The next morning, after breakfast, Archie and Vivian called the first meeting of what he had named in his head: “Operation Fix Camp Shady Crook.”
They met in the woods behind the caution tape again. At this point, a few bees were the least of their troubles. Even Archie could admit that.
Oliver came, of course, though he was skeptical that anything could be changed. “This is Miss Hiss we’re talking about, right? The same Miss Hiss who declared hard taco shells were a safety hazard because they cost more money than she wanted to pay? The same Miss Hiss who makes eight-year-olds do push-ups if they talk out of turn in morning meeting? You’ve got to admit, this is not the same as getting some kid to give you peanut butter cups from their care package!”
He made one final plea to give up while they were waiting for the others to arrive. “It’s over, Arch. It was fun while it lasted, but you have to accept that it’s over now, and we need to figure out another way to have fun. Or is that just impossible for you?”
“I know it’s over,” Archie said quietly. “I know. But we just have to do one more big job. The one that will fix everything.”
“Or get us all escorted off the premises and onto the next bus out of Vermont,” Oliver said with a thin, worried smile.
• • •
Vivian insisted on bringing her friend Sasha, who, it appeared, now knew far more about what Archie had been up to than he was personally comfortable with. He privately wished he’d told her not to spread things around. Still, if he wanted Vivian’s help, it was clear that Sasha was part of the package deal. And he definitely needed Vivian’s help.
Besides, also joining the group was . . . Mitchell.
Archie had been surprised when Mitchell approached him at breakfast. Around him the kids were picking at cold cereal and trying to peel wrinkly and desiccated clementines, since nobody had cooked anything, and it didn’t seem like anyone was going to make a proper meal for them anytime soon.
Archie had steeled himself for Mitchell’s anger, but instead the boy was filled with cold efficiency. “I know you lied to me. I know you tried to trick me,” Mitchell said matter-of-factly. “And we’ll talk about that later. But right now I’m more worried about the trouble you’ve caused. That we’ve caused. So, tell me, how are you going to fix this?”
Archie took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure Mitchell could really understand all of what Archie had been up to, but he was becoming convinced they needed as many kids they could trust to make their plan work. And the plan had to work—he was sure of that now. So he told Mitchell to come to their meeting.
“What are you doing here?” Mitchell asked when he saw Oliver. Archie forgot for a moment that kids like Mitchell had no idea of the depths his machinations. Part of him was secretly pleased by that. But for this con, it just meant more explanations.
“It’s a long story,” Oliver said with a grunt. “But I’m here to help.”
“And we’re going to need a lot of help,” Vivian said, cutting off the question Mitchell was poised to ask. “Archie has a plan and it’s a good one, but to make it happen we’ll need to do two things—and for the first one, we need some pictures of the camp to send to the Beaumonts. The people who own the place. The people who hired Miss Hiss. The only people who can take her down, for good.”
“But how can we take pictures?” Sasha asked. “Nobody has a camera. They were all confiscated the first day of camp.”
“Ah, but that’s where you’re mistaken,” Vivian said with a smile, and she pulled out the small digital camera she’d kept hidden in her bunk since the beginning of the summer. “I’ve already filled this with pictures of everything—the dock, the weeds in the lake, the horrible mess hall. Even the caution tape around the woods.”
Sasha looked at her with admiration, but then Mitchell spoke up.
“Okay, I get there’s a plan. I get that you guys want to fix things, and that’s cool. The thing I don’t get,” Mitchell said, “is why any of this happened in the first place. I mean, I thought you were rich—the famous Archie Drake.” He sounded genuinely perplexed.
Archie let out a long breath. He’d woven so many stories it was almost impossible now to do anything except tell the truth. Even to Mitchell the Unconnable.
“I’m not,” he said. “Well, I am Archie Drake, that’s my name. But I’m not famous. Or rich. Or related to anyone who is famous or rich. Honestly, I don’t even know anyone who is famous or rich. I met one of the Mets once, but it was for, like, two seconds. The reality is, I’m just a regular kid. From Trenton, New Jersey. And I’ve been fooling people here for years.”
“What?” Mitchell’s face was truly astonished. “But I thought—you said—everybody said—”
“Everybody’s wrong.” Archie couldn’t help but think about Alicia and the twins, and how he’d tried to hide them when they visited for Parents’ Day. The memory made him wince. It wasn’t just that he’d tried to pretend to be someone else; it was that he’d denied who he really was—even to the point of acting like his own family didn’t exist. He was starting to understand that now. He wasn’t the fake person he pretended to be at camp. He was the same person here, and everywhere, however much he tried to fight it. But he was still Archie Drake. And that had to count for something.
