Sam's POV

I don't understand why Victoria got so angry. It was the right thing to do, right?

"Hey, are you good?" Carson asks me when I arrive where we all were sitting. He had been lying down before I came, and now he props himself up on his elbows to study me.

"Yeah, I'm great," I say. He stares at me for a second longer.

"Are you sure?" He says. "You seem . . . off."

I run my fingers through my hair and groan, letting my head fall into my hands.

"I'm great. I'm amazing. Everything's perfect, Carson."

He squints at me. "I don't really get what you're . . . "

"Never mind."

A megaphone screeches and I follow the sound with my eyes. There's a crowd of people around one of the lifeguard highchairs and Kim's at the center with a clipboard. Two more buses arrive and kids file out, some joining the group with Kim and some setting towels and blankets down near us.

Then Deavon comes out of nowhere. "Hey, Carson," Deavon says. He hits Carson on the arm. Carson sits up and rubs his arm.

"Hey." He says.

"You see that chick over there?" Deavon says and he points to a brunette in a pink swimsuit that looks way too small for her, lying on a towel a few feet away from us. "Think I can get her number?"

"I think you can try," I say.

"She just won't text you back," Carson says.

Deavon frowns. "One day, you'll all be sorry you didn't follow my lead."

"We don't need to follow your lead, Deavon," Carson grins.

Deavon shoves him. "You don't have to be cocky about it just because you bagged the girl we got stranded with."

Carson frowns. "Why does everyone keep saying that? I don't like Vic like that, and she doesn't like me. We will never be a thing, end of story."

"Oh, so she's free?"

Carson sighs. "Yes, I think she might be."

"Great." He grins like a maniac. "Speaking of that hot chick, she's up."

I roll my eyes, wishing they would stop talking about her.

I hadn't realized they had started the competitions, but he was right, it was Victoria's turn to compete. We watch as she slips into the water and starts her race, easily smoking everyone. Of course, she's great at swimming; she's amazing at everything.

"Damn, hot chick is fast," Deavon says, ogling her.

"Stop calling her that."

They both turn to me. "Why?"

"Just stop," I say, looking straight ahead and watching her finish her race.

She gets out of the pool and goes to the judges' table, looking at her results. Three girls rush over to her as she walks back onto the sand, and she smiles as they congratulate her. Deavon jumps up and jogs over to her. He starts talking to her, and she looks severely disinterested as she listens to whatever he's saying. It appears that she stops listening after a few seconds and she zones out, letting her eyes wander around the beach. Her eyes land on mine, but her expression is unreadable. She breaks eye contact.

***

Victoria's POV

"You're smart for turning him down," Stacey says as we walk back to our spot. "You deserve better than that goofball."

"That's nice of you to say, but I know it isn't true."

"Hey, be nice to yourself. You deserve someone who cares about you."

I start to feel bad for getting angry at Sam and avoiding her, and I try to remind myself that that was what she had wanted and that I shouldn't feel guilty about it. But it hurt hearing her say that she didn't want to see me ever again. 

But it's fine. I think. I'll just do the same; I don't need her.

The competition ends quicker than I thought, and we all pile onto the buses to go back to the camp.

***

Sam's POV

We get to the campsite as the sky gets darker and darker. It's a little busy as people move in and out of cabins, getting ready for bed. I open our cabin door, throw my stuff down, and sit down on my bed, running my hands through my hair with both hands.

"You look stressed."

I look at Mckenna. "What?"

"You know you can tell me what's wrong."

I force a smile. "Nothing's wrong, Mckenna."

She chuckles doubtfully. "You only call me by my full name when something's wrong."

I roll my eyes. She's known me for so long that we're practically cousins.

"What do you do when you know you've messed it all up with someone?"

Mckenna raises her eyebrow as I ramble on. "If everything was just starting to go your way and then you go and say something to screw it up, and now you're screwed because you've realized that you really want them in your life and now you've probably lost them forever?"

She puts a hand on her hip, eyebrow still raised. "Is this about that Victoria girl?"

"How did--"

Mckenna stops me. "I know everything, Sam."

"Well in that case, no, it's not." I huff, folding my arms.

"Mhm, sure." She says, grabbing a towel from her bed. "I would talk to them, and tell them how I really feel."

I sigh. "It's not that easy."

"Nothing's easy, Sam. Just go talk to her; try and smooth things over."

She leaves to go take a shower.

I should talk to her, but I wouldn't even know where to start. She's the one who's been avoiding me.

I step outside. It's quiet now and kind of peaceful, so I assume everyone is already in their cabins. I reach Victoria's cabin and stop at the door. I pause, my hand up in a knocking position. Why am I nervous? I think as I push my free hand into my pocket.

I knock on the door. No one answers, and I'm about to turn and leave when the door suddenly opens and a girl with long black curly hair about my height peeks out.

"Who are you?" The girl asks, squinting at me.

"Sam. Is Victoria here? I need to talk to her." 

Understanding washes over the girl's face and she narrows her eyes. "No, she's not. She's out with Stacey, and I don't think they'll be back for a while."

I can tell she wants to say something else, but I quickly thank her and leave. 

***

Victoria's POV

"We have chores today. If you're new and don't know what those are, ask your cabinmates." Kim tells us after another delicious breakfast.

"It's where all the cabins have different things we have to do to help out around the camp," Adysen explains.

"But it's obviously just a way for the camp counselors to sit around and do nothing, while we work our butts off." Grace adds.

"I think ours is to clean the kitchen, but she gives us like, half of the day to do them so we always end up having hours of free time," Stacey says.

I nod, listening.

Grace steps closer and lowers her voice. "There's a small party happening in the creepy extra cabin later today, to celebrate you guys staying alive. There's going to be food and dancing, and I think someone's bringing a stereo." Grace says. "You should come."

