Cabin Fever Page 6

  Grandpa and I chatted a few minutes longer about camp stuff: starchy food, creaky bunks, and mosquito bites. He said my mom and dad were missing me like crazy, but he and Gran were keeping them company. When it was time to sign off, he wished me luck in the cup contest.

  “See you on visitors' day,” I said.

  There was a whirring sound, and Thatcher came back on.“All done?” he asked.

  “Yep. Thanks,Thatcher.”

  “No problem, Kid Zoom. Over and out.”

  I put my communication device in my backpack and headed into the cabin. My cabinmates were already asleep. No wonder— it had been a pretty eventful and exhausting day. I climbed into my bunk and tried to stay awake to enjoy the sounds of the chirping crickets and night breezes, but I was just too tired.

  In moments, I was sleeping, too.

  WE all got up early to see Melanie off. Casey, Megan, and I walked her to the parking lot, where her grandparents were waiting.

  “Write to me,” she begged. “Let me know how the contest goes.”

  After a long group hug, she left.

  Sadly we headed back to join Simon and the boys on the sports field for the morning's workout.

  “We're going to take a break from the calisthenics,” said Amanda. “Today we're going to work on trust-building activities. Zoe, will you and Howie join me over here? Everyone spread out so you can all see.”

  Howie and I took several steps forward. “This exercise is called a trust fall,” Amanda explained. “Now, Howie, you stand in front of Zoe, with your back to her.”

  Howie did as he was told, positioning himself about a foot or so in front of me.

  “When I count to three, Howie, you just fall backward, and Zoe will catch you.”

  “What's so hard about that?” asked Sam.

  “The fall itself isn't difficult,” Amanda said. “It's having complete faith in your partner that takes some doing.”

  “I trust Zoe,” said Howie. “She won't let me fall.”

  “Then go ahead. Just let yourself drop backward.”

  Howie didn't even hesitate. He closed his eyes and leaned back.…I put my arms out and…

  The next second, I felt a tickle in my nose and began sneezing wildly.

  “Whoa!” said Dave, stretching his arms across the space between us and catching Howie just before he hit the ground.

  I gasped. “Oh my gosh, Howie! I'm so sorry.”

  “No problem,” he said. “You would have caught me if you weren't sneezing.”

  Amanda handed me a tissue, then began pairing up the others. Everyone laughed and joked, but luckily, nobody dropped anyone!

  When we were done, we headed back to camp for lunch. I noticed I had some dandelion fluff on my T-shirt.

  “A breeze must have blown the fluff at you,” said Simon, watching as I brushed the fluff off.

  “That must be why I sneezed,” I said, shrugging.“I guess even superheroes can have tickly noses. It's a good thing Dave was there to catch Howie.”

  “It certainly is,” Simon agreed.

  The boys decided to take a swim before the mess hall opened. As they took off for the lake, I noticed Simon say something to Sam. Sam told the other guys he'd catch up to them and walked away with Simon, deep in conversation.

  “Let's go check our mail,” Casey suggested, pulling my attention away from Simon and Sam. “My uncle Altitude promised to write me a letter.” She giggled. “He's sending it airmail, of course.”

  “Great,” I said. “Let's roll.”

  “Yeah,” said Casey. “Let's go.”

  “Yeah,”said Mega-Megan, hopping up from her bunk.“Let's fly.”

  It took Casey and me a moment to realize she meant that literally.

  “Megan, this is awesome!” I cried.

  “Glad you're enjoying yourself.”

  We were arm in arm, a good mile above the camp, soaring against the brilliant blue sky through the occasional cloud, which was nothing more than a cool wisp of misty softness.

  We were flying!

  Casey had opted to walk, given her last flying experience. I looked down; the cabins were tiny brown dots, and the lake shone like a blue jewel.

  It wasn't as though I'd never been airborne before. I'd done plenty of superjumping, blasting off into the atmosphere, coming down several feet away, then springing up again. But jumping was a whole different sensation—fast and athletic. Flying with Megan gave me a sensation of floating, simply drifting from one place to another. For a supermission, of course, she'd have to turn on some power and really jet, but not today.

