"Man, don't you listen? She's telling you it's over. That means you are the one who needs to stay away from Lucie." Squid said, catching Jake by the arm as he tried to walk away.

Jake's eyes narrowed. "Don't touch me, scum." He looked Squid up and down with judging eyes. "You've brainwashed my girlfriend, but that is going to end now. She doesn't need a delinquent telling her what to do."

Lucie couldn't take anymore. She pushed herself around Squid who had a protective hand behind his back lightly touching her arm. "That's it, Jake! You can't just come here and pretend we're still together and insult my friends. I want you to leave, now!"

Jake shook his head defiantly. "I'm not leaving without you."

"Then you're gonna be living here forever." Squid told him. "Even after Lucie leaves at the end of the summer."

Jake scoffed. "I'm still not quite sure why you're here and why you think my Lucie cares what you think. I know her and I know she would never be interested in a loser like you. She's too good for you. So stop kidding yourself and get lost."

Lucie snapped. Anger towards Jake had been building up inside her since the day she found out about him and Emaleigh. She dove at him and knocked him to the ground. She landed on top of him and began slapping him repeatedly across the face. He wailed at her to stop and grabbed at her quick-moving hands. They slapped his face and beat his chest, but were suddenly stopped by a third pair of hands. Squid pulled her off Jake and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her forehead.

"Don't, baby. He's not worth it."

"No! Let me hit him, please. I need to! He deserves it! He thinks he can just…he can't do this!" She cried.

"Forget about him." Squid said softly. "He doesn't matter."

Jake pulled himself off the ground and touched his lip that had a small stream of blood coming from him. "See what this guy's done to you, Luc? You never would have hit me before."

Lucie tried to pull away from Squid but when his strong arms wouldn't let her, she settled for yelling at him from inside Squid's embrace.

"He had nothing to do with it! I hit you're a jerk and someone needed to hit you. You don't deserve me. You don't deserve anyone. How dare you come here and insult my friends and try to get me back after what you did."

Squid shook his head and began walking Lucie toward the door of the cabin. She had tears of anger streaming down her face and wiped them on her sleeve as she turned away from Jake.

"I'm so sorry." She told Squid. "He shouldn't have said that to you."

"I know. It's not your fault." He assured her, kissing the top of her head.

They sat down on the front porch and Lucie looked out at Jake. He was still standing there watching them, but after Lucie didn't care. She just shook her head at him and looked back at Squid.

"Wait," she realized something. "Aren't you supposed to be digging? What are you doing up here anyway?"

Squid smiled. "I figured something was up and that you'd need some back up. I just wanted to be here in case you needed me."

Lucie's face softened and she smiled. "Thank you." She whispered.

Squid put his hand on her face. "It was no problem. I care about you and I don't want to see you get hurt. Whatever it takes to keep that from happening, I'll do it."

Lucie's cheeks turned pink. "God, Alan. Why do you always have to say things like that?"

"Because I mean it. I always say what I feel."

"It makes it really hard for me to resist you, you know?"

"Well, that's not why I do it, but that doesn't hurt." He replied, grinning.

Lucie leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips, savoring the taste of his lips on hers. They pulled away slowly and Lucie let her eyes look deeply in Squid's for a moment.

"Friend, huh?"

They both jumped and looked up at Jake, who was standing right next to the porch with his arms crossed. He shook his head. "You kiss all your friends like that, Luc? Is that something else you've learned here at camp?"

Without listening for an answer he walked up the steps of the porch and disappeared inside the cabin.

Squid turned Lucie's head back toward him with his hand. "You know there's something more between us."

Lucie nodded without hesitating. "I know. And I don't know if I can fight it anymore."

Squid kissed her passionately and when their faces parted, Lucie rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, not willing to let the moment go.

All too soon, Squid had gone back to dig and Lucie was reluctantly going back inside. There was no sign of Jake or the warden and Lucie tiptoed to avoid either of them coming out and seeing her. She didn't want another confrontation today. She opened her bedroom door and screamed. Jake was sitting on her bed holding the remote and flipping through channels on the television.

"What are you doing in my room?" she yelled.

He had a small band-aid right above his lip and dirt all over his clothes and all in his hair. "Your room? This is my room." He replied.

