Camp Firefly Sisters, Chapter Twelve
Chapter Twelve
Madeline
When everyone was gathered by the lake, Alex stood on one of those makeshift podiums so those farther back could see her. “Good morning, Fireflies!” she exclaimed. Her enthusiastic energy was met with mixed results; clearly I wasn’t the only girl who was a little cold. Even Bailey seemed less peppy than usual as she found our group after breakfast. Alex didn’t seem deterred by the lack of energy. “If you’re not awake now, the lake will get you there,” she teased, “And remember, this is a ranked game. Better bring your best! Especially those of you below bronze.”
The actual event was a relay race of sorts. Each circle of girls would be split into three groups; the first had to canoe across the lake, the second would run the trail on the other side and pick up an unspecified item to bring back to the shore, and the last group would swim it back to the starting point. Alex then went on to explain why we were all in swimsuits, even though it sounded like only a third of the campers would actually end up in the water. “But you can’t have the same role twice,” she said, “Running in the first round means you have to swim or canoe next time. If you aren’t eliminated, that is.”
Since a three-part race would take longer than a game of Dodgeball, it wasn’t something as elaborate as double elimination. The six circles of girls would be split in half, for two rising 6th vs. rising 7th vs. rising 8th pairings. There would be only one winner from each race, who would then compete for first and second place. Then, the other four circles would compete for third through sixth afterwards.
As in, everyone would participate twice. I could see the intention behind the way Alex designed it. Camp activities were supposed to be fun for everyone, and this made it so the losing teams weren’t left out. After hearing the explanation, all I really cared about was not swimming. For once, I was grateful to be wearing a one piece, as running in a bikini wouldn’t be nearly as comfortable. Paddling a canoe couldn’t be that difficult.
After sharing one or two more details, as well as reminding everyone of where each circle currently stood in the rankings, Alex gave us a few minutes to break off into our circles and figure out who was doing what.
One of the Circle B girls who had been an unofficial leader of our Dodgeball team yesterday took charge in a similar way. She had the strong runners and swimmers raise their hands, pointing out that those would be the two parts that really made a difference. Ally, from our cabin, stepped up and said in a hushed tone, “You know . . . We could have all of our best girls start. Winning the first round guarantees us at least second place.”
It was a pretty good strategy, honestly. Losing the first round meant that we’d have to try our very best just to get third place. The one problem with playing it safe like that was that we’d be less likely to win, which is what I needed to do in order to get out of this ‘camper’ mess. “Shouldn’t we go for first place?” I spoke up. Public speaking normally came more naturally to me, when it was with my friends and classmates. And yet, I felt a little self conscious when everyone turned my way. “I mean- We’ll never get the trophy if we play it safe. Right?” I had heard about that stupid trophy so many times since arriving; surely that was more enticing than simply being second or third at the end of camp.
“We can go for first tomorrow,” Bailey countered, “When there isn’t a way to game the system. Better to stay in the running for first place than let everyone else catch up. And maybe we’ll get lucky in the second round.”
She was talking to everybody, though I caught a glimpse of something on her face when she looked at me. Was she annoyed at me for something? I really didn’t care about the opinion of a bunch of younger girls that I would never see again, but Bailey had at least made things easier than they could have been since our arrival.
It didn’t take long for the group to reach a consensus about trying our collective best in the first round, and no one was going to listen to a new camper about competing properly. While a handful of other girls agreed with me, we were easily outnumbered by those that liked the idea of taking the second place points and playing the long game.
Maybe another team had the same idea, and we’d end up facing off against them in the second round. I was still going to hold out hope that we’d win against the older girls, since the alternative was another 24 hours of being a Firefly.
Once the plan was settled, it was simple enough to divide everybody by their strengths. I didn’t need to be told that I was one of the weaker links, along with two or three other girls that weren’t the most athletic. We were split up between the two canoes we’d be taking, so those not running or swimming could carry us through the first leg of the event.
A few minutes later, Alex and the other counselors collected the two thirds of each group that were later in the relay triathlon, as they all needed to be set up on the opposite side of the lake before we got started.
Circle B was up first, thankfully. I’d rather get our turn over with, instead of standing around waiting. If our strategy worked, we’d also get more of a breather between rounds to figure out how to rotate teammates between the three options.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to be able to avoid the water altogether; getting into the canoe required stepping into the lake. It was summer, so the water wasn’t that bad. Still, it was a lot more chilly than I would have liked.
Shivering slightly, still feeling self conscious from how pretty much every other girl was wearing a more mature bathing suit than mine, I climbed into the middle of the canoe along with another girl who was there to be carried by the teammates who actually had experience on the lake. I didn’t know anybody around me, which made things a little awkward. All my cabinmates were stronger when it came to the other two legs of the event, and were currently getting organized in the distance.
Once everyone was ready, Alex counted down from the shore. As soon as she said GO, I regretted being in this part of the race. Between the paddling of our own team, as well as the groups on either side of us, there was all kinds of splashing as everyone raced to get the canoes moving.
“Maddie!! Come on!” The girl behind me snapped. I had been too busy gasping and tensing up from the cold water hitting my body in various places to do anything but sit there until I was reminded to actually participate. Great. Now I was the weakest link, when the camper next to me had actually been contributing as well as she could.
