CHAPTER TWO
As the man on the other side of the table greets Simon and me, my attention gravitates to my new surroundings. Down the lane to my right, small, two-story apartment buildings line the way, reminding me of the nun housing near one of my old group homes. The back of the buildings faces the side of the mountain, and, as far as I can tell, no cameras point to the building entrances. Staying there would be perfect. I could sneak out without anyone noticing.
Simon pulls me out of my appraisal with a slight nudge. I raise my eyebrows as I turn to him. Both men wait expectantly, which means I missed a question. Simon smiles down at me and saves me from embarrassment. “Mr. Pratt asked if you’ve ever been to camp before.”
The middle-aged man’s face remains blank as I answer, “I’ve lived in and out of foster homes and orphanages my entire life. This is my first time to camp.”
In the next instant, I want to kick myself. What made me give him so much information? The more people know about me; the more they can use against me.
Mr. Pratt’s eyebrows bunch while he considers my statement. His deep, blue eyes never stray from mine as if he tries to read my thoughts. “There’s been a slight mix up, I’m afraid. We have you listed as a boy, which would put you in one of the boys’ cabins.”
“Clearly, I’m a girl,” I grump. “I don’t want to be in a cabin with boys.”
“Oh, my dear, we don’t mix boys and girls in the same cabin. Had you been paying attention, you would have noticed I handed your father the rules, schedules, and class choices.” Mr. Pratt points to the packet in Simon’s hand.
“I’m not your dear, and he’s not my father,” I respond back before turning to Simon, stretching my hand out. “Please hand me the packets so I can read them.”
Simon passes me the packet, but I hold off on reading it until we finish checking in.
He turns back to Mr. Pratt. “When will you know her cabin assignment, so I can get her settled in? I’m not comfortable leaving her here without knowing she’ll be taken care of.”
I was worried I might have hurt Simon with my declaration of him not being my father, but, to my relief, he seems more worried about my current situation.
“Give me a few minutes while I speak with Ms. Whitney, the head of our female students. It shouldn’t take us long to sort this out since I don’t believe we’re at max capacity with this summer.” Mr. Pratt gets up and walks over to a pretty, young blond speaking with some parents.
As he walks away, I question whether this camp is a fit for me. I mean, how hard can it be to assign a cabin correctly? I understand if my name was unisex, like Jessy or Taylor, but not Cassandra.
Again, Simon pulls me out of my reverie. “I’m sure there’s a simple explanation for this, and it will be resolved quickly. These are supposed to be extremely intelligent people, so how hard can it be?” His smirk clues me in that he knows what I was thinking.
A few minutes later, Mr. Pratt and Ms. Whitney join us at the table.
“Hello, Cassandra. My name’s Kelly Whitney, and I’m the girls’ counselor for the camp. I’m sorry for the confusion with your cabin. I have a place for you in cabin number five. I’ll show you there, now.” She starts to walk away, but turns back to Simon. “Mr. French, please wait for us here. Although parents are allowed back in the cabin area, we like to try and begin the separation up front so there are no emotional memories built back where the girls stay.”
Simon nods and hands me my bag. I follow Ms. Whitney down the dusty, gravel-covered road to the cabins.
“You may call me Kelly. We like to be informal around here. It helps build trust which in turn allows us to understand your strengths but also your weaknesses, so we can make you into the leaders of tomorrow.” She sounds like a brochure for the place.
“Cassie. People call me Cassie. I’m only called Cassandra by the authorities. I’ll be frank with you, I don’t know much about your camp. I was only just informed I would be attending two days ago. I have the packet of instructions from Mr. Pratt, but I haven’t had a chance to read them yet.” What is this place? I wish the camp sent out the material in the packets before we arrived on site. Kelly’s young; I wouldn’t place her as someone in charge of people a few years her junior.