"No, no." Lucie said angrily walking in and pointing to her things in the room. "That's mine, that's mine, that's mine…all my stuff is in here, meaning it's my room."

"Your aunt told me it was my room and I checked and there's no other room here so I guess it is my room."

"No, this is not right. I'm not giving you my room. You can sleep on the couch."

Jake ignored her comment and used the remote to closet. "Your aunt told me about you and Squid in the closet." He shuddered. "That's kind of sick, Luc. In a closet?"

"Nothing happened in there! We fell down and he landed-"

"Yea, she told me your excuse, too. I just can't believe you are interested in that guy. That blows my mind completely."

"You know what? Take my room, Jake. I don't care. I'll sleep on the couch. Anything to get me away from you." She went to the dresser and grabbed a few things from it, got her alarm clock, and went into the living room. She tossed all her things in the chair and sat down on the couch roughly.

The warden came out of her bedroom just then and stopped just behind the couch opposite Lucie. She put her hands on her hips as she often did when she was frustrated with her niece.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm settling into my new bedroom since you gave my old one to that arrogant son of a-"

"I actually intended to get him a cot for the floor and have you two stay in there together. You know, so you could work out your differences."

"Well, that's not happening. I refuse to stay in a room with him."

"He means well, Lucie." The warden said, coming around the front of the couch and sitting down.

"How could you do this to me, Aunt Lou?"

"I am just trying to help." She said sharply. "That boy misses you something awful and he came all the way out here to get you back. The least you can do is hear him out."

"You don't understand at all! I don't care what he has to stay and no matter how long he stays here, I am never going back to him. If you insist on being on his side, that's fine with me. I can take care of myself." Lucie picked up the remote and flipped on the television, insinuating the conversation was over.

The warden stood up quickly and picked up her cowboy hat that she had put on the couch beside her. She put it on her head and nodded. "Fine. You can dig for the rest of the summer if you want to be away from him so bad." She walked toward the door but stopped to add, "I have to go meet with some people right now, but I am making supper tonight. If you know don't want to dig for the rest of the summer, you'll have lost your attitude by then."

Lucie watched television for a few minutes, but when Jake came out of the bedroom and tried to talk to her, she got up without speaking to him and went outside, not sure of where she was going. She walked around the camp for at least half an hour just thinking. She mostly stayed around the cabin where there were a few trees, hence some shade. After a while she sat down at the base of a tree and leaned up against it, taking a deep breath. She looked up at the cabin, wondering if Jake was watching her through one of the windows. She wondered how long he would stay and how long it would take him to realize she was never going back to him. She wanted to forgive him for what he and Emaleigh did, because she hated carrying grudges around, but she found it very difficult. She soon realized she was restless and stood up to walk around again. As she was walking around the side of the cabin, she heard the loud clunk of shovels being tossed to the ground as the boys returned from their day at work. She heard the showers going and looked over to see three boys rinsing the dirt from their hard-worked bodies.

"Zig, there are no cameras in the showers. You've gotta give that up, man." She heard Squid say as he and Zig Zag walked toward the showers, each of them holding a dingy white towel. She smiled to herself at the sight of Squid with his shirt off and his orange suit tied around his waist. His hair was sandy and messed up from the wind.

Lucie waited around the outside of the cabin until most of the boys had showered and then followed a ways behind them as they entered the mess hall for dinner.

With her plate in hand, she sat down next to Squid and smiled weakly at the group.

"Sorry guys, my ex-boyfriend is here and-"

"Squid told us." X-Ray interrupted and gave her a small smile. "We don't mind if you eat with us. Right guys?"

All the guys shook their heads, except Caveman, who never took his eyes off his food.

Squid patted her knee under the table and leaned in to whisper. "See? Everything is gonna be fine."

Squid wasn't exactly right. When she got back to the cabin after hanging out with the guys in the rec room, her aunt informed her that since she missed supper after she was told to be there, she would have to dig every day until she returned home and she'd have to comply with any other requests the warden had. In addition, she told her the two men would be occupying both of the couches in the living room so she'd have to stay in her old room with Jake. Lucie couldn't see how this could possibly get any worse.