**EDIT: replaced "a an advanced reader" with "an advanced reader", put a star next to Andy introducing herself so I could explain it was her in the author's notes, and replaced "comment" with "reviews" in the author's notes. I called them "comments" before because I originally posted this on Wattpad that had comments instead of reviews. My chance of getting any comments on there is slim, to say the least. Especially for a non-existent "fandom" like Goosebumps. Can you believe I once abandoned my account for seven months, and not one of my stories got a comment? Sorry, this turned into a bit of a rant, nobody wants to hear me bitch and moan. Anyway, enjoy!

***EDIT: Added an author's note at the start.

A/N: I wrote this because most of the GB fics on here either have nothing to do with Goosebumps or are Slappy x Amy/OC fics or Amanda x Ray/Karen fics (of course, there's nothing wrong with writing those types of fics). There's a reason people only remember the villains, because the heroes are as bland as white bread. But I still think those tall, thin, Caucasian, middle school twelve-year-olds deserve some appreciation. Starting with one of the most hated protagonists, quite unfairly in my opinion.

Book: The Curse of Camp Cold Lake, with a small cameo from Monster Blood

Summary: Camp Cold Lake wasn't the first time Sarah almost drowned.

The sun beat down on eight-year-old Sarah Maas. Even the huge wide-brimmed hat she wore, comically large for her small head, didn't shade the rest of her body. Her arms and lower body felt like they were being burnt to a crisp. She was reading a book cross-legged on the sand, a frown of concentration etched in her face. She was an advanced reader for her age - at least, that was what the teachers at her school told her. Sand was getting into her dress, but she didn't notice nor care.

She heard a shrill, high-pitched laugh before her book was knocked out of her hands, landing face-first in the sand. She looked up and saw her seven-year-old brother Aaron. He was beaming and dressed in his swimsuit, dripping wet, drops of water falling off him onto the sand.

"Sarah, why don't you take a swim?" he said. "It'll feel great!"

"I'll just stick to my book, thanks," said Sarah, starting to edge towards her book.

"C'mon, Sarah!" pleaded Aaron. "You can't spend all day just reading! We're supposed to be relaxing."

"This is relaxing," Sarah insisted, picking up her book.

"The water's great, I promise," said Aaron. "Once you get in, you won't be able to get out!"

"Well..." Sarah sighed. "Alright." It was almost worth saying that for the huge smile that broke across her little brother's face. "But wait, I didn't pick my swimsuit-"

"Actually, you did," said Aaron. "I saw Mom packing it for you."

Sarah sighed. She should've known. She would've been perfectly content spending all day reading, but her mom always insisted that she "do physical activity". Sarah personally thought that her mom should be glad that she was reading this much at her age.

Sarah put on her swimsuit and slowly waded into the sea. The cold water felt good on her sunburnt legs. She kept walking until she was up to her torso in the cooling water. She had to admit, it was a refreshing change from being burnt to a crisp.

She kept walking until she was up to her neck, and then tilted her hair back. She smiled as she felt her hair fill with water. Her hair always got horribly tangled when it was really sunny, even though it was very thin and fine and scraggly, almost like straw.

"Hi," said a voice.

Sarah looked behind her to see a girl that looked around her age, except that she was much shorter than her (and by now, Sarah was starting to realise that she was taller than most of the girls her age.) The girl had brown hair, almost black, and brown eyes. She was wearing a bright yellow swimsuit that matched Sarah's.

"Uh...hi," said Sarah. She wasn't the type to just go up to somebody and say "hi" to them, especially in the ocean at a beach.

"What's your name?" said the girl.

Sarah told her.

"Sarah," the girl repeated. "That's a nice name. I'd love to have a down-to-earth name like that. It's so much better than my name." She waited for Sarah to ask what it was.

"Andrea," she replied.

"I think that's a pretty name," said Sarah.

"I hate it," said the girl. "It sounds so stuck-up and fancy. When I grow up, I'm thinking of changing my name to Andy. You can call me Andy."

"Uh...okay, Andy," said Sarah.

"Hey, you have the same swimsuit as me!" said Andy.

"Oh...I guess I do," Sarah replied lamely.

