The Mooretown Valley Boy Scouts had a reputation throughout the past three decades of star-studded excellence. Producing the nation’s greatest number of Eagle Scouts, Mooretown was a well known – and very proud – organization. The troop had been around for a total of fifty years, with some families having entire generations who trained under it.

Cooper belonged to one of these families. His grandfather was one of the founding members of the Mooretown Valley club, and his father one of their first Eagle Scouts. It was now Cooper’s turn to step up and keep the family tradition alive.

But this time he would be doing it all alone. His mother had passed away when he was three, and his father was too busy with his trucking job to give him any personal guidance. Cooper knew enough of the basics to give himself a good head start, but that summer would be the first time he would camp out with the scouts all on his own.

The morning of the trip, Cooper headed downstairs in his full boy scout gear. His grandparents — who were home to take care of him — were both sitting at the kitchen table, turning to him as he came down the steps.

“My, look at you!” his grandma exclaimed sweetly. “The spitting image of your father. Are you excited, Coop?”

“Gee grandma, I sure am!” the boy answered excitedly. “I hope I see one of those heart-feathered robins from my Audubon book!”

His grandpa chuckled and ruffled the young boy’s hair. “Trust me, you’ll see all kinds of things, kiddo! Why, what I wouldn’t do to be in your shoes… to go through my first camp all over again. Now get out there, and show’em what for!”

The bus arrived at the house not long after. Cooper got one last kiss from his grandma, then walked in. The bus was filled with kids not just from the Boy Scouts, but Mooretown’s neighboring Girl Scouts division as well. The Girl Scouts were considered to be, at least to the boys, ‘inferior’ in their camping and survival abilities. In other words, girls were lame. The boys kept it at that.  

Unfortunately for Cooper, however, most of the seats in the bus were already taken — the only seat left was at the very back, and already partially occupied by a member of this inferior girl’s club.

She was about his age, with long wavy blonde hair and freckles that lined the tops of her cheeks. When she saw him approach, she pouted and looked away towards the window, though still keeping the seat open. Cooper mimicked the behavior, pouting himself as he sat down and kept his eyes trained on the others in the bus.

As the bus rolled on, Cooper noticed both the boys and girls had their camping gear with them. Cooper had his, of course — any self-respecting boy scout would — but it was strange to him as he was always told that the girls would first go through indoor subjects for a few weeks before going on their first camping trip. Curiosity taking the better of him, he decided to turn back to his neighbor.

“Hey… why do all the girls have their camping stuff?” he asked the blonde girl next to him.

The girl glared at him. “Why d’ya think?” she asked back in a thick Italian-American accent.

Cooper furrowed his brow. “I was just asking.”

The girl turned back towards the window. “It’s our co-ed trip. We’re all camping.”

“What? What’s that supposed to mean? What’s a “coal edd”?”

“I dunno, that’s just what the counselor said. Point is, we’re all gonna camp. Now are ya done with your questions, or what?”

Cooper let out a deep, exaggerated sigh. He knew that this was typical girl behavior – his school friends had warned him of it –  but if the trip was truly co-ed, then he might be in over his head. He pouted again and turned away from the girl. The girl, once again, did the same.

…

About an hour of a rocky bus ride later they all arrived at the Joseph S. Grenton State Preserve, where the scout camp was located. Cooper had become compressed and sore during the ride and so when he finally got a chance to breathe the open air he rushed out the bus as fast as he could. All around him were grand Rosenberg trees, these tall reddish pines which floated down glistening needles from their perches. The smell in the forest had the light airiness of fresh raindrops matched with the rougher oud of sourberries and the pines themselves. It was a smell Cooper had grown up with, giving him back wonderful memories of camping with his family.

The boy turned to the others of his gender, who were seen all huddled together in a big group. Cooper squeezed himself in, overhearing them talking about something he didn’t recognize.

“Yeah, I’m around level 57,” one of the taller boys mentioned. “I’m stuck on that one boss. Ya know, the one who’s a big demon? Ragnork the Powerful?”

“Ah, ya, I know’em,” a smaller kid said, a pair of glasses on his eyes and a set of braces in his teeth. “You see, he’s weak to frost spells. He’s the only demon type monster in the game who’s weak to that.”

The taller boy opened his mouth, nodding his head. “Oooh! See, I knew there was something wrong. Cause the instance is only for level 55, ya know.”

“Ya, I know.”

“Hey, um…” Cooper awkwardly pushed himself into the group, past the older kids who were blocking the circle. “What are you guys most excited about this camping trip? Anyone want to try trap fishing with me in the creek later? I heard there’s these little crabs that sometimes ride up from the Mooretown basin.”

The boys all turned to him, giving off different looks of confusion, disgust, and annoyance. The silence became palpable.

