There was a moment of stilled silence when the only thing that I could hear was the chirping of the birds, and the distant voices of other campers. Case was everything I had imagined him to be-and more. Mom had told me all that she knew about him and everything fit the description perfectly. (Actually, Dad had told her about Charlie and Case from his travelings, but that's a whole other story unto itself.) Case had dark black hair that was cut short and formed into perfect little spikes on his head. Wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a khaki green shirt, I could easily see that he worked out. His eyes were glittering and intense. If I had met him on the street in the middle of the night, I might have actually been afraid of him. But, now, in the sunlight, he appeared friendly and at ease. Yet, I must've been the only one to see the sadness Tinga's death had caused him. It was obvious he carried it with him everyday. Finally, he cleared his throat and extended his hand towards me.

"Hello, Alanza. I don't believe we've met before."

I wanted to tell him that we'd met in more ways than he had ever imagined, but I figured it was my best bet to keep my mouth shut with James standing right beside us. Politely, I shook his hand and smiled. "Glad to meet you, Case."

Max, seeing that the ice had been broken, laughed, "I didn't plan on this being a couples' campin' trip!"

"Certainly got more than a little gathering in the woods-huh?" I asked her.

"Definitely," James agreed.

"C'mon," Case said, being the voice of reason, "let's get a spot."

He and Max walked out in front, mostly because they seemed to be the unofficial leaders in our excursion into the unknown. James and I followed behind.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were going up north?" he asked me.

"I was going to ask you the very same question."

"Well, you see, Case gave me a call when I got back from lunch yesterday. So, I called him back, and he asked me if I was willing to go up north for a bit. He didn't say that his girlfriend…or you…were going to be here, so I figured that it was just a 'guy trip'. I didn't have time to call you before I left because he picked me up right from work." He shrugged. "I guess I was planning on giving you a call from up here."

"There's phones?" I asked.

"Possibly. But Case has a cell phone. Unfortunately, on the trip up here, we didn't realize that the batteries were dead. So, now, his cell phone's in the car charging."

"I got a call from Max late last night. She said that her boyfriend might be coming, but it wasn't a really good chance because he couldn't get away from his parent-"

"Charlie," James interrupted.

"Huh?" I asked, pretending not to understand. If it looked like I understood far too much, things could look suspicious.

"Case's dad. Ever since his mom died, Charlie's been real protective of Case. Afraid that some guy's gonna come and take Case away. I think it's something to do with the government, but I'm not sure."

"What would the government want with Case?"

James paused, and I saw that he was thinking hard. Thinking hard of how to elude me. "Something to do with his mom. I believe she…worked for the government…and, uh, well, I don't know the full story. You'd have to ask Case himself."

I nodded, as if I really understood. I wasn't about to tell him that I knew that he was feeding me just another line of lies.

"So, how long have you known Case?" I asked, but James failed to hear my question as Case and Max turned around to declare that "this was the spot".

It was a fairly secluded area. All around, trees rose high and wide, their branches creating a green lace quilt above my head. Off to my right, a trail led downhill to a lake, (or so Max said). A downed tree created the perfect barrier from any wild animals that could have crept up on us during the night.

James groaned and threw the heavy camping equipment off his back. Case followed suit and soon there were two piles of supplies on the forest floor. Max and I looked at each other and sighed. We still had to walk all the way back to our car to get our own stuff.

"Hey!" Case called from behind us as we headed back. "Do you guys want to go swimming?"
"Sure!" Max replied, speaking before I had a chance to. Case grinned, revealing perfect teeth that were whiter than I could've imagined.

"Great. James and I will meet ya both up here."

Max gave him a thumbs-up, and we both scurried away to get dressed.

"Did you rememba to bring a suit?" Max asked me as she popped open the trunk.

"Should've."

When the trunk opened, everything that we had brought went flying up into the air from being under so much pressure. I dashed over to grab my sleeping bag before it hit the ground. It landed in my arms and then, reaching out another long arm, I scooped my case out of the air before it pounded Max in the head.

She laughed, slightly embarrassed. I, though, spoke before she had a chance to do so. "At least it all fit."

Max and I took turns changing into our swimsuits inside of the Neon with its tinted windows. Max didn't seem the least bit shy as she left the windows half down and cranked the radio up, drawing attention to the car. She even sang along with it.

I meanwhile, waited around the back with the trunk lid up as I pulled the things out of the car. Good Lord, how much stuff did she think that we needed? Just a bit, obviously.

I was in the middle of prying the folded up tent out of the trunk when Max emerged from the car. "How do I look?" she asked me, looking for approval on her outfit.

She wore an orange triangle bikini with magenta straps. On the orange part of the suit were tiny little tye-dyed swirls of yellow. Her hair was tied back even though it looked like it was about to spring all over the place-just like our trunk had done.

I grinned before turning back to the tent. "If Case doesn't drop over, he'd have to be gay," I joked.

She laughed and elbowed me in the side playfully. "Get dressed yourself or else we're gonna miss swimmin'."

So, I dug around in my case to pull out my swimsuit that was in a plastic bag so if it got wet, it wouldn't leak all over my other clothes.

Before getting dressed, I made sure that all the windows were rolled up tightly and that the radio was turned down. Just because Max wanted to showcase herself to the world didn't mean that I had to as well.

When I came out of the car, I instinctively wrapped a towel around myself from the coldness. "It's freezing out here," I whined to Max.

"Oh, quit your grumblin'. Let me see your suit first, Miss California Surfer Girl."

I laughed and timidly lowered the towel. Wearing a suit that was indeed from California and that I did wear while surfing, I could only hope that it was appropriate. I wore boy-cut shorts, which gave me some modesty in the bottom, with a sport-bra like top. Both were a shimmery navy blue with silver racing strips.

Max grinned wryly. "To use your words, 'If James don't drop ova, he'd hafta be gay'."

We lugged the rest of our stuff up the hill where James and Case both waited, talking quietly to one another. Upon seeing Max and I, they rose to their feet and asked if we needed help with anything.

"Nu-uh," Max replied and threw some luggage down on the ground.

"Ready?" Case asked no one in particular. He wore a pair of baggy green trunks with black stripes around the hems. James, on the other hand, settled for a pair of red trunks that were faded in some spots to appear pink-but not on purpose, of course. He noticed my observing and shrugged. "You don't go swimming a whole lot in northern Wisconsin," he admitted.

I laughed as I clutched towel to my body tighter. I wasn't taking off my towel until needed to.

"I'm gonna say it again, 'Ready'?" Case repeated.

"Last one to the water gets dunked!" Max screamed, and we all hurried down the hill. At least I knew that I wasn't going to the one who got dunked.