“Well, Cassie”—the brightness in her voice, followed by a wink, gives me the impression she thinks I’ve let her in on a secret—“Camp Odysseus started more than a hundred years ago to help educate future generations to be open to new ideas, to think through existing problems and find solutions, and to help lead the government and businesses. The camp is named for the same Odysseus that you may have read about in a mythology class. He was an excellent strategist. He overcame adversity. Most importantly, he was the hero to many. Those are the qualities we look for in our students.”
“I don’t think I belong here,” I blurt out.
I take a few deep breaths to calm myself. This place throws me off my game. I usually control what I say or how I react in situations, but not here. Based on her assessment of the camp, I don’t meet any of the qualities they seek in their participants.
“Why would you say that?” When she stops in the middle of the road, I almost run into her.
Softly, I sigh to myself. I’ve done it now; although, maybe if I tell her, they’ll kick me out. “I’ve gotten into fights at school before. I’ve broken into houses. I’ve stolen—”
She cuts me off before I can finish my resume. “You were protecting a young girl from a bully when you fought the last time.”
How does she know that? “Yes, but—”
She interrupts me, again. “When you broke into the house, you were checking to make sure the boy that lived there was being fed.”
This is crazy. “Yes, but—”
“You stole food to give to a homeless man that lived in the back of the park.” Her hands move to her hips, and her eyes widen, waiting for my response.
“Where did you get all of this information? I was told my records are sealed because this all happened when I was underage.” At this point, I’m not sure what I’ve gotten myself into because not even Simon knew all those things.
“Cassie, this camp is funded so we can find people that need some direction. Your name came on the list, so the invitation was sent. We know you are quite intelligent, you have a big heart, and you feel all alone. We can help with each of these things.” Kelly’s speech makes me fidget. Does this place brainwash kids or manipulate them into helping bad people?
“Since Simon is insistent I stay, I will, but I’ll reserve judgment until I know more. Is there a rule about leaving early if things don’t work out?” Despite the question, I know leaving is no longer an option. Besides Simon wanting me to be here, my curiosity is peaked. I need to figure out what this place is.
“No one will force you to stay. We’ll encourage you to stay. We’ll help you work through any issues, but in the end, we want positive attitudes. We can’t accomplish much if everyone is unhappy.” Kelly spins and continues up the path.
The gravel path leads gradually up the side of the mountain. The trees lining our way box in the view of what's to come until it opens up into an area with a large building on our right. To our left, the jagged rocks of the mountain jut out where the earth was cut away to clear the path.
As we continue, the cuts into the mountain move back to leave room for identical, dark brown cabins, spaced far enough apart that another cabin could be put between them.
Kelly gestures to the cabins on the left. “This side is where the girls will stay. We have sixty girls enrolled this year. Since the cabins hold twenty, we split people among the five cabins.”
Kelly directs me to the cabins on our right. They have little space behind them as the land slopes down the mountain and deeper into the woods. “The left cabins hold the boys. Eighty-four boys are signed up, so they’ll have less space than the girls.
“The campers come from diverse backgrounds and locations, and every student is on scholarship to keep the field even. Tomorrow, you will be placed on a team. That team will be the group you work with for the duration of your stay. We’ve found that keeping a unit together results in higher performing individuals than when we switch teams every week or task.”
She waits for me to acknowledge her explanations with a nod before she continues, “Our youngest attendees are thirteen with our oldest about nineteen. The recently graduated seniors will be the cabin and team leads. This will be their last chance to win, so we allow them to use their knowledge of the camp to their advantage.”
“Teams are the building blocks of the camp. Each team is designed to maximize learning by matching you with others with diverse backgrounds from your own. Over the years, we’ve found that dissimilar qualities help build individual strengths because the team relies on that person to complete their part. You’ll still have some traits in common which can be used, but your main traits are individual to the group.”
Simon must have told her about my photographic memory because I’m not sure I have many other positive traits. I could be wrong, though; maybe, they’re looking for someone who can pick a lock in less than thirty seconds.
After what seems like miles along the winding road, we end up at cabin number five, which happens to be the last cabin on the left. Behind and to the right of the cabin, thick stands of pine, maple, and elm trees continue up along the mountain. About twenty feet of grass and wildflowers separate the cabin from the tree line. Even though we’re at the last cabin, the dirt road turns sharply and extends deeper into the wooded area.
