Fearless (21 page)

“I don't think this actually qualifies as a lake. Swamp, maybe. Why is it so green?” She crinkled her nose in disgust, as if the lake had a bad smell. It didn't.

Everything smelled wonderful up here—like pine trees and fresh air. I took a deep breath and got a whiff of wild honeysuckle from an overgrown vine growing around the trees below us.

“It's green because . . . lakes are always green.” I thought the lake was a beautiful shade of green, not slimy or mossy. It was the same color as all the trees around it. There's absolutely nothing swampy about Pine Haven's lake.

A group of girls and parents were walking around the opposite side of the lake, and I strained my eyes to see if I recognized any of them. I couldn't wait to see my old friends, especially Maggie. I hadn't seen her since last summer.

Devon let out a bored sigh. “Okay, nice swamp. Let's go check out the pool now.”

I gritted my teeth. “Devon, there is no pool. We swim in the lake. I thought you knew that.”

She turned her head slowly and looked at me, her
mouth slightly open. The expression on her face looked like I'd told her a gigantic, girl-eating kraken lived in those waters. “No pool? There's . . .
no
. . .
pool
.” She emphasized each word carefully.

“How did you get the impression that Pine Haven has a pool?” I asked. “Didn't you look at the brochures I gave you? Or the website?”

Devon shrugged. “I might have glanced at the brochures once or twice, but when I went to the website and saw that there was a clock counting down the days till I'd be shipped off here . . .” She didn't even bother to finish the sentence.

Devon was wearing her two favorite wardrobe colors. She had on a black tank top and white shorts. I couldn't figure out why she dressed in black and white so much. Maybe because her hair was black and her skin was milky white. Next to Devon, my complexion was a warm caramel.

Personally, I made a point of never wearing black or white. Too blah for me. Today, for instance, I was wearing one red and one yellow Converse high-top. The best part about owning high-tops in assorted colors was that you could mix them up. As far as I was concerned, the more color, the better.

“Ready to see the rest of camp?” I asked.

“Chris, please wake me up from this nightmare. You can't be serious about there being no pool.”

“Devon, are you trying to make me mad? Because you're succeeding,” I warned her.

“Ooh, don't awaken the Hulk.” Devon knew not to push me to the limit.

All my family and friends were well aware of my temper. My mom was constantly telling me I needed to learn to control it, but I figured everyone else should try not to make me mad in the first place.

“Continue with the tour,” Devon said. “Any chance the Sistine Chapel is around the corner?”

We'd started walking through the trees, away from Lakeview Rock, when I stopped dead in my tracks and turned on her. “Are you going to spend the next four weeks complaining about your parents not taking you to Italy?” I snapped at her.

“Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I still can't believe my parents are forcing me to spend an entire month at some backwoods girls' camp in North Carolina when I could be visiting the Forum or the Colosseum with them!”

That explained why Devon hadn't bothered to look at the stuff I'd given her about Pine Haven; she'd been too busy looking at all her parents' travel brochures.

“Devon, you're here at camp, so do us both a favor and try not to drive me insane.”

Devon frowned. “Sorry. I'm not trying to drive you insane. The one good thing about this whole camp experience is that you're here with me, Chris. At least the two of us get to stick together the whole time, right?”

I smiled at her. “Right. Give Pine Haven a chance, okay? There might be some things you actually like.”

We walked up the road to where the bus was parked.

I'd gotten this nervous feeling when Devon's mom called my mom a couple of months ago and asked about Devon coming to camp with me this summer. Yes, we're best friends, but Devon is not the outdoorsy type. I think she might be allergic to nature. But her parents had planned this big European vacation that didn't include her or her older sister Ariana, so Ariana decided on a music camp, and Devon got shipped off to Pine Haven with me. I really did like the idea of Devon coming to camp with me, but I knew it would take her a while to get used to things around here.

“Okay, back behind those trees at the top of that hill is the climbing tower. It's really cool. Kind of
a combination climbing wall and wooden maze with netting and ropes and stuff. And this road leads
through camp and down to the stables.”

“Stables? You mean, like a barn? With cows?”

“No, not with cows! Horses. You know, for riding. Some people ride horses.”

It seemed like there were even more people wandering around now than when we first got off the bus, and I kept looking for Maggie everywhere in the crowd of parents, counselors, and arriving campers. I yelled and waved at Erin Harmon, but we were too far away to actually talk, and anyway, she was helping Melissa Bledsoe carry her stuff up the hill toward the cabins. I was about to tell Devon that we should grab our stuff too, when I heard someone calling me.

“Chris! Christina Ramirez!”

Rachel Hoffstedder, my counselor from last year, was trying to get through the crowd of people still standing around the bus.

“Rachel!” I ran up and gave her a hug. Devon hung back a few steps and waited.