I smiled, just to let her know I was awake.
“You ready for day two?” She was clearly one of those people who woke up looking like they had professionals to do their face while they slept: her makeup was perfect. And her braids were tight—not one bit of frizz. She probably beat the birds getting up!
I knew from experience that my hair was a tangled mess. My face felt sticky. Hopefully, I had no dried drool on my chin—yeah, I’m a drooler when I sleep. Maybe that meant I didn’t fart? That would be a good trade-off.
So I nodded hard, genuinely eager to hear what was up for today.
“Let’s see what we’ve got planned….” She glanced down at her tablet and kept her voice low. “Ah, the first is a surprise, but you’ll love it! Then probably another swim—gotta get you from tadpole to guppy—and maybe we’ll be able to squeeze in a boat ride. And, of course, Fire Time tonight.”
Gotta admit, I was relieved that she didn’t say horseback. Mom was the one who’d been excited about the horses. Me? Not sure yet. I was gonna take the wait-and-see approach. Because, duh, my balance was like zip! How was I supposed to stay on top of a thousand-pound animal? But I was curious. At the same time, riding a horse had never been on my just-gotta-do-it wish list. Horses were big. And fast. And I was not. So there was that. But then, I didn’t have fins, and yesterday I swam! Man, I was getting good at arguing with myself!
“Okay, girlfriend,” Trinity said, patting my arm, “we’ve got lots to do today, like taking a shower!”
So we got up and headed to the showers, which were across the yard and beyond the latrine, passing a few other early birds on the way. A pair of chipmunks chased each other, right in front of my chair!
When we rolled in, wow—what a surprise! The room, instead of being morning-chilly, was warm and cozy. They had special shower chairs just for kids like me. It still felt weird having a total stranger see me naked, but I just shrugged it off. It is what it is, Dad always says. Trinity rolled me in, set my shower gel and sponge in the basket attached to this shower chair, and let me wash up without her. I really appreciated that—I’m way too old to have anybody washing me! Mom had packed pink peppermint shower gel, and the whole washroom area smelled like melted candy by the time I was finished.
Back at the cabin, everyone else was just waking up. Like me, Jocelyn had serious bed head going on, but she just yanked her hair into a ponytail and she was done.
“We’ve got a ginormous box of Fiery Falcons shirts,” Trinity told me as we were getting dressed. “Want one?” She held up a Falcons shirt in one hand and the lime-green one that Mom had packed in the other. I really liked the green shirt—Mom and I had found it at Target at the last minute. But I pointed to the orange one. No one’s gonna say I’m not a team player. Unlike other people—but I pushed that thought away. The Whiz Kids stuff was more than a year ago. I needed to be over it!
As we headed out to breakfast, Karyn, also in a Falcons T-shirt, rolled up next to me. “Hope they have pancakes,” she said. I answered with a head jerk and a flinging of my hand. “What’s your fave—blueberry or chocolate chip or caramel?” she asked.
“Chocolate chip!” Athena called out. She also wore her camp shirt, but she had a bright pink tank top underneath it. That girl was gonna get her pink on, no matter what.
“Caramel for me, please!” I tapped.
Karyn rolled on ahead, I guess to check out the menu.
No pancakes today, but even better—cheesy eggs, one of my favorites, and oatmeal, as well as plenty of bacon. Can’t eat bacon, too chewy, but Karyn and Athena gobbled a stack of it, keeping count to see who ate the most slices. Jocelyn, who today insisted she didn’t eat meat, even though I watched her eat hot dogs yesterday, downed three sausages. Exactly three. Trinity and I took our time as we made our way through that pile of eggs and caramel-drenched oatmeal.
Just as I ate my last bite, Elvira beeped. It was Mom. She sent a text message with a half dozen smiley faces and thumbs-ups, saying how she hoped I was having fun. I was able to quickly answer by tapping on phrases and sentences already saved into my machine; Mom and Mrs. V took lots of time typing in “camp conversations” before I left. Clearly they were more bugged out than I was about me going away! Trinity helped me find some phrases to send to Mom so she didn’t worry.
Hi Mom. I am fine. I went swimming and did not drown. Ha-ha! Camp is okay. Bye!
Before the first full day of camp, there was apparently a general all-camp meeting right there in the dining hall. It’s not really a hall—it’s just a big inside area that can hold a bunch of kids and picnic tables. Cassie stood up in front of us once we’d all crammed in. I did some quick math: four kids per cabin, times sixteen cabins—whoa, that’s sixty-four of us.
That’s an awful lot of kids who fit the qualifications to be eligible for a camp like Green Glades. But it sure felt good to hang with kids who were just like me.
Cassie was trying her best to get everyone’s attention. She reminded me of a drill sergeant as she held up a clipboard and read from it. “Welcome to your first full day at Camp Green Glades, and I hope the tree frogs didn’t keep you awake! We have an exciting schedule of activities planned for today.”
I was right—they were tree frogs!
“Some of you will start your day on a luxurious lake cruise. Some will create masterpieces or symphonies. Others will work off their breakfast with a swim. The rest will learn to… fly!!” At that, she wagged an eyebrow mysteriously.
Fly? Literally every single kid glanced at every other kid. Murmurs filled the air.
“Settle down. Settle down. We’ll be on a rotating schedule. But don’t worry, everyone will have a chance to do everything—including flying!” she assured us. “And of course we’ll end the day with a bonfire.”
Oh, I was psyched for another bonfire. But I was mostly wondering what the heck she meant by flying.
CHAPTER 19