Chapter Three

After piano practice, I went straight to the dining hall for breakfast, and ate with Rachel, Sarah, and Julie. Afterward, I retrieved the schedule from the Rec Center and headed back to my cabin with the other girls. The second I opened the door, I heard a high pitched scream, and I rushed inside to see what had happened.

To my pleasure, the scream came from Katie, who was feverishly itching her arms and legs as she stared into the mirror. When I laid my eyes on her, I knew we had won. She was throwing her bed dirty looks as she ran her nails across her skin in a desperate attempt to alleviate the itching sensation she was probably experiencing.

"Those beds are horrible!" Katie cried, pointing an accusatory finger toward her bunk.

"Oh, that's just that top bunk," I say casually, walking over to Katie as her gaze snaps to me. "For some reason, that bed has always gotten bad bed bugs."

I knew she wouldn't know the difference between bed bugs and itching powder, and I was right. Her eyes widened in horror upon hearing my words, and she stopped itching herself for a moment. But the moment passed and she began itching her arms again, feverishly scratching, and looked at Poppy, who was watching the whole scene from her bottom bunk.

"You can have your freakish bed back," Katie spat rudely. "God, this place is disgusting."

I could see the smirk Poppy was holding back, and had to stifle my own cry of success. With one last dramatic groan, Katie ran out of the cabin, slamming the door behind her. The second she walked out, everyone dissolved in a fit of laughter. I began laughing so hard that I fell back on Poppy's bed, joining her as she continued on in hysterics.

"Victory!" Poppy cries.

"Did you see her skin? It was turning red from scratching so much!" Sarah exclaims in giddy mischief. "I can't believe it worked."

Poppy sits up and smirks at Sarah. "Of course it worked. Mina is a pranking genius."

I stand and give a fake bow while our friends giggle and clap for me. "I'd like to thank the academy, my professors, my mentor, but most of all, I'd like to thank Poppy and all of her evil genius for starting this war with blondie." The giggles increase during my speech, and everyone loses it by the end. "Now, who wants to go to the lake?"

Most of the girls agree with me and we change into our bathing suits, high off of our itching powder victory. I change into a light blue floral bikini top with plain black bottoms and throw an oversized band cut off tee on top of my suit. Lazily, I tie my hair into a ponytail, and then we're off. Towel slung around my neck, I walk excitedly toward the lake, leading the equally as eccentric pack of girls behind me.

The lake was my favorite place at camp. Everyone swam in the same area of the lake, where we had added a floating dock and a rope swing. However, my favorite part about the lake was about a mile past the thick trees, when you reached the waterfall, with water cascading into a natural swimming hole. I had found it my second year of coming to camp when I went on a hike; I still remember running all the way back to the cabins to show Poppy.

We named the entire area the Water Hole, and beyond Poppy and I, I'm not sure if anyone knew about it. If they did, then they kept it a secret. I liked keeping the waterfall to myself; it was a beautiful gem that I didn't want anyone else to steal. Not only was it a perfect swim spot, but it was a good place to be alone and think. Every summer I walk through the woods to the Water Hole and end up sitting for hours, just thinking about life.

"Oh my God, look, he's here!" Sarah squeaks giddily from behind me.

I furrow my brows in confusion, and then follow her line of sight across the lake. Standing there, with water sliding down his very toned chest, was Carter Miller. His dark hair was stuck up every which way thanks to the water, but it only added to his attractiveness. He's standing opposite a few other guys, waiting to catch the football that his friends are throwing.

I glance around at his friends, and I'm not surprised to see the faces of the guys he befriended. Among the group was James and Justin, the twin troublemakers infamous for their mischief. During their time here at camp, they've been caught drunk more times than I can count, teepeed the counselors cabins, streaked through the camp grounds, and caused countless of other disturbances.

"He's so hot," Julie sighs dreamily.

"I would sell my soul to the devil just for him to notice me," Rachel's eyes are just as dreamy as the other girls as she looks after him.

I didn't tell anyone about what happened this morning at piano practice, and I probably never would. I mean, I knew it was no big deal, but these girls would go crazy if I told them that I spoke with Carter. As I cast one last glance at him, catching him as he threw the ball to Justin, I decided that it would be easiest to ignore Carter's presence from now on.

So, after my internal decision, I threw the towel that was around my neck onto the ground and stripped off my band tee. While Rachel, Sarah, and Julie stood in the corner gossiping about Carter, I waded into the water. It was cold at first, the water nipping at my ankles and then my calf, then my thighs until I stopped with the water up to my waist.

I stood there for a second, letting my skin get used to the water, and shut my eyes. For just a moment, everything seemed to quiet down, and it was just me in my favorite place. A smile adorned my lips and I opened my eyes, coming back to the real world, where campers were shouting and splashing all around me. When my skin finally warms up to the water, I dive underneath.

