Rumors (13 page)

“We were wondering what you were writing in there,” I said. “What was so funny?”

I couldn't believe how calm I sounded. Here they were, right in front of me, holding this mysterious book that Laurel-Ann had spent so much time worrying about. And neither one of them seemed to care that I was with them.

“Oh, that's right. Your group didn't see it last time, did you?” said Katherine. “Here, take a look.” And just like that, she handed it to me. I stood there, holding it in my hands. The book. I was actually going to get a chance to see inside Katherine's book.

The cover was pink with yellow flowers, and across the front it said, “Happy Memories.” I opened it up slowly and flipped through the pages while my heart ticked away like a metronome set at 180. Definitely a presto tempo.

There was some writing inside, but mostly there were drawings. I looked at page after page. Lots of
drawings were of a man who was obviously Jerry—hiking with a backpack, standing on top of a mountain. All the pictures had funny captions.

I turned the pages to some other drawings. One picture was of our last campfire circle, with all of us sitting around it. A girl with braids was holding up a flaming marshmallow on a stick. The balloon caption coming out of her mouth said, “Is this overdone?”

Then there were drawings of Rachel and Lori. Rachel had a big smile on her face and was asking, “Do I smell wild honeysuckle?” Lori had a surprised look. “No, that's my new deodorant,” her balloon caption read.

A few pages had writing on them. Across the top, someone had written different questions. “What do you like best about Pine Haven?” and below it were answers. “Nothing.” “Being with my friends.” “Going on campouts and eating s'mores!”

“What do you like best about this campout?” another question asked. “Listening to Jerry's hiking stories.” “S'mores!!” “Listening to ghost stories.”

I turned the page. “Do you think Rachel and Jerry would make a cute couple?” “NO!” “Yes, they do!” “Sort of. But I don't think he's the romantic type!”

“Do you think Jerry's cute?” “YES!” “Eww! He's
sorta old, don't you think??” “He looks good for his age, though.”

“Oh, don't read that stuff!” said Brittany, looking over my shoulder. “We were just being silly.” She reached for the book, and I handed it back to her.

So that was all there was to it! Nothing about any of us!

I felt so relieved. “Funny drawings,” I commented. “Who's the artist?”

“Katherine,” said Brittany. “She's good, isn't she?”

“Hey, everyone. We should eat before it gets dark,” Rachel called out to us. “Come get your sack suppers.”

“Do you mean we're having peanut butter and honey sandwiches?” Erin asked.

“Yeah, doesn't that sound yummy?” said Rachel, throwing one arm around her shoulder and giving her a big squeeze.

Ashlin and Laurel-Ann came walking back, looking very dusty. Everyone had sat down in a big circle with their sacks, and there was a lot of grumbling over how these sandwiches couldn't compare to the campfire stew we'd had last time, but Jerry and Rachel took our minds off that by talking about our upcoming nighttime adventure.

“I have to tell you something,” I whispered to Laurel-Ann.
“After we finish eating, act like we're going to the latrine, okay?” She looked at me and nodded solemnly. Katherine was sitting across the circle from us, next to Jerry and Lori. She was totally focused on everything Jerry was saying, but I still didn't want to talk about the book in front of her.

As soon as we'd finished and gathered our trash, Laurel-Ann and I walked away together in the direction of the latrine.

Once we were far enough away from the group, I made my announcement. “You're never going to believe what I saw when you were gone. I saw the book!”

Laurel-Ann sucked in her breath. “You did? What did Katherine say about me?” She grabbed my arm and squeezed it so tight that the circulation was cut off.

“It didn't say anything! Honestly! It was mostly funny pictures that Katherine had drawn.”

“Were there any of me?” asked Laurel-Ann. In the fading light, I could barely see her face, but I could hear the worried tone of her voice.

“Only one. With your marshmallow on fire.” I described that picture and all the others I'd seen, along with the pages that had the different questions and comments. “Really, there was nothing bad in there at all. That's what they were laughing about last time—just
all those cartoons. Did you know she was such a good artist?”

“Are you sure? Are you positive there wasn't anything mean?” she asked.

“Yes, I am. I swear there's nothing bad in there at all. Trust me.”

Laurel-Ann slowly released the grip she had on my arm. “Okay. I guess that's good news, huh?” she asked, as if she wasn't exactly convinced.

“Of course. Now let's go back with the others and try to enjoy this overnight.”

What a relief. The book had turned out to be nothing, and now Laurel-Ann would stop worrying about it. The hike by moonlight to look for wildlife was going to be amazing! But the best thing about the whole night was that there wasn't going to be any more drama.

When we got back to the campsite, Jerry and Rachel broke us up into two groups. “It'll be easier for us to stay quiet that way. Remember, no talking. And no sudden movements if you do see anything,” Rachel instructed.

Natasha, Ashlin, Laurel-Ann, and I were in Rachel's group, and Jerry took Katherine, Brittany, Erin, and Lori in his group. We separated and went off in opposite directions across the meadow. It was now completely dark, but with a full moon out tonight, it was bright enough for us to see pretty easily. Rachel led the way, and she walked so slowly and quietly that the rest of us did the same thing.

