Cool Campers (10 page)

My stomach was churning with nerves.

“Okay, guys,” Toad said to us. “Remember, we're just in this for the fun of it. But also keep in mind that if we lose, we'll be wearing you-know-what on our heads to the closing ceremonies. But be sure to have fun.” Toad looked really nervous about the bet.

Fuzzy stood at the starting line and held up a cap gun. He shouted, “On your marks, get set . . .” Then he shot the gun, and the runners were off.

“All right, Carl has the lead!” Graham yelled. All the patrols cheered for their runners. From our spot, we could see the runners until they were halfway to the lake, where the trail curved out of view. We stood and waited. It seemed like they were gone forever. Then suddenly they came running back around the trees.

“Hey, where'd Carl go?” I said. He was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Lizzy-Boy, for that matter. Zach was on David's team and, as I should have expected, he was now in the lead. Zach is the fastest kid in my school.

As they crossed the finish line, Fuzzy announced the teams of the first-, second-, and third-place competitors. “Muscular Monsters, Fighting Eagles, and Roaring Lions.”

I felt something on my head and quickly turned around. It was David with his hands on my head. “What are you doing?” I said, moving away.

“Just measuring. I hope your underpants can fit over that huge head of yours.” He laughed that obnoxious laugh and walked away. Carl came in sixth place, and I guess Lizzy-Boy must have just stopped running, because he never came back. We didn't see him again until we got to the lake for the next event.

The swimming race course went from the dock to a big buoy and back. This time Twig had the starting gun. As soon as it went off, BB was in the water. I knew we would do well in this race, and I was right. BB won by a mile. The Super Snakes came in second and the Roaring Lions took third.

The last event before lunch was the javelin throw, where you throw a long stick as far as you can. The farthest throw wins.

One of our guys from cabin four came in third for one point. “I wish they had a toilet paper toss,” I told Graham. “Tiny would win that for sure.” Mark Herron's friend, that other guy, could really throw that stick. He threw it at least ten feet farther than anyone else. David's team came in second. So now they were ahead of us by one point.

Fuzzy announced that we would be taking a break until after lunch.

In the lodge, we watched him adding up the points and writing them on a big whiteboard with markers. The Muscular Monsters were tied for first place with the Fighting Eagles, we were in second place, and the Super Snakes and Roaring Lions were tied for third.

“We've just got to win this,” I said.

“We will,” Tiny said, “'cause we're good guys, and like they say, good guys always finish first.”

“I think the saying is that good guys always finish last,” BB said.

“Really? Last?” Tiny mumbled to himself. “That doesn't really make sense.”

“Well, we just need to end up ahead of the Muscular Monsters. There's no way I'm wearing underpants on my head,” Graham said. “Let's go eat.”

We had submarine sandwiches for lunch. I tried not to eat too much so I wouldn't get a stomachache in the obstacle course, but they were so good I couldn't help myself, and I ended up eating two.

The next event was the archery contest. We had Shawn and Kenny from cabin six competing for us. Each participant had three arrows to shoot at a target. Whoever got his arrow closest to the bull's-eye would win. Neither of our guys looked like he knew how to shoot an arrow, but we cheered both of them on anyway.

Kenny's first arrow went over the target and into the woods, his second went straight into the dirt, and his third hit the target of the kid next to him, so it didn't count.

“Wow, that stinks,” I said. Shawn wasn't much better. He hit the target with his first arrow, but only on the corner. His second arrow hit the ground, and his third actually made it close to the bull's-eye but then fell out, so we didn't get any points. The good thing was that David's team only got one point for coming in third.

The next event was the rope climb. I figured Tiny would need a miracle to pull himself up the rope, which was tied to a giant tree branch. At the top there was a bell you had to ring. And below, a camp counselor stood to time everyone with a stopwatch. Whoever climbed the rope and rang the bell fastest would take first place for his team.

