Hi guys - sorry for the wait on this one, but this chapter will hopefully be worth it! Finally, we have reached the peak of our story - the height of the drama. Yay! And I just hope it doesn't disappoint. Some questions will be answered in this chapter while others will be covered later on, but I can assure you that there is not a dull moment. :) And btw, I apologize for language at the end but it seemed to fit perfectly.

Thank you all so much for all of your reviews! You guys all write the best comments and I appreciate all of them. So please let me know what you think of this one! I hope you all enjoy!!

"I'm going to confront her."

Karma's eyes grow wide at the sound of my words, stopping her shimmying on the stage and gazing down at me. "Excuse me?"

"I'm going to talk to her. It's time."

She looks around at the ten campers on the stage with her and claps her hands loudly.

"Ok, take five, everyone. You can keep practicing out back if you want, but I have an emergency on my hands," she says, turning back towards me and adding, "My friend Jude here is about to commit social suicide."

I roll my eyes as all of the kids start to gather their belongings and head out the back door. Karma jumps off the stage and walks over to me, her eyes scrutinizing mine.

"I'm sorry, perhaps the sun has seeped into my brain. Did you say that you are planning to confront her? As in, Nicole?"

I nod quickly and watch as her face goes from surprise to disappointment. She shakes her head at me and sighs loudly.

"Oh Jude…so young, so naïve," she trails, strolling towards the side of the stage to grab a bottle of water.

"What?" I ask, now feeling like the confused one. "I can't take this anymore, Karma. And Sadie helped me get some dirt on her that proves that she was the one who gave the interview."

Karma turns back towards me and shrugs. "So?"

At her indifference, I furrow my brow and throw my hands up in the air. "So? So – she's making my life completely miserable! And it has to stop!"

"And you think confronting her is going to help?" she replies, making her way back towards me. "Haven't we been through this before?"

Instinctively, I groan loudly, grabbing my hair. "Karma…you confuse me. First, you offer to help—"

"I never offered to help," she interrupts quickly. "I offered to make a deal. Remember?"

I roll my eyes at her but continue my speech. "First, you offer to help…with stipulations. Then you tell me to take her down. And now you're telling me not to say anything at all?"

"A girl's allowed to change her mind, Jude," she replies with a shrug. "You should know that better than anyone."

Ignoring her, I take a deep breath to relax, wanting nothing more than to understand what she's trying to tell me.

"Karma. Please. Explain."

"Well, I thought about it more and I realized that if you go after her, you're just setting yourself up," she explains. "Nicole is never going to give up, regardless of how much dirt you have on her. She wants that record contract and you trying to intimidate her isn't going to work."

I shake my head, unconvinced. "I don't know…if she realizes that I know about her and Talk National, I think she'd do whatever she can to protect her image."

"I just don't think it's that simple," Karma disagrees. "Are you planning to tell her about the Tommy thing too?"

"About her scheme of using him?" I ask, to which she nods. "Maybe. If I'm being honest, I probably should…although I don't know if I really want to go there."

"I wouldn't if I were you," Karma warns. "Jude, when we made that deal at the beginning of the summer, I had no idea what that girl was capable of. Now, seeing her in action, and how she completely ruined your reputation, I wouldn't step within ten feet of her."

I smirk at her words, "And I thought you liked drama."

"I do, but only when I come out on top," she admits, pausing for a moment and adding, "Not literally of course. Although if he's cute enough, sometimes that can work to your benefit too…"

"Karma!," I exclaim, trying to bring her back to the topic at hand.

"Right, sorry," she says, refocused. "This is bad news Jude, so whatever you do, just make sure my name isn't mentioned."

"Thanks for the support," I mutter in irritation.

"In fact," she continues, backing away from me, "we shouldn't even be seen together. Someone could see us and think I'm involved! And then you're going to ruin my reputation!"

"Karma…"

"I think it's time for you to go now, Jude…person…whoever you are," she calls, walking quickly towards the back door.

"Just for the record, your reputation can't get much worse than it already is!" I yell after her, hearing the back door slam in response.

- - -

I enter the staff lounge an hour before dinner, finally having my off period. I've decided with this free hour, I am going to use it to consider Karma's advice and decide how to handle this.

I slump down on the couch, covering my face with my hands as I weigh my options.