An older boy, around age 13, with an orange-haired mullet and freckles, was the first to answer.

“I don’t know. I’m just here because my parents made me.”

“I’m here on community service, ‘cause I broke all the computers in the school library!” a younger boy excitedly called out.

The boy with the glasses shrugged. “I dunno. I’m just here because I’m trying to get into a prep school for junior high, and it looks good on the application.”

“Oh, um… r-right,” Cooper answered, beginning to shy away from the group. As he did so, an older man – about his father’s age, with dirty blonde hair and a beard – called out to the boys. 

“Howdy, campers! Let’s all get in a huddle around the flagpole so we can settle some introductions!”

Cooper diligently did as he was told. He couldn’t help but notice that the girls, who funnelled out the bus at around the same time, were also headed to the flagpole. This made him a bit uneasy, but he trusted the process and stood at the attention of the camp staff.

It turns out the man who spoke was the camp director for that year. He was flanked on both sides by two camp counselors, a pair of bored-looking twenty somethings, girl and boy each.

“Well, it’s great to see all y’all out here campin’ with us at the Mooretown Valley scout sanctuary! It’s a particularly special year, because this is the first time we got both the Boys and Girls scouts sharing the same camp! That’s right – while years previous we had the boys and girls out separate, the Valley Authority has decided to pilot a co-ed camp-out! Now ain’t that just darn exciting?!”

Cooper felt like his soul had been stabbed. It was true, his worst fear was realized. He was going to have to camp with a girl. 

“Now, of course, the boys and the girls dorms are all separate ‘n such,” the camp director continued. “Boys are gonna be lounging in the cabins out around this here flagpole, while the girls are gonna take a nice little hike up to our observatory where they’ll be staying. Buuut, your scout teams will be an equal mix of boy scouts and girl scouts! That means when you’re all out getting your respective badges, you’ll be working together and helping each other out! Now ain’t that just a hootin’-”

“Can I go to the bathroom?” One of the younger girls asked from the back of the crowd, raising her hand.

“Well, uh- yes, um… Sand- Sandy, can you go, escort, that there girl… that uh girl over to the girl’s room, please?”

The female camp counselor, who was chewing gum, popped the bubble and walked disinterestedly down the steps and back towards where the little girl was. The camp director continued.

“So, in just a bit, we’ll be placing you with your groups! Since we got to the campsite late today we’ll mostly have you moving into your cabins, but bright and early tomorrow we’ll get started with our first activity! Get ready for a summer of fun, kiddos!”

With that, the director stepped down. The male counselor, director, and – when she was back – female counselor began to gather up kids into different cohorts. Cooper assumed these were the groups they would be in for the full summer. Sure enough, he was right – a few moments later he felt the male counselor tap him on the back and beckon him over. He felt bittersweet about this guy being his counselor for the stay: he really would have rather been in the group that the director was leading, but the boy counselor was also a lot less intimidating than the girl named Sandy. He was brown-skinned – Cooper wasn’t really at the age where he could tell which type of brown skin he was – and had short, curly hair.

“Aight, stand here,” the counselor told him. Around Cooper, so far, was just two other boys – a fatter kid with a shaved head, and the mullet boy from earlier. 

In his head, Cooper wished for the best. There weren’t too many people on the trip with them – only three groups worth – and Cooper thought that maybe the chances would be in his favor. He hoped they might get only one or two girls, who mostly stayed to themselves, or maybe even a cute girl as opposed to an annoying one. He wasn’t really sure if there were any cute girls on the trip, but it was a tradeoff he’d be willing to make. Honestly, he could live with anyone – anyone – so long as it was not the girl he met on that bus. That girl was the worst. If it was a girl besides her, then Cooper knew, no matter the issues, that he would be able to able to make it out of this camping trip oka-

“Right here,” the counselor repeated. A new camper had joined them.

It was the girl from the bus.

…

Cooper went into his cabin distraught, confused, and existentially wounded. At the head of his cabin was a small memorial to all the Eagle Scouts who had come out of Mooretown in the years before. Among them he spotted an old photo he had recognized, one of his grandpa as a young man and his dad as a young boy, his dad holding up a freshwater trout he had just caught moments before. His grandpa and dad were both smiling. Cooper wanted to smile, but couldn’t. He wondered silently if he would have the spirit to keep going.

He slept in the same room as the two other boys, who ended up being the only other boys in his group. The other two members who came after “Bus Girl” (as Cooper referred to her as, in his own head) were both girls, but at this point they were none of his concern. 

The next morning, the counselor woke them up. Cooper had since learned this counselor’s name was Antonio, and that he preferred to be called Tony. Tony led the three boys out of the cabin and over to the flagpole. A bit later, the three girls joined them.

