Camp Firefly Sisters

Chapter 10
Camp Firefly Sisters, Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

As it turned out, water polo was rather simple to learn, although there was a good chance the camp version of it ignored a lot of the details the real sport had. Actually playing it, however, was a whole different story. For starters, it was difficult to figure out who was on what team; there were a lot of girls playing, and I really only knew the ones I had stuck with since the beginning of camp. The quantity of girls swimming around also meant that it was utter chaos. By the end, I had only touched the ball two or three times, and mostly only succeeded in getting my hair soaked. 

My group wanted to transition to beach volleyball next, which I had to assume would be more or less the same experience. There were two nets set up on the sand, so it wouldn’t be quite as crowded as the previous game, but there were also a lot of campers who chose this as their afternoon activity. Volleyball, when played casually, could be practically limitless in terms of how many girls were on each team. 

Even with the sun hanging lower in the mid-afternoon sky, I felt like a girly beacon with my bright pink one piece. It also wasn’t flattering in the slightest, not that I cared about how I looked to anyone but maybe Mckenna.

I decided to opt out of the coming game, telling Bailey and company that I was going to get some water and check in with my sister. Both were actually true; I was constantly thirsty from the combination of the summer heat and the various forms of cardio. Finding water was easy, as the counselors always had a station set up for campers to hydrate during any given activity. Finding Mckenna took a little more effort.

As I roamed the crowded shore, I was most jealous of the girls who were lounging with a book or just chatting with each other on the sand. That’s what I usually did at the pool, particularly the latter, rather than running/swimming around. My sister wasn’t the only blonde counselor, and half of the girls in charge were wearing some iteration of lifeguard red swimwear instead of the familiar polo. There was also no guarantee she was at the lake at all, since there were other activities happening.

When I finally found her, she greeted me with a smile and an enthusiastic, “Maddie!”

With an eye roll, I greeted her in a far less energetic way before finally asking the question I had been wanting to bring up to her all day. Circle B did the best out of all the other rising 7th girls, and we also won against one rising 8th circle. That had to count for something. 

“It does count for something!” she assured me, “You and your friends earned a lot more points than most of the other Fireflies. Maybe this will be the first year a circle of rising 7th girls wins the trophy. Oh, and you should try out ‘Kenna.’ Embrace the camp experience!”

“You know what I mean, Mckenna,” I said. Using her full name was hardly a form of rebellion; it was just what I had called her for my entire life, so switching just like that wasn’t something that would come naturally to me.

It was Mckenna’s turn to roll her eyes, albeit in a more playful way. She was in full counselor mode at this point, clearly thriving at her favorite place. I could tell that her energy wasn’t just for show as we chatted in a public setting, even if she was taking a little pleasure in how she had arranged for me to get the camp experience I never had. “You can try again tomorrow, Maddie! As soon as you and your friends get 1st place in a ranked game, we can talk. In the meantime, maybe work on that attitude. You look so cute in that swimsuit. A smile would be much better than that bratty pout, don’t you think?”

Yeah, except being told to smile typically had the opposite effect on most people, myself included. Besides, it wasn’t as if I needed my sister to give me such a nudge. I had already been forcing positivity more and more often, mostly since I would come across as a total bitch and/or buzzkill if I looked annoyed every time my bunkmates included me in whatever. Bailey in particular, since she was both friendly and bubbly, and it felt bad to meet that energy with a total lack of enthusiasm. But with Mckenna? Being myself was a lot more natural.

“If we get 1st place in a ranked game, you send me home,” I clarified. It was already a concession to stay another night. Just ‘talking’ after pulling off a difficult victory could mean anything. At the same time, I hadn’t forgotten the part about playing Mckenna’s game so she kept all of this to herself at the end of the summer. I could only insist on so much when I couldn’t really do anything about my role as a camper. No one would believe me and, even if they did, I’d pay for it later.

“Mm hmm,” Mckenna hummed in agreement, “But only if you participate, remember? No letting your teammates carry your weight. And until you win, that means having fun with everything else! Like, playing volleyball, maybe?”

Whatever. I would have made my way back towards the Cabin 4 girls eventually, since that was less work than meeting other campers that I had nothing in common with from both their age and how most of the girls around were into the whole camp thing. I had suspected that another conversation with Mckenna would have been pointless; at least I tried, and now I knew for sure. As badly as I wanted to give her the middle finger, I settled for an annoyed scowl as I walked away.

The rest of the lake time wasn’t particularly eventful. Sure enough, volleyball with that many girls was kind of dumb; I barely ever touched the ball, not that I minded. Then I followed my usual group to the water for a quick swim to cool off, at which point the counselors were letting us know that we only had a little time left. After drying off, we headed back to the cabins with the crowd who were all doing the same, at which point we had a half hour or so before dinner. Avoiding the showers like usual when my preference was to wait until no one was in there, I settled on brushing my wet hair from the lake and applying a fresh layer of deodorant in the cabin. Honestly, I didn’t know how anyone at Camp Firefly kept themselves clean and put together. 

At least the evening was more consistent with what the previous night had entailed. Dinner at the mess hall, for starters, where I had to suffer through waiting in line with all the other campers. It wasn’t as if I was a stranger to standing in lines, though that was rarely something I had to do for meals when I packed my own lunches for school and otherwise ate at home. Other than that, the mess hall wasn’t that different from a cafeteria in terms of the noise and how everyone was already settling into cliques. That really wasn’t the right word for it. The only visible separation between groups was that girls wearing the same color t-shirt tended to sit together, and I was assuming a lot of them were like us, where it was simpler to stick with bunkmates they would have gotten to know naturally through proximity, and/or campers from their circle. Of course, it was only the second day of camp. While I was sitting with Bailey, Rachel, and Ally, the other two girls from our cabin had opted for a different table to get to know some of the girls they had met at the lake.

