Gemma was in a particular mood that day, making lunch a lot more awkward than it should be. James and Ava were at the far end of the table being disgustingly adorable and Liam was so engrossed in his food and thoughts, that he barely looked up once. His sisters were busy with something, I’m not sure what, so I was left with the only pleasant company which was Carson.

“So I was thinking that we should go to Ikea, hide in one of their giant wardrobes, and when someone opens it, we -”

“Run out screaming, ‘For Narnia!’?” I asked, cutting him off, but humored nonetheless.

“Oh, you’ve heard that idea,” he said defeated.

“Yes, but it’s brilliant and we should definitely do it next time you’re not working.” He smiled at me and put his hand up for a high-five which I delivered.

“Can we do 333 ways to get kicked out of Walmart?”

“I don’t think Walmart exists in Europe.”

“It doesn’t?” I asked in disbelief. “But then we can’t find People of Walmart either!”

“Don’t worry, next time we’re all in America, we’ll do it.”

“Perfect.” 

“What are you two on about?” Liam asked, finally looking up from his food.

“Plans to wet ourselves laughing,” Carson said and I stuck my tongue out at his choice in wording.

“Why would you want to wet yourself?”

“Well, it’s different than doing it involuntarily,” I said, throwing shade on the fact that I made him wet himself.

“It wasn’t like I’m not potty trained! You put my hand in warm water,” he defended and all three of his sisters looked up at him in surprise.

“You wet yourself?” Tori asked, on the verge of giggles.

“Camille pranked me.” He pointed at me and I smiled triumphantly.

“Yes, I did and it was glorious.”

“But we also threw Cam in a bathtub so who’s the real winner here?” James piped in.

“I made you pee your pants,” I emphasized. “I am definitely the winner.”

“Is it just me or does that seem like a really long time ago?” Ava asked, joining in the conversation.

“It was when we first got here, early April,” I said.

“Yeah, and it’s almost the end of June. And we’re going to France in two weeks!” Carson said excitedly.

“And it’s our last day here until October,” James said. That caught me by surprise.

“Wait, what do you mean it’s our last day here? We leave in two weeks...”

“Yeah, but we’re doing the next two weeks of filming at a different location. It’s gorgeous, I’ve been up there a few times with my family,” Ava said. 

“Ugh, all this nostalgia and planning is making me bored. I’ll be in my trailer if anyone needs me.” Gemma got up, leaving her plate behind, and made a hasty exit, hair flowing behind her. Seriously, I’m pretty sure she just got done with an intense fighting scene, how is she not even sweaty?

Just as she left, the buzzer sounded for everyone to head back to work. Today, everyone seemed willing to go, ready to finish off their last day of filming strong. Plates were dumped at the kitchen window and everyone rushed out to get hair and makeup fixed while I was left at the table with Liam’s sisters. I then saw Finch coming towards us, fluttering about as usual. I hoped she was coming with us to France. I would miss her fluttery-ness if she wasn’t.

“Hello girls. Cam, would you like to go with Bonnie?” I could see Bonnie exiting the cafeteria so I bolted off behind her.

“Bonnie!” She whipped around, her head piece falling off for a brief second before she grabbed it and placed it back over her ears.

“Camille! How can I help you?”

“I want to watch the filming,” I said, matching her long stride as she made her way through everyone.

“Alright, just follow - No, moron, I told you she went back to her trailer,” Bonnie shook her head at whoever was questioning her commands. “Sorry, some interns are idiots,” she told me, not bothering to even look at me to make sure I was paying attention. I didn’t dare not listen to Bonnie - there was no way I was going to face the wrath of the Scottish stage manager.

“It’s fine, I know that you’re doing your job,” I said, struggling to keep in time with her step as she weaved between everyone. 

“Cam, have you ever considered being an intern? I think you’d be good at it.” My eyes went wide. Here she was saying interns were idiots and next thing I know, she wants me to be one.

“Ha. Haha. No, that’s ok.” I laughed awkwardly.

Bonnie gauged my reaction before bursting into laughter herself.

“Oh you should have seen your face. Camille, we never would make you my intern. First of all, you’re the quieter type who likes drinking coffee, not fetching it. Second, people on set like you. You wouldn’t be thrown under the bus for doing something wrong.”

“That sounds terribly unfair to the other interns.” The other interns didn’t stand a chance at the beginning if they were initially put with Bonnie. I would cry every time she barked an order at me.

