The Zeta Project Season 3 Episode 5

by clutzattack

Kim's WB The Zeta Project Road Trip

5. Day 4

DAY 4

However, she awoke the next morning, with Zee (back in his girl appearance) was sitting near the edge of the net, looking rather placid. "How did things go last night?" he asked.

She sat up, scared out of her wits, but quickly calmed down. How could she have fallen asleep so carelessly! Even scarier--why she didn't wake up when he climbed up onto the net? She must really have been tired, or he was in the secret agent league for his stealth-ness. What hurt more was that she'd wanted to be there when he came back. What if he'd really been in trouble? How could she have allowed herself to have fallen asleep?

"When did you get back?" she demanded.

"A few minutes ago. I've been wandering around the camps, as if I'd already been up."

How clever he was. He didn't have to sneak back into his sleeping bag unnoticed. He just had to pretend that he'd gotten up really early and had already been dressed. But she would sure give him an earful for staying out so late and scaring her out of her wits by not at least letting her know that he was safe. "You could have told me you were back, at least! You were gone for some time," she said, a hint of anger in her voice. However, she found that she was so glad that he was back that she couldn't stay mad at him for long. He voice softened, "You had me worried."

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to wake you. I figured you'd be pretty tired."

"I tried to wait up for you, but I guess I fell asleep. I'd make a really lame night watchman, wouldn't I?"

"No, I'm sure you'd be a good watchman!" he insisted, trying to sound supportive, though she probably wouldn't make a good watchman.

"There's no reason to flatter me. I'd never top you," she laughed.

She climbed down from the net, and went inside of their tent to change into a different pair of clothes for the day. There was dew sticking to the tent walls making them rather heavy. Everything was damp. The cold air had condensed creating a light mist over everything. She could only imagine what it would do to their toilet paper. Zee had already changed his clothes from when he came back from the boy's camp. He couldn't wait for a chance to talk with Ro about what he'd found out on Bucky's computer, and to show-off the fencing choreographs he'd downloaded on the net as well.

Mandy pulled off another five minute routine to get dressed. Ro was surprised that she wasn't eager to get up and see the outraged faces of the Redwood girls when they woke up this morning. Strangely, there weren't many people at their campsite when they woke up. Everyone seemed to have vanished this morning. But where had they all gone? Were they still sleeping?

Regardless, everyone was still required to report to flag service before breakfast, so they headed out. Jennifer surprisingly wasn't even there to order the group out, or to make sure that everyone else had woken up and was getting dressed.

"Where is everyone?" Ro asked.

"Up ahead," Zee answered her question.

Apparently everyone had managed to find their way in front of Redwood's campsite to admire their handiwork. Even Zee was impressed. They'd really gone out on their TP job. Apparently no one was at the flag circle, but everyone had instead gathered at the Redwood campsite. The director was even here, and she did not look happy.

Among the crowd, Ro could see several of their fellow Laurel campers, and Jennifer. Jennifer appeared to have a grim expression on her face, as if she was not happy about the matter like the director wasn't, but the fact that she kept on having to turn from the crowd to conceal a "coughing" fit, was all to obvious that she was trying not to choke on her hysterical laughter. Ro knew that she was pleased with their work. Being a counselor, it was inappropriate for her to show it though.

Ro would have loved to just stand there and laugh, but there was a very serious mood lingering in the air that told her laughing was inappropriate at this point in time. Everyone was quiet, as the director glowered at the entire group of girls. It didn't matter that she didn't know who was responsible. Everyone was going to hear her scolding lecture.

Ro would have loved to feel guilty for their actions, if it wasn't for the fact that the Redwood girls looked like their heads would explode from their anger. The large knot in her stomach was also blemishing their victory. What if someone had seen them. What if they knew it was them? It didn't seem like the director was going to blow this off like a regular prank.

The toilet paper was a mess. The drapery and bows were still there, but several parts were clinging to the tents from the moisture, and other parts looked like a soggy mess. It was perfect.

When it appeared that everyone was here, rather than at the flag circle, the director addressed the group. "I am not happy about this," she spat.

"What does she care?" Ro thought, but didn't dare whisper it to Zee. Now was not the time for sarcasm.

"Cleaning up dry toilet paper is simple enough, but this is horrific!" She said, referring to the wet toilet paper. "Not to mention, this is a private park, which means that we can not just leave the toilet paper in the trees to eventually disintegrate or to be blown away. If we can't figure out how to get it down, a professional tree climber will have to be brought in. And I assure you," she added more coldly, "that I will not be footing the bill."

This was a serious matter in deed. Ro had no idea how anyone could reach up into the trees to get the toilet paper down. She hadn't planned on the fact that they'd have to worry about cleaning it up when they'd been throwing it up there. Actually, she hadn't thrown any of it into the trees. It'd all been Bucky and his cabin.

"Also, should there be any damage done to these girl's tents, and they should need to be replaced, proper compensation will also have to be provided."

"Hold on," Jennifer interrupted the counselor. "I think that's a little extreme for a harmless prank. I'm sure the girls who did this didn't know that it was going to be damp this morning, or that it would cause such a big mess."

"That doesn't mean that they're excused from accepting responsibility for the consequences on their actions, regardless of whether they knew it would happen or not. These girls have the right to be compensated for the damage of their tents."

"What damage?" another counselor asked. The tents looked fine to her except that they were covered in damp toilet paper.

One of the Redwood girls shouted, "It's covered in wet toilet paper! How can we ever clean it all off? They're going to be covered in toilet paper fibers forever!"

Jennifer wisely commented, "You could wait for the sun to come out this afternoon and dry the toilet paper out. That would also make it a lot easier to clean up. Then you could just brush the tents off of all of the dried fibers."

The girl stepped back. She'd really been hoping to see someone pay for this, but with Jennifer's solution, her grievance was indisputably resolved. Toilet paper fibers had been a weak damage claim to begin with, and now Jennifer had completely squashed their case. Rather than being grateful that their tents were no longer ruined, they were upset that the severity of the situation had been decreased.

"And…" Jennifer added, picking up a piece of toilet paper that was littering the ground. "Isn't this the biodegradable brand of toilet paper? It's made from hemp, isn't it?" she clarified.

Everyone held their breath, as Jennifer turned the toilet paper over in her hands. As everyone leaned closer for a better look it became clear that it was indeed. They'd all seen the commercials for it. After it'd been scientifically proven that hemp was not related to drug use as marijuana was, it was introduced into the commercial market, with tight legislation on who could grow it, and where. Since then, hemp was becoming the substitute for cotton and most other paper products. Hemp was especially ideal for growing, as unlike cotton, it didn't suck the soil of all the nutrients but actually added back to it. Toilet paper was just one more invention that they'd created out of this miracle plant. But, it was a little pricy… Had Mandy really spent that much money on biodegradable environmental safe toilet paper?

It was in the daylight that Ro noticed that there were several colors of toilet paper. The toilet paper that the boys had thrown up into the trees was the hemp toilet paper, while the pink, blue, and peach toilet paper was just regular generic brands that Mandy had bought. And, yes, they were colored in accordance with the camp rules. Too bad she hadn't bothered to incorporate the colored toilet paper into their designs. It'd been too dark to see where she was walking, much less what color of toilet paper she was holding.

"Well… I guess it's not as bad as we thought then…" the director stammered. "But we still can't have it in the trees all day long! Someone still has to clean this up!"

"It's Redwood's campsite, isn't it?" someone spoke up from the crowd. Everyone turned to see who it was that had said such a thing. It certainly wasn't a counselor. No one could find out where the voice was coming from as the person who'd actually made the comment was looking around, just like everyone else, trying not to incriminate themselves by pretending that they didn't know who'd said it either.

"They will certainly doing their part of the clean up, but I strongly feel that the person who thought it'd be funny to throw it up into the trees should be responsible for helping them to get it down."

Everyone grew quiet: having to clean up after your own prank took all of the fun out of it. "Now, because it has come to my attention that the toilet paper is biodegradable, I will not be calling a tree climber if you can't get it all down. I am requiring that the person responsible for this step forward, under no financial obligations, step forward so that they can help out."