On one hand, Karma could be right. By confronting Nicole, I could end up making this situation worse.

But on the other hand, if I let this go further, people will continue to hate me and I'll be forced to keep watching Tommy and Nicole together.

The one thing I know for sure is that all of this needs to end. Nicole has successfully ruined my summer and I'll be damned if I let her get away with it for any longer.

In the midst of my thoughts, I hear a familiar voice,

"Ok, Ben. Here's the bathroom. But go quickly. You shouldn't be in here…this is the staff bathroom."

I then hear a boy say, "Ok, ok, I get it. Ooo, you guys have real toilet paper in here…nice."

I remove my hands from my eyes and see Tommy standing outside the bathroom in the corner, impatiently waiting for his camper.

I can't help but grin watching him, appearing paranoid that someone will catch him bringing a camper to the staff bathroom.

His eyes scan the room until they meet mine. I smile at him, stand up, and walk over.

"Sneaking a kid in to use the staff restroom?" I ask with a teasing grin. "You really are rebellious, Quincy."

"He had to go," he replies with a shrug. "I didn't want him to pee all over the tennis court."

"No, I guess that wouldn't be good," I reply with a light snicker. My expression then turns more serious as I remember our earlier conversation.

"So…I know you're on bathroom duty, but do you think maybe we could continue our conversation from before?" I ask timidly, searching his eyes for some indication of hope.

He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "I actually have to get back to my team," he says, glancing towards the bathroom door which is still closed. He looks back at me, seeing my disappointment, and adds, "But…maybe we can talk later tonight?"

I automatically grin. "Sure, that sounds good. Do you want to meet here?"

As he begins to nod in response, I notice Nicole has appeared in the room and is now stationed beside him, linking her arm around his as though she's marking her territory. Where did she come from??

"I'm sorry, you're meeting up with my boyfriend?" she says, cocking her head at me.

I breathe to myself, trying to remain calm, and say, "Yes. You can have him back when we're done."

She lets out a light, mocking laugh, and replies, "How sweet of you. But actually, Tommy and I need to work on my song tonight for the talent show. Right, babe?" she asks, looking at him.

Tommy appears uncomfortable for a few moments, clearing his throat and shifting his weight from side to side. But ultimately, he looks back at me and says, "Sorry…I umm, forgot. Tomorrow?"

I nod wordlessly, looking down at the ground in defeat. Before any of us can say another word, the door to the bathroom opens and a boy wearing a blue t-shirt emerges.

"Done," the camper announces.

Still unnerved by our conversation, Tommy quickly nods and looks back at us. "See you later," he says, making sure to not direct the statement towards either of us in particular.

He walks his camper towards the door and opens it, quickly disappearing into the outside.

Standing alone in the lounge, I look at Nicole, her expression still focused on the door.

Okay…so here we are - the two of us, in an empty room, with comfy couches. I can't help but think that this could be the perfect opportunity to talk. Calmly. Rationally. She doesn't look like she's going to freak out on me. Although there are no witnesses if she decides to go for the kill.

She glances at me briefly before turning to leave.

"Nicole," I say, stopping her in her tracks. "Do you have a sec? I was hoping we could…talk." The word talk comes out forced, as though it were code for fight.

She looks at me closely, trying hard to read my intentions.

"It'll just take a minute," I add, sensing her hesitation.

I start to walk towards the couch on the far end of the room, glancing back at her as I take a seat. She's still standing near the entrance, clearly debating whether or not to follow, but sighs loudly and walks towards the couch opposite me.

She sits down with a huff and a look of annoyance, as though this is a huge waste of her time.

My heart is beating loudly in my ears and I try to remember Karma's advice.

Don't make this bigger than it needs to be. Don't go too far. Be calm. Be mature.

I take a deep breath, trying to maintain a light and relaxed mood and say, "I just wanted to say that I know we've had our differences, but I would appreciate it if you could put your issues with me aside until camp is over."

She blinks at me, but maintains a cold expression.

"And why would I do that?"

"Because we're on the same team for the next couple of days, and for the benefit of the kids, we need to be respectful of each other."

She gazes at me incredulously and says, "I'm always respectful, but only when the respect is justified."

