Chapter Nine

We trekked back to find the others sprawled on the floor, a small fire crackling in the hearth. Sitting down, I asked, looking around, “Where’s Tanc and Mikey?” Cordova turned to me and said, “Upstairs trying to find some flashlights.” “That would
explain what we heard,” Emma whispered in my ear, the vibrations of her voice tickling the fuzz on my ear. I nodded. Next to Cordova, Jessica harrumphed and slammed her phone down on the floor. “There’s no reception anywhere,” she grumbled, getting up and crossing over to look out the window. “And it’s starting to rain harder,” she said, gesturing. Footsteps sounded on the staircase behind us, and Mikey appeared, holding a flashlight in his shaking hand. “None of the lights upstairs are working,” he said. “No shit, Sherlock. The friggin’ power went off,” rambled Cordova as he got up. Mikey flushed as Emma spoke up in his defense. I tuned her out (sometimes Emma can get pretty worked up about something) and focused instead on the scene outside. The warmth from the fireplace and the drone of the others’ voices was starting to make me sleepy. Leaning my head against the window, I watched the rain patter on the glass, my eyelids slowly closing. *THUMP* Startled, I flung myself back as something threw itself against the window pane, the glass shuddering as if it was about to give in to the repetitive attack of it’s assailant. Landing on the hard wooden floor, the others crowded around as the thing outside hurled itself again and again. “What the?” Cordova whispered,
his face contorted into an expression of denial. Emma’s green eyes widened in horrified recognition. “Oh my God!” I turned to her. “Em, what is it?” She ran to the front door, me behind her in hot pursuit. “Emma! Wait up!” The minute I stepped outside, it was like I had dove into a pool of icy Jell-O or something. Frigid sleet pelted my face, biting into my flesh like miniature piranhas. “Emma!” I could hardly hear myself over the howl of the wind. Squinting to protect my eyes, I could dimly make out her figure as she disappeared around the corner of the cabin. “E, wait up!” Running as fast as I could, I rounded the corner and nearly smacked into Emma, who was supporting someone. “Robby, help me!” she yelled, motioning for me to grab the other side. Together, we managed to get the person through the door of the cabin. Jessica slammed the door shut behind us, and Cordova helped us get the guy into a chair. As I sat the man up, I happened to look at his face. Gasping, I drew back as I made out the disfigured features of our missing friend, Chad Bergstrom.