  We touched down in front of the main lodge, where the mailroom was. I read the stick-on labels that marked the mail slots until I found my name, then pulled out a letter from Emily at soccer camp.

  Megan was feeling around in her mailbox. “Nothin' for me,” she said.

  “Me either,” said Casey, who'd caught up with us. “So much for airmail.”

  “Well, I'm happy to share my letter with you guys,” I said.

  “Great,” said Megan. “Read it to us.”

  As we walked toward the mess hall, I read my note from Emily aloud. We laughed about how she was teaching her cabinmates to choose appropriate fashion accessories that wouldn't interfere with their soccer skills. Then she went on to explain in detail this amazing new game strategy their counselor had taught them, involving some tricky passing moves and even bouncing the ball off their heads.

  “I used to love playing soccer,” said Casey, “before I got my power. Then I had to quit because I could hear what the other coach was telling his team, and it made me feel like I was cheating. It was kind of sad. I had some nice friends on my soccer team.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. I really have to watch my speed when I'm doing stuff like playing soccer or running in gym class,” I said.“But here, we have a good team and we don't have to keep our powers secret!”

  “That is very cool,” Megan agreed.

  We arrived at the mess hall and found Amanda waiting for us at the door. She looked pretty upset.

  “What's wrong?” I asked.

  “It's Sam,” said Amanda. “He's gone.”

  “What do you mean by ‘gone'?” asked Megan.

  Amanda shook her head sadly. “Sam is in big trouble. He just totally destroyed Battlin' Bertram's new car. With his bare hands. Crumpled it into a little red metal ball.”

  “What? Why would Sam do something like that?” Megan gasped. “It must have been an accident.”

  Amanda shook her head. “On purpose, according to Simon, who saw the whole thing.”

  “That can't be right!” I exclaimed.

  Amanda continued.“Simon was walking along by the parking lot when he heard all this noise—banging and crashing, the sound of metal being crushed—so he went to see what was happening and there was Sam, ripping apart Bertram's brand-new sedan. He tore off the doors and ripped off the hood and was yanking the wheels off one by one. He was in a total frenzy! Simon asked what he was doing and Sam said he was sick and tired of keeping his superpower in check and that it wasn't fair the Feds wouldn't let him use his full strength, and since Bertram is a member of the board, he decided to get revenge.”

  I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was crazy! “Where's Sam now?” I asked. “Maybe we can talk to him.…”

  “He's gone,” Amanda said again. “When Simon told him he was going to be expelled, he took off into the forest. Simon tried to catch him, but Sam kept knocking down trees and throwing boulders to block the path.”

  Amanda excused herself to go discuss the incident with Bertram. After she left, the three of us were silent for a long moment, letting the horrible news sink in. I just couldn't believe that Sam—or any one of my new superfriends—would do something so terrible.

  “Well, I'm totally shocked,” Megan said at last as we headed for the mess hall. “But I'm glad we found out what a jerk he is before the Courageous Cup began. Doesn't sound like he'd have been m
uch of a team player.”

  I didn't comment. I still couldn't believe that Sam had destroyed the car on purpose. Something weird was going on.

  “Now that we've lost Sam and Melanie,” said Casey, “we're going to be at a real disadvantage in the contest.”

  “Yeah,” said Megan.“All the other teams will have eight members, but we'll only have six. We won't stand a chance. And Amanda will freak if we don't win.”

  So will Zander, I thought.

  “We should probably forfeit,” said Megan.

  “I agree,” said Casey.“And I'm sure the boys will want to quit, too.”

  “Quit?” I stopped dead on the top step. “Quitting is for…well, quitters.”

  “Yeah,” said Megan. “And losing is for losers.”

  I shook my head.“Losing is better than quitting, as long as you try.”

  Casey rolled her eyes. “Zoe, have you met our counselor? You know—Amanda, the one who gets us up at five a.m. to train because the very thought of losing makes her break out in hives? She will totally not be happy if we lose.”

