Alice-Miranda at Camp 10 (7 page)

Fenella slammed the car door. She took a deep breath, smoothed the front of her trousers and pushed back a rogue strand of hair.

‘Well, what's going on?' Miss Reedy demanded as the officer strode towards them.

Fenella drew her shoulders back. ‘It seems there has been a mix-up.'

‘I knew it,' Miss Reedy said as Mr Plumpton sighed, his shoulders slumping as if he'd just been pricked by a pin. ‘Mr Plumpton is not a criminal. He's a fine upstanding citizen.' She gave him a knowing smile, then reached out and grabbed his arm.

‘How did it happen?' Mr Lipp asked, scowling.

‘Someone forgot to remove the vehicle from the police database. Rest assured they will be disciplined for their appalling oversight.'

Harry Lipp eyeballed her. ‘An apology would be nice.'

Fenella Freeman stared at his outfit. She wondered if he realised he was on school camp in Dunleavy, not on safari in Africa. He could shoot an elephant before she'd apologise. None of this was her fault.

‘What's she saying?' Rufus asked as the students strained to hear what was going on.

‘I think it's all been a mix-up,' Alice-Miranda called.

Half of the occupants of the bus sighed with relief while the other half groaned with disappointment.

‘That's boring,' said one of the boys, curling his lip.

‘Can I have a ride in the police car?' Figgy asked DS Freeman.

Miss Reedy shot the boy a frosty stare, bettered only by the terrifying look on the detective's face.

‘You'd better get the children off to wherever it is that you're going. Enjoy your afternoon.' Fenella didn't look back as she stalked to the police car and hopped in. She revved the engine and spun the car around at speed, then roared out of the driveway.

‘She didn't look very happy,' Alice-Miranda said to Millie as the teachers and Figgy hopped back on the bus.

‘I'd say someone's going to
cop it
when she gets back to the station,' Sep said, a smile creeping across his face.

‘Oh, that's lame.' Sloane shook her head.

Mr Plumpton turned the key in the ignition and the bus sputtered back to life.

‘Well, I'm glad that ridiculous little fiasco is over,' Mr Lipp tutted.

‘Yes, and I'll be happy not to meet another police officer for a very long time,' Mr Plumpton agreed.

Mr Plumpton manoeuvred the minibus around the circular driveway just as the coaches were pulling out to leave. The children unpacked their belongings and carried them to a large quadrangle behind the manor. Miss Wall was barking orders into a loudhailer, and for the moment Miss Reedy was more than happy to let her. According to the schedule, the children needed to be put into their groups, deposit their belongings in their dormitories and complete their first activities before dinner was served at 6 pm.

‘I can't wait to find out what we're doing first,' Alice-Miranda said to Millie as they left their bags and ran to join the rest of the students.

Benitha Wall wasn't at all shy about using her loudhailer. ‘Good afternoon, everyone.
So
glad that you could make it, Mr Plumpton,' Benitha Wall said into the loudhailer. She'd seen the minibus pulling into the driveway some time ago and wondered what was keeping them, until she spied the police car. ‘Hope there wasn't any trouble getting here.' She couldn't wait to hear that story in the teachers' lounge after the children went to bed.

Josiah Plumpton's nose glowed and he took a sudden interest in his shoes.

Livinia Reedy walked to the front of the group to join Miss Wall. She whispered something to the PE teacher, who handed her the loudhailer.

‘Good afternoon, everyone.' Miss Reedy spoke into the mouthpiece, which squawked loudly. She recoiled and Miss Wall indicated for her not to hold it so close.

‘Goo-ood af-ter-noo-oon, Miss Ree-eedy,' the children chorused.

‘As you are aware, we are on this camp because Queen Georgiana is introducing a new award for
children your age. In order to achieve the first level of the award, you will need to complete a number of tasks, which will show your resilience, cooperation, ability to learn, friendship, application, courage, creativity and resourcefulness. Each time you complete a task to the standard required, the teacher in charge of your group will make a note that you have passed. Only those students who have passed a sufficient number of tasks will receive the Queen's Blue award. But as far as Miss Grimm and Professor Winterbottom are concerned, you must
all
earn your Blue. On top of that, we teachers will also be noting your attitude, ability and cooperative skills and nominating
one
Queen's Blue winner to receive a special medal from Queen Georgiana herself,' Miss Reedy explained.

