Page 98 of Banter & Blushes #1

AMELIE

I t was Friday, our last day at Camp Cliff Walk, and Mr. JC was filling in for Meggie all day again ’cause she’s getting married tomorrow!

In the morning, he took us on a big yellow bus to Acadia National Park to see the harbor seals.

He said he was friends with one of them, but I couldn’t be sure if he was fibbing or not.

But she did bark at him when he called her Pepper.

Mr. JC barked back, and we all laughed. He told us to try it because barking like a seal wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

Then Bianca told us that her Auntie Molly had the best seal bark and it sounded real!

Hallie and Harlan told us they heard it and it was definitely the best. Then we all tried.

We were not very good at all, but we sure had fun trying!

It was more fun than potato sack races and ziplining and even the mini sticks game we played with Flynn’s group during our sports rotations yesterday.

His group was our partner group. We each got paired up with a big kid for sports and some other activities.

Me and Isla were on the same team, and we won!

On the bus ride back to camp, I added harbor seals to the “Animals” list in my camp diary.

I had so many lists! My favorite one was all the new words I learned from our new friends, like bubblah—that’s what they call a water fountain you drink from; pockabook—a purse!

—jimmies, which are chocolate sprinkles, and fluffahnuttuh.

Those were sandwiches with peanut butter and marshmallow Fluff. So yummy !

When we got back to the pavilion, Monty was there! That man was so silly. He and my daddy are friends. They prank each other a lot. Once, Monty made our hot tub into a koi pond! That was after Daddy filled his truck with birdseed.

Monty even pranked our RV. On the first night of our trip, me and Amelie’s Frozen sheets were Ridgie the Bear sheets!

Ridgie is Daddy’s team’s mascot, and Monty is the guy in the suit.

Then, when Wynnie pulled back the blankets to go to sleep in her bed, her blue sheets were gone and there was a white one with Monty’s picture on it instead!

It was as big as him—and he was only wearing shorts!

He should have been here yesterday for the Oreos we brought for the kids.

Daddy helped us scrape out the cream and fill them with white mint toothpaste.

It was really funny when the kids took their first bite. And Noah almost threw up!

Daddy and Monty were so crazy! Their prank war gave me an idea.

I would tell Isla and the other kids during the afternoon snack.

Group 1 always sat at the picnic table closest to the barn.

I waited until Mr. JC and Noah went to talk to Kat and Jamie in the paddock.

Monty was helping give Group 2 their snacks so no grown-ups could hear me. “We need to prank Flynn and Meggie!”

“Oh! Yes!” Isla agreed. “How?”

“Remember Rilla carrying the cake?” She nodded. “We’re reading a book, and the little girl carried a cake.” I explained to the kids about Rilla from our story. “And we can hide the cake tonight!”

Paisley looked unconvinced. “What’s tonight?”

“It’s the rehearsal dinner party on the beach,” Bianca said. “Remember? For the wedding?”

“Oh yeah! I forgot that was tonight! I have a new dress! And a new one for the wedding, too!” she beamed.

“You’re all going to be there, right?” Everyone nodded their heads. “Good. Rehearsal cakes are small, so me and Isla can carry it. We need a place to hide it on the beach.”

“I know!” Bianca said. “I can get the key to the shack from my daddy. There’s a snack freezer in there. We can put it on top.”

“And we can leave a clue on the table!” Hallie said. “How about … ‘Roses are red, violets are blue, we love you so much, so we had to prank you!’”

“Oooh, that’s perfect!” I exclaimed.

“My sister is so smart,” Harlan said. “She can write the poem, and at the bottom she can write a really small sentence that says where it is so they don’t worry.”

“Yes!” I said. “Shh! Monty is coming!”

We all got super quiet and smiled up at Monty. He raised his eyebrows and leaned down onto the table, putting his chin on his hands and sniffing. We giggled.

“I smell trouble,” he said. “Eight kids going silent, all at once? Very sus.”

“We’re just being polite,” Isla said. “It would be rude if we kept talking when you came over.”

Nice! I thought. Isla was a quick thinker.

“Mm-hmm,” Monty hummed. He stood up and stuck out two fingers, pointed them to his eyes and then toward us. “I’ll be watching you. And tell your dad I enjoyed the splattered yarn egg on my windshield.”

I held my breath until he was far enough away, then Amelie and I burst into giggles. Last night, Daddy had asked Mr. Jack to help him connect the long white and yellow yarn strings he made to form a sunny-side-up egg. We thought that was silly but didn’t ask what he planned to do with it!

After sharing the story with our friends, we got back to talking about the cake prank. By the end of snack time, the plan was all set.

Flynn and Meggie were going to be so happy they were so loved by us kids!

“Be careful going down the steps in your dresses, girls!” Wynnie led us down the wooden stairs to the beach. Isla was behind me, and Daddy last.

Wynnie worried too much. Me and Isla had lots of practice with stairs in our princess dresses. Tonight, we were just wearing regular sundresses. Piece of cake!

I giggled. Cake! It was almost time for our prank!

The sun was setting, and the beach was getting dark.

Wynnie took my hand, and we followed Daddy and Isla past the shack to the end of the beach where the party was.