Upon surfacing, I run my hairs through my hair, smoothing it down my back. As I'm doing so, I feel another splash in front of me, water coating my face all over again. Confused, I rub the water from my eyes and look down to see a football floating above the newly disrupted water. I grab it and turn toward the troublesome trio, and see James and Justin shoving each other while Carter wades over to me.

"Sorry about that," Carter says casually, raising his voice so I could hear him. "Those idiots don't know how to throw a goddamn ball."

I shrug in response, throwing him the ball while he was still ways away, but that didn't stop him from walking over to me anyway, ball in hand. He smirks a little, looking from the ball to me, and then stops with a few feet in between us.

"You throw better than they do. Want to join?" Carter asks, arching an eyebrow.

My hands float atop the water, content where I stood, and I shook my head, still intent on ignoring him rather than engaging in his attempts. "I'm good."

Despite my rude tone, Carter doesn't leave. Instead, he eyes me closely, his smirk still on his lips. "You're the girl from this morning. The piano prodigy."

"What makes you think I'm a prodigy?" I fire back, my eyes narrowed.

I don't know why I was feeling defensive, but there was something about Carter Miller that put me on edge. Unfortunately, there was something about the way I was on edge that made Carter Miller very amused.

"I asked around," He shrugs, as if it's no big deal.

"You asked around about me?" I raised my eyebrows, confused, and he simply nodded. "What did you hear?"

He smirks again, and I start to hate the sight of that stupid smirk on his stupidly hot face. "I heard some conflicting things, actually. That you're a good girl, and you're the best at piano." Carters eyes scan me, giving me a once over. "I also heard that you're quite the badass around here."

I can't help but challenge, "Which do you believe?"

Carter looks at me, like he's looking past my defenses and straight into my soul, and he says, "I'm not sure yet," He takes a few steps closer and my breath hitches when he's only two steps away, overwhelming me with his sudden proximity. "But I intend to find out, princess."

My first instinct is to step away, but for some reason, I can't help but want to challenge him further. I don't want to back down, because then he wins. So instead of walking away, I take a step closer to him, a surge of confidence coursing through me. He raises his eyebrows in surprise, but the smirk is still there, like he's expecting me to fawn at his feet.

"Good luck with that," I say cockily, and then lean forward, so there are only inches between us. He looks surprised, and I smirk, finally having the upper hand. "And don't call me princess."

Carefully, I take a step back, and give him one more look before I turn around to leave him there. I glance around and find Poppy among the group of girls and, unfortunately, also discover that their eyes are already on me. Rachel is wide eyed and whispering furiously with Julie and Sarah, while Poppy is just standing there with a smirk.

"Whatever you say, princess!" Carter calls as I walk toward my friends.

I hold back a smile and shake my head, but continue walking toward my friends, where I was likely to get bombarded about my two minute conversation with the Carter Miller. While they fired questions at me with longing glances, I tuned them out subconsciously, not able to take my mind off of Carter. For reasons unbeknownst to me, I suddenly felt drawn to the interesting boy.

No, I reminded myself fiercely. He's trouble. Stay away.

There are two different types of campers here at Camp Wisahickon. I learned this one night my first year coming here, when shuffling footsteps woke me up at midnight. The first type of camper follows the rules and goes to bed during lights out; the second waits until all the counselors are in their cabins and sneaks out. It didn't take me very long to decide that I would have much more fun with the second type of campers.

Now, at midnight, while most of the counselors are sleeping soundly in their cabins, and the first type of campers are resting in their bunk beds, I'm tip toeing to the door. Poppy is following not so silently behind, often running into things in the darkness. As I slip out the cabin door, I hear a loud bang and her mutter obscenities under her breath. I stifle my laughter until she shuts the door behind her and we're safely outside.

"How many times do we have to sneak out before you can do so without running into something?" I ask seriously, rubbing my chin as I think. "A hundred? Two hundred? Maybe a thousand?"

Poppy, however, is not amused. As she cradles her foot in her hand, she mutters, "Shut up."

I laugh quietly and look around the darkness, trying to gather my bearings. I turn toward the cabins and squint, and I can somehow make out the faint glow of light coming from cabin 14. Cabin 14 is the only cabin that doesn't get used because of the hole in the roof that, year after year, fails to be repaired. Because of the lack of use of the cabin, the staff rarely even checks it for any signs of life, making it the perfect place for the second type of camper to meet up after lights out.

We make our way to the cabin, tucked behind all the other girl cabins, right on the border of the male and female division. I, not so sympathetically, listen to Poppy whine about her foot as we walk- well, I walk, and she dramatically limps- toward cabin 14. As we neared, I could hear the faint sounds of voices, signaling that we weren't the only ones here. And, as I suspected, when I opened the cabin door and stepped inside, there were already plenty of people lounging inside.

