"Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them."

-Abraham Lincoln

Chapter Twenty-Five

Lainey was just hugging Margaret good-bye when the doorbell rang. Lainey glanced at the clock, knowing that it was still very, very early and wondering who could possibly be coming around at this hour of the morning. Margaret shrugged, obviously feeling the same way she did and went and opened the door.

"What do you want?" Lainey asked the person standing at the door. Rachelle, biting her lip very nervously came in and stood uncomfortably in the foyer.

"I came to say bye," Rachelle muttered, sounding relieved that she had been able to finish it.

"Glad to see me go, are you?" Lainey asked her coldly.

"No," Rachelle tried to defend herself, but failed miserably as she noticed the look of stern dislike on Lainey's friendship.

"Whatever," Lainey rolled her eyes, but softened them, "I am pretty sure I won't be seeing you around, even if I do come. I think it's for the best."

Rachelle nodded her agreement as Craig came out of the back room, carrying his and Lainey's luggage. Lainey followed her brother through the door and then turned around before leaving.

"Our friendship was never going to work out, was it?" Lainey asked Rachelle with a defeated tone in her voice, "even if I would have stayed."

Rachelle opened her mouth as if to protest, but then thought better of it and instead nodded again.

"I'm sorry," she finally managed to mutter, "I really always considered you the best friend I ever had."

"Me too," Lainey shook her head, "me too."

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Bailey scooted closer into Scott's arm as the last song of the night drifted onto the dance floor. She closed her eyes, pretending that tomorrow was not the end, that the summer was not going to be over.

"I'm going to miss you," Scott whispered to her, a hint of sadness lacing his tone

"Me too," she whispered back. Around them, all the camp couples were saying what were really their last good-byes, even though they would see each other tomorrow. Suddenly, Scott grabbed her arm and drug her out of the hall.

"Come on, I'll walk you back to your cabin before I get in trouble for doing it," he urged. Bailey smiled, but followed him as he began the short walk towards her cabin.

"I'm really going to miss this place," Bailey smiled as she looked around.

"Last year, I was so bummed out about leaving, I almost cried," Scott admitted to her, wrapping his arm around her tighter.

"All of my tears were used up last night," Bailey shook her head in amusement.

"Oh well, it's a girl thing for you to cry like that," Scott joked around, as they reached Bailey's cabin.

Bailey did not even respond to Scott's assumption that crying was a girl thing and just leaned into him, wanting to savor as much time with him as possible. Scott also seemed to understand the importance of the moment. This was probably the most alone they were going to be all summer, and tomorrow's good-byes wouldn't even compare with what could be said tonight.

"You are one fantastic girl," Scott muttered to her, kissing her forehead, and then her nose before finally kissing her lips, "if you seriously think that you won't make any friends next year, you are mental. Or else, all those people are stupid."

"You are one charming guy," Bailey retaliated, kissing Scott again, "I'm really going to miss you."

"I know," Scott breathed, holding her in the hug a little longer before they heard voices coming from the direction of the dance hall and he hastily let go, "I have to get back to the cabin."

"I'll see you tomorrow," Bailey smiled, giving Scott a kiss on the cheek, "bye."

"Bye," Scott grinned, before walking off towards his cabin as the girls drew closer.

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Vanessa paced in her living room, the television set was on, but she wasn't paying any attention to what was on it. She was thinking the whole thing with Craig through. Why hadn't he called her while he'd been gone? Was it because he was upset that she didn't feel the same way? Was it because he was having too much fun? Was it because he'd found someone else who would be closer to where he was? She heard the doorbell ring and didn't bother to answer it.

It wasn't until the ringing of the doorbell became annoying did Vanessa finally decide to go answer it. She assumed that it was probably Seth or Sarah, wanting to talk to her.

"What in the world do you want?" she demanded to know as she swung her door open.

"To talk to you," the person on the other side of the door answered.
"Craig!" Vanessa exclaimed, opening the door more to let him in, "I thought you weren't supposed to be back until tomorrow."

"We got busted at the party," Craig laughed, "so, my parents made us come home immediately, and then they gave us this big long talk about responsibility. But, since I'm going to college, they can't exactly ground me, so here I am."

Vanessa couldn't help but smile at the story, "how was your trip?"

"Interesting," Craig stated, looking around uncomfortably, "um, Lainey knows that I like you, and she seems to be under the mistaken impression that you might feel the same way."

"How did she find out?" Vanessa asked, curious.

"Sarah," he smiled.

"Huh," Vanessa said, unable to say anymore. She knew that she had to tell Craig now, but like last time, she was freezing up.

"So," Craig said, obviously starting to regret his trip here, "I guess if there's nothing more to say …,"

"Wait!" Vanessa suddenly stopped him before he could leave, "Lainey wasn't exactly mistaken when she said that I like you too."

