The smell of pancakes awoke her in the morning. The fact that she'd woken up in an unfamiliar surrounding didn't worry her in the least. She rolled over in the bed, hoping to go back to sleep for another five minutes, but Zee had something else in mind. "Good morning," he said. "I ordered breakfast: pancakes, hash browns, eggs, bacon, orange juice, strawberries, and a side of cereal."
"So that's what smelled so good," she said, sitting up in the large bed of the hotel they were staying in. She looked around the room. All of their camping gear was neatly packed and in a corner of a room. Zee had folded all of her new clothes, and had packed them into her knapsack, as well as his, as he didn't need the room for himself. It made his story that he was a girl, all more convincing if he had a bag full of girl's clothes.
Zee brought the trays of food out to her, and set them on a small cart next to her bed. "Zee, you've brought me my own buffet!" she teased him, looking at all of the food. She'd never be able to eat it all! He always over did things, but she didn't really mind.
"I talked with Bucky earlier this morning. He's going to meet us at the 'park and ride,' so we can give him a ride up."
"If he was planning on getting a ride with us, don't you think he should have called a little sooner?"
"He likes to make his plans at the last minute, just in case someone might be trying to follow him."
"Give me a break," Ro muttered under her breath. Bucky was just too much for her sometimes.
After she'd finished eating, and getting ready, she helped Zee carry their equipment to the car. Then, they took off to go and meet Bucky. He was patiently waiting for them at the "park and ride." He had a large bag on him, and was carrying his laptop under one arm. Ro wondered if the back of the car was hovering lower than the front end of the car, and if it would start dragging on the ground once they put Bucky's stuff in.
"Hey thanks for picking me up guys," Bucky said, carelessly throwing his bag in the back seat. He then climbed over, and took the adjacent seat in the back of the car. "I'm ready!" he announced.
Ro didn't turn around to look at him. Something about how he expected favors so easily from them, and it seemed like they had to work hard to get him to do something for them, bothered her to the point where if she looked at him, she might let slip an unkind word or two. She didn't know why it bothered her so much, but it did. This week would be nice though… She could take out these unhappy feelings on him in the means of "friendly pranks."
With Bucky and his gear inside of the car, Zee began to drive towards the camp. The first hour was highway driving, then the next half hour after that was scenic driving. The last hour and a half was the most miserable. It was all uphill on a windy mountain slope. The distance they were covering was rather small, but because they had to go around and around it, to get it, it took forever! Also, while Zee could have been driving a lot faster, and getting them there sooner, there were other cars in front of them, who were too scared to go over 15 miles per hour, around a curve that was labeled as 40. He would have illegally passed them on the left side, cutting into the other lane, except that there were occasional cars that were coming down the mountain, having already dropped off their passengers at the camp. What really irritated Ro was how these slow moving cars refused to use the turn out lane, when they passed one.
"Pass them on the right!" she urged Zee.
"It's not going to matter if we get there a few minutes ahead of these other people," Zee declined. "If the feds were behind us, then I might make such a risky maneuver. But there's no point to put you in danger now, just to get there before the others."
His sincere interest in her well-being comforted her. She rolled down the window, rested her chin on her arm, letting the wind blow through her hair. "Don't worry, Ro. We'll be there shortly," Bucky insisted. He'd been to this camp before, enough to know when they were getting close. "You're not car sick, are you?" he asked.
"No, just bored," Ro replied. Being car sick would be the only thing that could make this drive worse. Bucky was right, as the welcoming sign to "Camp Pico Blanco" came up in only a matter of minutes.
"This is it," Bukcy announced.
Zee followed the line of cars into the camp ground. There were convenient signs to guide motorists and campers to their camp sites, and through the registration process. Either way, Zee was safe following the line of cars. There was temporary parking set up, which could be used to unload gear and passengers so that cars were not blocked in or out. Zee parked the car, then set out to help Bucky with his stuff. Ro unbuckled her seat belt, and reclined her seat back, content to wait in the car until they returned. The fact that she was waiting, would encourage Zee to quickly come back for her so they got get moving. She was about to kick of her shoes, and air her feet out the window when Zee asked, "Are you coming?"
"Yeah, I guess." She up righted her chair and opened the door. If she came with them, she could get a look around to see where things were, in case she ever did come here to play a prank on Bucky. As the evil ideas came to her of what she could do to him while he slept, she suppressed her twisted smile- no she shouldn't be mean!
No sooner had she stepped out of the car, a small cloud of dust arose in the air. The dirt on the ground, was very dark in color, and very fine. She could tell that all of her nice clothes would be in sepia colors by the time camp was over. She shut the door of the car, and followed Zee and Bucky to registration check in. Several of the other boys in line were holding laptop computers or various other technological gadgets under their arms. "What geeks," Ro thought to herself. "They should call this Nerd Camp." This led her to wonder about the real name of the camp. "So, Bucky, what does 'Pico Blanco' mean?" she asked.
"The literal translation is 'hot white'. I don't know why though. I think the more appropriate name would be 'Home of the Black Mountain Boogers.'"
