I sighed and looked at my watch again. Feeling paranoid, I glanced over my shoulder. It was 3:32 in Avalon, California. A week ago I was normal, 17-year old Krystal Wright but everything had changed in the short span of seven days. Strange things had begun happening. Things I couldn't explain. I woke up one day and found that my normally flat figure had transformed into something very different. Different as in I was an inch taller, my shoes were too small and I was bigger. Then, a guy had stopped me in a store and said that he needed to talk to me alone. I was about to tell him to go to hell but then he had said my name. And for some reason I had followed him into a room that said 'Employees Only'. The guy had introduced himself as David and told me that he knew that some strange things had been happening to me. He told me that I wasn't human, that I was different from normal people. At first I didn't believe him but then it started to make sense. how he knew my name, why those strange things had happened to me. He explained that he came from a camp, really more of a boarding school, called Shadow Falls. It was a camp made of supernaturals: witches and wizards, vampires, fairies and pixies, shape-shifters, werewolves, demons, and elves. David had said that he was a fairy himself. I had agreed to come to the camp and he had given me a packet for my parents to sign. Then he had disappeared into thin air. My parents hadn't been very agreeable about the camp-I told them my friend Beth had found out about it from her cousin-but eventually they had said I could go. And now here I stood, in the middle of nowhere, waiting with about ten or fifteen other people, for a bus that was an hour late. A girl about my age approached me.

"Hey, I'm Madeline. Maddy for short," she grinned. "Can you believe this? I mean, seriously, if I'm going to do them the honor of being at their camp, the least they could do is make sure the bus is punctual!"

Sensing that she was joking and not just stuck-up, I couldn't help but grin back.

"I'm Krystal, with a K," I told Maddy. I took a good look at her since all I had noticed before was that she was about my age. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt that hugged her and showed off her curves. She was a little shorter than me with should-length wavy blonde hair that had a purple streak in it and bright blue eyes. I decided I liked her.

"Nice to meet you," Maddy grinned again. "By the way I'm a witch. What about you?"

Thankfully, before I could explain I still had no idea what I was, we felt a gush of warm wind and another girl appeared at my side. She was the same height as me with long brown hair and daring green eyes. she was wearing a jeans and T-shirt too but she didn't have the same shape as Maddy or me.

"Thank God!" she exclaimed. "I was afraid the bus had left without me. Good thing it's worse than I am at being on time huh? I'm Ayla"

Surprisingly, Maddy glared at Ayla. "Do you mind?" she snarled. "We were trying to have a conversation. Oh and by the way, even my grandmother would think your name is old fashioned."

Ayla inhaled and immediately glared back. "I should have known. Only a witch would be so rude to a complete stranger. Oh and by the way," Ayla mocked Maddy's voice, " Your grandmother's probably a crazy old hag."

"Well only a vampire would interrupt a conversation like a bitch. And take that back!," Maddy shot back.

"Guys stop it!" I said. "What's going on? DO you two know each other?"

"No but vampires and witches don't get along that well sometimes," Ayla explained

"Okay, well make an effort to be nice, or polite at least! I'm Krystal. Nice to meet you Ayla. This is Maddy. Hey look the bus is here! Lets go catch up. The other campers are ahead of us."

As we walked to the bus I heard Ayla talking to Maddy.

"Hey, sorry for snapping at you like that. Even though you started it," Ayla grinned.

Maddy grinned back. "Apology accepted. I'm sorry for calling you a bitch. Even though you are one."

Ayla's grin didn't falter. "I'll get you back for that," she teased.

"Oh I'm so scared," Maddy teased back.

I shook my head. I had a feeling those two were going to be like that a lot. One minute ready to rip each others' heads off and the next best friends.

During the bus ride we got to know each other and I found out that Maddy and Ayla were both 18, the same age as me (technically Ayla was 58 but she was turned when she was 18). Between playful bickering, serious talk, and getting to know each other, the bus ride through the woods passed pretty fast. when we got off the bus, a pretty girl, older than us, probably about 20, greeted us.