Chapter Eight

A low moan escaped my horrified lips, but was unheard by the pair. I stumbled backwards out of the room and leaned against the wall, my legs threatening to give out. I heard a cry, followed by a sharp smack, and Emma rushed out, frantically fixing herself. She let out a gasp when she saw me. “Robby!” She saw the state I was in and reached out a hand, placing it on my shoulder, a worried look on her face. At that moment, Tanc left the room and spotted the two of us. His eyes flashed dangerously when I let out a warning growl. Emma glanced nervously between us, looking like she was ready to pull us apart if necessary. Shaking my head clear of murderous thoughts, I ran to the front door, Emma calling my name. I smacked into a scared looking Cordova. Irritated, I looked up to tell him off, but thought better when I saw his expression. “T-t-there’s s-something out there!” he stammered. Jessica ran in behind him, clearly terrified. By now, Emma had reached my side. “What’s going on? What’s wrong, Jess?” Jessica gulped. “There’s some sort of creature outside! We heard it crashing through the trees behind us, so we ran in here.” Closing the door behind her, a red-faced Tancred asked, “What kind of creature?” Cordova snorted humorlessly. “I don’t know. I didn’t stick around to find out.” He was shaking badly, but was trying not to show it. He and Jessica sat on the couch while the rest of us crowded around them. Suddenly, the lights flickered, then went out, plunging us into utter darkness. Emma gasped and grabbed for my hand. Even though I was still upset about what I had seen, I held her hand tightly. Things were getting a little too scary for my liking. She squeezed gratefully, then turned her attention on our small group. She knitted her eyebrows together and was about to say something when she was cut off by a horrific sound. A piercing howl filled the air and seemed to reverberate through the whole cabin. Hearing footsteps behind me, I whipped around in fear, but sighed with relief when I saw it was only Mikey. He looked like a trapped jack-rabbit. His lower lip quivering, he asked in a small voice,“What the hell was that?” “Shhh!” An urgent whisper from Tancred quieted us. “Listen!” Everyone froze, but only an eerie silence could be heard. Whatever had made the fearsome cry was either gone or… I didn’t dare think what the thing, whatever it was, was doing now. Emma shivered. “I’ll go get some candles,” she volunteered. Not wanting to be left alone, I followed her closely, leaning on the wall as not to fall flat on my face (trust me, I’ve done that plenty of times). As if reading my mind, Emma stumbled forward slightly. My hand shot out to steady her. Gripping my forearm with an iron fist, she mumbled her thanks and turned to the cabinets that Chad had mentioned during our brief tour. Reaching into one, she groped around. Frowning, she said, “Do you thing Chad ran into whatever made that noise? I mean, it sounded pretty close to the cabin.” Shrugging, I made an incomprehensible sound. Inspecting another cabinet, Emma turned to face me. “Robby, what’s up with you?” I shrugged again. She dropped her hands to her sides and made a face. “C’mon, Rob. There must be some explanation to why you keep ignoring me.” Sighing heavily, I glanced around the room, looking everywhere and anywhere as not to meet her interrogating gaze. Gritting my teeth, I muttered, “I saw what you and Tanc were doing.” For a second, she just stood there, then sighed as a cute, red blush crept up her neck. Looking at my shuffling feet, she said, “Tanc was in the bathroom when I came in. When he got out, he told me that you liked me, and that he thought you weren’t good enough for me. That’s when he backed me into the corner and started kissing me.” She rolled her eyes and shrugged. “I don’t know how much you saw, but he started touching me, so I slapped him.” I swallowed, and a low growl escaped my throat. Clenching my fists, I said through ground teeth, “You want me to take care of him?” Emma glanced at me, then said, “No.” Leaning against the wall, I closed my eyes and counted to ten, trying to dispel the sudden rush of adrenaline that was pounding through my veins. Opening them again, I looked at Emma, who was staring at me deeply. “What?” I managed to croak. Lips slightly parted, she shook her head. Suddenly, she threw herself at me. Staggering, I tried not to lose my balance as Emma’s lips met mine. It was like we couldn’t get enough of each other. We were so mashed up together that our teeth were grinding together, the need to get close so intensely immense. Lurching dangerously, we toppled backwards over a short staircase that I had never noticed before. Sliding to a stop at the bottom, we kept at it, not caring what came our way. Emma ran one hand down the front of my shirt, sending deliciously spine-tingling shivers down my back. She hoisted herself on top of me, using my belt as a mini-hand ladder. Grabbing my face with both hands, she continued to breathlessly kiss me. I clasped my hands around her waist and pulled her closer to me, limiting the amount of space between the two of us. I don’t know how far things might have gone if there hadn’t been an unexpected thump on the floor above us. Heaving, I managed to keep a quivering smile on my face, while at the same time gasping heavily for breath.Grinning wildly, I held Emma in place while I sat up. Leaning against the wall, I chuckled and said, “One of these days you’re gonna give me an asthma attack.” She laughed and tilted forward, resting her forehead on mine. Meeting my gaze, she said, “Robby, you haven’t had an attack since the fifth grade.” Closing my eyes, I gave her a small, knowing smile. I could feel her looking at me as she said, “What?” Widening my smirk, I said, “Wanna know the reason why I stopped having attacks?” I felt her body shake as she nodded. I bent forward so my lips were directly by her ear. “I would think about holding you as something closer than a friend, and my breathing problems always went away.” Emma turned her head to look at me. “Really, Robby?” I nodded. She blushed and tightened her hold on my neck. I breathed in, immersing myself in her heavenly scent. She let go and got to her feet, saying, “We should get the candles before the others think we were kidnapped or something.” Giggling, we went back into the room we were in before our makeout session. As Emma reached into the drawer, chatting aimlessly, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Whipping around, I was just in time to see a dark figure slink into the shadows. Suddenly, bright light filled the room. It was empty except for the two of us. Turning to me, lit candle in hand, Emma said, “What’s wrong Rob?” Not wanting to worry her, I shook my head. “Nothing.” Taking one last look to make sure there was no one else around, I followed Emma into the living room.