"What did you just say!" Ro nearly shouted. She couldn't believe he'd say such a vulgar thing out loud! The other boys in line had heard him though, and were laughing hysterically.
Zee didn't reproach him but asked, "Why's that?"
"The dirt here is really dark and fine, so it displaces easily. It gets in everything. You could stick your pant legs in your shoes, and your socks would still be brown by the time you took them off. The dust naturally gets in your nose, which means you'll have brown boogers for the following week after you've gone to camp."
"That is soooo gross!!" Ro shuddered. "Why do you bring your computers, though, if the dirt is so bad? Isn't it bad to get dust in those things?"
"Well, they do have a filter, but we keep them in the cabins. Those stay pretty free of dirt and dust, so it's okay."
"Cabins! Why do you get to stay in cabins, and we have to sleep in tents?" Ro complained.
"Hey, I didn't make the rules!" Bucky said defensively. "Why are you asking me?"
Ro could see that it was pointless to argue this further. Once Bucky paid for his reservation, he was assigned to a cabin number. As it was important that she know where this cabin was, she continued to follow Bucky and Zee to the cabins.
On the way to his cabin they passed the mess hall. Ro wasn't worried that the girl's camp wouldn't have a mess hall. If they didn't, Zee would have bought cooking gear and a year's supply of food while at the camping store.
The cabins were all identical, except they were painted different colors. Each cabin was two stories tall and housed about six boys in each. There were two small rooms on the bottom, each with a set of bunk beds, and one room on the top. Bucky would be sleeping on the ground floor of Cabin B3.
Rather than staying to let Bucky introduce them to each person in his cabin, who all had gone to science camp the last year, Zee and Ro headed back to their car.
"It's a nice camp," Zee commented.
"I just hope ours isn't too worse."
Zee got into the car, and began to continue down the main road. As the girl's camp was on the other side of the lake, the road led to both camps. There would be a sign to let them know when they'd reached the girl's portion of the camp.
When Zee passed the banner labeled, "Girl's Camp Up Ahead," he changed his holographic projection to a more feminine appearance. The change startled Ro. Instead of a handsome tall, dark haired man, there was a beautiful dark haired young woman. Zee smiled at her. "Is this appropriate?" he asked, still using his masculine voice.
While she didn't want to admit that she was a little more turned off now, she replied, "You look like a girl, which is what you were aiming for, but your voice doesn't sound like one."
He was well aware of this. While Ro probably thought he'd forgotten, it was actually because he didn't want to startle her by doing the complete change at once. "What should I call myself?" he asked, using a higher pitched tone.
"What name did Bucky put on the reservations?"
"He used your name."
"Do you want me to pick a name for you?"
"Pick something you can remember. I won't have trouble remembering it."
Ro felt excited. It was almost like she was picking out a name for a newborn, even if this name would only last for a week. Her favorite names came to mind, but she'd probably slip up, which could cause problems, so she'd have to save those names for another occasion. "How about Zena? Then I can still call you Zee for short."
"That's fine."
As they went a little further down the side road towards the camp, they came up on the real name of the camp on another large wooden sign. In Ro's opinion, "Camp Hidden Falls," was far more respectable as a name for a camp than "Hot White." Hidden Falls sounded nice, it had intrigue, romance, and seemed like an appropriate name for an outdoor camp.
There was an average number of cars in the temporary parking lot when they pulled in. Less than at Bucky's camp, but still a respectable amount. It wasn't just going to be a handful of girls.
Ro and Zee got out of the car and went over to the registration check in. The counselor greeted them with an overly zealous smile.
"Name?" she asked.
"Ro," Ro said, trying not to give out as little information as possible. There were less than a hundred girl's names on that list. She could afford to spend a little time to look through the short list to find "Ro" on it. "We just registered last night," Ro added, wondering if it might help her to find her name any quicker. She worried that their name might not even be on the list, and that they really were too late to register. Then all of that money that they'd spent on the camping stuff would have been wasted—not that money ever did matter.
"Rowen, Rosalie. I have you down for two reservations."
"Yeah, the other one of for my friend here, Zena, or Zee for short." She mentally made a note that she'd have to bug Bucky about having written Rosalie down on her name rather than just Ro.
"As you're in the late registration group, you still need to pay for the camp fee," the counselor said, matter-of-factly. It was still a business, even though she didn't like to ask people for their money.
Zee brought out his cred card, and gave it to the counselor to process. When she was done with it, she handed it back to him. "You'll both are assigned to the "Redwood" campsite. I've got a map here that shows you where everything is. You can have your driver come to the site to drop off your stuff, but please don't take any more than 20 minutes. Other people want to get through and drop off their stuff and the road is not very big. Afterwards, your driver can follow this road out to the main road."
It sounded like she expected everyone to have been dropped off by someone else. "We drove up ourselves," Ro commented. "Do you have a place for permanent parking?
The counselor looked a little surprised, then embarrassed, "Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that most people get dropped off... While we didn't leave much room for permanent parking you can park your vehicle behind the mess hall with the rest of the staff's cars. Here, I'll circle it on the map," she said. After circling it, and the Redwood campsite, she handed the map to Ro.
