Camp Firefly Sisters

Chapter 15
Camp Firefly Sisters, Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Ally’s ‘ground rules’ were more just a rehashing of everything that had been pushed on me recently. According to her, it made more sense if I just stayed in my seat; if I needed another paintbrush, or a color that was out of reach, she would get it for me. And, if I needed to use the bathroom, she’d go with me. The counselors had a whole thing about the buddy system anyway, so the girl in charge would be fine with us sticking together.

The whole thing would have been patronizing enough coming from someone my own age. Ally was younger than me, however, which made it all the more embarrassing. 

Of course, I didn’t really mean it when I agreed to the absurd concept of my bathroom privileges being revoked. It was just a combination of peer pressure and being totally caught off guard by Bailey acting so differently from her usual perky/bubbly self. And as long as I was stuck as a camper, I was hesitant to cause a scene when I was bunking with the girls who were pushing this exhausting tradition on me. Once again, I felt more compelled to tell Mckenna off for registering me as a camper, rather than yelling at campers who believed that I was just like them.

For the time being, I settled into the immature activity. I wasn’t exactly the most artsy girl, and painting a rock of all things felt less interesting than any number of alternatives. Maybe that was just cheaper and easier than ordering a bunch of canvas or whatever for teenage girls.

Sitting on the excessive quantity of sand wasn’t nearly as bad as constantly moving around in it, though the lump of fine grains was still uncomfortable. That, and wearing the one piece underneath my clothes, when underwear would have felt a lot more natural. At least I didn’t need to use the bathroom, as I hadn’t really been hydrating since the start of the day. Lunch would be next, which was the perfect time to both look for my sister and potentially sneak off to avoid any more nonsense from my cabinmates. 

The next hour crawled by. Ally wasn’t nearly as chatty as Bailey, and I didn’t have any interest in getting to know any of the other girls. I also wasn’t particularly invested in the activity at hand, so I just painted whatever basic patterns/layers came to mind. It was a bit embarrassing whenever the counselor in charge walked by, checking on everyone’s progress. A girl who should have been a peer of mine, assuming I was just some camper who belonged in her activity like everyone else with a paintbrush in hand.

When we were done, we were told to leave our painted rocks to dry on one of the picnic tables, where they were all labeled with our names. Just another ‘Maddie’ reference, just like on the back of my Camp Firefly t-shirt. 

Deciding to lay down the law with Ally, I said, “I need to change before lunch. That’s not part of the challenge.” Dealing with just the one cabinmate would be easier than being outnumbered like I was earlier, even if I was talking to the one who came up with the idea.

She thought about it for a second, then pointed out, “Pretty sure we decided you could just wash your hands.”

It didn’t matter. I was nearly an adult, and only had to put up with so much nonsense. “Would you rather I get sand all over our cabin?” I asked. It wasn’t Ally’s fault I was in this mess, so I was still trying to navigate things in a way where I was assertive without acting too uptight about their immature tradition. “It makes more sense for me to change in the bathroom.”

Reasonable. Logical. A girl her age could only push back so much when facing common sense. “Hmm. Okay, I guess that can be an exception. But I’m going with you, and you’re not allowed to do anything else.”

Guess she was still leaning into the ‘babysitting’ concept, though she had mostly let that go after having her fun with it when we separated from the others.

“Whatever,” I said. Every second I spent arguing/debating the specifics of the challenge was another second the other girls would have to get back to our circle before we did. Better to get into something that felt more normal and comfortable to wear before tackling the next part of my day.

It was a quick walk back to Circle B, and all I really needed from our cabin was a bra/underwear set from my duffel bag. Even with the plain white/nude options Mckenna had left for me, I felt the need to match the way I normally would. Opting for my cheapest pair, since I wasn’t going to have a chance to rinse off, I headed straight to the bathroom with Ally in tow. 

There were a couple of other girls already in there, which made me tempted to relieve myself while Ally wouldn’t be able to monitor me very well from the other side. However, it would be awkward to manage that and the clean-up I was going to have to deal with at the same time. Was it too late to take a quick dip in the lake first, if only to rinse myself off?

No, I’d figure that out after shaking Ally and anyone else from our cabin who took this new camper tradition too seriously. For the time being, I settled for stripping down and using some of the paper towels I had grabbed a minute ago to wipe myself off. Then I inspected myself down there, frowning at a few visibly irritated spots from all the chafing. Great. 

“Hurry up, Maddie!” Ally called through the stall, “I’m hungry.”

“You can go ahead without me if you want,” I said, “I’ll catch up.”

The other girls must have left, if she was speaking up in the middle of the bathroom. “Nice try. We can’t have you cheating on your challenge!”

“Whatever,” I rolled my eyes, “I’ll be out in a minute.”

No matter how many times I brushed at my ass and pelvis, I knew I’d never get all the sand. At least underwear felt more normal than before, as I had anticipated. Not exactly the biggest win, but I would take what I would get amidst this frustrating ‘camper’ existence.

Once I was dressed again, I stepped out of the stall and waited until we were outside to dump the rest out of my swimsuit. Now I just had to ditch Ally and find Mckenna. Easier said than done.

