Carver Pike - Scalp

To walk the circumference of the entire campus would probably take at least thirty minutes. That would be at a brisk walk. The center’s red brick walls formed a large square with stairs at each corner and halfway between each wall, leading up to the second floor. Both floors contained classrooms and other locked doors that Nitsy assumed were probably apartments or dormitory rooms like the ones they were staying in on the second floor.

At the atrium of the building was a giant chrome statue of Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson standing proudly and watching over the main campus gate. Inside the walls, a dirt path circled the statue where people could drive in through the gate, circle the statue, and drive out. During the conference, while so many teenagers were meandering about, no vehicles entered the gate.

“Died here ?” Phyllis asked, her face going blank and her eyes shooting open wide. It was clear the thought had never occurred to her, but it would now, probably every day and every night until they left.

“Yes, here,” Nitsy replied. “You know this place has to have Civil War history. Stonewall Forge?”

She pointed at the statue’s back.

“Oh, wow,” Phyllis said. “Like double wow. I bet you’re right. I bet there are ghosts all over this place. In fact, I heard things last night outside our room. Sounded like footsteps and chains dragging.”

Nitsy rolled her eyes and laughed. “Yeah, the Ghost of Christmas Past was outside our door.”

“Huh?”

She didn’t get the reference, so Nitsy added to it, “ A Christmas Carol …”

Phyllis still wasn’t getting it.

“Not even the Disney one? The cartoon? With Goofy dragging the chains and Scrooge McDuck playing Ebenezer Scrooge? Oh, girl. You’re helpless.”

“Whatever, I heard chains.”

“A friend of mine is missing,” a booming voice called out from the other side of the statue.

Nitsy put an arm out to stop Phyllis, keeping them behind a brick column where they hid. Nitsy peered around it to see who was talking. One of their instructors, a man named Mr. Hayes, a very proper gentleman wearing a sweater with a dress shirt and bowtie beneath it, was talking to a park ranger. The ranger was a huge man, nearly twice Nitsy’s height, with brown, slicked-back hair.

“He’s a big guy, kind of rough around the edges. A hunter. Ex-military,” the ranger said. “His truck crashed over by the highway and the cops haven’t found him.”

Mr. Hayes shook his head. “Haven’t seen anyone like that.”

“Maybe the caretaker has. Is he around?”

“No, and we’re pretty upset about that. He’s usually very good at his job. His wife too, but she didn’t show up today to unlock the doors and he hasn’t gotten rid of the beehive in the back. It’s not like them. We had to use the spare keys in the office to open the conference room this morning. Mrs. Price wasn’t too happy about that.”

The park ranger nodded his head every now and then but Nitsy was pretty sure the guy didn’t care much about the boring happenings at their conference. He’d just said a friend of his was missing and Mr. Hayes was going on about pest control.

“Any idea where the caretaker lives?” the ranger asked.

“Somewhere down that street is all I know,” Mr. Hayes replied. “They always drive off in that direction. Other than that, I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

“Thank you for your time.”

That was Nitsy’s cue to keep walking. She grabbed Phyllis by her wrist and yanked her down the hall. Eavesdropping on one of the instructors wasn’t something she wanted on her record. She was hoping her group would do so great in their challenge she’d be a frontrunner when it came time to vote in a conference president.

Nitsy and Phyllis were the first ones back to the conference room. Eggo was in a meeting with the other group leaders and Mrs. Price. He waved at the girls when they entered. Mrs. Price glanced over and noticed them.

Another point. She saw you were the first one back from lunch.

“Girls, you’re back early,” Mrs. Price said.

“I was always told if you’re not early, you’re late,” Nitsy replied.

Mrs. Price turned back to the group leaders and said, “Oh, I like this one. We’ll finish up later during dinner. You’ve got your group responsibilities, you’ve got your packets, now let the students shine. Make sure everyone’s having a great time.” She clapped her hands together and the leaders dispersed.

“Welcome back, Captain,” Eggo said to Nitsy as he approached the girls. “We’re going to be moving into the classrooms, so the team captains are hanging around here so they can send the rest of the team to the correct room. We’ll be in 12-A. Upstairs.”

With that, Eggo left Nitsy alone. Soon after, students started piling in at the exact time they were due to return from lunch or a few minutes after. As her teammates entered the room, Nitsy pointed them in the direction of room 12-A. Once everyone was accounted for, she joined them.

“So,” Eggo began as soon as she entered and took her seat, “you’ve chosen your captain.” He pointed at Nitsy, who couldn’t help but blush. “We’ll need to fill all the other positions too. But first, I’ve got some fun news. Each team is responsible for a duty around here. These duties help keep the place tidy and in order.”

A few moans and groans went up in the group.

Eggo laughed. “Don’t worry. I can promise you’ve scored the easiest, the best duty on the entire list.” Eggo clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Well, I should take that back. It’s only the best if you’re a morning person. If you hate getting up early, you won’t like this one at all.”

Nitsy had to think about this. Was she a morning person? She didn’t particularly like getting up super early, but she was never any crankier when she had to.

Sure. You’re a morning person.

As of today, she would be one, whether her body liked it or not.

“We’re the wake-up crew,” Eggo informed them. “We get to go up and down the halls at five o’clock in the morning and bang pots and pans together to wake everyone up.”

“Seriously?” Phyllis asked, laughing and clapping her hands together the same way Eggo had. “Oh, can we please wake up Andrew? He’s from my school and I know he’s gonna be up late playing his video games every night.”

“Is he the one who paused his game for this?” Nitsy laughed as she asked. Phyllis didn’t seem to get it so Nitsy added, “You know, the t-shirt he wore on the bus?”

“Oh, yes!” She opened her eyes wide and grinned devilishly. “We have to wake him up. He’ll hate me even more.”

Nitsy liked the girl and could already see they’d be great friends.

“Tomorrow morning, you will become the most hated team on campus,” Eggo promised them. “And you’re going to love it. While some crews have to stay behind to make sure the cafeteria is tidy after every meal and some have to walk the grounds to pick up garbage or straighten up the seats in the conference room, you get to make everybody angry each and every morning.”

“But we also have to wake up earlier than everybody else,” a boy named Todd squeaked out from his seat at the back of the classroom. He was a tiny, mousy boy with feathery blonde hair. He looked more like an eighth-grader than a junior in high school.

“Very true,” Eggo said, “but you have to get up early anyway around here, so why not be the one who gets to have some fun with it?”

Eggo’s energy was infectious and soon they were all laughing.

After that, it was all business. They needed to assign positions to everyone else in the group. Their briefing inside the packet given to them by Mrs. Price was a list of key positions. Ten positions. One for each person in the group. Eggo could not play along. Nitsy, being the captain, got to choose her co-captain, and she went with Avery, the one person who’d challenged Nitsy for the lead position. She was the prettiest in the group, with long black hair that hung down in tangles, and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind.