Silver Lining Summer

Chapter 8: A Hidden Gem

Ten Weeks Until Tribe Wars

The bugle, loud as can be, wakes me from my slumber. Hazel being Hazel, jumps out of bed. I'm not letting her drag me out of bed again. She's done it every morning for the past week. One time when she dragged me out of bed, I just tried to fall back asleep on the ground. My truck didn't slide past her though. I don't know why I kept letting her do it, probably because I actually don't want to get out of bed. It's just comfy. This time, I'm not letting it happen. To her surprise, I quickly jump out of bed to join her, waiting for Chris to come over the loud speaker to give us today's announcements. She grabs her hairbrush as I grab a shoe, which I think is mine, on the ground.

"Good morning campers!" Chris says over the loud speaker, Hazel and I saying it loudly in our cabin with him.

"Today is the start of a brand new week here at Camp Phoenix. The Honey Badger tribe is currently in the lead with 58 points, the Fox tribe is in second with 54 points, and the Wolf tribe is in last place with 50 points. Don't give up now because we still have a long summer to go. It's any tribes game. Go out there and find your silver lining today. Chris out," Chris announces. Hazel and I laugh when we here him say 'Chris out'. He never said that before. Must be trying something new out. Hazel and I found it hilarious for some reason.

"You're in an energetic mood this morning," Hazel says to me, joyed that I joined her in her antics this morning.

"I didn't feel like getting dragged out of bed this morning, that's why," I say to her almost as a threat but I knew I wasn't going to do anything about it. She laughs, definitely not taking me seriously.

"It's payback," she lets out in between her giggles.

"For what?" I say confused with a laugh.

"One word, firefly," she says tossing her hairbrush onto her bed.

"Oh, oops," I say dropping the shoe.

"Now tell me exactly why you punched Ethan," she asks me as she sat on her bed, still confused and clearly a bit mad about how I handled the situation.

"I just was getting annoyed with him," I say to her, kicking the shoe I was holding around on the floor.

"You could have just used your words. There's no need for violence, Addy," she says to me.

"Hazel, it happened a week ago. Can we please just let it go?" I say to her, emphasizing the word please. It's starting to get annoying how Hazel keeps mentioning to me that I "could have used my words and not choose violence".

"I realized that I handled the situation wrong and it won't happen again. Look on the bright side though. Ethan hasn't bothered us all week," I tell her. She seemed to like what I said considering she smiled at the last part of what I said.

"As long as you realize your mistake," Hazel says standing up from her bed. She picks up the shoe I was kicking around.

"And stop kicking my shoe," she says with a laugh.

"That's your shoe?" I said. "I thought it was mine. I've worn it a few times this past week," I add, giggling. Hazel laughs along with me. After more shared laughs, we managed to get ourselves dressed and out the door to breakfast. Hazel grabs her book on the way out, don't know why but she does. On our way, we stop and sign up for lawn games for this weeks activity. Once again, Teddy isn't at breakfast early. For someone who loves food, you would think he would wake up early to get to breakfast first. I guess it doesn't matter since him and Big Ed are buddies. Hazel and I eat our breakfast, French toast and sausages to be exact. Once we finished, we make our wake over to Teddy's cabin to make sure this boy is awake. When we arrive at his cabin, Hazel doesn't hesitate. She swings open the screen door and proceeds to obtain his attention.