look. “I was? About what?”

  “Sound Off,” Mitchie replied. “It is beyond fun.”

  “You’ve done a really great job,” added Tess.

  It took all Caitlyn’s strength to keep her mouth from dropping open. She had been worried people wouldn’t like the day, but she never even considered Tess’s opinion. She had just assumed Tess would never like it. And here she was complimenting her! “Thanks,” Caitlyn finally said, snapping out of it. “Good luck in the last few events. It looks like you guys have a shot at the plaque.”

  “Hard to believe, isn’t it?” Mitchie said, smiling.

  Caitlyn just shook her head. “Not at all.”

  Leaving the others to join their team, Caitlyn went up toward the stage. It was time to get ready for the next event—the Hip-Hop Hippity-Hop in a Sack Race.

  It was a relay race—with a twist: all the “hopping” had to incorporate some “hipping.” In other words, rhythm. The girls of Vibe needed to come up with the right strategy. They each took a couple of turns hopping inside the sack to get the feel of it.

  “You should go first, Lorraine,” Tess said as she watched her roommate go. “You’re really fast, and we could use an early lead.”

  “I’ll go second,” Mitchie said. “I’m probably the worst jumper, so we should get me out of the way.”

  “Same with me for third,” Tess said. “That way we can save Ella for the final leg. She can make up whatever distance Mitchie and I lose.”

  Everyone laughed, and Mitchie was struck by how easygoing things had become with them. They really had become a team. Tess, who normally wouldn’t have admited any weakness, was now openly joking about being bad at something.

  Soon it was time. They were assigned to the outside lane of the race, right next to the Rhythm team.

  “They’re the ones in first,” Tess whispered to her team. She nodded at the boys. “That’s who we’re chasing. Keep your eyes on the prize.”

  Shane blew his whistle, and all the teams started hopping. Just as they had hoped, Lorraine gave the team an excellent start. She moved right out in front and stayed there until the end of her turn.

  When Lorraine came back across the line, she jumped right out of her sack in one fluid motion. Mitchie slid right in and started hopping. A lot of the other teams were struggling with the trade-off, which gave the Vibe team an advantage.

  Mitchie wasn’t nearly as fast as Lorraine, but she managed to do the whole lap without falling—a major accomplishment in her mind. A couple of teams, including, Rhythm, passed her, but she knew there was plenty more race to run—or hop.

  All the girls cheered wildly as Tess hopped her way through the third leg of the race. It was a real struggle, but she didn’t give up the way she had during the Disco Duck Walk. She kept hopping, and when she got back to the line, her team was still in the middle of the pack, with a chance to finish in the lead.

  The Rhythm team had been ahead, but Colby was having trouble getting out of his sack for the last switch. His shoe kept getting caught, and by the time Mac, their final person, started out, they were close to being in last place.

  Ella closed it out for the Vibe team. Years of dance class had given her strong legs. And her three older brothers had made her very competitive. She quickly caught up with the leaders at the halfway point. As they raced to the finish, there were three teams ahead of her, but she was making up distance.

  “Jump, Ella! Jump, Ella! Jump, jump, jump, Ella!” the Vibe girls cheered.

  Ella made a flurry of fast jumps at the end and wound up crossing the finish line in midair. The four teams were so close that no one could tell for sure who had finished where. All eyes turned to Shane, who, as referee, had final say.

  Without hesitation he called the finishing order: “First place: Tempo; second: Vibe; third: Bass Line; and fourth: Allegro.”

  The girls from Vibe were ecstatic. Those last furious leaps had secured them a second-place finish and moved them into third place overall. There was only one event left. If they could just keep their current position, that plaque wouldn’t just be a dream.

  All the campers moved down to the lake for the final team event. Every year, Sound Off ended with the Big Enchilada, but that was an individual event. The team competition came down to the Reggae Row Off. While, technically, one paddles a canoe and rows a boat, “Reggae Paddle Off” didn’t sound right, so the inaccurate name had stuck.

  During the summer, Mitchie had spent a lot of time paddling around the lake in canoes with Shane. But they had never been in a hurry. They had talked about life, music, and all sorts of things. Racing had never been on the agenda.

  Now she would have to paddle as fast—and as straight—as she possibly could. Since there weren’t enough canoes for all the teams to race in at once, it was a timed event. And as canoes only hold two passengers, each team had to pick their strongest links. For some reason, the Vibe team decided to go with Mitchie and Tess.

  “Got any pointers?” Mitchie asked Shane while they put on life jackets.

  “The trick is making sure both your paddles hit the water at the same time,” he explained. “That’s crucial. It’s what makes the canoe stay straight and go fast.”

  “Both at once? That’s a good tip,” Mitchie said appreciatively. “Thanks.”

  The team names were drawn from a hat to determine the order. The Vibe team went last, which was a huge advantage, because that way they’d know how all of the other teams did.

  Tess had a very nice waterproof watch that she had gotten on a trip to the Caribbean with her mother. Once they knew all the other teams’ times, she set two alarms using the stopwatch feature.