When we came to a spot near some trees, we sat
down in the grass and waited. No one said a word, not even Laurel-Ann. I couldn't help thinking about how hard that must be for her, and I almost started to giggle.

I was amazed by how bright it really was in the moonlight. The grass of the meadow looked silvery, and every time the wind blew, it shimmered in the breeze. Since my eyes were used to being outside now, I could easily see everyone's face.

Natasha spotted something first. She nudged me because I was sitting beside her, and then she pointed toward the trees. Two dark forms moved across the ground.

Raccoons! Two raccoons had just climbed down from a tree and were now waddling out into view! We all exchanged excited looks. I could see Rachel's big grin. None of us moved a muscle.

The raccoons didn't seem to notice us. They scratched around in the grass, foraging for something. Their little white masks and black bandit eyes were very clear in the moonlight. I wished so badly for a camera. But the flash would've scared them away. So I sat still and stared, printing the image of them onto my memory.

We watched them for the longest time. They were just going about their business, looking for insects and
anything else they could find. Eventually they moved far enough away so that we couldn't see them anymore.

“That was amazing!” said Ashlin. “They were so adorable!”

“I know!” I agreed. We whispered excitedly about it until Rachel shushed us.

After that, not much happened. We waited and watched, but there wasn't anything to see. At least not any animals. But I still liked leaning back on my elbows and gazing up at the night sky. There were so many stars, and I could easily spot the Big Dipper and Little Dipper. The moon looked like a huge white orange hovering in the sky.

It was about that time that the deer came into view. Rachel got our attention, and then we saw several of them crossing the meadow. One, two—I counted five, I thought. Maybe six. It was hard to tell because they were moving in a group, staying close together. We were all so quiet that we could hear them rustling the grass as they moved. They would stop and hold their heads up, constantly on the lookout. Then they nibbled at the grass before moving on to another spot.

This was the most incredible night! It was so much fun to be out here in the moonlight, seeing animals in their natural habitat. We didn't see anything else after
that, but we were all so thrilled that we'd spotted both the raccoons and the deer.

When we met up with Jerry's group back at the campsite later, they'd had some encounters of their own. “We saw a skunk!” Brittany told us.

“Are you kidding? A skunk?” I asked.

“Yes! We were so scared it was going to squirt us, but we all kept really still.”

They'd also seen the deer, but they hadn't seen our raccoons. Jerry had seen a possum in a tree, but nobody else did, so they thought maybe he was teasing them.

“Jerry, are there bears around this part of North Carolina?” asked Katherine.

“Yeah, there sure are. Black bears. Why do you think we're so careful with the food and always hang it from a tree branch?” he said.

“Think we'll see a bear tonight?” asked Natasha. She glanced around nervously.

“Not if y'all make as much noise as you did the last time. We should be safe.”

After that, Rachel said it would be okay for us to tell ghost stories, so we got out flashlights and stretched out on our sleeping bags. We'd laid them out close together this time, not like last time, when we were in two separate groups. Katherine's book was getting
passed around so that everyone had a chance to see her drawings.

Laurel-Ann had just finished looking at the book when she passed it to me.

“Did you see these? They're so funny. I didn't even mind the picture of me with the flaming marshmallow! And I'm glad I got to see the picture of Rachel, the Amazing Snake Handler, since I missed the real thing.”

“Oh, I haven't seen the new drawings yet,” I said, taking the book from her.

I clicked on my flashlight and opened up the book, but then I realized I had it upside down. I turned it over and started reading.

“What do you think of Natasha?” “Do you mean El Shrimpo?” “She's not a shrimp, she's a mouse.” “Yeah, she acts like one too. Somebody should step on her.”

All around me, everyone was talking and laughing, but my eyes were glued to the words on the page. What was this? I flipped through the book and realized that all the pages I'd seen earlier were at the front.

Then there were lots of blank pages, which made you think you'd come to the end of all the writing and drawings. But then—then there were several pages near the very back of the book where there was more writing.

“What do you think of Ashlin?” “His parents should have sent him to Camp Crockett!” “I know! What a bad haircut!” “Looks just like a boy!”

I swallowed hard as I turned the next page. “What do you think of Laurel-Ann?”

“You mean the Mouth that swallowed Pine Haven?” “Ha! Exactly! She never shuts up!!” “She has no real friends. What a loser.”

My heart was tapping out staccato beats in my chest as I turned the page one more time. The last page had this question scrawled across the top. “What do you think of Kayla?” “Snobby rich girl.” “Very unfriendly. Thinks she's better than everyone else.” “My cat can play better piano than she can!”

I turned the page and there was nothing after that, just a few more blank pages at the end of the book.

But it didn't matter. I'd seen enough. I closed the book without saying a word.

I had no idea what time it was when I crawled out of my sleeping bag. I only knew that it was the middle of the night. I'd been lying awake for the longest time, listening to the sounds of everyone else sleeping around me.

I had to get out of there. I had to get away, because I felt like I was made of glass. And I was about to break into millions of pieces.

As soon as I was out of my warm sleeping bag, I started shivering, even though it was a warm night. I'd been sleeping in my clothes, like everyone else, and luckily, I'd left my shoes next to my sleeping bag, so I slipped them on and tiptoed away.