It was the end of the Beach Jam. Connect 3 had just wowed us with their new song, Play My Music, written by none other than their lead singer Shane Gray right here at camp. Now everyone was just milling around, sharing their opinions, as Connect 3 talked slightly off-stage. I could see the look on Tess's face: she had something very evil and Tess-like planned. Not really wanting to be there when it went down, I tried to leave, but the crowds of people slowed me down. Taking a deep breath, she turned to face me and in a loud voice, asked, "Hey Camron Tell us about your mom again."

Hearing Tess, some campers turned. My mom, also within earshot, paused and listened. I felt like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Her mom is a great person," Caitlyn said, jumping to my rescue. "What's your mom like?" she asked, turning to Barron.

Barron looked confused. "Uh, she's like a mom."

But Tess wasn't going to be swayed. She had zeroed in on my weakness and wouldn't let me go until she was finished. "I mean, I know she's president of Hot Tunes TV China," she went on, louder this time. "But tell me again about how important she is."

Now everyone was listening. Mom looked first at Tess, then at me. Under her confused glare, I dropped my head, ashamed to meet her eyes. All eyes were on me. Brown and Dee, by the stage, exchanged confused looks, and I think even Jason and Nate looked up from whatever Connect 3 was talking about. Thank goodness Shane was too preoccupied in something else.

Knowing the best way to get Tess to stop would be to give her something plausible, I began to speak in a low, almost inaudible voice. "She's… uh… " I squeaked. What was wrong? I had been lying all summer. Why couldn't I fake something for Tess right now?

Maybe it was all the people watching, including my mom, that made lying so hard. Before when I'd been lying, it was just to Tess, Ella, and Peggy. And then it had felt almost necessary to make up stories about a mom who ran Hot Tunes TV China, that my hideous (by Tess's standards) jacket came from a store called Happy Summer, that my sudden absences were caused by a need to call my mom on China time, that flour in my hair was Chinese body powder. It was all to get her to accept me. And at the time that seemed right. After all, I'd always wanted to be popular. But now, lying just seemed so… wrong. Like maybe admitting the truth would be easier.

"I'm sorry, what?" Tess egged me on.

"She… uh… she's pretty cool," I tried again, a little louder. Not a lie, but not admitting the truth either.

Tess was relishing this. "And?" she prompted. What? She wanted more? I had given her total humiliation of me in front of the entire camp. What more could she want?

"And…" I stammered, trying to buy some time.

I looked for Mom, to try and make her understand the necessity of my lies, but she had disappeared. Great. Add one more to the list of people who will inevitably hate me once I make this confession.

"And… she's not… the president of Hot Tunes TV China," I finally exhaled. So now the cat was out of the bag. What was Tess going to do with this gem of information?

Tess faked shock. Of course. I had a feeling she knew all along and was just trying to get me to admit it. "What's that? She's not… president? You mean… you lied to everybody?" A ripple went through the crowd.

"No, I was…" I started, but Tess cut me off.

"So, she's what?" Tess continued, not giving this up until the very end. "A vice-president? Treasurer?" The kids waited breathlessly for my answer, and for a moment I considered lying and saying yes. But there was no point. I saw the look on Tess's face; she knew. And if I lied again, she would know and eventually get it out of me. Which would only make me look even worse for lying more.

"Tess," Caitlyn said sternly, having heard enough. Thank you Caitlyn.

"Shut up," she said to Caitlyn. "Go on. Tell us," she said. I was almost in tears, but willed myself not to cry. Not in front of Tess. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

"No… she's a cook," I admitted, wanting to swallow the words the second I said them. Already I saw Tess's face pretend to process the information, and her insides grin.

"A… cook?" Tess asked in mock confusion. "At Hot Tunes China."

"No… here," I said quietly, my shoulders slumped in humiliation and defeat. This was all Tess wanted to hear. Her face broke into a satisfied grin, no longer hiding her joy at my humiliation and revelation.

"So, you lied," Tess stated again. "Your mom cooks our food, and you help her." Yep, she definitely saw Caitlyn and me leaving the kitchen one day. Otherwise she wouldn't have known all this. "That's the only way you can afford this camp, right?" "you know what Tess your really rude and I know Im not like you at all I'm a person the total oppistet of you! And for once I wanted to fit in but no the qween jerk had to get the truth out of me and you think your "oh every person in the whole intire world loves me ecseally Shane Gray" but guess what you are not you a huge spoiled jerk!!"I yelled and every one around me was just staring at me because I just stuck up to Tess Tyler and i was so mad while she was just staring at I punched her as hard as I could and I knew if I did something like this I would get kicked out of camp but right now I didn't care. Once I punched her everybody gasped. Then Tesss said "oh my gosh did you just punch me?" "Um ya I think I did and I'm pretty pruod of it." then after that Tess and her so called "posse" ran to go tell Brown and every body started cherring and giving me high fives and then I thought "holy crap she going to tell brown and I'll get kicked out of camp!" so after that thought I turned and Shane was just looking at me. I gave him a weak smile then all I heard was "Were is she!?" "right there!" and with that I turend around to see Brown looking firoius. "come with me right now" and so i did and they had my mom in the office and they called my dad and he had to coome pick me up here. My mom was so mad at me. So once I was done in the offcie I was sent to go pack up my stuff and once i got to my cabin I packed my stuff as quickly as I could so nobaody would have to talk to me and I acomplyshed it and then I waited for my dad and once he was I hopped in the truck and all he did was give me a high five.