Everyone walked over to the door to see who we were rooming with. I waited for them to move out of the way and then I searched down the list:

Amy Juergens:

Ricky Underwood

__

"Well, that can't be right," I told myself and shook my head. I focused my vision and then scanned down the list again. I put my finger under my name and went straight across, and sure enough, Ricky's name was right across from mine.

"Who's your roommate?" Ricky asked as he just walked up beside me and looked at the list.

Obviously taking him a while to find his name, I said in a low voice, "You."

He turned his attention away from the sheet of paper and at me, and he looked at me in disbelief. "Oh, really? Well, that can't be right." I rolled my eyes. That's exactly what I said. And then he turned around and looked at the paper, like he didn't believe me or something.

After apparently finding that we were listed to be roommates, he looked at me again and said, "Maybe they screwed up and accidentally put our names together."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever." Then I walked away from him over to someone that worked here, who was probably in charge of the camp, and I realized that Ricky was following close behind me. I simply ignored him as he stood beside me, and I said, "Um, excuse me. But I think you need to change the roommates for the camp-"

"Sorry, but we don't make any changes," she interrupted me, obviously not noticing that Ricky was standing beside me. There were people crowding around us, and it was kind of hard to tell that he was with me.

"Yeah, but you don't understand," I said loudly when she started to walk off. She turned back around impatiently and barely listened to me. "I think you must have messed up the list or something, because-"

"No, honey, we don't make any mistakes. You don't get to pick your roommates. You just take what you get." She gave me an impatient shrug and started to walk off, again.

"Hey!" I yelled at her. She snapped back around and sighed. "Look, you put me with Ricky. There must be some mistake-"

"No," she cut me off again. "We don't assign girls with boys. That would be stupid and irresponsible. I don't know what you want, sweetie, but I'm not changing anything. Now you should probably go with the band for practice." She pointed behind her at the band- they were walking away, getting ready to go in one of the school classrooms where we can practice for the competition.

"That isn't what I'm saying! It's not that I just want a different roommate. But you messed up and put me with Ricky."

She sighed impatiently again. "No, I've already checked the list after I made assignments and stuff. I didn't mess up on anything." Then she walked away, obviously in a really bad mood. Well, you obviously didn't check it that well if you put a guy and a girl together. How stupid could you get? I wanted to say to her.

"Guess we're roomin' together," Ricky said firmly, and for once, oddly, I didn't even notice any smugness or emotion in his voice. He was completely calm and weirdly nonchalant about this whole thing.

I groaned. "Just my luck," I muttered under my breath. I walked away from Ricky, who quickly followed me anyway, and we both caught up with the band and walked down the hall until we went into a small classroom which had a bunch of wooden desks and little planet models hanging up from from the ceiling.

Everyone walked inside and sat down in a desk, and I wondered what we were doing. I guess we were waiting for the band director so we could practice. Where is he?

He came in about twenty minutes later, and we all played through all our songs and the scales for about an hour, and then we trampled out of the classsroom and went to the field where we marched and went over formations for what seemed like three hours.

Afterwards, we went to the school's cafeteria (it was about five in the evening), and we all crowded around the lunch tables and ate Dinner. Everyone was busy talking and what not that we ended up staying for about two hours.

When we finally headed out of the cafeteria, it was around seven thirty. We were crammed together in a huge crowd by the door, standing there as we waited for the slow-moving line to hurry up.

"Hey," I heard Ricky mumble to me, and I looked over and saw that he was just walking up beside me.

"Are we seriously going to march this late? It's already really dark," I said as I looked outside through the window and saw total darkness, and I also saw what looked like rain. I definitely did not want to march at seven at night in the pitch-black night when it was raining.

"I guess," he said simply.

And then, suddenly, someone came over the intercom and she said, "The competition has been postponed until tomorrow afternoon. There's a huge storm heading this way, and it's only getting worse by the minute. So you will practice in the morning, go to lunch, and then return for the competition. Then you will spend the night again at your cabins." And then the intercom went off.

I groaned as everything sunk in. Okay, so basically, we practiced all day and worried for nothing. So now we were going to have to practice again for long hours and then go out into the fields, and then we had to spend the night again.

Oh, no.

"Does that mean that we have to stay over here two nights instead of one?" I asked Ricky.

He nodded. "I guess so."

