CHAPTER 1 We were two weeks into my fifth year at Camp Mon Mon Lake Some of the best parts of summer were still ahead Color War the hiking and canoeing trip the Tri-Camp Games the Group Show and Brother-Sister Day with Eagle Rock the boys camp Being the super-competitive twelve-year-old twelve-year-old girl that I am I loved it all And I think I loved it more than ever this year because it meant I wouldn’t be at home
My parents had been fighting a lot during the past few months huge blowouts over really stupid things Maybe Dad would lose his keys and he would start grumbling Then within a few minutes he and Mom would be screaming at each other Or Mom would get totally angry if Dad was running late and she’d completely lose her cool The whole year was like that So my older brother Zac and I were more excited than usual to go to camp just to get away from everything at home We counted down the days till our buses left Even though I usually jump right in and share my every thought about everything I didn’t want anyone at camp to know about what was going on at home I wanted everyone to think I was the same Emily that I’d always been I worried that if they knew they’d treat me differently And then there
would be endless questions about whether I’m okay Instead I wanted to talk about swimming times Backward Day campfires and especially pranking my counselor I love to test the rules That’s what makes camp so much fun Susannah has been a total buzzkill for the past two weeks Since when do counselors make the twelve and thirteen-year-olds stay in the bunk for rest I asked my bunkmates during our mandatory rest hour In my bunk were Nina and Claire who I had been with for the past four years and Zoe and MJ who were new We all got along great and our only big issue had been an argument between MJ and Zoe See
Zoe’s dad is a super-famous rock star and she didn’t want anyone at camp to know MJ figured it out and wrote home about it and when Zoe found out she got mad But being the total loudmouth that I am I helped fix it all by telling Zoe that everyone knew her dad was famous and it wasn’t a big deal Susannah’s only following the rules Claire said Was she actually defending our counselor That’s the point Goody Two-shoes I said She’s treating us like we’re babies The other Blue Jay bunks don’t have to stay in for an hour during rest time True Nina responded They go wherever they want after lunch Plus when MJ got that package that had gum balls in it Susannah took them I complained That was pretty obnoxious MJ said I mean
