Chapter 1

The counselors at Camp Frozen Lake had just been handed their cabin assignments.

"I have Rachel Anderson, Jamie Bonner, Ashley Jameson, and Hannah Jones," said Jessica, a twenty-two-year-old short woman, her long brunette hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Jessica was from New Jersey and this would be her fifth summer as a camp counselor. "I'm happy I have a great group of kids this year."

"I have Serena Gates, Elsie Philips, Kelly Price, and Tisha Williams" Hayley said, another twenty-two-year-old, she was taller than Jessica by a few inches and had short brown hair and wore glasses; this was also her fifth summer as a counselor. Hayley was from Massachusetts, she and Jessica were best friends and had met at Camp Frozen Lake when they were eight years old. "I never had any of these kids before."

Jessica looked at Hayley's list, "You might have your hands full."

"What! Why?"

"Well Kelly is allergic to bees, Tisha gets really homesick the first few days, but she'll start having fun and then she'll be fine, and Elsie still wets the bed."

"Great," Hayley said. "I will have my hands full."

Hayley turned to Leah, a twenty-year-old with short black hair cut in a pixie bob, "Who do you have?"

"I have Anna Davidson, Kristy Matthews, Jackie Smith, and Kelsey Warner," Leah answered. Leah was a tomboy from New Hampshire and had been coming to Camp Frozen Lake since she was five years old. She was eager to start her third summer as a counselor. "I've never had Kelsey. Does anyone know what she's like?"

"Yeah, I had her last year." Jessica said. "Her parents are rich and she doesn't like to get dirty, so some of the other kids will try to get her dirty, and when I say 'other kids' I mean mostly Jamie. Kelsey will go horseback riding, but not much else."

"Well, I can probably push her out of her comfort zone," Leah turned to Katie, a shy teenage girl that wore her blonde hair in two braids, "Who do you have, Rookie?"

"I have Annie Robinson, Mary Taylor, Missy Tyler, and Beth White," Katie answered. Katie had just turned eighteen and this was her first year as a counselor, she had been coming to Camp Frozen Lake since she was ten years old. She was the only one of the female counselors that hadn't travelled far from home, since she was from New York. Katie had just graduated from Eastland and would attend Langley in the fall.

"You have Annie Robinson," Hayley said. "I feel sorry for you."

"Oh come on, she's just a little girl," Katie said. "She can't be that bad."


The girls sat in the back of the bus. Jamie and Kelsey shared a seat and Annie and Tisha were in the seat across from them. Annie looked over at Tisha who was staring out the window watching scenery go by with tears running down her face.

"What's the matter, why are you crying?"

Tisha stopped staring out the window and looked at Annie, "I don't want to go to stupid camp. I miss my Mommy and Daddy."

Annie put her arm around Tisha, "camp will be fun, you'll make new friends and it'll be over before you know it and you won't want to leave."

"Yeah, and you can go horseback riding," Kelsey piped up from the seat next to them.

"And wall climbing, and canoeing, and swimming," Jamie added excitedly.

"I'm not going swimming. I'm not getting my hair wet." Kelsey said.

Jamie smirked. "Oh, I will personally make sure you end up in the lake."

Annie saw that Tisha still wasn't feeling better about going to camp, "I know what will cheer you up, do you want to sing the bubble gum song?"

Tisha's face lit up, "that's my favorite!"


Tootie was running her lines for the TV show pilot that would be taped in a few days. The network had ordered the pilot, but had not picked up the series yet. The show was about two roommates living together in a New York City apartment, one was a fashion designer and one was a struggling artist. Tootie was playing the fashion designer. Tootie heard the door open and Jeff called for her.

"I'm home, Tootie, where are you?"

"I'm in here," she called from the living room.

Jeff came in the living room, "Do you want to do dinner and a movie tonight, since Tisha isn't here?"

"Can we go see that new romantic comedy?"

"Sure Baby, anything you want."

"Do you think Tisha will be OK at camp? She was really upset," Tootie asked.

"She'll be fine, she's been there before and she liked it. It may take a few days and she'll have fun."

"I hope you're right, Jeff."


The camp buses finally arrived at the camp. All the kids got out and the boys separated from the girls.

"Hey Annie, isn't that the kid you beat up last year?" Jamie asked pointing to a nine-year-old boy.

"Scott?" Annie asked looking over at the group of boys. "I don't see any scrawny, nerdy looking, boys over there."

"Annie, I don't think he's scrawny or nerdy looking anymore," Tisha said. "It looks like he's bigger than you now."

"No way," Annie said. "I don't believe it, there's no way that scrawny little kid is bigger than…"

"Hi, Annie," Scott walked over the group of girls.