"Mina! Poppy!" I hear the crowd of rule breakers cheer when we enter.

I grin at all of them, giving my best impression of a queen waving at her loyal subjects, and glance around me. To my left, there was a group of people playing card games, drinks in hand. To my right, I saw girls and guys gathered around a cheap pop up table playing beer pong. Somewhere in the room there was a speaker playing rap, Kanye West if I was correct, and the other campers loitering around the cabin were dancing to the music.

Brad, a returning camper a year younger than me, greets Poppy and I at the door with a wide smile. "Hello, Mina. You thirsty?"

I nod feverishly, and he hands me one of the beers in his hand. "Thanks Brad."

He winks cheekily. "Anything for you, gorgeous."

Poppy takes the other beer from his hand, which was already open and his, and raises her eyebrows at Brad. "You might want to wipe the drool coming from you mouth."

His eyes widened and his hand shoots up to wipe his mouth, and I stifle a giggle at Poppy's false accusation. She smiles sweetly as he narrows his eyes at her, and then she grabs my hand to pull me away before he can throw a nasty remark back.

"That kid hits on you every summer," Poppy mumbles, giving a tsk. "When will he get the hint?"

I nudge her with my shoulder. "Stop it, he's a nice guy."

She gives me a look. "He's nice to everything with a vagina, me excluded."

"That's your fault," I remind her. "You're the one that hooked up with him and then left him high and dry when Jeremy came along."

And she did. It happened two summers ago, back when Brad was pining after her attention instead of mine. To be fair, this has always been Poppy's way; she finds a cute boy to hook up with, uses him for a little while, and then dumps him when something better comes along. She's always done it. Poor Brad was just a casualty of her ways.

We walk toward the group of people playing beer pong, and I recognize our friends Marla and Gina playing against Zach and Teddy. I settle beside Teddy, leaning into him as he watches his opponents take a shot. Other than Poppy, Teddy was my closest friend from camp. Teddy stood higher than six feet tall with a mop of blonde hair on top of his head, dark brown eyes, and a white smile that could charm a girl into doing just about anything.

"Mina!" He exclaims when he sees me, his dazzling smile stretching across his lips.

I laugh as he engulfs me in his famous bear hug. "Hey, Teddy."

When I pull away, he wraps an arm around my shoulder casually to keep me close. "How have you been? I feel like I haven't seen you in-"

"A year?" I supplement with a smile.

He grins his beautiful lopsided smile and chuckles. "Yeah, a year."

His teammate Zach nudges him and holds a ping pong ball out for him to use. With one arm around me, Teddy lifts his hand, sizes up the cup, and effortlessly throws it in.

Zach cheers and slaps him on the back, saying, "It's about damn time you got one in, dude."

Teddy grins. "It's Mina, man. She's my good luck charm."

I roll my eyes. Ever since we met at camp four years ago, we realized that the both of us were pretty competitive. At first, we butt heads at every activity, both of us striving to be the best. However, eventually, we decided to join forces and become a team rather than enemies, and ever since, we've been indestructible.

Whether it be cards, water polo, or any other camp activity, we are unbeatable. I even helped Teddy improve his game in pool; to say Teddy sucked at pool before he met me was an understatement. But with a summers worth of practice, he learned to dominate the pool table, and ever since, he's called me his good luck charm.

"Mina!" I glance across the room to see Poppy kneeling on the ground, joining a group of people gathered in a circle. "Come here."

I nod and turn back to Teddy, clapping him on the back. "Good luck with the rest of your game. I'll see you later, alright?"

Teddy glances away from his game to give me a look. "If I lose, I'm blaming you."

I flash him a sweet grin and slip out from under his arm to walk over to Poppy. She's sitting cross legged on the ground, aligned in a circle with other girls and boys. As I walk over, I glance around the circle, and feel myself slow down the second I set eyes on him.

Carter is sitting in the circle in between two girls, Jessica and Ashley, who are both fawning over him. Literally. They're both leaning toward him, giving him a great view of their low cut shirts, and Jessica's hand is resting on Carter's thigh.

The sight alone makes me want to vomit, but instead I go for a roll of my eyes. Carter catches my gaze when he looks up and smirks at me, letting me know that he really is enjoying himself. I hold back a scoff and continue walking toward Poppy, taking a seat beside her.

"What are we playing?" I ask her, curious as to what had drawn a crowd.

She smirks. "Truth or dare."

Most people think truth or dare is the lamest game you could play, but that's not the attitude here. Because our secret, after hours activities are limited, everyone grew to love truth or dare. I glance around the circle and see who I'll be playing with, trying to size up the severity of the dares based on the campers.

