Camp Rules! (4 page)

Chelsea made a face. “Eating bugs. That’s nasty.”

Shannon giggled. “Not to a raccoon. Now, come on. Our breakfast is ready.”

“I sure hope it tastes better than bugs,” Chelsea joked.

 

 

 

“Oh my gosh . . . look,” Rainbow whispered to Katie after sunset as the girls walked back to the cabin.

Katie looked over to where her friend was pointing. Sure enough, there was a little raccoon chewing on some wild berries that grew in the dark wooded area behind the cabin.

“He’s so cute,” Rainbow said quietly. “I think he’s a baby.” She took a step in his direction.

“Don’t,” Katie warned. “You’ll scare him. And remember what Shannon said.”

“But he looks so soft and cuddly,” Rainbow insisted. “Look at his little black mask and those rings around his tail.”

“He’s a wild animal,” Katie reminded her.

“Do you see his mom anywhere?” Rainbow asked.

Katie looked into the woods. She didn’t see a mother raccoon anywhere. That made her sad. “Poor little thing. He’s all alone out in the woods, with no one to take care of him.”

“Maybe
we
could take care of him,” Rainbow suggested. “You know, feed him.”

“But Shannon said we couldn’t bring food inside the bunk,” Katie reminded her.

“And we won’t,” Rainbow assured Katie. “We’ll leave his food
outside
the bunk.”

A big smile came over Katie’s face. “Great idea!” she said. “We’re going to the canteen tonight for evening activity. I think I’ll get some peanut-butter crackers for him.”

“And I’ll get him popcorn,” Rainbow added. “We can leave the food right here.”

Katie watched as the raccoon licked his front paws clean. “You know, if he’s going to be our pet, we should give him a name,” she said.

“Can I name him?” Rainbow asked her. “I’ve never had a pet before.”

“Sure,” Katie agreed. “What should we call him?”

Rainbow thought for a minute. Then, finally, she said, “Rocky. We’ll call him Rocky Raccoon. It’s the name of an old song my parents like.”

“Rocky Raccoon,” Katie repeated. “I like it.”

“We’d better go wash up or we’ll miss canteen,” Rainbow said.

“Okay,” Katie agreed. She turned and headed toward the cabin door. “Bye, Rocky,” she added.

“Let’s not tell anyone about our pet,” Rainbow told Katie.

“Not a soul,” Katie agreed. “He’s our secret.”

But someone else already knew all about Rocky. She had been hiding behind a tree the whole time. And she’d heard every word Katie and Rainbow had said.

 

 

“Hey, do you hear that?” Chelsea asked that night as the girls climbed into bed.

“It’s probably just a raccoon,” Gianna told her. “It’s just hungry and looking for food, just like Shannon said.”

Not so hungry
, Katie thought happily to herself. After all, she and Rainbow had left him plenty of goodies to munch on. “Raccoons usually come out at night,” she said instead.

“Someone must be feeding him,” Alicia remarked. “Otherwise he would go away.”

“There’s no food in our bunk,” Rainbow told her.

“Definitely nothing
in
here,” Katie seconded.

Alicia shrugged. “I’m just saying that if the raccoon couldn’t get food near our bunk, it would leave.”

“He’s not bothering anyone,” Rainbow said.

“He’s bothering me,” Chelsea told her. “That scratching is driving me crazy.”

Gianna giggled. “Well, just put a pillow over your ears and drown it out!” she shouted, hitting Chelsea with her pillow.

“I’ll get you for that,” Chelsea said, leaping out of bed and slamming Gianna with her pillow.

Katie grabbed her pillow and climbed down from her bed. She reached up and hit Rainbow in the face with the pillow.

Rainbow sat up in her bed, grabbed her pillow, and leaped from her top bunk. “Eeyaah!” she yelled, coming up behind Katie and hitting her on the head.

Within seconds, all the girls in the bunk were involved in a big pillow fight. All the girls except Alicia, that is. They’d all been afraid to hit her with their pillows.

But Alicia didn’t seem to want to be part of the fun, anyway. “Babies,” she mumbled in a grouchy voice as she rolled over on her side.

Chapter 7

“Keep your eye on the ball, Katie,” Gianna said as she served the tennis ball over the net the next afternoon. Katie and Gianna had both signed up to play tennis for their first activity. Gianna was really good. Katie wasn’t. But she was trying.