Millie glanced over at Caprice, who had a very superior look on her face. Millie nudged Alice-Miranda and motioned towards Caprice. ‘Three guesses who thinks she's going to win the medal.'

Alice-Miranda kept her eyes forward. ‘It could be anyone,' she said emphatically. ‘It could be you.'

Miss Reedy shuffled the papers in front of her. ‘There will be a team competition too. Your rewards will be far less exciting but I imagine they will go
down well all the same.' She pulled a packet of chocolate frogs from her bag.

A loud cheer went up around the quadrangle and Miss Reedy smiled. She motioned for Miss Wall to take the loudhailer back again.

‘Would you read the camp groups please, Benitha? I think I'm required over there for a moment.' Miss Reedy nodded towards a huddle of uniformed camp instructors, where a young woman was waving.

‘Okay, everyone.' Miss Wall scanned the list on the clipboard. ‘I've got your camp groups and your sleeping groups. Generally they will be the same, except of course that the boys will have their own accommodation.'

The girls began to speculate about which group they would be in, grabbing the arms of friends as if that could magically change the list Miss Wall had in front of her.

‘Settle down. There will be a camp instructor for each group and a teacher assigned to you as well. You need to make sure that you listen to the adults and do all that they ask of you. It's critical that you're in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. A camp timetable is posted in each dormitory
and you'll all be given a smaller version to keep in your day pack,' Miss Wall explained. ‘So without further delay, these are your camp groups.'

The children listened carefully. The groups were all named after birds. The new year three students, collectively called the Robins, were staying together to do a modified program, as they had only just come out of infants school and started at Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale. The older students, including the boys, were in mixed-age groups.

Alice-Miranda's name was the first to be read out for the Barn Owls. She squeezed Millie's hand nervously. Millie's was the next name called. Then came Sloane and Jacinta, Susannah, Lucas, Sep, Figgy and Rufus. Millie clenched her fist and hissed ‘yesss' when she realised Caprice wasn't in their group. Their camp leader was a smiling, sandy-haired young woman called Beth, and their teacher was Mr Plumpton.

Miss Wall finished the announcements and a hand went up in the crowd. ‘Yes?'

‘I don't have a group, miss,' Caprice said sadly.

‘Oh dear me, I am sorry about that,' the teacher apologised. ‘What's your name?'

‘Caprice Radford.'

‘Oh, that's right. Your mother's Venetia Baldini.
Sweet Things
is one of my favourite shows,' Miss Wall babbled.

‘Yes, yes, let's not make a fuss.' Miss Reedy hurried back over and scanned the lists. ‘I was thinking about where to put her,' she whispered to Miss Wall. ‘Sorry I hadn't written it down. She's a Barn Owl.'

Miss Wall nodded and turned back to the students. ‘Here you are, Caprice. You're a Barn Owl.'

Millie's stomach flipped. She turned around and stared at Caprice, whose perfect face was now sporting the most perfect sneer.

The children began to fidget and chatter.

‘Settle down, everyone. Before you go anywhere I need to tell you where you'll be sleeping. The girls' rooms are on the first and second floors of Bagley Hall and all of the boys are up in the attic. Gather up your belongings and head upstairs. And don't leave anything behind. You need to be back here in ten minutes with a water bottle and a jacket, ready for your first activities.'

Millie and Alice-Miranda turned around to get their things. Caprice had already disappeared.

‘Hey, where's my sleeping bag?' Millie asked with a frown. She looked up and down.

‘Perhaps someone picked it up by accident,' Alice-Miranda said. ‘Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find it.'

Millie knew she'd left it right on top of her backpack. She and Alice-Miranda darted between the other students, searching, but had no luck.

‘Come on, Millie, we'd better get upstairs.' Alice-Miranda grabbed her backpack and Millie followed. By the time they got to the second floor and found the barn owl on the door, the other girls were already there and had claimed their beds. The room had three sets of bunk beds and Sloane, Caprice and Jacinta were all sitting on top of them. Susannah was sitting on the bed under Caprice's.

‘Hey, not fair,' Millie said. ‘We should have flipped a coin for the top bunks.'