Tony had the kids all sit in a circle, a little ways from the other two groups. Cooper took care to sit on the exact opposite side of the circle as Bus Girl.

“Alright, so we’re going to start… by getting to know each other,” Tony announced, referring to a printed paper in his hand. “Let’s all go around the circle, and uh… say your name, something you like, and where you’re from. We’ll start… on my left.”

Cooper was on his right, so he was going last. First up was the fat kid from earlier. 

“Mauro,” the kid answered.

“And… what do you like to do?”

“I like… rocks.”

“Rocks?”

“Yeah.”

“What kind of rocks?”

“Just… cool ones.”

Tony gave a furrowed brow. This kid was some work.

“And where are you from?”

“I’m from… Scranton.”

“Alright,” Tony turned towards the redhead with the mullet. “What about you?”

“Oh, um… my name’s Josiah. I’m from Pittsburgh, and uh… what was the other thing?”

“What you like to do.”

“Oh, I like videogames. And… I like to watch movies, too. I guess.”

Tony nodded. His eyes moved onwards. Next was Bus Girl.

“And you?”

The girl looked proudly towards the group. “My name’s Ginny Maziano. My birth name’s Giana, but everyone besides mah fatha calls me Ginny. Mah hobbies are watching boxin’ with my bruddas, and playin’ soccer. Oh, and mud wrestlin’.”

“And where are you from?”

“Well, mah parents are from Jersey. But mah grandpa is from Queens, and his grandpa is from San Marino. My great uncle still lives there, but he says he doesn’t like it anymore ‘cause they got too many foreignahs. Oh, and mah great grandma is from Florence, which is where Leonardo da Vinci is from. And my two uncles on my grandma’s side are-”

“Okay, that’s great. What about you, Maddie?”

Cooper didn’t really pay attention to the two other girls, as he was mostly curious about the one he could now refer to as Ginny. In his mind he pondered a strategy as to how he might tame this beast, who had already caused him so much mental pain in the less-than 24 hours he’d been at camp….

“And lastly, Cooper.”

Cooper snapped out of it. Acknowledging that his name was called, he stood up proudly. None of the campers before him had done this. 

“My name’s Cooper Elwood, and I’m from Allentown Pennsylvania. My father, Roger Elwood, and my grandfather, Eddie Elwood, are both esteemed Eagle Scouts from the Mooretown Valley Boy Scouts branch. My hobbies are fly-fishing, hiking, fire-making, whittling, woodcraft, and small game hunting. And I’m here to make my family proud!”

Cooper’s introduction elicited virtually no reaction. Tony looked almost uncomfortable. There was a polite clap from one of the girls, but Cooper didn’t know her name since he wasn’t paying attention. The other boys looked tuned out of the whole thing. And Ginny had faced away, pouting and refusing to take in any of the words said by Cooper. 

He still had a long way to go.

…

Later in the day, the three groups set off into the forest, guided by the camp director. Cooper, who would have normally been hiking at the very head of the group, drooped steadily behind. The truth was that he had become somewhat deflated after all that had transpired. Not just his initial interactions with Bus Girl Ginny, but also the way in which he felt he couldn’t fit in with the others. He didn’t play video games, nor watch movies, nor could he talk about any of those sorts of things. Nature was his home, spurned on by his father and grandfather. He thought nature could take him anywhere. It turned out such a thing might not be true after all.

Unfortunately, the only other person who lagged behind was Ginny. Except she was less introspective and more lackadaisical, occasionally stopping to kick rocks or sit on a log, blowing air from her mouth out of boredom. At some point, Cooper got tired of it.

“Can’t you just hike with the rest of the group?” He called out to Ginny, who was in the middle of one of her log breaks.

Ginny furrowed her brows at him. “Says the guy who’s in last place.”

Cooper stopped walking, standing right in front of her as he put his hands on his hips. “I’m in ‘last place’ out of the safety of others! Every hike needs someone experienced to stay in the back to make sure no one gets left behind!”

“Oh yea?” Ginny got off the log and stood to face Cooper. “Whaddya mean, ‘someone more ex-peer-ee-ends’? Dontcha think it ought to be one of da counselahs instead?”

“Because our counselors are busy leading their groups! Besides, I was one of the best hikers in-”

“Yea, yea, I heard your life story. Ya know, sometimes people would rather not hear a person gloat about their accomplishments every five seconds. Ya ever thought of that?”

Cooper crossed his arms, pouting. “Fine! In fact, I won’t say anything to you! Ever!”

Ginny crossed her arms, pouting. “It’s a deal, then! From now on, both of us shaddap and never talk to each ovah again!”

“Deal!”

“Deal!”