"Like anyone would convict themselves," Ro thought.

No one stepped forward. It would be insane to admit that they'd been responsible for such a project. Who knows how miserable Redwood would make the rest of their stay at camp if they admitted that they'd done it.

"You don't have to worry about any further punishments from me. I wont' call your parents. All that I'm asking is that whoever is responsible take responsibility in the clean up."

"We didn't make them clean up our mess," Ro thought.

"Do I have to take away everyone's free time in order to come over here and clean this up?" the director threatened.

Ro looked at Mandy. Should they step forward? They weren't going to be in any trouble. All they had to do was help to clean it up. And everyone else would be mad at them if they had to lose their free time cleaning it up. It wouldn't help their campsite out either if they lost time to rehearse their skit. She looked at Zee, whom she knew was more than willing to turn himself in for her. She wouldn't have him do such a thing. He needed to teach the group how to fence for their skit. She reached out and held her arm in front of him to make sure that he didn't step forward.

Ro looked over at Mandy. They'd have to turn themselves in. They were about to take a step forward when a voice from the crowd shouted, "Okay, alright! I did it!"

A young girl stepped forward. She looked very intimidated and was nervously twisting her fingers. What was she doing? She hadn't been with them when they'd gone TPing. Did someone else come to add to their work after they left? No… It was all of their toilet paper, their bows and drapery… Their mess.

Another voice spoke up, "Me too." This time an older girl stepped forward. Neither of them were even from their campsite!

"I helped out too!" a third voice chimed.

Suddenly, every single girl seemed to be he shouting, "I did it!" "No! It was me!" People were taking claims on their work saying that they'd done different colors, or that they'd been responsible for the bows or the drapery.

Ro looked at Mandy and smiled. Then together they joined the throng shouting, "It was me! I did it!"

The director was shocked. How could all of these girls done this? No, it was more obvious than that. They were covering up for the real culprits, regardless of whether they even knew who they were or not. Well, if they were all admitting to it, they'd all have to clean it up.

"How many of these people did you go out with last night?" Zee leaned over to ask Ro.

"None of them," Ro replied. She made a mental note to do something special for the first little girl who'd spoken up, trying to take the blame for their act.

"Why do they all want to admit to helping out then?"

"Sometimes, Zee, you gotta stand up for other people."

Ro looked over at Jennifer, she nearly doubled over laughing. The counselors around her were trying to hid her behind their backs so the director wouldn't see her in her laughing fit. They themselves were trying to suppress giggles.

No one bothered with the flag ceremony that morning, but went straight to breakfast. The flag was raised later by the girls who had signed up to do it, but no one was there to notice. There wasn't any competition, but people just got in line as they pleased. Zee followed Ro through the line, getting a plate of food today rather than projecting a holographic one. No one bothered with the cup passing game, but immediately started eating.

"So how did things go last night for you, Zee?" Mandy asked curiously.

He looked up a little surprised. For some reason it felt strange was someone was actually asking him a question. "Very well," he simply said. He didn't want to go into the details with her though. "I found out a lot of information."

"You're not going to tell me what you were up to though?" Mandy asked slyly. It sounded like she thought that he was doing something other than what he'd said he'd done.

"I was researching information online…" he trailed off.

"Is that all though? Zee, I think you're holding out on me… Did you go see someone that I'd like to meet?" she asked quietly.

Poor Zee, Ro decided she'd have to save him from this awkward moment. "Zee actually was over there looking up fencing techniques for our skit," she replied in the same low voice. They didn't want anyone overhearing them, especially when they talked about being over at the boy's camp.

"But you didn't have to sneak over there in the middle of the night to do that… Why didn't you just look when we were over there yesterday?"

"Bucky was on his computer then. Zee likes to work in private. She can't stand having people watch over her shoulder. So we agreed that she'd use his computer when they were here with us."

Ro was glad that they'd been talking in low voices as Jennifer suddenly was standing behind them. "Hello ladies, mind if I join you?' she asked, placing her plate on the table in between Mandy and Ro's plate. They had to scoot over a little to give her enough room to sit down.

"Sure," Mandy said cheerfully, although it was obvious Jennifer had already invited herself to sit with them. The counselors usually sat at their table, so this wasn't out of the ordinary, but for Jennifer to specifically invite herself into their conversation meant that she wanted to talk with them rather than finding an open spot at the table.

"What can we do for you?" Zee asked politely. He knew that she was here to talk to them.

"I just want to say, that I'm proud of you," she said looking at Ro, Zee, and Mandy. Somehow she knew they were the ones who were really responsible.

"What are you talking about?" Mandy tried to asked innocently, wondering how she'd found out. How many more people knew it was them?

Zee figured it out. "I was wondering why you didn't stop us. You wanted us to do it," he spoke up. The first night here she'd woken up when Redwood had come over to look for their towels. She was a really light sleeper. Of course she'd have heard them packing off. Only, she hadn't done anything to stop them, but had let them think that she didn't know what was going on.

Jennifer winked at him, but put her finger to her lips.

"How do you know that?" Ro asked.

"I'll explain later."

Jennifer continued to praise them, "That hemp toilet paper was a good idea. Who brought it?" she asked.

"Our accomplices," Mandy replied. "I just had the colored stuff."

Jennifer was beaming with pride, "Good work ladies."

She didn't stay at their table much longer, but ate a few bites then got up and left. "She is so cool," Ro commented.

"Jennifer is the best," Mandy agreed.

Ro looked at her plate. She'd hardly eaten anything because she'd been talking so much. She turned to take a bite of her quiche but, suddenly felt a shower of food scraps raining down her back. There was milk dripping down her collar. She slowly turned her head, chunks of slimy eggs falling out of her hair and shoulders.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" Cynthia said. He apology sounded too honeyed to be sincere. She'd purposely "tripped" on her way to the trashcan and had accidentally spilt it down Ro's back. But… if she really tripped, the food would have hit Ro from the side, rather than directly down her back. The food had lightly splashed Mandy, and while might have missed Zee, he quickly added a little food spots to his hologram to make it seem like some of it had hit him.

"Auuugh…"Ro moaned, disgustedly looking at the mess all over her. Surprisingly, they only had the select attention of the few people around them. Ro would have thought that such an action would have drawn the entire attention of the mess hall. Surely the director or another counselor had seen this egregious "accident" and would scold Cynthia for it.

"Oooh… you may want to take a shower," she said coldly, then began to walk away from Ro, leaving them mess for her to clean up by herself.

"I was thinking the same thing," Zee commented, as he surreptitiously extended his foot behind him, right in front of where she was walking. He had his full plate ready to accidentally fall out of his hands over her while she tripped over his extended foot.

The mess that Ro was covered in was nothing compared to the mess that Cynthia looked like. "WHY YOU!" she ranted, pointing her finger at Ro, Mandy and Zee.

"What is the meaning if this?"

It was the director, and she was not happy. Two incidences in one day would drive anyone over their regular tolerance limit.

"Oh it's nothing!" Mandy quickly spoke up. "Both of them were getting up to put their dishes away and they bumped into each other, spilling their plates all over each other."

The director looked at the table where Ro had just been sitting. She would have sworn that Ro had had her plate there when she'd come to see what the mess was, but now the place setting was empty. Zee put on an innocent face, as he picked up Ro's fork, pretending it was his own. The instant Mandy had started telling the lie, he'd quickly pulled Ro's plate in front of him in a deft movement too quick for the director to have noticed.

It would be wrong to punish these girls for a simple accident. "Go get cleaned up,' she told them.

"What about the mess?" Ro asked.

"Whoever has breakfast kapers can take care of it."

"That's Redwood," Mandy remarked.

"Then when you're cleaned up, you can come back here and help out your fellow campers, Cynthia," the director finished, then walked off.

Ro was sure that things would be getting much worse by the end of the week. But, for the time being, she thought that Laurel was ahead.

