He smiled his white teeth flashing against his tanned face Sumi and Suki sighed and fluttered their eyelashes Paisley rolled her eyes She grabbed their arms and pulled them away from Captain Mike The friends raced toward the cabins Whitney-Raelynn Sinclair was outside Cabin 3 whirling around stomping her feet and wailing at the top of her lungs She alternated between rubbing fiercely at her bare arms and slapping at her legs Her normally pin-straight glossy blond hair was knotted and tangled in a golden cloud around her head Get them off Get them off Get what off Sumi asked The bugs Whitney-Raelynn shrieked That’s when Paisley saw the tiny red bumps all over Whitney-Raelynn’s arms and legs What were you doing in the cabin she asked Nothing Whitney-Raelynn calmed down enough to stand still and glare at Paisley Paisley noticed something else So that dark stuff around your mouth is not chocolate from a candy bar Her cheeks reddened So what if it is I can’t possibly 8
survive eating that disgusting camp food of beans in a can or whatever it’s called I need sustenance So I’m going to hazard a guess that you’ve been sneaking candy bars in your bed since you got here Paisley said The evidence suggests that hypothesis is correct Ben said 9
What’s it to you You aren’t the camp police No I’m not Paisley said But I could have told you that food attracts ants Including fire ants And lots of them Apparently they needed sustenance too Sumi and Suki snickered Ugh Whitney-Raelynn shrieked She pointed at Paisley Somehow someway this is your fault Paisley shook her head No way I didn’t do anything to you Never trust Atoms They make up everything Whitney-Raelynn said using her favorite insult for Paisley Whitney-Raelynn thought this was so clever since atoms are the building blocks of matter Paisley just rolled her eyes Okay girls let’s take a break Serena Pendlebury said as she walked toward them She was the best camp counselor in the world as well as Paisley’s next-door neighbor back home in Roarington aka Boring Town USA She was super cool but she always made time for everybody even little kids Don’t worry I’ll take you straight to the camp nurse She’ll have some cream 10
to help with the stinging and itching Okay fine Just get me out of here Whitney Raelynn said Serena turned her gaze to Paisley and Ben Possibly weird question I was picking up pine cones in the woods for my Pinecone Critters art class I’m teaching this afternoon and I think I saw something strange Kookaburra Forest is a wilderness area but like we don’t have monkeys here do we There is no species of monkey that is indigenous to the United States Ben said Yeah Serena said slowly I thought so But this creature I saw I could’ve sworn it had a tail It was grayish-brown and hanging by its hands er paws from a tree branch She shook her head I must have been seeing things Yeah you must have Whitney-Raelynn snapped Now can I please receive some medical attention for the throbbing bites all over my body Of course Whitney Serena said with a sweet smile 11