"Hi, I'm Lillian, the camp leader," she said. "Your dorms are to the right and my office, if you ever need to talk to me, is at the end of the trail behind me. I usually get to my office around 6 in the morning. You can pick the two people you want in your dorm with you but no people of the opposite sex. The girls' dorm rooms and the boys' dorm rooms are kept separate. This is David, for those of you who don't know. He'll take the boys to their dorms. The girls can follow me."

I looked at Maddy and Ayla and from their grins, I could tell they were thinking the same thing as me.

"There better be separate rooms in the dorm," Maddy said playfully, "cause there's no way I'm staying in the same room as this asshole."

"Ditto, bitch," Ayla said with a grin.

Once we had gotten settled, I pulled our my laptop. I had promised my mom I would e-mail her as soon as I got here. as I opened my e-mail I sighed. There were 20 new messages, most of them from my mom, sent within minutes of each other. I replied to one of them and shut off my computer.

"Hey guys, let's go for a walk through the woods," Maddy suggested.

I frowned, "Do you think we can? Maybe we should ask Lillian first, just to be safe."

"That's a good idea," Ayla agreed. We set off down the path that led to Lillian's office. I knocked and heard a soft 'come in'. Ayla, Maddy, and I tumbled in and blurted at the exact same time, "Can we take a walk through the woods? Please?"

Holly laughed, a beautiful tinkling sound. "Sure," she said with a smile, "but make sure you're back before six. That's when we're having dinner."

"What are we having?" asked Maddy.

"Burgers and hot dogs. Along with mac-and-cheese."

I was excited. I love hamburgers.

"Can't wait!" I exclaimed. "Bye!"

The three of us walked down the path we found through the woods.

"Okay," said Ayla, looking at her watch, "it's about 4 o'clock so we have two hours. Sound good?"

Maddy and I nodded our assent. As we trudged through the forest we eventually came to a beautiful clearing. There were amazing blue, pink, red, and yellow wildflowers and the grass was lush and bright green. The sky over head was ocean-blue and cloudless. The three of us gasped in amazement.

"Wow!" whispered Maddy.

"Wow is right," replied Ayla.

I could only nod. In addition to the stunning beauty of the meadow, something about it made me feel calm and content. I wasn't worried about anything and I felt relaxed about what I would become. It was awesome. Suddenly the silence was punctured by Ayla's voice.

"Guys, it's 5:30, you're probably going to miss dinner."

I glanced at her in confusion. "Us? What about you?"

Ayla rolled her eyes at me, "Um hello? Vampire?"

I felt a little more than stupid. "Oh, right."

Then what Ayla had said a minute ago sunk in and I started running down the trail, Maddy right behind me.

Luckily, Ayla was able to lead us, thanks to her super vampire hearing, right to the dining hall. We got there just before six. I noticed an empty table in the corner.

"Hey you guys wanna sit with me over there?"

For some reason, Ayla and Maddy looked uncomfortable.

"Well," Ayla stalled.

"Spit it out," I told her.

"I'd really like to get to know the other vamps. You know the saying about birds of a feather right?"

"Go ahead," I told her, "I don't mind. You can go sit with the other witches, Maddy. Really, it's fine."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

I nodded, almost asking her to sit with me, but I refrained. It was just one day. I would be fine.

I headed to the buffet-like lunch, spread out on a table and helped myself. I headed back to the empty lunch table with my heaping plate and chomped down on my burger. It was so good, I hoped we were allowed to have seconds. All of a sudden I heard a voice behind me.

"Is this seat taken?"

I spun around to find myself looking into beautiful gray-blue eyes. The eyes belonged to a guy. He had dirty blond hair that was shaggy and hung in a part over his eyes. He was taller, taller than me even with my recent growth spurt. His face was tan and perfect.

"Hey," He said, with a sweet smile, "My name's Dylan. What's yours?"

"Krystal," I said with a coolness that surprised myself,"and no, this seat isn't taken. Why did you want to know?"

He smiled again, "Well, I was hoping I could sit there. You looked so lonely," Dylan leaned in closer, "all by yourself."

My heart started pounding.

"Well, I can't say I'll mind the company."

