I walked out down towards a place I had seen walking up the hill to the cabins. There was a rock and it was surrounded by pine trees, so it was almost hidden and had a pleasing fragrance around it.

I sat on the rock and closed my eyes, inhaling deeply the spicy aroma of pine. I must've stayed there for a few minutes, but it felt like hours were zooming by and the day was almost done. I opened my eyes.

Just then, I heard a stick crack behind me. I turned and saw the blonde haired guy who was with Micky, Mike, and Melanie's brother. I smiled at him and waved.

He grinned back, saying, "Hi" and sitting down next to me.

He can't be much older than 17, I thought.

"I'm Peter. You're the girl who got the bat out of our cabin, right?" he asked.

I nodded. "I'm Irina, but everyone calls me Rina."

"That was really brave of you, with the bat and broom and all," he said.

"No, it was just... What's wrong?" I stopped. He looked like he had tears in his eyes.

He looked down. "That poor bat was stuck in there for who knows how long. He could've... Died!"

I bit my lip and tried to think of a way to comfort him. "Well, if it got in there, it must've known how to get out. It might've just been staying for the day."

"But what if it wasn't?" He looked up at me, tears trickling down his face.

I never thought I'd be thinking something like this, but right then, I thought, "Wow. He's kinda cute. Oh, stop it Irina! Boys are only trouble." But I couldn't fight how downright adorable he looked then.

I found myself reaching out and rubbing his back. "It's ok, Peter. The bat wasn't dead."

He finally stopped crying and looked at me. I realized what I was doing and pulled my hand back quickly. "S-Sorry," I managed to say.

"It's ok." He smiled a little and wiped the tears from his face. "And you're right. The bat wasn't dead."

I breathed a small sigh of relief that he wasn't crying.

"Hey, thanks for not going off on the fact that I cried. A lot of people think that because I cry a lot I'm a baby. Which isn't true." Peter clenched his fists in anger.

Whoa, I thought, He's angry.

"Peter, calm down!" I put a hand on his shoulder and he looked back at me. "It's ok. I don't think you're a baby."

"Thanks," he said again, this time a little calmer. Then, he gave me a quick sideways hug and then jumped up before I could say anything.

"Well, uh, I think the camp leaders said that they wanted us to line up now. Wanna come with me?" he asked.

I nodded. "'Kay."

As we walked back to the campfire circle, we talked about the bat, Peter's bass guitar, and music. We talked a lot about music. He found out that I want to be a singer when I get older, and he said that if his band, "The Monkees", didn't work out he'd be glad to help me. I told him he didn't need to, but he said he wanted to.

"That's nice of you, Peter," I said. He's so thoughtful. And sweet. And cute. And nice. And... Stop while you're ahead, Rina, were my thoughts.

I told him I was going to go by my friends, and he nodded, saying he was gonna go talk to his friends. We parted, and I found Liz, Hailey, and Tina talking about the lake and other stuff.

"Those ducks were pretty cute," Hailey was saying, "But did you see that turtle? It was huge!"

"It was a snapping turtle," Liz told her, "And it had a camera."

"Why'd the turtle have a camera?" I asked.

The three girls turned to me, shrugging. "Dunno. Guess it just found it. It was an old camera, useless, anyways."

"It was a photo-snapping turtle," Tina joked. We laughed at that.

"So, what did you do while we were watching the turtle take pictures?" Liz asked.

"I met those guys who're in a band that you showed me. And I had to help them get a bat out of their cabin," I told her.

"Oh, a bat? Why couldn't they get it out?" Hailey asked.

I shrugged, saying that they were probably too chicken to do it themselves, or they were too lazy. We laughed at that.

Eventually the camp leaders called us all together to tell us what was happening after dinner (yeah; it was about 7:00 p.m. Time sure flew by after the last time we were around the campfire.). We were going on a night hike and had to have a partner from a different cabin then the one we were sleeping in. It was supposed to be an activity that helped us get to know everyone.

I thought about asking one of the girls from another cabin, or maybe asking Hailey or Tina. However, Tina had already snagged a partner, and Hailey was teamed up with Liz. Looks like I was going to have to get a partner after dinner.