“But why?” Mitchell asked. “Why did you pretend to be someone else?”
That was the big question. Why? Why had he pretended he was someone other than himself for so long, and to so many people? It was impossible to explain—the envy, the anger, the stupid grudges he’d held against everyone he’d ever met who he thought was better than he was. He had no answer.
But Vivian did.
“Basically, Archie’s a con artist,” she said. “But I think he might be reforming. I hope he is. Anyway, just work with it, for now. We have a job to do.”
Her words jolted Archie back to the meeting and the task at hand.
“And now it’s time for one last big con,” Archie said. “The best yet.”
Vivian and Archie high-fived.
The rest of the kids looked unimpressed. Including Oliver.
“So, I get that we want to show the Beaumonts what’s really going on here,” Oliver said. “But Archie said we’re also going to try to convince Miss Hiss she’s won a contest—the best camp director of the year, or something like that. Why don’t we just send the pictures Vivian took to the Beaumonts? Why go through all the trouble of making her think she’s won something? I’d rather not make her happy, even for one minute.”
“Because we want her to fix everything,” Vivian said with exaggerated patience. “And fix it right away—the bees, the dock, the arts and crafts cabin. If we wait until the Beaumonts show up we have no idea what’s going to happen or when. And then the whole summer will be ruined—not just for us, but for all the other campers. For everyone. And isn’t that the whole point? Not just to get Miss Hiss in trouble, but to make everything better again. And if she’s convinced she’s won an award—and that people are coming to give it to her, and maybe that there’ll be newspapers and stuff who want to write about the camp—then she’ll definitely do everything she can to fix this mess. How could she not? Nobody’s going to give an award to a camp that looks like this, no matter how many excuses Miss Hiss gives. So she’ll fix everything, as soon as she can. I’m sure of it.”
Archie gave the group a grim smile. Truth was, the looks on the faces of his fellow campers when they realized the dock was destroyed had been haunting him. Even the kids who did it hadn’t really thought they’d break the whole thing—just remove a piece or two. All because of his stupid story about treasure. All because of his stupid bet with Vivian. All because he’d thought that getting a few dollars or some candy bars was more important than what anyone else wanted.
And now Vivian, Oliver, Sasha, and Mitchell were all looking at him like he was a leader. Not because they thought he was rich or important, or because he told them a compelling lie, the way most kids looked at him. But because he had a plan.
It was hard to believe that just a few weeks ago he would have been mostly on his own, with only occasional company from Oliver. Now he had a whole group of people helping him with his latest scam—and it wasn’t even a scam, really, more like retribution for the entire camp.
Maybe even retribution for him.
He took a deep breath. There was no time for regrets now, he had a job to do.
“Of course, it all has to look totally legit,” he said. “The letter from the Camp Association, the envelope, everything. Miss Hiss will notice all the details. We don’t want there to be any chance she’ll see through the plan until the final moment. And remember, she’s already suspicious about what’s been going on this summer—and of me. So nothing can go wrong.”
“I’m not good at lying, but I’m good at drawing!” Sasha said. “Could you get me one of those long envelopes? You know, the official kind?”
“Business envelope,” Archie interjected. Sasha rolled her eyes at him in a very un-Sasha-like way.
“Business envelope, right!” she said. “And I’ll make it look completely official—a postmark, maybe even a logo on the back?”
“But we also have to get these pictures to the Beaumonts,” Vivian said, holding up her contraband camera. “Do you think you could download them on Miss Hiss’s computer and e-mail them or something? Then they could see them right away.”
Oliver shook his head vigorously. “No e-mail,” he said. “All the e-mails that are addressed to the Beaumonts go straight to Miss Hiss; she set it up that way so nobody could complain about her, and so she could handle anyone who tried.”
“But there has to be some way to reach them,” Vivian said. “They live in Boston, right?”
Archie nodded slowly. “I’m sure if anyone has their address, it’s Miss Hiss. We could print them out and send them with a note.”
“But doesn’t Miss Hiss go through all the mail before it gets picked up?” Mitchell asked. “She’ll definitely notice if we’re sending a letter to her boss. I mean, she’s evil, but she’s not stupid.”
Archie frowned. “You have a point,” he said. “We’ll need to have someone go into town and mail it from there.”
“Go into town?” Vivian said. “That’s impossible.”
The kids stared dejectedly at one another. Sending the pictures to the Beaumonts was key to getting back at Miss Hiss. Sure, they wanted her to fix the camp. But they also wanted to take her down, for good. And even Archie was at a loss. There was no way he was going to get any of the counselors to take him into town, not after everything that had happened this summer. And Vivian was in just as much trouble, if not more.