Trouble at Camp Treehouse Read online

  LAUREN IS HOP,

  HOP, HOPPING

  MAD!

  For Nancy’s bunkmate Lauren, Camp Treehouse is turning into camp crummy. She wanted to take lots of photos for her scrapbook, but now it’s going to be full of nothing. Her camera is missing!

  It’s a sneaky trick. Even worse than a frog in your face. Nancy knows there’s only one way to make everything okay and make Lauren smile. First find the camera, then say, “Cheese!”

  A Children’s Book-of-the-Month Club Selection

  ALADDIN PAPERBACKS

  A Ready-for-Chapters Book

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  Cover photo-illustration copyright © 1998

  by Michel LeGrou

  Ages 6–9

  Kids.SimonandSchuster.com

  Trouble at

  Camp Treehouse

  “You know who I think could have stolen Lauren’s camera?” Bess said to Nancy. “That creep David Mulholland.”

  Just then David came over to the Arts and Crafts table and stood right near Nancy, Bess, and Lauren. He had a shoe box in one hand.

  “What’s in the shoe box?” Mike Silver asked.

  David’s eyes twinkled. “Oh, nothing. Just something I’ll bet you girls would love to have—a gold ring.”

  “Where did you get a gold ring?” Nancy asked suspiciously.

  “Yeah, that’s what I’d like to know,” Lauren said. Under her breath she whispered to Nancy, “I’ll bet he stole that, too!”

  The Nancy Drew Notebooks

  # 1 The Slumber Party Secret

  # 2 The Lost Locket

  # 3 The Secret Santa

  # 4 Bad Day for Ballet

  # 5 The Soccer Shoe Clue

  # 6 The Ice Cream Scoop

  # 7 Trouble at Camp Treehouse

  # 8 The Best Detective

  # 9 The Thanksgiving Surprise

  #10 Not Nice on Ice

  #11 The Pen Pal Puzzle

  #12 The Puppy Problem

  #13 The Wedding Gift Goof

  #14 The Funny Face Fight

  #15 The Crazy Key Clue

  #16 The Ski Slope Mystery

  #17 Whose Pet Is Best?

  #18 The Stolen Unicorn

  #19 The Lemonade Raid

  #20 Hannah’s Secret

  #21 Princess on Parade

  #22 The Clue in the Glue

  #23 Alien in the Classroom

  #24 The Hidden Treasures

  #25 Dare at the Fair

  #26 The Lucky Horseshoes

  #27 Trouble Takes the Cake

  #28 Thrill on the Hill

  #29 Lights! Camera! Clues!

  #30 It’s No Joke!

  #31 The Fine-Feathered Mystery

  #32 The Black Velvet Mystery

  #33 The Gumdrop Ghost

  #34 Trash or Treasure?

  #35 Third-Grade Reporter

  #36 The Make-Believe Mystery

  #37 Dude Ranch Detective

  #38 Candy Is Dandy

  #39 The Chinese New Year Mystery

  #40 Dinosaur Alert!

  #41 Flower Power

  #42 Circus Act

  #43 The Walkie-talkie Mystery

  #44 The Purple Fingerprint

  #45 The Dashing Dog Mystery

  #46 The Snow Queen’s Surprise

  #47 The Crook Who Took the Book

  #48 The Crazy Carnival Case

  #49 The Sand Castle Mystery

  #50 The Scarytales Sleepover

  #51 The Old-Fashioned Mystery

  #52 Big Worry in Wonderland

  #53 Recipe for Trouble

  #54 The Stinky Cheese Surprise

  #55 The Day Camp Disaster

  #56 Turkey Trouble

  #57 The Carousel Mystery

  #58 The Dollhouse Mystery

  #59 The Bike Race Mystery

  #60 The Lighthouse Mystery

  #61 Space Case

  #62 The Secret in the Spooky Woods

  #63 Snowman Surprise

  #64 Bunny-Hop Hoax

  #65 Strike-Out Scare

  #66 Zoo Clue

  #67 The Singing Suspects

  #68 The Apple Bandit

  Available from Simon & Schuster

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN PAPERBACKS

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 1995 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Produced by Mega-Books, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  NANCY DREW and THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  ALADDIN PAPERBACKS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  The text of this book was set in Excelsior.