‘You snooze, you lose,' said Caprice. ‘I'm going to the toilet.' She grabbed her water bottle and jacket and leapt down from the top bunk.

The enormous room was sparsely furnished with three chests of drawers, three sets of bunks and a small lounge setting. And while the furniture was as plain as an arrowroot biscuit, the building itself was beautiful, with high ceilings, patterned cornices and rich, honey-coloured timber floors.

‘Did anyone see my sleeping bag? It was on my backpack one minute and the next it was gone,' Millie explained.

The other girls shook their heads. A loud thump on the doorframe made them jump. Miss Wall stuck her head in and boomed, ‘Downstairs in two minutes.'

The girls grabbed their water bottles and jackets from their bags and joined the throng of students rushing back to the quadrangle.

The groups lined up in front of their leaders, ready to hear the next set of instructions.

Miss Reedy walked to the podium and picked up the loudhailer.

‘Goodness me, I am disappointed already,' she said, shaking her head. ‘What did Miss Wall tell you about taking everything with you? When I came back outside, what did I find right there in the middle of the quadrangle, as plain as the nose on my face?'

Millie's chest felt tight.

Miss Reedy picked up the offending item and held it aloft for all to see.

‘Millicent, come and get this, please. And if I find any more of your things lying about, you'll be on camp clean-up for the rest of the week,' the woman growled.

Millie's freckles were on fire as she skulked to the front and took the sleeping bag from Miss Reedy's hand.

‘Sorry, Miss Reedy,' she said quietly.

‘Just don't let it happen again,' the teacher said.

As Millie turned to walk back to the group she caught sight of Caprice smiling.

‘She took it,' Millie whispered to Alice-Miranda.

Alice-Miranda turned around to look at Caprice, who was now giving Miss Reedy her full attention.

‘You don't know that,' Alice-Miranda said.

‘You didn't see the way she was smiling when I got into trouble,' said Millie.

Benitha Wall handed the groups over to their leaders, who were going to explain their first activity.

‘Hello everyone, I'm Beth and I'm going to be with you for the next week. You all know Mr Plumpton, I'm sure,' she said, smiling at the teacher beside her.

‘Go, Mr P,' Figgy called. ‘You're a legend, sir, best bus driver ever.' He winked at Mr Plumpton, who blushed.

‘Figworth, be quiet or we'll never get started,' the Science teacher said with a scowl.

Beth stepped in. ‘I hope you all like finding treasure, because that's your first activity. I want you to work in pairs. You will each receive the first clue and a map of the grounds – don't stray outside of the boundaries. You'll be looking for numbered treasure tokens. When you find them, make sure you take the token showing the lowest number, as the pair with the least points at the end will be the winners. Once you have your token, look around for a box. It will contain the next clue. You've got forty-five minutes to find the five items and bring your tokens back to me. Choose your fellow hunter and let's see how good you are at figuring things out,' Beth explained. She walked around handing out the maps and the first clue.

‘Is everyone doing the treasure hunt?' Figgy asked.

‘No, just our group. The others are out riding bikes or playing games in the indoor sports hall. There are two groups doing archery and I think some of the others are going for a long walk.'

‘Is there a prize?' Figgy asked.

‘I have some camp currency you might enjoy,' Beth replied.

‘What's that?' Figgy had no idea.

‘I think she means sweets,' Alice-Miranda said.

Beth smiled at her and nodded.

Alice-Miranda paired up with Millie and Jacinta chose Sloane. Sep and Lucas formed another pair, leaving Susannah, Caprice, Rufus and Figgy still sorting things out.

‘Do you want to be my partner?' Figgy grinned at Caprice and wiggled his eyebrows.

‘I'd rather eat camp food,' the girl retorted.

Figgy looked crestfallen. ‘You don't have to be mean about it.'

Caprice stood beside Susannah. ‘I suppose it's you and me then.'

‘Don't sound so excited,' Susannah said with a frown.

‘I didn't mean it like that,' Caprice replied sweetly. ‘I'm glad you're my partner.'

Beth pulled a stopwatch out of her pocket. ‘Okay, I'm putting you on the clock. On your marks, get set, go!' she called, and the children scattered in all directions.