Maple Creek: A Camp for Gifted Teenagers

By Jude Liebermann

Denika is sent to a camp in Washington for the summer, where she meets Fionn. He is not a normal teenaged boy, and she is intrigued by how he makes her feel. As she spends more time at the camp, she discovers it isn't normal either and neither are those around her. Why was she sent there, and what is in store for her and the other new campers? This is book one and will be concluded in book two.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jude Liebermann
• Release date: Oct 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005629960

Jude Liebermann

Jude is an adult and YA romance novelist. Be sure to look through the whole list of books, since there are 4 free titles.

Book preview

Maple Creek:

A Camp for Gifted Teenagers

A novel by

Jude Liebermann

Published by Jude Liebermann

www.judesplace.com

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved

Copyright 2021 by Jude Liebermann

Chapter One

Today is the last day of school before summer break, finally ending eleventh grade. The good news is that I have the whole summer to be free from bullies, but the bad news is I have to go to a camp in Washington only to return and then suffer through my senior year in the fall. Frankly, I absolutely, positively hate high school. Why, you might ask? Aren’t these the best days of my young life? Hell no! I’m certainly not what you would call popular, and I’m not smart enough to be called a brain. I’m not good-at, stoner or even goth.

I guess you could say I’m a loner and don’t fit in anywhere. I do like manga, but I’m not that good at it. If I’m bored, I tend to draw characters of those around me. I have notebooks full of sketches that no one else has ever seen. I’m the kind of kid other kids enjoy tying their shoe laces together just for the enjoyment of watching them fall. Honestly, I had to stop wearing shoes that laced earlier this year. I almost lost a tooth the last time I got up and fell into the desks across the aisle. For weeks I looked like someone had beaten me up, with a busted lip and black eye. Everyone laughed. Well, not the teacher, who rushed over to help me up, before I kicked off my shoes and ran from the room in tears.

I learned a hard lesson that day that has stayed with me. I am not well liked by my fellow students, and I’m not completely sure why. The only person who is even close to being a friend is Jenny, and I think she only tolerates me because she lives next door. Unfortunately, we don’t have any classes together and can only speak during lunch, where we sit at the end of a long table. Only the bottom-ladder cliques sit at that table, but even they keep their distance. Not from Jenny, of course, but from me. If anyone stands or sits too close, they might be sucked into the sinking vortex of my life. No, Jenny hasn’t seen any of my manga notebooks either, but there are plenty of sketches of her in them.

Jenny fits in with all the cliques, but she always dances around the edges, never staying with one group for long. I guess some would call her a floater. I seem to be the one she spends the most time with, and I’m guessing it’s because her mother told her to be nice to me. We’ve known each other all our lives, and I have very few memories that she isn’t a part of. She always seems to be smiling, but there’s never been much reason for me to be happy about anything. I like having her around me though, since she’s genuine. Whatever she’s thinking tends to be what she’ll say. Definitely not two faced, like so many of our classmates.

So, any plans for the summer?

Jenny’s voice pulls me from my thoughts, and I turn away from the window to focus on her pretty face. Her skin is blemish-free, and the only makeup she ever uses is mascara and lipstick. I’ve been in her room countless times and know an entire shelf is dedicated to the variety of colored tubes. She never uses the same one in any given month, so her lips always appear a different shade. Today’s pick looks apricot. Yesterday’s was cotton candy. I smile in spite of myself. You know your mom talks to mine, so I don’t doubt you already know where I’m going this summer.

Jenny laughs. Yeah, but I thought you’d like to tell me. It sounds exciting.

I sigh. Want to go in my place?

She looks me over for a moment before shaking her head. I would love to go with, but the rents planned our summer well before your trip was even mentioned. They won’t let me back out now.

I don’t want to talk about my summer trip. I had planned on spending the whole time locked in my room, lying on my bed and listening to depressing music on Youtube. Clearly, my mom doesn’t want that to happen and found a summer camp that would not only get me out of my room but also the state. She wants me to go where no one knows me and possibly make some new friends along the way. I can’t really blame her, since I’m not the best company. The worst part of the trip is that I will be turning 17 with a bunch of strangers. I’d begged Mom to postpone the trip until after my birthday, but the camp was strict about the dates, and I can’t arrive late. I wondered how they prevented other kids from showing up any time they wanted to. Did they have gates they locked after their cut-off date? The thought almost makes me chuckle. Suddenly, the image of an electrified fence surrounding the camp comes to my mind, zapping anyone who dares touch or climb it, and it’s no longer humorous.