“There are gutsier interns out there. But you don’t have to be an intern if you don’t absolutely want it, now here we go. I believer they’re filming over there for the next hour or so.” She pointed to a little area with a few empty chairs situated in a half circle. “Holler if you need something.”

“Ok, thanks Bonnie!” She gave me a two-fingered wave as she hastened away to make sure everything was in order. “Aw, wait, I left all my stuff in the Zone,” I said as I realized all I had on me was my phone. But Bonnie was out of sight and nobody was around me. I didn’t want to risk going back to the Zone because there was a fat chance I was going to get lost, so I settled down in the chair and glared at my phone. 

“Why so serious?” My head snapped up to the sound of a voice and I turned to see Liam walking towards me.

“I forgot my stuff in the Zone and don’t feel like getting lost,” I said, frowning like a child who had its favorite toy taken away.

“You look like Grumpy Cat,” he said, coming over and plopping down in the seat next to my own. I deepened my frown, trying to make it more impressive, but it ended up hurting my mouth.

“Anyway,” I said, rubbing my cheeks to stop hurting, “why aren’t you filming?” 

“Oh, they don’t need me for another hour. I think they’re doing Carson and Ava’s scene.” He thought it over as if trying to remember, while I fiddled mindlessly with the end of my necklace. “They better be doing their scene, because I’m nowhere near ready.”

“Do you need to go check?” I asked, hoping that he wasn’t going to.

“Nah, if they need me, they’ll grab me. I should be fine,” he said and that made my heart happy. “Where’s tazo?”

“What?”

“TAZo, Tori, Ali, and Zo. My sisters. It’s easier than saying all their names so my family just call them TAZo.”

“Like the tea company?”

“There’s a tea company called Tazo?” Liam asked, getting a bit excited.

“Yeah, they sell it at Starbucks.”

“That’s amazing. I might have to buy it for them.”

“Do they like tea more than you?”

“Tori does, Ali and Zo haven’t had too much yet because black tea still gets them overly hyper.”

“Coffee used to do that to me.”

“What are you talking about, used to? You still get hyper.”

“When I have six cups.”

Liam shrugged. “I could have six cups of tea and not go bonkers.”

“That’s ‘cause tea has an eighth of the caffeine that coffee does so you’d need to have,” I quickly did the mental math in my head, “forty-eight cups in order for the same effect.”

He mulled it over, about to say he’s had that much in a day, but instead he swallowed his words, momentarily looking sulky that he lost.

“Ha. I win,” I said, leaning back in my chair proudly.

“You never answered my original question, where are my sisters?”

“Finch has them, I think she took them back to the Zone.”

“That’s good, I wouldn’t want them getting bored over here. There’s really nothing to do, but watch the same scene a million times over.”

“Eh, it’s not that bad. You get to laugh from afar when the actors mess up.”

“Ah, so that’s why you enjoy it so much,” Liam said, tapping his forehead as if he came to a sudden discovery.

“I’m a complete sadist, remember?”

“Last time I checked, the most sadistic thing you’ve done is make James and I wet our pants,” he said, flicking me in the forehead.

“Ow!” I exclaimed, taken aback by the sudden sting and Liam laughed as my fingers rubbed the stingy spot. “I think I was wrong in saying I was the sadist.”

“Probably correctly so. Anyway, I forgot to tell you earlier -”

“Liam!” Both our heads snapped to the sound of Carson dashing through people. “Where’ve you been, mate, they needed you like five minutes ago!” 

“Why did they send you and not get somebody else?” Liam asked, jumping to his feet.

“Because I’m speedy quick, now let’s go.” Carson gestured for Liam to follow him. “Hi Cammie! Bye Cammie!”

“Hey Carson.” I did a quick wave with two fingers. “What were you going to tell me, Liam?” I asked as he started walking away.

“Nothing really, just a funny story about me and TAZo in Ikea. Your conversation at lunch with Carson reminded me of it. But I have to go, bye Camille!”

“Bye Liam!” I waved him off as he sprinted after Carson and I huffed back in my seat, crossing my arms. What he said he wanted to tell me sounded convincing, sure. He was an actor, why wouldn’t it? But then again, I don’t know what it was, but it felt like he wanted to say something else. It could have just been me desperately wanting him to say something different that I blew all his actions and words out of proportion, but nevertheless, I had that weird gut sensation that something just wasn’t quite right.

