The Curse of Camp Cold Lake

6

Liz talked for at least half an hour. Richard kept cracking jokes, trying to make her laugh. But she never even smiled.

She talked some more about every rule on the list. Then she told us to read the list carefully when we got back to our cabins.

“Have a safe summer, everyone!” she called out. “See you at the waterfront!”

Everyone cheered and whistled again as Liz stepped away from the fire. I yawned and stretched my hands over my head. That was really boring, I thought.

I’ve never heard of a place having so many rules.

I swatted another mosquito on my neck. I was starting to feel really itchy. That’s what being outdoors does to me. It makes me itch like crazy.

The fire had died down. A blanket of purple embers glowed on the dark ground. The night air grew cool.

To end the campfire, Richard told everyone to stand and sing the camp song. “You new campers probably don’t know the words,” he said. “You’re lucky!”

Everyone laughed. Then Richard began to sing, and everyone joined in.

I tried to follow along. But I couldn’t catch all of the words. I picked up pieces of the song….

Yuck. I agreed with Richard about the words to the song. They were so lame!

Gazing across the fire, I saw Aaron singing his heart out. He seemed to know every word already.

How does he do it? I wondered, scratching my itchy legs. How does he manage to be so perfect? To fit in everywhere?

As the song ended, Richard raised his hands for quiet. “I have a few final announcements,” he called out. “First of all, none of you can carry a tune! Second…”

I didn’t hear the rest. I turned to find Briana and Meg standing beside me.

I took a step back. “What do you want?” I snapped.

“We want to apologize,” Briana said.

Meg nodded. “Yeah. We’re sorry we played that dumb joke on you.”

Richard’s voice droned on behind us. Briana put a hand on my shoulder. “We got off to a bad start,” she said. “Let’s start all over again. Okay, Sarah?”

“Yeah. Let’s start fresh,” Meg agreed.

A smile spread over my face. “Great,” I said. “Excellent.”

“Excellent!” Briana repeated, smiling too.

She slapped me on the back. “A fresh start!”

Richard was still making announcements. “Tomorrow at four-thirty, those interested in windsurfing…”

Aaron will probably try that, I thought. I watched Briana and Meg walk away.

A fresh start, I thought. I began to feel a lot happier.

The happy feeling lasted for about two seconds.

Then my back started to itch.

I turned to the fire and saw Briana and Meg staring back at me. They were both giggling.

Other kids had turned away from Richard and were watching me.

“Ohhhh.” I groaned when I felt something warm wriggle against my back.

Something warm and dry, moving under my T-shirt.

“Ohhhh.” It moved again.

I reached one hand back. And poked it under my shirt.

What is it? What did Briana put back there?

I grabbed the thing and pulled it out.

And started to scream.