The cracked cushions caught Velvet’s ponytail, sticking her to the seat of the small boat. She held her breath, pressing her elbows into her sides to make room for Tegan and Kristina who both sat next to Velvet on the floor. Brody and two of his campers were sitting opposite of Velvet, silent and not breathing.
“Keep your head down!” Velvet heard Yori snap from the boat to the right of Velvet and Brody’s. Velvet didn’t blame Yori for snapping since she did have four campers all to herself, but if Katie had been following them, Yori would need to pipe down. (Even though Jane was with Yori, Velvet couldn’t imagine the kids listening to either one of them.)
“Velvet, our conversation was interrupted earlier…I just wanted…” Brody trailed off, referencing the girlfriend/boyfriend discussion from a few dozen minutes before.
“I would love to be your girlfriend, Brody,” Velvet said rapidly so the conversation couldn’t be cut into again. Brody looked up at Velvet and they both smiled.
“Brody and Velvet sittin’ in a tree! K-I-S-S—“ Tegan sang, rocking in the boat, making the water under the boat tremble. Velvet clamped her hand over Tegan’s mouth.
“Shh!” Velvet shushed, then poked her head slightly out of the boat to see if she could tell if Katie was near. Velvet’s eyes darted back and forth, afraid of what she might miss. Katie was standing on the far end of the dock, searching all around her, from the main field out to the water. Velvet brought her head back in as fast as she could and put her finger to her mouth.
“Don’t move or speak,” Velvet whispered to all the campers. Velvet was glad they all thought it was an adventure and a game. At least they could have fun while Velvet, Brody, Yori, and Jane escaped.
“Would you guys keep it down?!” Yori exclaimed, loudly and for many to hear. Brody and Velvet gaped at each other, hoping Yori would silence herself. Velvet bit her bottom lip and squeezed her eyes shut. Shut up, Yori! Shut up!
Suddenly, footsteps quaked the dock, sandals stomping against the wooden planks. Katie was coming and it was inevitable that Katie would find them all there, hiding. The best thing for them to do was—
Yori, Jane, and half the campers had already jumped from their boat and were racing down the dock, whizzing past the stunned Katie.
“Up! Up! Let’s run!” Brody called out and the rest followed after them.
“Who are we running from?” Tegan asked, dashing along with Velvet.
“Katie,” Velvet said, working up the breath. “She’s been mean…stay away from her, okay?”
“Got it! Hey, Kristina! Run away from Katie, pass it on!” Tegan replied, scurrying up to her friend.
“What’s the plan, Brody?” Velvet asked, loosing her panting breath.
“Dunno…I hope Yori has one,” Brody responded, not tired at all. He looked so natural and at ease while running at the fastest speed Velvet could go. Maybe that was because Brody always did lacrosse and track as sports during the school year. The thought of that made Velvet smile.
“Why are you smiling?” Brody asked, his chocolate hair blowing back in the wind.
“Because…” Velvet said, avoiding the topic.
“Because of…” Brody trailed off, prompting Velvet to answer.
“You,” Velvet replied, hoping it didn’t sound cheesy. Brody grinned back at Velvet. Velvet’s heart started to skip beats, but she forced herself to look ahead because the more her heart skipped beats, the more breaths she lost and Velvet feared she would pass out if she didn’t get enough oxygen.
Pretty soon, Velvet, Brody, Yori, Jane, and all eight campers were running up the pavement to cabin 2A and rushing into the cottage. Yori slammed the door shut and ushered everyone into the back room. It was a tight fit, but Yori got to explaining right away, so it was all right.
“Listen up guys! For those of you who don’t know, Katie has been mean and unfair and we need to get her out of Camp Sing-Song,” Yori started, heaving from the long run.
“You okay, Yori?” Velvet queried, digging a half full bottle of water from her suitcase and handing it over to Yori. Yori nodded her head, chugged it down, and swallowed long and hard before continuing.
“Katie is trying to get me out of this camp for no reason, she wants me out because she doesn’t like me. That’s unfair, right?” Yori continued, addressing the little campers. The eight campers nodded in agreement. Good, they’re in, Velvet thought to herself happily.
“Our plan, thought up by me and Jan, is as follows. Since we need the ‘big boss’ to know that Katie is being a bad director, we have to catch her and record her somehow in all her injustice. We need ideas, fast thinkers, and someone to tell me who the heck the ‘big boss’ is,” Yori proposed, her breath fully caught by the end of her announcement.
“Martin King is the big boss. He runs all the chain of Camp Sing-Songs throughout the US. He hires all the directors and nurses and secretaries. His headquarters is in Seattle,” Jane remarked, her clipboard now full of scribbled down notes.
“I have an idea,” one of Brody’s campers, named Carl, cheeped. Carl had blazing red hair and freckles dotting his tiny little face. He was lanky, but didn’t seem wimpy.
“Go for it,” Yori encouraged. Velvet caught Yori’s eye and half-smiled. Yori half-smiled back.
“Matt’s campers are in robotics. They know stuff about robots. They can record on…on the ro-robot her being…not fair…then the boss…could…come and see the robot that Matt recorded that I could sit on…and maybe I could sit on the robot,” Carl said, leaving the whole room in confusion.
“Wait, what?” Brody questioned, ruffling Carl’s hair.
“No, he’s got something,” Yori mused. “We should invite Martin King tomorrow when all the press and magazine reviewers will be there. Why don’t we call him up and ask him to stop by for a quick visit, but really surprise him with all the press…”
“Martin knows about the press coming tomorrow, though. Katie got his permission,” Jane commented. Yori tightened her lips in thought.
“Why don’t we just cause havoc then?” Velvet piped up, wondering how havoc could be caused on such short notice.
“Havoc…yeah, havoc!” Yori cried out, smiling. “We’ll ask all the counselors and campers to create chaos tomorrow, invite Martin to come tomorrow, and watch as Martin realizes Katie has no control over this camp.” The whole room pondered the idea.
“Is it possible? I mean, will we be able to make it happen in so little time?” Brody finally spoke up.
“If we get everyone in on it. First off, though, we have to get everyone in this camp to know that Katie is being biased. They won’t trust us if we just tell them Katie isn’t being right, we have to prove it to them. For that, we could use Matt’s robot,” Yori stated.
“You mean record her insane rants?” Jane asked.
“Exactly.”
“Well, if we’re gonna record her rants for the counselors and campers, why don’t we just send the same recording to Martin? I mean instead of causing chaos?” Velvet questioned, logic in mind.
“Because causing chaos is so much more fun!” Yori exclaimed, her genuine smile lighting up her face once again.
All right! Almost done!! Thanks for reading!
And remember guys: Take time to think of your characters. Good, funny, and/or interesting characters can really make the novel. You can make them interesting by giving them a weird quirk or have them spouting off cool information or make them a really strange cat-man or something. Good luck!! :)
ABC 123,
Maddie
Havoc....yeah, Havoc!! Haha, great line. Yay, Brody and Velvet! I love how this story is going!
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