How To Survive Summer Camp (ePub) Read online

  I was left all alone, abandoned at Evergreen.

  I sat on the end of my bed and stared round the ugly little room. I wondered what the other girls would be like. They’d all have made friends by now. My tummy went tight as I wondered what on earth I was going to say to them. My new jeans dug in so I undid the button. I hoped Mum had packed all my old comfy jeans too. I unsnapped my suitcase and stirred my clothes around a bit. I looked suspiciously for a swimming costume but there really wasn’t one there. I found my old jeans and my shorts and my T-shirts and my rainbow jumper and one pretty summer dress in case we had to dress up for anything. Only I was going to look really silly in it now, like a boy in drag. Sonny!

  I tipped my things out crossly, scattering them over the hard little bed. I dealt my clothes into the two top drawers of the chest and then squatted down to sort out my treasures. My new jeans still bit into my tummy even with the button undone. Perhaps I’d eaten one pudding too many. I wondered about changing into an old pair of jeans but I was scared these strange children might come bursting in and catch me in my underwear.

  It was a relief spotting a doll sitting up on someone’s pillow. I’d been worrying about Squeakycheese. He was a toy mouse that I’d had ever since I was a baby. He was a bit battered-looking now—blind and bald and he’d lost an ear and three of his paws—but I didn’t care, I still loved him enormously. I’d hidden him inside one of my socks in case the other children laughed at him but I rescued him now and let him scamper on his one paw across my pillow.

  Squeakycheese was my favourite toy. I’d taken my favourite book with me too, although Mum said it was much too precious. It was over a hundred years old and it cost ever such a lot of money. It was called Fifty Favourite Fairy Tales and the title was spelt out in very grand gold lettering on the blue leather cover. It was even more beautiful inside, with hundreds of pictures, lots of them in colour. There were flimsy tissue paper pages protecting all the colour plates, the sort that tear easily, but I’d not torn any of them even though I’d been looking at them ever since I was little, before I could read properly. I’d read all fifty of the stories now, some of them two or three times.

  I found another book down at the bottom of the suitcase. It wasn’t a reading book, it was a notebook with a red cover and gilt edges, the sort I’d been wanting for ages. There were more surprise presents tucked inside my nightie: a box of fruit gums, a big half pound bar of Cadbury’s chocolate, and a new tin of felt tip pens.

  I cheered up quite a lot. I undid the zip of my jeans,

  squashed up on my bed beside Squeakycheese, crammed a

  fruit gum of every flavour in my mouth, selected a felt pen,

  and started to write in my new red notebook.

  I made up a story. It’s the only thing I ever get a star for at school. This particular story was about a princess called Stellarina who had the most beautiful long golden hair right down to her waist. She’d been banished to an awful place called Everblack Castle by her wicked stepfather. I had great fun describing Everblack. Bats flapped in and out of the broken windows, snakes writhed around the cellars, and huge rats swam up from the sewers and paddled in the lavatories. Everblack was owned by a Brigavampire who lurked in his library until midnight and then rushed about slavering and baring his fangs. But he couldn’t frighten Princess Stellarina. She rescued all these crying children from the Brigavampire and the wicked witch Hateful-Catty but just as they were all running down the drive a huge and horrible monster called Uncle Pong grabbed hold of Princess Stellarina and …

  But I didn’t have time to write what happened next. I heard voices and running feet. I shut my red notebook and shoved it under my pillow.

  It was getting quite dark and I blinked foolishly when someone came rushing into the dormitory and snapped on the light. She was about my age. Maybe a bit older. She had long golden Princess Stellarina hair and an emerald green Ralph Lauren T-shirt and designer jeans and three real gold bangles on one slim brown arm. She would have been very pretty if her face wasn’t screwed up in a scowl. I tried smiling at her but she stared at me as if I was an Everblack sewer rat. So I glared back.

  Another girl came panting into the room. She looked younger. She had long fair hair too but it wasn’t as long and shiny and silky. Her T-shirt was the Evergreen hand-out and her jeans were ordinary Marks and Spencer and the three bangles clacking on her arm were plastic.

  ‘You won, Louise,’ she gasped. ‘You always do.’ Then she saw me. ‘Who’s she?’

  ‘Search me,’ said Louise. ‘She was sitting here in the dark when I came in.’ She turned to me. ‘What’s your name?’ she demanded.

  I didn’t see why I should tell her.

  ‘Here, you.’ The other girl came barging up to my bed. ‘Louise asked you your name.’

  I swivelled round to face the wall, ignoring her. I couldn’t stand either of them.

  ‘Leave her alone, Karen. She’s been crying. The poor petal’s homesick,’ said Louise.

  ‘I haven’t been crying,’ I said indignantly.

  ‘Oh, it’s got a tongue,’ said Louise.

  ‘Yes, and I can waggle it too,’ I said, doing so.

  ‘Why weren’t you at the picnic?’ said Karen.

  ‘Because,’ I said.

  ‘We had races before,’ said Karen. ‘In teams. You’re Emerald, like us. The other teams are Jade, Lime, and Olive. Emerald are best, aren’t they, Louise? Louise won nearly all her races, she’s brilliant at sports, so we got heaps of team points.’

  Louise smirked and flopped on to her bed.

  ‘I came third in the sack race,’ said Karen. She leant right over me and picked up Squeakycheese.

  ‘What’s this old thing then, eh?’

  ‘It’s my pet sewer rat,’ I said.

  Karen shrieked and dropped Squeakycheese.

  ‘You don’t get toy sewer rats,’ she said uncertainly. She started fiddling with the handles on my chest, opening the drawers one by one.

  ‘You haven’t got many clothes, have you?’ she said rudely. ‘You should see all Louise’s things. She’s got heaps of jeans and jogging pants and shorts, and they’re all designer too. And she’s got three swimming costumes and a really grown-up bikini and a beautiful tennis dress with a pleated skirt and matching knickers and—’

  ‘I’m not really interested,’ I said, pretending to yawn.

  ‘You’re just jealous,’ said Karen. She opened the bottom drawer where I’d put all my treasures. ‘What’s this book then? It’s big enough.’

  ‘You leave that alone. It’s very old and very precious, so hands off,’ I said quickly.

  ‘It’s fairy tales. How babyish! Who wants to look at a boring old book of fairy tales,’ said Karen, pushing it to one side. She spotted my bar of Cadbury’s. ‘Ooh, chocolate, yum yum. Can I have a bit?’

  I didn’t see why I should share it when they were being so nasty to me, so I shook my head.

  ‘Meanie. And fruit gums too. We’re not supposed to keep food in the dormi. It’s against the rules. Miss Hamer-Cotton said.’

  ‘I don’t care.’

  ‘You’re supposed to hand it in and then they give it to you a little bit each day, at tea. Louise had a huge iced cake and a great box of Belgian chocolate truffles. They’re foreign and ever so expensive, at least … at least one pound each chocolate.’

  ‘Karen!’ said Louise from her bed.

  ‘Well, nearly. Louise let me have a little bit and tomorrow at tea I’m getting a slice of cake, aren’t I, Louise?’

  ‘If she gets them back,’ I said. ‘I wondered why that Miss Hamer-Cotton is so fat.’

  ‘You mean—? She wouldn’t!’ said Karen, falling for it.

  ‘I can get more anyway,’ said Louise, sitting up and stretching. Her gold bangles clinked delicately against each other. ‘I’m going to write to my father to get him to send me a proper food hamper. If that picnic is anything to go by then the food here is disgusting.’

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