Very Private List for Camp Success (4 page)

‘Yeah,’ someone groaned, ‘spare us from the torture of Tommy Tone-deaf.’

Penelope very much hoped that Tommy hadn’t heard.

She suspected she knew who had made that comment. She looked behind her. Directly behind her, she saw Oscar. Penelope had never (not even once) witnessed Oscar being mean. Oscar wouldn’t harm a fly. (Literally.) But sitting behind Oscar, staring out the window and whistling as though it
definitely
wasn’t her, was the girl whose name began with ‘R’.

Rita Azul.

Penelope did not hate one single person in the whole world. But she would be happy never to see Rita Azul again. Rita had always been a little bit mean (most likely since birth). But she seemed to be getting better at it all the time. Penelope supposed that Rita’s meanness was a sort of skill that she had practised and improved on. Kind of like Joanna’s tongue poking, but nastier.

‘That was definitely
her
,’ Bob said, nudging Penelope. ‘She’s trying too hard not to look suss.’

Penelope nodded. She and Bob were very different from each other in lots of ways. But it was very satisfying to have a best friend who was as good as her at piecing clues together.

The DVD finished loading and
Finding Nemo
came on. Penelope and Bob rested their heads together. It seemed to Penelope that the same thought was jumping from her head to Bob’s and then right back again. It was like they were swapping brainwaves.

We should stay right away from Rita Azul on camp.

The funny thing about having a new best friend is that you are still learning things about them. A New Thing Penelope learned about Bob was that travelling on the bus put Bob to sleep. And when Bob was asleep, there wasn’t much that would wake her up.

Joanna and Tommy singing ‘Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer’ didn’t rouse her.

Bob’s head bumping (quite hard) against the window didn’t even do it.

After the third bump, though, Penelope gently moved Bob’s head to rest on her shoulder. Although she had to sit very still to keep it there, Penelope didn’t mind. She figured this was the sort of thing you were supposed to do for your very best friend. Even if it did make the journey a tiny bit boring, and meant that enjoying the ride (as Grandpa had encouraged) was not really possible.

When the bus finally pulled in to Camp Tribute, Bob woke with a start.

‘Eeew, dribble on Penelope’s shoulder much, Bob?’ Rita said.

The way Rita swivelled her head as she walked past them reminded Penelope of Oscar’s praying mantis. Except that the praying mantis was probably nicer. Tilly and Sarah giggled as they followed Rita.

Penelope felt her nostrils flaring. There was, in fact, a small wet patch on her shoulder. She would change T-shirts as soon as she possibly could. But it wasn’t nice for Rita to draw attention to Bob’s dribble. If it had been
Penelope’s
dribble on someone’s T-shirt, she would have been horrified. But Bob didn’t seem to care (really and truly, not in a pretending way).

‘Oh. My. God. This place looks awesome!’ Bob said, jumping out of her seat. Penelope and Bob grabbed their packs and followed everyone else off the bus.

There were trees everywhere. Penelope could see several huts tucked away, and a pathway connecting them. In front of the bus, just a few metres away, was a very large hall. The ocean glistened in the distance.

Penelope felt her heartbeat quicken. Although she secretly thought the word ‘awesome’ was overused, she had to agree with Bob.

Penelope sat cross-legged, her Camp Tribute booklet in front of her. She listened intently as the camp leader, Rachel, addressed them in the main hall. ‘You will take from this camp whatever you put into it,’ she said.

Rachel looked very fit and outdoorsy. She definitely didn’t seem like the sort of camp leader who would be at all worried about a ridiculously high swing.

‘But it’s also about challenging yourself,’ continued Rachel. ‘It’s about developing your self-esteem, and supporting others to do the same. I really encourage you all to –’

‘Can you tell us about the challenge swing?’ Joanna called out.

Although it was most certainly not polite to interrupt a camp leader, Rachel didn’t seem to mind.

‘Well, the challenge swing is eighteen and a half metres high,’ Rachel began.

This was probably one of the first times in history that Penelope’s brother had been right about that kind of detail. Penelope urged her tummy to stay calm.

‘It’s always our most popular activity,’ Rachel continued, ‘so it’s likely you’ll each only get one turn. But there are many other activities, too. There’s a rope course, and a rock-climbing wall …’

Just then, Bob pinched Penelope’s thigh. For a second, Penelope felt cross. But when she looked around, Bob was grinning. Perhaps pinching her thigh was a good, sharing-the-moment type thing to do, rather than an annoying, distracting one? Perhaps it was something that very best friends did in such situations.

‘There are also different
kinds
of challenges,’ Rachel was saying when Penelope managed to zone back in properly. ‘For instance, the competition for the best hut is also very popular with students. I suspect it’s largely because of this.’

Rachel fished something out of a canvas bag behind her and held it up for everyone to see.

Penelope pinched Bob (quite hard) on the thigh. Because this was a moment she definitely wanted to share.
Penelope felt a little bit swoony looking at that medal.

She glanced over at Eliza Chung. Eliza was Class Captain. Penelope had really wanted to be Class Captain, but she was pretty sure only two people had voted for her: Oscar, and, Penelope herself. (This was before Bob came to their school, of course.)

Being Class Captain meant Eliza had a lovely badge she got to wear to school
every day
. Although Penelope had a whole wall of award certificates (and even more tucked away in her special box with a lock and key), she’d
never
owned a badge like Eliza’s or a shiny medal like this.

But a best hut competition was totally and completely suited to Penelope’s talents. It was a better fit than bush cooking or even orienteering.

Penelope’s mind immediately surged with excellent best hut-ish plans. Rachel hadn’t said anything about appointing a hut leader, but it was clear to Penelope that her group would have a huge advantage if she volunteered for the role.

That way, while other teams were messing around discussing what to do, Penelope’s group could just follow her instructions. They’d be way ahead.

She could already imagine how the medal would look on several of her (and Bob’s) favourite outfits.

Most of the girls Penelope knew would probably think of it as a chore, since it would involve a lot of organising. But Penelope knew that leading her hut to victory would
definitely
not be a chore. In fact, she was super ready to find out who was in their hut, so they could get started straight away.

‘So, here are the hut groups,’ Rachel said, after spending a lot of time talking about far less important things.

Penelope waited and waited and waited as Rachel read out the groups. It was
extremely
good to know that Bob was going to be in her hut, but it was still worrying to
not know
who else would be with them. She looked across the hall. Oscar smiled and gave Penelope a big wave. She responded with a smaller one, keeping her hand by her side so no-one else could see. Some of the kids could get very silly about things like boys and girls waving to each other.