The streets of Manhattan were busy with morning traffic. People yelling and cars honking bounced off the surrounding buildings. Alex and Emily, my two bestest friends in the entire world, were walking up to my apartment.

"Hey Sky! Let's get a move on! It's our last day before we leave for camp! Get a move on!" Alex yelled when she stopped right under my window.

"Give me a sec!" I called before slipping into my black Converse low-tops. I swiped my Aviators and ran out the door. Mom was lying on the couch, completely knocked out. I ran out the door and hurried down the stairs. I burst outside and hugged Emily and Alex as tight as I possibly could have. "I can't believe you guys are leaving me for the entire summer!" I yelled as I let go. Alex laughed, her grey eyes seeming to lighten.

"Come on then! We have to do something major to remember till we get back from camp!" Emily stated as she started walking down the sidewalk. Alex and I jogged up to her, the summer heat beating down on us. "And it's a good thing we asked Conner and Travis to come out and hang out too."

"Who?" I asked completely oblivious.

"Conner and Travis Stoll; they are two guys that go to camp with us. They are the KINGS of pranks." Alex replied as she turned into an entrance of Central Park.

"Yeah, but I think Travis is bringing his girlfriend Mikayla. She is like the girl version of Travis! It makes perfect why he likes her" Emily chimed in. We continued walking along a path until three people came into view. Emily and Alex ran towards them and attacked the girl in a hug, leaving me confused. I walked over and found myself staring into the mystical blue eyes of one of the guys.

"Hi…I'm Conner" he said, his voice as warm as chocolate.

"I'm Skylar…Skylar Murrdock" I stumbled out, completely lost for words.

"Yeah and I'm his awesomer twin brother Travis" the other guy said, trying to pull Conner and I's attention away from each other.

"Oh…sorry…" I replied, slightly blushing. I looked away, hoping no one would notice my cheeks.

"And that is my ever so modest boyfriend" the girl said rolling her eyes. "I'm Mikayla Ledger. Emily and Alex have told me about you" she said, her strange eyes peering into mine.

"So um…what kind of camp do you all go to exactly?"

"Uh…it's just a normal camp" Alex replied rather quickly.

"Then why can't I come?"

"It is one of those camps that uh…is something you have to be invited to"

"Oh…okay" I muttered.

"So I was thinking we could go swimming since it is so damn hot" Travis stated while beginning to fan himself with his New York Yankee flat bill.

"Well we could have to grab our suits from home" Emily replied.

"How about we all meet there at noon?" I suggested. Mikayla looked between Conner and Travis and nodded with a smile. Emily, Alex and I turned and walked out of Central Park.

"Looks like someone is in love with Conner" Alex joked as she nudged me with her elbow.

"Am not…I just think he is cute…with his shaggy hair and beautiful blue eyes…" I replied while getting lost thinking about him. We stopped at my apartment building and went upstairs to my apartment. We slowly crept through the living room, hoping not to awake the beast known as my mother. I shut my bedroom door and raided my closet in search of my swimsuit.

"Hey do you think you have two extras in there?" Alex asked after looking at Emily. With a flick of my wrist I sent two sets of bikinis flying at them. I pulled out my red and black checkerboard bikini and walked into my bathroom. I walked out and slipped into a pair of jean shorts and a white tank top. Within ten minutes we were walking down the street to the pool. We walked inside and saw that the others were nowhere to be seen. So we set our stuff down by the lawn chairs near the lazy river and laid out in the sun. Conner walked over wearing a pair of dark blue shorts, not attached to his brother.

"Hey guys" he said as she sat on the edge of my chair. His eyes seemed a different shade of blue because of the sunlight.

"Hey Conner, where are the love birds?" Emily asked as she took off her sunglasses. He pointed out a girl walking over in a silver bikini, wearing the hat Travis had earlier, and a boy wearing black shorts. "Well, lets go!" Emily stated as she got up when Mikayla and Travis arrived at our stuff pile. I took off my Aviators and threw them on the chair. Not waiting for the others I walked over to the stock pile of inner tubes and pulled one out for myself. I threw it in the water and jumped through the hole, relaxing as the water made contact with my skin. I tilted my head back and saw Conner approaching with a tube of his own. He had the cutest crooked smile growing on his face as he got closer to me.

"So…what are things like at camp?" I asked as I turned to face him.

"Well, we have all these things that we can do. We have to get our cabin scheduled for it but other than that its sort of like do whatever you want kinda thing"

"What all can you do there?"

"Rock climbing, archery, swimming, the usual summer camp stuff"

"Are there like counselors and stuff like that?"

"Sort of, like there are heads of cabins and that is our 'counselors'. Like Mikayla is the head of her cabin and Travis and I are the heads of our cabin" he replied before going underwater. I waited for him to resurface but instead I felt a hand wrap around my ankle and pull me under. I opened my eyes and saw him smiling, his hands pulling me closer to him. I quickly surfaced and took a deep breath; Conner came back up snickering.

"That wasn't very nice Conner" I said before sticking out my tongue at him.

"Aww I'm sorry. Do you want me to make it better?" he asked with the sweetest puppy eyes I have ever seen.

"And that would be?"

"I'll take you to a movie tonight, my treat"

"Like a date?"

"If you want it to be one"

"Hmm…sure" I replied with a smile.

"I'll pick you up at like 6:30 then" he said with his smile growing on his face. His eyes looked up and instantly filled with fear. I turned to see what he was staring at and saw a huge paw swing at me. I ducked under water, just barely escaping my attacker. I swam against the current and surfaced near the entrance to the lazy river. Conner was nowhere in sight, slightly filling me with fear. I sprinted to our bag of stuff, hoping that I was just getting heat poising or something more rational, but the monster followed me; a giant lion. Out of nowhere arrows flew through the air and were deflected off the flank of the lion. I quickly glanced over to see Mikayla charging over, a bow in hand. A hand shook my shoulder, jerking me away from the monster. Emily and Alex stood behind me panting.

"What the hell is that thing?" I shrieked.

"We'll explain later but right now you need to leave!" Alex exclaimed as she grabbed my arm.

"But we can't just leave them! They could die!" I cried out as I shook out of her grip.

"They won't get killed! They know what they are doing! They have trained for stuff like this!" Alex retorted.

"How?"

"Going to camp!" Emily stated, sending me into a fit of confusion. I turned and saw Travis getting smacked out of the way, his sword skidding across the cement towards us. Without thinking I ran and picked up the sword, feeling stronger than before. "Skylar what do you think you are doing?" Emily cried out as she started searching through her bag. I ran towards the beast, which was looking to attack defenseless Mikayla who was tending to Travis. While leaping over the chairs I started yelling, drawing the monsters attention to me. The lion jerked away from Mikayla and ran towards me, his jaws open. I took a deep breath and threw the sword into the lion's mouth. The sword lodged itself within the lion's throat. The beast stopped running and fell to the ground. The pelt shrunk and lay in the grass, dead. My knees felt weak and buckled under me. My eyes were slowly rolling in the back of my head. The last thing I remember seeing was Conner, picking me up, concern growing in his eyes.

"I knew there was something special about you" he whispered.