I swallow the list of expletives that immediately comes to mind and simply reply, "And it's not justified? Not even for the sake of the 13 and 14 year old girls we're watching?"

"No," she states blankly. "Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

I scoff, feeling myself become irritated by her unwillingness to be reasonable.

"You can't fake it?"

"No," she says quickly, uncaringly. "I can't fake respect for someone who doesn't deserve it."

I take a deep breath, still trying to remain calm, and shake my head.

"I'm willing to try," I assert, knowing that I'm treading on thin ice. "Even though I don't feel that you're worth my respect."

"Oh please," she says, rolling her eyes. "How about this? You can respect me all you want and I'll just act like you don't exist."

"That might be hard considering we're on the same color war team and I teach songwriting with your boyfriend," I remind her.

"Watch me," she poses. "As long as you stay away from me and my boyfriend, then I think we can get along fine."

I try to maintain my composure, but I already feel my blood pressure begin to rise.

"You can't control me," I challenge.

"I'm not trying to," she replies, feigning innocence. "It's not my fault that you can't learn how to stay away from people who don't want you in their lives."

Seeing the satisfied smirk on her face, I feel the anger rapidly build inside of me. There is no way she is able to be a mature adult about this. How could I have thought she would?

Fine. Then, I'm moving on to Plan B. Skip the maturity and let her have it.

"Ok, Nicole. I'll leave you alone. But before I do, I just remembered that I actually have a message for you."

"A message?"

"You got a call from a Steve Rudman this morning," I say, his name rolling off my tongue as casually as possible.

I watch as her eyes grow wide and her jaw gapes open.

"What?"

"A Steve Rudman," I repeat, pulling the piece of paper that Sadie gave me out of my pocket. "From Talk National. He says to thank you for your help with yesterday's article and wants to know if you would be interested in doing a follow up interview."

I glance at her, attempting to hide my grin of triumph, and wait for the impact of my words to hit her.

She looks at me with a mixture of alarm and confusion, slowly standing from her seat on the couch.

"What…I don't know who that is."

"Well, isn't that funny? Because he seems to know exactly who you are," I reply sharply, standing too. "And I'm sure he'd be willing to elaborate if you don't remember."

Silence grows between us and I can feel her panic mounting.

"How…how did you get that message?"

"You're not the only one with connections around this camp," I point out, the grin beginning to surface. "I happen to know someone at the office. Did you know that they keep records of all incoming and outgoing calls? I didn't. But I guess it's important to keep tabs on everything."

"You…you…but I…"

I cross my arms around my chest and glare at her in victory.

"So…would you like to reconsider the whole being cordial for the kids bit? Or do you still think you deserve more respect than I do?" I ask with a biting edge. "Because this really doesn't seem like something worthy of anyone's respect."

"I don't owe you an explanation," she states assertively. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"Nothing wrong?" I repeat in disbelief. "So, making up a story about two people having a secret love affair isn't wrong in your book?"

"That story was not made up," she replies quickly. "I saw you two kissing. That story was all founded in truth! It was just…embellished a bit."

I feel an odd sense of relief in knowing that she was, in fact, the mystery intruder. For once, I was actually correct.

But I focus back on her, unwilling to accept that her actions were warranted. "That story was far more than embellished."

"I did what I had to do to protect my relationship with Tommy," she says, her voice growing stronger. "He's the most important person in my life."

"That's how you treat the most important person in your life? By making up stories and selling them to trashy tabloids?" I question. "I'd hate to see what you do to people you don't like."

She crosses her arms defensively. "You don't know anything about me and Tommy. I genuinely want to be with him! I…I love him."

I can't help but release a startled laugh. "Love? You love him? You don't even know him!"

She glares angrily at me, the fury building behind her eyes. "Oh, and you do? You're no one to him! You're just a bitter, desperate ex-girlfriend."

Her words hit me hard, making me visibly shrink back.

My anger quickly starts to spiral out of control and before I can stop myself, my mouth opens and I say the words that are waiting on the tip of my tongue to come out.

"I'm desperate? Tell me Nicole, why exactly are you dating Tommy?"

She looks at me in confusion, shaking her head. "I don't know what you mean."

"Tell me," I start, eyeing her closely, "do you really expect people to believe that you care about Tommy? You think people will actually buy that it's mere coincidence that your boyfriend is a famous producer at a huge record label?"