  “If Mitchie and I finish before it goes off the first time,” she explained to the rest of Team Vibe, “that means we win the whole thing.”

  The others smiled broadly at this and traded high fives.

  “If the first one goes off, but we finish before the second one,” she added, “that means we’re still in the top three and get a spot on the plaque.”

  What she didn’t say—but what they all knew—was that if they finished after the second alarm rang, they wouldn’t be on the plaque at all.

  Mitchie sat in the front seat of the canoe and turned around to face her teammate. “Think fast!” she told her.

  “Let’s go, Vibe,” Lorraine added from her spot on the shore. Standing next to her, Ella let out a cheer.

  Shane stood at the end of the dock that marked the finish line. He had a green flag that he waved in the air.

  “Ready?” he called out.

  “Ready!” the two girls shouted in return.

  “On your marks, get set, go!” He waved the flag, and the Vibe team started paddling.

  Not only did they start well, but they got huge laughs from the crowd because, as they paddled, they sang “Jingle Bells.” Just as they had done in the three-legged race, they were using the song to help keep them on the same beat.

  But this time it wasn’t helping.

  No matter how hard they tried, the girls could not seem to keep in time with each other. This caused the canoe to veer off course, and they lost precious time. The harder they tried to paddle and catch up, the more off track they got.

  They were about halfway through the race when the first alarm rang from Tess’s watch.

  “Don’t slow down,” Tess said. “We can still make it!”

  They paddled and paddled, but continued to veer badly off course. They were getting tired and frustrated.

  The second alarm went off.

  They were officially exhausted. Pulling t
heir paddles out of the water, Mitchie and Tess struggled to catch their breath. It looked as if they were through. The plaque was no longer a possibility.

  But Tess wasn’t about to give up.

  “We can do this!” she said from the back of the canoe. “We can’t win, but we can finish this race!”

  Something about the way she was cheering Mitchie on caught the attention of the other campers back on the shore. This was a side of Tess that they had never seen. Soon, everybody was rooting for them, and the most natural way to do that was for all of the campers to sing “Jingle Bells” at the tops of their lungs.

  So, as a loud and thunderous chorus of “Jingle Bells” came over the lake, the girls dug in and paddled on to the finish.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Sound Off was almost over. But there was one final event—the Big Enchilada. The campers gathered together in front of the stage, where Brown, Dee, and Caitlyn were standing. But before this final event, Brown had a couple of announcements he wanted to make.

  “I want to congratulate the Rhythm team for winning the championship,” he said. “You did great today and really deserve it.”

  The boys from Rhythm Cabin raised their fists in celebration and Mac did a little victory dance as the other campers gave them all a big round of applause.

  “And while we’re at it,” Brown continued, “I want to congratulate all of you. Just because your name is not on a plaque doesn’t mean you aren’t a winner.” As he said this, he looked right at Mitchie and Tess, who both smiled and nodded back at him.

  There was more applause.

  “Now it’s time for the Big Enchilada!” he said to loud cheers. “Can you handle it?”

  “Yes!” everyone cheered in unison.

  “Before we start, I want Caitlyn to give me that big binder she’s been carrying all day.”

  Caitlyn didn’t know what was going on, but she came over and handed him the binder anyway.

  “You guys have all seen this today. In it, Caitlyn, Peggy, and Shane planned out every single detail of the day. They made sure that everything came together and worked perfectly. And they all deserve a huge round of applause.”

  There were more cheers from the other campers.

  “But I’ve got bad news,” he continued. “We’re making some last-minute changes to the Big Enchilada.”

  He laughed and tossed the binder over his shoulder. Caitlyn looked as though she were going to pass out when she saw it hit the stage. She started to go to pick it up, but he stopped her.

  “You are hereby relieved of your duties as the commissioner,” he continued.

  “Why?” she asked worriedly.

  Brown smiled. “Because I want you and Shane and Peggy to participate in the Big Enchilada. It is the most fun race of the day, and I’d hate for you guys to miss it.”

  “Really?” Caitlyn asked, her eyes wide.

  “If you think you can handle it,” Brown said with a wink.

  Caitlyn smiled. “Oh, I can definitely handle it,” she assured him. She was thrilled. While she had had fun planning the events, all day long she felt as if she were missing out on the fun of competing. Now she would have her chance.

  Brown went on to explain the rules of the race. The Big Enchilada was a giant obstacle course that went all around the camp. Everyone competed as an individual, and along the way there were six different tasks that had to be completed. Each task was related to something from the history of rock and roll. The finish line was at the end of the dock, and the winner was the first person to jump off the dock and into the water.

  At the starting line, Caitlyn took her place alongside Mitchie and Tess.

  “You’ve got no chance against us,” Mitchie joked.

  “Yeah,” Tess added with a laugh. “We are all about the Big Enchilada.”

  Caitlyn smiled as she pointed out something that neither of them had considered. “Remember,” she said, “the winner of the Big Enchilada makes it on the plaque, too.”

  Meanwhile, Shane was standing next to the boys from Connect Three.

  “This time you’re going down, Shane,” Jason warned.

