Heidi skipped over the note in small letters at the bottom of the spell and read back over the list of ingredients. Then she grabbed an empty sports water bottle from her orange crate. I can get the fruit punch and cinnamon sugar from the dining hall, she thought. The camp store sells powdered candy. And I can use the friendship bracelets I made in arts and crafts. So simple!
Heidi memorized the spell. Then she hid her Book of Spells at the bottom of her trunk. She heard campers talking as they walked back to their cabins. Campfire must be over, she thought. She quickly put on her panda pajamas and slipped into bed.
Tomorrow is going to be a better day . . . .
The next day Jill, Bree, and Lucy left for breakfast without Heidi.
“Hurry up!” called Lucy from the stairs.
“Be right there,” Heidi called back.
Heidi dumped her earplugs onto the bed. I’ll hide the cinnamon sugar in my earplug case, she thought. She shoved the empty case into her pocket, grabbed the water bottle, and ran to the dining hall.
At breakfast Heidi slipped a teaspoon into her pocket.
Then she filled her water bottle with one cup of fruit punch. Bree gave her a funny look. Heidi smiled and excused herself from the table. She found the cinnamon sugar at the toaster station. She poured some sugar into her earplug case and snapped the lid shut.
“What are you up to?” asked Lucy.
Heidi jumped. “Oh, nothing.”
“Hmm,” said Lucy. “Well, we should get going. The first activity is about to start.”
The girls left the dining hall and headed toward their activities.
Heidi had some free time after tap. She raced to the camp store and bought two striped straws filled with powdered candy. I’ll use cherry for the spell, she thought. And I’ll keep the grape one for me. Then she zoomed back to the empty cabin. Heidi had to hurry. The girls would be back soon to change before riding.
Heidi tore the top off the cherry straw and dumped the red powder into the fruit punch. Then she added a teaspoon of cinnamon sugar. Heidi shook the water bottle. Then she opened it back up and dropped two friendship bracelets inside. She held her medallion in one of her hands. Then she shut her eyes, placed her other hand over the bottle, and chanted the spell.
The mixture bubbled for a few moments. Then it became still.
Heidi took the friendship bracelets out of the bottle with her finger. In a few moments they were dry . . . and magical!
When Jill and Bree returned to change, Heidi handed the bewitched bracelets to them.
“Uh, thanks?” Bree said, not really sure what to say.
Heidi gave a regular bracelet to Lucy.
The girls slipped on their bracelets.
Sha-zing!
The magic began to work.
“Wow,” said Bree. “This is the most beautiful friendship bracelet I’ve ever seen!”
“Same with mine,” Jill said.
Jill and Bree each hooked an elbow with Heidi and walked with her to the stables. Lucy hurried after them.
At the stables Jill gave the best horse to Heidi. “I want you to ride Tinkerbell today,” she said. “She’s the nicest horse of all.”
“Thanks!” said Heidi.
All afternoon Jill and Bree did everything to please Heidi.
“Sit with me!” begged Jill.
“Be my partner!” pleaded Bree.
“You are the BEST artist, Heidi!”
“Please show us your tap steps!”
“Be my best friend!”
“No, be MINE!”
On the dock at swimming, Lucy pulled Heidi aside. “What on earth is going on?” she asked.
“Beats me,” Heidi said, trying not to smile. “But it’s a nice change—don’t you think?”
“It’s a little weird, if you ask me,” said Lucy.
Then Heidi, Jill, and Bree held hands and jumped off the float.
Splash!
But when they popped up for air, something had changed.
“What are YOU doing here?” asked Bree.
“Aren’t you in Beginners?” added Jill.
Oh no! Heidi thought. The spell has worn off! She swam to the ladder. Then Heidi wrapped herself in a towel, slipped on her flip-flops, and hurried to the cabin. If only they had liked me for real, she thought. But it was just the dumb spell. Heidi kicked a pinecone on the path.