“I played tennis a lot last summer,” Gianna said. “That’s how I got so good. If you practice, you’ll get good at it, too.”

Boing.
The ball hit the center of Katie’s racket and bounced over the net. “I did it!” she shouted excitedly.

“Yeah!” Gianna cheered as she hit the ball back to Katie. “Try it again.”

Whoosh.
Katie swung at the ball and then missed it completely.

“Oh, well, you’re still getting better,” Gianna assured her kindly.

“I’m getting thirsty, too,” Katie said.

“I know what you mean,” Gianna agreed. “Let’s go to the canteen and get some juice.”

Katie nodded. That was a good idea. She’d be able to get Rocky a few snacks there, too.

It seemed like all of the Bumblebees were hot and thirsty. By the time Katie and Gianna arrived at the canteen, Alicia, Chelsea, and Rainbow were already there. Katie went over to the small store and bought herself a juice, a candy bar, and some peanut-butter crackers. (The crackers were actually for Rocky.) Then she sat down on a log and began to drink her juice.

Alicia came over a minute later. “Oh, yum,” Alicia said, eyeing Katie’s canteen goodies.

“Didn’t you get anything?” Katie asked, looking at Alicia’s empty hands.

Alicia smiled. “I just bought a juice. I don’t need to get anything else since you’re going to give me your chocolate bar and crackers.”

“Why would she do that?” Rainbow asked, coming up behind Katie.

“The same reason you’re going to give me that ice-cream sandwich you just bought,” Alicia said with a sly grin.

“Huh?” Rainbow asked.

“If you don’t give me the food, I’ll tell Shannon that you guys are feeding that raccoon behind the bunk,” Alicia told her. “She’s not going to like that.”

“How did you know about Rocky?”

Rainbow asked her. She didn’t even try to deny it.

“That doesn’t matter,” Alicia told her. “The point is, I know about your pet raccoon. And if you don’t give me those snacks, Shannon’s going to find out, too.”

Katie frowned. She didn’t want Shannon to make her stop feeding Rocky. She handed her snacks to Alicia.

“Smart move,” Alicia said as she took Rainbow’s ice-cream sandwich as well.

 

 

“What is her problem, anyway?” Katie asked.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. Do you want to go out in a canoe?” Rainbow asked Katie a little while later as the girls walked toward the lake.

Before Katie could answer, her stomach rumbled. She was kind of hungry, because Alicia had eaten her snack. Still, that was a small price to pay to keep Rocky a secret. After all, the poor little orphaned raccoon really needed them.

Katie nodded. “I think Gianna and Chelsea are going canoeing, too.”

“We can race!” Rainbow said.

Katie nodded excitedly. Then she stopped. “If we’re all out in canoes, what’s Alicia going to do?”

Rainbow shook her head. “I don’t know. Probably go kayaking by herself. She doesn’t like to be around other people, anyway—unless it’s to bully someone.”

Katie nodded. That was pretty much all Alicia did.

But not Katie. She was busy with all sorts of activities. Soon it would be her favorite part of the day: choice time. That was when they all split up and went to the activities they wanted to.

“I signed up for arts and crafts,” Katie told Rainbow. “Then volleyball and archery. What activities are you going to?”

“I’m going on a nature hike,” she said.

“It’s three hours long, so I won’t be back until dinnertime.”

“Sounds like fun,” Katie said.

Rainbow reached into her pocket. “I was saving this to give to Rocky for his dinner,” she said pulling out a granola bar. “But since I won’t be here, can you give it to him?”

“Sure,” Katie said. “I’ll leave it for him before I go for afternoon swim.”

“Perfect!” Rainbow said. Then she started running toward the lake. “Last one to the lake is a rotten egg!” she shouted.

Chapter 8

Katie’s stomach rumbled as she walked from the volleyball courts to the archery targets that evening. Volleyball sure could make a girl hungry. And there was still an activity period to go before dinner.

Just then, Katie remembered Rainbow’s granola bar, the one for Rocky. She pulled it from her pocket and looked at it for a minute. It was a big bar for such a little raccoon. Katie was sure he wouldn’t mind sharing it with her.