Free Danger on Midnight River by Gary Paulsen

CHAPTER 1
    Daniel Martin took one last look around his bedroom. It was point-less to put it off any longer. With a sigh he grabbed his suitcase, threw his sleeping bag up on his shoulder, and slowly walked outside.
    The front screen door slammed behind him. He stood on the porch, ran his hand through his short brown hair, and looked up at the dark clouds in the sky. If he was lucky, there would be a storm and the whole dumb trip would be canceled.
    He thought about his mom. He knew shewouldn't be able to come and see him off. She was work-ing. She was always working.
    Daniel's mother was the day-shift waitress down at the Corner Cafe in town. It had taken her a year of scrimping and saving to get together enough money to send him to Camp Eagle Nest in the Premonition Mountains. This trip was so important to her. She said she wanted Daniel to have some fun for a change.
    Daniel didn't want to go to any stupid camp. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate his mom's hard work, but he would rather have spent this summer the way he had every other summer since his dad had died five years earlier—in the Rocky Mountains with his uncle Smitty.
    Uncle Smitty didn't treat him the way everyone else did. Up in the mountains it was understood that Daniel could take care of himself. He had spent a lot of time listening and learning about things that might mean the difference be-tween life and death.
    Daniel sighed again. That was anotherworld. In this world—this town world—he was his mama's baby boy. He was thirteen years old, but she insisted on driving him to school and kissing him goodbye every morning.
    School wasn't much better. At school he was the class no-body. They called him things like nerd face and dork breath. It wasn't his fault he was a slow learner. For some reason, he just couldn't understand things as easily in school as when Uncle Smitty taught him stuff at the cabin. The teacher called him a student with special needs. Most of the kids called him retarded.
    Daniel rounded the corner by the gas station in the center of town and looked up. His lanky frame stiffened.
Wouldn't you just knowit? The Eagle Nest van is already here. The driver's probably one of those cheerful types who'll whistle and make jokes all the way to the camp
.
    For a second he entertained the thought of going to the cafe and tell-ing his mother that he'd missed the van. But knowing her, she'dwork twice as hard so that she could get off early and drive him the seventy miles to the stupid camp.
    No, he'd just have to tough it out. Uncle Smitty had told him it probably wouldn't be that bad. He'd said to try and have fun with it.
Fun—at a rich kids' camp for snobs. Sure, no problem
.
    No, he'd just have to tough it out. Uncle Smitty had told him it probably wouldn't be that bad. He'd said to try and have fun with it.
Fun—at a rich kids' camp for snobs. Sure, no problem
.
    The driver was standing by the back of the van when Daniel walked up. “You're late, squirt. Give me your gear and let's get this show on the road.”
    Daniel shrugged and handed him his suitcase.
So much for the cheerful type
.
    The large man practically ripped the sleeping bag out of Daniel's hand. “I said let's go, kid. I don't get paid by the hour. This is my first trip as a driver for the camp and I don't want no foul-ups.” He shoved the boy toward the sliding side door of the van.
    “Well, well. Look who's here. Daniel the dork.”
    Daniel paused on the second step and looked up into the pudgy face of ScottyHoward. His worst nightmare had just come true. Scotty and his Mends Troy Dennis and Brandon March were the only other passengers in the van.
    Troy was big for his age, with an attitude to match. He looked out the window. “Where's your mama, Danny boy? Ain't she gonna come down and kiss you bye-bye?” Troy and Scotty howled with laugh-ter.
    Brandon let his feet slide off the seat in front of him. They hit the floor with a thud. His dark blue eyes narrowed and he