through an active ropes course craning his neck and fruitlessly scanning the dense canopy of trees for any sign of his rocket Look out Miles saw a life pass before his eyes just not his own life Instead it belonged to a kid on a zip line who missed him by inches Look Oof Apparently Pat wasn’t so lucky with the next zip liner Miles heard the two kids land in a heap but he didn’t slow his own momentum While Pat stumbled to his feet Miles dropped to the ground and slid full speed under a climbing wall then sprang up to continue running There it is he shouted as he emerged back into open air and regained sight of the rocket But as the ball-hockey court came into view across a large green space the boys heard a cheer rise up and saw what seemed like a hundred kids gathered around the boards What’s with all these people Pat asked A thought dawned on Miles Maybe it’s the Hortonia kids There were four big sports camps in the area Camp Killington specialized in baseball Roundrock dominated 4
in basketball And Hortonia lived and breathed ball hockey Camp Average didn’t have a sports specialty and it showed in how its teams rarely won at anything hence the name But this year the kids who went there were still one up on Hortonia who didn’t have a camp Still can’t believe they’re staying in our lodge Pat grunted between breaths The winter was so bad and lasted so long they couldn’t finish the renovations they started last fall Miles panted Where do you expect them to go I don’t know Pat wheezed Somewhere else Any where but here There are so many options As the pair approached the court Miles alternated between fresh terror and relief At its current trajectory the rocket was going to land on the court But at least there was only one person on it But that person was Garth Fortin Miles knew Garth from the junior-camp baseball tour nament two summers earlier He was the pitcher on the Hortonia team and he had harassed Miles’s friend Mack at a camp social before Pat had stepped in to break things up At the moment Garth was lining up a slap shot in the far end of the court the same end the rocket now just twenty feet from the ground had chosen for its landing 5
Wait Miles shouted jumping over the boards at the opposite end But Garth was already winding up seemingly unaware of the rocket about to set down between him and his target In his peripheral vision Miles caught a glimpse of his friends at the side of the court The stricken looks on their faces told him everything he needed to know The rocket was as good as gone Garth brought his plastic hockey stick down with elec trifying speed WHACK Miles cringed as the orange ball hurtled through the air And missed his rocket by an inch The object of Miles’s affection the item he’d spent weeks building to exact specifications simply twisted in the air as it fell the final two feet to earth landing safely on the bluish-gray concrete court Fifty-three miles per hour a deep-voiced adult shouted into a megaphone We have a winner Miles barely registered this as he tore past a flexing fist-pumping Garth First inspecting then lifting then nuzzling the rocket with his cheek he walked off the court toward his waiting friends who didn’t seem nearly as relieved as he was 6
Oh Miles said Nicole Yen his friend from back home She had started coming to Camp Average the summer before when it had finally been opened up to girls I’m so sorry What Miles asked examining the object in his arms The rocket is fine Not a scratch on it Not the rocket explained Makayla Monroe Nicole’s best friend The cabin What about the cabin asked Pat sidling up to the two girls Does ours need renovations too Do we have to go live in the Hortonia lodge Not exactly said Willy Wi-Fi Reston squeezing between Nicole and Makayla an ability he had gained only the summer before having finally overcome an all but-crippling fear of physical contact with girls But the reality isn’t much better Miles’s analytical gaze bounced around his friends anx ious faces Will someone please tell me what’s going on Before he got an answer Garth brushed by his shoul der and hopped over the boards See you later roomie he called as he walked away Roomie Miles thought sneeringly That’ll be the The small boy’s eyeballs nearly popped out of his skull No Setting her voice to maximum soothe Nicole reminded 7