In near-unison, the two spun on their foot and rotated themselves back to where the group was walking.

No one was there.

“Where… where are they?” Ginny asked aloud, the only thing audible being the birds in the canopies above them.

“Hey… hey! Anybody!” Cooper cupped his hands around his mouth, calling in the direction the group was last seen.

“Ayy, guys! You left us behind! Where are all ya?!” Ginny was much louder. Still, no answer.

Cooper put his fingers on his chin. “They couldn’t have gone that far. How long were we talking?”

Ginny pointed ahead of them. “Well, it’s fine. We just keep followin’ the path where they were going, see? We’ll catch up to ‘em.”

“There’s no path, though. There’s not even any cairns! All the director said was that we were going up the mountain!”

“Well, then let’s go up the mountain! All we gotta do is go towards the incline and we get there, right?”

Cooper let out a deep sigh of frustration. “No, that’s not how it works. What if we’re going up a ridge, and not to the peak? Then we have to spend another forty minutes figuring out where the peak is!”

Ginny frowned. “Well, hiking wizard, don’tcha got a map or something? Can’t ya just read the map and figure out where they were goin’?”

“I, um…” Cooper looked down, scratching the back of his head. “I didn’t bring my map.”

“You didn’t bring the map?!”

“I thought we were just going to be following the director! I didn’t think I’d need it! And what about you, smarty-pants? Did you bring your map?”

“I, uh… I misplaced it.”

Cooper looked unimpressed. He turned around, away from where the others were seen. “Well, the safest thing we can do is just return to camp, and hope they come back to look for u-”

“That’s not where we came from.”

Cooper’s head sharply turned back to Ginny. “What do you mean that’s not where we came from?!”

“When I stopped at the log, they were turning. I remembah that.”

Cooper looked back down the path. His head turned to the north, then to the east, then to the west.

“Do you… do you know which way camp is?”

Ginny shrugged. “Do I look like I’ve been payin’ attention to where we’ve been going?”

Cooper gave a pained groan, and dropped himself to the ground. “At this point, they’re going to be way ahead of us.”

Ginny began to take a few steps towards where the group was last seen. “Well, how about we just start goin’ this way? Best case we find’em early, worst case we’ll figure it out as we go. Not like we got many other choices.”

Cooper realized that – as much as he hated to admit it – Ginny was right. The two young kids began their trek alone through the mountains of the Mooretown Valley.

…

While Cooper began to develop an anxiety the longer they went without seeing another camper, Ginny seemed to handle the whole thing rather well. 

“Hey, look!” Ginny called out. “That rock ova there looks like one of them… climbin’ bouldas. Think I can get to the top?”

“W-we really shouldn’t be climbing anything right now!” Cooper nervously called back. “Especially with it being so close to night time!”

Ginny looked up. Cooper was right – they had scarcely realized it, but they had been hiking through Mooretown Valley for the entire day. And were still lost.

“Uhh, maybe…” Ginny began, a tone of anxiety now in her voice as well. “…Maybe we oughta make a camp. You know how to make a camp, right?”

Cooper nodded proudly. “Yup, all we’ll need is-”

“Some logs, and a coupla big sticks! And a rock! I used to watch ‘Bare Grills’ wit my cousin Guido all the time. I’ll get ya your camp in no time.”

Cooper frowned. “No, that’s not how it-”

Too late. Ginny already rushed further into the forest, off looking for the resources she thought they’d need. Cooper let out a big sigh, took off his backpack, then began taking his portable tent out.

…

By the time Ginny came back from lugging several heavy rocks and a bundle of sticks, Cooper already had the tent, the sleeping bag, and the fire set up. He sat on a log, eating a piece of jerky, looking at her expectantly. Ginny was unamused.

“Well, I didn’t know you meant the boring camp,” she let out as she threw her resources to the side and walked over to the fire.

“A camp is a camp. There is no boring camp, only a safe one.” Cooper looked over to his tent. “I don’t know if you have your own tent with you, but if not we could probably squeeze your sleeping bag inside of mine. It’s the tent my dad likes using, and I got it furled out to be pretty spacious.”

Ginny reached over into Cooper’s snack bag, looking at him quizzically. “My sleeping wha?”

“Your sleep-” Cooper stopped. He almost thought he misheard the words. He shook his head vigorously. “No, there’s no way. There is no way you did not bring a sleeping bag on a camping trip!”

Ginny shrugged. “They just told us we was gonna sleep in cabins. Mah mom packed me a few coupla blankets, though.”

Cooper put his head in his hands. This presented a serious problem. If there was only one sleeping bag, that meant that either one of them had to sleep out in the cold (it would have to be Cooper, due to the well-known code of scout’s honor) or – lord forbid – they would have to share the same sleeping bag the entire night.

