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We enter the dining hall and grab our food.

"You guys are late." Chlo whispers when I sit down next to her, a look of disapproval on her face.

"Is the squad back together?" Carson says as Sam steps over the chair with her plate of food.

"Yes," Sam says. Carson sits across from me, with Sam on one side and Gunnar on the other. McKenna sits on the other side of Sam, with Stacey on my right and Grace on my left.

"It was silly, anyway," I say, taking a bite of my food.

Chlo looks at me. "I still feel like there's something you're not telling me."

I sigh, putting my fork down. I feel guilty for not telling her, but I'm still terrified about how she would react. I don't want to lose someone else I care about.

Chlo eyes me, stuffing a piece of dessert into her mouth. "You're different, Vic."

Different? Had I changed since I joined camp? I thought we were all a little different from when we first got here, but I pinned that on the fact that we had to survive for a week. But clearly, Chlo doesn't believe that to be the case.

"How?" I ask.

"Do you remember when you used to despise Sam? You used to be so stubborn and angry that you would barely listen to any reason." She says. She swallows her dessert. "Now you suddenly started spending more time with her than me or anyone else. "

Now I feel bad. I hadn't meant to neglect my best friend. "And you left our cabin. Please come back, Victoria. I miss you." Chlo finishes talking, looking at me with hopeful eyes.

I pause, contemplating what to do. "I can't tell you everything, Chlo. I want to, but not right now."

She nods slowly.

I take a deep breath. "But I do need to confess something. After dinner."

***

"So, what's the deal with you?" Cho says. We returned to her cabin after dinner, while the rest of the campers were outside doing night activities.

"Do you know why I moved out of our cabin?" I ask her.

"Because you were uncomfortable after the week alone." She answers.

I raise my eyebrows. So Kim had told everybody the same lie.

"No. Kim made all of that up."

I explain everything that happened, leaving out the reason for the incident with Sam.

She stares at me. "Woah." She says after I tell her. "I don't get it. Why couldn't you tell me this?"

"I didn't tell you everything, just the stuff I think you should know."

"Why won't you tell me, Vic?" she says. "I think I deserve to know why you went from absolutely hating Sam to suddenly acting like you and her are best friends."

I try to speak, but she cuts me off.

"I'm your best friend, Vic. If whatever secret you're keeping is so outrageous that you can't even tell me, then I don't think we can be friends anymore."

She gets up to leave.

I sit there, baffled, tears brimming in my eyes.

"Wait, Chlo." I plead quietly, but either she doesn't hear me or she's ignoring me because she walks out without another word.

Then I break down. Was this my fault? I lean against the wall for support.

Of course it's my fault. I just lost my best friend because I couldn't tell her that I'd made such a stupid decision. I couldn't tell her I'd kissed a girl because I knew that this all was one big, dumb mistake.

I shouldn't have asked Sam to go to the lake with me, and I shouldn't have gone into that cave. I know it's my fault for letting myself get attached and leading her on. I should just end things now.

Tears stream down my face as I try to swallow the massive lump in my throat. Maybe Kim was right about the sermon.

The door creaks open.

"Guess what Kim just said--" A low voice says. "Are you crying?"

Crrap. It's Sam. I frivolously wipe my tears. "N-no," I say, my voice wavering.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She says, putting whatever she was holding down and rushing over to me.

Sam puts an arm around me, leading me to a bed. I sit down and she looks at me curiously.

"What happened?" She says this so sincerely, looking so genuinely concerned, that it just makes me cry harder.

She pulls me in for a hug and keeps talking. "I can beat someone up if you want me to."

I shake my head. "It's just Chlo," I say, sniffling.

"That b*tch." She says.

I laugh through my tears. "No, she just . . . it's my fault, anyway."

"It's not your fault if she made you cry this hard. I just saw that bi-- . . . girl walk right by me."

"I told her I couldn't tell her why I moved cabins," I say.

"And?"

"And she got mad because she thinks I tell you everything now."

"So she thinks you've replaced her with me?"

I bring my eyes to meet hers. "Basically. Then she told me we're no longer friends."

She squints at me. "Wait here, okay?"

I glance up at her. "What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind."

"Don't hurt her, Sam."

"Victoria, I can beat up anyone who makes you cry." She says, then she sees my face. "Relax, I'm just gonna talk to her."

I finally let her leave. I know I should end things now before they go too far. I'm just leading her on, right?

And Sam is such a great person. I can't do this to her.

Sam comes back a few minutes later.

"What?"

"I told her you didn't need to tell her anything, that you would tell her when you were ready."