"My swimsuit has a tear in the back," Andy rambled. "Mom wants to replace it for me, but I don't want to. I've had this swimsuit since I was little - well, littler. I love coming to this beach, it's so much fun, don't you think? The water's great. I love swimming here. Hey, how old are you?"

Sarah stared at Andy. This girl was talking a mile a minute! She wasn't sure if she liked her.

"I'm eight," said Sarah.

"So am I!" said Andy. "I love coming here." You've said that already, Sarah thought. "But I won't be able to for much longer. Me and my parents are moving to a new place in a few weeks."

"Oh...that's too bad," said Sarah, inwardly scolding herself for such a lame response.

There was a silence as Andy inspected Sarah with an almost amused expression that was starting to make Sarah uncomfortable.

"You don't talk much, do you?" said Andy, grinning for some reason.

Sarah pondered how to answer an observation like that, really wishing that the girl - Andy - would just leave her alone, when she heard a third voice reach the two girls.

"Andrea!"

Andy groaned. "Oh, no - that's my dad! He never lets me swim here for that long. I love to come here, though. Do you-"

"Andrea!"

Andy cupped her hands around her mouth. "Okay!" she called. "I'm coming, Dad!" She started to skip through the water, but stopped to wave at Sarah. "Maybe we can hang out here some other time, Sarah," she said.

"Uh...yeah. Maybe we can," said Sarah, though she inwardly hoped that she'd never see this girl again.

Andy waded out of the water onto the shore. Her dad said something that made her stare at her toes.

Sarah continued to wade around in the water. The feeling of the sunlight beating down on her combined with the coolness of the water was amazing.

Aaron swam towards her, before standing and grinning at her. "Isn't this great?"

"It is kind of fun," Sarah admitted, making ripples of water with her arms.

"What did I tell you?" said Aaron, laughing and throwing some water at her.

Sarah laughed and threw some back, but it narrowly missed.

They had a water fight, with much hair pulling and shoving, until Sarah got tired and floated on the water, gazing up at the sky. Aaron was standing in the shallow end, talking with a group of boys. The sun was beginning to set, casting orange rays on the lake, and there were only two or three kids still splashing and floating on the water.

She kept floating for a while, and then decided to practice her swimming a bit. She had been taking swimming lessons for a while and could hold her breath for a really long time.

She did the freestyle rather weakly, preferring to float and relax than do actual exercise. But eventually, she built up speed and started swimming quicker. She thought she vaguely heard someone calling to her when she reacher her head out of the water for air, but ignored it, too caught up in her swimming.

Eventually, she got tired. She tried to stand up and plant her feet on the sand, but found that she couldn't reach the ground. She thrashed, trying to reach the surface, but only sunk deeper. She forgot about everything shed learned in her swimming lessons as she repeatedly tried to scream for help, but only swallowed water.

She didn't know how long she thrashed there before she lost consciousness, but she did remember opening her mouth to scream before going limp.

She woke up to feel her mom squeezing her in a tight hug...a little too tight.

"Oh, Sarah..." said Mrs. Maas. "I'm so glad..."

"Mom..." Sarah choked. "Too tight..."

"Sorry," said her mom, freeing her from her death grip. Sarah tried to wrap her arms around herself before realising that she was wrapped up in a blanket.

Mrs. Maas squeezed Sarah's hand, then her shoulder, then her arm, as if trying to see that she was real and not a vision in a dream. Then she pulled her into another hug, less tight this time.

"I'm so sorry, Sarah!" Aaron wailed. "It's all my fault. If I hadn't forced her-"

"It's not your fault at all, Aaron," said Mrs. Maas gently. "Did you push her into the water?"

"Did you forbid her from coming to the surface?"

"No..."

"Then it's not your fault," said Mrs. Maas firmly. She rubbed Sarah's back before freeing her from her hug again and placing a hot bowl of potato leek soup on her lap. Sarah gulped a spoonful of it before it burned her tongue, causing her to spit it back into the bowl and mix it with her spoon to cool it down.

"I don't like swimming," Sarah shuddered. But she said it so quietly that nobody heard her except for Aaron.