  First Aladdin Paperbacks edition January 2002

  First Minstrel Books edition July 1995

  ISBN-13: 978-0-671-87951-8

  ISBN-10: 0-671-87951-0

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4424-6763-7 (eBook)

  Contents

  Chapter 1: Worms for Bess

  Chapter 2: Camera Thief

  Chapter 3: Arts and Creeps

  Chapter 4: Hide-and-Go-Treehouse

  Chapter 5: The Trouble with David

  Chapter 6: Campfire Fun

  Chapter 7: A Big Mistake

  Chapter 8: Lauren’s Neat Ending

  1

  Worms for Bess

  No, no, no,” Bess Marvin said to her best friend, Nancy Drew. She shook her head hard. Her blond hair swung back and forth across her shoulders. “I’ll do anything but that. Anything! I’d rather eat worms!”

  Eight-year-old Nancy laughed. “That’s not true,” she said. “You wouldn’t even touch a worm!”

  “Okay, you’re right,” Bess said. “I wouldn’t eat a worm. But if I had to, I’d rather eat worms than go swimming.”

  Nancy sighed and flopped down on her bunk bed. She lay across the mattress, with her legs hanging off one side. She stared at the cabin floor.

  I want to go swimming, Nancy thought. But I don’t want to fight with my best friend.

  Nancy and Bess had been going to day camp together all summer. Now it was August. As a special treat, all the day campers were spending a long weekend at a sleep-away camp called Camp Treehouse.

  The campers had arrived the afternoon before. There had been a special picnic dinner to welcome them. Now it was Saturday morning. Nancy was excited about everything—and especially about swimming. The lake was clear and blue. But Bess didn’t want to swim. She was afraid of the water.

  “You can come swimming with me,” a tall girl across the cabin said to Nancy.

  Nancy looked up and saw Lauren Soules smiling at her. Lauren was a new friend Nancy had made at day camp. She had friendly brown eyes and long, dark brown hair. Nancy liked her because Lauren was never mean to anyone.

  “Yeah, come with us,” Dana Smiley said. Dana was always in a hurry. Now she was hurrying to put on her bathing suit. Even before breakfast!

  “Oh, please don’t,” Bess begged Nancy. “I thought we were going to stay together. It’s more fun that way. Please? I’ll do anything else. Anything.”

  “But why won’t you even try swimming?” Nancy asked. “You like wading in the pool at home.”

  “That’s different,” Bess said. “Here they make you put you
r face in the water, and blow bubbles.”

  “How do you know?” Nancy asked.

  “Nora told me,” Bess said.

  Nancy looked over at Nora Chang. She was sitting on her bunk by the wall with her best friend, Joanna Richter. Joanna had the bunk next to hers.

  Nora and Joanna had been best friends for a long time. Nora had dark brown eyes and long black hair. Joanna had shoulder-length red hair and blue eyes, and she wore glasses.

  The two girls didn’t look alike. But they often dressed alike and wore their hair alike. Today they were both wearing pigtails. Their pigtails bounced up and down as they both nodded.

  “It’s true,” Nora said. “You have to blow bubbles. That’s why we’re not doing it, either.”

  “Besides that,” Bess said, “I bet creeps like David Mulholland or Mike Silver would swim up behind me and pull me under.” Bess shuddered. “Ugh.”

  “Okay,” Nancy said, finally giving in to Bess. She sat up, and her blue eyes sparkled. “How about horseback riding?”

  “Oh, not horses!” Bess said. “What if I fall?”

  “Bess Marvin, you’re chicken about everything!” Nancy said, laughing. She tossed a pillow at Bess, who was in the bunk across from Nancy’s.

  Bess ducked and laughed, too. “Yeah, I guess I am,” she said. She pulled a headband over her head, then pushed it up over her hair. “Okay,” Bess agreed. “Maybe I’ll try horseback riding. But only if they have a really small horse.”