Mandy hurried to put her plate as well as Ro's into be washed, then followed her back to the campsite to get some clean clothes. There was no one in the showers as everyone was still eating breakfast, or was on their way to clean up their campsite. Still, they went to the far showers by the group campfire so they could have some privacy to talk in normal voices.

Ro talked with Zee and Mandy through the shower door. "Why do you think she did that?"

"I'll bet she just assumed that you were the one who had TP'd them."

"Yeah, but you helped out too!"

"I got covered too, but I'm just going to change my shirt. What about you Zee?"

On their way back to the campsite, he'd removed the particles of food on his shirt from his hologram. "I'm good. I missed the bulk of it."

"So how did Jennifer know it was us?" Ro asked.

"She's a light sleeper. She heard us get up like how she was able to hear Redwood when they came over on the first night, but she didn't do anything to stop us because she wanted us to TP them."

"You know… If Cynthia heard us talking to Jennifer that explain be how she knew it was us…"

"I'm sure that's it. But I think she just hates us to begin with."

"It's like this every year though, so it's not just you."

"I'm just worried what their plans for revenge are."

"Whatever it is, I don't think it can be worse than what we did to them. Everyone at camp was there to see it!"

"Yeah, and everyone's going to clean it up…"

"Oh, it'll go by quickly if we all help out."

"How are we going to get the toilet paper out of the trees?"

"I'm actually not sure," Mandy admitted. "I was thinking that we might throw rocks at the tree branches to see if we could shake it down, but I already know it's a ridiculous idea. The toilet paper isn't going to come down that easily…"

"What if you aimed for the toilet paper itself?" Ro asked.

"No one here could throw a rock that high, and with good accuracy."

"I can," Zee spoke up. He wasn't going to commented that he could probably shoot his hand up to grab the rolls, or that if he extended his arms and legs he might be able to reach up there or lift someone up there.

"You? Is this a hidden talent or something?" she asked.

"Zee just has a knack for it," Ro commented.

"If we could get a long pole we might be able to use it to get the toilet paper down…" he suggested.

"Yeah, but this camp doesn't do pole vaulting, and we don't have yards of duct tape to strap it together with."

"True," Zee agreed. Maybe he could sneak out with his car and buy some tubing or long poles at a store then?

Mandy changed the subject, "I'd like to tell the guys how well our prank went over, but we hadn't planned on meeting today, but tomorrow. Oh! I can't wait! This prank went over really well."

Ro didn't think that getting scolded by the director and having to help clean up the mess counted as "really well" but she would agree that this was a victory over Redwood.

When she was in her clean clothes they headed back to their campsite. They'd missed morning clean up, but were in time for the educational hour.

"Okay, today we're actually having lunch in our campsite. Now, I want it clearly under stood that our cooks are not responsible for the pre-assortment of food that has been dropped off for us to cook with. To be honest, the director just ordered a bunch of food that could be easily packaged, and was cheap and nutritional."

Whatever it was, it didn't sound tasty. "To be honest with you, if you want to cook it, it's fine by me. I'm not going anywhere near it though. It's my job to teach you how to care for yourselves and how to provide food for yourselves. Now, if this was truly about survival, they'd have me teach you how to hunt you own food, skin it, and cook it. But, they seem fit to say that if we can cook these hotdogs…" some of the girls looked offended as they actually liked hot dogs and Jennifer had just told them that their lunch was going to be really gross "—mind you they're not from a well-known company, and they're not 100 beef--" the girls immediately seemed less offended, "that it will prove that you can sufficiently provide for yourselves."

It didn't sound too bad, except for the part where no one knew the exact content of what was in the hotdogs… But if Jennifer wasn't' going to have them cook them what else did she have in mind? "To accompany our hotdogs, we have potatoes that look like they were hit by the blight. I think they were left in the sun a little too long… onions, and carrots. –I'm just curious who thought that this combination should go together, and why they didn't at least give us a tomato so we could make something like ketchup? For drinks, we have these convenient packages of hot chocolate powder."

This was going to be the worst lunch yet. Ro considered trying to do a religious fast until dinner. It didn't matter to Zee, he wouldn't be eating anything anyway, but he did worry about Ro… She looked disgusted with the meal.

"Now, if you think about the fact that the hotdogs were delivered here, that must mean that there's some store around in the area, so we're not completely stranded from civilization. Now… who has their phone with them?"

A dozen cellular phones were raised in the air. "I brought my phone, but I get lousy reception here!" the girl complained.

"So you all brought your phones, even though they have lousy reception. Did anyone bring money even though there's nothing to buy here?" Several more hands went up. "Good, good," Jennifer noted. "For those of you who didn't, I've got a small allowance to spend on you guys that's provided to me out of your registration fee."

But having money and a useless cell phone won't help us out very much, not will it" Jennifer sighed, then looked up eagerly. "But if we have aluminum foil to cook our hotdogs in we can twist it up to make a coil to help extend our antennas on our phones to increase signal strength. Silver, copper, and aluminum are all good conductors. If worse comes to worse I'm sure you could use your metal marshmallow sticks. Or you could just get a cell phone with satellite reception…" Jennifer said, producing her own phone.

She punched a button on her phone, and held it up to her ear, listening for someone to pick up on the other end. A voice answered and Jennifer's voice rose in pitch as she put on a polite voice to talk to the person on the end with, "Yes, Pizza House?" Shouts of joy went up among the girls. Jennifer waived her hand for them to be quiet while she talked on the phone. "Yes, do you deliver? Excellent. Now, hold on a sec," she said, covering the receiver with the palm of her hand. She spoke to the group. "Who wants cheese?" A few hands went up. "Now, who's going to steal a piece of cheese even though they'll opt for something else later?" A few hands went up. "Thanks for being honest," she said, then held the phone up to her ear again. "I'll take two medium cheese pizzas." She asked the group, "Pepperoni?" More hands went up. "One extra large pepperoni, and one medium." "Combination?--One small combination. Hawaiian?" No one wanted Hawaiian pizza. "Vegetarian?" A few hands went up. "And one small vegetarian. I'd also like 5 orders of crazy bread, and a two 12 flats of assorted sodas."

"Did I miss anyone?" she asked next. No one raised their hand. Ro had to admire how well Jennifer had handled the situation. They hadn't spent a long time arguing over what to get, and everyone seemed pleased with her decision to order pizza rather than to try to cook the hotdogs. "No that's all. Where do I want it delivered? Can you make it to the turn off for Camp Pico Blanco and Camp Hidden Falls?" she paused on the phone while she listened to the pizza delivery guy look up directions for the place. It seemed like he was a little unfamiliar with the area as Jennifer next commented, "Sure, I can just have someone meet you at the turn off." With that she settled things with the pricing, and hung up the phone, then began to divide the bill percentage.

The price was reasonable, so no one had to feel like they were emptying their wallet out for this service. For those who didn't bring enough, Jennifer was more than willing to cover their share. "What else am I going to spend this money on?" she asked. Someone quietly muttered, "A tree climber service." Everyone started laughing.

"Who wants to go meet the pizza delivery guy at the turn off of the main road? I should warn you, it's a little bit of a walk…"

"Ro and I can go," Zee offered. He looked over at Ro confidently. He was sure there was nothing that she could say to object to them helping out. Besides, it would be a great chance to talk with her alone. "I actually came with a car."

"Great! I'll transfer you enough creds so that you can pay the pizza guy when you meet him there."

"I've got enough creds in my account to cover the bill. You can pay me when we get back with the bill. I don't want you to transfer me the money with the possibility that the pizza guy may get lost and never show up."

"Good thinking. Be sure to add in the delivery tip when you bring back the bill. He said it'd be about forty five minutes until he got here, so you have some time before you need to leave."

"Do you need me to come?" Mandy asked. She didn't sound hurt at not being included in the group, but thought she'd ask.

"I think we're good," Ro said. She could tell that Zee had planned it this way so that he'd be able to talk to her. She'd been wondering how they'd get a moment to themselves alone as well. "Her car is kind of small so it might get a little cramped if we end up having to bring in all of those pizzas."

"That's fine then."

