Goddess Boot Camp

She looks like camp counselor Barbie. Even in the shadow of the doorway, her yellow-blonde hair glistens. She's wearing a pair of pink camo cargo pants and a tight white baby tee that says GODDESS BOOT CAMP in glittery pink army letters.

I feel a bit scruffy in my old gray sweats and my I'M THE FAST GIRL YOUR MOTHER WARNED YOU ABOUT tee.

'Welcome to Goddess Boot Camp, Phoebe,' she says, bouncing into the courtyard. 'We're going to have lots of fun in the next two weeks.'

She punctuates her falsely cheerful and heavily sarcastic statement with a lip-glossed smile. For about thirty seconds we have a kind of stare-down-like we're both too afraid or too proud to be the first to look away. The girls around us, sensing some kind of confrontation, start oohing.

'Do you have the welcome packets, Dara?'

Oh no! Just when I thought my life couldn't get worse.

'I can't find them in my bag.'

I break eye contact with Adara just in time to see Stella hurrying into the courtyard, digging through her Pepto-pink purse for the missing schedules.

'I have them,' Adara says as Stella reaches our little group.

She smiles big as she looks up at me. 'Hi, Phoebe. You made it on time.'

'What is this crap?' I demand.

'You said a bad word,' a ten-year-old says.

'Yes,' Adara agrees, nodding at the tattletale. Then she gives me a stern look. 'But she won't do it again.'

'Can I talk to you for a second?' I snap at Stella, not letting her respond before grabbing her by the elbow and pulling her away from the gaggle. 'What in the name of Nike is going on?'

'What do you mean?' she asks innocently.

I scowl. Why is she being so cheery about all of this? 'Wait a second,' I say. 'This is why you've been so giddy, isn't it? You've been plotting all the ways you could torture and humiliate me during camp.'

'Don't be silly,' she says, still smiling. 'Why would I do that?'

'Oh, I don't know,' I say. 'Because you hate me?'

'Phoebe, I don't-'

'Forget it,' I say, fed up. 'I'm not sticking around for this. Who cares if I fail the stupid test. I'll just-'

Stella's eyes look over my shoulder and she practically melts. Well, as much as Stella can melt, anyway. Her face gets this totally dreamy look and somehow I know it's not just my humiliation she's been fantasizing about.

'Morning, Xander,' she calls out, waving at someone behind me.

I spin around, eager to see who can turn the queen of mean into a total delight. Walking into the courtyard is a tall, brooding rebel boy, dark and dangerous right down to his scuffed motorcycle boots. Without even a second glance I can tell he's trouble. He has that go-ahead-and-try look in his eyes. Like he's always looking for a fight.

He doesn't say anything, just kind of jerks his chin-the way guys do when they think they're too cool to wave-in our direction.

Stella follows him with her eyes as he crosses the courtyard and takes a seat on one of the benches. When he stretches out his legs and kicks one boot over the other, I think I hear her sigh.

Then again, it could have been one of the ten-year-olds, since every last one of them is staring at him like he's the gods' gift to girls. Maybe he is. With his short-cropped, dark blond hair, chiseledcheeks and jaw, and serious set of muscles-displayed clearly in his tight black T-shirt-he looks like he walked straight out of an action movie.

Only Adara and I seem to be unaffected by his beauty. I prefer the dark, curly-haired, distance- runner type. She probably does, too.

'Who is he?' I ask Stella.

'Xander Katara,' she replies absently, reverently, still openly staring.

'What's he doing here?' I smile as a thought occurs. Maybe I'm notthe only grown-up in the camp. He looks like the kind of guy who knows how to wield his powers, but maybe not. 'Is he in the camp, too?'

That tears her attention away from him. 'Of course not.' She looks at me like I just made her eat a lemon. 'Xander is a counselor. Besides, the boys' camp doesn't start until July.'

'Then why is he here?' I ask. 'Shouldn't Goddess Boot Camp be girls only?' Like my shame would be any less if there were only girls present to witness my humiliation.

'Daddy made an exception,' she says, although she doesn't seem too unhappy about the resulting situation. She scowls at me. 'For your sake.'

Before I can ask what she means, my watch starts buzzing. I quickly punch off the alarm I set last night.

'Ten o'clock,' I explain.

Suddenly, happy, cheerful Stella is back.

'Time to start,' she announces. 'Let's all form a circle in the middle of the courtyard.'

She glances at Xander, who looks completely uninterested in the proceedings of the camp. But when Adara herds the ten-year-olds into position, he deigns to join the group. Stella scoots in next to him.

I hover outside the circle, still not certain whether I'm participating.

'Welcome to Goddess Boot Camp, girls,' she says, pulling on her head -goddess in -charge persona. 'My fellow counselors and I are going to make sure this is one of the most memorable experiences of your young lives.'

When Stella emphasizes the word young,I roll my eyes. If she thinks those little digs are going to get to me, she's wrong. Compared to cross-country trash talkers, she's an amateur. Rather than rise to her bait, I just cross my arms and hang back. She can say whatever she wants, but I am not going to lose my cool. I am implacable.

Until Adara says, 'Make room in the circle for Phoebe, girls. She needs all the help she can get.'

My face feels like it's on fire.

Now, Stella can goad me all she wants. I've learned to ignore her for the most part. But there's just something about Adara-maybe it's my tweak over her friendship with Griffin or her generally superior attitude-that makes me want to fight back. So, when she makes her little snide comment, instead of walking away, I walk into the circle. I take the position directly across from her-which happens to place me between Stella and Xander. I can feel Stella fuming next to me, but I don't care. I'm busy staring Adara down.

'Can we start already?' Xander asks in a bored tone.

'Right,' Stella says, snapping out of her minisnit and brightening at the sound of his voice. 'We're going to start off with an overview of our schedule for the next two weeks. Dara'-she nods across the circle-'the welcome packets please.'

Adara pulls a rainbow stack of stapled papers from her bag and hands half to the girls on either side of her. The girls each take one and pass on the rest.

'These packets contain vital information for camp.' Adara holds up a rainbow packet. 'Besides the schedule, there are handouts, work sheets, and study guides. The most critical is the DynamotbeosStudy Guide.'

'This guide explains the powers passed down by the twelve Olympians to all bematheos.It is the foundation for our training,' Stella explains. 'We expect you to study it thoroughly. Tonight.'

I take the packet Stella hands me and flip through it. This seems a lot like homework-something I