NOW what am I going to do?
“You’re back early,” Lila said as Heidi walked into the cabin.
Heidi tried to say something, but she couldn’t. Her eyes filled with tears.
“Come sit,” said Lila. She spread a towel across her bed and offered Heidi a big box of pink tissues.
Heidi sat down and pulled out a tissue.
“What’s up?” asked Lila.
“It’s Jill and Bree,” Heidi said in between sniffles. “They’re mean to me, and they hog all of Lucy’s time.”
“Have you talked to them about it?” asked Lila.
“No,” said Heidi.
“Well, you should,” said Lila. “You need to find out what’s going on.”
“I’m too chicken,” said Heidi. “What if they really hate me?”
Lila patted Heidi on the back. “They have no reason to hate you,” she said. “They’re probably just jealous.”
“JEALOUS?” questioned Heidi. “Of ME?”
“Yes, of you,” said Lila. “You’re a total package!”
Heidi wiped her nose with a tissue. “Package of WHAT?” she asked.
Lila smiled at Heidi. “Package of F-U-N,” she said, messing up Heidi’s wet hair.
Heidi let out a small laugh.
“Listen, I have to get ready for my next class,” said Lila, getting up. “Tell me how it goes.”
“B-r-r-r-ock, b-r-r-r-ock,” squawked Heidi.
“You can’t chicken out,” said Lila. “Be brave!”
Lila gave Heidi a hug. “Your bathing suit got me all wet,” she said.
“That’s because I’m a wet chicken,” said Heidi.
“You need to be a brave chicken,” said Lila. Then she hurried down the steps.
Heidi got dressed in her changing closet. Then she flopped onto her bed and waited for the girls to come back from swimming. What am I going to say? she thought. Hey, guys. Why do you hate me so much?
The cabin door banged open. Heidi jumped to her feet.
“What’s up, Heidi?” asked Lucy. “Everything okay?”
“Not really,” said Heidi.
“What’s wrong?” asked Lucy.
Heidi looked at Jill and Bree. She pushed the chicken thoughts out of her head. “How come you guys are so mean to me?” she asked. “I really don’t like to be treated that way.”
Jill and Bree looked surprised, but neither one said a word.
“Heidi’s right, you know,” said Lucy. “You haven’t been nice to her at all. How come?”
Jill and Bree looked at each other. Then Jill put up her hands. “Okay, okay,” she said. “I guess we were afraid that Heidi had taken our place. We didn’t want to lose Lucy as our friend.”
“Are you kidding?” asked Lucy. “You’re not going to lose me as a friend. I’ll always be friends with you!” Then she turned to Heidi. “And I’ll always be friends with Heidi, too.”
Lucy smiled at Heidi.
“Why can’t we all be friends?” asked Heidi. “I’m really not an evil, friend-stealing monster, you know.”
“Now THAT would be an ugly monster,” Bree said, cracking a smile.
The girls all laughed.
“I guess we HAVE been kind of rotten,” admitted Jill.
“I’m sorry that we made you feel bad, Heidi,” said Bree.
Heidi felt so relieved. “I only wish I had said something sooner,” she replied.
“I wish I had too,” said Lucy. She put her hand in front of Heidi. “Friends?” she asked.
Heidi put her hand on top of Lucy’s. “Friends,” she said.
Jill
and Bree put their hands on top of the others. “Friends,” they said.
“You know what?” Heidi said. “I just felt it for the first time at camp!”
“What?” asked Lucy.
“Oogie da boinga!” said Heidi.
Lucy’s eyes got wide. “I felt it too!” she said. “Oogie da boinga!”
“So did I!” said Jill.
“Me too!” said Bree.
“Oogie da boinga!” they all said together.
Lucy, Jill, and Bree changed out of their wet swimsuits. Then all four girls walked arm in arm to lunch.
A week later Heidi sat on her bed and wrote another letter to her brother.
