A/N: I can't believe I didn't think of this before. Okay, first, despite the protagonist's name, this does NOT have any connection to the heroine of "Phantom of the Auditorium". I have read it, but I barely remember anything about it. But this one...just the cover makes it memorable. I'm not sure what that creature rising from the water is, but I don't think it's the right monster. Yes, everyone, I present what happened the summer after "The Curse At Camp Cold Lake"! A few years ago, I gave you "Night Of The Living Dummy" with a passive protagonist. Now, let's move on to a less malevolent monster.

Plot: After Della's failure at making Sarah her buddy, she's determined to find another girl who will be her buddy the following summer. Her first choice is shy new girl Brooke Castle, who, while not hating camp, just can't find it in her to make friends. But in order to get close, she realizes she must first make Brooke her friend. How is this going to work out?

Disclaimer: All rights go to RL Stine. I only own Brooke.

Oh, and also, if I mention something like an iPod or Kindle, don't bother sending a "they didn't have those in the 90s" review or PM. The core concept is timeless, and so I might use 2000s tech.

I want to be here. I wish I was at home. I want to be here. I wish I was...

I slapped myself. STOP IT! I was so indecisive. Okay, so I liked water sports. At least, things in the water. Not canoeing or boating. Anything on the surface apart from jet-skiing made me seasick. But if I was submerged in the water, than it was my thing. Camp Cold Lake was a water sports camp. That, by definition, made it the camp for Brooke Castle.

But I hadn't really wanted to go to a summer camp at all. I could go swimming at the leisure centre at home. But I had to be fair. I knew why Mom and Dad had wanted me to go to camp. "You need to learn to get along with people more." Mom had said. "You keep saying that you want to enter the Olympics as a swimmer. Well, Brooke, if you are, you'll be around other athletes like you. Your competition. You'll have to talk to them. Social interaction is important. And if you really don't like the camp, we'll take you home on Visiting Day. It's only for a month and a half, even if you don't come home then. You won't be away for the whole summer."

It was true that I was very shy. I had friends at school, but I'd known most of them from kindergarten. I wasn't so great at making new friends. I couldn't look people in the eye, and I could barely speak. I never knew what to say to people. Mom was right. I needed to start making friends.

So I'd agreed to look at the summer camps running. I'd thought about Camp Spirit Moon, but it sounded like it was all about ghost stories and campfires. Ghost stories gave me nightmares. And I deliberated over Camp Jellyjam. But it had a ton of sports I wasn't so good at. I'd rather stay in the water all day than lose footraces (okay, maybe I wouldn't come last, but I wouldn't come first) or strike out at baseball every time I was up to bat. Plus the little purple blob they had as their mascot gave me the creeps.

So Camp Cold Lake was the one I chose. To be fair, my parents had gotten a little choked up when they said goodbye to me. Especially Dad. "I just can't believe you're really doing this." he'd admitted. "My baby is going off to camp all by herself."

"Dad!" I'd hissed, blushing. "You'll see me in three weeks, anyway. I'll be fine."

But an hour later, sitting on the bus about ten minutes away from the campsite, I wasn't so sure of it. And when we passed the lake, I grew less sure. It was dark, and more murky than I'd imagined. I wondered if there were fish in there. Or eels. I couldn't stand the thought of those snake-like creatures with evil eyes and sharp teeth. Ew. Scary.

Still, I got off the bus when it reached the campsite. It looked like a pretty nice camp, apart from the lake. The campfire had benches stationed around it, and the cabins were in good shape. Me and the other campers were met by a grinning camp counselor.

"Hi!" he said. "I'm Richard, your head counselor. We'll show you around later on, but for now, we'll just give you your room assignments and some time to unpack, before we give you all the tours and things. How many of you have been here before?"

Several people yelled out.

"Excellent!" Richard smiled. "Well, be sure to help the new campers out so I don't always have to do it. So just check the room assignments attached to the door of each living area. Girls' cabins are in that building to the left of the campfire. Boys' cabins are a bit further on, near the lake."

My cabin was Cabin 3. I was the first into the room, and chose the bottom bunk next to the window. As I began to unpack, two more girls rushed in, giggling. One of them stopped. "Oh! Hi. Are you Brooke or Jasmine?"

"Brooke." I said quietly, not looking at them. I noticed one of them had long blonde hair, and the other was..well...sort of short. It was the blonde who had spoken. Her voice was very husky.

"Nice to meet you." smiled the short girl. "I'm Meg. This is Jan. We've been to this camp before. I'm fourteen, and she's thirteen. How old are you?"

"Twelve." I murmured.

Jan gave a sigh. "I wish Briana was in our cabin again. Did she say she was coming this year, Meg?"

Meg shrugged. "I haven't heard from her in a while. Didn't she leave halfway through camp last year? Maybe she didn't want to come back." She suddenly glanced back up at me. "Oh! Sorry. We were just talking about one of our bunkmates last year. Jan was new, but Briana and I had been friends since the year before. Hey, do you mind if we take the bunks opposite yours? Jasmine'll have to take the one above you."

"If she doesn't complain about it." Jan muttered.

"Hey, be fair." Meg said. "Not everyone's going to be like that!"

At that moment, Jasmine stepped in. She was tall and willowy, with long blonde hair. She looked more like a model than anything. "Hi." she said. "I'm Jasmine. I read the room assignments. So you guys are Jan, Meg and Brooke. Which bunk can I have?"

I managed to speak up. "It's the one above me." I said in almost a whisper.

Jasmine smiled. "Okay, cool. So...which one are you again?"

"Brooke." I managed.

Jasmine smiled again as she put her bags on the top bunk. "Well, it's great to meet you all, anyway. We're going to be great friends, I know it!"

I didn't say much else. Jasmine acted as if she'd been at camp for years, and before long, she, Jan and Meg were all chatting away as if they'd known each other since they were in diapers. They seemed to have forgotten I existed.

When we were finally called to the mess hall for dinner, Jan finally seemed to remember I was there. She smiled as she was about to leave. "Come on." she offered ."I'll show you where to go. I remember what it was like to be new here. It was lucky I had Briana and Meg to show me around last year."

As we walked, I got up the courage to ask a question. "Were you and Meg bunkmates last year?"

"That's how we made friends." Jan explained. "We hoped we'd be together again this year. And since Briana doesn't seem to be back, we'll probably have to stick together." She grinned ."Don't worry, though. We're bunkies, too. We'll look after you and Jasmine." She giggled, and then whispered "And protect you from the wrath of Camp Cold Lake's water safety!"

I managed to smile, too. At least my bunkmates were all nice. But they were also so confident. Jan seemed so sure of herself. I'd learned from the other girls' conversations that Meg had a lot of very strong opinions, and a rather loud voice for someone so small. Oh, who was I kidding? It was always the small ones who had loud voices. And Jasmine was the most confident of all. Pretty, graceful, easygoing, friendly...she had it all. I wasn't pretty – I was skinny, with dark bobbed hair just reaching past the top of my neck, and deep green eyes, just a few shades lighter than sushi seaweed. I wasn't graceful...well, unless I was in the water. I was easygoing, but only because I was too shy to argue. I really hated confrontations. And although I wanted to be friendly, again, I was just so shy. I mean, I was only at camp to try to overcome that shyness...but what if I couldn't?

What if even summer camp couldn't get me any closer to socially competent?

Looks like Brooke needs a friend. Well, maybe she'll get one. She's not Sarah. She's not going to pretend to drown – she has no reason to. And assuming Briana didn't do that, what actually happened? I think that some ghosts can reveal themselves to whoever they want to reveal themselves to at any time.