Chapter Seven

Sickened, I turned to Tancred. “Is this your idea of some kind of sick joke?!” I demanded angrily. Infuriated, Tancred rounded on me. “Why the hell would I do something like this? This wasn’t even here when I left!” he retorted. “Stop it, you two!” Emma moaned. Tancred and I stopped and looked at her. She glared back defiantly, her hands balled up into tight fists, and said furiously, “You guys are so self-centered! Instead of trying to prove your manhood, why don’t you do something useful, like trying to find out where Chad is and whether or not he needs our help!” A sudden cry of fear from Jessica kept Tanc from venomously spitting out his reply. I whipped my head around in time to see the dark, animalistic shape launch itself from behind a tree and land on top of me. “Getitoffame!” I shrieked, pummeling the thing with my open palms. Laughing maniacally, the creature rose and I saw that it wasn’t a monster at all, but in fact jerk-off Danny Cordova. Growling irritably, I jumped to my feet and slammed into his midriff headfirst, knocking him off balance and propelling him backwards with a loud “Ooof!” The others rushed forward and pulled me off of Cordova. “What the hell is your problem?!” I yelled. Cordova grinned. “Hey, just payback for last Saturday”, was his response. I wheezed and shook my head. “Dude! That was a complete accident,” I said. Cordova raised an eyebrow. “Whatever.” Emma sighed furiously. “Dan, why the hell are you here and what did you do to Chad?” she said, her hands on her hips. “What do you mean,what did I do to Chad? He was right-” Cordova faltered as he spied the blood-splattered mess in front of him. “What the?” He took a step forward, then glanced
nervously at the four of us. “I s-swear! He was right here when I went into the cabin! I mean, I came over to tell him that some of the girls kept seeing a weird animal,” he stammered. I narrowed my eyes, then widened them in shock. There were only five of us there. Spinning around, I asked, “Where’s Tancred?” “He went into the cabin,” said Emma. “I’ll go get him.” She turned and walked into the cabin. The rest of us stood around, shuffling uncomfortably. Jessica opened his mouth. “So, um, Danny. How’s football season going?” Cordova grinned and put his arm around her. Jessica practically fainted, blushing feverishly. I looked away as he began instructing her on his favorite pastime. Noticing movement in one of the windows, I entered the cabin before I barfed (Cordova was now visibly flexing his biceps while Jessica swooned). I was feeling a bit peckish, so I grabbed a sandwich from the mini-fridge in the living room. There weren’t any drinks, so I decided to take one from Tancred (he never left anywhere without a Coke in his book bag). As I walked towards the bedroom, I heard low voices. I recognized them as Emma and Tancred. Frowning slightly, I entered the room, only to drop what was in my hands in painful disbelief. Tanc had backed Emma into a corner and was now kissing her covetously. One hand was on her lower back, holding her tightly against him, while the other was roaming aimlessly up her shirt.

Chapter Six

Mikey and Jessica ran over (Well, Mikey ran while Jessica power-walked). “What do you mean he’s not there?” I demanded. Tancred sighed and shook his head. “I mean what someone usually means when they say someone’s not where they’re supposed to be,” he said, gesturing angrily. Emma raised her hands as if to keep the two of us from jumping on each other. “Ok, guys. Let’s be rational. Chad probably just went to one of the other cabins for a few,” she declared. “Why would he do that without telling us though?” Mikey asked, clearly puzzled. “Well, we were supposed to be asleep, like, hours ago,” stated Jessica. We all looked at her. She muttered something incoherently and went back to texting. I exhaled heavily. “How about we head back to the cabin?” I said, looking around at everyone. “Maybe he got back while Tanc was getting here.” Emma frowned. “Maybe.” We set off at a brisk stroll. After a few minutes of silent ambling, the cabin soon emerged out of the growing darkness like a bright beacon; all the lights were on. Tancred frowned. “I don’t remember turning any lights on”, he said. We followed as he strode up to the front door. Suddenly, he halted, and the rest of us comically smacked into each other. “Dude!” I exclaimed. “Give us a warning next time, alright?!” I stopped talking as I caught sight of what he was staring at, obviously terrified. “What is it?” Emma asked faintly. Tancred shuddered as he pointed to the ground. “Paw”, was all he said. Curious, Mikey, Jessica, and Emma crowded around me and Tancred. I felt rather than heard Emma’s horrified gasp as she surveyed the scene. There, right in front of us on the porch, was a giant paw print. Next to it, torn and bloody, was the gray sweater that Chad had been wearing.