  “True,” I said. “Amanda will be disappointed if we lose. But I bet she'd be completely ashamed of us if we just gave up! I think we have to go through with the contest and do the best job the six of us can do.”

  My cabinmates considered this for a moment.

  “Zoe's right,” said Megan as we stepped through the doorway to the dining room. “Let's give it our best shot.”

  “I agree,” said Casey, heading for the table we shared with the Bravery boys.“And as far as Sam is concerned, well, let's just forget all about that whole car-wrecking thing.”

  “Right,” said Megan. “Put it clear out of our superminds.”

  “Uh…,”I said, reaching the table where our teammates were already seated, “that might not be as easy as it sounds.”

  Because there, sitting in the middle of our table like some crazy modern-art sculpture, sat a crumpled ball of shiny red metal.

  “WHAT is that doing there?” I demanded, glaring first at Dave, then Zander, then Howie. “I hope you guys don't think this is funny!”

  “Don't blame us,” said Howie. “Simon put it there.”

  “Why would he do that?” Megan asked.

  Simon appeared at Megan's shoulder. “It's supposed to be an inspiration,” he said.

  “Inspiration to do what?” Casey whispered to me in a sarcastic tone.“Become drivers in a demolition derby?”

  “You've heard what Sam did, right?” Simon asked.

  We nodded somberly.

  “I've put this nasty hunk of ruined metal here to remind you all how important teamwork is. Even though Sam let the team down, the rest of you should pull together and work hard. You shouldn't let this sort of thing discourage you.”

  “Why would it?” asked Zander.

  “Well,” said Simon in a serious tone, “I wouldn't want you to give up on the idea of teamwork just because Sam proved that you never can tell if and when a teammate might completely lose it.” He gave us a sad look.

  I frowned. What was Simon talking about? If this was supposed to be a pep talk, it was a pretty terrible one!

  “The thing is,” Simon continued,“that Sam thought his power was cooler than any of your powers.” He raised his eyebrows. “The truth is that you all know which one of you has the coolest power.”

  He gave one last meaningful look at the squashed remains of Bertram's car, then walked away. We were silent for a moment. Finally, Casey asked the question we all wanted to ask.

  “Who do you think he meant when he said we know who has the coolest power?”

  I was surprised to see a small, smug smile tug at the corners of Zander's mouth. “He was looking at me when he said it.”

  Dave whirled to face at Zander.“No, he wasn't. He was looking at me.”

  “He sure wasn't looking at me,” said Howie.

  “C'mon,” said Zander. “You really think stretchiness is cooler than lightning speed?”

  “Well, yeah, as a matter of fact, I do.”

  “Puh-leez. Speed is way cooler.” Zander turned to me. “Right, Zoe?”

  “Don't drag her into this,” snapped Dave.

  “Don't tell me what to do, Taffy Boy.”

  “Don't call me Taffy Boy.”

  “Fine. How's Spandex Man grab ya?”

  “Guys!” I said, holding up my hands for silence.“Knock it off !”

  “Really,” huffed Megan, putting her hands on her hips. “You sound like a couple of babies.”

  “Honestly,” said Casey. “I mean, c'mon, you don't see us girls bickering over who has the coolest power.”

  “Not that there'd be any question,” said Megan.

  Casey slid her a look.“What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying that flying is a better power than superhearing or super-speed?”

  “Flying is pretty awesome, you've gotta admit that.”

  “Well, so is superhearing.”

  Megan snickered. “Yeah, I'm sure that one comes in really handy. After all, you can hear the ice cream truck when it's five whole blocks away, so I guess you're always first in line.”

  “As a matter of fact, I am,” growled Casey.“So how'd you like a toasted almond bar stuffed up your nose? Or should I say up your beak, Bird Girl?”

  “Are you saying my nose looks like a beak?”

  “Maybe. Or maybe I'm just calling you a birdbrain.”

  “I'm a flying superhero, not a bird!”

  “Yeah, well, if you were a bird, you'd be a buzzard!”

  “Girls!” I shouted.