I sigh. "Why are you doing this for me?"

"Because I care about you."

"You do know this whole situation is about you?" I ask.

"Yes."

"But you still want to get in the middle of it and risk getting expelled."

"Right." She answers.

"Because you care about me."

"Yes."

I just look at her.

Sam was making it hard for me to end things.

***

That night I couldn't sleep. I lay in bed for hours, tossing and turning, but I still couldn't seem to find a comfortable position.

I sit up in my bed after a couple of long, tiring hours of non-sleep, and throw off my covers. I pull on my pajama pants and slip outside, forgetting a sweatshirt.

It's much colder outside than in the daytime, and I shiver. I take a deep breath, absorbing the quiet peacefulness of the sleeping campground.

Chlo's cabin door opens, and someone slowly comes out. They see me and come towards me.

"Couldn't sleep?" They say.

I'd recognize that low, careful voice anywhere.

"No. You?"

"Nope. I actually was on my way to your cabin," Sam says. "I wanted to check on you."

"I'm not a child," I say, folding my arms.

I can barely make out her smirking face in the dark.

"Okay, maybe I couldn't sleep either." She says, grinning.

I raise my eyebrows, unamused.

"I wanted to see if you were awake, too." She continues. "But now I see that you are indeed awake, so I'm just gonna go . . . "

"No, please stay. I think I might just be lonely." I say, looking at her.

"Okay?"

"Just come to my cabin. Who knows, we both might end up sleeping better." I say, avoiding her eyes.

***

"Are you sure about this? I don't want to wake anyone up." Sam whispers as we reenter the cabin.

"They're all such heavy sleepers. I accidentally pushed a book off one of the top bunks on my first night here. The noise was so loud, and no one even moved."

"Do you feel okay?" Sam says, laying on her back as I pull the covers over myself. I nod, my eyebrows furrowing.

"Why wouldn't I feel okay?"

She turns her head to look at me. "I just thought, with you and Chlo . . . "

I shake my head. "I don't want to think about that right now."

She fully turns onto her side, facing me. "Well, what do you want to think about?"

"You," I say. She looks surprised. I hadn't noticed how long I'd been staring at her lips when she talked, and I forced my eyes to meet hers. "You're just so . . . different."

She scrunches her eyebrows. "Thank you?"

"I meant interesting. I've never met anyone I want to get to know this badly."

A smirk forms on her face. "Are you confessing your love to me right now?"

I make a face at her. "You wish."

"Not that I'd care." She continues. "I have countless people who want to get with me."

I roll my eyes. "You're so annoying."

"Yet you still asked me to come to sleep here with you." Sam raises her eyebrows.

I stare at her in disbelief. "I think you have a big ego."

"And I think you have a big crush on me." She says.

I pause. "What would that mean if I did?"

When did we get this close? Her gaze falls to my lips like I hadn't already been staring at hers. They looked extra tempting today.

"I don't know Victoria, what would that mean?" Sam whispers my name in a low, sultry voice that makes my stomach flip over onto itself.

I can't handle her teasing anymore. I feel my gaze flicker back and forth between her lips and her eyes, hoping she gets the message. She just stays there, a smile creeping across her lips. This girl.

"I don't know Sam. . . . " I groan impatiently, my eyes not leaving her mouth for even a second. She finally leans in and our lips make contact.

Her hand follows a short while after, pulling me to her by the waist. She pulls my body against her with each kiss, like a rhythm.

She pulls away for a second, either to look at me or catch her breath, but leaves her hand on my waist. I bite down on my lip and she kisses me, hungrier this time. She pulls me underneath her, pushing her strong knee in between my thighs. The pressure between my legs builds up as she does this, and I lose it when her tongue enters my mouth.

I dig my fingers into her sides and she holds onto my face. Every time her mouth is on mine, her body moves forward, her knee shifting higher up my legs.

"Sam," I say when I take a breath; my heart hammers against my chest. "We need to sleep."

She stops and pulls herself reluctantly off me. "I'm sorry."

"Sam?" I say, after a couple of minutes of staring into the darkness. "Is this wrong?"

"Does it feel wrong?" I hear her answer.

"No. But everyone else seems to think so."

"Who's everyone?"

"Kim, and Chlo. And my parents."

"But what if they're wrong?"

I'd never thought of it in that way.

After a few minutes of silence, I feel her arm around my waist, tugging me against her. Surprisingly, I don't find it weird, but rather comforting. I close my eyes and hold it against me as if trying to prevent her from leaving.

But she leaves anyway.

A/N:

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