Chapter Five

I stood there, blinking astonishedly. I think my jaw may have dropped. All this time that I was trying to sum up the courage to ask out the one girl who showed any signs of being interested in me, and now it turns out that my best friend likes her, too. I snorted. How could I have been so blind? Now that I think back, it was so obvious that Tancred liked Emma. The way he looked at her when she laughed at one of his dumb jokes, even the way he acted when she playfully flirted with somebody. Reacting violently, I slammed my fist into a wall, wincing with pain as the skin on my knuckles was sliced off. Numbly, I stared at my hand as the incisions began to bleed. I shook it off and strolled out of the room to join the others. I found them outside, setting up their sleeping bags. Emma spotted me and said, “There you are, Robby! Bring your stuff over here so you can be by me and Tanc.” Face void of emotion, Tanc nodded coolly at me, then turned away to fix his pillow. I walked over and dropped my sleeping bag on the side of Emma opposite of Tancred, noticing that this was the way that we had always sat or walked. It was then that I silently vowed to give him a run for his money. I wasn’t going to let Emma slip away that easily. At least, not this time. Emma laughed at something that Mikey, who was behind us, said, then turned to me and became aware of my bleeding hand. “Robert!” she exclaimed in a worried yet superior voice. She grabbed my hand. “You’re hurt!” I looked at my wounds blankly, then responded, “Yeah. I must have cut myself on something in the room.” Emma glanced into my eyes, then reached under her pillow and brought out a small first-aid kit. Tanc laughed, and she threw him a disapproving look. “I always keep one with me,” she explained. As she worked on bandaging my fist, I looked at how her hair fell over her face, covering her eyes. Murmuring softly so that only she could hear me, I whispered, “You have such nice eyes. Why hide them all the time?” Emma’s face flushed, and she bent over more. She glanced about and saw that we were the only ones sitting on the blanket she had put on the smooth sand. She gave a small smile and said, “Robby, stop it. You’re making me blush.” I smiled and checked out the others’ positions. Curled up in his sleeping bag so that you could only see the top of his head, Mikey looked as if he were already asleep. Jessica was talking animatedly on the phone to one of her girlfriends again, and Tancred was heading back to the cabin, most likely to get some chow. My heart fluttering and my head fearful of rejection, I leaned in closer towards Emma. She stopped what she was doing and gazed up at me. She stared into my eyes, green into blue, a fire so intense it took all my reserve not to look away. Blood rushing to my head, I opened my suddenly dry mouth to say something, but Emma whispered, “Shhh,” softly and placed a cool, slender finger on my burning lips. Moving forward agonizingly sluggishly, she rested her forehead on my own, all the while keeping her eyes fixated to mine. Slowly but surely, her eyelids began to lower. Feeling like I was sprinting the mile run in P.E. again, I closed my eyes and tilted my head, and Emma’s soft, luscious lips met mine. A sweeping sensation flooded my body when Emma clasped her hands behind my neck and pulled our bodies closer. Breathing in raggedly, I ran my hands down the side of her torso until I reached her hips. I pulled her into my lap while simultaneously raising my head so I wouldn’t break our connection. I kissed her deeply, not wanting to ever let go. With a small pant, Emma drew away, gasping for breath. I matched her shortness of oxygen, wheezing heavily. Blushing slightly, I felt a pang in my gut, still scared of being refused. I guess Emma deduced what I was thinking because, with a giggle, she said, “Wow, Robby.” Her eyes glistening with emotion, she leaned in nearer and whispered in my ear, “That was amazing.” Grinning, I could feel my face burn up. Suddenly, Emma pushed me away from her and she straightened up the blanket. Confused, I gaped at her until I saw Tancred jogging towards us with a weird expression on his face. “Um, guys?” he called uncertainly. “How come Chad’s not in the cabin?”