  “Great,” Nancy said, sitting up.

  “Girls, are you all dressed for breakfast?” a voice called.

  Nancy turned to look over her shoulder. Mary Ann Remar was coming in through the cabin’s screen door. She had been one of the counselors at day camp. Now she was the counselor in the Bluebird cabin. She was short and athletic, with chin-length brown hair.

  Nancy bounced off the bed and hurried to put on her sneakers. Her stomach rumbled. She was hungry.

  “Come on, Bluebirds,” Mary Ann said.

  All the girls gathered near the screen door. All except one. Lauren was still looking for something in her duffel bag.

  “Now, before we go,” Mary Ann said, “I want to review the camp rules one more time. First, no one is allowed to go anywhere alone. Not unless you have special permission from a counselor. Otherwise, you must always have a buddy.”

  Then Mary Ann told them everything else they needed to know. Where to sit in the dining hall. How to sign up for morning activities and afternoon activities. What to do when a loud bell rang three times.

  “That’s the signal for everyone to go to the next activity,” Mary Ann explained.

  I wish someone would ring a bell right now, Nancy thought—a breakfast bell. I’m ready to go to the eating activity.

  “What if you don’t know what activity you want to sign up for?” Bess asked, sounding worried.

  “Well, you can talk to me about that at breakfast,” Mary Ann said. “I’m sure we can find something you’ll like. How about the treehouse?”

  “What’s that?” Dana asked quickly.

  “Didn’t you see it?” Nora said. Her brown eyes shone with excitement. “It’s a huge treehouse in an oak tree over by the Arts and Crafts shop.”

  “Yeah. It’s gigantic,” Joanna agreed. “It has ramps and towers and ladders and special rooms—and everything.”

  “That’s how Camp Treehouse got its name,” Mary Ann explained.

  “Oh,” Dana said, her green eyes lighting up. “It sounds like fun. Now I don’t know whether to pick swimming or treehouse.”

  “They’re both fun,” Mary Ann said. “But treehouse is very popular. Only fifteen kids can play there at one time. Maybe you should wait and sign up for that in the afternoon.”

  “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go,” Dana said eagerly.

  “Lauren, are you ready?” Mary Ann called.

  Nancy looked over at Lauren, who was sitting on her bed staring at the floor. Her face was red, and she looked as if she was going to cry. Her dark brown eyes were filled with tears.

  “Lauren? What’s wrong?” Mary Ann asked.

  Lauren raised her eyes. “My camera has been stolen!” she cried.

  2

  Camera Thief

  Stolen!” Mary Ann Remar said. She hurried over to Lauren and put her arm around the girl.

  “How awful!” Dana blurted out. “Someone in here must have stolen it.”

  “No way,” Mary Ann said, glancing up at the Bluebird campers. “No one in here would steal your camera, Lauren.”

  Right, Nancy thought. They wouldn’t. Would they?

  Nancy sneaked a look at the other girls, who were still huddled near the door. Besides Nancy, there were Bess, Dana, Nora, and Joanna.

  Nora and Joanna looked very serious and quiet. They moved off to one side and whispered. Then they kept glancing over at everyone else with wide, worried eyes.

  “Well, it’s missing,” Lauren said, her voice cracking. “Look.”

  She reached for her duffel bag on the floor and opened it wide. Everyone moved in to get a closer look.

  As Mary Ann searched in the duffel, Nancy eyed the contents, too. She saw a neatly rolled-up sweatshirt. Rolled-up jeans. A row of rolled-up socks. Folded pink shorts. A bathing suit. A plastic bag with soap and toothbrush.

  Everything but a camera.

  A big tear spilled out of Lauren’s eye and rolled down one cheek.

  “Maybe you didn’t bring it with you to camp,” Mary Ann said, trying to comfort her.

  “But I did,” Lauren said in a squeaky voice. “I saw it. It was sitting on my bed when my mom packed my clothes.”

