Camp Firefly Sisters, Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Sixteen
There could only be one thing Alex was referring to.
Though I had only met her a few days ago, it was still embarrassing for a girl my sister’s age to know that all it took was a camper tee for me to believably pass as a thirteen year old. She and Mckenna got along so well, too. Based on that, as well as the amused look on Alex’s face, I doubted that her knowledge of my real age was going to be helpful.
“I don’t know,” I muttered. On the slim chance that Alex was referring to something else, I didn’t want to blurt out the wrong thing.
Thankfully, she didn’t feel the need to be all coy about it. “Kenna claims you’re actually her older sister. But you decided that being a camper would be more fun than being a counselor, or something. I think it’s cute.”
Well, she was being a little coy. Still somewhat treating it like a rumor, when we both knew that it was true. Unless this was her verifying it for herself, if she thought Mckenna was screwing with her. Except it would be easy to prove with my wallet, unless that was still back at home. I had no idea when Mckenna had taken that from my bag.
Not wanting to outright admit it, I just tried to find the maturity I had in my actual life. This was really the first opportunity I had to be myself, not counting the interactions with my sister. “If I’m not really a camper, you need to tell someone,” I said. Wasn’t that the responsibility of a counselor like her? It wasn’t appropriate to shove me into a cabin with a bunch of younger girls. God knows it had been awkward trying to find appropriate times to shower and change, while also averting my gaze and keeping my distance when my bunkmates did the latter in the cabin itself.
“But, you are a camper,” Alex said, “Registered for Camp Firefly, wearing your year’s t-shirt, and you’ve been doing the same activities as all the other girls.”
“Only because Mckenna tricked me!” I groaned, “She said I was going to be a counselor. Not . . . this.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything? An older girl would have explained everything on her first day. Sounds to me like you’re just making up stories. Trust me, you’re not the first Firefly to try to talk their way out of camp. I’ve heard it all.”
“I did say something!” I said. So much for sounding mature. My voice wasn’t nearly as calm as hers, which wasn’t doing me any favors. This wasn’t the first time someone had mentioned the thing about campers trying to get out of the camp experience their parents had signed them up for, but what Alex just said made no sense at all. Why assert the truth, if no one was going to believe me anyway? Now, even when one of the counselors presumably knew my actual identity, she was mostly treating me in the same dismissive manner the others had back then. Just with a knowing smile, and an attitude that was reminiscent of Mckenna’s teasing demeanor.
Alex just shrugged. “Well, you look like a camper to me. Definitely Kenna’s younger sister. When did she hit her growth spurt? End of middle school? Give it another year, and maybe you’ll catch up to her.”
That was never going to happen! There was a good chance I was done growing, unless I was belatedly blessed with a little extra height and/or curves. It was impossible to ‘catch up’ when she was actually my younger sister.
“Look, can we just-” I started to say, until Alex cut me off.
“Maddie, shush,” she said, “How about this? Because I’m an amazing counselor, I’ll let you skip the rest of lunch. You can have the cabin all to yourself if you need to freshen up or whatever.”
Annoyingly enough, I was immediately tempted to take her up on that. It was better than showering at the crack of dawn, plus I’d be able to avoid that stupid challenge I had only agreed to out of peer pressure. As if I’d actually follow through on not using one of the few facilities available in the middle of the woods. The bathrooms weren’t that great to begin with, though the alternative was obviously worse.
That, and I was still wearing the one piece as ‘underwear,’ complete with the sand that was starting to irritate me down there from how long I had been stuck with it.
At the same time, this was another way Alex was telling me that she believed Mckenna. While there were probably a number of other campers who would enjoy the kind of privacy I was being offered, I could tell it was to give me a chance to take care of my business without the awkwardness of being around a bunch of campers.
“Well?” Alex asked. “What’s it going to be?”
Umm. I wasn’t ready to be put on the spot like that. While it could easily have been for the sake of pressuring me to drop whatever thoughts or arguments were forming, she was also responsible for the other campers as well. Similar to how Mckenna had a habit of keeping things brief when she was also dealing with counselor stuff.
“Fine. Whatever,” I muttered. Yes, I could use ten or twenty minutes to myself. But I wasn’t going to act like Alex was doing me a favor, when she was capable of doing so much more. Like, I don’t know, telling one of the few adults around that I was supposed to be working as a counselor?
Actually, I wasn’t sure when I last saw someone older than the counselors around. With my limited Camp Firefly knowledge, I wasn’t sure how leadership worked beyond running activities for the campers.
“You’re welcome,” Alex smiled, rolling her eyes at my lack of enthusiasm, “The next activity starts in thirty minutes. Better hop to it! I’m guessing you’ll have company before then.”
Right. Any number of girls could swing by the cabin after lunch to change or grab something they needed.
As much as I wanted to push for more than a shower, that was the very thing that would put me in a better state to stand up for myself.
So I headed back to Circle B, also justifying my lack of trying harder with the fact that Alex was clearly on Mckenna’s side. I’d have better luck with a counselor who wasn’t as close with my sister. Not that I had found any success with any of that since the first day.