Aaron squeezed her hand comfortingly. "It was just one time, Sarah," he said kindly. "Swimming isn't all that bad. If you just gave it another chance, I'm sure you would-"

"NO!" Sarah cried. "I'm never going swimming again. Ever!"

"Okay, okay," said Aaron, sensing a breakdown coming.

"And I'm never going near water again," Sarah declared.

"Not even to drink?" Aaron teased.

Sarah glared at him.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "But you have to admit, you're being ridiculous. There's no way you'll never go in the water again. It's just stupid to say that."

"Aaron!" said Mrs. Maas sharply. "Don't be so rude to your sister. She's just had a surprising experience."

"Aaron is right, grasshopper," said Mr. Maas. Sometimes he called her Grasshopper because she was so tall and thin. She hated it, but right now she was too horrified by her drowning adventure to correct him. "You're going to have to get over your fear eventually. You can't let one experience-"

"You can save the lecture for later," snapped Mrs. Maas. "Can't you see what Sarah's just been through?"

Mr. Maas opened his mouth to argue, but, eventually deciding that agreeing with his wife would be easier than getting into an argument with her, resolved to safely say "Sorry, Sarah."

Sarah took another slurp of the potato soup, wincing as it burned her tongue just a bit, but swallowing it nonetheless. "I'm never going swimming again," she declared. "Never."

"Whatever you say, sweetie," said Mr. Maas.

Four years later...

Sarah had mostly gotten over her fear of water. She could attend swim lessons fine, albeit very reluctantly, but refused to swim more than absolutely necessary. It had become less of a fear and more of a strong dislike, similar to doing homework and chores.

So imagine her disbelief when she found out that her mom and dad had signed her up to go to a water sports camp.

"Dad - how could you?" she wailed. "You know I feel about water!"

"I thought you'd gotten over that silly fear by now," her dad said.

"Yeah, my fear - not my dislike," said Sarah. "Those are two different things, you know."

"Since when did you become so philosophical?" said Mr. Maas in an amused voice.

"Whatever," huffed Sarah. "The point is, I can't go!"

"Well, maybe this camp will teach you to get over your fear."

"Dislike," Sarah corrected. "I'm not afraid of swimming or anything - I just don't like it."

"Well, maybe it'll teach you to get over your dislike," said Mr. Maas. "Swimming is one of the valuable assets in life-"

"Spare me the lecture, Dad," Sarah grumbled, rolling her eyes. "I know how to swim, and I take swim lessons. Isn't that enough? If I'm in a life or death situation, I can swim to save myself. I just don't want to swim recreationally. What's so bad about that?"

"Okay...well, maybe this camp will teach you to socialise more," said Mr. Maas. "You know, with your fellow campers."

"Yeah," said Sarah. "Or maybe it'll teach me to make a total fool of myself and make everyone at camp hate me."

The kids at her school already stared at her and whispered about her just because she was tall. She hadn't made many friends there, because she was a little shy and tended to say the worst things at the worst times. Aaron, on the other hand, was Mr. Popular. More than sometimes, Sarah felt a little jealous of him.

"Stop it, Sarah," said Mr. Maas. "Why do you always have to imagine the worst? Why do you always have to be so negative? Can't you ever be positive like your brother?"

He just had to add that last part about Aaron, didn't he?

"I am!" said Sarah. "I'm positive that this is going to be awful."

"Well, there's nothing you can do about it now," said Mrs. Maas, I'm his "no buts" voice. "I've already signed you up."

Sarah sighed, but knew she couldn't argue with him.

Sarah's dad bent down suddenly and gave her a very long and tight hug. "It's going to be okay, grasshopper. You're going to have a good time at Camp Cold Lake. I know it."

"Don't call me grasshopper," Sarah grumbled, but the hug did made her feel better. Now, if only she could believe him...

Yes, that is Andy from "Monster Blood". I have no idea how this is in any way GB-related. If you took out that "four years later part", this could've been a completely separate short story. But I'm currently obsessed with Goosebumps, so I need to project it onto everything. Also because there needs to be more Camp Cold Lake fics on here that aren't Sarah-bashing.

Did I accurately portray seven and eight-year-olds, or did I make them too advanced? Let me know, along with your opinion on The Curse of Camp Cold Lake and anything else you'd like to share in the reviews!