Author's note: Hey, I just wanted to let you all know that I will be on vacation for the next two weeks without internet connection so I will be unable to post new chapters. The next chapter will be posted Friday the 10th of July. Just wanted to make sure no one thinks I forgot about it or anything like that.

Sedgie - I'm glad I was able to inspire you to write your own stories. :)

Mathlover15 - For your questions: 1) John and Cameron THOUGHT they'd kille Cromartie, but afterward John learned that someone was looking for him in Canada and a fellow student described Cromartie. 2) Jesse's remark about Cameron and John being married could merely be a tool used to get Derek even more riled up and angry at Cameron. It is not necessarily true. 3) Oh, Derek will eventually find out about Jesse, just like he eventually did in the show. 4) Without spoiling too much, let's just say Cameron and Derek will not continue to hate each other.

mshig11 - I actually don't know what will happen in Born to Fight yet. As I stated in response to another review, the thing about John and Cameron being married could be a lie devised by Jesse in order to keep Derek on her side. And yes, Sarah could definitely use a cookbook. :)

acer-sigma - Good insight. And you're right, Jesse knows exactly what will get Derek enraged.

Chapter Nine:

Game Over

Derek Reese stood with his arms crossed beside the other counselors. The two camper teams were about to compete in a tug-of-war competition. John's team appeared to be the team to beat, but Jason Reynolds had Cameron on his side. Derek had rolled his eyes, knowing exactly how it would end up.

The metal's team would win, hands down.

Derek glanced over at his fellow counselors. Hey, if I have to put up with Tin Miss all week, I may as well get something out of it.

"I bet you fifty bucks Reynolds' team wins," he stated.

Counselor Dave chuckled incredulously. "Are you kidding? Jason's pretty strong, but I'd say he's the only one on that team with a chance. Look at that Reese kid, no muscles whatsoever. And there's more girls on Jason's team. No, my money's on your nephew."

Derek smiled slightly. Dave was right. John's team certainly appeared to have the advantage. But the other counselors didn't know that Cameron could take them all on by herself.

"Alright, let's up it," Derek said with a grin. "One hundred bucks says Jason wins."

Dave laughed again, probably thinking about how stupid Derek was. "You're on. Prepare to lose, Baum."

Derek grinned and watched as the coach blew the whistle. Cameron didn't even give the other team a chance. One quick pull and John's team was yanked into the mud pit in the blink of an eye.

Dave's eyes widened in absolute shock at the seemingly impossible outcome.

Derek turned and smirked at his fellow counselor. "Pay up."

**********

The next activity of the day was tackle football. John wasn't quite sure what to expect. He'd seen a couple of football games on TV with Charlie, but he'd never played before and he barely understood the rules.

Jason came up beside Cameron, grinning. "Hey, Cam, ready to play?" He frowned playfully. "It's too bad you're on my team."

As he rushed off to get in position, Cameron looked at John, perplexed. "Why doesn't he want me on his team?"

John wrinkled his nose in disgust. "If you're on the opposite team, he could tackle you."

Cameron paused and stared after Jason. "Can I shoot him now?"

"No," John replied. Jason was laughing amongst his friends and John snorted with disgust. "But you can throw the football at him really hard," he improvised. "Aim low."

He hadn't really expected her to actually take his advice, but in the first run, Cameron caught the ball easily. Jason was down field, calling for the pass and Cameron sent it screaming through the air. Jason's eyes widened a split second before the ball drilled him in the groin.

He went down hard, yelping with pain, as the ball bounced away. John's eyes grew wider and he looked at Cameron, stunned.

She stared back at him, unashamed. "You told me to aim low."

Predictably enough, Jason forgave Cameron, even complimenting her on her nice arm. She repeated the procedure for Kyle Reese, who ended up being taken out of the game early to go get an ice pack. At that point, Jason began to brag about how much tougher he was than wimpy Kyle. The game continued for several minutes before John's team got the ball again. Riley threw a pretty decent pass and John caught the ball, taking off down the field, running as fast as his legs could carry him. He was almost to the end zone, thinking himself home free when something slammed into him.

John yelped, landing hard on the grass, the wind knocked out of him. Someone landed nearly on top of him and the football slipped out of his grip. He heard Jason's unmistakable voice shout, "Fumble!"

John opened his eyes groggily as Cameron lifted herself off him, offering her hand to help him to his feet. "Cam, what was that?" he demanded.

"You had the ball, I tackled you," Cameron replied. A loud cry of victory resonated from the opposite end of the field. "Jason just scored a touchdown from the fumble," Cameron added.

The stars finally faded from John's eyes and he accepted her hand. "Wow, I feel like I got hit by a bulldozer. You've got to be more careful."

Her face grew worried. "Did I hurt you?"

He laughed, about to say no, but suddenly grew dizzy, grabbing her arm to steady himself. "Well, maybe a little," he admitted. "But normal people can't tackle like that. They'd probably think you're on steroids or something."

Cameron nodded. "Are you saying I can't tackle you anymore?"

