Authors: R.L. Stine
Camp Fear Ghouls
CONTENTS
“L
izzy, I'm scared!” Caroline Hurt whispered. She dug her fingers into my arm. “My hands are shaking!”
We pushed through the crowded school hallway. “Caroline, relax!” I ordered my best friend. “We're going to get in. Everybody says so.”
I wished I felt as sure as I sounded. For two days I had barely been able to eat. Or sleep.
Why? Because today was the day the Waynesbridge Scoutsâthe coolest scout troop in Waynesbridge Middle Schoolâpicked their new members.
“I heard they slipped the invitations into the lockers last period. They're in pink envelopes,” Caroline whispered. She ran her fingers through her short blond hair. Then she tugged down her favorite navy
blue T-shirt. I knew she wanted to make sure she looked good for the big moment.
I tightened the scrunchie holding my straight brown hair. I might as well look good too, I thought. Even if it was just to open my locker and look for a pink envelope.
“It's not that big a deal,” I told Caroline, trying to sound like I didn't really care.
But of course, I did. At Waynesbridge Middle School, every girl who's anybody is a Waynesbridge Scout. It's like a popularity contest. If you're picked, you're cool. If you're not pickedâwell, then you're a loser.
That's
why we were so nervous.
Usually, I'm not that into the kinds of things the Waynesbridge Scouts do. You know. Fixing each other's hair and talking about boys. Caroline likes that stuff. I prefer softball. Camping. Climbing trees.
Most of all, I'm into scary stuff. Like ghost stories and monsters and horror movies.
But I'm definitely
not
into being a loser. So I was ready to do whatever it took to be a good Waynesbridge Scout.
Caroline clutched my arm. We shoved toward our lockers.
“Oh, Lizzy, what if we didn't make it? We'll be total losers! No one will ever talk to us again!” Caroline moaned and grabbed her stomach. “Ohhhh! I think I'm going to throw up!”
“Don't,” I ordered.
Caroline and I have been best friends since the first grade. She's older than me. Nine whole months older. And taller by three inches. But she can be a total wimp. Whenever she's nervous, she threatens to throw up.
People tease me about being the shortest kid in the whole seventh grade. It makes me mad. But that's why Caroline and I are best friends. She has always stuck up for me.
Finally, we stopped in front of our lockers. They stood right next to each other.
“I can't go first,” Caroline whimpered. “You do it, Lizzy.”
“Why don't we open them at the same time?” I suggested.
“Good idea,” Caroline agreed. “On the count of three.”
We spun the combinations on our locks.
This is it, I thought. My heart thudded in my chest. I squeezed my eyes closed and counted in a shaky voice. “One, twoâ”
“Three!” we said together.
We flung our doors open and stared in.
“Yes!” Caroline shrieked. She pumped her fist in the air. “It's here! It's here!”
I searched through my locker. My backpack, my baseball cap, a couple of overdue library books, and my gym suit sat inside.
But nothing else.
No pink envelope.
No invitation to the Waynesbridge Scouts.
“I didn't make it,” I whispered. I stared blankly into my locker.
Caroline clutched her pastel pink invitation to her chest. “Oh, Lizzy, it
has
to be there.” She got down on her knees and tossed all my stuff out of the locker. She used only one hand. She held her own invitation tightly in the other.
In seconds, my locker was completely empty. But stillâno pink envelope.
“No way. This has to be a mistake,” Caroline insisted.
But I knew the awful truth. “It's no mistake,” I said. “I wasn't asked to join. And I know why.”
Caroline glanced up at me. “Why?”
“Arden Sitwell,” I growled. My lip curled into a snarl. “Arden's mother is the scout leader. And Arden hates me for not inviting her to my birthday party last year.”
Caroline's eyes widened. “You think Arden kept you out of the club for
that?
”
“It has to be.”
Behind me I could hear the giggles of the Waynesbridge Scouts. I turned to look at them.
Arden had perfect chin-length blond hair. She stood right in the middle of the scouts. They talked and laughed loudly.
“We'll show them,” I murmured, narrowing my eyes at Arden. “We don't need their stupid club. We'll
form our own club. It will be way cooler than the Waynesbridge Scouts. Right?”
I waited for Caroline to agree with me, but she didn't say a word. Instead, she began placing things back in my locker.
“Right, Caroline?” I repeated, tapping her on the shoulder. “We'll form our own club. Right?”
