Rest day! And Toni's not feeling it. Thanks for reviewing, Ellismskd24, AnonBrowser, lordgemini and OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla. And as we only got one guess, Toni's ringtone is..."Sk8tr Boi"! Thanks, AnonBrowser!

Now that I was starting to become aware of the fact that I really did have a crush on Mike, I sought Dawn's advice on the rest day, because she knew about it. "I know what you were saying," I said, "But I don't want to have this crush. And it's not fair, because I know he likes Zoey. And because of that, I'm starting to feel really jealous of her. Can you see it? Is there something I can do?"

"I don't know how to stop feelings," Dawn answered, "I can just see them. It's good that you're aware of it, now. It means you can channel it. It's your choice what you do." She paused. "And I should tell you, just because Mike is interested in Zoey, it doesn't mean he doesn't like you. I can see it on the Mike parts of his aura."

I frowned. "You know about him not always being Mike?"

Dawn just shrugged. "I've always known. His aura is like a rainbow, so many conflicting identities. I thought you knew after you asked Mike to speak to you in in your trailer. You didn't want anyone else to hear."

She was right. "Well, don't tell anyone else." I said quickly. "It's Mike's choice who knows from now on." There had been enough instances of Dawn saying things she had no business knowing or saying out loud, and I knew that Mike didn't want anyone else to know, at least, not yet.

Dawn thought about it. "I might well tell him he should tell at least some of the others," she said carefully, "But I'm not planning on telling anyone else without his permission."

The person I really would have liked to have advise me was Zoey, but there was no way I was going to ask her anything that told her I was a rival to her. Dawn was the closest I had. I went running with Jo again, and she was actually being pretty friendly towards me, but no way would she ever let me ask her for boy advice. We did hang out for a little while that day, but all we did was show off our athletic skills and compete. It was nice to have a little friendly competition when it wasn't a million-dollar challenge. I got a more relaxed vibe from Jo during that time, maybe because there weren't any stakes. But that was the friendliest it got. I couldn't spill my guts to her. Ditto the boys – maybe they'd get it, but I couldn't be sure, and which ones could I trust?

It was, shockingly, Dakota who I ended up talking to. I had taken the chance to talk to Mike during the day (nothing too interesting, just listening to him tell me about his parents and how he'd been into cooking since he was twelve, yet another reason to be interested in him), and I'd managed to grab a chance when Zoey was in her cabin and Cameron was doing something to try and build up his muscle. Dakota wasn't with us, per se. She was actually sitting on the cabin steps of her old cabin, tapping away on her phone. But that evening, when I was telling her about what I needed from her for the next challenge (which was going to be at night, she suddenly broke in with "You know, if you needed boy advice, all you had to do was ask me."

I blinked at her. "Um…where did that come from?"

"I was like five feet away from you." Dakota shrugged. "You were talking to that Mike guy, and you blushed a few times. I couldn't hear what you were saying, but I could tell how flirty you were getting."

I blushed now. "I was not!" I denied immediately.

Dakota waved a hand. "Whatever. Everything about the way you were angled towards him said you were just waiting for him to ask you out. You should have started flirting properly, in my opinion. So what were you waiting for?"

I sighed. "I don't even want to like him, for one thing. Not like that. But mostly because I think he likes Zoey. He's never going to ask me out while she's around."

Dakota actually smiled. "I saw them talking, too. Trust me, she's flirting too, and it's even more blatant. She does it in a very innocent way, like she wants to get to know him first, and then when she's got everything she needs, that's when she'll take her shot. Give that a try – get him to think you really, really want to know everything about him. That's what guys like him are into."

I thought about it. "Well, I do want to get to know him, so he doesn't have to just think that – I just need to make it clear. I know enough to know he's sweet, chivalrous and doesn't take himself too seriously. And that he likes action movies and ultimate kickboxing – just like me. But there's a lot more I want to know." I'd have to steer clear of traumatic childhood events, though. I knew there had to be something (or a few somethings) in Mike's past that wasn't pretty, otherwise he wouldn't have others in his head. I paused, looking at Dakota with new eyes. "What's it to you, anyway?"

Dakota shrugged. "I used to watch that show Friends a lot. It drove me nuts with that romance plot going around and around and nothing actually happening. It's even worse in real life. If you could stop treating me like some kind of diva who only cares about herself, you might notice that I'm more than a cute face."

I was brought up short, there. How did Dakota know, right down to the letter, what I thought of her? I hadn't been nice to her, granted, but did calling her 'princess' really give her all that information, or was she just more perceptive than I gave her credit for?

"Then…if you knew I thought that," I said, "Why would you help me? You could have helped Zoey instead."

Dakota just shrugged again. "Like I said, I want you guys to tie up the plot. By any means. I was evening the odds for you." She gained a little smirk. "Also, it might help me get closer to my spin-off if I get involved in what's going on around camp."

"How about checking in on your old team?" I suggested, gaining a new respect for her. She really was smarter than I'd thought. "Did you get any connections on there?"

Dakota paused, thinking. "Actually, kinda…" she admitted. "I didn't really notice most people, except for Sam. We both had tech withdrawal and he actually listened to me. Most people just write me off like they already think they know everything about me.."

I caught a wistful expression on her face. Maybe that was how she'd guessed what I thought of her – if so many people did the same thing I had. I felt a bit sorry for her, but all I said was "Well, we've got a challenge to work on tonight, and I'm going to need you to run a couple errands during it, just to make things more interesting for people. If you run into Sam, let whatever happens happen. You might as well make a friend on the show."

"Wait, tonight?" Dakota frowned.

"We need at least one night time challenge this season." I explained. "Producers' orders. Go get an early night, I'll wake you up before the others. I better let them know through intercom, too, that they've got a seriously early wake-up call."

At eight o'clock that night, I made the announcement through intercom. "Campers! Hope you had a great day. I suggest you get an early night, because tomorrow's challenge is going to start very, VERY early."

And I got a good five hours before one on the dot, when I went to wake Dakota, and half an hour later, it was time to wake the campers.

Leading in to Finders Creepers. And no, I don't own 'Friends'. Rachel and Ross and their plot just sprang to mind. Also, I can kind of see Dakota being a Rachel fan. They're pretty alike, both being the "sheltered rich chick" of the group. I never liked Rachel much myself, but then, my favourite character was always Phoebe. Who was yours?