"She seemed nice," Zee commented on the way back to the car.
Ro nodded her head, but didn't say anything to justify why she was agreeing. In her experiences, it was best not to become attached to people or to get to know them too closely. Why bother to get to know someone if they were just going to have to leave when the feds showed up? The other problem with getting to know people too closely was that if their identities were revealed, anyone could turn them in.
Zee followed the map to the Redwood campsite, then parked the car off to the side. It was a very pretty campsite. It was located right next to a creek, which undoubtedly led right to the lake. Zee took away from the beauty of having the creek so close by commenting on how mosquitoes lived near water, which meant that their chances of getting bit were also increased.
"Should we set up camp?" Zee asked.
"What else can we do? We have to get our car out of here in twenty minutes."
"We could just drive around and see where things are."
"I think I'd like to get set up first," Ro said. "There will be time to go exploring later." The exploring part that she actually had in mind was to be to find the "hidden water falls" in the area. They weren't necessarily hidden as the trails to get to them were marked on the map, but she was still interested in finding them.
Zee got out of the car and began to pull their gear out of the back when he was stopped by an accusing, put-off voice, "What do you think you're doing?"
"I thought you wanted to set up," Zee replied, turning towards Ro, who was standing next to him. But, she wasn't looking at him, and didn't seem to be the one who had just spoken. Zee turned the rest of the way around. Another car had pulled up and a group of girls had gotten out. The girl who had spoken to him was tall, with blonde hair, braided in a crown braid.
"This is our campsite," the girl said, rather haughtily, and rudely. While he wasn't human, he could sense the bad vibes in the air, especially between the girl and Ro. He wondered if Ro had met this girl before somewhere else, of if this was their first time.
"What a coincidence! The counselor said this was our site too!" Ro said, trying not to use her "mocking" tone. She wasn't anxious to get an enemy the first day of camp, but who did this girl think she was?
"You must be mistaken, because Redwood is our campsite," the girl said.
Ro cupped her hand over Zee's mouth before he could play back the voice of the counselor telling them that this was their campsite as well. In his head, though, he heard the counselor's voice, and saw the list appear before his eyes. It had said "Redwood" next to their names. This girl knew that they were at "Redwood" so it's not like they had the wrong campsite. Once she was sure that Zee wasn't going to do his impression, she released her hands from his mouth.
"Why don't we go and talk with the counselors about this?" Zee suggested, trying to keep the peace.
"Oh, you must be new here…" the girl replied, snidely. "Well, let me set things straight. Redwood is our site. Since you're new, we'll give you five minutes to move your car and gear out of our faces, or else you'll wish you'd never come," she threatened Ro and Zee.
Ro was thinking that she'd like to see her try to do something to them. She was also considering going back to the counselor. But the staff wasn't going to kick her out of the camp… They'd say that they had to share the site, which isn't something that Ro wanted to do at this moment. She would be more than happy to move elsewhere than to have to put up with these jerks. What she really wanted was for Zee to teach them a lesson in manners… But knowing how things always turned out, they'd be the ones who were sent home and justice would not prevail. Her new plan was to save some of the pranks she'd been planning to play on Bucky and use them on these girls instead.
"Ro, we should go," Zee said quietly.
"Yeah, I can't stand the smell of this trash any longer," she said glowering at the girl in the center of the group, then to each one in turn. They all had the same snooty look on their face. She threw her bag into the back of the car, and got in the front seat, rather calmly. She didn't slam her door shut. She wouldn't let them know that they made her mad. She wasn't going to cry as some girls might in a situation like this. The one thing that did upset her was that now she had no idea where they would be staying, and she could sense that this wasn't just a one time instance. These girls seemed determined to have their way, and if they thought that they could walk all over people, they would undoubtedly take advantage of that. She'd had experience with bullies before in the orphanage. She usually didn't run away from such things, but as Zee had suggested they leave, she'd let this pass by.
Zee put his bag into the car, but didn't go to the driver's seat after that. He returned to the girl for one last word. She was laughing with her friends, at how they'd gotten their way. She smirked when she saw him coming toward her. Zee stopped in front of her. She looked him down from head to toe. This girl didn't look like she could pack a punch, so she wasn't worried about him hitting her. "If you do anything more to hurt my fried, YOU might be the one who wished you'd never come," he said, his voice piercing and serious. After that, he turned around and got into the car. That might have been the first threat he'd ever made in his life, although he hadn't been the one to guarantee he'd do the punishing. It would be inevitable though if Ro became upset. Justice must be served.
"Ooooh, scary! I think I want my mommy!" the girl taunted them after he'd already got in the car, then began laughing with her friends as Zee drove off. Ro looked in the rear view mirror. The girl's parent remained in the car… Had they seen the whole thing and hadn't done anything about it? It must be why the girl was brought up with such rude manners. However, Ro gained a little smugness, when she thought about how they had a car with them, and the girl didn't. However, that might prove to be worse for them as they'd now be worrying that someone might slash their tires in the middle of the night. But there was a difference between vandalism and jokes.
The best thing of all was that Zee was with her to make sure that she was safe and protected. And the fact that he could holomorph into one of the camp counselors, was also very convenient.