For the most part, it was the normal crowd Poppy and I hung out with after dark. The twins, Brad, Cole, Melody, and finally, Carter with his two bimbos hanging off of him. I smirked a little in anticipation of tonight's game; every time I played with these friends, things got a little out of hand.

"Alright, I'm starting," James announces with a smirk, his eyes slowly scanning the crowd, before they land on one of the bimbos. "Jessica."

Jessica twirls her blonde hair around her finger, looking at him with wide eyes.

James smirks wider. "I dare you to take a body shot off of Ashley."

All the boys grow excited with this idea, letting out hoots and hollers. Jessica and Ashley look at each other and giggle, an obnoxiously high pitched sound. I watch with a blank face as Ashley lies down on the ground in the middle of the circle and pulls up her tank top to reveal her stomach.

Someone hands Jessica salt and a lemon, and she puts a line of salt on Ashley's stomach, then puts the lemon wedge in her mouth. My gaze slips to Carter, who is watching the entire thing with a big fat smirk and rapt interest, and I actually do scoff this time. What a pig.

When I glance back at Jessica, she's taking a swig from a flask, then leans forward to lick the salt off her friends stomach, finishing it all off by taking the lemon wedge from Ashley's mouth with her own. All the guys hoot as they watch with wide eyes and similar smirks to Carter's while Poppy and I roll our eyes.

"God, I hate those girls," Poppy mutters. "They set the female population back hundreds of years."

I smirk and look back at them as they giggle furiously and obnoxiously. After a minute of this, Jessica finally regains composure long enough to dish out a new dare.

"Brad! I dare you to..." She glances to his left, and then smirks widely. "Make out with Melody for ten seconds."

I cringe for Melody, and when I give her a sympathetic look, I see that she's wearing a similar expression. Brad, however, is smirking victoriously, his friends clapping him on the back. Melody sucks in a deep breath and looks at Brad, who leans in and kisses her immediately.

"Ten! Nine! Eight!" The crowd begins cheering, but Poppy and I go a different route.

"You got it Mel!" I cheer on. "Only a few more seconds!"

"Yeah Melody! Just pretend he's Ashton Kutcher or something!" Poppy adds.

By the time everyone cheers "One!", Melody wretches away from Brads lips and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. If I were her, I would, too; it looked like he was thrusting his tongue in her mouth. The rounds keep going back and forth with pretty lame dares, until it's Carter's turn to dish out a dare.

And wouldn't you know, his gaze snaps right to me. From across the circle, his eyes land on me, and a mischievous smirk tugs his lips up. Sensing that something bad was about to happen, I groan and down the rest of my second beer, then level my gaze on him. His smirk stretches wider, if possible, and he leans back to look at me.

"Amelia," Carter says confidently, a sense of finality in his tone. "I dare you to go skinny dipping in the lake."

I heard a few people gasp, and felt everyone's gaze whip to me. I was sure he was expecting me to refuse the dare, like some of the other girls probably would. He wanted to get a rise out of me, I was certain.

And because I was absolutely determined to not give him the satisfaction, I smirk. "Let's go then."

With that, I stood up and crossed the circle, everyone else frozen in their seats. I hear Poppy's laughter explode from the cabin before she gets up and follows me out. Cabin 14 was tucked behind the others, closer to the lake, and I could hear the running water the second I stepped outside the cabin.

Poppy catches up to me and huffs, "Dude, are you seriously going to do it?"

I hear the cabin door shut again, and glance behind me to see Carter following behind with the twins, Brad, and a few other spectators. I look back at Poppy and flash her a grin.

"Yeah, wanna join?" I tease.

She lets out a breath. "Hell no. Do you know how cold it's going to be in there?"

We're still a good couple of yards ahead of everyone else, and I take the head start to begin peeling off my clothes. First it's my shirt, and then I stumble out of my shorts, tugging my underwear off with them. When I'm a few feet away from the water, I finally unclip my bra, and shove the bundle of clothes in Poppy's arms.

"Shit, Mina," Poppy laughs breathily. "You're a badass."

I look at her over my shoulder and throw her a wink before diving into the lake. The cold water envelops me, wrapping around my bare body, freezing my skin the second I make make contact with the lake.

My feet scrape against the bottom of the lake, and I push up forcefully, in desperate need to break free of the icy water. When my face breaks the surface, I can make out the outline of a man standing close to the edge, a crowd behind him.

"How's the water?" Carter's obnoxious voice asks.

In a strong attempt to keep my teeth from shattering, I exclaim, "Perfect, thanks for asking."

I spent the rest of that night wrapped tightly in my bed sheets trying to regain a normal core temperature. My teeth were chattering for at least two hours, my hair was stiff from the lake water, and my skin felt rough and sticky.

But it was so worth it.