Mack cast the director a quick sideways glance then returned his attention to the field to see Andre tap his foot on home plate The home run made the score 4 1 For Killington Despite Andre’s obvious greatness at the plate and on the mound the famous baseball camp would not be denied this year A few minutes and three outs later the game was over and Killington had reclaimed the coveted trophy Mack and Miles stood to clap for their team’s efforts and took a step onto the field from the bleachers The summer before Winston had thrown a major curveball of his own by rewriting the campers schedules and making competitive sports mandatory That meant Mack and Miles got drafted onto the baseball team even though they’d signed up for other things and Mack had responded by organizing a camp-wide revolt The epic battle ended in a stalemate with Mack and Winston each getting only part of what they’d wanted But this year to Mack’s relief there had been more than enough participants for all competitive sports So he and Miles now twelve years old and in their last summer as junior campers had gone back to their first loves water sports and rocketry respectively On the diamond Andre a tall athletic boy with dark
skin and black hair pulled his green-and-yellow Oakland A’s cap low over his eyes and left the dugout to congratulate congratulate the winning team Mack watched his friend shuffle through the handshake line until one of the Killington players grabbed his hand tightly stopping him in place The boy was even taller than Andre and had broader shoulders than any coach on the field Deets Mack whispered under his breath Terry Dietrich was baseball royalty because of both what he could do on the field and who he was related to His uncle was Jeffrey Dietrich the former Major League Baseball star whose talent had solidified Killington’s baseball reputation Around these parts Terry went by his uncle’s nickname Deets and he was so good no one would ever tell him he didn’t deserve it What’s he saying Mack asked no one in particular as Deets leaned in close to whisper something to Andre Miles squinted through his glasses at the two boys holding up the handshake line I might be seeing things but it looks like he said There’s always a pot of stew at Killington Is he offering him lunch Is that a baseball thing Mack eyed his friend skeptically Okay maybe I need to revisit my lip-reading book Miles conceded
As Andre finally pulled away from Deets to continue on down the row two other Camp Average players finished finished slapping hands and bumping fists and made a beeline for Mack and Miles We’re number two again yelled a smiling Patrick Meyer the team’s starting catcher with right fielder Nelson Ramos in tow We’re number two again You can stop chanting that now Pat Nelson winced at the sound of the slightly updated unofficial camp slogan We got the point two weeks ago Hey never let a good joke die New Money Pat replied using Nelson’s camp nickname And besides is it not still accurate despite all the changes After the baseball team’s big win the year before Camp Average became the most talked-about sports camp in the area As soon as summer was over Winston got promoted to overall director and started in with his modifications He’d created two streams for campers competitive for kids who wanted to be challenged athletically and other for kids who didn’t want to be challenged at all Enrolment skyrocketed When the current summer started every available spot was filled with elite athletic clay for Winston and his coaches to mold The only problem The molding hadn’t yielded results
None of the teams facing off against other camps had had any major success not in ball hockey golf tennis or anything else The junior baseball team had made the tournament final but that was as good as things had got Well we’re not all number two Miles challenged Pat The girls teams are definitely number one Pat laughed That’s only because they have no one to play Winston had recognized that there was a lack of options for elite girl athletes in the area And that had led to his other major off-season move building a new row of cabins and opening Camp Average to girls for the first time ever But despite the talent the girls teams showed that same lack of options meant they had no one to pit themselves themselves against That may be true Mack told Pat but don’t let Nicole hear you talk like that Talk like what a voice asked The boys turned to see Nicole Yen Mack and Miles’s friend from back home approaching from the other end of the bleachers with her pal Makayla Munroe In previous previous years both had gone to Camp Clearwater across the lake but they’d jumped at the chance to spend the