"What did you say to her?" Ro asked in the car. They were just driving around now rather than setting up. Where else should they go?
"Nothing important," he replied. He didn't want Ro to know
what he'd said about her. "Do you know
her?" Zee asked, changing the subject.
"Of course not!" Ro replied.
"I've never met anyone that rude in my life!"
"What should we do now?" Zee asked.
"Maybe we should just go home?" Ro suggested.
"If you really want to…" he said.
"Oh, I don't know! I thought that this was going to be fun, but not with those girls!"
"You don't know that they're going to be mean all week long."
"Trust me. People don't change that easily."
Zee slowed the car down as there were some other cars stopped in the road. There were some people unloading bags, and people. "Should we ask them where we should go?" he asked.
"Why? What makes you think they'd know?"
"I don't, but isn't it worth trying?"
"Sure, why not," Ro said, then got out of the car once Zee had parked it.
Ro and Zee went up to one of the girls who seemed to be directing the drivers of the cars towards the exit. She didn't look like a counselor, or parent, which should mean that she could be a camper. "Hi," Ro said to the girl. "We just came from the Redwood site, and now we're looking for somewhere else to…"
The girl cut her off before she finished. "Redwood, eh? They kick you out?" How did this girl know? Had this happened before? "The girls over there are very territorial, but you've probably realized that. They come every year, and take the same site, every year."
"Are you a returning camper then?" Zee asked.
"Yeah, it's my fourth year here. It's like this every year."
"Why don't the counselors do something about it?" Ro asked.
"I think they know what's going on, and in the past they may have tried to do something about it, but it seems like they don't try anymore. Or it's not worth the trouble to them."
"If they knew, it would have been nice if they'd redone the assignments before sending us over there."
"Yeah, it would be. But, what are you going to do?"
"We're not sure who we should ask about what other campsite to stay in."
"Well, why don't you follow me to the Laurel campsite? It usually has room."
"What about anyone else who has the same problem as us?" Zee asked.
"They usually find another site, and ask if there's room there, like you did."
"Sounds fine to me," Ro said.
"I'm Mandy," the girl introduced herself.
"I'm Ro, and this is Zee."
"K', now if you just want to follow me, the campsite is further down."
Zee got back into the car, and followed the girl to the Laurel site. It was the furthest campsite away from the cafeteria and mess hall, but was the closest to the boy's camp side. It wasn't about halfway to the showers, which was very pleasing to Ro. They parked the car, and unloaded their gear, again. "You can set up your tent practically anywhere you like. It's not like the other sites where you have to conserve space. Laurel usually doesn't have a lot of people in it because we're so close to the boy's camp across the lake," Mandy explained.
"Why is that bad?" Zee asked. It was ideal for them as it meant that they were closer to Bucky.
"Well… It's a running tradition to play pranks on the other camp. As we're closest, we usually end up with most of the pranks on us. But don't worry, the pranks are usually harmless, and really lame—and it's not like we don't do our fair share either."
"That's not too bad, I guess," Ro said, thinking about the common cliché, "If you can't take it, don't deal it."
"The real problem is the dumpsters."
"Dumpsters?" Zee asked, being the clueless person for once instead of Ro.
"Yeah, they've been known to attract wild animals like raccoons and bears in the middle of the night. Since they're really close to our site, they sometimes wander through and scare the campers. As long as you don't have food in your tent you'll be fine. So far, no one's been hurt. If you do have food, you can just tie it up in a tree. I personally don't care about the food rule though. I've always got snacks in my tent," she laughed.
But Ro was still worried. "I don't want to sleep in a tent!" she pouted. "I might have an idea," he said, looking at a group of four trees growing rather close together.
"What is it?" Ro, asked, curious.
"It'll take me a while to set it up, and I'm not sure it'll work, so I don't want to disappoint you until I see if it works.
"Okay then," Ro said, not pressing the matter.
"Would you like me to show you around?" Mandy asked.
"Sure, why not," Ro said. It would allow Zee to do his thing. She suspected it had something to do with the fact that he was going to turn into his robot form, which he wouldn't want someone else to see, which would explain why he didn't want to show her or tell her what it was that he had in mind. "Actually, we need to move the car out of the way and park it behind the mess hall, if you want to come with me," Ro offered.
"Sure," Mandy said, not bothering to ask if Ro really did have a license.
Once they were practically out of sight, Zee looked around the rest of the site. There were several tents set up, but no one was in them. Most likely the girls were visiting with friends at other sites, or possible congregating in the mess hall. An early dinner was going to be served in less than an hour. He removed the rope from his bag, as well as the tent. He walked over to the group of trees. Checking one more time to make sure that no one was looking, he extended his arms and legs. In the middle of the four trees he began to create a horizontal dream catcher or spider's web, out of the rope about seven feet up. He had to hurry and get this part done before anyone came by or before Ro and Mandy got back. He continued to weave the rope smaller and smaller until the center hole in the web was smaller than a foot. He still had a good deal of left over rope, so he cut the rope and melted the end with his small phaser. The rope was made out of nylon so it didn't burn, and now it wouldn't fray with the end melted. Now to test its strength… Zee pulled himself up onto the middle of the web net, and resumed his complete feminine appearance. The net was really tight, and only sagged slightly from his weight. The ropes were still securely anchored around the trees and did not seem to be slipping. Yes, it would hold them.