"Me," Annie finished. She stood there, admiring Scott, mouth open in shock.

"I see you haven't changed much."

"What happened to your glasses?"

"I wear contacts now. I also had a growth spurt, looks like I'm taller than you now. So I guess I won't have to worry about you calling me a shrimp anymore."

Annie just stared at him, too shocked to speak.

"Well, I just wanted to come over and say hi," Scott said. "I better get back over with the other boys, they are about to tell us our cabin assignments. I'll see you around."

Scott walked away and Kelsey came up behind Annie. "I think he likes you."

"Yeah, uh-huh, right." Secretly, Annie hoped it was true.


Natalie zipped her suitcase. Everything was ready for her cross country book tour. Natalie had written a book about Blair's recovery after the plane crash and it was quickly becoming a best seller. Natalie would spend the next six weeks in 18 different cities across the country signing copies of her book. While she was on her book tour, Snake would be driving his truck to different stops across the country. On days that Snake wouldn't be home, Blair would pick up their mail.

Natalie was pulling her suitcase off of the bed when the phone rang. Picking up the phone from the bedside table, Natalie greeted the caller and her face fell when she found out that it was the camp calling.

"What did she do now?" Natalie was frustrated, Annie hadn't been there for one night and Natalie had already received a call.

"Oh, Annie hasn't done anything that I know of. I'm calling because we don't have Annie's medical form."

"Oh shoot, can I fax it to you?" Natalie spotted the form on the kitchen table. Natalie wrote down the fax number, "Ok, great thanks, you should have it in a minute."

Natalie hung up the phone as Snake came out of the shower.

"What did she do this time?"

"Nothing, actually…yet," Natalie finished. "They called because they don't have Annie's medical form and I'm faxing it right now."

"OK, since we're alone, what do you say we go to that new restaurant tonight for dinner?"

"Really," Natalie squealed. "Snake, I love you!"


"Alright everyone, listen up," Jessica shouted. "When your counselor calls your name, grab your bags and follow them to your cabin."

Leah started, "Anna Davidson, Kristy Matthews, Jackie Smith, and Kelsey Warner."

Kelsey grabbed her bags, "Bye guys, I'll see you later."

"Bye, Kels," Jamie said.

Leah started leading the group away, "My name's Leah and I'll be your counselor, and we are in Bear cabin."

Jessica called her kids and Jamie grabbed her stuff and followed her.

Jessica led them to the cabin, "My name's Jessica and we're going to Raccoon cabin."

"Annie Robinson, Mary Taylor, Missy Tyler, and Beth White," Katie called.

Annie stood up and grabbed her stuff. Tisha started getting upset, "I wanted to be with you."

"You'll be fine, Tisha. I'll see you in a little bit."

Annie followed Katie to Wolf cabin. When they reached the cabin, Annie made sure she claimed a top bunk.

"Listen up, we have to go over some rules," Katie started.

"Number 1: Lights out at 10:30"

"Two: If you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you must wake me up and tell me where you're going and you must go with a buddy."

"Three: You must also bring a flash light, everyone will leave their flashlights next to the door and you may grab any flashlight on the way out. It does not matter if it is the one you brought or not."

"Four: you may not leave the cabin without your counselor, unless you have permission and you must have a buddy with you at all times."

"Does everyone understand these rules?"

Everyone nodded and Annie raised her hand.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Are you a new counselor? You never even told us your name."

"Oh sorry, my name is Katie and I'm your counselor."

Beth raised her hand, "what are we doing next?"

Katie answered, "Once everyone gets their bunks set up, we will go out and you can play with the other kids until it's time for dinner."


The counselors stood around and watched the kids playing.

"Hey Katie, look there's Brett," Hayley said. "Why don't you go over and say hi?"

"Yeah," Leah said. "You like him, don't you?"

"Yeah," Katie said playing with one her braids.

"So go over there," Jessica said pushing Katie in Brett's direction. Brett was nineteen, had sandy blonde hair, and he was tall, muscular, and athletic. He was from Pennsylvania and this was his second summer as a counselor. Brett caught the girls looking and flashed a smile in their direction.

Katie slowly walked over to Brett and looked behind her at her fellow counselors. The other girls motioned for her to go over to Brett.

"Hi, Brett," Katie said shyly. "So…how's it going?"

"Good," Brett answered. "So, I hear you've got Annie Robinson this year."

"Yeah, but she can't be that bad, right?"

"Oh, she's bad! The camp can't kick her out though, because one of her mother's friends is filthy rich and pays the camp extra to keep her for the summer."