David's team went first. One of their guys made it up in fifteen seconds and the other in twelve. The Super Snakes' best time was eleven seconds. The rest of the teams all did over fifteen seconds. Finally it was our turn.

Jackson went first. He was tall and skinny and climbed really fast. Unfortunately his time was sixteen seconds.

Some of the kids laughed a little when Tiny stepped up to the rope. He grabbed a hold and looked up at the bell. “Are you ready?” the counselor asked.

“I guess so,” Tiny answered.

“Go!” the counselor yelled. In no time at all, Tiny was halfway up the rope. His hands were moving one over the other like some sort of monkey's. In eight seconds he had rung the bell and was on his way down.

We went crazy, cheering for him. “Where'd you learn how to do that?” I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders.

“That was the first time I'd ever climbed a rope,” he said. Tiny won first place. With that win and the Monsters taking third, we were suddenly tied for first place with the Muscular Monsters.

It was time for the final event. We all gathered around the starting line of the obstacle course. Fuzzy explained that this event was a team race. The two players from each team would have their times added together.

Our team gathered around me and Graham for a huddle.

“Okay, guys, this is it,” Toad said. “Don't worry about the time. Just go as fast as you can. And remember, no matter what happens, you'll always be Toad Claws.”

Graham and I walked over to the starting line with the other racers.

“I thought he was going to say, ‘no matter what happens, you'll always be winners,' not Toad Claws,” I whispered to Graham.

David and a short kid were racing for the Muscular Monsters. Gopher had us pick numbers from a hat to decide who would go first. Graham chose, and our team was last. David's was first.

“Okay,
hermano
. We can do this,” I said. “We're faster than all these guys.”

“I don't think I'm faster than that guy,” Graham said, pointing to a guy on the Roaring Lions who looked like he was fourteen years old.

“Whoa, you're probably right,” I said. “But we only have to be faster than them.” I pointed to the Monsters.

The short kid went first. He tripped once while running through the tires, but other than that he ran a fast race. David stepped up to the starting line.

“Don't trip!” Graham yelled.

“Hey, your shoes are untied,” Tiny yelled. David looked down.

“Ha-ha! Made you look.” Tiny laughed.

“Your zipper's down,” BB called out.

“That's enough,” Flex told BB.

“But his zipper really is down,” BB said. We all looked. He was right.

When the gun sounded, David was off in an instant. He hopped easily through the tires. He had a little trouble crawling through a long tube, but he climbed over the rock wall fast and made it to the finish line one second faster than his partner. Their combined time was forty-nine seconds. We were the last team to go. The Monsters were in third place in this event and would get one point if we didn't beat them.

“Why don't you go first, Raymond,” Graham said when it was our turn. “I'm too nervous.” I was nervous too, but I agreed. I took my place at the starting line.

“Hey, your shoe's untied,” David shouted.

“Very original,” BB commented, just loud enough for David to hear.

I wasn't going to let anything distract me. When the gun sounded I ran like the wind. I swerved in and out of the tires and dove through the tube. And climbing the rock wall felt so natural. I slipped once running between some big orange cones on my way to the finish line, but I still made good time. I finished in twenty-one seconds. Graham just needed to finish in twenty-nine seconds for us to beat the Monsters in the Olympics.

Graham looked scared. He walked up to the starting line and got down into position.

“On your mark, get set—”

“Hold on a minute,” Graham said, stopping the counselor with the stopwatch. Then he stepped back and bent over and stretched.

“Hey, he can't stop,” David complained. The counselor ignored David and waited for Graham to get ready again. Finally, Graham walked back up to the starting line. He did a couple of quick jumping jacks and then cracked his knuckles. I wondered how that would help him go faster, but I figured it probably couldn't hurt.

“Okay, I'm ready,” Graham said. He got back down into starting position and gave the counselor a thumbs-up.

“On your mark, get set . . .” The shot rang through the air and Graham was off. I'd never seen Graham move so fast. He made it through the tires and tube like they weren't even there. The Muscular Monsters stopped talking and stared at Graham as he flew through the course.