The next school week sort of passed in a blur. All it was, was exams, studying, and an incomparable lack of sleep. Late nights and stress do not mix well. With each final completed in the dead silent rooms with no access to the outside world, I felt relieved and everything I had studied for the past few weeks seeped from my brain onto the paper and left my brain forever. It was such a satisfying feeling. Rowan continued to be moody and, honestly, I didn’t care. I should have cared, because we had several classes together, making me see her almost every day, but I dismissed the thought remembering that she used me to get to James. She could sulk off in the corner while I just enjoyed peace and quiet for once. Jace was still quiet, but even still he was nice to me when we did talk, which wasn’t very often considering we only had two classes together. 

When Friday afternoon hit, I was completely exhausted and ready to just crash on my bed and hibernate for the rest of the summer. Or at least until we left for Paris. Junior year was over and everyone had told me Junior year was the hardest because Senior year you only had to finish up. However, I was planning on more difficult classes, so I needed to sleep and do nothing but college research until I went back to school. I scribbled off the last answer on my Calculus test and handed it over to my teacher, Mr. Percy, and stood there while he corrected it in front of me. His glasses balanced carefully on the edge of his nose as his eyes darted back and forth between the correction sheet and my work. Red slash there, correction there, a few illegible words, and then flipping my paper back to the front, etched my score on the top of the page.

“Nicely done, Camille. A ninety-four.” My eyes bulged.

“Really?” I took my paper from him and glazed over all my answers.

“Yes, which means your final grade in this class is,” he quickly scrolled through my grades on his ancient computer and typed in my score on the test, “a ninety-three.”

I couldn’t bite back my smile. A four-point-oh. Heck to the yes.

“Thanks, Mr. Percy.”

“You were a good student. I wish you the best of luck in your last year in America and in finding a college. Have a wonderful summer. Oh, your transcripts will be mailed to your school back in America. If you have any questions, just let us know.” 

“That’s perfect. Have a great summer too, bye!” I waved and nearly skipped out of the halls. I said my final farewell to the secretary and hopped into the first taxi that stopped. The ride felt shorter than usual as I unlocked the door and booked it up the stairs to my room, flinging myself onto my bed, kicking my shoes off and snuggling under the covers.

It was summer time and nothing was going to hold me back from sleeping for ages and dealing with things I didn’t want to.

My phone had been buzzing for probably the past five minutes and I was ready to pick up the nearest sharp object and stab it. I flung my hand out from under the warm covers and hit the edge of my desk until I found my phone. Barely glancing at it, I hit answer and put it to my head.

“Hello?”

“Oh my gosh, you’re actually alive!” I heard the voice, and I knew I knew it, but I couldn’t place it.

“Who is this?” I asked, rolling over.

“Becca? Your best friend?”

“Oh, hey,” I said, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah, sorry, just woke up from a - holy, goodness!” My eyes widened at the sight of the time.

“Cam?”

“I’ve been asleep for six hours.”

“Isn’t it, like, only eight there?”

“Yeah, I took a nap after classes got done. Jeez. I bet my parents are home.”

“Well, I’m going to be home in five minutes and Riley is coming over. Want to Skype?”

“Sounds good, I’m going to go make coffee or something. Ugh, my clock is going to be all off now.”

Becca laughed from the other end. “I’ll talk to you later, Sleeping Beauty. Peace out.”

“Yeah, bye.” I hung up and literally rolled out of bed, just taking a moment to wake myself up again. I stood to my feet and glanced in the mirror of what I looked like. Sleeping Beauty my butt, I look like the walking dead. I combed through my hair with my fingers, deciding it would be easier to throw it in a ponytail and out of my face. Bounding downstairs, I found my mom and dad both at the kitchen table, typing rapidly on their laptops.

“Oh! You are home!” Mom said, when I turned the corner to the kitchen.

“Yeah, I’ve been home for a few hours, just took a nap.”

“You look like death, Camo,” my dad commented as I started up the coffee.

“Thanks Dad, I can always count on you for a compliment.” I winked and I could hear him laughing from the kitchen table. I made circles around the kitchen island until the timer to beep so I could plunge it, doctor it, and then head upstairs. Quickly signing into Skype, it instantly started ringing and I answered immediately.

“Hey guys,” I said as Becca came into view and I could see Riley behind her, looking at her phone.

“Hey Cam, so last day of school for you!”

“Yeah, finally, you guys were done last week?” Becca nodded and I stuck out my tongue. “Ugh, lucky.”

