First Camp

First Camp

Dani stepped off the bus, backpack straps cutting into her shoulders.

Didja haveta pack it so full, Ma? The ten-year-old wriggled her back and arms trying to ease the pressure.

"Dani Beck?" Asked a young woman, who came up and took the bag in her hand when Dani nodded. The girl motioned her to follow. She recentered her balance and hurried after. The youngster excused her way through the crowd until she caught up with her bag.

"Good," said her guide, sticking out her hand. "I'm Sara, I'll be your counselor for the week. Wait here while I gather the rest of my flock."

After a brief pump of Dani's right arm, Sara disappeared into the gaggle of Girl Scouts. Setting her backpack on the ground at her feet, the girl waited. One-by-one, Sara gathered four strangers, delivering them to where Dani marveled at her surroundings.

"Hi!," came sugary voice from behind her, "Ah'm Jenny." Dani thought she said 'Ginny.'

In quick succession, Sara delivered a Laurie, Carla, and Monica.

"Okay," said the counselor, "Now that we're all acquainted, let's head to the cabin. We'll go over the schedule and expectations there." Sara waited while the girls gathered their belongings, then marched off toward one of the dozens of cabins that made up the Girl Scout Camp. Before she could enter, an advisor pulled Sara to the side.

"Dibs!" shouted Jenny, throwing her bag on the bottom bunk near the door as she shoved her way in.

Dani rolled her eyes at the other girl, then looked around the small bunkhouse. By the time she'd scanned the room, the only bed left was was the upper bunk above where Sara's stuff already lay.

Crap.

At the foot of the bed an open locker waited for her clothes, books, notepad, and pens. She sat on the floor, unzipped her pack, and neatly arranged everything so she could find it in the dark. As she worked, she listened to the other girls as they talked over each other to tell about themselves.

"What's your favorite subject?"

"Do you like sports?"

"Ah been watchin' <fictional tv show>, and girl, let me tell you ..."

A hand on her shoulder brought her back to herself.

"Hi, I'm Carla," said a tall, skinny girl in thick glasses. "You're Dani, right?"

"Yeah," said Dani, with a smile. "Hi."

Carla leaned in and started to say something when Jenny came over.

"Check this out, y'all," she said, pointing into Dani's locker. "SOMEone's tryin' ta score Brownie points with Sara."

The other girls came over to look into Dani's personal space. She reached up to shut the lid, but Jenny put her hand up to stop her.

"What's th' matter, darlin'?" she asked, trying to sound sophisticated. "Don't ya want th' rest of th' girls ta see what a goody-two-shoes ya are?"

Monica nodded along with whatever Jenny said. Laurie looked troubled. Carla moved to Dani's side.

"What are you talking about?" asked Dani, a little confused. "Doesn't your mom make you keep your room clean?"

"MY momma lets me do whatever Ah want," sneered Jenny. "Let's go, Monica," she said, and the pair moved to the other side of the cabin.

"I don't like her," said Carla.

"Me neither," said Laurie.

"She reminds me of someone at school," said Dani, and left it at that.

Teri had bullied her since elementary school, and it hadn't changed when they got older. Ma told her to ignore the bullies, but that was hard to do. Teri and her crew always managed to find her alone and demand her lunch money. While they hadn't beat her up yet, Dani figured it was a matter of time. She knew how to handle a bully.

"Can you help me with my locker?" asked Laurie, cheeks reddening. "I ... I usually just stuff it all in, then can never find anything. I bet you can find all your stuff in a second."

"Sure," said Dani, smiling and following Laurie to her bunk. "Ma said to fold it like this ..." she showed her new friends how Ma taught her to fold her clothes so they not only all fit in the drawers, but they came out looking like they'd been pressed.

"Hey, Goody-Two-Shoes," called Jenny from the other side of the cabin. "When yer done there, come an' do mine!" she and Monica snickered.

Taking a deep breath like instructed in her martial arts class, she let it out slowly, then said, "you're welcome to come over and take lessons, Ginny."

Carla snickered.

"Mah name is Jenny!" Again, it sounded to Dani like she said 'Ginny'.

"Whatever," mumbled Dani with a shrug, turning back to Laurie and Carla showing them how she folded her clothes.

Footsteps stormed across the floor and a hand whipped Dani around, knocking her off balance.

"What is going on!" said Sara from the door. "Jenny, Dani?"

"Nothin'," Jenny huffed her way to her bunk.

"Laurie asked me to show her how I folded my clothes," said Dani looking up at Sara, righting herself. "I was showing her."

"Right," replied Sara, drawing out the 'I' sound. She frowned at Jenny and Monica.

Half an hour later, Sara had gone over the cabin rules, the camp rules, and the chores list. At the mention of chores, Jenny rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Jenny," said Sara, "everyone gets their turn at garbage collection. In fact, since you volunteered, I'll let you get it out of the way first."

"Volun ... well, I never," Jenny sputtered.

Dani tried and failed to suppress a giggle. She could almost feel the hate coming from Jenny.

"Don't get cocky, Goody," whispered Monica before joining Jenny. "We know where you sleep."

This was going to be a long, painful week.