Dani stepped off the bus, backpack straps cutting into her shoulders.

Did’ja have’ta pack it so full, Ma? The ten-year-old wriggled her back and arms, trying to ease the pressure. She switched the suitcase from one hand to the other.

“Dani Beck?” asked a young woman, who came up and took the bag in her hand. Dani nodded. The older girl motioned her to follow. She re-centered her balance and hurried after. The youngster excused her way through the crowd until she caught up with her bag.

“Good. I’m Sara, I’ll be your counselor for the week. Wait here while I gather the rest of my flock.”

After a brief pump of Dani’s arm, Sara disappeared into the gaggle of Girl Scouts. Setting her backpack on the ground at her feet, Dani waited. One-by-one, Sara gathered four strangers, delivering them to where Dani marveled at her surroundings.

“Ha!,” came a sugary voice from behind her, “Ah’m Jenny.” Dani thought she said ‘Ginny.’

In quick succession, Sara delivered a Laurie, Carla, and Monica.

“Okay,” said the counselor. “Now that we’re all acquainted, let’s head to the cabin. We’ll go over the schedule and expectations there.” Sara waited while the girls gathered their belongings, then marched off toward one of the many cabins that made up the Girl Scout Camp. Before she could enter, an advisor pulled Sara to the side.

“Dibs!” shouted Jenny, throwing her bag on the bottom bunk near the door as she shoved her way in.

Dani rolled her eyes at the other girl, then looked around the small bunkhouse. By the time she’d scanned the room, the only bed left was the upper bunk above where Sara’s stuff already lay.

Crap.

At the foot of the bed, an open locker waited for her clothes, books, notepad, and pens. She sat on the floor, unzipped her pack, and arranged everything so she could find it in the dark. As she worked, she listened to the other girls as they talked over each other to tell about themselves.

“What’s your favorite subject?”

“Do you like sports?”

“Ah been watchin’ that new show, and girl, let me tell you …”

A hand on her shoulder brought her back to herself.

“Hi, I’m Carla,” said a tall, skinny girl in thick glasses. “You’re Dani, right?”

“Yeah,” said Dani, with a smile. “Hi.”

Carla leaned in to say something when Jenny came over.

“Check this out, y’all,” she said, pointing into Dani’s locker. “SOMEone’s tryin’ t’ score Brownie points with Sara.”

The other girls came over to look into Dani’s personal space. She reached up to shut the lid, but Jenny put her hand up to stop her.

“What’s th’ matter, darlin’?” she asked, trying to sound sophisticated. “Don’t ya want th’ rest of th’ girls t’ see what a goody-two-shoes ya are?”

Monica nodded along with whatever Jenny said. Laurie looked troubled. Carla moved to Dani’s side.

“What are you talking about?” asked Dani, a little confused. “Doesn’t your ma make you keep your room clean?”

“MY momma lets me do whatever Ah want,” sneered Jenny. “Let’s go, Monica,” she said, and the pair moved to the other side of the cabin.

“I don’t like her,” said Carla.

“Me neither,” said Laurie.

“She reminds me of someone at school,” said Dani, and left it at that.

Teri had bullied her since elementary school, and it hadn’t changed when they got older. Ma told her to ignore the bullies, but that was hard to do. Teri and her crew always found her alone and demand her lunch money. While they hadn’t beaten her up yet, Dani figured it was a matter of time. She knew how to handle a bully.

“Can you help me with my locker?” asked Laurie, cheeks reddening. “I… I usually just stuff it all in, then can never find anything. I bet you can find all your stuff in a second.”

“Sure,” said Dani, smiling and following Laurie to her bunk. “Ma said to fold it like this…” she showed her new friends how Ma taught her to fold her clothes so they not only all fit in the drawers, but they came out looking pressed.

“Hey, Goody-Two-Shoes,” called Jenny from the other side of the cabin. “When yer done there, come an’ do mine!” She and Monica snickered.

Dani took a deep breath. As instructed in her martial arts class, she let it out slowly. “You’re welcome to come over and take lessons, Ginny.”

Carla snickered.

“Mah name is Jenny!” Again, it sounded to Dani like she said ‘Ginny’.

“Whatever.” Dani shrugged, then turned back to Laurie and Carla, showing them how she folded her clothes.

Footsteps stormed across the floor, and a hand spun Dani around, knocking her off balance.

“What is going on?” said Sara from the door. “Jenny, Dani?”

“Nothin’,” Jenny huffed her way to her bunk.

“Laurie asked me to show her how I folded my clothes. I was showing her.” Dani looked up at Sara, righting herself.

“Right,” replied Sara, drawing out the ‘i’ sound. She frowned at Jenny and Monica.

Half an hour later, Sara had gone over the cabin rules, the camp rules, and the chores list. At the mention of chores, Jenny rolled her eyes.

“Yes, Jenny, everyone gets their turn at garbage collection. In fact, since you volunteered, I’ll let you get it out of the way first.”

“Volun … well, Ah never,” Jenny huffed over to her bunk.

Dani tried and failed to suppress a giggle. She could almost feel the hate coming from Jenny.

“Don’t get cocky, Goody,” whispered Monica before joining Jenny. “We know where you sleep.”

This was going to be a long, painful week.