The difference between a lot of these girls and myself was that I wasn’t particularly motivated to branch out socially when I was still in denial about being a Firefly for the full two weeks. No matter what I had agreed to with Mckenna.

After the meal, we had a little more free time, and then each circle had another bonfire. The returning campers in my cabin told me that this wouldn’t always be the routine. Some nights, there were post-dinner events for the whole camp, including a chance to mingle with the boys across the river. I had forgotten about that amidst everything else since being tricked by my sister. Now that I had been reminded about the co-ed stuff, I was worried about running into Will like this. I really doubted he would view me as relationship material after seeing me in camper mode, and he’d potentially share the embarrassing story with others; while I had a bit of a crush on him, I also didn’t know him that well.

Just something else to worry about moving forward if my circle failed to win tomorrow’s ranked game, or the subsequent challenges. Apparently the Camp Falcon stuff was traditionally at the end of the week, so I had some time. My best bet was probably to just blend in with the other girls and make sure that I never ended up face to face with Will. It wasn’t until a couple minutes of quietly projecting countless scenarios that I realized all of them revolved around when we did the combined camp event. Less than two days in, and I was already starting to accept my role as a camper. Begrudging or not, I was still going through the motions of Firefly activities and rituals like everyone else.

For a little while, the bonfire was just there for the campers in Circle B to socialize around. Eventually, Alex and Stacey got everyone’s attention. The latter counselor in charge of our group of cabins was one of the few who didn’t have a shortened version of her name or something camp-y like ‘Pixie.’ Probably because ‘Stace’ was hardly a nickname. If only I could have been given a name without an obvious nickname option.

The counselor duo started with a few reminders about camp rules, no doubt about the ones that had accidentally or intentionally been broken throughout the course of the day as everyone got used to being away at camp. Then, they moved onto the more interesting part of the announcements. Alex told us that she had designed Round Two of the games for the trophy, but it wasn’t going to be like last time where we got to know the main idea ahead of time. “After breakfast tomorrow, you’re all going to change into your bathing suits and head down to the lake. The rest will be a surprise!”

More lake time. Lovely. It was refreshing after dealing with hours of heat, though the mornings were a little more chilly than the rest of the day. Were we really going to be swimming right away? Then again, it would be after breakfast, so the sun would be up by then. Either way, I wasn’t sure what to expect as a first-time camper. 

I realized halfway through the bonfire that it was the perfect time to shower. Most girls did so in the morning or before bed, while I could kill two birds with one stone in terms of avoiding more social time and finally rinsing off after a long day. At home, I preferred showering in the morning. At camp? There was absolutely no way I was going to bed without bathing myself after so many outdoorsy activities.

As it turned out, my worries about the showers not living up to my standards were well founded. The water was warm enough, though not nearly as hot as I liked it, and the pressure was passable at best. At least my goal was to be quick, so I didn’t have to deal with all that for very long.

Staying behind the curtain as I pulled on the athletic shorts and clean Camp Firefly t-shirt I had brought with me as pajamas, I made sure I couldn’t hear any sounds from the other side before emerging to go through the rest of my routine. Mckenna hadn’t taken all of my tops, but sleeping in the camp tee meant that I wouldn’t have to change in the cabin tomorrow morning. My sister had taken my blow dryer and straightener, leaving me with only a brush to deal with my blonde locks. Not that I could be too mad at her for that, when the nearest outlet would have required a longer cord than either of my things had. As much as I preferred wearing my hair down, I was probably going to start settling for ponytails when I had nothing else to combat the heat and humidity.

Managing to take care of everything before any of the Circle B girls came around, I swung by the cabin to throw everything back into my duffel bag. Did the counselors get drawers, or other spaces for their belongings? I couldn’t believe I had to keep all my clothes and the rest of my things in a bag on the floor.

The rest of the night wasn’t particularly eventful. Shortly after I made it back to the bonfire, Stacey announced that we had an hour until lights out. That prompted a number of campers to get around to taking their own showers, and others to head to their cabins to relax in bed rather than on the uncomfortable wooden benches. Bailey stuck around and asked me what I thought tomorrow’s lake game would be, to which I really didn’t have an answer. It wasn’t me brushing her off; I was just the last girl to ask about something like that. “Did they do any ranked games at the lake last year?” If anything, she would be the expert.

“Not in swimsuits,” Bailey shrugged, “They tried beach volleyball, but it was kind of a mess. Every circle had to be split in half, so getting through all the matches took forever.”

Maybe it would be a race. I’d have a better chance at personally contributing to something cardio based, compared to dodgeball or anything else that required hand-eye coordination. I doubted it would be water polo, when the same issue would apply in terms of the teams being way too big or the match-ups taking too long.

We eventually settled into the usual smalltalk where I let Bailey carry most of the conversation. The dynamic was starting to feel more normal, which was good and bad. While it was nice to feel less awkward in general, I didn’t want to get too complacent about being a camper when I needed to be focused on winning something ASAP with my circle. 

When it was time for everyone to return to their cabins and turn off their lights, I could feel myself drifting off almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. Between the physical toll of the camp activities, the nonstop social elements that were a lot more than a school day would bring, and the various mental/emotional states revolving around being perceived and treated as a camper by everyone, I was more exhausted than I realized.

One full day down. A lot more to go if we couldn’t figure out how to win against the older girls.

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