“You can just take my sleeping bag,” Cooper said defeatedly, a sad expression on his face. “I’ll just sleep out here, by the fire. It will improve my standing towards the endurance badge, anyway.”

Ginny tilted her head, looking at him puzzled. “Couldn’t ya just unzip the sleeping bag, use it like some sorta mattress, and we can sleep on the far ends with my pillow?”

Cooper’s eyes widened. Ginny, shockingly, had a point. Cooper’s sleeping bag expanded out the whole way, and there was perhaps a chance that he could sleep far enough away from Ginny yet also stay somewhere comfortable. Cooper nodded.

“Well, if you’re okay with that…”

Ginny furrowed her brow. “It’s too dang cold out here. If you die I ain’t gonna be responsible for “man-slow-tah” or anythin’ like that.”

Ginny took some beef jerky from Cooper’s bag, and began to unwrap it. He didn’t try to stop her. The two of them sat, eating, watching the fire crackle and spark next to them.

…

Later that night, Cooper looked up at the tent’s ceiling. Ginny was rolled on her side, turned away from him. He was still close enough to hear her breathing.

“I wonder what they’re doing right now,” Cooper said softly.

Ginny didn’t move, but clutched the end of her pink blanket. “Betcha they’re having all sorts of fun.”

“You think they know we’re missing?” Cooper said, his voice turning forlorn. “Surely they’re out looking for us, right?”

Ginny lowered her head into her blanket. “Yeah…” she let out weakly. “They ought to… right?”

Cooper sighed. He turned his body away from Ginny.

“We’ll find a way outta these woods. Even if we don’t find the group, I’ll figure out a way to get us back to safety. Scout’s honor.”

Ginny turned her head. “What?”

“It’s the duty of a scout to always take care of those in need. That’s what the honor is all about.”

“I don’t need any savin’ or anything like that,” Ginny said, turning her head back down. Yet as she did so, her face began to change. “Still… thanks.”

The two slept through the night.

…

Ginny slowly opened her eyes. She felt weird, as though she was getting blasted by a warm fan. It didn’t take her long to realize the cause of it: Cooper was now faced right next to her, eyes closed, breathing steadily onto her while in a deep sleep.

Ginny suddenly sat up in the tent, giving a squeakily loud scream. It was enough to jolt Cooper like an alarm clock, as he got up and frantically sat on the opposite side.

“You pervert! You tried-a move in on me, didn’t you?!” Ginny shouted accusatorily.

“What? N-no! I was on my side of the bag! Look, you were the one getting into my space!”

Ginny crossed her arms. “Nuh-uh, creep! I was lying right where I started! Look how much you scooted in!”

Cooper shook his head vigorously. “Listen, I’m telling you, I didn’t move closer. Scout’s hon-”

“Would you shut up about that?!”

Both kids, clearly upset at each other, turned away and pouted. But as soon as they did, their stomachs began to rumble in unison. They were both hungry. Very hungry.

“You, um…” Ginny began softly, still looking away from Cooper. “You still got snacks?”

Cooper nodded. “Yeah, a few.”

The boy went over to his bag, unzipping one of the pockets. While rummaging for more jerky, he noticed something at the bottom. As he curiously took it out, his eyes widened and his pulse increased when he realized what it was. 

“Wait, a map!” Cooper exclaimed. “I do have a map!”

Ginny looked at him skeptically. “Didn’t you say you don’t have one?”

“Yeah, I didn’t bring the one the counselor gave us. But my grandpa must’ve packed an extra one for me. Look, it’s from the Park Service, so it’s extra detailed!”

In a flurry, Cooper quickly began to scan the map’s contents. Ginny looked over his shoulder, surveying the points on the map.

“There!” Cooper called out, pointing to a picture of a large boulder that was on one of the mountain slopes. “Isn’t that the boulder you tried to climb?”

Ginny squinted at the paper. “Sure looks like it. That weren’t too far from where we made camp either, yea?”

Cooper stepped out of the tent, with Ginny following close behind. He went back and forth, eyeing the map then eyeing the landscape.

“According to this…” Cooper trailed a finger down the map’s plastic parchment. “…the camp should just be down a few miles this way. We could get there by tonight!”

Relief washed over Ginny’s face. hat seemingly endless energy she had the day before rebounded, and with a large smile on her face she jumped up and down on the tips of her feet.

“Well whadda we waitin’ for? The boulda is just over this way. Come on!”

“No, wait, we gotta take down the ten-”

Too late. Ginny was once again racing down the side of the mountain. Cooper sighed and, knowing she wouldn’t go far, went back to pack up the camp.

