Senior girls were up. The girls asked Nathan to be a volunteer in their skit, and sent him out of the room. They then explained to us that Nathan would be appearing on a match making show. Three matchers were chosen from the crowd. Two freshman girls and Eddie were the selections. Eddie? This was the beginning of a beautiful set up if I'd ever seen one before.
Nathan came back into the room blindfolded, and escorted by Nicole. He was led to a chair where he was plopped down and told the situation. He seemed sporting enough, although very nervous, you never know what's going to happen with band people around. The questions were asked to Nathan. He was given a question, and then the answers of the three contestants and told to choose which answer sounded the best to him. The game was rigged so that no matter what he said, Eddie would end up being his match. When the selection was made, and the blindfold was removed, the Eddie ran over to Nathan and nearly killed him of shock. The two made fun of the situation, and the crowd had a ton of good laughs. All in all, the night was turning out to be very eventful.
Right about the time that I stopped watching the commotion, I looked over in the direction of Mr. Stevens. The back door to the gym opened, and one of the senior boys walked in. He headed straight for Stevens, and sat in the stands next to him. Stevens leaned over, and the senior whispered something in his ear. Stevens turned and whispered something back. Uh-oh. This makes me nervous. Stevens looked around in the stands. I couldn't read the expression on his face, which is something I think I can do rather well. Usually I can tell almost exactly what a person is thinking or feeling according to their eyes, especially when they're lying or trying to hide their true feelings. But his eyes didn't tell me what he was thinking, which I think made me even more nervous.
Stevens pointed to the door in the front of the gym, and the senior hurriedly walked out it. Everyone in the stands was talking and laughing. I leaned over to Sidney and told her to look at Stevens. I told her I thought something was up! She told me not to stress, she was sure nothing was wrong. A moment later the same senior came back into the gym with the owner of the camp and tons of flashlights. He ran over to Stevens and again whispered something to him. Stevens stood and walked into the center of the court.
"All right," He screamed, trying to get us all to quiet down. "Does anyone know where Cameron is?" There was a look of worry in his eyes. No one really seemed to know where Cameron was. Stevens went on to say that we were going to form search groups to go look for Cammy, and the camp owner would help.
"Alright, here's what we need to do," the owner began, keeping unusually calm, "Who has been to this camp before?" All the returning members raised their hands. "Alright, sophomores I want you to follow me, and we'll check the trail on the north side. Juniors I want you to go with your director and check the trail on the South side. Seniors, go back to the cabins, start there, and check every cabin. Check every bathroom, every stall. Then make your way back to the cafeteria and check there, and all its bathrooms too. Make a loop around camp, and then come back here to the gym. Everyone stay with your groups, we don't need anyone else wandering off."
The groups were given flashlights and then they funneled out into the darkness. We could hear them calling Cameron's name. The group of about 20 freshmen was left in the gym with the drum majors.
"I bet he fell asleep in his bed," Jeff said, laughing.
"I bet her got lost trying to find a soda machine," another person offered.
"No, Cammy's an Eagle Scout," Nicole said. "He'll be fine." The crowd soon forgot about Cammy. Sidney started twirling flags, and got Mike to attempt it too. People told jokes, and poked fun at marching band.
"One time, at band camp…" Sidney teased. But Nicole Eddie and Nathan didn't laugh. They stood in a circle in the center of the court talking. They were worried, Cammy was their classmate. Besides, ever since that very first lesson when we stepped off the bus, everyone had stressed "band family". We were not part of a family, and a family member was lost.
The crowd seemed at ease though, everyone was out there looking, we would find him soon enough. Just as I began to join in the fun I noticed Jo come in the room. She burst though the doors, out of breath and sweating. What's she doing here? She's supposed to be out looking on one of the trails with the rest of the juniors! She ran to the drum majors in the middle of the court, and whispered, as best she could through her panting, to them. I saw Nicole's eyes pop, and Nathan spun around furiously to face the crowd in the stands, but Eddie stopped him. The drum majors and Jo talked for a second, and it looked as though they decided on something.
"Alright, quiet down" Eddie yelled. Jo made a quick exit out the back door, and I could hear her yelling Cammy's name.
"Jo just informed us that Cameron had a talk with one of you freshmen about where he was going," Nicole yelled, straining to talk over some of us in the stand who were still talking.
"Hey! Quiet down or you'll all be running laps till your legs fall off," Eddie screamed, obviously infuriated that the drum majors had to talk over us.
"Now I'm going to ask you this as nicely as I know how. Do any of you know where Cameron went?" Nicole looked very angry, but she tried to keep her voice as controlled as possible. "We're not going to get mad here, or give you any sort of punishment as long as you step forward now." There was a pause and a few whispers trickled through the crowd. Just tell them! What' wrong with you? They already said you won't be punished! Gees! I could see where this was going. Who ever knew was too afraid to tell.