I was seated next to Karyn; Athena and Jocelyn sat on the ends. The four of us sang along—loudly and out of tune, with me making the best noise I could. Karyn squeezed my hand. The stars sparkled brightly, and I felt sparkly myself—just because.
Then Sage announced, “Okay, campers, we’re going to try something new—a circle dance my grandpa taught me. I was on the phone with him last night. It was his birthday, and he reminded me of it. Don’t judge! He used to be a dancer on Broadway!” She gave us a don’t mess with me look, but followed it with a big smile. “It’s super easy—all we do is form two circles, one inside the other. It doesn’t matter who is in which circle as long as we’ve got an equal number of folks in each one. When the music starts, one circle walks or rolls clockwise—the other counterclockwise—around the campfire. When it stops, you introduce yourself to the person next to you and say one cool thing—about anything you like. Got it? Told you, easy! Let’s try it.”
I heard lots of groans and complaints, but everybody pretty much followed the directions. Sage put on “Getting to Know You” from The King and I. Mom would totally be singing along. Some rolled, some walked, some were pushed. Then the music stopped. I was next to Devin.
“Hey,” I hit on Elvira.
“Hey there, Melody,” Devin answered. “They got a Balloon Ball team at your school? Cuz you should definitely be on it!”
“Well, thanks,” I replied in surprise.
“For real, you have some seriously stealthy skills—first the headbutt, then the fifty-point catch. Only one in the match!” But before I could respond, the music started up once more. And we were off! It was way more fun than I thought. I talked to some kids from other teams, and also got to tell Alicia from the Gazelles how cool I thought her wheel streamers were when I’d seen them on the first day of camp.
The last round stopped me right in front of Noah. “Hey, Firefly Girl,” he said, all casual.
Heat rushed to my face, and it wasn’t from the fire. Say something! I screamed to myself in my head. Then I tapped out, “The games were awesome today!”
Okay, that was pretty pitiful.
But it was enough, because he said, all hyped, “You did great! Wish you’d been on our team!”
My heart literally started thudding. Okay, chill out, Melody. But it was just, no one had ever wanted me on their team—for anything! Well, I was on the Whiz Kids quiz team in fifth grade, and we won the regionals, but the kids on it were NOT happy about it.
Noah went on. “You were the only fifty-point scorer!”
So I swallowed hard. “And I rule Balloon Ball!” I tapped out. I even managed to push the speak button.
He cracked up. “True that, for sure! And just wait till horseback riding tomorrow—you’ll love it!”
Tomorrow? Eek! I’d actually kind of forgotten about horseback riding.
Sage interrupted by thanking us all for doing such a great job. She said she hoped we’d enjoyed it. Kids started breaking away from the circle, but Noah and I stayed right where we were.
“I’m a little scared about the horses,” I admitted.
“Easy like breezy!” he boasted. “It’s like a roller coaster—scary the first time, then you can’t wait to try it again.”
I racked my brain trying to come up with a clever response—anything, really—to keep this conversation going. So I tapped, as quickly as I could—come on fingers, cooperate!
“You like roller coasters?” Okay, not brilliant.
Still, Noah wobble-nodded. “The faster the better!”
I thought about the coaster near where I lived. “Ever heard of the Super Serpent at Meadow Valley Amusement Park?” Now that took a minute to type out!
“Wait! You know that park?”
“We go every year.” I didn’t mention all the rides the place wouldn’t let me on—which were most of them, including that roller coaster—but he probably had a pretty good idea.
“My family goes there all the time too!” Noah’s head double-wobbled. “That coaster is sick! I tell you what—have your people call my people and we’ll do the challenge together!”
Well, that would be awesome! And did that—maybe—mean he wanted to hang out… outside of camp?
We sat in the moonlight, talking about the speed of coasters and the best flavors of cotton candy. He liked lime—bleh! I liked cherry… a bleh from him! “But that means more lime for me!” he said. And I laughed.
He waited patiently for me to type in questions for him as well as answers to the stuff he was asking me.
“You like cats?”
“I’ve got a three-legged one named Peggy. We call her Peg for short! You have a cat?”
“Nope. A dog. Her name is Butterscotch. Best golden retriever in the world!”
“Is she fierce?”
“Nah. She once showed my dad a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest. Dad picked it up and put it back.”
“Did it survive?”
“I guess so. There are a million robins in our yard every year!” That made him laugh.
“Is Butterscotch a service dog?”
I thought about that for a minute. Then I typed, “Not officially. But she looks out for me and she’s with me all the time except for school. I kinda miss her.”
“My cat probably hasn’t noticed I’m gone, and won’t even care when I get back!” he said with a shrug. “But hey, I heard you had a snake in your cabin!”
“Yeah. Not in the camp brochure!”
“Did everyone freak out?” Noah asked.
“Not really—a little at first. But actually, it was pretty cool. Don’t want one for a pet, though!” Wow, that took forever to write, but Noah didn’t care at all. He was seriously patient.
“My science teacher used to keep several snakes in glass aquariums in our classroom. He’d feed them little mice and we’d watch!” he said.
“Ooh—that’s kinda yuck!”
“Yeah, and during the summer he’d take them home. He told us that a couple of times a snake or two had gotten loose in his house!”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah—no big deal. He said he knew where they liked to hide.”
How was this happening, just… talking like this? It was like we’d been doing this for years, not just figuring it out as we sat here.
“You ever been in a tornado?” I asked next.
“Yep. Once. You know how Ohio gets lots of tornadoes every summer?”