As I started paddling, I belatedly thought about how I didn’t know the names of anyone around me, yet at least one girl knew mine. Because I was one of the new girls, maybe, or memorable from my weak performance at Dodgeball. Either way, I couldn’t really focus on that when I was struggling to keep up with the pace of my teammates.
Our strategy didn’t seem to be working so well so far; as far as I could tell, all the canoes were making similar progress. I had no idea how the counselors judging us were going to be able to keep track of the transition between the first and second leg of the race. Each girl was supposed to tag a different girl’s hand before she could start running, and the teammates waiting for us weren’t allowed to take a single step into the water.
It was total chaos when we reached the shore. As the campers in our canoe started jumping out, myself and one or two others nearly fell over from how off balance we were while attempting to do the same. This time, I actually knew the girl who was impatiently waiting for me to catch up with everyone else. “Maddie! Hurry!” Rachel yelled at me.
Flushing as I realized I was the very last girl out of the water, I rushed forward and slapped her hand.
She darted after the rest of our team, at which point I processed that the counselors were telling those of us who were done to get out of the way and observe from a spot that had been sectioned off for us.
Okay. At least I was done. The silver lining of going first was that I didn’t have to worry about participating again until the next round. Hopefully I could be in the running group, which was the best place for me anyway. I wasn’t a particularly strong swimmer, which was a weakness that would ideally keep me out of the lake. Being splashed so badly was uncomfortable enough, and all I could do was air dry at this point.
As we waited on the sidelines, the counselors stepped in to drag the canoes aside to make room for the girls who would soon be swimming. Aside from that, there really wasn’t much for us to observe while the girls currently competing were out of sight.
While our team’s showing in the first leg wasn’t that impressive, putting all of our best runners in the same group actually made a difference. Bailey, Rachel, and plenty of other girls I barely recognized were sprinting back towards the lake. The item they had each retrieved was simply a relay baton. Way less weird or cumbersome than the girls around me had been speculating about, though still not the most convenient thing to swim with.
The girls around me all started cheering, in that same shrill way they had during Dodgeball. I forced a smile and half-assed my own encouragement from the sidelines, reminding myself that winning was good. Paige had given me her word. Though she had been a total brat about all of this, I was pretty sure she wouldn’t lie to my face. If anything, she was probably assuming from experience that the oldest campers tended to do the best at these events.
It was still a pretty close race. While we had a small lead, the rising 8th girls weren’t too far behind. From so far away, it was difficult to tell who had won, especially since the rules were that every single girl had to make it fully out of the water for that circle to claim the victory. Baton in hand, too.
We were escorted around the lake by the counselors on our side, while the next round of campers crossed paths with us as they were taken the opposite direction. As we approached the starting area, the enthusiasm of Ally and the other girls who had been swimming for our team clued the rest of us into the fact that we managed to win the first round.
The celebration didn’t last long, however. Not when we had to figure out how to split Circle B up for the next round. The same ‘leader’ as before–her name was either Cora or Clara–pointed out that we didn’t have to stay in the same groups as before. As long as no one repeated what they just did, we could pick and choose who went where.
Bailey was also one of the unofficial leaders of our group, and she started separating everyone into tentative sections. There was a lot of overlap between the runners and swimmers, and the collective desire to win was stronger than the need to be sensitive about those less athletic. I was put into what might as well have been called the ‘last pick group’ with a handful of other campers. “Wait here,” Bailey said, “We’ll figure out what to do with you in a minute.” Before turning her attention to the others, she gave a little tug to one of my pink straps. Letting it snap back to my shoulder after a second, she smiled and said, “Cute swimsuit, by the way. My younger sister has one just like it!”
It wasn’t quite ‘mean girl’ energy, but it was slightly more pointed than I was used to Bailey being. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. In her defense, I did look ridiculous in the bright pink one piece. Could I really blame her for subtly teasing me? Even when I really was thirteen, I would never have worn something like this.
Most of the weak links, including myself, were eventually put into the second group. The logic was that we’d pair the slowest runners with the fastest swimmers. Worst case scenario, the main plan already worked and we secured second place; now we’d just try our best to beat whatever circle we’d be racing against for the gold.
The results of the round happening while we were getting organized was a bit more predictable. One of the rising 8th teams beat the others, and were given a break to strategize like we had been doing. And, of course, to save the most important race for last. Meanwhile, the rest of the campers had to sort things out with each other a lot more quickly as the counselors reset everything.
Since our team already had our plan figured out for the most part, we could sit back and relax for a little bit. While some of the girls started talking about overall trophy scores, since the nearby circle was different from the one that had won the Dodgeball tournament, Bailey and Rachel pulled me aside.
“So, Maddie,” Bailey said, getting right to it once we were a small distance away from the rest of the girls, “You’ve been here for, like, two days. And you still haven’t been initiated as a new camper.”
“That’s right,” Rachel nodded, “It’s a Camp Firefly tradition. And it’s the responsibility of your cabinmates to initiate you.”
So, hazing, kind of? That had been my first instinct after figuring out that I was being treated like a camper by everyone. Except that would have been counselor/counselor stuff. I never stopped to think about how something similar might happen with new girls via returning campers.
I didn’t get a chance to ask about it before Bailey bounced off Rachel’s brief explanation. “All you have to do is make it through one challenge from each girl,” she said, “And Rachel’s going to go first.”
“I’ll start you off easy,” Rachel smiled, “You do get one pass. Don’t waste it. Anyway, here’s what you have to do right now for us . . . ”