I tried to make it sound like I wasn't having trouble breathing but it didn't really work, and Dylan could tell. He laughed and leaned back. That's when I got a closer look at what he was wearing. He had a blue hoodie with those loose jeans that guys like. He also had sneaker that matched the color of his hoodie. Between eating, we talked and laughed. He was 18, like me. We liked all the same shows and had read all the same books. We had the same favorite movie. Dylan was perfect. My soul mate.

After we had finished, he pulled me outside.

"Follow me, I know a great place to look at the stars."

He led me outside to the trail. I knew he was taking me to the clearing but I didn't say anything. He looked so excited, it was adorable. When got there he grinned at me.

"Perfect, isn't it?"

I grinned back sheepishly and admitted, "Yeah, I've been here before. my friends and I found it on our walk."

He smiled. "That's okay. Here lay down, I'll show you the constellations."

"You can try," I laughed, "but I'm not very good at imagining. Just ask my friend. She always tried to show me the elephant in the clouds but all I saw were fluffy blobs."

The two of us laughed and all of a sudden Dylan reached forward and brushed a piece of hair off my face.

"You're really beautiful," he murmured. Then, as if embarrassed he had said that aloud he ducked his head.

To distract him, I laid down on the cool grass and pointed at a cluster of stars.

"Which constellation is that?" I asked. He laid down next to me and laughed softly.

Thinking he was laughing at me I was hurt, "What?"

"That's just a bunch of stars," he told me, still chuckling.

"Oh," I said.

"It's okay," he told me. "Look over there, you can see the Big Dipper."

I followed his gaze, but all I could see were a couple of stars that looked exactly like the ones I had just pointed to.

I sighed, "I don't see it. I told you, it's hopeless."

"No it isn't. Here."

Dylan took my hand and traced the outline of the Big Dipper. I saw it this time, but most of me was focusing on how warm his hand was and how his touch sent tingles down my arm. He said something that I didn't hear.

"Hm?" I asked.

"I said it's getting late and you look tired. We should head back."

As soon as he said that I started feeling tired. Really tired.

"Yeah that's a good idea," I yawned.

As we started walking back down the trail Dylan took my hand in his. It felt really nice. We talked some more and suddenly he said, "Oh right, I forgot to tell you. I'm a shape-shifter. What about you?"

Slightly embarrassed, I admitted, "Well, I don't exactly know yet..."

Sensing that I was uncomfortable, Dylan was quick to apologize.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you..."

I sighed, "Don't worry it's not your fault. I just...haven't exactly figured out what I am."

Then before he could answer, we ran into Maddy and Ayla. They each grabbed one of my arms and dragged me away.

"W-wait! Hey you guys quit it!" I yelled. They ignored me and pulled me all the way to my room. Ayla tossed me onto my bed.

"Alright spill your guts," Maddy demanded.

"Who was he?" Ayla asked.

"He was cute. What's his name?"

"Where did he take you?"

"What happened?"

"Guys stop! You're giving me a headache! Okay in answer to your questions...umm His name is Dylan. He's a shape-shifter. He took me to the clearing and we looked at the stars. That's all."

Maddy and Ayla looked at me skeptically.

"That's all?"

"Yes," I insisted. "Now can I get some sleep? I'm dead tired."

Ayla sighed. "Fine. But you're introducing us to him tomorrow."

Maddy frowned and then grinned evilly, "Or maybe we should go catch up to him and apologize for dragging poor Krystal out like that, before he could fit in a good-bye kiss."

I glared at Maddy. "Don't you dare do it!" I warned. However Maddy paid no attention to me and raced outside, with Della right behind. To tired to follow I sighed and closed my eyes.

The next thing I knew I woke to someone clamping a rag over my face and I smelled something sickly sweet. I didn't even have time to struggle before everything went black.

Hey guys, I hope you liked it! I will really try to write the next chapter quickly but I'm lazy(I'm so sorry!) and I do have stuff going on. But I will try, I promise, so please review and tell me how you liked it. Another thing, if I don't get many reviews on a story, I assume my story wasn't too good and I usually end up dropping it. So please review! Thanks! (also sorry if my grammar is bad at spots, I didn't check this too well)