Jennifer addressed the group again, "Now, as it will be some time before we get to eat, we have some free time to finish our swords and possibly start putting together our skit after lunch."

"We still need to find our sticks, don't we?" Ro said to Zee.

"Do you have a sword yet?" he asked Mandy.

"Actually, my friend Lisa started one, but wanted to start over, so she gave me her half-finished one. I was just going to finish it and use hers."

"Okay, well then we'll be stick scouting. See you in a few minutes," Ro said. She then linked her arm around Zee's. "Let's go," she said, casually pulling him away from the group.

"Where do we look?" he asked.

"I thought I saw some on that trail Mandy took us on, but we couldn't stop to check."

"Should we tell someone where we're going?"

"Nah, we won't be gone that long."

They casually began to walk down the path they'd gone down yesterday. There was no one around as everyone was still at their campsites preparing their lunches. At the fork in the road, they turned left. Ro began to look for the long sticks she'd seen strewn about. "How's this one?" she asked, holding it up for Zee to see. However, as she was holding it up, it snapped in half as it was completely rotted through. Disgusted she dropped the stick in front of her, "Ewww. Ewww. Eww…" she chanted.

Zee looked at the stick, then at the large tree branch that had dropped from the tree nearby them. While the stick was rotting, the dead tree branch seemed fairly healthy.

The hologram on his arm disappeared, revealing a metal arm underneath. A compartment on his arm opened up and a large circular saw began radiating open, then spinning. In a few seconds, which cedar chips flying everywhere, Zee held two large thick branches in his hand. He dropped one branch, then in four swift movements trimmed the branch down neatly into a long skinny rectangular block—perfect for whittling.

He was halfway through the other one when Ro stopped him. "Zee! What if someone's looking!"

He quickly scanned around the perimeter. There wasn't anyone hiding through the trees now as there hadn't been when he first checked before cutting off the limbs. "No one's here," he said simply.

"But what if they come looking because they hear a mechanical saw in the middle of the forest?"

"I thought we'd be out of hearing."

"You think we're out of hearing, but do you know for sure?"

"We can't hear them, can we?"

"It doesn't mean that they're not playing it quiet or that they're not spying on us."

"Why would they want to do that?"

"Maybe because they're mad at us for TPing them?"

"I'm sorry. I'll be more careful next time."

"How about you just save the special effects next time?"

"Sorry…" he apologized again.

"You apologize too much. Just don't worry about it, and don't do it again."

"Okay."

"Now, let's hurry back to camp."

"We'll have to whittle them down

"It's too risky for me, but if you're sure, then you might as well start what

you finished." In two more swipes he was finished with trimming the branches.

"I'm ready to head back now," he announced.

"They're going to ask where we got these perfectly squared off pieces of wood," Ro commented.

"But they're not perfectly squared," Zee protested.

Upon a closer look Ro realized that Zee had kept the naturally perfect arch of the branch intact while squaring it off. It also wasn't complete square but was slightly rectangular. She could practically see the curved sword that was concealed inside of the block shaped form. It was as if it was just waiting to be carved out.

"Just round off the corners a little and it should be good."

"Wow!" Where'd you find those?" Mandy exclaimed when they returned to camp.

"Along the trail towards the waterfalls," Ro replied simply. Buy now they figured that it was time for them to head to their car so that they could meet the pizza delivery guy. Zee went to fetch his car keys from the tent then headed off down the main road with Ro towards the back of the mess hall where they'd parked their car. Luckily no one had blocked it in. He unlocked the car with a push of the button on his key ring, then climbed into the driver's seat.

"So what'd you find on Bucky's computer?" Ro asked Zee, as he started the car.

"Nothing," he replied, pulling out of the parking space.

Nothing? He certainly didn't need to have waited this long to tell her that! "Are you sure? Maybe he just wasn't online, or maybe Bucky accidentally already eliminated him? What if he switched headquarters?"

"I've already thought about it, Ro. I scanned through all of the files. Nothing fits with his personal database."

"So that's it? Game over?"

"Not quite. It's my belief, and Bucky agrees with me, that perhaps as Bennet is a superior agent, his computer files might be under a higher security clearance."

"And how are we supposed to find out how to get into those?"

"Bucky's working on hacking his way around the system now. He's actually said that it would be a 'challenge' for him as he doesn't have all of his regular computer equipment with him."

"How can he have forgotten any of it? He packed so much!"

"He'll be working on it tonight, and said not to bother coming over, but that if he found something he'd come and tell us in the middle of the night. He also added that he won't be able to speak with us tomorrow as his camp is doing something where they won't have individual free time."

"That just leaves the last day to talk to him, and that's the supposed big obstacle day!"

"I'm sure we can work out something," he said optimistically.

"Yeah, maybe."

Zee stopped the car at the end of the road. They'd wait for the pizza delivery guy here. He turned off the engine and pulled up the brake. Rather than waiting inside of the car, Zee reached behind the seat and retrieved their sticks and two knives. Apparently when he'd grabbed the car key's he'd also picked up their knives. He extended the sword towards Ro, holding the handle end towards her, so that she wouldn't cut herself by grabbing the blade.

"It's amazing how you can multitask and remember things like this," she smiled, taking the knife from him.

Zee hopped up onto the hood of his car and began to whittle away at the branch. Ro sat on the front end of the hood, so that they wouldn't be in danger of accidentally cutting each other. The hood was fairly warm as it'd been sitting in the sun all day long and they'd just ran the car, but it wasn't unbearably hot.

Zee's sword was quickly taking shape with each precise carving of his knife. For Ro, it was rather difficult. The sword was fairly long and she couldn't easily cut down the length of the blade in one smooth swipe. Zee's arms weren't that much longer than her arms, but he definitely seemed to have more skill than her in this regard.

A few minutes later he put his knife down, and shoved his stick back into the backseat of the car. "What is it?" Ro asked, lowering her knife as well.

"He's coming," Zee announced.

She put her knife and branch in the back of the car as well and jumped down from the hood of the car. In a few seconds, she saw a pizza delivery truck slowly make the turn onto the road they were on. Zee waived his arm high in the air so that the driver could be sure that they were the people he was supposed to meet up with. The driver stopped his truck and rolled down the window, "I've got a pizza delivery for Jennifer," he announced.

"That's us," Ro piped up.

The pizza delivery guy pulled out the bill slip and handed it to Zee. Zee pulled out his cred card and presented it to the man to pay for the bill, as well as give the guy a healthy tip for finding the place within a reasonable time.

"Do you want me to drive these in, or do you have things covered?" he asked, Zee, smiling rather widely. There was an extra hint of politeness in his voice. Was he flirting with Zee?

"That's kind of you to offer, but we can take it in," Ro declined, quickly stepping in between them. Flirting with a girl was one thing. Flirting with a male robot pretending to be a girl was a completely different story. She had to end it before it began. Luckily, Zee seemed rather indifferent to the whole situation—probably because he didn't even know what was going on.

"Are you sure? It's covered in the cost…" He was trying to buy more time with them.

"No, we're fine," Ro insisted.

"Are you sure?" he asked again. How many times did she have to refuse him?

"We're fine," Zee said. He finally stopped asking once Zee told him no. He then began to stack the pizza boxes on the hood of his truck and placed the heavy flats of sodas on the ground. Zee bent over and picked up the two flats of sodas with one arm, then he piled the stack of pizza boxes on top. He then carried the load to the car. It was a ridiculous amount of weight for a normal person to carry as easily as he appeared to be.

Ro covered her face in embarrassment.

"Does your friend work out?" the delivery guy asked Ro.

"Yeah, she's always at the gym…" Ro said quickly.

She then quickly grabbed the bags of crazy bread and followed him out to their car.

Zee was sure going to get an earful when they got back in the car. Having delivered the pizzas and collected payment, the pizza delivery guy climbed back into his truck and took off back towards the highway.

With the bags of crazy bread in her hand, Ro headed back towards their car. Zee smiled, holding the passenger door open for her. His sweet gentleman-like manner made her extra angry. How could she scold him if he was being so considerate? Then again, he didn't look like himself. He was a girl, not a young gentleman. She had no problem scolding another female. It wouldn't be the same as having to face his innocent sheepish expression that she was familiar with. This feminine one she could resist.