Taking Alex’s advice, I grabbed my toiletries and hurried to the bathroom. I obviously wasn’t about to commit to the bullshit dare about embracing nature to the point of pissing outside and showering in the lake. At the same time, I was stuck with the bunkmates who had issued the challenge; being caught would complicate my living situation for as long as I was stuck as a camper.
The water was lukewarm, anyway. Not the kind of shower that made me want to take my time, whether I was rushed or not. Taking off the one piece had been such a relief, as was rinsing all the sand away. Unfortunately, I hadn’t dealt with it soon enough. Upon inspecting myself down there, I could see that there was a decent amount of red skin around my crotch and upper thighs from all the chafing. Great. I didn’t have any kind of lotion or cream or anything for that, when I was limited to pretty much just soap and deodorant.
There wasn’t any time to dwell on that. I quickly washed and rinsed my hair, then scrubbed my body both thoroughly and efficiently. While the sand was clearly a concern, I had also been sweating a lot more than I was used to. This is the longest I had ever gone without AC, or even a fan for that matter. It didn’t cool off nearly enough at night to offset a day full of activities in the summer sun.
When I turned the water off, I could hear two girls chatting somewhere on the other side of the curtain. By the sinks, maybe. Alex was right about how I wasn’t the only one who would head to our circle between lunch and the following activity. It wasn’t that big of a deal, as I had brought fresh clothes with me; I wasn’t about to walk all the way back to the cabin in a towel.
Except those clothes weren’t there. As I could see upon cracking the curtain enough to reach for my things, all that was there was the small wooden bench where I had left the pile of folded clothes. That, and an empty hanger that no longer had my towel on it.
“Hey!” I called out, “That’s not funny. Bring my stuff back.”
There was no way of knowing whether or not this was the doing of the girls from my cabin, or just two campers who decided to pull a prank on a girl when the opportunity presented itself. The pink one piece was pretty distinct, and I had hung that up as well after rinsing all the sand out of it. So, either way, they could know that I was the one in there.
Unfortunately, there was also no good way to sound serious when standing there naked, still dripping from the shower I had just ended.
All I heard in response was a fit of giggles, followed by the sound of fading footsteps.
“HEY!!” I shouted. Other than my own voice echoing off the bathroom walls, there was no answer. Did they actually just take my clothes?! Nothing like that had ever happened to me, even when I was younger. It was so immature, and so many other things, and I didn’t know what to do next.
Ask for help from the next girl that stepped into the bathroom, while hoping her instinct would be to offer assistance when she could just as easily be amused by the situation? That was a chance I wasn’t eager to take.
Another idea was to wait until the next block of activities started, to guarantee that no one was around before I started streaking back to the cabin. The issue with that was how the counselors took their jobs seriously when it came to attendance. If a girl on their list was missing, and no one in the group of campers knew where I was, it could turn into a whole thing.
Every minute I waited was another minute any number of girls could be heading back to Circle B. The clearing didn’t have much cover, and my cabin was on the other side of the fire pit.
I gave a hopeful yank to the shower curtain, only to find that the metal rings were annoyingly stubborn. The material of the curtain itself wouldn’t be easy to rip, either.
Was this seriously happening to me right now? I had never been outside naked before. Ever. There were plenty of indoor dares I had suffered through, but nothing like this.
Poking my head out, making sure that the bathroom was still empty, I hesitantly stepped out of the privacy of the stall. Instead of making a run for it, I took a minute to look around the other showers. No luck. Something as simple as a towel that a girl forgot would have solved most of the problem, as I could suffer through walking back to the cabin with a towel wrapped around my body.
I needed to move. The bathroom was the one place I would be guaranteed to be seen if someone walked in and I was standing there exposed. Daunting as it was to think about going outside, at least I’d have a better sense of who was around.
Darting towards the door, pausing long enough to check that no one was within view, I left the sanctuary of the bathroom. The first thing I did was circle around to the other side of the small building, hiding back there so I could get a better look of Circle B without being seen.
Why did I ever think Camp Firefly was a good idea? Putting aside everything Mckenna did, I was hardly an outdoorsy girl. Like how every step I took made me grimace as my bare feet came into contact with dirt, grass, and whatever else I was stepping on. I was always more comfortable in shoes; sandals, at the bare minimum.
And then there was my nudity. One of my arms was firmly wrapped around my chest, while the other remained covering my crotch. It wasn’t nearly enough. The moment someone spotted me, it would be obvious that I didn’t have a stitch of clothing on. And there was nothing to do about my ass being on display.
Surprisingly, whatever girls took my things weren’t around to enjoy the fallout. Perhaps they were already on their way to their next activity, or took more pleasure in the prank itself than anything else. That, or they didn’t want to get caught.
I could only stall for so long. Circle B itself was quiet, and empty. There was no accounting for the cabins and who might be in them, and I was still aware of how every second I waited was another second lost. For all I knew, any number of campers were on their way from the mess hall.
So, after taking a big breath for courage, I made a run for it.