"I'll think about it."

Wait, Sam knows about that cabin. I remember. She'll surely be there. It's alright though, I'll just pretend she's not there and not make any contact. How hard can that be?

We finish breakfast quickly and get started in the kitchen. It only took about half an hour for us to clean it completely, since the only meal that had been prepared was breakfast.

After checking with Kim we go back to our cabins to change.

"Please come, Vic. There's gonna be cute guys there." Adysen pleads as I pick out an outfit.

"Okay, okay," I say, pulling out a casual low-cut dress from my suitcase. I step into the bathroom, slip into the dress, and put on my giant Aquaphor tube.

"You look so good!" Adysen gasps when I come out of the bathroom.

"You think so?" I say. I had lost almost all of my makeup from the first day the campers left, so I thought I looked dead.

"Yes, Vic. Every guy's going to be drooling over you tonight. You better save some for me."

"Uh, I'm not sure about every guy, but thanks."

We arrived at the cabin a few minutes later. My jaw drops in awe at the sight. This cabin is slightly bigger than the other ones for campers, with a few couches against the wall. The ceilings go higher up than any other room except for the dining hall, and it's beautifully decorated. There are colorful streamers on the walls and pretty lights adorn the ceiling. There's already a good number of people there, some chatting, some dancing off-beat, and some drinking out of red cups stacked on one of the tables.

We find a spot to sit down.

"This is really something." Stacey says, sitting down next to me.

"I know. Who's idea was this?"

Suddenly someone grabs my arm, pulling me off my comfortable chair and into the crowd. "What are you doing?" I yell to Adysen who's taken my arm, grinning.

"We're gonna go find you a hot guy to dance with."

"But I don't want--"

"Don't be ridiculous. At least come to the dance floor."

I roll my eyes, but then a song that I really like comes on. I dance to the song next to Adysen for some time, before the song changes to a slower song and I turn around to go sit back down.

"Hey Vic, I know you said no before, but please will you come dance with me?" A voice says into my ear. I whirl around, coming face to face with Daevon. I frown at him for a few seconds, but I do admire his determination.

"You know what, sure," I say, sighing. What did I have to lose? Might as well dance with somebody who actually wants me. It's not like it meant anything.

"Shiiiiit, for real?" I nod, glancing around and frowning again when I catch Adysen wiggling her eyebrows at me.

He stands there awkwardly as the song plays, so I sigh and direct him through it. I put my arms on his shoulders and he hesitantly puts his hands on my waist. He clearly doesn't know how to dance with a girl, and thankfully the song ends quickly.

I'm about to sit back down for a second time when someone taps me on the shoulder.

"Dance with me?" A low voice says. It's Sam, and I hate the way my heart squeezes when I lay my eyes on her. She looks amazing.

My heart beats faster. "W-what?"

"Dance with me, Victoria." She says, holding out her hand.

I stare at her, shocked. "But people are looking."

"No one's gonna care. We're just best friends dancing together."

I hesitantly take her hand, and she leads me to the dance floor.

She stops walking and turns towards me, letting go of my hand and gently sliding her hands onto my waist. I put my arms around her neck and we dance, slowly swaying back and forth to the music as we spin in slow circles.

So much for avoiding her. I can't believe I agreed so easily, where was my sense of self-respect? The one thing I valued about myself was that I was strong, independent, and decisive. I had vowed to stay away from her and had no means of changing my mind, and it's like she just snapped her fingers and that all went away.

"You look beautiful." She says quietly, but loud enough for me to hear her. I look down and I can feel myself blush.

"T-thank you." I say, the butterflies in my stomach turning into straight up birds. My heart beats out of my chest. "So do you."

She smiles, and my pent-up anger disappears. How could I have ignored this wonderful woman? She looks away for a moment, like something's on her mind.

"Is--is there something you wanted to say to me?"

She sighs, making eye contact again.

"Can you tell me why you've been avoiding me?"

I frown. "Sam . . . "

She glances back and forth between my eyes as if desperately trying to read whatever I'm thinking about.

"I just want to know what I did."

I peel my eyes away from her. "I don't get it. You said you didn't want to see me anymore."

She looks confused. "I didn't say that. I just thought we should stop . . . this."

I shake my head. "Whatever you said really hurt me, Sam. I felt used."

"I was scared. I didn't get what it was or what I was feeling, and we got into so much trouble--"

"Figure it out then, Sam! Come back when you have. I'm tired of being a practice dummy."

Her grip on my waist tightens at my comment.

"You're not a practice dummy." She says.

"Then what am I?"

She pauses and looks at the floor. "I--I don't know what you are! But I--" She pauses, thinking it over. "You make me feel alive, Victoria."

I narrow my eyes, despite the fluttering in my chest. "What the heck does that mean?"

It's like the room goes silent. Everything and everyone stops moving, and my brain runs in slow motion.

"I . . . I like you."

"What?"

She pulls me closer to her and suddenly our faces are so close together that I can barely breathe. How was she able to do this to me so easily?

"I need you. I don't want you to leave." She says, her voice barely a whisper.

"Really?" I say. I could just lean in and close the gap between us, but I don't.

"Yes."

She stares at me for a moment, then the corners of her mouth slowly pull into a smile that makes me want to kiss her so badly.

In a platonic way, of course.

I move even closer to her, so close that I have to fold my arms around her neck and rest my head on her shoulder. She wraps her arms around my waist and my body brushes up against hers as we sway back and forth, and suddenly I don't want this night to end.

The music abruptly changes to a more upbeat song, and I recognize it as 'Dance the Night Away' by Dua Lipa.

I pull my arms off her and she does the same.

"Meet me at my cabin in an hour?" She says.