He shut the door then walked around to the driver's side and carefully climbed in, shutting the door. Before he could start the car Ro asked, "What was that about? You just want to tell him that you can bench press a pick up truck?"

"You said that you didn't need his help. I assumed it meant that you were expecting me to carry in the pizzas instead."

"But not in one trip! I know you're trying to help out, but no young girl would carry that much weight… " He was trying to do more than help out. He wanted to fit in, and he'd failed. "Next time, just make a few trips, okay?"

They drove up to their campsite rather than trying to find some people to help them carry all of the food back from their parking space behind the mess hall. Ro had her window down so everyone in the campsites that they passed could smell the pizzas, if not see the boxes stacked in the backseat of their car. Ro could hear distant cries of , "Why do they get pizza?" She smiled to herself. Jennifer was the best.

At their campsite, everything was quickly unloaded. "How much was it? Jennifer asked once Zee got out of the car.

He quoted her a price several creds less than what Ro had thought that the pizza guy had originally asked.

"They told me it would be more on the phone…" Jennifer commented.

"Well, because we had such a large order, and it took him so long to get here he gave us a discount," Zee lied. Ro knew better. He was footing the difference so that it would be cheaper for everyone else. But, hey, it wasn't really their money to begin with, so who cared?

"That was awfully generous of them." She then paid Zee the remaining sum.

The pizza and soda was absolutely delicious. It wasn't an "all you can eat", but there was enough for everyone to have a few slices, or to eat enough so that they could last until dinner, or so that they weren't hungry anymore. While some girls had thought that they were starving they found that after their second slice, they weren't as hungry as they'd thought they'd been. Jennifer had miraculously managed to know the exact amount of pizza that they'd need so that they didn't have to store leftovers. As Ro and Zee had gone to get the pizza's they were offered the remaining few slices that had been leftover. Ro helped herself to an extra slice, and the others were finished off by other girls in the group. They'd finished eating lunch even before the usually hour allotment for their educational hour was over. They still had their complete lunch hour to do whatever they wanted with. As none of the regular free time activities would be set up, this meant that it was an ideal time to continue working on their swords.

Zee took their swords and knives out of the back of their car, and went to re-park it by himself. Ro set herself up on a tree stump and continued her whittling. Mandy was a safe distance away on another stump. When Zee returned he placed himself within a close, but safe vicinity of them and continued to work on his sword as well. He finished within a half hour.

Zee's blade looked absolutely perfect. There was hardly any other way to describe it. He'd even found a rough, yet smoothly polished stone that he'd used to slightly sand the rest of his blade smooth. The stone hardly did anything as he'd done a near perfect whittling job. He even had a small groove going down both sides of the blade to make it look more realistic. The blade was exquisite, but the hilt of the sword remained untouched. What was he supposed to do for a handle? He'd left a large block of the branch at the end un-chiseled, not knowing what to do for a handle. He sought out Jennifer to ask her how they should finish the end.

She was amazed with his work on the blade. "Most of the girls have left their ends as you have yours now, but I think it might be nice if you did some scroll work. Maybe you could carve out a simple rattan pattern on it?" she suggested.

It hadn't exactly answered his concern with the different styles of hilts for swords, so he figured he'd adopt a style that didn't require a cross guard, which would include adding an extra piece onto the sword. Jennifer had had a good idea about carving a design on the bottom though.

By the time that Ro's blade was beginning to take shape, Zee had finished his sword. At the bottom he had a dragon, its mouth at the very end of the sword, and its tail snaking it's way around the sword until it blended into the blade. Its scaly skin gave it a texture that made it easy to grip and hold onto.

"Oh no," Ro sighed when she saw the finished product. It wouldn't have been so bad if Zee's sword wasn't perfectly formed with an intricate carving on it that looked like it was machine made.

"What are you saying?" Mandy scolded Ro. "It's gorgeous! I wish I'd thought of something like that. Then again, mine wouldn't nearly look so well… Yours looks so professional—like it was made by a machine!"

"Yeah," Ro laughed nervously. "Zee's really mechanically inclined," she tried to turn the matter into a joke.

"Do you need help with yours?" Zee asked Ro.

She hadn't gotten very far and her hand was feeling rather warm and rough from having held her knife for so long, and his craftsmanship was superb, but, their hour for lunch was over and it was free time. "Can't. We have to go and clean up the toilet paper, remember?"

"I think we should just leave them to clean it up themselves," Mandy remarked, "but we did say we'd help out, didn't we?"

Jennifer announced that they'd be heading over in a few minutes to help clean up the toilet paper as a group, but as soon as that was over they'd be coming right back here to start working on their skit, regardless of whether or not they'd finished their swords. She declared that they'd have to finish their swords on their own time, as the rest of their extra free group time would be devoted to practicing. Their individual free time could still be used at their own discretion.

There weren't that many people gathered at the Redwood site in the afternoon as there had been in the morning. Some people must have decided that they didn't care to help out after all, or they were running late with the lunch clean up so they weren't here yet. Clean up for the Laurel site had been easy. They'd just taken the empty boxes and had thrown them in the dumpsters while putting the empty cans in the recycling.

The other campsites were taking the easy task of cleaning up the toilet paper on the ground and tents, leaving the harder task of getting it out of the trees to someone else. The toilet paper had indeed dried in the day time so clean up was going rather quickly. Some people were beating the tents to get the toilet lint paper off of the cleaned tents. Ro couldn't help but bitterly notice that the Redwood girls weren't actually helping out with the clean up, but were ordering the other girls around, and criticizing the clean up that the girls did do. "How dare they…" she muttered.

"Ignore them. We'll get them back later, again."

"What else are we going to do to these unfortunate girls?" Ro wondered evilly.

"So, how are we going to get the toilet paper out of the trees?" Ro asked, looking up into the branches.

Mandy looked up into the trees, analyzing the situation. While they'd originally thought that throwing rocks at it would work, she was having second guesses. It looked really high up and she doubted that she could hit the this streamer of tissue paper.

Zee looked up at the trees, then down at the ground. His eyes fixed on a small dirt clod at his feet. He picked it up, and tossed it lightly in the air, weighing it in his hands. The clod would hold its shape fairly well and wasn't going to break apart the instant that he threw it. He clutched it in his fist, then took aim and threw it high into the air. The swift movement of his arm startled Ro at first, and she ducked, covering her head, as it'd almost seemed as if he was going to strike her.

As she held her arms over her head, a thin streamer of toilet paper lightly floated in front of her face, then down to her feet, along with a single leaf from the tree above her. She looked up at the tree, and saw that there was one less streamer dangling above her. He'd thrown the dirt clod so fast that it'd sliced through the toilet paper, causing it to separate into two pieces and slip off the branch.

Zee bent down and picked up a handful of dirt clods and began to throw them in quick secession into the tree. Several of the girls nearby seemed frightened when Zee started throwing the dirt clods, afraid that they might land on them when they came back down, but soon realized that they were who were no where near where the clods were landing. It was the Redwood girls, who were even further away from the landing point of the dirt clods that were making the biggest fuss of the matter. Zee ignored them but kept up with his work. Redwood could take care of the droppings that he was leaving for them.

Mandy and Ro quickly set out to find more dirt clods for Zee to throw. When it seemed like it was a little too obvious that he had exceptional aim, he began to let some of his shots purposely miss.

In the inhumanely short time of fifteen minutes, Zee had all of the toilet paper out of the tree. "We're done here," he announced.

They returned to their campsite to surprisingly find that so had all of the rest of their campsite. They'd abandoned Redwood only a few minutes after showing up. "Oh, you're here, Zee!" Jennifer exclaimed. "You still think you could help us with the sword choreography?"

"Of course!" Zee said brightly.