Chapter Four

Startled, we jumped apart. Luckily, Tanc had his I-pod on and was singing along to a Green Day song so he wasn’t looking at the two of us when he walked in. He did, however, notice when I tripped and landed on the floor. Grinning, he unplugged his earphones and said, “Sheesh! Way to be a klutz, D’Lacey!” My face burning, I rose to my feet, rushed out of the room, and promptly smacked into Jessica. “Like, watch it, doofus!” she complained. Muttering what I hoped would pass for an apology, I crossed over to Chad’s room and knocked on the door. Almost immediately the door opened. “What’s up, Rob?” he asked. “Um, Em- er, me and the others were wondering if we could sleep outside tonight,” I answered. His face visibly brightened. “That’s a great idea! Sure you guys can. Just remember to take some bug spray and flashlights with you.” “Sweet!” I exclaimed. “I’ll go tell the others.” I walked back to the room to find Mikey engaged with Emma in rapid conversation and Tancred telling a story to Jessica. “Hey guys. Guess what?” I said. Not waiting to hear their answers, I continued. “Chad said we could slumber under the stars tonight if we wanted to.” Jessica wrinkled her nose. “You mean, like, sleep outside?” she inquired. I grinned nervously. “Uh, yeah.” “Hey, that’s cool! Great idea, Robby!” said Mikey. Tanc nodded in agreement. “Ditto. Great job,” he responded. Emma bounced off the bed she had been sitting on. “Seriously, Rob?” she asked, her eyes lighting up. I nodded. “You’re the best!” she exclaimed excitedly, rushing forward and kissing me on the cheek. Everyone else looked at me, and I could feel my face start to get hot. “What?” I murmured. “It was her idea.” Jessica whipped out her phone and started texting furiously; Mikey waggled his eyebrows at me, and Tanc looked like he was going to fall off his seat. Still smiling, Emma left the room, Mikey and Jessica close behind. Tancred was still staring at me, a grin slowly spreading across his face. “What?!” I asked, irked by his expression. “Somebody has a crush on Emma”, he said in a sing-song voice. I could feel my face almost burning now. “What? No! Don’t be ridiculous, Tanc. She told me this great idea she had so I asked Chad permission to do it.” Tanc’s grin had almost grown to his ears. Suddenly, he stopped smiling. “You’re right”, he said. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to compete with my best friend for a girl’s affections.” He left the room, leaving me to my thoughts.

