"I need you to go deliver these letters to the boys. They're in the wreck room." The warden told Lucie, handing her a stack of letters.

Lucie huffed. "Aunt Lou, I really don't want to go in there. Can Pendanski not do it? He usually does."

The warden straightened her cowboy hat. "He's busy."

"I don't think it's a good idea for me to go in there." Lucie protested, trying to hand the letters back to her aunt.

"I didn't ask you, Lucie. Just take them and give them out." She shoved the letters back to Lucie and left before there could be any more arguing.

Lucie groaned and followed her aunt out the door.

Just avoid Squid and Stanley. She told herself.

She thumbed through the envelopes to check the names. There was one for Caveman. She groaned again and said, "Great," under her breath.

When she entered the wreck room, the usual chaos was going on. She immediately spotted Squid standing next to Magnet, X-Ray, and Armpit. They were all holding pool sticks but appeared to be taking a break from their game. Caveman was sitting with Zero on the couch, talking to ZigZag who was staring at the broken television.

"Um, excuse me!" She shouted to the room. No one acknowledged her. "Excuse me!" she tried again.

Squid looked up, laid his pool stick on the table and crossed the room towards her, looking at the letters in her hand.

"Hey!" He yelled. It got quiet. "Lucie's got letters. Everybody shut up so she can give them out."

Lucie smiled weakly at Squid and looked down at her stack of letters.

"Um, Richard Moore." A couple of the guys laughed and a short, fat, blond headed boy stepped up to take his letter.

"Justin Campbell." This time a tall boy with sandy colored hair came up to Lucie. He winked at her. "Thanks, Hot Lips."

Squid shot Justin a warning look.

"Thomas Lake." An Asian boy came and received his letter.

Lucie gave out letters to Benjamin Wilson, Christian Calvert, and Landon Conner. At the bottom of the stack was Caveman's letter. Lucie swallowed hard and called out, "Stanley Yelnats."

Caveman stood up and walked toward Lucie without looking at her.

"Here you go, Stanley." She said as she handed him his letter. He still didn't look at her and she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she watched him walk away.

The noise started back up right after she called Caveman's name. Pool games resumed, the foosball table sprang into action, conversations continued, and the radio that had been playing in the corner of the room came back on, filling the room with loud music.

"I'm sorry." Squid said suddenly.

Lucie was caught off guard.

"Please don't be mad at me."

"I'm not mad." She said shaking her head. "And I'm sorry, too."

"Good." Squid said smiling at her. She smiled back at him.

"What about what you said earlier? Outside. About not having feelings for me."

Lucie shrugged. "I don't know."

"You don't know why you said it or you don't know if you have feelings for me?"

"I just don't know. I don't really know what's going on. I'm kind of confused."

"Yea? Well, things are perfectly clear to me." Squid reached out took Lucie's hand in his, softly stroking hers with his thumb.

Her heart beat faster but she controlled herself. "Oh, really?"

"Yep. It's perfectly clear that I like you a lot. And I know you like me, too."

"Maybe." Lucie said, trying to hide a smile.

Squid's light brown eyes pierced Lucie's blue ones. Suddenly Lucie shook her hand away from Squid's and backed up.

"What's wrong?" He asked, frowning.

"Nothing." She glanced over at Caveman who, of course, had been watching and quickly looked away.

"Caveman? Is that it? Do you really like him?"

Lucie shrugged. "I don't know, Squid. I told you. I'm confused."

Again her thoughts flashed back to someone back at home. That face haunted her. His smile, his beautiful blue eyes…

"Jake." She whispered, and rubbed her forehead.

"Who? Who's Jake?" Squid asked, looking around as if he thought Jake was one of the boys at Camp Green Lake.

"Oh, did I say…No one. There's no Jake."

"Look, Lucie, I don't know how many guys you have something going on with, but I don't want to be just one name on your list."

"No, you don't understand. You wouldn't understand."

"How do you know that?"

"I just know. Guys don't understand."

"Try me." Squid inched closer to her and she back away again, shaking her head.

"Why won't you just trust me enough to talk to me? You won't tell me why you're here, you won't tell me if you like me, you won't tell me if you like Caveman and you won't tell me who Jake is."

"Because it's none of your business! And that's just it. I don't know if I can trust you. I don't know you at all. You guys are all alike."

Before Squid had a chance to respond, she was out the door.

Caveman came running over to Squid and asked, "What did you say to her?"

"Nothing, man. She just freaked out and started saying all guys were alike and started talking about some guy named Jake."

Caveman dashed out the door. "Lucie!" he called after her.

She ignored him and kept walking.

"Lucie, wait. Are you okay?"

She stopped right in front of Mr. Sir's office and turned back to look at Caveman.

"Stanley, please just leave me alone."

"No. I just want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, all right? I just realized it would be best if I stayed to myself for the rest of the summer and didn't cause myself or anyone else any more problems."

"You're not causing problems, Luc."

"Yes I am! Can you not see? I've caused tension between you and Squid. And I've messed up a perfectly good opportunity to be friends with the two of you."

Caveman sighed. "Who's Jake?"

"Squid already told you about that? God, he can't keep his mouth shut."

"Who is it?"

"It's no one. Just someone from my past I'd rather not talk about."