John's face flushed. "Erm, well, I'm saying you can't tackle anyone. You'll probably hurt them."

"So I can tackle you?"

John put a hand on the back of his neck, shifting uncomfortably."Let's just say, no more tackling anyone in football. Deal?"

She nodded. "Deal."

Needless to say, Cameron's team won the game.

***********

Sarah Connor had been secretly relieved when another cook had been brought in to help for the night. She wasn't sure what she would have done if she had to cook another meal of spaghetti, with or without Cameron's help.

Sarah's jaw clenched. Cameron. Cameron, who'd come to supposedly help her in the kitchen. Cameron, who'd brought up the fact that Sarah was jealous because John spent more time with his metal protector than with his own mother. The worst part was, Sarah knew Cameron was right. That didn't make it any easier to accept. She still didn't regret hurling the pot at the machine's head, whether it would have done any damage or not.

Even though her job as cook was temporarily suspended for tonight, Sarah had still already whipped up a batch of pancakes. They were placed out in the dinner line with the chicken quesadillas the new cook had created. Sarah was still enlisted to help serve the food. It put her in hearing range of the dinner line, which was fine with her.

John came in for dinner with Cameron. Big surprise there. Both still looked hot and sweaty from the football game. What was different was the closeness. Ever since they'd arrived at camp, both of them had seemed to open up to each other, growing closer. Even now, they walked with their shoulders almost touching. It bothered Sarah. The sooner they got John out of this environment, the better.

John's smile caught her off guard. A true, genuine smile that she hadn't seen in a while…not since…well, not since his school's Romeo and Juliet performance onstage. Cameron had been the cause of that smile too.

Sarah watched as John scooped some pancakes onto his plate. "You know these won't be as good as yours," he said to Cameron with a smile. Sarah felt the blood drain from her face as shock coursed through her entire nervous system.

Cameron's smile was just a bright, just as human as she remembered in her dream. Neither of them spoke again, merely shared that smile that seemed to convey so many things in a few seconds, like they had their own private conversation going on.

You're jealous because John loves me more.

She could actually hear Cameron's voice in her head, saying the words she feared and dreaded the most.

It was too much for Sarah to handle. She shoved away from the counter and bolted out the door.

************

Cameron scanned the crowd of campers that had congregated in the main hall for movie night.

John was not among them.

She pulled up a schedule of the day internally, re-checking the times and events. If John wasn't at the movie, he would either be in free time at the game room or in his dorm. She had been forbidden to access his dorm, so that left the game room as her only option.

When she arrived, she scanned the room, identifying all the campers inside. She recognized Jason Reynolds, but no John. Several of them were girls from her cabin, but Cameron had never spoken to any of them. None of the campers were playing pool or foosball. Instead, they appeared to be amusing themselves by spinning an empty glass bottle around on the floor.

She approached Jason, the only camper who knew both her and John. "Have you seen John?"

Jason seemed thrilled by her presence and nodded. "Yeah, I've seen him." A wicked smile played out across his features. "But if you want me to tell you where he is, you have to do something for me."

She didn't have time to do anything for Jason. John was missing.

Effective options: Termination. That would do no good because she would still not know where John was.

Torture. It was good in theory, but there was a small possibility that she would accidentally crush Jason's fragile body. It would also cause problems with the camp authority. Plus, John had given her an explicit order not to harm anyone.

The only other option was to comply.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to play a little game with us."

"I can play hooky."

Jason's brow furrowed and one of his friends used his index finger to make a circular motion around the side of his head. She would ask John later what that meant.

"No, I mean a game. This one is called 'spin the bottle'. You know what you do?"

Cameron studied the object on the floor. Such a title seemed self-explanatory. "Spin the bottle."

Jason smiled. "Yep. You spin it and whoever it points to, you have to kiss that person."

"Why?" Internal records suggested that kissing was used to display the emotion of love. There was only one person who had ever invoked such emotion in her: John Connor. Who was currently missing.

"Why?" Jason repeated. "Because, that's how it's played." He scooted the bottle a little closer to her, though it was perfectly within reach before. "Come on, give it a try. Try to let it land on me."

Cameron calculated the exact force required and spun the bottle. It rotated quickly until finally it slowed to a stop, the end pointing directly at Jason. He started grinning.

She wasn't sure why. He was not John. She was not going to kiss him.

"Nice spin," he commented. "You know what to do now." Jason tilted his head forward toward her lips. As soon as he was within range, Cameron grabbed his head and slammed it down onto the table, cracking the wood. Jason cried out, whimpering from the pain. Cameron continued holding his head pinned there with one hand.

"Where's John?" she demanded.

Jason struggled to lift his head, but Cameron didn't release the pressure. Several of Jason's friends had backed up fearfully. She thought that wise of them. They had some sense of self-preservation.

"He was walking by the lake!" Jason sputtered. "Now, please let me go!"

Cameron released her grip. As she stalked towards the door, she heard one of Jason's friends let out a whistle.

"Wow, she's a feisty one!"

If only Sarah had not confiscated her nine-millimeter.