"How did you do this?" Mandy asked, amazed.
Ro was surprised as well, only she knew how he had managed to get up that high in the tress. Just how was Zee going to get down without blowing it?
"Like this," Zee said. He took the short end of the rope he'd cut off, and threw it around one of the tree trunks. He then dug his feet into the truck of the tree, while leaning back, holding the rope with his arms, and began to walk himself down the tree. "There's just enough rope to make a ladder," Zee announced, a little proud of himself.
"It's wonderful!" Ro said, going over to admire it. He hadn't even hurt the tree with nails or anything! She reached up to touch the net, but eight feet was higher than she could reach. They would definitely be safe from bears or raccoons wandering through, and possible short pranksters.
Zee took the tent out of its box, and began to unfold it. He took out the battery operated air filler, and connected it to the port on the tent. He turned the pump on, and the tent began to slowly take shape as the chambers filled with air.
"You're not going to put that on top of the net, are you?" she asked Zee.
"I was, unless you don't want me to."
"I was just thinking that it might be nice if we could sleep out under the stars."
"And get bit by the bugs?" Mandy scoffed. "Not me."
"Well, I did buy this as well," Zee said, bringing out the mosquito net.
"What's that?" Ro asked.
"It's a net. It covers up to a 15 foot radius sleep area."
"Where are we going to hang it from?" Ro asked.
Simultaneously, all three of them looked up at the trees above. How convenient was it that there was a tree branch right above their tent?
"I've got some cord," Mandy said, and then ran to her tent to get it.
"You sure you don't need it?" Ro asked.
"They say to bring it, but I've never had a use for it until now."
"Thank you," Zee said. He then looked for something heavy to tie it to. There was a large branch near the fire pit in the campsite. He went over to it, and broke off a limb.
"Whoa!" Mandy said, in awe, "You're strong!"
"Nah," Ro covered for Zee showing off his strength. "It's dead wood, very dry and easy to break."
Zee tied one end of the cord to the branch, and the other to the top of the net. He carefully analyzed the tree branch he was aiming for, then threw the small branch with the string attached to it up and over the branch. As the small branch came falling back to the ground, it brought the net up. Zee hurried over to the other side where he grabbed the end of the string, and began to pull the net the rest of the way up. He lowered it enough so that it surrounded the net hammock. "Ro, climb up and tie this off," he told her.
He gave her a boost up onto the net and she tied off the cord as high as she could reach. "Should I cut the end?" she asked.
"Go ahead," Mandy told her, passing her a pocket knife.
Ro cut off the extra cord and gave the rest to Mandy . The mosquito net was a beautiful dark blue color, but what Ro really liked about it, was how it looked like the canopy for a royal princess's bed.
The tent had finished deflating by now, so Zee conveniently placed it under his dream catcher's net. "We can store our stuff in here," he announced. In hindsight, the small tent would have been better, but that was after he knew they wouldn't be sleeping in this one.
"We've got ten minutes before we need to start walking to the mess hall," Mandy informed them. It was just enough time for Zee to start tying knots in the left over rope to make a ladder so Ro could get up without his help.
When he'd finished, they quickly threw their sleeping bags on the top of their net, then started walking with Mandy to the mess hall. They were one of the last people to arrive, as they had to walk the furthest distance. The counselors had already begun to explain how to get food. Each site would be called in a specific order. That order was usually determined by which site was the cleanest. Then they should pick up a plate, then go along the food line. There were chefs to serve them what food they wanted, and then to pick up their silverware, and a glass if they had a free hand. Then, they were required to put their dishes in a stack by the kitchen to be washes.
"They used to have the campsite that was messiest clean the dishes, but now everyone takes a turn," Mandy explained.
"I paid money for this, and they're making me wash my own dishes?" Ro asked.
"There's just too many for the chefs to keep up with. At least we don't have to help cook, though." If they did, Ro would be worried that the mean girl from Redwood would spit in her food.
For now, the counselors weren't calling people into the kitchen by campsite, but were letting people come in and get food as soon as they got in line. "If you want to save us a table, we're going to wait in line," Ro said to Zee.
"She's not eating?"
"Zee ate before we came, and said she wasn't hungry," Ro explained. She was now fathoming how hard it was going to be to hide the fact that Zee didn't eat at all. Seven days in a week, three meals in a day. That would mean she had to think of 21 excuses! Someone was bound to get suspicious… She'd have to talk about it with Zee, and see what he thought they should do.
The line moved quickly, despite its long length. Zee smiled when they sat down with their plates of food. For being camp food, it was delicious. These cooks deserved their salaries, or more! Tonight, the cooks would be doing the dishes, because assignments hadn't been made. Then, everyone was sent back to their camp sites for orientation. Ro liked their counselor a lot. She had a very pleasing attitude, and wasn't trying to do the thing where she demanded everyone's respect or attention. She was the kind of person, just for not asking for it, made everyone want to give it to her. And, she was funny. Her name was Jennifer.
