That afternoon Vivian sat with Sasha, casually watching some of the Longnose Gars listlessly bounce a rubber ball around in the dusty parking lot.
“I guess what I still don’t understand is why you just couldn’t have fun?” Sasha asked, suddenly. “Fun doing normal things, like swimming and crafts and roasting marshmallows! Fun like everybody else! Instead of trying to beat everyone at some game that nobody else wanted to play?”
Vivian frowned. “Maybe I’m still trying to figure out the answer to that myself.”
Despite her regrets about the summer, talking to Sasha was more like talking to a real friend than Vivian had done in a long time. She felt like she’d had some sort of mask over her eyes, and now it was finally gone, and she could see everything more clearly. Even if what she saw was all the mistakes she’d made.
And as she looked out over the parking lot, a strange truck pulled up the long drive and parked right in front of the main building.
The little kids stopped bouncing their ball and everyone gathered around to gawk. PHIPPS CONTRACTING, the truck said on the side. Two men got out of the truck and, without seeming to notice the kids, headed straight for the main office.
“What do you think that’s all about?” Sasha asked.
Vivian tried not to get her hopes up, but she had a glimmer of an idea of what was going on. “Not completely sure,” she said. “But it might just mean Miss Hiss got her letter.”
• • •
The next week was a haze of activity around the camp.
Workers were everywhere—ripping up the roots to lay a new path down to the lake, where other workers were building a new dock. Two women covered in spacesuits made out of netting were setting up barriers near the old boathouse. “Stay back,” one of them barked. “We’re removing some hives.”
Vivian marveled at how quickly Miss Hiss was able to get people to come out and fix things, once she put her mind to it. “Amazing, if you think about it.”
“She probably threw them a ton of money,” Archie said. “With all the cash families pay to send their kids here, she’s got to have piles of it. I guess she just never saw any point in using it before. At least not for the camp.”
The two of them were headed toward the old playing field behind the lake to play Frisbee. New sod had been laid across it in neat rows, like carpet. The past few days of hanging out with him was almost like she and Archie had been friends since the beginning of the summer, instead of sworn enemies since barely a week ago.
A cleaning crew tackled the cobwebs and dirty corners of the mess hall. Landscapers picked up the trash and weeds and put sweet-smelling mulch on the paths to cover up the rocks.
Even the cabins got a once-over. The Rainbow Smelts got a new mirror to replace the cracked one, bright lavender shower curtains, new window screens, and a brand-new screen door. A young woman with a drill came in after breakfast and replaced all the bolts in the various bunk beds so they no longer tipped and shook like the cabin was on a ship at sea.
“What’s this all about?” Patrice, Lily’s friend, kept asking. But Lily looked as confused as she was. “Why are they suddenly fixing everything?”
“I guess Miss Hiss wanted to make the place nice again?” Sasha said with an enigmatic smile. “It’s about time, don’t you think?”
• • •
That Saturday, before the buses came to take some of the campers away, Miss Hiss made a special announcement.
The mess hall had been transformed. All the cobwebs were gone, and the entire place was scrubbed clean. The tables had been reorganized to allow kids to walk freely between them, instead of all clustered together, and each table had cute metal pails of silverware and condiments, labeled in chalk with swirling letters.
“It actually worked,” Vivian murmured to the girl next to her. “It actually worked.”
“What worked?” the girl said.
“Never mind,” Vivian replied.
Outside the mess hall many of them had noticed a truck with a picture of a cornucopia of vegetables and fruits on the side. MARIGOLD CATERING, it said in shiny letters. Workers were busy pulling out trays and bins. And whatever they were making for breakfast smelled better than anything they had ever had at Camp Shady Brook before.
“Good morning, campers,” Miss Hiss said as she strode to the front of the room, and she looked completely different. Almost . . . happy.
Which didn’t mean she wasn’t still terrifying.
Just terrifying in a different way.
“As you may have noticed, we’ve had a lot of activity here at Camp Shady Brook over the past few days,” Miss Hiss announced. “I want you all to know that I’m pleased to say that all of our facilities will be up and running later today.”
The kids looked at their plates. A few hardy, or extremely hungry, souls used the opportunity to grab surreptitious forkfuls of the strawberry pancakes and cheesy eggs, before looking back up at Miss Hiss, who seemed like she expected them to do something. A few began to dutifully clap.
The camp director smiled as though she’d received a standing ovation.
“I’m also very honored to be able to tell you that I, your camp director”—here she gave a very large self-satisfied smile—“have been chosen as the recipient of the Best Camp Director Award by the Summer Camp Association of America! It’s an extremely high honor, and the award ceremony will be here, at the camp, tomorrow afternoon. There will be some local newspapers coming to cover it, of course, so I want to make sure we put our best foot forward, as a camp.” She gave a searching look around. “That means you’re all going to be on our very best behavior, and dressed in your nicest Camp Shady Brook T-shirts. If you don’t have one, then we can . . . arrange something with the camp store.” Even in her joy at her upcoming prize, Miss Hiss looked pained at the idea of giving out more free T-shirts. But clearly, the sacrifice was worth it.
As Archie passed Vivian’s table on the way to the food line for seconds, he gave her a bright, satisfied smile. But all he said was, “Hook, line, and sinker.”