Dear Henry,
You know what stinks most about camp? It’s almost over. I come home in three days! Lucy and I are going to miss our cabinmates and counselor SO much. I love my friends. Did you know “Dakota” is a Native American word for “friends”? Pretty cool.
Last night we had a shaving cream fight. Everyone got a can of shaving cream. Then we had a FOAM WAR. Here’s a picture of us with foam hairdos and foam beards. Like Lucy’s Mohawk?
Big news! I can ride a horse! My horse, Fred, didn’t like me at first. He could tell I was a scaredy-cat, but now we’re buds. I sneak him carrots and sugar cubes from the dining hall every day.
One of my favorite things about camp is Campfire. The counselors play guitars, and we sing songs and roast marshmallows. I ate five s’mores last night!
Guess what? We won the neatest cabin award! We got FREE candy at the camp store. I picked fireballs, root beer barrels, and a Tootsie Pop.
Tonight we’re going to write our names on the cabin wall. We found names of campers from the 1920s! I wonder what camp was like in those days? Did they have shaving cream fights? Did they even HAVE shaving cream back then?
Tomorrow night is the talent show. I’m doing a tap routine (without spells).
See ya soon, shrimp!
Love,
Heidi
PS I didn’t see a single snapping turtle!
PPS I can’t wait for BOTH of us to come back next time.
PPPS Oogie da boinga!
Heidi woke up and opened the blinds. The sun sparkled on the fresh snow. It was well over a foot deep. There’s no way I’ll find the charm bracelet today, she thought.
Heidi and Henry got ready for school and headed for the bus stop. The snowplow had left steep snowbanks on either side of the driveway. Heidi spotted something in the tire tracks. She stooped down and lifted something from the snow. Heidi gasped. The charm bracelet! she thought. Then she took a closer look. Most of the charms had been crushed by the snowplow. Oh no! NOW what am I going to do?
Heidi found Lucy the moment she got to school.
“I have TERRIBLE news,” said Heidi.
“What’s wrong?” Lucy asked.
“I lost my mom’s charm bracelet in the snow yesterday,” said Heidi. “It must’ve slipped off.”
“You’re kidding!” cried Lucy.
“It gets worse,” said Heidi. “I found the bracelet in our driveway before school. But it got smashed by the snowplow.”
“Oh no!” Lucy cried. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to try to fix it after school,” said Heidi.
“Not to be mean,” said Lucy, “but it would take a magician to fix that bracelet.”
“I know,” said Heidi. “All I need is a little magic.”
WANDA COVEN has always loved magic. When she was little, she used to make secret potions from smooshed shells and acorns. Then she would pretend to transport herself and her friends to enchanted places. Now she’s able to visit other worlds through writing. Wanda lives in San Jose, California, with her husband and son. They have three cats: Hilda, Agnes, and Claw-dia.
PRISCILLA BURRIS has illustrated numerous books and materials for children, parents, and teachers. She enjoys painting cakes and creating art for products, which include murals, greeting cards, and rubber stamps! Priscilla lives with her family in Southern California.
Little Simon
Simon & Schuster
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Jacket design by Laura Lyn DiSiena
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Coven, Wanda.
Heidi Heckelbeck goes to camp! / by Wanda Coven ; illustrated by Priscilla Burris. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Heidi Heckelbeck ; 8)
Summary: Heidi is excited about spending two weeks with Lucy at Camp Dakota, but Lucy’s friends from last year ignore Heidi and make her feel unwelcome, leading Heidi to cast a friendship spell on them.
ISBN 978-1-4424-6480-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4424-6481-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4424-6482-7 (ebook : alk. paper)
[1. Camps—Fiction. 2. Best friends—Fiction. 3. Friendship—Fiction. 4. Witches—Fiction. 5. Magic—Fiction.] I. Burris, Priscilla, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.C83393Hdm 2013
[Fic]—dc23
2012015272
Heidi Heckelbeck Goes to Camp! Page 2