"…Now for those horrific things we call 'rules'," Jennifer said over the small crackles of the campfire. "Number one rule on the 'Things we counselors thought up of to ruin your entire camp experience', is that you're required to travel in pairs whenever you leave this campsite."
"Even to the bathroom?" a girl asked.
"Of course to the bathroom! It's not like when you're not at camp you go to the bathroom by yourself anyway!" she joked. She then began to put on a comedy stand up show, "Isn't it funny whenever you're out with your friends, and you need to go to the bathroom, you always ask for someone to go with you? 'I'm going to the bathroom, want to come?' Come on, who honestly wants to go to the bathroom with you? Bathrooms are gross, dirty, disgusting places, and should be avoided. Why would anyone willingly want to accompany someone to one if they didn't need to use it themselves? It's not like the bathroom doors weigh forty pounds and you need someone else to help you open it! It makes no sense, but we do it anyway!! The most ironic thing though is, now when you get to camp you're all like, 'No, I don't want anyone to come with me! I'm a big girl! I can go by myself!' We know you can, and we know the chances of you tripping splitting your head open and having to go to the hospital are a million to one. But I'm not about to give up my new car because your parents decide to sue me because you can't walk without tripping over your own two feet, and you didn't have a buddy with you like I told you! So, yes, you must have a buddy!"
"What if we can't find anyone to go with us? Can we ask with you?" another younger girl asked. Ro was beginning to notice the age differences in the entire group. She guessed that there were girls as young as 12, and as old as 17. When they were 18, they probably became counselors.
"As long as it's not between 11 at night and six in the morning," Jennifer replied. "Between those hours you won't find your nice sweet counselor, but a soulless goddess who will bite your head off just for disturbing her slumber." Giggles spread through the group. "If you ABSOLUTELY can't find anyone else, because either they've been turned into vampires, or were eaten by a bear chances are by the time you get to my tent you won't need to go anymore. The easiest way to prevent this problem is to not drink so much water before you go to bed!"
When the laughter died down the counselor continued, "If you go on any trails you're to let me know which ones they are, and when you'll be back. You're not to go sneaking over to the boy's camp in the middle of the night—unless you bring me back a really hot one with you. And by hot, I mean Adam Heat hot. After ten o' clock, you're not to leave your tent unless you're going to the bathroom. And lastly, I don't want to hear about any of you girls causing trouble between any of the other campsites."
"What if they're picking on us?" another girl asked. Ro suspected that she must have had a brush with the Redwood girls.
"Then I want you to clean their clock, and if you're not big enough to do it by yourself or you're outnumbered, come back here and tell us, and we'll go and take care of them—But you didn't hear that from me. I'll repeat what I said, I don't want to hear about it, which means that make sure whatever you do, news of it doesn't reach my ears. No, seriously, if you're having a problem with another camper, you should first alert one of the counselors, and if we can't fix it and the problem persists, then we'll call your parents and bring them into this."
Ro thought sadly, "How could she call my parents? I don't even know where they are. Who would they call instead? Casey?" She doubted that he'd get mad at her if she stepped out of line a little bit, especially for a noble cause.
Jennifer went over the rest of the rules. After the rules, she went over the schedule for tomorrow, and practically for the rest of the week. Wake up call was at seven o' clock, and the morning flag ceremony was at eight. Then breakfast would be served. The order line up depended on a competition between the counselors. What that competition was, would be decided in the morning. Then there was the educational part of camp where they'd learn new things regarding to camping and nature. Following that was lunch, and then free time. During free time they could do arts and crafts, swim, canoe, hike, or whatever they wanted. Ro thought that this might be the best time to sneak over and visit Bucky. Then there was dinner, evening camp clean up and a fireside hour with all of the campsites. Then everyone was to return to their campsite for a short meeting with their counselor. After that, they had an hour and a half to take a shower and get ready for bed. This was the general set up for the week.
"Jennifer is the best counselor, I'm glad we have her this year," Mandy said as they were heading to the showers to get ready for bed. "The counselors take turns with different sites every year. One thing I really like about Jennifer, though, is that she refuses to ever be a counselor for Redwood."
Ro smiled. She really liked Jennifer now. But a voice in the back of her head kept telling her not to become attached to anyone here. In the morning, she might find herself unexpectedly running away from the feds, leaving them, all behind.
"Oh no!" Mandy pouted when they got to the building with all of the showers in it.
"What's wrong?" Zee asked.
"They're all taken!"
"Can't we just wait for them to open up?" Ro asked.
"It's the Redwood girls. They ignore the 15 minute shower rule, and
always use up the hot water!"
"How can you tell it's them?" Ro asked.
"They all have identical towels," Zee commented. All of the towels hanging over the shower doors were the same style and color.
The thought of taking a cold shower rather than a hot, or warm one, sent shivers up Ro's spine. "I'll just take one in the morning," Ro said. She was used to taking both evening and morning showers. It didn't really matter to her when she took one, as long as she took one within 24 hours on a regular basis.
