"I think this is going to be a lot of fun," Nancy Drew said as she walked along the path between her two best friends.

"I still can’t believe we were all hired as counselors by Camp Funtime," Bess Marvin said.

"It is certainly a change from working indoors all summer," her cousin George Fayne added.

"That’s true," Nancy replied. As they headed toward the dining hall, Nancy thought back to Ned’s excited call about his new job two months earlier. Ned Nickerson, Nancy’s fiancé for more than a year, heard about the hob from Steve Walker, who owned an insurance agency in Chicago where Ned did his work study assignment over the spring and was surprised to learn Steve also owned and ran Camp Funtime on Lake Mystery in Minnesota. Impressed with Ned’s previous work, he offered Ned a position as his assistant at the camp for the summer. He sent them all applications.

Two weeks later, the girls returned their completed applications and were immediately hired at the conclusion of their interviews. Nancy then sent copies of the application to her friends, Frank and Joe Hardy in Bayport. They were detectives, just like here, and Nancy thought they might enjoy spending the summer working on something other than a mystery. They were also hired after their interviews and were as excited as the girls to be working with kids.

"Hello, Nancy," Bess said breaking into Nancy’s thoughts.

"What?" Nancy asked looking at her and George with a slightly confused expression.

"I just asked you where we’re meeting Frank and Joe," Bess said.

"At the basketball court," Nancy said glancing at the administration cabin located just behind the dining hall. She hoped Ned would be done with his work already, but figured there was a lot of paperwork to finish before the campers arrived the following day.

She sighed disappointedly as George grabbed her arm and steered her down the path toward the basketball court. "Come on."

The three girls walked in silence past the boys cabins and the craft cabin. When they arrived at the basketball court, they saw Frank and Joe were shooting the basketball around. They watched Joe go to the basket and slam dunk the ball.

Frank caught the ball as it bounced on the court. He turned and saw the girls coming toward them. They were all wearing navy shorts and loose tan T-shirts, the camp uniform.

"Hey girls," Frank said jogging over to the ends of the court with Joe close behind.

"Looks like someone is getting a workout," Bess said noticing Joe’s sweat soaked T-shirt.

"Just having a little one-on-one." Joe said.

Frank grabbed a towel off his bag and wiped his face. "So, where’s Ned? I thought he’d be coming with you."

"He’s still working," Nancy said glancing back down the path. "Let’s play some ball while we wait."

"All right," Joe said grabbing the ball away from Frank. "How about the two of us against the three of you?"

"Boys against girls?" Bess asked. "That doesn’t seem fair."

"Sure it is," Joe said. "You outnumber us."

"Why not," George said stealing the ball from Joe and taking a shot. The ball went through the basket without touching the net.

"You had to say three against two, didn’t you, Joe?" Frank asked shaking his head.

"I just thought..."

"You didn’t think," Frank laughed. "You forgot George is as good at sports as you are."

"What, are you guys having second thoughts?" Nancy asked with a smile.

"Nah," Frank said. "Let’s have some fun."

"How about making it a fair game?" a voice bellowed from behind Bess.

The girls turned and saw Ned standing behind them. He was wearing a pair of blue shorts and a white T-shirt. His thick brown hair curled slightly on his forehead.

"Sorry I’m late," Ned said coming toward them. "Steve was giving me some last minute information before the kids arrive tomorrow."

"That’s all right," Nancy said. "We figured you might be longer than you thought."

"So, are we going to play or what?" Joe asked dribbling the ball impatiently.

"Sure," Frank said.

"I’ve got an idea to make this a little more interesting," Ned said.

"What’s that?" Frank asked.

"Let’s put a small wager on the game," Ned said. "We play to eleven by ones and the winning team has to win by two. The losing team has to do a favor for the person they were covering on the winning team."

"I like that," Joe said with a sly smile. "Hmmm, what can I have George do for me?"

"What do you mean by George doing you a favor?" Nancy asked. "Maybe you’ll be doing the favor for George."

"Not likely," Joe said.

"Let’s play," George said.

*****

Half an hour later, the score was six to five in favor of the girls. Frank had the ball and maneuvering his way toward the basket. Bess tried to block the shot, but it slid right into the basket.

"It’s six all," Joe said grabbing the basketball.

At that moment they heard a horn blast three times. Ned said, "We need to go to the dining hall."

"But we haven’t finished our game," Joe complained.

"We’ll have to finish it later," Ned said.

"Ned’s right," Frank said grabbing his towel.

"All right," Joe grumbled.

As they started toward the dining hall, Ned wrapped his arm around Nancy’s waist. "I think I’m going to like this. The two of us spending an entire summer together without a mystery pulling us apart."

"I wouldn’t mind a mystery, but I can live without one."

When they arrived at the dining hall, they went upstairs and grabbed some drinks before sitting down at an empty table. Ned sat with Nancy on his left side and Joe and Bess on his right. Frank sat beside Nancy with George on his other side.

"You guys are going to love this place," Ned said. "Especially the hiking trail. It winds around the entire camp."

"I can’t wait to check it out," George said.

"By the way, did you guys have any problems with the swim test this morning?" Ned asked putting his arm on the back of Nancy’s chair.

"It wasn’t hard enough," George said glancing at Joe. "I could’ve gone another hour."

"I doubt it," Joe said. "You looked like you needed an oxygen tank to climb out of the lake."

"All right!" Steve yelled from the other end of the dining hall. "Everybody needs to find a seat and settle down." Once everyone was seated, he continued. "I hope all of you have had a chance to read through the information packets on camp policies and procedures that were sent with your job notification letter. If not, read them tonight before you go to bed."

Several counselors groaned thinking about reading through all the papers. Steve continued, "Once we’re through here, we’ll be taking a hike along the trails."

"Do we all have to go?" a dark-haired guy asked. He was sitting up front by Steve. "I mean, do the experienced counselors have to take this hike?"

"I agree," a brown-haired girl spoke up from behind the guy. "I’ve been a counselor here for five years."

"Derek and Misty," Steve said. "Everyone goes on the hike. Experienced and inexperienced counselors. The trail has been adjusted a bit because of the winter weather."

"How much could the trail change?" Derek grumbled.

"Okay, guys, that’s enough. Now, the next item is something most of you have heard already, so just store it away for future reference. Once lights are out, under no circumstances should guys be in girls camp or girls in guys camp. This goes for campers and counselors."

"Oh man," a couple counselors groaned.

"Sorry, guys, but those are the rules." Steve looked down at his clipboard. "That’s it. We’ll meet outside in ten minutes for the hike. But first, I need to see Frank Hardy, Nancy Drew and Ned Nickerson."