Camp Firefly Sisters, Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine
As I learned over the course of the following hour or two, a day at camp wasn’t nearly as strict as the routine I was used to at school. They still scheduled out time slots for meals and activities, but that was about it. After lunch, we could do pretty much anything we wanted. Mostly. As one of the girls explained to me, we had to stick with what was offered for the 7th/8th grade campers, and some things had an attendance limit. If we really wanted to do archery, for example, the best move was to be first in line at lunch and rush over to the area right afterwards.
Luckily, nothing posted for the coming afternoon required that kind of effort. Arts & Crafts sounded most enticing to me, just because I would rather do something indoors. However, my group was most interested in the hike. I didn’t have to go with them. Cabins weren’t required to stick together, and I could have opted to stay behind and sit around at the other activity. I was just hesitant to do that, since it would mean socializing and introducing myself as a camper all over again to a bunch of new girls. While it was still plenty embarrassing that my bunkmates perceived me as a peer, we had already settled into a dynamic that I was used to.
I ended up not showering, since it didn’t make any sense. Going on a summer hike would just get me sweaty all over again. Mckenna had assured me that being a counselor meant that we’d be supervising games and activities more often than not, which had been the case during the Dodgeball tournament. Meanwhile, I had to actually participate as a camper, which is why I already looked so much less put together than I had a few hours ago. There just wasn’t anything I could do about it, unless I rinsed off 2-3 times a day.
Following Bailey and the others to the meeting spot, knowing from the conversations over lunch that half of them knew the trail like the back of their hand after doing it once or twice every year, I braced myself for however many miles of hiking I was about to be subjected to. According to the others, we’d be out for two hours or so, though that included a number of stops to take in the view and/or to give everyone a small break. I had easily walked two to three times that length at the mall, with shopping that kind of paralleled the snack/water stops we’d be making here. Of course, it wasn’t the same at all; being out with my friends in a nice outfit was far preferable to trudging around outside while looking like a tween.
Mckenna wasn’t one of the counselors leading the hike, unfortunately. If she was, I could have maybe found some time to talk with her about getting some credit for how Circle B placed earlier. Despite how I had reluctantly agreed to remain as a camper for the full two weeks in exchange for her not telling anyone about how easily everyone believed the false age, I was still kind of in denial about my stay. Partly because Mckenna had already suggested that there might be some wiggle room, provided I play along instead of just existing at Camp Firefly and doing the bare minimum.
On the flip side, my sister’s absence meant that she wasn’t going to be around to watch for that, and I doubted she had tasked the other counselors with keeping tabs on me. There were so many campers, and I had to assume that the more enthusiastic girls would be the ones drawing more attention. Also, hiking wasn’t nearly as involved as Dodgeball; all I had to do was walk.
The other bit of good news was that there was a lot less pressure to talk to everyone. As the group of twenty or thirty campers settled into a spaced out line of sorts on the trail, it was impossible to walk clumped together like the girls in my cabin often did when heading from place to place. Between the narrow path and the difficult terrain, it didn’t take long before conversations were confined to conversations with just one or two nearby girls. Naturally, I let Bailey and Rachel do the heavy lifting, and was content to be quiet like Ally unless addressed directly.
Within thirty minutes, I was missing the mall. Though we weren’t hiking up a mountain or anything like that, there were still enough ups and downs to make my legs more sore than they would be on a normal walk, not to mention the heat that was a consistent thorn in my side. We really couldn’t have Camp Firefly tank tops and/or athletic tops? That would make so much more sense.
Admittedly, the views were nice. An aesthetic angle of the lake, some interesting foliage, a good vantage point of the cabins in the distance once we were further along. If I had my phone and was wearing something else, I would have taken some selfies.
By the time we had done the entire loop, I was ready to collapse. How did the other girls have so much energy? I was definitely in the minority and, unfortunately, taking a nap wasn’t an acceptable option when it came to choosing our next activity.
Bailey and company opted for swimming. After seeing the lake from a couple sides and hiking parallel to it for a while, it had apparently drawn enough attention from the girls. Again, I found myself reluctantly tagging along. The other options didn’t sound that great, plus it was kind of like a shower. And I couldn’t deny that it would be refreshing after a long walk.
Heading back to our cabin, I found myself grateful that the age and maturity of the girls meant that they still preferred changing more discreetly. While one or two of them were fine using a towel in the corner, everyone else was talking about making a quick trip to the bathroom. Good. I felt awkward enough glimpsing any of them in a bra, and it would be much better if I could use a stall while simultaneously avoiding the campers who were already at the point of not caring about that stuff like most of my peers were.
It would also be nice to wear something of mine. Swimwear had been on the checklist for counselors as well, though obviously something more modest and comfortable than what my friends and I would wear to the pool. I chose a nice two piece that was pretty and good for any setting, and honestly anything would look better on me than a tee that matched everyone around me.
Apparently Mckenna had thought of that, too.
I hadn’t noticed before, as most of my clothes were still in the duffel. When I actually started looking through it for my matching swim set, I ended up finding something else waiting for me underneath a stack of shorts.
She had replaced what I had packed with a bright pink one piece.
‘Ugh!’ The groan was internal, since there were still a handful of girls in the cabin and I didn’t want to cause a scene. Wasn’t I supposed to be thirteen? I hadn’t worn bright pinks or purples since at least 6th grade, or a one piece for that matter. While pink did look good on blondes, it was also a somewhat girly/immature color in other contexts.