I hung the pink one piece up on the clothesline next to our cabin next to some of the others, then headed towards the dining hall. The moment Ally and I stepped inside, my stomach growled. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I was hit with the enticing smell of whatever they were grilling in the kitchen. From what I had experienced so far, Camp Firefly meals were definitely a step up from cafeteria food.

There were only so many campers in the spacious building so far; our activity must have let out before most of the other ones. The downside to that was that Mckenna was probably still on the way from whatever she had been leading. After scanning the dining hall and the short line of campers and counselors, I was pretty sure I’d have to wait. Whatever. At least lunch would be less chaotic than most of the previous meals I had experienced.

After filling my tray up, I led the way to a table at the far end of the room. That would feel less crowded than the other areas, and it gave me a decent vantage point of everything. As soon as I saw my sister, I could ideally get her attention before she got into line.

I didn’t exactly have a plan. The last time I insisted on a private conversation, nothing actually changed. Since then, my circle still hadn’t won a ranked game, and Mckenna still had enough leverage to keep me from going over her head and trying to fix this with someone more in charge. If anyone at school learned I had been mistaken as a camper for multiple days in a row, I’d never live it down.

Still, this was absolutely ridiculous. I didn’t want a summer job in the first place, and now I was getting paid literally nothing to be a camper. While Mckenna was the only one who knew the truth, it was still mortifying to me personally every time someone treated me the same as the younger girls around me. And, despite my maturity, Bailey and the others couldn’t see past my size and the camper tee.

By the time I spotted Mckenna, the other girls had returned from their hike, and I was basically done with my meal. The downside of the table I had picked, which I hadn’t thought about before, was that now I’d have to make it all the way across the crowded dining hall in order to get my sister’s attention.

When I got up, Bailey asked where I was going. Was this how it was going to be for the rest of Ally’s challenge, and whatever the rest of the girls had in mind for their own dares? No, that wasn’t something to worry about. If I could get my summer back on track, immature traditions would be a non-issue.

Assuring them that I was just going to talk to my sister, for a private conversation, I strode off without waiting for anyone’s approval. Despite what they believed, I was an older girl who could do whatever she wanted. Mostly. At the moment, I still had to listen to counselors and follow camp rules.

“Hey, sis!” Mckenna cheerfully greeted me as I approached, then turned to Alex, “You remember Maddie, right?”

“Of course,” her fellow counselor smiled, “How do you like Camp Firefly so far, Maddie?”

“It’s fine,” I muttered. Similar to how I didn’t want to be rude to the campers who didn’t know about my situation, I could only have so much attitude towards someone who was as friendly as Alex was. All the more reason to separate the two of them before getting into things. “Can I talk to you, Mckenna? Alone?”

“You can call me ‘Kenna’ if you want. Where’s that camp spirit?” Mckenna teased, “And there are a lot of other campers who need my attention, Maddie. I know we’re sisters, but it can’t look like I’m giving you special treatment. Didn’t we just have a little chat yesterday?”

Alex chimed in, “How about I talk to her? I know Kenna is familiar, but you can ask literally any counselor for whatever you need.”

Before I could clarify that it was something I specifically wanted to talk to my sister about, Mckenna said, “That’d be great! I can save your spot in line.”

“Perfect. You wanted some privacy, right, Maddie? We can step outside for a minute!”

I shot Mckenna a look, since the two of us knew that this wasn’t some problem that any random counselor could deal with. The only one I wanted to talk to was her, but she was playing dumb in front of her friend.

“Thanks, Alex! Make sure you also thank her, sis.”

Uh huh. I wanted to argue, yet it didn’t feel worth it. Mckenna seemed content letting me have an awkward interaction with a counselor who appeared to be around her age, and I could hardly push back in front of the two of them as well as anyone else in line who was listening in.

“This way!” Alex exclaimed. She stepped out of line and led the way to the main doors of the dining hall. Unlike me, she didn’t have any trouble navigating her way through the crowded room. Just another disadvantage to being on the smaller side, not to mention having no camp experience save for what I had gone through over the last couple days.

I followed Alex outside, using the brief walk to think about what I’d possibly need to talk to a counselor about in private. When I was actually the age of the campers I was grouped with, I was hardly a needy girl. 

As annoying as my cabinmates had been since Bailey had introduced the challenges, that wasn’t something I could complain about. It would come across as tattling/whining, plus Alex had probably gone through a similar experience a few years ago. That, and the girls could just claim I was making it up if they were questioned about it, to avoid getting in trouble if things escalated that far.

Turns out, I didn’t have to worry about coming up with an excuse for why I was asking Mckenna for her time. Instead, I had to deal with something that was arguably worse than the constant mistaken identity.

“So. Maddie.” Once we were a few yards away from the entrance to the dining hall, similar to where Mckenna had taken me for a similar chat the previous day, Alex turned to face me and gave me her usual cheery camp counselor smile. Only this time, it was specifically for me. “I heard the most interesting rumor from my roomie last night. Want to guess what it was?”