…

A few hours later, things were already back to being dour. Ginny had expended most of her energy (which, as it turned out, was not endless) climbing the boulder waiting for Cooper to hurry up. And Cooper, while well-paced, was agitated by Ginny’s seeming insistence on never being a help in any situation ever. His mind bubbled up back to when they first met, and the issues they had.

“Hey, uh…” Ginny let out at some point down the forest, trailing closely behind Cooper. “You got any more of them jerkee sticks on ya?”

Cooper didn’t look at her, and just shook his head, continuing down the trail.

Ginny frowned. “That ain’t true! I saw ya had like, three more in that bag of yours!”

“They aren’t for you.”

Ginny pouted, crossing her arms as she continued to walk. “Whateva happened to that scout’s honor of yours?”

This seemed to set something off inside of Cooper. In a quick and sudden motion he spun around to face Ginny, a look of anger on his face.

“Look here, lady. We’ve been together for a full day now, and all you’ve ever given me is ‘gimme this, gimme that, wow what a weirdo, wow what a creep’. If it wasn’t for me you’d be freezing to death in a cave somewhere, or your pigeon brain would’ve eaten some berry off a tree that would have killed you! You give me no respect, you give the scout’s code no respect, and quite frankly I’m sick of it!”

When Cooper finally snapped out of it, he noticed something strange. For the first time, Ginny looked at him scared. Terrified, even. Apparently, Cooper had more energy – and perhaps more anger – than he had realized. He knew that yelling at people and scaring them – especially on the trail – was against the principles of an Eagle Scout. He decided to dial it back a bit.

“Hey, um… sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you like that, I just-”

“I’m not scared of you, shit-fo’-brains!” Ginny shot back in a frantic whisper, quickly pointing her shaking finger out to the distance. “Behind ya! Behind ya!”

Cooper turned around. Perched on top of a large rock, surveying the two children, was a gigantic mountain lion. It eyed the children carefully, yet not with any particular intent. In reality, it was on its way back to its cubs before stumbling upon the two young campers.

“O-o-oh God,” Cooper whispered back, his knees shaking. “What… what do we do?”

“Don’t ya have some sort of training over this?”

“Over a mountain lion?!”

“Listen, I…” Ginny suddenly trailed off. She looked down, and her eyes closed. She felt her heartbeat. She took a few deep breaths in.

“I got an idea.”

Cooper turned towards her. “What?”

Ginny opened her eyes. “Listen, if it makes a move on me… just try and beat it with a stick or somethin’, okay?”

Cooper seemed utterly flabbergasted as Ginny suddenly started to walk towards the mountain lion. The creature took a few steps back, its eyes now staring squarely at Ginny. But Ginny didn’t let up – she stared back, and once she was only a few feet from the mammal she stopped and stood in place.

Out of nowhere, Ginny suddenly made a loud, deep growling noise. Aggressively, she raised her hands far above her head, shaping them into claws, waving them back and forth. As it went on she got louder and more ape like, more confident, and more intimidating.

The mountain looked at her in confusion, tilting its head slightly. It let out a yawn, then continued walking back towards its cubs, ignoring the two strange kids.

“Oh my God, you did it!” Cooper shouted once the mountain lion was out of sight. “I can’t believe you scared it away like that!”

Ginny put her hands on her hips, a smug look on her face. “Yep, that’s mah mud wrestlin’ technique. My daddy taught me that.”

Cooper continued to look at the girl in awe. “That was… it was incredible! I-I’m not going to lie, I had no idea what to do. The scout handbook never mentioned mountain lions. Honestly… I was just scared.”

Ginny turned around, smiling at Cooper. “I was also a bit scared. But mah parents always told me to never back down from a challenge. And I figure, what’s a big scary mountain lion if not anoda challenge?”

Cooper smiled back. “Funny, that’s part of the scout’s code. You see, under the section on bravery, there’s- hey, wait, w-where are you going?”

Ginny, sensing another rant from the boy, quickly began to rush back down the mountain so she wouldn’t have to hear anything. Still, she was feeling good – it finally hit her that this entire experience would do nothing but make her mother and father proud.

After Cooper had finally managed to catch up, the two began to walk down a now familiar stretch of the forest. At some point Cooper looked up, and his eyes widened at what he saw.

“Wait, wait! Ginny, stop!”

“What is it now-”

“Shh! Be quiet! And still!”

In case there was another mountain lion afoot, Ginny decided to take the boy’s advice. But as her eyes trailed back up to where he was looking, she saw nothing but a small bird hanging from a branch.

“Wow, I can’t believe it!” Cooper suddenly called out. “It’s a heart-feathered robin!”

Ginny looked at it curiously. “Where’s da heart?”

Cooper turned to her. “Whaddya mean?”

“Well… if it’s called da “heart-feathered robin”, shouldn’t it have a heart or somethin’?”