Digging through my duffel bag as if there was magically going to be an alternative in there when Mckenna had clearly taken the time to replace the swimwear I had initially packed, I huffed in annoyance after confirming that I was limited to the painfully bright option. As far as I could tell, that was all she had messed with when it came to my clothes. She probably anticipated that I might double check this or that before throwing the bag into the car; too many changes would have been obvious before we left, while the one piece folded underneath most of my other clothes managed to escape my notice until now.
Could I swim in athletic shorts and a plain bra? No, that would look ridiculous in a completely different way. While I’d probably do that in a pinch if it was just me and my friends, I didn’t want to wear that to the lake in a setting like this. Reminding myself that no one actually knew me here, save for my sister, I resigned myself to putting on the pink one piece.
Following a couple of my bunkmates to the bathroom and changing into the bright swimwear, I blushed to myself in the stall when I found that it was a perfect fit. How long had Mckenna been planning this? Not that long, considering when the conversation about camp came up, but still. I couldn’t believe she had left me with nothing but this to wear.
“WOW.” Rachel gave me an amused look as I stepped out of the stall. She was wearing a simple, blue two piece, and also had a few inches on me. I didn’t need the nearby mirror to know that she would look like the more mature girl between the two of us. “Trying to get someone’s attention, Maddie?”
What did that mean? I couldn’t tell if she was just teasing about the color, or if she was implying that I had a crush. This was an all girl camp! Putting aside the fact that I was too old to be interested in anyone but the counselors, I also wasn’t into girls. One of the reasons I decided to sign up for a Camp Firefly job in the first place was so I could see a guy that I liked this summer.
“Umm, no,” I muttered. For a second, I considered lying and saying that pink was my favorite color. Instead, I went with, “This is my old swimsuit. The strap on my other one broke last week.” Believable enough, even if the truth was that I had multiple bikini tops and bottoms to choose from back home.
She shrugged. “Well, it’s cute. And it’ll be easy to find you if you get lost!”
Something told me that wasn’t going to happen. Between the buddy system and how our little group had stuck together all day so far, I doubted I’d end up separated from them on the way to the lake.
Speaking of which . . . The lake was clean, right? I had only really ever been to the beach, and had heard mixed reviews about smaller bodies of water. It had to be fine, if they allowed a bunch of campers to swim in it.
By the time our whole cabin was ready, Circle B was nearly empty. Bailey assured us that being late was fine; that was better than rushing and leaving a girl behind, plus the hikes tended to take a little extra time compared to the activities closer to the main area. Worst case scenario, we wouldn’t be able to jump in mid-game if the girls on the sand or in the water had already started something.
Personally, I wanted to get in the water ASAP. Not because of the temperature, but because the one piece would give me such an unflattering tan if I got too much sun. I was probably already going to end up with a bit of a farmer’s tan from wearing the camper tee most of the time; an outline of the immature swimwear would only make things worse.
When the lake came into view, I grimaced upon seeing just how many campers had made the same decision we had for the afternoon. Unlike the options offered earlier in the day, it didn’t seem like they were restricting this activity to just one or two grades. From afar, I could see a big game of beach volleyball being played on the sand, what looked like water polo in the lake, and then just a lot of socializing happening in clumps of various sizes both in and out of the lake.
Just like Dodgeball, there were a lot of counselors around making sure that the chaos was organized, as well as a couple who were in the classic lifeguard red swimwear standing around and watching the girls in the water. Was Mckenna down there? We were still a little too far away for me to see if one of the two blonde counselors I spotted was my sister.
The girls around me had an entirely different reaction. While I hesitated for a moment, wanting to pick a different activity while knowing full well it was too late to change back into normal clothes and go somewhere else, the others picked up the pace and excitedly sped-walk towards the shore.
I was committed at this point, and could maybe find a moment to talk with Mckenna if she was down there. Though our initial conversation about me being a camper had felt somewhat final, I still wanted to check in with her about the Dodgeball results and maybe an alternative Circle B win that would work in my favor. Knowing her, she’d make me wait until tomorrow. Same deal as the first ranked game, only after spending a full day at camp and another night in that cabin.
I followed the rest of my group down the trail, not nearly as bold as they were when it came to running around barefoot, feeling much more comfortable once I was on the sand. As with everything else at Camp Firefly, however, whatever relief I found had a habit of being short-lived.
“Maddie!” Bailey called out to me from the edge of the water, “They’re starting a new game of water polo. Come on, hurry! We’ll have to sit out until the next one if we miss it.”
This time, I hesitated a lot more. While Bailey’s enthusiastic invitation aligned with my plan to avoid the afternoon sun, that didn’t mean I wanted to jump right into a game. Couldn’t we just hang out in the water, or whatever? That’s what plenty of other girls were doing. On the other hand, Mckenna had made a whole thing about participating earlier. If she was here, and saw me just sitting on the sidelines, it would be harder to make my case.
That, and there was the usual peer pressure of being the only girl in our small group not yet in the water. The bright pink one piece would also be less of an immature beacon if I wasn’t standing around.
Sighing to myself, I decided to continue sticking with my bunkmates; I could look for Mckenna from a distance and eventually head her way when I had a chance. Completely clueless as to the rules of water polo, save for the broad concept of it being somewhat like basketball in the water, I followed the other girls into the lake.