A big fire and lots of tables were spread out in the sand.

Behind the tables were more stairs that went up the rocky wall. A DJ was playing old-people music.

We had to leave Laffy and Vennie at the cottage. That made me a little sad, but Daddy said they could get lost and that would make us sadder.

“Our friends are over there!” Isla said. “At the bounce house!”

I stretched my neck to see where she was pointing, and I saw them. “Can we go over there and play?”

“Sure. Just be careful,” Daddy said.

Isla and I let go of their hands and ran for our friends. This was going to be so fun!

Hallie was standing on the bounce house step holding the flap open for us. “Take your shoes off and come inside!”

Isla and I kicked off our Frozen Crocs and crawled up onto the step and into the bounce house.

It was the big kind that had a bouncy room and tunnels to a ball pit and a rope ladder to a slide and even a tunnel underneath!

We followed Hallie through the bounce room and crawled through a circle opening to get to the ball pit.

All of our new friends were already there.

Isla and I jumped in, and Harlan and Archer moved to block the entrance tunnels to keep other kids out .

“Okay, people!” Isla shouted. Everyone looked at her. I was glad she was taking charge. She was good at that kind of thing. She lowered her voice. “There are two assistant camp counselors watching the kids’ area, so we have to be careful they don’t hear us. Hallie, did you bring the note?”

Hallie reached into a pocket on her dress and pulled out a piece of paper. “I did!”

“And Bianca, you got your daddy’s key to the shack?”

“It’s in my pocket!” she confirmed.

“Okay.” Isla waited for everyone to lean toward her. “The cake is on a table with the gifts. In a little bit, everyone who is coming should be here, and that’s usually where they go first. Right, Amelie?”

“Right!” I said. “And sometimes it’s decorated like a tuxedo. For the groom. Because the bride gets to pick the fancy cake on wedding day.”

“I saw it,” Bianca said. “It does look like a tuxedo!”

“Good!” Isla said. “And it’s close to the shack, so we can move it quick. But we need a distraction.”

“I brought my Frisbee again,” Archer said. “I can throw it into the water and get grown-ups to help.”

Paisley piped up. “I don’t know. They might not want to get their clothes wet.”

“That’s true,” Nicki agreed. “You could throw it at the fire. It’s just a Cliff Walk Resort one, right? Meggie would probably give you a new one.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Isla. “And you should cry when it burns. Then all the grownups will feel bad and try to make you feel better, and they won’t even think about the gift table!”

“I can try,” Archer said. “I’ll fake cry if my eyes don’t work.”

“Good,” Isla nodded. “Let’s play until it gets dark. Then wait for my signal, okay? I’ll yell ‘wheeeee!’ and go down the slide. Then meet me in the tunnel underneath.”

“Okay!” all the kids shouted.

We bounced and climbed and slid down the slide so many times!

There were other kids there, including some of Group 1’s little brothers and sisters.

Archer’s mom, Sarah, was there watching his little sister, so I told Isla we needed to distract her, too.

Paisley said she would tell her about Archer’s Frisbee and try to lead them toward the fire.

Just after dark, Isla climbed the slide. I was right behind her. “Let’s do this together,” I said.

“We can race!”

“Yes!” We got into position and sat at the top next to each other. “Ready?” I asked.

“Go!”

“Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” Isla was so loud!

We landed at the bottom at the same time and ran around to the tunnel and snuck inside. Only Group 1 was in there and none of their brothers and sisters. Isla reminded them of the plan, and then we were off!

Bianca raced to the shack. Archer and Harlan ran to get his Frisbee. Nicki and Paisley ran toward the fire. Hallie came with us.

The music changed just then to a dance called the Cupid Shuffle, and so many of the grown-ups went to the dance floor. What good luck for us!

Isla and I reached the gift table. There it was, the tuxedo cake, in a white box with a clear plastic screen on top so you could see inside!

We got on either side of it and slid our hands under the corners of the box.

Once it was clear of the table, Hallie set the note down and put a rock on top of it so it wouldn’t blow away.

We were almost to the shack when the wind blew really hard.

“Look out!” Bianca yelled.

I looked up. Archer’s Frisbee was coming straight at us! And so was Archer!

Isla screamed. I screamed. Archer ran right into us. The cake fell to the ground. I fell on top of it. Isla got bumped and fell, too.

“Quick! Throw the Frisbee toward the fire!” Harlan hissed to him.

Archer recovered the Frisbee and gave it another toss, and it hit the pretty wedding arch that was set up near the fire for pictures. Someone’s big dog ran after it and crashed into the arch, and it fell toward the fire. Then it was burning!

I’d squooshed the cake! And the arch was on fire!

Everything kept happening so fast!

And it was all my fault.

My heart began to beat so fast it hurt. “Isla,” I whispered. “I need to go. Now!”

Her eyes went wide, and she grabbed my hand. She knew what to do when my panic came.

But she held onto me too tightly. I had to pull away.

I ran and ran until I got to the stairs.

“Amelie! Wait!”

But I couldn’t.

I just couldn’t.

I ran and I ran and I ran until I reached the stairs. Up up up, I chanted inside my head for each new step.

When I reached the top, I took a deep breath to look for cars, then ran some more.