Cooper looked back up at the bird. He scratched his head.

“I… I don’t really know. They don’t mention that in the Audubon book, to be honest. I just think it looks cool. It eats pineseeds, too.”

Cooper heard a sound next to him. He turned just in time to see Ginny burst out laughing. The robin flew away when she did.

“What’s so funny?” Cooper asked.

“Nothing! Nothing, it’s just…” Ginny wiped her eye with her finger. “You’re a real funny guy, Coop.”

Cooper smiled back. The two continued down the mountain back towards the camp.

…

When Cooper and Ginny finally reached within view of the camp, they felt a huge weight off their shoulders. Ginny, as giddy as always, sprinted past Cooper and went straight to the camp’s flagpole. Yet it was there that the two noticed something odd.

“Where is everybody?” Ginny asked, looking around at the cabins. Cooper noticed the absence of people too, but simply shrugged.

“They might still be at their camping site. Either way we’ll be safe here – let’s just stay put until they come back.”

Ginny seemed to agree with this point, and nodded. She went off towards the girl’s cabins, while Cooper stayed around the camp’s center. He noticed a corkboard which had some information about Mooretown Valley and the surrounding area. In the dead center was a flyer for the scouts, which had photos of both the boys and the girls together at the top of the mountain. The header line read:

COURAGE! CAN YOU FIND IT IN YOUR HEART?

JOIN THE MOORETOWN VALLEY SCOUTS TODAY!

It was while Cooper was inspecting this board that he heard Ginny call out his name. He saw Ginny approach him from behind with a suspiciously large amount of painting supplies.

“What are you doing with all of that?” Cooper asked rather cautiously.

“Whaddya think? I figure we ought to decorate the place while they’re gone. Plus, it’ll get back at’em for not looking for us.”

Cooper shook his head. “But, I-”

“Don’t even think of mentionin’ scout’s honor right now.”

The boy let out a heavy sigh. “Alright, just don’t involve me, okay? I don’t wanna get into any trouble.”

“Oh, really? ‘Cause I was thinking of starting with the boy’s cabins, so maybe they’ll think it was just you. Oh well!”

“Wait, no- Ginny! Come back! Ginny!”

Ginny giggled as she ran up into the boy’s cabin, with Cooper trailing her close behind. As Ginny entered the cabin, she pinched her nose with her free hand.

“Man, they weren’t kiddin’. Your guy’s cabin really does stink. It’s a mess in here, too.”

Cooper threw his hands up in objection. “I mean, it’s not like it’s my fault!”

Ginny smiled. “Honestly, I prefer it like that. Always reminded me more of home, ya know?”

Cooper didn’t know. But he was glad that for once Ginny didn’t seem upset at him in particular. Ginny continued to look around the boy’s cabin in a trance of curiosity. Eventually her eyes came upon the Eagle Scout shrine that Cooper had seen on his first day.

“‘Elwood’… are these guys related to you?” Ginny asked, spotting the photo of Cooper’s dad and grandpa. Cooper nodded, a bit of his pride returning to him. 

“My pa and grandpa. That trout is what got him the last badge he needed to become an Eagle.”

Ginny looked back at the photo. A ray of sunshine found its way through one of the cracks of the abandoned cabin and landed on her golden hair.

“They seem cool.”

Cooper smiled. “Yeah, they are.”

With her exploration finished, Ginny turned her eyes back to her paint supplies. “Now, you gonna help me with this or what?”

The boy’s expression once again changed, but he seemed a bit more relaxed to the idea than he was before. “Just don’t damage anything, okay?”

Ginny was already dipping a brush into one of the paints. “Of course not! These are them ‘wash-off’ paints or whatever. I just want a lil bit of payback.”

Cooper sat at a nearby bed as he watched Ginny begin to paint over one of the cabin walls. She mostly drew cutesy things like cats and rainbows, things that she knew would make the boys embarrassed. Cooper watched along, grinning and becoming more and more entranced by the process. At some point, he spoke aloud.

“What’s that thing supposed to be?”

Ginny turned towards where he was pointing. “Whaddya think? That’s a frog.”

“That’s not what a frog looks like.”

“Yes it is!”

“No, look,” Cooper dropped off the bed, grabbing a brush and dipping it in the green paint. On the wall next to Ginny, he began to draw his own interpretation. “See, it’s like this.”

Ginny looked over briefly, wiping paint all over her clothes. “Whateva. Guess I ain’t seen enough frogs.”

“Oh, and if you wanted to draw the bird we saw, it’d look something like…”

Soon enough, both children were adding to the now sprawling mural inside the boy’s cabin. They began to laugh as they flicked paint at one another and drew more bizarre and elaborate creations. At some point the two ran out of paint at around the same time, and in unison turned back towards where the paint was.

