Very Private List for Camp Success (5 page)

When Oscar’s group was read out, Penelope couldn’t help glancing over to see if he was happy. Personally, she couldn’t think of
any
other boys she would want to share a hut with, but she was glad to see Oscar looked pleased. She was going to keep looking, and sneak him a smile when he glanced her way again. But then he started picking at a scab on his knee, and she decided against it. Even Very Nice Boys like Oscar Finley could be exceptionally gross.

As each group was called out, a camp leader took them off to their hut. It was hard having to wait, but Penelope sat up straight and tried not to fidget. When Joanna went off to her hut with Eliza, Alison and Sarah, Penelope couldn’t help feeling concerned about her chances of winning the best hut medal.

Penelope knew that Joanna couldn’t help being naughty, most of the time at least, so she wasn’t really a threat. But Eliza Chung (Class Captain) and Alison Cromwell (who had collected twenty-five awards at school and was still coming second to Penelope’s forty-one awards) were quite focused. Penelope guessed that they would be her strongest competition for best hut.

But there were still sixteen kids and four huts left. Penelope assumed that her group would be called last (mainly to help control her feelings of impatience).

So when Rachel read out, ‘Hut seven! Penelope Kingston,’ Penelope got quite a shock.

Bob pinching her again did not help.

‘Brittany O’Brien,’ Rachel continued.

Bob’s hand (the one that was not pinching Penelope) shot up in the air. Penelope already knew what Bob was going to say.

‘I don’t go by that name, Rachel. Not ever. Just call me Bob,’ she said.

Penelope waited as Rachel found a pen and made a note. It seemed to take a long time. Penelope estimated about eleven seconds, but if she had her iPhone she would have been able to measure exactly how long they waited.

Finally, Rachel continued. ‘Tilly Fraser and Rita Azul.’

The hut was quite bare and plain, with four bunk beds, a wardrobe with drawers at the bottom and a small bathroom down the end. Someone had put cardboard name tags into the little metal frames at the end of each bed. Penelope was pleased to see her name on a bottom bunk, with Bob’s on top. Top bunks were terribly overrated (and a little hazardous) as far as Penelope was concerned.

Penelope put down her sausage bag on her allocated bed.

‘The weird thing is,’ Rita said, glancing around the hut as Bob crossed out
Brittany
on her name tag and wrote
Bob
instead, and Tilly climbed up to her top bunk, ‘seven is my lucky number.’

Penelope tilted her head. ‘Really?’ she said. ‘It’s mine, too.’

Rita smiled. It was actually quite a nice smile and not mean at all.

‘You know, I reckon we should really, really try to win the best hut competition,’ Rita continued. She dropped her voice to a whisper. ‘But I think we need a secret weapon. We should have a leader. Someone who knows how to get everything sorted.’

Penelope could hardly believe her ears. There was no doubt Rita was talking about her. Out of all the kids in her class, Penelope was the only one, for example, who put the books in her locker in alphabetical order. Quite often, students from other years even asked to see her locker. That was definitely proof of her of being super organised! In fact, she had a
reputation
for it!

And having Rita supporting her would be great, because Rita was a Very Determined person.

Penelope was just about to start outlining her plans when Tilly stuck her head (rather dangerously) over the edge of her bunk.

‘Guys,’ she squealed. ‘Check it out! I got a welcome postcard from the girl who slept on this bunk before me!’

‘Me too,’ said Bob. ‘Don’t you think that’s a bit spooky? Kind of like getting a postcard from a ghost. Woooo!’

Penelope would have preferred to continue discussing the best hut competition. Getting postcards from the people who’d stayed there before them was nothing like getting a postcard from a ghost (since, as far as they knew, no-one who stayed here had actually died).

She assumed her postcard would be quite dull – something that the girl before her had been forced to write before she went home. But, since everyone else was reading their postcards, Penelope quickly snuck into the bathroom and changed into a fresh, dribble-free T-shirt. Then she checked her bed for a postcard.

Penelope read the postcard three times. Even though it definitely wasn’t from a ghost, there
was
something spooky about it (in a good way). For starters, the writer shared Penelope’s initials: Poppy Katz/Penelope Kingston. And even though the advice to try
everything
was a little bit annoying, it wasn’t half as annoying as the other girls’ postcards, which were all about the challenge swing – complete with drawings. And Poppy’s advice about the best hut competition was actually quite useful. Penelope quickly checked the notes in the Camp Tribute booklet.

WAYS TO GET BONUS POINTS

• Arrange your boots and shoes outside in a creative way, e.g. smiley face.

• Decorate your hut with posters and drawings from the library or with your own artwork.

• Make sure the last person out of the hut checks that
all lights are off.

Penelope felt particularly excited about the middle point. She was excellent at art. She could already imagine the walls of hut seven decorated with her drawings of local plants and animals. She tried to get Bob and Tilly’s attention, but they were being a bit silly, putting their sleeping bags over their heads (in the top bunks!) and pretending to be ghosts.

She was about to announce her excellent idea out loud – loud enough be heard through sleeping bags – when there came a knock at the door. A camp leader (‘Ramone’, his name badge said) opened the door. He took off his hat and bowed.

‘Tour time, hut seven,’ he said.

Rita peered over Penelope’s shoulder. ‘Those are really good tips,’ she whispered as Bob and Tilly jumped down from their bunks. ‘We really need to pay attention to them.’

Even though Penelope really didn’t like people reading over her shoulder, she decided to let it go. Rita was right. And she was being so agreeable.

Perhaps sharing a hut with Rita Azul wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.

Three other huts joined hut seven for the tour of Camp Tribute. Oscar’s hut was there, plus another boys’ hut, and hut six (with Joanna, Eliza, Alison and Sarah).

Penelope was a little surprised to see Joanna walking right next to Alex Gabriel, chatting away happily. It was kind of a rule that boys and girls stayed pretty separate outside of class.

Penelope actually chatted with Oscar quite a bit, like when they were working on a charity stall together, or when they were looking at Oscar’s weird bugs. But she always thought that was because Oscar was just that sort of boy. It was most unusual to see a girl like Joanna and a boy like Alex spending so much time together.

The group stopped (with Joanna and Alex leaning in to each other in quite a strange way) as Ramone pointed out the bike ed course.

The next stop was the rock-climbing wall. Penelope had done a bit of rock climbing with Harry and her dad, when he was in town over the holidays. Her dad had switched off his mobile phone completely and absolutely (not even on vibrate) and stayed with them for a whole hour. Penelope had trusted her brain to help her feet find the right spot, and it had worked. She still remembered that day vividly.

Her dad had said that she and Harry were ‘mountain goats’ (which was apparently a compliment if you were rock climbing). And afterwards, her dad had taken them out for yum cha, just the three of them – no stepmother or Sienna.

Although it was a type of sport, Penelope quite liked rock climbing.

The next stop was a lovely art room. As the art teacher showed them around, Penelope took note of the materials she could use for the pictures she was planning to draw, which would be vital to her group winning the best hut competition.

Then they looked at the archery area, and the ropes course. Unfortunately the ropes course wasn’t an optional activity (Penelope had asked). Still, it didn’t look ridiculously hard. Penelope thought she would cope.

When they came to the challenge swing, however, Penelope had to remind herself to breathe.