Kelly pauses at the bottom of the steps leading up to my cabin. “We’ll announce the teams tomorrow. Only the people on your team will know your strengths. It’ll be up to you to let them know your weaknesses. The rest of today will be used to unpack, meet others, and tour the camp. Do you have any questions so far?”
The more she explains, the more intrigued I become.
“I’m still trying to process all of this. I’m sure I’ll come up with questions at some point.” I lift the bundle of paperwork in my hand. “Hopefully, this packet will fill in any blanks.”
We reach the top of the steps, and Kelly opens the cabin door. She waves me in first. Six bunk beds extend out from the far wall, with four more bunks close to the entrance. Tall dressers next to each bunk act as separators between the beds. On the left, a door leads to the bathroom, and nothing but a corkboard fills the wall to the right. An aged tile floor runs through the cabin and into the bathroom. Shivers course through me as I imagine stepping on the cold floor first thing in the morning or the middle of the night.
“You can call on me anytime, for any reason.” Kelly follows me inside and points at a redhead sitting on one of the top bunks. “Now, let me introduce you to Fallon. She’s your cabin lead. If I’m not around, she can also answer your questions.”
“Hey!” Fallon says as she hops down. “Most of the top bunks are already taken. Look around and leave your stuff on the one that you want. We don’t have a lot of time to put things away before we have to head to lunch.”
“Hi. I’m Cassie.” I nod in her direction as I glance over my new home. To avoid an abundance of traffic past my bed, I decide to stay away from the door as well as the bathroom.
“Well, Cassie, the top three drawers are for the person on the top bunk, and the bottom three drawers are for the person on the bottom bunk.” Fallon waves her hand at the room as I finish my walkthrough, pointing out the dressers situated between the bunks against the bright white, stucco walls. “There’s a cubby space in the bathroom for each person.”
My bag ends up on the bottom bunk located in the back corner of the wall opposite the entrance. From this spot, anything or anyone that comes in the room is visible.
“Well, ladies, we should head back up front. Cassie, I need to update your paperwork with your new information, and you need to say goodbye to Mr. French.” Kelly heads out the door, not waiting to confirm if I followed her.
I take one last look at the place I’ll call home for the next several weeks, and then I chase after her. As we walk back, she points out areas I ignored previously. After we pass all the boys’ cabins, I notice a small putt-putt course set back into the woods. Next to the course, a half-court basketball court with a rusted chain net butts up against the start of a nature trail. Boys run around the court, trying to steal the ball or out-maneuver their opponent, while girls lie around pretending not to watch the boys.
Once we pass the basketball court, a large building with windows covering three of the walls rests right off the path, behind some purple flowering bushes.
Kelly explains, “This building includes the cafeteria and activity center. People play cards, do crafts, read—there’s a small library—and use the computers and internet. Everyone’s allowed to use the computers as long as the privilege is not abused. Each person has to sign in and out. When you sign in, you’ll be given a code. That code is used to log you into the computer. We can track your usage based on that login.”
Her serious expression makes me wonder if someone abused this privilege in the past.
As we continue walking, we pass a clinic as the road opens back up to the main area, and the apartments I saw near the front come into view.
Kelly points to those buildings. “The teachers, camp counselors, and other staff stay in those apartments while camp is in session so that we’re always available if needed.”
Once we return to the sign-in area, Kelly leaves me, and I head over to Simon.
He places his hands on my shoulders. “Do you think you’ll be all right? I can’t stay, but I won’t leave you if you’re uncomfortable.”
“I’ll be fine. I’m tough.” I wink at him, then cringe inside. Bah! Where did that come from? I never wink. This place is already getting to me.
“Be good, be careful, call or write when you can. I’ll be back to get you at the end of the term.” He gives me a quick hug before he turns and walks to his car.
I watch as he drives away, wondering what I’m going to do now.