Once breakfast was over, Miss Lattimore stood up at the front of the dining hall.
"Alright 9C, this morning we are going out to the front of the campgrounds where there is a clearing for us to sit in. We are going to work on ideas for our play. All of you will need a pen and some paper, so please go and get them. We will meet outside the showers in five minutes."
Alison stood up quickly and walked out behind Barry. She was heading back to the showers when Erica walked past her, glaring. Alison ignored her and kept going, reaching the meeting point first.
Half an hour later, the group reached the clearing. There had been some late people that were still too tired to move quickly, so they had been delayed by almost fifteen minutes. Miss Lattimore got them all to sit down, though some clearly weren't paying any attention to what she was saying.
"So, has anyone got anything?" Miss Lattimore asked calmly.
Alison raised her hand. "What about Yuk? I mean we all know she has a great imagination..." she began.
"Are you calling me a liar Alison Ashley?" interrupted Erica.
Miss Lattimore looked over. "Erica, relax, and tell us, have you got something?"
"Of course I do." She went on to explain something that sounded almost like Cinderella, with a slight twist.
Miss Lattimore was surprised when Erica finished. At first, she had thought it was going to be another Cinderella story, but the way Erica explained it made her very excited for their drama night. "That's wonderful Erica. I can't wait to see it finished."
Alison smiled at Erica, though she felt like doing anything but that. She was trying hard to be nice, despite the anger she felt towards her.
"After the rope course, we will be having lunch, then heading out to the fire pit and rock wall," said Mr Kennard later that morning.
Everyone was gathered at the edge of a creek and their teacher was standing on a rope above the water. He was talking to them.
"One of the main themes here at the camp is harmony. Now, this, this is a team event. Now, if it wasn't for my two dependable..." he looked up at his two 'teammates' and groaned, "team mates, I'd never make it across..."
As soon as that was out of his mouth, Mr Kennard felt the rope go slack under him and he dropped into the cold water below. He heard the students laughing behind him and yelled out.
Alison sat by herself at lunch. Everyone was talking about Barry's trick on Mr Kennard and how funny it still was, but she wasn't interested in joining them. It had been funny at the time, but she felt bad for the poor teacher, who always seemed to be the butt of someone's cruel joke. She wasn't surprised when she was joined by Margeart, who had been nice to her since coming to Barringa East.
"Why are you by yourself? Everyone likes you, you know," said Margeart.
"I just wanted some quiet actually. I have a bit of a headache," said Alison.
"You should tell Miss Belmont, she can help with that. She did for me yesterday."
Alison smiled. "I'm okay. I'll be fine when we go back outside."
Margeart nodded. "Alright. Hey, will you sit with me later? At dinner?"
"Sure. I wouldn't mind having someone to talk to."
"Great!" Margeart actually hugged Alison.
Mr Kennard waited as the students of 9C gathered around the campfire. He was going to teach them how to start a fire, although it was clear that no-one was actually interested. He could see that Erica was busy writing down ideas for the class play. Barry and a few of the other boys were busy chatting about something funny. Most of the girls were staring into space, except Alison, though that was no surprise. After all, she was the only one that ever payed attention.
"Today, I'm going to show you how to start a campfire. It's a rather simple task, but if you have never actually done it before, it can be a bit tedious. So, pay close attention everyone."
A couple of the students looked up but didn't actually pay much attention. They quickly got bored waiting for Mr Kennard to actually make a small fire. So, a few minutes later, Barry made things more interesting for them. Using his lighter, he set fire to the teacher's sleeve, watching as the flames traveled up his arm without him noticing it. When he finally did notice, everyone was laughing, and he jumped up, trying to put out the fire.
Several minutes later, Mr Kennard returned, holding his arm against his stomach. "Follow me everyone," he said, slightly out of breath. "Time to climb the rock wall and learn to work as a team."
All the kids followed him through a small amount of trees into another clearing where there was a tall rock wall. After a quick explanation of what was required of them, Barry and one of the other boys in the group climbed up, sitting at the top of the wall to wait for the next people. After a few more minutes, Alison was at the front of the line, looking up to see Erica smiling down at her. With a sigh, she climbed up, surprised when Erica reached down to pull her up. Once she was at the top, she turned to thank Erica, but wasn't surprised to see her gone. So she turned back and pulled up Margeart, who had climbed up behind her.