Chapter Three

Still befuddled, I crashed to a halt, almost knocking Mikey over. Chad had stopped. “There’s our cabin”, he said, pointing. “Aww. It’s like a mini Abraham Lincoln establishment!” said Emma. “I love it!” she continued, rushing forward. “Ugh. We’re going to stay in that? It’s so, like, small and un-glitterish,” complained Jessica, looking at her bright pink glitter-infested nails. “I kind like it”, I said. “It’s homey.” Emma threw a grateful look in my direction. I smiled to myself, especially when I saw Tanc take his turn looking puzzled. When we walked in, it was like someone had thrown a switch and sent us back to medieval times. The place was crawling with all sorts of artifacts, and it looked much bigger than it had seemed from outside. “The bathrooms are downstairs, and there’s food in all of the cabinets. There are also extra blankets and stuff if you get could during the night,” said Chad, gesturing towards various spots. We followed him into the bedrooms. “Unfortunately, this is one of the smallest cabins (here Jessica muttered “No kidding.”), so you’ll all have to share the same room. You can take turns changing in that bathroom right there or the closet over here. Lights are usually supposed to be out by ten-thirty, but since it’s way past and it’s your first day here, you can stay up a little longer.” Satisfied that we knew what we were doing, he turned and went into his own room. The minute his door was shut, Tanc grabbed something from out of his book bag. “Pillow fight!” he declared. Scrambling to grab our own to defend ourselves, the next couple of minutes were spent in almost complete chaos as me, Mikey, and Emma teamed up against Tancred. A sudden shout from Jessica made us freeze in place; Mikey standing on one of the beds, poised to whack Tancred on his head, Emma bending to retrieve her pillow from under the bed where it had flown, and me, pillow raised over my head in an effort to fend off Tancred, who was ready to attack me while feathers fluttered all around. We looked at Jessica, bewildered expressions on all our faces. “You people act so immature! Can’t you just act your ages for, like, once?!” she cried, glaring at us with her arms crossed. I sneaked a glance at Tanc, and that got us going. It started with me and Tanc chuckling, but soon escalated into roars of laughter coming from the four of us. Jessica gave her trademark eye roll and left the room. I could hear her chatting away on her phone, probably to one of the other gossip girls. Pretty soon we calmed down, and Tancred and Mikey went into the primary room of the cabin to play video-games, leaving me alone with Emma. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, I started to unpack my stuff. Emma turned to me and, with a grin, said, “Got enough underwear?” “Oh shut up,” I replied with a smile. She laughed and placed her belongings in one of the small closets. “We should claim our beds before the others do”, she said. “Yeah, probably should,” I responded, peeking at her out of the corner of my eye. She was staring out the window. A light rain had begun to fall. “Hey,” she said faintly. “Hmm?” I looked at her. With a shake of her head, she said, “Never mind.” I grinned. “C’mon, tell me.” “No, you’ll think I’m crazy or something.” “No, I won’t. C’mon, try me,” I answered. Emma blew at the strand of hair that was falling over her right eye. She looked at me and I put on my most sincere look. She laughed. “Alright, fine. Do you think it would be okay for us to sleep out by the lake? Like, all five of us?” I glanced outside. “Now? Hate to break it to you, Em, but it’s kinda raining out there.” She sighed. “I know, but it’s just something I’ve always wanted to do.” I raised an eyebrow. “Sleep in the rain?” She nodded, then grimaced. “I know. It sounds crazy. And weird.” She turned away and started furiously throwing stuff in to a drawer. “What? No!” I exclaimed. “I mean, yeah, it sounds crazy, but only because I never took you to be the nature-loving type. Actually, I think that’s kinda cool. That you want to do that, I mean.” Emma whirled around to face me. “Really, Robby? You’re not joking or anything, right?” she asked. “Yeah. I mean, no I’m not joking and yeah, I’m totally serious.” Emma reached out and hugged me tightly. “Jeez, Rob. You’re always so sweet,” she said, laying her head on my shoulder and wrapping her arms around my neck. My heart fluttering, I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around her waist. For a second, Emma hesitated, then snuggled her body more comfortably against mine. For a minute or so we just stood there, holding each other, and then Tancred appeared in the doorway.