  “Well, then maybe you lost it somewhere,” Mary Ann said. “Remember how you’ve been losing things all summer? You lost your headband one week at day camp. And you lost your snack money another time.”

  “That’s not fair,” Lauren cried. “That’s what my mom will think. But I promised her . . . I promised her . . .”

  Lauren was so upset, she choked on the words. Then big tears overflowed from both eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Nancy felt really sorry for her.

  “It’s okay,” Mary Ann said, hugging Lauren tightly with one arm around her shoulder. “Your camera will probably turn up somewhere. Don’t worry. You can look for it later.”

  Nancy rushed over to Lauren and took her hand. “Come on,” Nancy said. “Let’s go have breakfast. Then you can tell me what happened. I’ll help you find your camera.”

  “Nancy is great at finding things,” Bess said.

  “Really?” Lauren said.

  “Yes, definitely,” Bess said.

  Lauren wiped away her tears and stood up. “Great!” she said. “Thanks, Nancy.”

  Before they left the cabin, Nancy hurried to her own duffel bag. She checked to make sure her special blue notebook—the one with the pocket inside—was still there. Nancy always used it to take notes when she was trying to solve a mystery.

  On the way to the dining hall, Lauren talked to Nancy about the camera.

  “It’s a really good camera. I had to beg my parents to buy it,” Lauren said. “They didn’t want to, because they thought I would lose it. I lose things a lot. But I promised my mom I would take extra good care of it. That’s why I have to find it—or else she’ll never trust me again.”

  Nancy nodded to show she was listening. But as they walked to the dining hall, she looked around her. She remembered many things about the camp from the afternoon before. Other things were new. Nancy was trying to learn her way around and make a map of the camp in her mind.

  The five cabins for girls were all in the woods, up a small hill. At the bottom of the hill were three activity areas. One was Arts and Crafts. One was Music. And one was the treehouse.

  Then they came to the middle of the camp, to a big clearing. That was where the campfires were held. From the clearing, a trail led down to the lake.

  Finally Nancy and her cabin mates reached the dining hall on
the other side of camp. The boys’ cabins and the horse stables were nearby.

  All the girls in Nancy’s cabin rushed up the steps into the large building.

  “I love it here,” Nancy said.

  “Yeah,” Bess said. She added, “Too bad they let the boys come.”

  Nancy, Bess, and Lauren all giggled.

  Inside, Nancy looked around. There were lots of wooden tables and chairs. Kids from all the cabins were hurrying to sit down. Colorful banners hung from the ceiling.

  Mary Ann Remar led the girls to a round table in the corner near a screened window. “This is where the Bluebirds will sit for all meals,” she told them.

  “I’m going to sit near Joanna and Nora,” Nancy whispered to Bess and Lauren. “I want to ask them some questions.”

  “Okay,” Bess said. “I’ll sit with Dana and do the same thing.”

  Nancy waited for Nora and Joanna to find seats. They always did everything together. Then Nancy sat down next to Joanna.

  Soon platters of blueberry pancakes were served. Nancy took three pancakes and poured syrup on them.

  “Joanna,” Nancy said, cutting into her pancakes. “Did you see anyone come into our cabin yesterday? After we got to camp?”

  “Nope,” Joanna said. She was eating pancakes, too. “We were all in there together before dinner, remember? But someone could have sneaked in and stolen Lauren’s camera while we were having our picnic dinner, don’t you think?”

  “Maybe,” Nancy said.

  But she didn’t really think so. How could anyone get away? All the campers had to stay together with their counselors, especially on the first night.

  “Then we came back from the picnic,” Nora said, joining in. “Dana and Joanna and I played cards, and then it was time to get ready for bed. Joanna and I went to the bathroom to brush our teeth. Maybe someone stole the camera then.”

  “Hmmm,” Nancy said. She thought about that. The bathrooms were in a small building across from the cabin. “What time was that?”

  “I don’t know,” Joanna said. She pushed her glasses into place on her nose. “But we were gone for about fifteen minutes.”

  Nancy took out her notebook. She wrote down: “Nora and Joanna in bathroom for fifteen minutes after dinner.”