window for that. I bet Bailey and Keelan talk Elijah out of some duct tape before bedtime tonight, though. They will most likely tape every crack and cranny in the whole cabin, and if they do, I’m not saying a word about it.”
“I bet all of them have nightmares for the rest of this week.” Diana sighed. “We’ll be up at night with them like they’re tiny babies.”
Not mine, Jayden thought. If they made that tear in the plastic and shooed that big-ass spider into Moonbeam Cabin, then Bailey and Keelan had it coming.
The commotion started the second the girls all filed into the dining room. Bailey got right up in Tiffany’s face and narrowed her eyes until they were barely slits. “You turned that spider loose in our cabin to pay us back for giving y’all bad haircuts, didn’t you?”
Tiffany’s smile was so saccharine that Jayden had no doubt her girls definitely had something to do with the whole escapade. “Bad haircuts? We thought y’all did a fine job on our hair, didn’t we?” She turned toward Carmella and Ashlyn on down the line.
“Love my new shorter ponytail,” Carmella said.
“I was thinkin’ of askin’ y’all to cut another inch off mine,” Ashlyn told them. “But if you deliberately gave us ugly haircuts, then you should be ashamed. We trusted you. I guess what we heard in church last Sunday about vengeance belonging to God went right over your heads.”
“God didn’t put that spider in our cabin,” Keelan argued.
“Maybe the devil did it, just like he made you give us bad haircuts,” Carmella said in a sugary-sweet tone. “Y’all should ask God for forgiveness for your evil deed, and maybe He will step in and keep old Lucifer from bringing more fire and brimstone down upon y’all’s heads.”
“You are related to the devil himself,” Bailey hissed. “I saw you put that spider in the box you carry around.”
“Why don’t you come visit us in our cabin and look at all the bugs pinned to my board?” Carmella smiled. “You’ll only see one tarantula there, and unless he’s turned into a zombie spider and came to visit you, then I expect that you’re confused. I didn’t even like the first one, so I surely wouldn’t want to deal with a second one.”
Jayden couldn’t keep the smile off her face. Carmella had given a convincing argument, but not once had she denied doing the dirty little deed.
Bailey took a step back. “What do you mean by fire and brimstone?”
“Talk to God,” Tiffany answered as she picked up a tray and slid it down the buffet line. “He’s the one who takes care of that, not us.”
“Besides, we didn’t do anything mean to the Daydream girls, and the spider came to visit all of us, too, so don’t blame them. I flat out fainted,” Violet chimed in as she shoved her way between Tiffany and Bailey and picked up a tray. “Get over yourself, girl, and eat some breakfast. We’re in the danged desert. We can expect spiders and lizards. You didn’t even faint like I did, so stop your whining.”
“It sat on my forehead.” Bailey shivered.
“Well, it crawled up my leg,” Rita countered.
“At least you had pants on,” Violet told her. “I thought for sure it was going to take a bite out of my arm and scar me for life.”
The girls all completed the line and took their trays to their tables. They were still talking about spiders and the worst thing they’d experienced since being at the camp as Jayden filled her tray and joined the other counselors and Elijah at the adult table. She was sure her girls had something to do with the spider issue, but since she didn’t have a single shred of evidence, she decided to take the advice her mother always gave her and keep her suspicions to herself.
Elijah nudged her with his shoulder. “I thought we’d have to leave Violet behind after she fainted, but she made the entire three-mile hike. What a trouper.”
Novalene nodded in agreement. “I was surprised that Bailey kept up this morning at all. For a little while there, I thought we might have to call out the EMTs to get Bailey breathing again.” She told Elijah what had happened to start off her day that morning.
When she finished, Diana told her part of the morning’s incidents. “At least it wasn’t a scorpion. If one of those gets loose in a cabin, the girls might burn it to the ground.”