Between Camp and a Hard Place

On the bus to Camp What-A-Nut, counselors Connie and Wooton prepare the campers for a big week. Connie has heard the camp is expecting its largest group ever, thanks to donors who have provided money so kids who cannot afford camp get a chance to come. Not everyone is thrilled to be there, though. Wyatt Perkins discovers that the camp has no cell service and no Wi-Fi, and he is horrified, insisting that the internet is a basic human right. Meanwhile, longtime friends Olivia Parker and Zoe Grant look forward to the camp competition, hoping to finally beat their rivals, the two Marcies, who edged them out last year.

At registration, Olivia and Zoe get a shock: Connie has shaken up the teams this year so campers can make new friends. Olivia is paired with Scarlett Henry, a newcomer who is bitterly disappointed to learn the camp has beds, indoor plumbing, and a buffet. Scarlett expected something like her favorite survival show, The Wilderness Test, and grumbles, "This is the worst of both worlds," since she cannot even watch the show without Wi-Fi. Zoe is paired with Elise Reed, whom Connie remembers as painfully shy. Connie warns Zoe not to do everything herself and to let Elise try some events. But the Elise who bounds up to Zoe is anything but shy - she is bursting with excitement and wants to do every event, starting with the log roll. That night, while helping Elise wrestle a fitted sheet onto her bunk, Connie learns why Elise has changed: her parents, both doctors, have become foster parents to four medically fragile children, and Elise loves having new brothers and sisters.

Wyatt, meanwhile, cannot sleep. He shows Wooton a rash he claims comes from "internet withdrawal disease," declaring, "I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more Wi-Fi." When Wooton tries to send him to bed, Wyatt keeps him on the porch with big questions about the Bible and whether it is true, and Wooton ends up talking with him until two in the morning - two nights in a row. Connie tells Wooton that Wyatt is clearly manipulating him to stay up, and Wooton admits he knows, but he senses something deeper is going on and believes Wyatt truly needs him.

The competition does not go well for the new teams. At the water balloon toss, Scarlett fires the balloon at Olivia like a fastball, soaking her and laughing about it. Then Scarlett skips the hula hoop relay entirely, leaving Olivia on her own. Zoe's week is just as frustrating: Elise insists on doing the events but flops at all of them, swimming badly in the lake race and smacking a ball into her own face while the Marcies pile up points. When Zoe and Olivia spot Elise talking with the Marcies behind some trees, Zoe leaps to a conclusion - Elise must be losing on purpose to help their rivals, and the Marcies must have talked Connie into splitting up the old team.

That evening, Olivia finds Scarlett already in bed and tries to be kind, sharing a tip about beating the morning rush for hot showers. Scarlett softens enough to admit that her family cannot afford vacations or camp, that an organization paid her way, and that even her phone belongs to the whole family. But when Olivia tries to sympathize, Scarlett calls her soft and privileged, saying they are too different to understand each other: Olivia is obsessed with winning camp games, while Scarlett is just hoping to smuggle home some waffles.

Everything comes to a head the next day. In the middle of a lopsided game against the Marcies, Zoe accuses Elise of doing badly on purpose, and Elise, stunned and hurt, asks, "You think I'm doing bad on purpose?" At that moment Olivia rushes up begging them to stall, because Scarlett has vanished again. Scarlett has recruited Wyatt to sneak behind the camp offices, where she guesses there must be Wi-Fi. She climbs onto a wobbly air conditioning unit, finds a signal, and treats Wyatt to a dancing dog video that instantly cures his "rash." But when the signal flickers, Scarlett stands up on the unit to get it back - and with a sudden crash, the story ends on a cliffhanger, leaving the campers' tangled friendships, suspicions, and schemes to be sorted out another day.