Chapter Two

The bus pulled into a parking lot illuminated by big, bright searchlights a few hours later. Yawning, I cracked my knuckles and rubbed the crick in my neck. Next to me, Emma stirred and sat up, rubbing her eyes. “How long was I out?” she asked. I blinked, trying to shoo the tiredness away. “Couple of hours,” I said, my reply accented with a very loud yawn. I glanced out the window. I could see the teachers talking with some other people, presumably the camp site counselors. One of the shadowy figures turned around and climbed back on the bus. It was Ms. Michaels, the cool science teacher. (She had a great sense of humor. She once let me and Tancred construct a mini bomb that she later used in a demolition presentation.) She looked around at all the students, the majority of which were still sleeping. She smiled, and then I saw what she was holding in her hand. My eyes widened, and urgently, I whispered, “Cover your ears!” Emma looked at me strangely but followed my instructions. Seconds later, everyone else was jerked awake by the sound of a maximized foghorn. Me and Emma joined in with Ms. Michaels’ laughter. “Good one, Ms. M!” shouted Tancred. Grumbling, the rest of the bus occupants filed off, still half asleep. Once off, we were all buffeted by a climate colder than the one we had just left. On my right, Emma shivered, and I blushed when I was reminded of the scene on the bus. I looked at her and saw that she must have too, because she blushed and quickly looked away when our eyes met. Biting on my lower lip, I turned and saw Tanc’s gaze rapidly flicking back and forth between me and Emma. He frowned slightly, and then grinned when he caught me looking at him. Up ahead the chaperones were trying to organize the cluster of teenagers into smaller sections. One of the camp counselors must have figured out that it wasn’t going to get them anywhere anytime soon, so she started to address us. “Okay guys. I know you’re all tired from that long ride but we need you to stay awake long enough for you to get your cabin assignments. Each cabin group will have a teacher, a teachers’ aide, or one of the older students with them. It’s a short walk from here to the cabins, so as soon as you get into your groups we’ll send a few counselors with you to help you carry your stuff. All possessions should be able to fit in the dresser given to you. Please listen for your name and group designation.” A bunch of teachers started yelling out people’s names. “Connors, D’Lacey, and Torsson, over here with the rest of the Red Team”, yelled Chad Bergstrom. At six feet four inches, Chad was the tallest guy I have ever seen. I mean, my dad is pretty tall, but Chad was HUGE. Almost mountain-like. If you didn’t know him, you would swear on your mother’s grave that he was on either the basketball or football team, or maybe even both. Hard to believe though, Chad was on neither. He was actually head of the Robotics Team. He could make almost anything, and if he needed advice on something to do with fire and/or destruction, he would ask us, the Terror Trio. Basically, as the Terror Trio, me, Emma, and Tanc were the best pranksters in the history of funny. There was no joke that we hadn’t told, no prank that we never pulled. People would come to us to get revenge on someone or just have a laugh. Anyways, the three of us made our way over to his side. “Hey guys. We’re going to head over to the Red cabin, so grab your stuff and get walking,” he said. Together with geeky Mikey Smith and gossip drone Jessica Morton, we followed Chad deeper into the woods. Soon, we entered a clearing surrounding the lake. Behind me, Emma breathed in sharply. “It’s gorgeous!” she exclaimed. “Yeah,” agreed Tanc. Startled, I stopped and stared at him, puzzled. “What?!” he asked as he passed me by. I shook my head. “Nothing”, I muttered, but it wasn’t ‘nothing’. Tancred Torsson would never be caught saying something was gorgeous.