"You see, you may do that when you're not at camp, but here it's necessary to take one at night. During the day you become absolutely filthy from the dirt in the air and on the ground, so it's pointless to take one in the morning. But if you take one at night, then you at least get the feeling of sleeping in a clean sleeping bag."
"Are there any other showers here besides these ones?" Ro asked.
"It's about a seven minute walk… They're kind of out of the way…"
"If there's a chance that they'll have hot water, I'm for it."
"Should we tell someone where we're going?" Zee asked.
"We won't be going that far. Don't worry about it," Mandy insisted.
The showers were a little out of the way, which is why no one seemed to be waiting by them. "Most people don't know about these unless they've been here before. But as they're near the group campfire site, which everyone will be at tomorrow, they'll be discovered and we might not have them to ourselves after that."
"We'll have to think of something else to do for tomorrow then," Ro said.
The water was still warm for these showers. It felt very relaxing, and Ro enjoyed every minute of it. Zee shut himself in one of the shower stalls, and turned on the cold water to make it sound like he was taking a shower himself. He continuously listened for the sound of anyone approaching. After spending about five minutes with the water running, he turned it off, and changed his holomorph appearance into his pajama outfit. Just for a personal touch, he made his hair look wet, and his face a little pinker. He then waited for Ro and Mandy to finish showering. It felt strange to be wearing a pair of fake pajamas. He'd never had to wear them before. This might be the first instance where he would be sleeping around a group of people. Usually at night, he would turn off his hologram, rather than putting on this new one. He'd like to ask Ro if the design he'd chosen was appropriate as he'd never picked out a hologram for this before. The fabric of his pajamas was dark blue with stars and moons all over it. But, as he'd based the design from something he'd seen in a department store, he couldn't be too far off.
"Nice jimmies," Ro commented as she came out of the shower stall. Mandy should be coming out shortly as well as both of them had turned off the shower at about the same time.
"Oh, those are cute!" Mandy commented, squeezing the extra water out of her hair onto the floor, then throwing it behind her shoulder. "Ready to head back?"
"Yeah, we're ready," Ro said.
As they walked back to their campsite they noticed that the towels were still hanging over the same stall doors, and the same people were still impatiently waiting outside of them. "Those poor girls," Mandy sighed.
"Someone should teach them a lesson," Ro commented.
"Someone…" Mandy said loftily. "Since this is the last year I'll be coming to this camp, I might as well have a little fun…"
Zee had heard the same manipulative tone used by Ro in past instances. Usually following such a statement they would commit some rebellious, or evil act. He didn't like the sound of it, but kept his mouth shut, as Ro's curiosity seemed queried. "Got something in mind?" she asked.
Mandy bit her lower lip. Zee could picture her "shoulder angels" giving her the pros and cons of the situation. The devilish angel must have run her pitchfork through the good angel, because without saying a word, Mandy turned around and ran back to the showers.
"Come on!" Ro said, excited. She could tell something good was about to happen.
Mandy went up to the first stall door, and removed the towel from where it was hanging on the door. The girl inside of the shower was singing too loudly to notice, and obviously didn't notice that her towel was being removed. Mandy tossed the towel to Ro.
Ro tried to keep herself from laughing at her evil deed, and, quickly folded the towel and hid it behind her back. But Mandy didn't stop there, she removed the small ring she was wearing on her finger, and used it to unlock the cheap lock on the shower stall door. The stalls were designed so that there was a small changing stall between the actual shower, which had its own separate curtain. Very carefully, Mandy opened the door and reached for the clothing that was carelessly laid out on the bench in the changing area. She quickly snatched the clothing before the draft from the open door alerted the person in the shower that something was going on. Mandy tossed these clothes to Ro, who was desperately trying not to laugh. The people waiting in line, watched, wondering what these strangers were doing, and if they should help or just stand there quietly.
Ro handed the clothes to Zee so that he could hold them, as Mandy was now handing her the next girl's towel and clothes. Ro was on the verge of tears from trying not to laugh. The people in the line seemed to have caught onto the idea, and after having waited so long for a shower already, didn't feel obligated to turn these people in for their egregious acts, but actually assisted by carefully removing the towels from the shower doors and hiding them among their own possessions. When Mandy had removed the first one, she quickly hurried over to Ro, clothes and towel in arm, and despite how it was against the rules whispered, "Run!"
They began to hurry away from the scene of the crime, while the rest of the girls who had been waiting for a shower, dispersed as they didn't to be suspects for when the girls came out of the showers and found that they had nothing to cover themselves up with. Everyone around the shower area vanished rather quickly. After another minute the Redwood girl had either decided she was too pruny or the water had gone cold and she turned off the water. A shrill scream followed, which sounded throughout the entire camp followed by an angry cry, "WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES!"
It was now that Ro and Mandy burst into tears of laughter. Zee was rather quiet. He knew that Ro was aware that what they'd done was mean, but the girls had been rude to them earlier… He didn't want to disappoint Ro's fun by spoiling their prank either, by mentioning what the possible consequences might be either. "Are we going to give them back?" he asked. It seemed a happy medium between his two worries.