When Mom told me about the camp, I’d looked online for it, but none of my searches resulted in anything. I couldn’t even find it on any map. The general area, yes, but not even Google Earth could show me anything. It was just mountains covered in trees.

You think my Mom would carry me to the plane if I refuse to go?

Jenny chortles at the image that clearly jumped to her mind, of my tiny mother attempting to pick me up. I’m not what you’d call a lightweight, and no, I don’t mean I’m fat. I’m tall and solidly built. If I had to guess, I’d say I weigh about 150. Mom’s barely above five feet and no more than 100 pounds. I got my height from my Dad, who’s over 6 feet. He’s no longer in the picture, but no, he’s not dead. My folks divorced when I was ten, and he moved away. While he did try to act like he cared about me the first year or two, he eventually got married and started another family. I don’t miss him anymore…at least not much.

Deni, you know your mom has plans of her own, and you’d ruin them if you stayed home.

I grudgingly nod, absently smiling at her use of the nickname I’d created for myself just after my parents’ divorce. It took awhile for her to warm up to it, since she loved my name and wanted to use it, but I insisted if we were to be friends that she had to call me Deni. She finally conceded.

My actual name is Denika, which I hate. For the longest time I thought my mom must have made it up, but according to the Urban Dictionary, the name means an energizer bunny who loves life to the fullest, funny, and beautiful that lights up a room. I could only snort as I read that. I suppose she hoped I would turn out to be that person, but I am the polar opposite.

My mom is all I have in the world, so no, I don’t want to make her unhappy. She wants to tour Europe with a bunch of other single parents. They will stay in hostels and share rooms to keep the cost affordable. She’s never been outside of the US, so I can’t refuse to go to Washington, or she won’t go on her trip. Even though I am almost 17, she wouldn’t feel good about leaving me home all alone for a month. So that means I have to go to camp, whether or not I want to.

Yeah, I know. Looking up and noticing the time, I groan softly. It’s time to go to Algebra. At least the kids in my math class leave me alone. I sit in the back and never mess with the bell curve, so the others rarely turn to look at or even notice me. Too bad all my classes aren’t like that.

My last class is study hall, which I ditch and sneak out of the building to head home. A few others have the same idea, and I cringe when I see Lenny and his minions hassle a freshman. I’m pretty sure it was Lenny who tied my laces together, even though he denied it when confronted. He’s a junior like me, which means I’ll have to suffer through his antics for another year. Damn, I’m not looking forward to senior year.

Since his attention is on the smaller kid, I turn around and walk the other way. It will take me longer to get home but is worth it to avoid being picked on. Summer break has started, and I intend to enjoy it. Maybe getting out of town is the perfect solution. All I can hope is there won’t be guys like Lenny at the camp. I shudder at the thought they might be worse.

I’m only able to enjoy being locked in my room and listening to depressing music for a week. On Sunday Mom reminds me that I need to pack. The camp lasts almost two months, so I basically have to take most of my clothes with me. Dreading the thought of all that luggage, I narrow it down to about two weeks of outfits that I will mix and match. With everything laid out on my bed in piles, five of everything will go with me, which includes jeans, shorts, skirts, tank tops, T-shirts, and sweatshirts. Deciding that I will probably need more shorts than skirts and jeans, I take out two of each and replace them with four more shorts and then throw in a few more tank tops for good measure. Since I hate wearing bathing suits, it is deliberately left out. I’ll just tell them I’m afraid of water, if there is even a pool, which I somehow doubt. Not wanting to count socks, panties or bras, I grab handfuls from the drawer and stuff them in the corner of the suitcase.

A light knock sounds at the door. Yeah? I call out, sitting on the case to attempt to zip it up. Mom opens the door and pokes her head in.

I ordered pizza. Come on out and eat with me.

I inwardly groan as I unzip the case, yank out two of the bulky sweatshirts and then try again. This time I successfully yank the zipper the rest of the way. It probably won’t be cool enough for them anyway.

Honey, I won’t see you for months. Please have dinner with me on our last night together for awhile.

She does have a point, so I nod with a sigh. OK.

Thank you, my lady. She gives me a mock bow and holds her arm out for me to go first. I roll my eyes and head for the dining room. Moving the pizza box and napkins from the counter to the table, I take a seat and watch Mom moving around the kitchen. She gets us glasses and fills them with iced tea. Did you remember to pack the bug spray?

I stare blankly at