  They spun around to glare at me, but before I could say anything, Amanda's voice boomed, “What's going on here?”

  No one answered.

  “After all our talk about teamwork, this is how you behave? I'm really disappointed.”

  “Sorry,” said Zander.“I guess the whole mess with Sam has us all feeling edgy.”

  “All the more reason for you guys to hang together as a team,” said Amanda. “Your punishment for this unacceptable display is to clean up the entire campgrounds. You can come back here for lunch and then dinner. After dinner, you will go right back to your bunks. No swimming, no hiking, no tennis, no archery, no arts and crafts…”

  “And no training!” said Zander. “Are you saying you aren't going to give us our afternoon workout?”

  I was as surprised as Zander. Amanda seemed like the ultra-competitive type. Would she really take the risk of letting us skip practice just to teach us a lesson?

  In reply, Amanda gave Zander a firm nod. “No workout,” she said.

  “But what about the contest? We want to win!”

  “So do I,” said Amanda. “But some things are even more important than winning.”

  “Nothing is more important than winning!” said Zander.

  “Maybe that's something you should think about while you're emptying the trash cans and scrubbing down picnic tables. Think about that, and about the importance of trust and mutual respect,” Amanda said as she turned and walked away.

  “We're never gonna win now,”said Casey.“Six kids, no practice.”

  “Sometimes the underdog turns out to be the champion,” Howie pointed out.

  “Easy for you to say,” said Dave. “You are the underdog.” He gave Howie a grin. “No offense.”

  We got our breakfast from the buffet and ate in silence. Later, when all the other campers were running off to enjoy a day of fun, we followed Amanda to the maintenance cabin to gather our equipment.

  Ten minutes later, we were carrying trash bags, buckets, and sponges.

  “Start in the east corner and work your way back here,” Amanda commanded.

  What else could we do? We headed east.

  Cleanup duty was a total drag. And the worst part was, I didn't even deserve it.

  “This isn't fair,” I grumbled, picking up a crumpled candy wrapper and stuffing it into my trash bag.“I wasn't the one calling people names.”
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  “I heard that,” snapped Casey from twenty feet away.

  “Well, it's true,” I said.

  Zander was dunking a sponge into a bucket of soapy water. “We should be training,” he said, slapping the sponge onto a wooden picnic table and beginning to scrub. “How are we going to win if we're not in shape?”

  As he spoke, he scrubbed faster and faster until he was cleaning at superspeed. Soapsuds lathered up and splattered all over the place.

  “Jeesh,” said Dave, reaching across three other picnic tables to grab the sponge out of Zander's hand. “Watch what you're doing!”

  We all looked and saw that Zander had scrubbed so hard he'd completely worn through the middle plank of the picnic table.

  “Oh, great,” said Megan.“Now we're going to be punished for destroying camp property. Good going, Zander.”

  Zander stooped down and picked up an empty juice box.“So much for teamwork,” he muttered.

  This time, Casey didn't say “I heard that,” but I was pretty sure from the snotty look she gave him that she had heard, all right.

  At ten o'clock, the sun vanished and the sky darkened, and by ten-fifteen, it was pouring (this time without any superassistance from Megan and Zander). Amanda arrived with an umbrella and told us to go back to our cabins.

  When we got there, rain was pelting our roof and coming in through the screens, making puddles on our windowsills.

  “Well, I guess if we were gonna be stuck inside, this is the day for it,” I said.

  “That doesn't make me feel any better,” said Casey.

  “Me either,” said Megan.

  They were the only words we spoke to each other for the rest of morning. In the Intrepid cabin, morale had just reached an all-time superpowered low.

  AT noon, we put on our rain gear and dashed through the storm to the mess hall. I dashed at superspeed, which got me there way before my cabinmates. I found Howie standing under an umbrella and waiting for me on the front steps.

  “How were things in the new Bravery cabin this morning?” I asked. The boys' group had been moved to a temporary cabin while their old one was being repaired.

  “Miserable. Zander and Dave wouldn't even look at each other.” “Same thing in Intrepid.”