R. Stine: The Curse of Camp Cold Lake

No! I ordered myself. You cannot cry! You cannot allow yourself to cry in front of the whole camp.

Sure, you feel like a total jerk, Sarah. But so what? It was just a joke. Just a dumb joke.

I felt a hand on my arm. I pulled away.

“Sarah-” Aaron stood beside me. His dark eyes were wide in the shadowy evening light.

“I’m okay,” I snapped. “Go away.”

“You’re such a bad sport,” he said softly. “Why can’t you ever let things slide off you? It was just a joke. Why go nuts over a dumb joke?”

Do you know what I really hate?

I really hate it when Aaron is right.

I mean, he’s my younger brother-right? What right does he have to be the sensible, calm member of the Maas family?

It really steams me when Aaron comes on like the older brother.

“Do I need your advice?” I snarled. “Take a hike.” I gave him a shove toward the campfire.

He shrugged and hurried back to his friends.

I crept to the campfire. I didn’t go to my old seat. It was too close to the fire-and too close to Briana and Meg.

I dropped down on the edge of a log near the woods, outside the glow of the fire. The darkness cooled me and helped to calm me down.

Richard had been talking for a while. I realized I hadn’t heard a word he said.

He stood in front of the crackling fire. He had a deep, booming voice. But everyone leaned in to hear him better.

I gazed around the circle of campers. Their faces glowed orange in the bright firelight. Their eyes sparkled.

I wondered if anyone here would be my friend.

I knew I was feeling really sorry for myself. I wondered if any other new campers felt the way I did.

Richard’s voice droned on in the back of my mind. He was saying something about the main lodge. Something about the meal schedule. Then he began talking about towels.

I started to pay attention when he introduced the head waterfront counselor. Her name was Liz.

Everyone clapped when she stood up beside Richard. One of the boys gave a loud wolf whistle.

“She’s awesome!” another boy called out.

Everyone laughed.

Liz grinned too. She knew she looked really awesome. She wore tight denim cutoffs and a dark blue midriff top. She waved for everyone to get quiet.

“Are you all having a good time?” she called out.

Everyone cheered and clapped. Several boys whistled.

“Well, tomorrow will be your first day at the waterfront,” Liz announced. “And before you go in the lake, there are lots of water rules we want you to know.”

“Like, don’t drink the water!” Richard chimed in. “Unless you’re very thirsty!”

Some kids laughed. I didn’t. The thought of drinking that disgusting, slimy water made me sick.

Liz didn’t laugh, either. She frowned at Richard. “We need to take this seriously,” she scolded.

“I was serious!” Richard joked.

Liz ignored him. “When you get back to your bunks, you will find a list of water rules on your bed,” she continued, brushing back her long, frizzy red hair. “There are twenty rules on the list. And you need to know them all.”

Huh? Twenty rules? I thought. How can there be twenty rules?

It will take all summer to learn twenty rules.

Liz held up a sheet of paper. “I’m going to go over the list with you now. If you have any questions, just call them out.”

“Can we go swimming now?” a boy shouted, trying to be funny.

Lots of kids laughed.

But Liz didn’t crack a smile. “That’s rule number eight,” she replied. “No night swimming, even if counselors are with you.”

“Don’t ever swim with counselors!” Richard joked. “They have germs!”

Richard is pretty funny, I thought. He seems like a good guy.

But Liz seems so serious.

The sheet of paper fluttered in the wind. She gripped it with both hands. Her red hair caught the glow of the fire.

“The most important rule at Camp Cold Lake is the Buddy System,” Liz announced. “When you are in the lake, you must always have a buddy.”

She glanced quickly at the campers seated around her. “Even if you are only wading in up to your ankles, you must have a swimming buddy with you,” she said. “You may have a different buddy each time. Or you may choose a buddy for the whole summer. But you must always have a buddy.”

She took a deep breath. “Are there any questions?”

“Will you be my buddy?” a boy shouted.

Everyone laughed. I laughed too. The kid’s timing was perfect.

But once again, Liz didn’t crack a smile. “As waterfront counselor, I will act as everyone’s buddy,” she replied seriously.

“Now, rule number two,” she continued. “Never swim more than three boat lengths from one of our safety boats. Rule number three-no shouting or pretending to be in trouble in the water. No horseplay. No kidding around. Rule number four…”

She talked on and on, reading off all twenty rules.

I groaned. She talks to us like we’re five year olds, I thought.

And there are so many water rules.

“Let me repeat one more time about the Buddy System…” Liz was saying.

Gazing past the fire, I could see the dark lake. Smooth and black and silent.

The lake has tiny waves. No current. No dangerous tides.

So why are there so many rules? I wondered.

What are they scared of?

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.”