"You have got to be kidding me!" I said, annoyed, mostly to myself. Ricky was staring at me, with, oddly, an expressionless look on his face. Wondering what the heck was up with him, I returned the same look to him.

Obviously he assumed that I was talking to him, because he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and said, "It won't be that bad. At least we get out of school for another day. That's good, right?"

I shook my head. "No. I can't afford to miss any more days of school. It'll be really hard to make up all that work. And second, I don't really think we should be spending the night together in the same cabin. No one will listen to me, so it looks like we aren't getting another roommate."

He sighed, and randomly, he nodded once at me for him to follow me. Confused, I followed him as he walked me over across the cafeteria to the same lady I just talked to before coming in here. She isn't going to listen. I thought to myself.

"Hey," Ricky said loudly to her to get her attention. She turned around, and as she saw me, she grimaced. "You messed up the list. You put us together, and I doubt that you meant to do that."

"Oh!" she exclaimed, suddenly looking like she recognized or remembered something. "You're Amy and Ricky, right? The parents?" We both gave her an appalled look, but it didn't seem to phase her as she ignored us and continued. "Hm, well I don't remember putting you two together. I'm sorry, but if you could please report back to the door and check the list again. You're definitely wrong. Never would we put a girl and boy together."

"We've already checked the list. You printed it wrong or something-" I began, but she cut me off.

"No, I didn't. I already told you earlier that I have it right. Please go with the band before you get left behind." And without saying anything else, she walked off. I wanted so badly to run up to her and demand she look over the list again.

But she was already gone, so I just decided to give up. Obviously she wasn't going to listen to me, so there was nothing else I could do. Walking past Ricky, which he followed right behind me anyway, I caught up with the band until we all stopped outside beside the grass and two intersecting buildings. Everyone was complaining as we waited impatiently for the band director. We were standing out in the pouring rain, and it was already starting to thunder and lightning. Why can't we just wait inside?

When the band director finally came up to us, he said loudly over the noise from the storm, "Okay, well as you just heard, we aren't competing until tomorrow. So all of you just go to your cabins now. When you come to the door, there'll be a paper there which will have your cabin number."

We all walked over to where he led us- the night looked especially dark over at the camp grounds. The cabins were all spaced a feet feet apart, lined up across the entire lawn. The buildings were dark, and there was a main building where we were to find out our cabin number.

I looked at the paper on the door, and sure enough, Ricky and I were still paired together. I sighed and read what it said:

Ricky Underwood, Amy Juergens Cabin #: A37

Not even waiting for Ricky to walk up to me, I blundered down the sidewalk quickly to get out of the rain. I looked at each cabin as I passed, until I came to the one that had A37 written on it the black, wooden door. Most of the cabins looked fairly old, and some of the paint had rusted off.

Pulling open the door to my cabin, I sighed at the familiarness of it. It looked a lot like my cabin did at band camp.

What in the world is going on? I thought to myself. What's happening?

Okay, so it didn't look that much like the cabin did at band camp. I was exaggerating a little. But as I stepped inside the door, it started to remind me more of it. I looked to the left of me, and there was a table and three chairs, and there was a fireplace in the center of the two walls. There was a kitchen to the right of me, where there was a refrigerator and a few cabinets above it. There was a tiny hall ahead of me, which obviously led to the bathroom.

And then I scowled when I realized that there was only one bed. There wasn't even a couch. I can NOT share a bed with Ricky! I yelled internally to myself.

The bed was in a tiny bedroom in the hall, opposite of where the bathroom was. Walking out of the bedroom, I jumped when I saw Ricky just walking through the door. He glanced quickly around and then said, "So, I guess we're rooming together."

"Mmmm," I mumbled, utterly mad. "We have to get this changed or something. We can't spend the night in this cabin together. They messed up. We have to make them listen and change it."

He shook his head. "We already tried. There's no point in trying again. And besides, we're not allowed to wander around the school. We have to stay in here."

I groaned. "Whatever." I rolled my eyes as I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall that ended the hallway, and I stared straight ahead at Ricky. "But you're sleeping on the floor."

"Yeah," he mumbled, "I don't think so."

"There's only one bed!" I yelled at him, probably too loudly. Was he actually thinking that we were going to sleep in the same bed together? Ha, no way! That would just be awkward, for me especially.

He gave me an annoyed look. "We'll just have to make it work." I frowned and looked at him in disbelief, and he quickly changed the subject as he walked into the kitchen. I just stared at him. "So are you hungry?" he asked, fumbling around in the kitchen.