“So, we haven’t talked in ages, what’s up?” Riley asked, coming to sit beside Becca. I pushed my hair back as the ponytail wasn’t doing very well of keeping it out of my face.

“How much time do you have?”

“All day.”

“Perfect.”

So I began telling them everything that had happened in the past few weeks. I forgot how much had happened, but they reminded me after seeing magazine covers with my face on it. How did it make it to the States? Just... how? They clutched their hearts when I told them how sweet Liam was all about it and then I got to the Rowan part where they both looked like they wanted to throw something. Ah, the beauty of friendship. Once I got to the part of Liam and his sisters, they were about to die. 

“He’s good with kids?” Riley asked, for probably the tenth time.

“Ugh, as if we didn’t need another reason to love him,” Becca said, putting her arm over her head, pretending to faint.

“You’re telling me! I already like him enough and then I see him with his little sisters and it’s just exploded since then!”

Becca and Riley snapped their heads to the screen, quickly looked at each other, then back at me.

“Wait,” Becca said, eyeing my carefully through the computer screen.

“What?” Riley asked, leaning closer.

“What?” I repeated.

“You actually like him? Like, for reals?” Becca asked, her eyes getting wider.

“I thought you guys already knew this...”

“No! I mean, we guessed as much, but you’ve never admitted it flat out!” Riley said, her hands waving all over the place.

“Well, I like him. Happy?”

They both squealed and I got my answer.

My door flew open and James peeked his head through.

“Hey, James,” I said, voice uneven as I wasn’t sure how much he heard of that conversation.

“Hey, are you Skyping?”

“Yes...” He smiled and walked in, quickly waving into the camera. I looked at Becs and Riley and they still looked abnormally happy.

“So anyway, I was going to ask if you wanted to come to set tomorrow. I know it’s your last day of school and you want to sleep in, but the set is absolutely gorgeous and we’re supposed to have the best weather tomorrow.”

“How early?”

“We have to leave at 4. But it’s an hour and a half drive, so you can sleep in the car! Please come, Cam, next week is going to be too busy for you to have fun there. Tomorrow is the best day.” I didn’t have to think it over for very long. I wanted to go badly, despite place and time. Set meant Liam and I was already too far deep to just be like, “Nah, I want to sleep.”

“Yeah, I’ll come.”

James’ face lit up. “Awesome! Mom and Dad are both working, so it’ll just be you and me.”

“‘K cool, see you then,”

“Yup, good night!” He waved one last time at the camera and then bounded out, shutting the door behind him. I shook my head, smiling. He was like a puppy, I swear.

“Well. Looks like I’ll be seeing him tomorrow.” Becca and Riley’s smiles grew and I shook my head, planting it into my palms.

“Yeah you are!” Riley exclaimed.

“Guys, this isn’t a good thing!”

“Why?”

“Because I suddenly have a very bad feeling about this.”

“Oh come on, what could possibly go wrong?” Becs asked, shrugging.

“I mean, you dance, you kiss, you schmooze, you carry on, you go home happy, what’dya say? Come on.” Riley said and I wanted to laugh at the Hercules reference, but instead I shook my head violently.

“No, no, no, there will be no dancing or kissing or schmoozing. Nope. Not happening,” I assured them. “I’m going to set. Same as always. Nothing is changing.”

“Well, we should let you get some shut eye. Let us know what happens, Cammie dear,” Riley said and I rolled my eyes.

“G’night Cam!” Becca smiled evilly, and before I could even say goodbye, they hung up. I shut my laptop and stared blankly at the wall.

I tried to reassure them that nothing would happen, but all that was was a feeble attempt to reassure myself that nothing would happen. Ok, I hadn’t admitted it blatantly before that I had a full blown crush on him and suddenly, now that it was out in the open, it just made my stomach churn. I wanted to go to the set, definitely, but something about that thought made me uneasy and all I could do was just go and face the music.

---------------------------------

Hey lovelies!

So remember that one time I said that I was going to update really soon because I knew what I was doing? Yeah, I lied. I knew what I was doing with the first part and then I hit momentary writer's block. But we're all good now!

SO. What do you think is going to happen? Cam finally admitted she likes Liam, but she has a bit of a bad feeling. BUH DUH DUMMMMM. 

If you liked it, let me know :) Remember to vote/comment/share/fan and all that and if you DIDN'T like it, let me know as well because I am awfully curious.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas everyone and stay classy,

-Katie