Jennifer explained more to him about what her idea of the skit was, and he worked the movie scenes and lessons that he'd downloaded around her plan. Needless to say, everyone was impressed with his skills and his teaching technique. While having an endless library of knowledge was handy, it wasn't helpful if he couldn't effectively pass it on to anyone else. Fortunately he'd thought of this last night, and had looked at some techniques for teaching and instruction of fencing and sparring.

The time they spent practicing went by very quickly, and suddenly, Jennifer was announcing that it was time to start packing up to go to the mess hall for dinner. Luckily, their efficiency and eagerness to learn had helped them to make good use of the time that they'd had. Rather than putting their swords in their tents, several girls insisted that they wanted to carry their swords around with them. While Jennifer didn't think this was a good idea as it might ruin their skit idea, their young, pleading eyes softened her heart. "Alright--as long as you don't stab anyone with it or start practicing the skit in front of everyone!"

Hearing that they could carry their swords around with them caused several other girls to head back to their tents to retrieve their swords. They created belts to carry their swords in by tying handkerchiefs around their waists, or by tying a small loop onto their belt loops. Jennifer took out her own sword and led the cavalry up to the mess hall. Everyone had smug faces on. It felt good to be a part of a group, especially one that was allowed to carry around cool-looking swords. Everyone had arrived a little early in order to hear who had won the cleanest campsite award, and who was first in line for dinner.

Their campsite was the cleanest today, but it was an empty victory. They would only be first in line for one out of the two meals of the day, and in Ro's opinion who wanted to be first in line for meatloaf anyway?

She didn't speak out too loudly about the meal as it seemed that several other people actually enjoyed eating meatloaf. She didn't think less of them for liking such a disgusting food, but wouldn't be wanting any for herself. "I think I'll try one of those religious fasts tonight," she commented quietly. Come to think of it, she was still pretty full from the extra slice she'd had this afternoon. Fasting wouldn't be that bad.

"The menu displeases you?" Zee asked.

"Not really, but I'll manage. I can always ask Mandy if she has anything edible in her tent after dinner, before campfire."

"You don't want me to call out for pizza again?" he asked. She replied with a firm, "No."

Zee followed her through the line, but there really wasn't much that Ro felt like eating tonight. Zee didn't take a plate for himself this time. He wasn't even going to bother with a holographic one. He was just going to insist that he was still full from the pizza they'd had at lunch. Hopefully no one would have noticed that he really hadn't had any at lunch. Maybe that was why they'd even had those few extra slices?

"Not hungry?" Mandy asked Zee as they sat down.

"No, I'm still full from lunch." He replied.

"You?" she asked, turning to Ro. "Your plate looks rather empty."

"Hamburger cooked in raw egg doesn't really agree with me."

"You know what I've got in my tent, so don't feel afraid to help yourself if I'm not around, if you get hungry later."

"Thanks."

Ro turned from the table and looked around at the other campers. There was some background noise of other tables trying to play the cup passing game while they waited to be served. Ro could tell they were adding an extra clap somewhere by the obscured rhythm. It wasn't her place to tell them that they were doing it wrong, or in her nature to care. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, so why bother their bliss? Redwood, however, noticed and snidely commented that the girls were doing it wrong, but didn't feel inclined to tell them what it was, or to show them by exampled. Ro suspected that they weren't even sure themselves what was wrong with the melody. She was irritated with their rude behavior, but it wasn't her place to try and be the peacemaker easier. It had to be the fact that she wasn't preoccupied with eating that made her feel extra irritated with them.

Dinner seemed to go by rather slowly. It seemed longer than usual, but maybe it was just because she wasn't eating this time? Halfway through dinner, the director announced that she would me making another announcement at the end of the dinner, so no one was to take off early. "Why not just tell us what it is now?" Ro wondered out loud.

"It's about the competition on the last day," Mandy informed her.

"How do you know?" Zee asked.

"They always announce it on the fourth day. It allows you to think about what you want to do tomorrow for free time, you know, in case you want to start practicing in the canoes or archery range or something."

"Why not just tell us at the group campfire?"

"People sometimes ditch campfire, or manage to slip off to avoid it. However, usually no one misses dinner. There's a better chance of reaching everyone if an announcement is made at one of the meals rather than at campfire."

Satisfied with her explanation, Ro turned to her plate. She didn't really feel like eating much at all, and pushed it away. The girls around her must have known what the announcement was about because the tables began to buzz with conversation about the competition against the boy's camp. They seemed to be more interested in talking than in eating as well. Most had finished eating anyway. Ro was sure of it now—the dinner was longer than usual. Everyone around her had finished eating, or was close to being finished. Couldn't the director make the announcement now, or was she going to wait for everyone to finish eating first?

She folded her arms, placing them on the table and rest her head on them, feeling rather impatient and bored, and maybe a little tired; she had been up late last night TPing.

Get your elbows of the table Rosalie!

Get your elbows of the table Rosalie!

This is not a horse's stable, but a decent dining table

Get your elbows of the table Rosalie!"

The familiar chanting had started. It actually had been going on all week, at least twice during each meal, but Ro had ignored it as she knew that she didn't eat with her elbows on the table and no one ever called her name out. It surprised her at first as no one called her Rosalie, but it was unmistakably her that girls at the Redwood table were singing to. They were using her formal name, Rosalie, as it had three syllables which fit in better with the song rather than just "Ro".

There used to be only two punishments for this crime, which were either to:

"Sing a song that we all know" or "Round the table you must go".

Going around the table wasn't a simple walk but had to include some ridiculous action along with making an animal sound. These two didn't seem that bad, but the most recent punishment that had only been added yesterday was to:

"Eat a food that's really gross."

She hoped that it wouldn't be this one. If she'd wanted to eat meatloaf she would have helped herself to it at dinner. This wouldn't be the worst thing that she might be asked to eat. They might have saved the scraped off table scraps from yesterday, and might ask her take a bite from it. What if they wanted her to lick a spoonful of lard clean? They couldn't punish her for not participating in this childish game, could they? What if she refused?

The song was coming to the part where they'd have to name her punishment. She could see their glowering, evil smiles, as they were ready to loudly sing her punishment. She wasn't sure how they decided which of the three she would have to do as she'd never felt like pointing out someone who was eating with their elbows on the table.

Mandy came to her rescue, though. Before they could decide which of the three tasks she would do (or what if they'd invented another one that was even worse?) Mandy stood up from the table and finished the song, singing louder than the Redwood girls combined,

"Sing a song that we all know, we all know, we all know. Sing a song that we all know, you were naughty!"

She was saved from having to do anything horrible. Her punishment had been announced. She smiled at her friend, sending her a mental note of thanks. But was this justice? "Wait a minute!" Ro shouted, standing up. "Why do I have to do this? I wasn't even eating! What if I was just resting here?"

This caused the mess hall to grow silent in contemplation, then discussion burst out. The rules didn't say anything about having your elbows on the table if you weren't eating… The counselors stood up and announced that as it was a part of the rule book they would be deciding if Ro had to sing a song, or if she was free from punishment.

The voices continued to discuss the issue among themselves at the individual tables, though their opinions would not count towards the final decision. When a verdict was decided, one of the counselors stood up to announce their judgment. "The counselors have decided, that although Ro was not eating, she will still have to complete the ritual as she had her plate in front of her. Should she have cleared her plate first, then she would be free of the charge. Anyone resting their elbows on the table, while no food is present, are also free from being charged."

"I was getting around to it," Ro mumbled, stepping out from the bench. What was she going to sing? Then, she got an idea, and a smile crept over her face. She bent over to Mandy and asked "Do you know…." She whispered the name of the song to her.

Mandy smiled as well. She whispered the name of the song down the row of girls at their table. They all got the same mischievous smile on their faces. Zee looked a little clueless. What was going on? No one was whispering anything to him.

"Give me a beat," Ro spoke to the girls at the table.

"Dum-dum da-dum, da-dum-dum, da-dum-da-dum, dum-dum da-dum…" the base line echoed in the throats of the girls as they began to hum the intro tune to Ro's song. As the girls began to feel the beat to the song, cups began to pound the table in place of drums, as well as feet on the ground. Two of the girls, and Mandy leaned their heads together as the main background singers, "Oooooo. Oooh. Ooooh. Oooh." For the guitar intro, one girl held her nose to make a low buzzing sound. Another girl picked up her forks and clinked it against her glass to imitate the chime sound from the original song.