"Really?" Craig quirked an eyebrow at the girl, although a smile began to appear on his lips.

"Yeah," Vanessa bit her lip and hurried up her voice, "I mean, you were there for me all summer, how could I not like you?"

Before she knew what was happening, Craig had grabbed her up in a big hug and twirled her around the room before setting her down.

"So," Craig began, "do you want to go out on a date tonight?"

"On one condition," Vanessa smiled mischievously.

"Sure, what?" Craig asked, a look of puzzlement coming across his face.

"We have to get sno cones," Vanessa laughed, "because you know, they make everything better."

Craig just laughed before telling her he would pick her up at seven and then walking out the door. As soon as she knew Craig was hearing distance from her home, Vanessa squealed, an uncharacteristically girly thing for her to do. She finally had a date with Craig!

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"Do you feel like talking about the night it happened?"

"How many people have you exactly told about this?"

Sarah's mind swirled with the questions. The first one just brought back memories of her nightmare, but the second one, it kind of scared her. Because, looking back on it, besides blurting it out to the counselor, she hadn't told anybody about that night. She had thought she was getting better, but was she ashamed of what had happened that night? So ashamed she couldn't tell anybody.

Of course, she did not want to tell everybody, she just wanted to be able to tell her mom, her dad, and just anybody she was close to. Does this mean that she still blamed herself for the whole thing? Sarah's mind continued to contemplate these thoughts when she heard her phone ring and absentmindedly picked it up.

On the other end, Vanessa's voice flooded in with excitement, telling her all about her date tonight. Sarah tried to sound happy for her friend, but her mind continued to be stuck on her counseling session from yesterday, finally Vanessa must have noticed something was wrong, because she finally stopped talking about her date.

"Are you okay?" Vanessa hesitantly asked Sarah, "do you need to talk?"

"I'm fine," Sarah said dully, knowing that Vanessa didn't believe her, she didn't even believe herself.

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Bailey smiled as she waited for the bus to take her back to the airport. Scott, and most of her friends had already left on an earlier bus because their planes left earlier. Jennifer, Maddie, Beth, and her had said very tearful good-byes, promising to write to each other and stay in touch. Scott and herself, who had already said most of their good-byes the night before, had just given each one final hug and quick kiss, each holding back tears, before he climbed onto the bus.

Normally, Bailey would have found it an odd thing that she was smiling when she was about to leave the camp that had meant so much to her. She couldn't help but think of the good times and the laughs that she had here.

"Hey Bailey," a voice spoke up beside her. She glanced sideways to see Shannon standing next to her. Shannon was catching the same bus as Bailey, and while neither had actually said good-bye to the other yet, Bailey knew that one of the things she felt most proud of this summer was being able to say that she actually made friends with Shannon.

"Shannon, how are you?" Bailey smiled at the girl.

"Been better," Shannon wrinkled her nose, "plane rides always get me down. Especially the one after camp. Last summer I was in such a bad mood on the trip home, I think I actually yelled at several old people."

Bailey laughed, before putting on a shocked face, "but, you've always been so sweet."

"I meant what I said the other night," Shannon said suddenly, the two girls had also never talked about what had been said at the circle the other night, "I hope we can stay in touch over the school year.

"I think I would be disappointed if we didn't," Bailey smirked, giving Shannon a hug, "you were the last person I expected to be friends with this summer."

"Because you were infatuated with my boyfriend," Shannon said, fake disgruntled ness evident her voice.

"Nah, because you were a witch," Bailey retaliated. Just then, their bus pulled up and they started loading their luggage in the back, before climbing on the bus to start the journey to the airport, Bailey looked back at Shannon and said, "but, you know, I'm glad we did become friends."

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Vanessa and Craig were sitting up at the sno cone stand, enjoying what was sure to be one of their last sno cones for the summer. Vanessa smiled as she remembered the first sno cone she had gotten with Craig.

"You know," Craig mused, entangling his fingers with Vanessa's, "this isn't that much different than the hanging out we've been doing all summer."

"It feels different," Vanessa insisted, "I mean, I guess just being here and actually knowing you like me makes a difference."

"True," Craig smiled, a sparkle in his eyes, as he drew her closer to him, "and that gives me the power to do this."

Craig leaned into her and gave her a short, sweet kiss. The awkwardness of that kiss just made it all the more sweet for the couple.

"You know, I liked you the first moment I met you when you asked me to pretend to be your girlfriend," Vanessa admitted, "I don't think I told myself the truth until you helped me with the whole adoption thing."

"I think I first liked you when you couldn't stop laughing from the look on Susie's face," Craig recalled the night they had first met, "but, I don't think I realized how much I liked you until you ran away from your parents."

"We don't have much time until you leave for college," Vanessa bit her lip, a nervous habit she had.

"But we can make the most of the time we do have," Craig reassured her, giving her another small kiss.