I shrugged my shoulders, but I didn't say anything. He didn't look at me; he opened the refrigerator, and obviously there wasn't very much in it, so he opened one of the cabinets and said, "Okay, so we have coffee and," then he opened another cabinet and revealed it to me, ". . . and more coffee."

Is this trying to tell me something? What were the chances of Ricky and I ending up in a cabin together, and only having coffee (which is what we drank . . . at bandcamp!) I sighed. "This is unbelievable," I mumbled monotonously to myself.

I wasn't really even that hungry. I mean, I didn't eat much when we went into that cafeteria. I watched Ricky as he started making coffee in the coffee maker. I just stood exactly where I had been before; leaning against the wall across from him. Ricky may be a little different than the womanizer he had been before, but I knew he hadn't completely changed. I had changed. And I was not naive anymore, and I would not let Ricky take advantage of me. Again.

Okay, okay, stop. Ricky isn't going to do that. He doesn't like you like he did at band camp. I thought, and I swallowed nervously and tried to force the thoughts out of my head. But the thoughts quickly escaped my mind temporarily when a loud, violent bolt of lightning struck along with the thunder, lighting up the entire room, and then all the lights went out, and Ricky and I were alone in complete darkness.

Not having any time to react, I saw the lights come back on again, and I silently was thankful that the electricity was back on. Ricky completely ignored the fact that anything had just happened, and smirking, he walked over to me with a cup of coffee and smugly said, "Coffee?"

Giving him a weird look, I nodded, and he egotistically handed it to me and walked back over to the counter. Turning my glance away from him, I walked slowly and hesitantly over to the small, round table and sat down in one of the chairs. Sipping on the coffee, I stared ahead at the fireplace against the wall, and I curiously wandered my eyes around the small cabin and the wooden walls. Surprisingly, the floors were dark tile, unlike the walls.

I looked to the right of me at Ricky in the kitchen, and I watched him carefully as he nonchalantly walked over to the table and sat down in a chair across from me. Oh, jeez. Déjà vu. I thought to myself.

Wondering what time it was, I looked around the room and saw that there was a small clock, which was at the top of the wall right in front of me. Sighing at my unobservantness, I looked at the time. It was eight thirty.

I looked up when I heard Ricky chuckling, and then he said, "This is kind of funny, isn't it?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Funny?"

He nodded and casually sipped his coffee and mumbled, "Mmhmm." He put down the coffee cup and restlessly drummed on the table a song from band. "Well, maybe funny isn't the right word," he said.

I shook my head. "It's definitely not the right word. I don't see how you think this is funny." I paused. "There's only one bed."

He laughed. "Yeah, well, so? I think that maybe you should be thankful there's one bed instead of none. We can easily share it. Remember that one night when we were in the same bed together?"

Surprised by his comment, I tried to avoid seeing the image over again in my head of Ricky and me at band camp. "I remember," I muttered. Of course I remember. How could I forget the one night when John was conceived?

Ricky stared at me and smiled, and instinctively I looked back at him. He put down his coffee and said, "So. . . did you practice?" I gave him a questioning look. "Did you practice. . . for the competition?"

"Well, no," I grumble. "I haven't exactly had time with two babies in the house. I would practice now, but seeing as we're the only ones in here I don't think I'll do that. And my french horn is still in the band trailer. So, no, I haven't practiced, so don't be surprised if I mess up."

"You won't mess up. I haven't practiced either."

I rolled my eyes. "You must have been occupied doing something else."

He grimaced. "Yeah, Amy, I've been over your house almost every day taking care of John. I don't know why you're in such a bad mood, it's not that b-"

He stopped when we both heard a terribly loud pounding at the door, followed by a low, attacking groaning sound. The low voice said, "I know what you did last summer!" I thought I heard people laughing, but it was probably my imagination. I was shocked, but more than anything I was scared. "Open the door or I'll break it down!" the low voice continued.

Ricky and I both got up from our chairs and we ran. He headed for the bathroom, and I of course didn't want to go in there with him, but then he saw me running away from him into the bedroom and he followed me.

He slammed the door and locked it, and we both stood awkwardly together alone in the small bedroom. Ricky walked over to the window, and I watched him. And then my heart stopped. Someone, or something, was standing outside- and they were smearing blood on the window.