"Oh yes… In the sweetest way possible…" Mandy smiled. "Just stick them in my tent, and I'll take care of the rest."
"What about the other girls who helped out?"
"Don't worry about them. All will be well."
"Are we going to get in trouble for this?" Zee asked next. While he'd been trying to not let such worries spoil this moment, the words just seemed to pop out.
"Course not. I'm even going to let Jennifer know."
While he couldn't see how letting Jennifer know be beneficial, it seemed that Mandy would be taking the blame, as she'd be the one turning herself in. Mandy unzipped the door to her tent so Zee and Ro could throw the towels inside. Peering inside of her tent, Ro noticed something strange about Mandy's bed. "What's that under your sleeping bag?" Ro asked.
It appeared to be a large 3x 6 foot grid of toilet paper rolls. "It's my bed until I make a TP run with them. Then I've got an inflatable mattress to use when these are gone," Mandy smirked. "Well, I'm going to go talk to Jennifer, so goodnight and I'll see you in the morning!" Mandy said, then headed towards Jennifer's tent.
"I guess we should get some sleep as well," Ro said.
Zee had to jump abnormally (but inconspicuously) high to reach the knot ladder down. He would have rather have extended his arms to reach it, but that definitely would have been a giveaway of his true character. Ro climbed up the rope while Zee held it steady on the ground . He then climbed up, and pulled it up after him so no one could follow. "I'm not going to roll off this thing in the middle of the night," Ro commented.
"I'll be here to make sure you're safe." Zee said, crawling into his sleeping bag. He really would have prepared just to create one out of a hologram.
"Thanks, Zee," Ro said, snuggling into her own sleeping bag next to his.
"It's so beautiful," Ro commented, gazing up at the stars above between the tree tops. While things were still a little noisy as the girls in the tents were excited because it was their first day, the peaceful melody of the occasional cricket chirps and frogs at the lake could be heard over their gossiping. While she was sure that she'd hate those sounds by the end of the week, at the moment, they were wonderful.
While he was tempted to take of his hologram as it was dark and no one could see him with the lights off, he wasn't going to take that risk. It wouldn't hurt to keep his hologram on for a week straight, and he could do without fully devoting himself to a full charge for a week. Watching over Ro was more important than running at 100% optimum capacity rather than 98%. Zee remained awake during the entire night. It wasn't boring, as Ro had often thought that it would be for him, but was very peaceful. After scanning the area for anything unusual his gaze would always return to Ro's small figure, sleeping beside him. The night air was warm, so he didn't have to worry about her being cold. It was nice.
Everything was absolutely silent until three in the morning. He could hear the sounds of twigs breaking in the distance. It wasn't like the usually small animal running through the forest or in the tree tops. It was something heavier. Someone was coming. He sat up slightly to get a better look at who it was with his night vision. The person had their flashlight turned off, no wait, it was more than one person. They obviously were doing something covert, and didn't want to wake anyone up with their light. They definitely weren't going to the bathroom as it was in the other direction. Maybe they were trying to sneak through and onto the boy's camp? He recognized the face of one of the girls as being from the Redwood camp. He debated whether he should wake Ro up, or just wait and see what happened.
Then, he heard the sounds of another pair of footsteps. These were coming from somewhere in side the camp. They were more carefully placed, and much quieter. This second person wasn't making the mistake of letting a couple of quiet giggles escape. Zee could see her hiding behind the trunk of a tree. It was their counselor, Jennifer! He shook Ro slightly to wake her. Surely Ro would want a part of this.
"Ro, Ro, wake up," he said, holding his hand over her mouth. He didn't want her to break the silence by saying something really loudly when she woke up. She opened her eyes slowly, and was going to scream, except that she realized it was Zee who was covering her mouth. She was used to waking up suddenly, but it was not pleasant to find yourself silenced when you did wake up. "Look, over there," he whispered.
Ro looked out over the camp. She couldn't see anything. Her eyes were taking too long to adjust. Then, suddenly, a bright light turned on, illuminating the girls from the Redwood site. "Going somewhere, ladies?" Jennifer asked in a stern voice. Ro could barely hear what she was saying, but Zee could hear it well enough to relay to her what was going on.
"We were just going to the bathroom," one of the girls tried to lie.
"I have one tattoo, and it's not "STUPID" and it's not on my forehead, so don't try to play me like it is. The bathroom is the other direction, and you're running around with your lights off."
"Go back to your tents!" Jennifer scolded them. "I'll be having a chat with your counselor tomorrow."
"But someone stole our towels and clothes!" they protested.
"I am not your mother. It is not my responsibility to look after your stuff. It's unfortunate that you've lost something, but sneaking around in the middle of the night is not the answer! Now get back to bed! Curfew was five hours ago!"
The girls turned on their lights, and grumbling, turned around and went back. Jennifer stood there, watching them until they were out of sight before turning off her light, and returning to her tent."
"She really told them off!" Ro whispered.
"Jennifer certainly is a light sleeper," Zee commented.
"Mandy would love to hear what happened the next morning…" Ro thought, as she drifted back to sleep.