Lights Out! by Laura Dower Page B

was too late.
    Splat!
    Madison fell down the incline and got mud all over her arm and even in her hair.
    “Are you all right?” Aimee asked, reaching down to help her friend.
    Madison rolled onto her feet, a little dazed.
    “Nice one, Finnster!” Hart said, chuckling. Madison grimaced. She could think of nothing more embarrassing than sitting there on her butt while her crush laughed his head off.
    “Thanks,” Madison said quietly. “I guess I’ll get up now.”
    Still laughing, Hart extended his hand to help her.
    “Don’t fall again,” Egg said, also extending his hand to help.
    Fiona rushed in and picked off some dead leaves that were stuck to Madison’s pants.
    “Everything okay?” James called out. He was up ahead of the group.
    “Aimee, I looked up at the haunted cabin and then I fell…just like that. Do you think there’s a connection?” Madison asked.
    “Huh? Yeah, there’s a connection between not looking and falling, sure,” Aimee said. “Maddie, you’re so goofy.”
    “I am not,” Madison said. “It could have been the ghost.”
    “Are you kidding?” Fiona asked.
    “No, I’m not kidding,” Madison said.
    As the group walked on, Madison raced ahead to keep up with James. She left her friends a little behind.
    “Is it true that the cabin we just passed is haunted?” Madison asked James.
    “The run-down one? Back where you fell?” he asked. “Where did you hear that?”
    “Around,” Madison explained.
    “Rumors,” James said. “Unsubstantiated rumors.”
    “What does that mean?” Madison asked.
    “No proof,” James said.
    “So you don’t believe in ghosts?” Madison asked. “Don’t all camp counselors have to believe in ghosts? Isn’t that like a prerequisite for telling scary stories around the campfire and all that?”
    James laughed. “As far as I know, the only ghosts that live around here are the ones we decorate the mess hall with on Halloween.”
    Madison tugged her mud-stained fleece a little tighter. It was getting a little warmer out, but she felt chilled. That ground had been cold.
    “It’s almost that time!” James announced as the group came into another clearing. “If you trek up this little hill, you’ll find yourself back near the main lodge and the picnic table area. Your teachers have put out the box lunches. Any questions?”
    “I can’t believe it’s already lunchtime!” Chet said. “We did a lot this morning, right?”
    “I don’t ever remember camp being this interesting,” Egg said.
    “That’s because you were at computer camp, dork,” Aimee said.
    “Computer camp is good, though,” Fiona said, sticking up for Egg.
    “I went to river-raft camp with my cousin two summers ago,” Drew said. “Remember when that lady fell out of the raft?”
    Drew and Hart were second cousins. Hart nodded enthusiastically.
    “She was so hyper,” Hart said. “Camp was mad scary, though, sleeping outside in the middle of nowhere.”
    “At soccer camp, we mostly play soccer, but they go on camp field trips, too,” Fiona said. “We went horseback riding once in California.”
    “I love camp,” Dan said.
    Madison listened, although she didn’t have much to add. Her camp story was twenty-four hours old.
    As they scaled the incline, the group spotted the rest of the class up by the tables, getting their lunches. Dan, whose elementary school nickname had been Pork-O, ran like a racehorse up to the tables. He was hungrier than anyone else, he said. Everyone else scuttled after him.
    Madison looked down at her dirty clothes. She looked like she’d been wrestling on the ground, and she knew what Ivy would say if she saw Madison looking like this. Madison wanted to avoid that confrontation at all costs. She found Mrs. Wing and asked permission to go back to Maple cabin alone to change into another sweatshirt and jeans. Mrs. Wing agreed.
    The walk to the cabin was peaceful. Madison spotted a bird poking its beak out of a knot in a tree. She guessed