“Okay guys! Round on up,” Velvet called out to her and Brody’s campers. All of them scrambled their way over to the two counselors, pumped up.
“Are we ready to play? I want the yellow flags,” Sapphire said, tugging at the load of equipment in Velvet’s arms.
“No, we want yellow,” a boy with one streak of red Sharpie across his cheeks said.
“New game,” Velvet announced, tossing the supplies to the floor with a loud thud! Sapphire grabbed four yellow flags just in case.
“What is it?” the boy asked, ignoring the flag theft.
“Um…” Velvet racked her brain for a fun title.
“Treasure hunt,” Brody finished for her. Velvet’s campers brightened and Sapphire dropped the flags. Brody’s campers didn’t look convinced.
“Brody, we want to ply Capture the Flag. We would win since it’s against girls,” another little boy said, pointing at the four girls.
“You don’t think we can win the treasure hunt against them?” Brody asked, tying to persuade them. The four boys glanced at each other and then at the girls who were challenging them. The four girls were crossing their arms and smugly looking at them. Velvet loved to see them so ready. That was what Camp Sing-Song was supposed to be about.
“What do we have to find?” one boy piped up. Brody looked nervously at Velvet. Could they say Yori? Was that weird? Go find a girl dressed in a pink towel? Besides who knew if Yori was still draped in a pink towel?
“You have to find…” Brody started to keep up the kids’ interest.
“Three things,” Velvet decided. “Someone with black hair, someone wearing high heels, and someone with…is it three piercings?” she continued. Brody shrugged.
“That’s easy,” Tegan commented. “We just need to find Yori.” Velvet smiled. That was exactly what she wanted to hear.
“Where is Yori?” Mallory asked.
“That’s part of the game. Go!” Brody added and the eight campers bolted, running up the pavements and running to the classrooms.
“Do you think we’ll find her?” Velvet asked Brody as the two of them headed toward the dock.
“I hope so. Why might she be going home tomorrow anyway?” Brody asked, scanning the dock, his head moving side to side.
“Katie’s suspending her because she was found in the woods. And you know that’s off limits. She also said that Yori was hard to accommodate from the beginning,” Velvet answered, turning back when there wasn’t a sign of Yori on the dock. There was just a bunch of kids swimming and skiing and wakeboarding.
“Are you serious?” Brody asked, laughing a little. “I always knew there was that woods rule, but I didn’t think they would enforce it so harshly. Has anyone been suspended before?”
“Not that I know of…I feel bad for her,” Velvet said. “I mean she was just trying something new.”
“You think? I guess so…do you just want to check your cabin?” Brody said.
“Sure,” Velvet replied and the two trekked up to cabin 2A. After poking their heads in and seeing no one was in the front or back room, Velvet said she would go check the bathroom.
“Anyone?” Brody asked when Velvet exited the restroom. She shook her head.
“No one. I wonder where she could be,” Velvet pondered out loud as they aimlessly wandered down the pavement.
“Do you think she’s still in the woods?” Brody questioned.
“Well, Katie said Yori was found in the woods but hasn’t actually told Yori of her suspension yet, so that means someone must have seen her there and just reported her. So, if Yori doesn’t know the woods is off limits even though Katie knows she’s been there, she might still be there, huh?” Velvet said, going through her thought process.
“Right! But…wouldn’t we get suspended if we went in after her?” Brody responded, looking a little uneasy. They headed toward the outline of the lake where the woods started.
“You’re right…I’ll go in and risk it,” Velvet said simply, absolutely determined to find her roomie.
“Velvet, no. I’ll go instead. You’ve worked so hard to be a counselor at this camp, it would be silly to throw away your last year on…frankly, a brat,” Brody remarked. In all the hustle and bustle, Velvet had forgotten that Brody and Yori had broke it off just the night before. Velvet felt bad.
“Why did you two break up?” Velvet wanted to know.
“I didn’t think it was right for her to get mad at me for valuing personality over looks and also getting mad at me for saying you were pretty when she asked me,” Brody replied, then suddenly his cheeks turned red.
“You said I—“
“Hey guys!” a voice called out from the close edge of the main field. Brody and Velvet dropped the conversation, turned around, and met up with Matt. His campers were huddled around a little red robot, tweaking it and screwing things in and out.
“Hi, Matt.”
“Where are you two headed? Where are your campers?” Matt asked. “Hey, is Yori around?”
“Actually, Brody and I are trying to find Yori. We sent our campers to help find her too. Yori is being suspended and is leaving tomorrow so we wanted to warn her before she got the bad news in an hour or so,” Velvet filled Matt in.
“Suspended?” Matt asked incredulously.
“Yeah, she was found in the woods,” Brody remarked. Matt looked devastated.
“Actually, we’re a little nervous because if we go into the woods looking for her, it’s possible that we’ll get suspended too,” Velvet commented, looking over at Brody who nodded in agreement.
“I’ll look in the woods for her,” Matt announced boldly, storming over to the towering trees and shrubbery. The leaves shook in the wind, their noise sounding like thunder. Brody and Velvet smiled at each other, thinking the same thing. Velvet: Aww, Matt loves Yori. Brody: That player!
“Matt, are you—“
“Just watch my campers!” Matt called back and pushed his way through the first canopy of greenery. Velvet couldn’t help but laugh. She laughed and laughed. Brody joined in, his deep laugh echoing. Velvet’s sides started to hurt. Why was she laughing so much? Nothing was that funny, maybe laughing made everything seem better, release the pressure of adolescent life. So Velvet kept laughing because it was the best peace-maker she could think of right then.
Thanks for reading!
And remember guys: Plan out your plot. Find the beginning, know its path, and know how and where it will end. It makes the process so much more fun when you know you'll be able to end your novel!
Go, Matt! And terrific last line. Also I liked the line about Sapphire grabbing up the yellow flags "just in case." A very good characterization of a child.
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