It was in that moment they noticed the little boy staring directly at them.

The child, who was one of the youngest people Cooper had seen at the camp so far, looked like he had seen a ghost. Ginny, clearly going into commando mode, dropped down from the stool she was standing on and stood only a few inches from the boy’s face.

“Listen here, ya little shit! If you squeal to the counselors about us, I’ll shove this brush so far up your butt that your poop will be green until you get to sixth grade!”

“Ginny, Ginny!” Cooper quickly came down and pushed Ginny out of the way of the kid. “Hey, hey, don’t cry. We aren’t going to hurt you. We just… could you not tell anyone we were here? W-we’d really like to not get in trouble, and-”

“Well ho-diddly! I’ll be!”

Cooper’s head turned up. The camp director was standing in the doorframe. Yet, rather than looking angry, he appeared more cheerful than ever – walking up to the two and putting his hands around their shoulders, ignoring the obvious paint splotches all over them.

“To think you’d both be right where we started looking for you! You’re two resourceful young scouts, aren’t you?”

Shortly following the director’s appearance was a large, beefy man who casted a large shadow over everyone else. He was bald with a goatee, and wore a sleeveless shirt that accentuated his muscles. As he got closer, he singled out Ginny. At first Cooper was scared of him, but when he got a better look at the man’s face he realized the man was on the verge of crying.

“Oh, Giana!” the man finally let out, grasping Ginny in his arms. “Your mudda and I were so worried about you!”

“I-I’m okay, daddy!” Ginny struggled out under the weight of the man’s bear hug. When he finally let go, she took a deep breath and turned towards Cooper. “I got a lotta help from this guy, too.”

For a moment Cooper was afraid the man would try to hug him as well, but instead he just kneeled down to the boy’s height and smiled. “Thank you for keeping my Giana safe, young man. I can tell you got the spirit of a true scout in ya.”

“That he does!”

Another voice echoed through the cabin. This time, Cooper recognized it immediately. Excitedly he moved his head away from Ginny’s father and down towards the entrance.

His father was there, with his grandfather following closely behind. Cooper’s father was a tall, chiseled man who kept a fit outdoor spirit well into his older age.

“I came as soon as they told me you were lost,” his father said, as Cooper ran over to hug him. “I was just about back in town, anyway. I knew you were fine, but I figured it’d take an Elwood to find an Elwood.”

“And sure enough, he was right!” The director declared, looking on at Cooper’s dad as if he were some kind of mythical hero. “We would’ve been out in the woods for another week looking for y’all if Roger here didn’t suggest we go back to the camp first. That’s the Eagle Scout intuition for you!”

“You two should come on out here,” Cooper’s grandfather beckoned. “There’s something we ought to give you, for all your troubles.”

Ginny and Cooper turned to each other, then back towards the adults leaving the cabin. They hid their paint supplies under a nearby bunk then walked back out towards the flagpole. 

Outside, the entire camp was gathered around. Most of them still looked rather bored, but Cooper was no longer irritated by it. He joined the flagpole’s podium alongside his father, his grandfather, the director, and the two counselors. Ginny tagged along not far behind.

“Tonight, we’re here to celebrate something special,” the director began, picking up a small case from behind the flag and handing it to Cooper’s grandpa. “We’re here to celebrate a showcase of bravery and courage, one that rarely happens in camp… and even more rarely within the first few days!”

Cooper’s grandfather opened the case, handing something to Ginny first. Ginny looked at it suspiciously, but didn’t seem to have the knowledge to understand its significance. It was still too far away for Cooper to pick out accurately. 

“These two young scouts have shown resourcefulness, determination, and strength in one of the most harrowing experiences you can have out here in the wild. And for that, we honor them!”

Cooper watched as his grandpa now stepped towards him, smiling. “I knew you could do it, kiddo.”

From out of the case he produced a small metal badge. Cooper’s eyes lit up as he recognized it immediately: it was the Badge of the Wolf, one of four silver badges that were among the highest honors a scout could get. In order to be an Eagle Scout, you had to have at least one, and most scouts spent the majority of their time in camp trying to obtain their silver badge. But for Cooper, it would be the very first one he’d receive. 

“Well howdy, I’d say this calls for a celebration!” The camp director exclaimed. “Sandy, Antonio – go ahead and pop open those boxes of s’mores. No better time to eat them like the present!”

This announcement seemed to bring up the spirits of those in the audience. The two counselors walked down the podium towards the storage shed, with the rest of the campers following in tow. Behind all of them were Ginny and Cooper, who – instead of scowling – were now smiling and blushing at each other, kicking the dirt beneath their feet as they went.