The stars stood bright on a moonless night when Caroline was wandering through the dark near the lake. She loved taking a walk on the school grounds at night. She had to be careful though, because students weren't allowed to be out of bed after curfew. Caroline had once run into a teacher on her way back to her dormitory and had got detention. Since that day she had been very careful not to let it happen again.

Caroline sat down on a stone near the water and looked across the lake and at the forest behind it. It had been a long day and she knew she would be glad to be in her warm bed . But she had to come here. She had to think. Today had been their exams and she was curious if she had done well. After her exam in arithmetic she had been walking down to dinner with him. And they had talked. Not much, but more than just saying 'hello and 'goodbye'. Tom...

Her thoughts were suddenly disrupted by a movement at the edge of the forest. Something had been moving towards the forest. Caroline listened carefully, but she couldn't hear anything but the normal sounds of nature. Then she saw it again. She was sure it was a person. The shadow ducked behind a shrub and looked around. Then it went on and ducked behind the next shrub. Carefully Caroline crept towards it. When she came to the first trees she hid behind a trunk and glanced at the spot where she had seen the shadow. There was something. Or someone. When her eyes got used to the dark of the forest she could finally see someone cowering behind the shrub. It looked as if the person was trying to see something on the other side of the lake. The person was looking right at the stone she had just been sitting on!

Carefully Caroline stepped behind the person pushing her fear away.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, switching on her torch which she normally used to sneak back to her dormitory. The person wheeled around, staring paralysed with fear at the light.

"Caroline!" the boy squeaked.

"Damn, Derek you scared me!" she said, grinning. Derek was a boy from ninth grade. Caroline was in tenth grade and he had a big crush on her for nearly a year now.

"What were you doing?" she asked, half knowing the answer.

"I...uh, was umm...," he stammered and went brick red. "Well...I was uh...watching you." He looked down at his feet as if they were very interesting.

They stood in silence for a while.

"You know, we should better go back inside," Caroline said breaking the awkward silence.

"Yeah, you're right," he said and they started their way back to the hall. Suddenly Derek stopped.

"What's wrong?" Caroline asked.

"Umm...Caroline," Derek began. "Doyouwannagooutwithme?" he blurted out.

"Sorry?" she asked. "I didn't catch that."

"Do you, uh...want to go out with me?" he asked with an effort.

"Oh, sorry Derek," she said meaning it. "Sorry, but no."

"Okay, he said. "So we're not going out?"

"No, we're just going in." And with that she went through the doors and headed for her dormitory.