Chapter One

“The Crystal Lake Forest. Where’ve I heard that before? Oh, right. That slasher movie with the dude in the hockey mask and those freaky claws.” I sighed. “Tanc, that was ‘Freddie versus Jason’ and you know it. Besides, we’re sleeping in the forest, not the lake.” My best friend Tancred Torsson rolled his eyes. “Right. That makes me feel a whole lot better.” We were in my room, discussing our school’s newest field trip. Chad Bergstrom, one of the teachers’ aides, was sponsoring an excursion to the nearby Crystal Lake Forest for one of the last outings of the school year. Just then, the doorbell rang. “ROBBY! CAN YOU GET THE DOOR?!” yelled my older sister Cat from her room. I sighed and ran down the stairs to open the door for my other best friend, Emma Connors. “Hey Robby!” she said, making me blush. I’ve had a crush on Emma for like forever. Tall and lean with green eyes and flowing brown hair, she made a great contrast with medium-sized, white-haired me and the athletic, black-crowned Tancred. “Hey”, I said as coolly as I could. We ran up to my room. Tanc grinned mischievously. “She probably thought it was Cordova,” he grinned, gesturing towards Cat’s room. Danny Cordova, a blonde senior from school, was a teen heartthrob to almost the whole female population at Jason Brown High. Including my older sister Catalina. I returned the grin. “Remember when he came that one day and we pretended to be mental?” I said. Tanc and I guffawed and slapped skin. “That was totally wicked!” “Oh, be quiet you two. I can’t hear the radio”, said Emma, smiling as she remembered. I backed out of the room, shaking my head as Tancred laughed so hard that the seat he was on threatened to give out. As I retrieved sodas from the fridge, I thought about how long we had been friends. Tanc and I had met in second grade when he poured ice down my back and asked me how it felt. The teacher had run over and protested when I explained that it was an experiment and that I felt perfectly fine. We had been friends ever since. And Emma. I chuckled, thinking back to that day. It was fifth grade and she had just transferred from out of state, so me and Tanc had decided to initiate her into the class, Terror Twin style. We had planned this whole elaborate scheme during recess when Emma came from behind and pointed out a bunch of flaws. Instead of shaking our fists and vowing to hate girls forever, Tanc and I welcomed her into our group and the three of us became the Terror Trio. It was weird to think that, in a few months, we would all be graduating from the eighth grade. Tanc and Emma barreled down the stairs, jolting me from my reverie. “Dude! What was taking you so long?” asked Tanc as he grabbed a Coke from my hand and plunked down in front of the TV. “I was just thinking”, I replied, handing Emma a can and grabbing one for me. “’Bout what?” said Emma. I shrugged. “Graduation.” Emma’s face fell. “Yeah, about that? I have something to tell you guys,” she said. I blinked and frowned. “What?” The word had barely left my mouth when the front door slammed open and I was tackled by two hundred pounds of dog meat. “Baxter! Geroffame!” I said, my voice muffled by the weight of my black Labrador retriever. Emma and Tanc laughed as I struggled to throw Baxter off while at the same time preventing myself from being treated to a slobber bath. “Sorry, Robert,” my dad grinned. “He kinda got away from me again.” I sighed as I helped him pull Baxter to his cage by his collar. “Oh, man! The bus is here,” exclaimed Tancred, poking his head out the doorway. The next half hour was consumed by the three of us jamming our stuff into the bus and getting hugged and fussed over by my mom. “Oh, Robby! This is your first time sleeping away from home!” she said, holding me tightly. “Mom, this is no different from me sleeping over at Tanc’s,” I said, pushing away. “Still! It’s so far! Do you have enough with you? You did remember to pack enough underwear, right?” “Mom!” I half shouted thoroughly horrified. I could feel the tips of my ears starting to get warmer. Emma grinned at me. “Don’t worry. Mrs. D’Lacey. I’ll take care of Robert,” she said. I felt my face get even hotter. Mom visibly softened, since she thinks Emma has the most common sense out of us. I kept blushing even as we piled into the bus. It was super crowded, but we managed to find a couple of seats in the back. I ended up sitting next to Emma, which was great since she tended to lay her head on my shoulder for long rides. The start of the ride was awesome. We sang tons of songs at the top of our lungs until we got yelled at, and then people started to tell funny stories or jokes. After a while, though, the bus lost its initial energy and lots of people settled down. Day turned to dusk, and pretty soon the sun started to set. Emma sighed. “Isn’t it beautiful?” she asked quietly. “Yeah,” I replied, looking at her and the spectacle outside. “Yeah, it is.” She shivered. “Wow. It’s starting to get chilly,” she laughed. “Want me to close the window?” I asked. “Nah.” She turned to me. “How about we just get a little closer?” she suggested. Without waiting for me to stammer out an answer, Emma scooted really close, pulled my arms around her, and leaned against me, eyes half closed. I swallowed, my heart pounding wildly. Emma giggled. “Wow, you’re really warm,” she said, pulling me nearer. “E-Emma?” I stuttered. “Yeah?” she said softly, turning her head to face me. I gulped. We were super close and our faces were mere inches apart. Our eyes met, and Emma started to close the gap between us. Suddenly, the bus hit a pothole and Tancred, who was sleeping in the seat over, was jolted out of his loose seatbelt and landed in the aisle. Emma and I pulled away from each other as everyone on the bus turned to look and laugh at Tanc. “Torsson!” bellowed Mr. Mitchell, the varsity football coach. “Get back in that seat and tighten your damn seatbelt!” Tanc grinned sheepishly, flashed a thumbs up in my direction, and did as Mitchell had instructed. I glanced towards Emma, who was staring at the front of the bus with a crestfallen look on her face, arms folded in front of her chest. With a sigh, I crossed my arms and leaned my head on the window. I could already tell it was going to be a very long weekend.