  “Don’t forget boys,” Shane reminded them, “I’ve won the Big Enchilada before. This will be a walk in the park.”

  “You were lucky that time,” Nate chimed in. “This time, you are finishing behind both of us.”

  Shane just smiled and got into position. “We’ll see about that.”

  “Is everybody ready?” Brown called out.

  “Ready!” they all replied.

  Brown smiled for a moment and then signaled the race to begin. As soon as he yelled, “Go!” the campers raced across a large, muddy field called Muddy Waters in honor of the great blues musician.

  “This is so gross,” Mitchie said gleefully as she sank calf deep into the gooey mud.

  The campers who tried to go fast slipped and slid, while the ones who went slowly sank deeper and deeper into the muck.

  The surprise leader of the pack was Tess. She had figured out a strategy that had eluded the others. Everyone was going to get covered in mud, she realized. The trick was not caring. If you tried to keep from getting muddy, it only added to your time. Keeping clean wasn’t an option. So she dropped down on her hands and knees and scampered right through the field. She had mud all over her, but she was the first one to make it out. Observing her success, Caitlyn and Shane quickly did the same and were soon close behind her.

  The second task in the obstacle course was called Jumping Jack Flash and was named in honor of the hit Rolling Stones song. Each camper had to do forty-seven jumping jacks, one for each year the Stones had been together.

  Tess might not have liked sports, but she did like going to the gym and working out with her mom, so the jumping jacks were no problem for her. A bonus was that most of the mud fell off her as she did them. By the time she was done, all of the big clumps were gone.

  Mitchie had finally made it out of the mud. By the time she made it to the jumping jacks, she was running even with Jason and Nate.

  “How are you holding up?” Caitlyn asked as she finished her last jumping jack.

  “I’m hoping there’s a break sometime soon,” Mitchie joked.

  “You’re going to have to go faster,” Shane said teasingly to Jason and Nate. “I’m moving on, and you just got here.”

  Tess was still in the lead when she reached the third task, a jog around the camp called the Long and Winding Road, after a Beatles song. She was trying not to get excited but couldn’t help thinking about how much fun it would be to win the race.

  Meanwhile, Caitlyn and Shane were closing in behind her. “Who’s ahead of us?” Shane asked as they jogged along the path.

  “Just Tess, I think,” Caitlyn said.

  Both of them smiled and picked up their pace.

  The fourth stop was at the camp’s archery range and was called Bow and Aerosmith. Each camper had to shoot at a target until he or she made a bull’s-eye.

  For the first time since the race had begun, Tess felt a shiver of doubt. Her lead became tenuous and then gone. Caitlyn and Shane both reached the range while she was still shooting.

  None of them, however, was having much luck at the challenge. They were still going a few minutes later when Mitchie arrived, followed closely by Nate and Jason.

  Mitchie had never been great at archery. But, amazingly, she hit a bull’s-eye on her very first attempt.

  She let out a squeal and started to run toward the lake where the last two stops were located. Just like that, she had taken the lead.

  A few seconds later, Tess hit a bull’s-eye and was right behind her. The two girls who had most dreaded Sound Off were now neck-and-neck for the lead in the biggest event of all.

  As they ran to the lake, they both laughed.

  “This is so ridiculous,” Mitchie said.

  “Ridiculous and fun,” Tess added.

  The fifth task of the course was named after a Simon and Garfunkel song called �
��Bridge Over Troubled Water.” There was a bridge made of barrels across a corner of the lake. It bobbed up and down whenever anyone crossed it. When there were a lot of people on it, it bobbed all over the place.

  Mitchie was the first one to make it to the bridge, although Tess was close behind her. They looked ahead and saw that after the bridge all they had to do was run down the dock and jump off the end into the water. It was certain that one of the two of them would win.

  Mitchie was about halfway across the bridge when it suddenly bobbed up.

  “Hold on!” Tess warned her. But it was too late.

  Mitchie lost her balance. She tried to catch herself, but all she managed to do was wave her arms wildly. She fell into the lake with a loud splash.

  Tess had it in the bag.

  Until . . . she stopped and went back to help Mitchie.

  “Give me your hand,” she said, kneeling down to reach for her.

  “What are you doing?” Mitchie cried. “You can win this.”

  Tess simply reached out for her again. “Give me your hand,” she said. “Leaving someone behind is so un-Vibe-like.”

  Reaching up out of the water, Mitchie smiled as Tess pulled her back onto the bridge. Just as Mitchie was about to climb all the way back on, the next wave of racers reached the bridge and caused it to bob up and down.

  Within seconds, Tess and Mitchie flew off the bridge and back into the water. They were underwater for a few seconds, but when they got back to the surface, both of them were laughing.

  “At least this should get the rest of the mud off,” Tess joked.

  “I can’t believe you came back for me,” Mitchie said. While they were in the water, a large group of people started to pass them. The leader was Shane. When he saw Mitchie and Tess, he slowed down to make sure they were all right.

  “Gotcha!” Jason said as he sprinted past Shane. “This year I’m going to win.”