"Really?"

"Yeah, my mom also paid extra for my little sister. She broke her arm, otherwise she wouldn't be here."

"I didn't know you had a sister."

"Her name's Elsie, she's eight. You might have her in your cabin."

"No, I don't have her this year."

"Well I'm sure you'll meet her soon," The bell rang at the mess hall signaling that it was time for dinner. "Dinner time, we better go line up."


The kids all ran to the mess hall and lined up according to cabin in front of their counselors.

"Alright now we're going to sing a song while we wait for the cooks to tell us we can come in," Hayley led the group in singing a song complete with hand motions. When the song was finished, they were signaled that the cooks were ready.

"The cabin with the straightest line will go in first," Hayley said. "Make your lines as straight as possible."

The kids all tried to make their lines straight, Jessica's cabin was chosen as the winner and they went in and picked where they wanted to sit first. Soon all the other kids followed.

"There are a few rules we need to go over," Brett stood on a chair, so all the kids could see him.

"Number 1: if you put it on your plate, you have to eat it."

"Number 2: you'll see you have food in the middle of each table, if you are the one who takes the last of the food for your table, you have to go to the kitchen and get more for your table."

"Number 3: when you are done, you will take your dishes to the kitchen and then go back to your seat."

"Number 4: Every Wednesday we will hand out mail from home, for every letter you receive, you will have to come up and kiss the moose. Brett pointed to a moose head that hung high on the wall. "If you receive a package, you will have to kiss the moose three times."

"I'm not going to have to do that," Annie told her table. "I told my parents not to send me mail."

"Alright everyone, that's it for the rules, dig in."


"Good night, Manda Panda, Mommy loves you," Blair said as she shut the lights out. Blair blew a kiss and shut the door.

Jo was sitting in a chair in the bedroom waiting for Blair to put Amanda to bed.

"OK Jo, I can't decide what to wear to the funeral," Blair held up two black dresses.

Jo covered her eyes and pointed randomly.

"Jo, you're not taking this seriously," Blair said frustrated.

"Blair, they're both fine, they almost look the same."

"Well, since you think they're both fine, you can wear this one," Blair shoved the fancier one at Jo.

"WHAT? NO!"

"Shh, the baby is sleeping."

"Sorry," Jo whispered. "I'm not wearing a dress."

"Yes, you are," Blair stuck her lower lip out and pouted.

"Fine, but I'm wearing the other one," Jo grabbed the less fancier of the two dresses as Blair grinned.


Later that night, everybody sat around the campfire. Brett sat in the middle of the group.

"Who wants to hear the story of why this camp is called Camp Frozen Lake?"

"ME!" everyone shouted.

About fifty years ago, this camp used to be called Camp Crystal Lake and they used to have camp during winter break. There was a young female counselor that was in Wolf cabin and she was kind of a loner. Everyone called her the princess, because she was afraid to get dirty, and no one actually knew her name.

One night she woke up and left her cabin in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Since she was a counselor, she didn't have to bring a buddy. They say she never made it back to her cabin.

"Do you know why?" Brett asked Tisha.

Tisha shook her head, "No, why?" she asked shaking.

"Well the bathroom's at the time were close to the lake," Brett pointed towards the lake at some bricks sticking out of the ground forming the corner of a wall, "they are torn down now, but there are still pieces of them left."

It is said that the young counselor ran into a wolf that night. The wolf pounced on her and dragged her across the frozen lake, but the ice on the lake was too weak to hold them and it cracked beneath them. Both of them fell into the icy water and drowned.

The next morning they found her and the wolf's body frozen solid in the lake. Now when anyone talks about her, they call her "The Ice Princess." Now every full moon, the lake freezes after midnight, even in the summer.

"…and they say that during a full moon you can still see her ghost walking to the bathroom." Brett finished the story. "Alright, it's time to go to bed. Everyone head to your cabins, bed check and lights out in fifteen minutes."

"I'm too scared to go to sleep," Tisha said.

Tisha, it's just a story," Annie said. "They tell it every year and nothing's ever happened."

"Well, you're right," Tisha stood up and looked Annie right in the face, "nothing's happened…yet."


Annie put her pajama's on and grabbed some stationary from her bag before she climbed up to her bunk. 'The Ice Princess was here' was carved on the wall, next to Annie's head.

"Lights out in ten minutes," Katie told them.

Annie started writing on her stationary.

Hey Mom,

Camp is great, I'm having fun.

Love, Annie

Annie folded the paper and put it in an envelope and wrote her address on it. Annie pulled another piece of paper out and began writing on it.

Aunt Blair,

I think I'm in love…