Mary lined up her bow and took her shot. It went wide left of the target, missing the bullseye by a mile.
"Nice shot, loser, " yelled Jess.
Mary just smiled, shrugging. Jess whispered something in her ear and Mary laughed. Then Jess helped her line up the bow for another shot, guiding Mary's hand and helping her aim.
Jill pouted as she watched Mary having fun with Jess. Nothing that she usually did to tease newcomers seemed to bother her. Mary just brushed it off and laughed. Or worse, just ignored her.
Jill knew it was all Jess' fault. Without her support, Mary would have crumbled long ago. But Jess was just too nice. None of her friends were that nice and she doubted they would stand up for her. They were just like leeches, feeding off her popularity.
Jill threw down her bow and stormed off the archery practice range.
"Where are you going?" asked one of her so-called friends.
"Why do you care?" hissed Jill.
"I... I don't know..."
"Just shut up!" hissed Jill.
"Hey! You can't leave, Jill! Practice isn't over," said Sandy, the counselor who had been teaching them to shoot.
"I feel sick. I am going to see the nurse," said Jill.
Sandy put her hands on her hips and looked at Jill skeptically. But what could she do? If the girl was sick, she did need to see the nurse. If she wasn't .... well, so what? She waved Jill away with annoyance.
Out of sight Jill made a beeline for her cabin. She really was sick - sick of watching Jess and Mary! Deep down she knew it was just jealousy. She envied the true friendship that had developed between the two girls and wished that she could be like them. But she could never admit the truth, even to herself. Instead she decided to just go mope in the cabin. She was still kind of tired, after trying to stay up and watch Mary all night. She had finally fallen asleep, but the stupid bugle had woken her way too early and she was cranky.
Inside the cabin she spotted something shiny on Mary's bed. Beside it was a note. Jill carefully looked around the cabin. All the other campers were required to be in some kind of class. No one would be back her for several hours. She was alone.
Jill walked over to Mary's bed and picked up the object. It was some kind of old medallion. It looked like a piece of junk. But maybe it had some kind of sentimental value to Mary that she could use against her. Jill read the note wrapped around the medallion.
"Sorry we got interrupted last night. I left some clothes for you to use to change into a counselor tonight. I'll let the staff know that Mary had to go home. See you later, Anna"
Jill was confused. How was changing clothes going to make Mary a counselor? All the counselors were at least seventeen. And no set of clothes would help that little shrimp look seventeen. And why would she need to let everyone know that Mary went home?
Jill rubbed the medallion as she pondered, accidentally brushing it against clothes belonging to .....