“Go, Graham!” the Toad Claws cheered.

After the tube, Graham raced to the rock wall. He reached up and grabbed a high rock. Unfortunately, as he put his foot on a lower rock, he slipped and fell. But he jumped up and was back on the wall in an instant. About halfway up he tried to grab another rock that was just out of his reach, and he slid down again.

“Hurry, Graham, hurry!” we screamed. Now we were nervous, and David's team was cheering.

Graham had been so fast until then that I thought he had some time to spare. But after he finally made it over the wall and ran through the cones and across the finish line, the timekeeper called out, “Thirty-three seconds.”

We had lost by four seconds.

Silence fell over the Toad Claws. We knew exactly what those four seconds meant. Tiny put his huge hands over his face. BB shook his head and kicked up some dirt. Even Toad let out a big sigh. As I looked at my team, I could picture them all with underpants on their heads.

“Great run, Graham,” Toad said to Graham, patting him on the back. “You were really close!” We all joined in and congratulated him.

“But we lost. And it's all because of me,” Graham muttered, hanging his head.

“It's not your fault,” Tiny said. He put his huge arm around Graham's shoulder. “We're a team. This was just one event. We win or lose as Toad Claws.”

“See you back at the award ceremony,” David called. “And don't forget to wear your new hats!” The Muscular Monsters hooted and hollered all the way back to the lodge.

“I CAN'T BELIEVE
this,” Graham told me back at the cabin. “What a total disaster. Not only have we not become cool, but now we have to humiliate ourselves in front of the entire camp by wearing underpants on our heads. Maybe you were right, Raymond. Maybe we are just supposed to be geeks, dorks, nerds, or whatever other unpopular name you can think of.”

I tried to think of something to cheer him up. Usually he was the one who believed that everything was going to work out.

“No way,
hermano
. Who was the guy who said we can be as cool as we want to be?” I asked. Graham just gave me a blank stare.

“It was you, Graham. We still have a chance to be cool. Don't forget about my worm eating tonight. You heard it yourself at Roses, Thorns, and Buds. We'll be even bigger than Mark.”

Graham started to nod his head. Then a fullblown smile stretched across his face. “You're right! We are going to be the hit of the camp. Thanks,
hermano
!”

The truth was, I had really been hoping to pass on the worm eating, but seeing Graham so depressed made me think I'd better do it.

About half an hour before dinnertime, we were back at the cabin getting ready. Everyone was a little sad that camp was almost over. Tiny sat quietly on his bunk drawing pictures. BB seemed especially sad. He hadn't said much since the Olympics ended, and he wouldn't even look at us. I wasn't sure what his problem was, because he wouldn't tell us when we asked him.

“Okay,
hermano
,” Graham said. “This is it. Let's go find your dessert.” He had a paper cup in his hand to put the worm in.

Finally BB stood up and cried out, “So you're really going to eat a harmless living creature just to be popular?”

Suddenly, I realized what had been bothering him. BB loved all sorts of small creatures. Our announcement that I was going to eat a worm must have been killing him.

“How could you do it?” he continued. “What did an innocent little worm ever do to you? You probably don't even know how good they are for the soil.” He was really upset. I felt like I had just ruined his entire week.

“I'm so sorry, BB,” I said. I looked up at Tiny, who seemed really sad too. He jumped down and put his arm on BB's shoulder. Graham and I looked at each other, not sure what to do. The entire camp would be waiting for our show tonight. Couldn't BB understand that? This was our chance to be the most popular kids in camp. I couldn't let this moment slip by. I mean, it was just a worm.

“BB, I can't tell you how sorry I am. But I hope one day you'll understand how important this is to us.” I didn't know what else I could say.

“Come on, Graham.” We headed for the door with our heads hung low. Graham tried to pat BB on the shoulder, but he moved away.