Ro felt a hairbrush being pushed into her hands. The brush had been passed down the table from one of the girls who'd been carrying it around in her purse. A microphone, how quaint! Ro grinned, and cleared her throat. It was time for her to come in.

Please imagine Madonna's "Material Girl" song lyrics here as has banned

While Ro had filled her obligation by singing just a little bit, everyone was caught up in their music, and didn't end, but continued on, calling for another verse. But this wasn't just singing anymore. This was a drama production! As she started the second verse, she found herself climbing up onto the bench that she'd been sitting on, to stand over the crowd.

More of the chorus here…

. Some of the girls tried to imitate the men's part by overly exaggerating the lower vocal range:

And here….

While the girls at her table began singing the back up melody Ro found that several girls had begun to crowd around her feet. It became necessary to take one more step up. She was dancing on the top of the table! The girls who still had plates on the table quickly pulled them off, giving Ro room to perform. The stage was hers! She began to walk down the runway as she sang the next verse of the song.

And lastly, here again…

Everyone was enjoying her performance, except Redwood. They glowered menacingly at her. So much for trying to embarrass Ro. Rather than humiliating her they'd helped lift her up to the position of a diva! At the end of her performance Ro received a standing ovation. Several of the girls in her campsite had raised their swords in the air in her honor. She modestly curtsied, then took her place back at the table, beaming brightly. She had done well, and she knew it. Since everyone had quieted down, the director took the time to give everyone the announcement.

"Thank you, Rosalie. Wonderful performance!" (No one ever called her Rosalie. Anyone who didn't know that she liked to be called Ro would surely call her "Rosalie" now. Just great…"

"I'd like to take this time to remind you that the day after tomorrow there will have a revised schedule as we will be having our outdoor competition with the boy's camp across the way. I know that I've seen several of you down at the lake, but for those of you who haven't had a chance to see how cold the water is, tomorrow is your only chance to practice your swimming and canoeing skills. After tomorrow, it's pure competition. You may want to start thinking of who you'd like to form a team with as this is not just a competition between the other camp, but between campsites…." She went on to drone about how the number of canoes was limited so that if someone wanted to make sure they had one for tomorrow they should go early to sign up and reserve one. She also expressed her confidence in their abilities and how she hoped they would do well and beat the boy's camp. The announcement didn't really seem that important to Ro. She was sure that it could just as easily have been spread by word of mouth and that they didn't need to waste their time as they were now.

"I've got a team already, but we're short two people. I thought I'd extend the invitation to you two before I ask anyone else," Mandy said once they were excused.

"I thought that there were only teams of three," Ro commented.

"Most of the events usually involve three people, but there are six people to a group. You just rotate the people who participate in each event."

"Sounds fine."

"There's one problem," Zee spoke up quickly.

"What's that?" Ro asked.

"I can't swim," he lied. Ro slapped her forehead. Of course… His hologram didn't work in the water. What a perfect excuse, though. No one would make him participate in a water event if he couldn't swim.

"That's alright, there's archery, and target shooting. I'm sure you'll be really good at it. You seem to have a knack for accuracy."

Zee brought sword with him to the group campfire. She figured that she'd never get it done unless she allowed him to help out. Secretly she also wished to have a beautifully carved handle, which she knew he'd do for her if she left the job in his hands. They sat in the front of the group so that they could see what they were doing in the firelight, but off to the side so that the wood chips wouldn't fly at people. The first skit for campfire was actually really good. It made Ro feel insecure of their own skit, but Mandy was insistent that their sword fighting skit was going to best. If not, she knew that they would certainly have the most fun participating in it, and that's what counted most, right? Ro couldn't believe that she heard Mandy say that it was okay if they didn't get first place, and that the competition didn't really matter after all. Still, as Ro thought of the punch line for the skit again and again in her mind, she couldn't help but giggle to herself. It had been a really funny skit.

The second skit was on the same level as the first two skits. They hadn't made much out of the extra day that they had. Or maybe they didn't care to win? The only reason that their skit would be good was because they spent so much time practicing on it. A lot of that time was their free time…

Zee carved the handle of Ro's sword to look like bamboo shoots with small flowers and birds poking out from inside of the leaves and stalks. "Where did you learn to do this?" Mandy asked, amazed.

"Wood shop?" Zee suggested meekly.

"I wish I'd gone to your high school," Mandy sighed.

High school. Ro hadn't been in school since she'd ran away from the girl's home. While she was missing out on a formal education, she certainly didn't feel like she was lacking in her educational resources. Zee was always more than willing to share his abundance of knowledge. She had a walking dictionary and encyclopedia for a teacher. She didn't need school. But (maybe someday) when they cleared his name, she might enroll in a junior college and catch up on what she missed.

Even Mandy had forgotten what they were regularly supposed to do at the individual campsite campfires as all that Mandy ever had them do when they were together was practice their skit. As Mandy elaborated on their plans, Ro began to share Mandy's vision; their skit was going to be the best. The fact that her sword was extra beautiful only made the experience more enjoyable. She almost hated to practice with it and put small dents in the blade.

"We have lunch kapers tomorrow, don't we…" Ro commented on their way back from the showers.

"Yeah. If we bring our swimming stuff with us, we could easily be first to reserve a canoe as the kitchen is really close to the docks. You up for it, Ro?"

"I might spend some time canoeing, but I was really hoping to go to the Hidden Falls with Zee later."

"That's fine. The canoe is my best event so I was thinking I'd just stay around the lake and coach girls from our campsite who asked me for some help."
"What about the skit?" Zee asked.

"It should be fine. Jennifer seems to give us plenty of time to practice outside of free time. We can take a day off," Ro assured him.

Zee pulled down the rope ladder for Ro. "You want me to help you wake up in the morning?" Mandy asked Ro, winking. Zee caught her wink. He knew from experience that it automatically meant that something was being said "between the lines."

"What'd you have in mind?" Ro asked.

"If you want to know, you'll have to come with. But it's a smaller group. No boys."

Ro debated how tired she was right now, and how tired she'd been this morning when she'd gotten up after having stayed out at night. But, she was curious to see what this prank was that Mandy was hinting at. "Sure, why not."

Mandy didn't mention whether tonight was going to be just as cold or warmer than last night, and Ro didn't mention anything about unzipping the two sleeping bags so Zee again rejoiced in the special moment of sharing one with Ro. It was the simple things in life that mattered.

"You doing okay?" Ro asked sleepily.

"Excuse me?" he asked. Did she detect a malfunction? No! Did she sense a malfunction. Grrrr… he was really becoming upset with himself. The correct thought analysis to match Ro's speech pattern would imply that she was merely asking, but not noticing anything. "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" he asked.

"No reason. Just checking," Ro said sweetly. Zee never talked about himself. Sometimes it seemed like he was purposely hiding troubling thoughts from her because he didn't want to burden her with them. But, she wanted to share his burden. Left alone, he'd carry them all inside by himself, like a big metal storage safe. She had to occasionally ask him to open it to make sure that the valuables inside were still there. "Are you having a good time?"

"How would you define good?" he asked her. "Everything is within tolerances"

He really was beginning to sound a computer again. "Yeah, but are you having fun?"

Not that word again. Zee decided it would be easier to define "good" than it would be to define "fun." He answered, "Yes, I'm having a good time."

"What do you like most about this vacation so far?" she asked.

Why was she doing this to him? She knew that he wasn't capable of processing such information. He didn't have many preferences like she had, as to what he would prefer to spend his time or what he wouldn't. Would "right here, right now?" be a good answer? "I like seeing you have a good time," he safely answered.

He was playing difficult. She'd have to work her way around his invisible barrier. "Then tell me. What was one thing that I did that you thought that I really enjoyed doing?" she asked. She'd corner him into analyzing what kinds of things were "fun" and what was not.

