Page 19 of Let's Go To Camp!

The three newcomers gave chase for a moment, but gave up quickly when it became evident that they wouldn’t catch up. Instead, they approached the cabin.

Maisie threw the door open. “You scared them off! My hero!” she cheered to Declan.

She wasn’t trying to lay it on thick. That was just her genuine reaction. Declan had rescued her and her friends, like a knight in shining armor.

He smiled as he stepped onto the porch. “We heard the screaming and came to investigate.”

“What happened exactly?” Chloe asked.

Going onto the porch, Maisie, Sophia, and Naomi explained.

“Hmm. Sounds like just a camp prank. Though I don’t like that level of shenanigans taking place under my watch. I won’t stand for it,” the camp’s director said.

The third man—who’d introduced himself as Marcus Johnson—shook his head. “Man, this crap is starting on the first night of the week. Dang.”

“This is normal?” Naomi asked.

“Unfortunately, we see our fair share of pranks,” Marcus answered.

“Are you all okay?” Declan asked, his eyes assessing the Littles.

“Yeah. Just…messy,” Maisie replied. She then blushed hard. “I don’t mean my diaper or anything.” She laughed uneasily. “It’s clean and stuff. Like…not messy.” She groaned and quickly looked away.

Gosh, Maisie, could you be any more awkward?

When she chanced a glance back at Declan, she saw he was smiling, and the look in his eyes indicated he found her cute.

Whew. She’d take cute. That beat awkward.

“Well, you best get cleaned up,” he said with a chuckle.

“And don’t worry about anything,” Chloe said. “We have security personnel who takes their jobs very seriously. They patrol at night. If any naughty Littles are running around playing pranks, they’ll be caught.”

“Thank you,” Maisie said.

She and her roomies watched the three Bigs trot off the porch. Part of her wanted to hug Declan but she didn’t want to be weird. So she just watched him go and waved back when he turned around and waved at her.

That was better than nothing, at least.

The Littles went back inside and locked the door.

“That was Derek and his friends. I know it was,” Maisie said.

“Does he even know where our cabin is to be waiting for us like that?” Sophia asked.

“Well, not that I know of,” Maisie admitted, suddenly second-guessing her suspicion. “You think maybe we were just the recipients of a random prank?”

It was Naomi who answered as she started pacing the main room, reminding Maisie of one of those movie detectives who gathers everyone in a house to review the evidence and piece all the clues together.

“Well, let’s think about it. The other cabins—the ones with Bigs staying in them and supervising—are back that way.” She jerked her thumb in the direction they’d walked earlier. “So are the Lovers’ Lane cabins. Toward the front of the camp. Along with the big tents.”

Maisie knew what she was referring to. Some Littles opted for averyauthentic camp experience, sleeping in tents that were on elevated wooden platforms. Each one was big enough to hold seven beds. That was a little too primitive for her liking, hence the “glamping” cabin she’d chosen.

“Yeah?” she said.

“Well, it would be easy to verify that we weren’t in the tents. And they could have watched who went in and out of the other cabins,” Naomi continued. “Not to mention that they could have been looking out for us all day. We’ve made multiple trips to and from this place. It would have been easy for them to just follow us one of those times. There are plenty of trees and stuff to conceal someone.” She laughed. “We learned that the hard way tonight.”

“So you’re saying it was them!” Sophia chimed in.

---