"What? That has nothing to do with it—"

"Oh really? I wonder if your friend Leslie would agree," I spit out, saying her name with great emphasis.

"Leslie?" she repeats, furrowing her brow. "Why would she care?"

"Well, I think she might be able to recount a story about how her best friend developed this plan to use her boyfriend to get a record contract. Wait – I believe your wording was something like, 'I will officially become a signed artist before September.'"

Her eyes go wide. Before she can say anything, I add,

"Sound familiar?"

"You...you…you listened in on our conversation??"

"Your conversation was in the staff lounge," I remind her. "In public. For anyone to hear. I happened to be sitting there."

I continue, "I heard about how you have Tommy wrapped around your finger and how you didn't care about what you were doing to him. I heard it all."

Her mouth drops open, as I add, "And now with this little insight on the source of that interview, I think Tommy will be quite shocked to learn who his girlfriend really is."

Her eyes narrow as she stares at me intensely. "You wouldn't dare…"

"Why not? What do I have to lose? I wanted to play nice, Nicole, but you didn't. So if it's got to be like this…then so be it."

She is visibly fuming, her face turning a shade of crimson, as she huffs loudly and shakes her head.

"No! You will not ruin my chances at stardom!"

I let out a roar of laughter, "Stardom? I hate to break it to you but I think the only way you'll be a star is if you lip synch!"

At this point, I realize that we're standing about 5 feet apart, both with our hands on our hips, prepared for battle. And judging by the words that are coming out of each of our mouths, this is not a battle that will end well.

"Tommy's never going to believe you," she claims vehemently. "He's just going to see what I see – some girl who can't handle the fact that she's not his first choice."

"See, that's where you're wrong," I start. "Tommy knows me. He knows I wouldn't lie."

"Oh really? So why did you keep this a secret, Jude?" she retorts angrily. "Why did you hide it from him? The way I see it, you lied too."

"No," I say, shaking my head fiercely. "This is different."

"No, it's not," she disagrees, her confidence starting to return. "In fact, you're not so sweet and innocent yourself. You get your sister to snoop through my phone messages, you keep secrets from your friends, and to top it all off, you had me taken out of your songwriting program!"

Her words completely take me by surprise, releasing an audible gasp that echoes off the walls.

"I…I didn't…" I stumble, knowing that my reaction actually makes me look more guilty.

"Well I have information that says otherwise," she says smugly.

Josh.

Ugh! I knew it!!

I cross my arms around my chest in frustration, not knowing how to respond.

Through gritted teeth, I attempt to explain. "I asked for you to be moved because I couldn't stand what you were doing to Tommy. He's too good for you. He doesn't deserve that!"

"And I suppose you think that someone like you would be better for him?" she replies condescendingly. "Someone who lies and manipulates situations behind his back? Someone who dates one person but hooks up with someone else's boyfriend on the side?"

"What?" I ask, my voice wavering, all of her accusations starting to affect me. She's twisting everything around…I was just trying to help Tommy. To protect him! I have good reasons behind all of this!

"No! You're getting this all wrong!" I cry, no longer able to hold back.

"You played with Tommy's emotions. And Jamie's. And mine!" she shouts, flinging her arms in the air. "And you think you're really better than I am? Worthy of my respect?"

"No!! You don't understand! I didn't do any of that for myself!"

"Like hell you didn't!"

"You don't know—"

"Enough!" we hear from the doorway, a loud booming voice interrupting our screaming match and making both of us jump.

Nicole and I instantly stop and turn towards the door to see the source of the disruption.

There, standing in front of the door, is Tommy.

His face is red and he's balling his fists at his sides.

My heart immediately drops at the sight of him, panic slowly making its way into my system.

Oh no.

No.

Please tell me he didn't just hear any of that.

If he did…if he heard any of Nicole's words…oh no…

He doesn't speak – his eyes simply flicker from hers to mine. But as his gaze meets my own, I can see that his eyes are blazing, the fire about to erupt across the room.

"Tommy…" I mutter, my voice faint.

My heart pounds in my chest as the weight of the situation begins to sink in.

No, no, no…this can't be happening!

As I start to search for words to explain, he emits a loud noise, almost like a growl, in my direction, and immediately storms out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Shit.