Caroline stopped. She stared down at the pink envelope in her hand. “Listen, Lizzy,” she mumbled. “I've wanted to be a Waynesbridge Scout since I was six. It means a lot to me.”
“Well, it meant a lot to me too!” I put my hands on my hips. “You're not going to join without me, are you?”
Caroline didn't answer.
“
Are
you?” I asked again.
“I don't see why we have to do
everything
together,” she finally blurted out.
My jaw dropped.
“What?”
I cried. “I can't believe you! You're my best friend. How could you do this to me?”
Caroline raised her head and finally stared me in the eye. “I'm not
doing
anything to you. I'm joining a club.”
“Yes. The club we were
both
supposed to be in. And you're joining without me!” My voice became louder and louder. But I couldn't stop it.
“Can I help it if my mom would let me have only four friends to my birthday party? How could I know
that Arden would get so upset that I didn't invite her?” I demanded.
Caroline glanced nervously over her shoulder. Arden and her group of Waynesbridge Scouts stared at us. “Keep your voice down, Lizzy. You're embarrassing me.”
“So what if you're embarrassed!” I was practically yelling now. “What about me? I've just been labeled a loser! And you don't even care!”
Caroline didn't answer me. She just stood there.
I knew I had to leave. Fast. Before I
totally
lost itâin front of Arden and the entire middle school. I didn't even bother to close my locker. I took off for the nearest exit.
I opened the door and glanced up. It was a creepy, overcast afternoon. Storm clouds darkened the sky. Fog was rolling in.
I took one last peek over my shoulder at Caroline. She had joined the other scouts in the hallway. Arden said something to her. The two of them laughed together.
My face turned red with anger.
“I'll show her,” I mumbled as I strode off the school grounds. “I'll show them all.”
As I turned onto Cedar Drive, thunder rumbled directly over my head. I jumped and started to walk faster.
The closer I got to home, the more upset I became with Caroline. How could she do this to me?
Overhead, the sky darkened even more. A bolt of
lightning zigzagged through it. A second later, thunder boomed.
Yikes! That seemed really close! I pulled my denim jacket tight around me. The fog grew thicker, heavier.
I want to be home, I thought. Safe in my own room. Away from Waynesbridge Middle School. And Caroline. And this storm.
I ducked my head and was about to make a run for it.
Then someone jumped out at me.
Someone hiding behind a tree.
Someone dressed in black. With a black hood on.
He headed straight for me! My breath caught in my throat.
Who was he?
What did he want?
M
ake thatâwhat did
she
want?
As the figure came toward me, she pushed back the black hood. Long, dark hair spilled out.
It was a girl. A girl about my own age. She was taller than me, with ivory skin and huge, dark brown eyes.
“Hello,” she said in a cheery voice.
“I'm Amy.” “IâI'm Lizzy,” I stammered, catching my breath. “You surprised me, jumping out like that.”
Amy smiled. “Sorry.”
I waited for her to say something else, but she just kept staring at me.
Weird, I thought. I tried to walk around her. But she stepped sideways, blocking my way again.
“I just moved here from Shadyside,” Amy finally told me. “I go to Waynesbridge Middle School now.”
“Really?” I studied her face. “I've never seen you there.”
“We're in different classes,” Amy explained. “Anyway, I heard you talking to your friend in the hall at school.”
“Ex-friend,” I corrected Amy. I could feel my face turn red again. Everybody in the whole school must have heard my fight with Caroline!
Who cares? I decided. Now they all know how mean she was!
“You shouldn't worry about being in the Waynesbridge Scouts,” Amy continued. “They seem like a big bunch of snobs.”
I shrugged. “I guess they are.”
“Why don't you join my troop instead?” Amy suggested.
“Your troop?” I asked.
“It's in Shadysideâthe Camp Fear Girls. Have you heard of us?”
I shook my head. “No. But I've heard of Fear
Street.
There are lots of scary stories about it. Ghosts in the cemetery, monsters in the lake. Everyone says it's totally creepy. Some kids at school sort of believe those stories. They never go anywhere near it.”
“Well, our group is named after Fear Street. That's why it's so great. We do scary, fun stuff all the time!” Amy leaned in toward me. She practically whispered
now. “I know you'd like it. Why don't you come to one meeting?”
“Well . . . ” I bit my lip. I didn't know anything about this club. Or anyone in it. But it
did
sound like fun! More fun than the girly Waynesbridge Scouts.
Should I join?
“We're looking for a new member,” Amy added. “You'd be
perfect.”