Dinner was outside in a little pavilion uphill from the lake. It was hot dogs, baked beans, cole slaw, the works. Plus, there was a chocolate-chip cookie for each of us.

The one thing I noticed about the terrain of Camp Kiskow was the fact that there were so many hills here. There was one going up to the boys' cabins, there was one behind the boys' cabins, there was one going down to the lake, and probably one going down to the archery range, too. It was just really, really hilly here.

At about 8:00 p.m. we went had finished dinner and were lounging by some rocks by the pavilion.

I was stretched out on a big, flat rock, staring up at the darkening sky and thinking. Well, not really thinking, but my mind was coming up with random thoughts like "This rock is nice," and "The sky is pretty," and "I wonder what Mom's doing," and "Oh, there's Peter!"

I was staring up at Peter, who was standing over me, grinning.

"Hiya," I said, sitting upright.

"Hey," he responded.

"Whatcha want?" I asked. I motioned for him to go ahead and sit down, which he did.

"I was wondering... Will you be my partner for the night hike?" he asked me.

"Sure, Peter! I'd love too." I smiled at him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Melanie and Thalia with a bunch of other girls. Thalia was going on and on and on about something or other, while Melanie was looking towards me and Peter. Even in the semi-darkness, I could see a scowl on her face.

What's her problem? I wondered, focusing back on Peter.

"Ok! So, it's supposed to start in half an hour, so we have some time to do whatever," he was saying, "So, you wanna get your friends and I'll get mine and we can skip rocks on the lake?"

Thank goodness he's suggesting bringing our friends. It'd be sort of weird to go off with alone with a boy at twilight, I thought while I said, "Good idea. I'll go get them!"

We stood up and went to round up our friends. Tina was staring off into space on a rock, and she gladly hopped up to do something. We found Hailey and Liz talking about the photo-snapping turtle again by the pavilion, and they said they'd go, but mostly to look for the turtle.

I brought them over to Peter's friends.

"Liz, Hailey, Tina, this is Peter, Mike, Micky and... Uh, sorry, I don't remember if I got your name," I introduced them.

"Davy," Melanie's brother said, rolling his eyes. "I'm Melanie Jones' brother."

"Oh, that's cool," Liz said.

We headed down to the lake and started looking for stones. Micky found a whole bunch but ended up losing most of them.

I found a few and put them in my pockets. I saw that Liz and Hailey were laughing at Micky, who had a hold in his pocket, and that's why most of his stones were lost. He hadn't noticed yet, but just gave the two girls a confused look.

Mike didn't really want to skip stones, but had gone just for the heck of it. Davy was pelting Tina with little, tiny pebbles, so they wouldn't hurt her too much. I think it was just his way of flirting with her.

Peter was busy finding all the stones he could. When his pockets were about to burst, he took off running the rest of the way down to the lake.

"Last one there's a dead monkey!" Micky shouted. It was on.

Liz ended up getting there right after Mike, and I almost beat Liz by one second. Tina and Hailey were tied, and Micky came in just before Davy, who brought up the rear.

"It's cause I'm short," he muttered. I tried not to laugh at his face.

We skipped stones for about 10 minutes. Hailey and Liz went off searching for the turtle, and Micky accompanied them. Tina was being chased by Davy, and Mike was sitting on the beach, so it was really just me and Peter skipping rocks.

"I think we've gotta go now," I said after a while. Peter nodded. Just then, we heard two screams and some laughter. We all turned to see Micky chasing Liz and Hailey back up the hill.

The rest of us followed them up the hill as they laughed and screamed and acted crazy. When we got to the top of the hill, the camp leaders made us get with our partners.

I was about to go over to Peter when I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned and saw Melanie standing there.

"Uh, yeah?" I asked.

"Who are you to hang out with him?" she retorted.

"Excuse me, what did you just say?" I glared at her. What the heck was wrong with this girl?

"Melanie."

Davy came up behind her and stood in front of her. "Let it be, ok? Peter's got a mind of his own."

"Fine!" She turned on her heel and stormed away, giving me one more icy glare.

I had to figure out what was going on before she drove me crazy.