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
summer playing basketball softball and ball hockey at a place with better coaches and facilities Oh hey Nicole Hi Makayla Miles reddened We weren’t saying anything Funny Nicole pressed because it seemed like you were saying the girls teams deserve the same reputation as the boys before we even get a chance to prove ourselves ourselves And what reputation do the boys teams have said Andre finally arriving on the scene and dropping his gear onto the ground by the bleachers Mack closed his eyes tight and rubbed his brow Oh I don’t know she said Maybe the reputation of proudly shouting about being number two Guilty as charged Pat said before Andre gave him a withering stare Yeah we shout that Andre said returning his attention attention to Nicole but we won the baseball tournament last summer We get to shout whatever we like Nicole rolled her eyes That makes as much sense as calling your tournament all-camp when you don’t even include Clearwater First of all it’s not our tournament It’s been running running since before we were born Andre protested And second does Clearwater even have a baseball program
Well no Nicole blushed We don’t didn’t have any competitive programs But it still would’ve been nice to be asked Mack put his thumb and index finger in his mouth and whistled loudly drawing focus away from the fight I knew it was a bad idea to leave the waterfront he shouted at the sky Then he turned to his friends Andre you played a great game and you don’t have to fight a stupid fight started by Pat That’s right Pat shouted You’re getting in the way of my one-liners And Nicole Mack continued Pat didn’t mean any harm Well he did but no more than he inflicts on the rest of us all day long He’s just trying to get under your skin Nicole looked at Pat True he admitted We all know you competitive kids care only about winning now which I still don’t understand Like there’s a speedboat and water skis literally a five-minute walk from here Mack added And I mean why spend all school year stuck in class listening to adults only to come to summer camp and listen to adults Mack You’re losing your train of thought Miles shouted bringing him back to Earth The point is you’re not competing against each other Mack blurted Can we be cool