He wished she hadn't asked that because now he'd have to lie, or fee bad about telling his perception of the truth. "I thought that you really liked singing after dinner… You were really caught up with that song." He knew she wasn't with him for his cred card, but why when she was singing could he not bring himself to look at her while she was performing?

What a horrible thing for him to say. Sure the song had been in good fun. But why that over anything else that they'd done so far? "It was nice to have all of that attention, but that wasn't what I liked most." She eyed him suspiciously and added, "I hope you didn't take the lyrics seriously…"

"Of course not!" he said defensively.

"Good, because I'd hate to have to dent your head, pounding it in… It was just for fun. Nothing important. One more guess." She'd be nice to him and end this inquiry. Maybe some day in the future she'd pry deeper into his thoughts, but for now she would just try and scratch the surface of the way his robotic mind worked.

Zee thought for a moment. "When you TP'd Redwood?" he asked.

"You weren't even there to see me, how would you know?"

"You seemed very pleased when we cleaned it up."

She might just have to give him that one. "That was a lot of fun--as well as the time when you dumped your plate all over Cynthia. That was glorious!"

Zee smiled, as Ro began to doze off next to him. Reflecting back on their short conversation, he really wished that he had said, "Right here, right now."

Mandy didn't wait until early in the morning, but came to get Ro up around 2:30 in the night. "They won't even be asleep!" Ro protested.

"They may be. They might not be. It doesn't matter this time. If they were smart, they'll still be awake, which will make this even better."

How could them being awake make things better? Wouldn't it make things much harder? They climbed down from the net and hurried behind Mandy to get some other girls up. There were six of them in total. Ro suspected that the three other girls were Mandy's other friends, and were the ones that they'd be grouped with for the competitions. They began walking down the road towards Redwood. They weren't quietly sneaking, but walking in their shoes. Mandy had her flashlight on, but had her shirt wrapped over the end so that it was only giving off a dim light.

She whispered to Ro and Zee, "We actually set this one up while we were cleaning up the toilet paper. We couldn't have planned it better ourselves. It was the perfect excuse we needed to get close to their tents without seeming suspicious."

The other three girls with them separated and headed off towards the far end of the Redwood campsite. To do so they had to creep through the Buckeye campsite. The preplanning that Mandy did for these pranks was amazing. The girls stopped at the two of the tents in the Buckeye site and awoke the girls inside. They were invited inside. "Okay, now it's our turn."

"Our turn for a slumber party?" Zee asked quietly.

Mandy suppressed a laugh. She began searching the ground with the dim light from her flashlight. "Here!" she exclaimed, picking up a thin fishing line.

"What's it for?" Ro asked. They'd already established that this wasn't a completely silent mission.

Mandy followed the fishing line until she found a short, think branch that it was wrapped around. She turned off her light, leaving it in the front pocket of her sweatshirt. She began to carry the fishing line to a position directly across from the Buckeye tents her friends were in. She crouched down behind a tree, motioning for Ro and Zee to follow her. Zee noticed behind them a couple feet away was the Sycamore campsite. He could see that a screen for one of the tents had been unzipped, and was left wide open. There were two young girl's faces peering out of the window in the tent eagerly. Were they in on this too?

They couldn't directly see the girls in the tents across from them because one of the Redwood tents was between them. "Here we go," Mandy smirked.

She began to lightly unroll the fishing line. Ro had a hard time seeing what was going on as it was dark, but soon enough figured out the prank for herself. Zee's revelation came when he noticed that the fishing line was tied to a thick piece of rope than ran under the Redwood tent. It wouldn't have been visible if someone wasn't directly looking for it. When Mandy had unrolled a fair amount of line, she began to roll it back up again. This time she did it quicker and more deliberately. She wrapped the twin around her arm to take up greater lengths of it at a time. Then she'd quickly would pull of the extra line. Apparently the girls in the other tent were doing the same thing. They were dragging the short length of rope back and forth between them under the girl's tent. After a moment, it seemed like nothing was happening, then some stirrings were heard in the Redwood tent. Wasn't this the time for them to play dead and be really quiet? But Mandy still continued to eagerly pull the rope under the tent. Silenced voices were heard in the Redwood tent. They were querying each other as to why they were waking up in the middle of the night, or what the disturbance was. A flashlight was turned on, then screams rang through the campsite. "SNAKE! SNAKE!"

Mandy made one more hard tug on the line before pulling out her pocket knife and quickly cutting the fishing line. She threw the loose end away from where they were hiding, taking the larger part of the cut off coil of line with her. She shoed Ro and Zee towards the open tent window. "GO! GO!" she hissed.

"Sorry to intrude," Zee said as he climbed through the open window of the two girl's tents. They'd moved aside from the window to allow them entrance. They had buried their faces into their pillows and were trying not to die of hysterical laughter. Once Mandy made it inside of the tent, she resealed the Velcro window. Fortunately the girls had left it down before went to bed as it would have made a lot of noise if they'd opened it in the middle of the night. They lay down, shoulder to shoulder, in the tent, listening to the noises outside. They didn't dare raise their heads above the window line to see what was going on. The screaming was still going on, and several other girls were waking up. The lights in their tents were coming on, and they zippers could be heard unzipping all around.

While they couldn't see what was happening in the other tent, Mandy knew. As soon as she'd cut her end of the rope, the other tent had quickly pulled the rest of the rope, and the length of fishing line into their tent, hiding the evidence. While the one Redwood tent continued to scream—too afraid to leave their tent and go outside where the "snake" was, several other girls began to unzip their tents to see what was going on. Under the cover of the noise from the other tents and waking campers, they'd quickly zipped up their window as their window was not conveniently shut with Velcro. They were safe. Marianne, their counselor, was one of the first to arrive at their rescue.

Her adrenaline was running, and she held a long rod in her hand. It was a simple long reach taser—given to all counselors in case they should have to ward off wild animals. She was asking, "Where's the bear?"

It was clear that it wasn't a bear, but a snake from the continued cries inside of the tent, "Snake! Snake! Snake!" She quickly unzipped the door to their tent, and stepped in. The girls screamed, "SHUT THE DOOR YOU'LL LET IT IN!"

At first, only the campsite on either side had been aroused, but by now, their screams had reached all seven campsites.

"Quiet! Where is it?" Marianne asked.

"Under the tent!" they shrieked.

No matter how hard she tried to tell them to be quiet because they were waking up everyone else, and that she would handle the snake, they wouldn't be quiet. The two girls in the tent that Ro and Zee were hiding in un-Velcroed their door and stepped out. "Do we follow them?' Ro asked

"Not yet."

Several people from nearby campsites had come to see what was going on. When it seemed like there was a fairly large group, Mandy deemed that it was safe from them to creep out and join the crowd, pretending to be a curious spectators as well. She hid the fishing line under her sweatshirt. The other tent still had the rope coiled up under one of the sleeping bags. The director eventually found her way to the site and told everyone to go to bed. Redwood's tent was un-staked so that it could be searched underneath, and everything was emptied out onto a tarp so that the inside could be searched. Then everything was replaced once it was deemed to be "snake free."

"That's why it took so long for them to notice," Mandy commented, surveying the contents of the tent on the tarp.

"Why?" Zee asked.

"They're all sleeping on air beds and cots. You can hardly feel the rope underneath an airbed or cot…"

"It still worked didn't it?" Ro asked.

"It sure did. Good work ladies. Let's go back to bed now."

"Was this fun?" Zee asked Ro.

"Oh, yeah."

Redwood spent the better half of the night putting everything back into their tent. Even then they didn't sleep well, afraid that the snake was living in a hole in the ground, and had quickly "covered up the hole" when they checked under the tent. The most hilarious part of the ordeal was that they insisted that they'd heard someone walking around at night and accused them, of slipping the snake in under their tent. The fact that there was no evidence of anyone at the crime scene when they woke up, and the difficult measures it would take to bring a snake to camp, (or the dangers of trying to catch a live one at camp) made this seem highly unlikely. The footsteps were probably someone going to the bathroom, and the snake probably crawled under their tent under its own accord.