"An old boyfriend?"

Lucie felt tears well up in her eyes. She looked up at Caveman's sympathetic face and suddenly felt all her guards being let down.

"Did he hurt you?" He asked quietly.

Lucie nodded. "He cheated on me. With one of my friends."

"When was this?"

"A few months ago. We had been dating for a year and a half."

"I'm sorry, Luc." Caveman surprised both himself and Lucie by stepping up and pulling her into a tight hug. She rested her head on his shoulder and let a few tears drip out.

"Squid reminds me of him so much. That scares me."

Caveman nodded. "Squid's a good guy though, really. But if you don't feel comfortable starting something with him, don't."

"I think what I need is a really good guy. I mean, a genuinely kind hearted, sweet guy. Not another bad boy."

She released herself from his embrace and looked right into his eyes. It was obvious he was anticipating what she would say next.

"I think you might be that guy."

A small smile showed itself on Caveman's face. "Really?"

Lucie leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips. He looked stunned and pleased at the same time.

"Lucie!" Mr. Sir shouted, running out of his office. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Mr. Sir, I-"

"Yelnats, get back in the wreck room where you're supposed to be! Lucie, get back to the cabin! I will be notifying the warden immediately." He spit sunflower seed shells onto the ground in front of them and walked back in his office, slamming the door behind him.

"Oh no." Lucie whispered. "I'm sorry, Stanley."

"It was worth it." He told her, smiling.

            Lucie slipped into her silky, pink night shorts and matching top and crawled into bed. She turned the television on with the remote and began flipping through the channels. She had felt much better since her conversation with Caveman earlier in the day and breathed a sigh of relief as a feeling of peace came over her. Just then she heard a thud on her window.

"Not again." She told herself. She ignored the noise, but when it happened a second time she turned in time to see a pebble falling through the air. She got out of bed and looked out the window to see Squid standing there on the other side of the bushes standing on tiptoe. When she raised the window, he motioned to a stepladder sitting at his feet.

"Can I come in?"

She shook her head and glanced nervously over her shoulder at the door. "No. You'll get caught. We'll talk tomorrow."

"I don't want to wait till tomorrow. I need to talk to you now."

"Squid, no. It's too risky. Just wait until morning."

"I'm not leaving." He informed her, planting his feet firmly on the ground and crossing his arms.

Lucie sighed and looked back over her shoulders. "Fine." She whispered. "But make it quick. Aunt Lou isn't in bed yet."

Squid smiled and began pushing his way through the bushes with his stepladder. Lucie watched intently as he made his way to right under her window and stepped up to the top step. This made him tall enough to crawl into the window with relative ease.

"Where'd you get the ladder?"

"Mr. Sir's shed." He told her, brushing some leaves off of himself.

"Ok, what did you want to talk about?"

He grinned as he looked her up and down. "You look cute."

"Squid."

"Ok, sorry. I just need to know why you don't trust me. I was thinking about it all evening and it really bothers me. One minute you're kissing me, then next you don't want anything to do with me."

"Why can't you just drop it?"

"Because, Lucie!" He said loudly.

"Shh!" she cupped a hand over his mouth and frowned. "If you get caught in here, we're both in major trouble."

"Sorry. Like I was saying, because I like you and I don't give up that easily. I know you like me, but apparently there's something holding you back."

"There is." She sighed and sat down on the bed.

"Tell me about Jake."

"Fine. Jake was my boyfriend for a year and a half. Then he cheated on me with one of my best friends. I was crushed because I thought I was falling in love with him. See, Jake was a lot like you. He had the whole bad boy thing going on, just like you. And just like you, he made my knees go weak and my whole body tingle when he touched me."

"I'm sorry, Lucie. I'm sorry you had to go through that. You deserve better." He sat down on the bed beside her. "But I'm not like that. I don't cheat. I never have."

"How do I know that?"

"You just have to trust me." He told her, putting his hand softly on her face.

She looked at him for a moment, then suddenly shoved him. "Get off the bed!"

"Sorry." He said laughing. She laughed too and stood up in front of him. "So, I make your knees go weak and you're whole body tingle?" He asked, grinning.

Lucie blushed and grinned back at him. "Maybe."

Squid put his hands on her waist and pulled her close to him, pressing her hips against his. "Let's see." He leaned down and very, very softly brushed his lips against hers and the pulled back.

"Did it happen?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." She said, raising and eyebrow.

"Lucie?" They both jumped when they heard the warden's voice.

"Oh no! Get out. Hurry! Lucie shoved him and he scrambled toward the window. He stuck his legs out and stepped down onto the ladder.

"Go!" Lucie told him, panic arising in her whispering voice.

"Goodnight." He grabbed the ladder and darted out of the bushes and toward D-tent.

Lucie hurried back into bed and just as she picked up the remote, her aunt walked in.

"What's going on in here?"

"What?" Lucie faked innocence.

"I thought I heard voices." The warden looked around the room suspiciously.

"I'm sure it's the television, Aunt Lou."

"Oh. Why is the window opened?"

Oh no! I forgot to close the window! She thought.

"I was hot and there was a cool breeze out there. I'm sorry I bothered you though. I'll turn the television down."

The warden shot another suspicious look at Lucie and then turned around and left without another word.