A/N: I'm sure you'll forgive me for not updating because this time of year is crazy for all of us. I've had everything from Driver's Ed to Christmas pageants. (Dead serious.)

Chapter 4

I watched the rain splash the car window and then trickled down in small streams leaving a wet trail behind them. Conley sat in the driver's seat of her Camaro acquainting herself with Jake. I looked to my left to find that Edward was staring intently at me. I could see the worry on his face that Rose had pointed out. He was worried.

I leaned into him but he didn't move. He also was focused on the outside world, deep into thought. I unbuckled myself and scooted over next to him but still he didn't move. I got frustrated and reached my hand out and grabbed his face turning it toward me.

"Are you okay?" I asked him thinking I was going to have to slap him out of his fit.

He nodded. "Yeah, perfect. Why wouldn't I be?"

I gave him that you're an idiot look. "Edward, I'm serious. Please talk to me."

He wrapped his arms around me and I hugged myself to him. He kissed my forehead. "I could say the same with you babe." He chuckled.

I shrugged off his comment. "I don't know what you're talking about babe." I enunciated the babe.

He lifted my chin so I was looking him in his beautiful green eyes. "I'm worried about you. You seem a little out of it. That's all." He said leaning down to place a kiss on my lips. Usually when he kissed me you would have to pull us away but I found myself pulling away from him too quickly.

Edward let out an exasperated breath and then looked back at the seat. I grabbed his hand and pressed my lips to his skin. Edward looked back at me and smiled then wrapped an arm around my waist.

"Sorry love." He whispered.

"Hey you two, buckle up. If I get a ticket you're paying for it." Conley called from the front seat.

Edward rolled his eyes and made contact with me. He slowly bent down and brought my lips back to his. I saw out of the corner of my eye that he flicked Conley off. She glared at him and I could hear Jake's rumbling laughter.

I spent the rest of the ride cuddling up to Edward. I made an agreement with myself. I would not push Edward away this summer. I would take this summer to have fun and be in love. If I was going to go to Stanford in the fall then I needed to spend as much time with Edward as I could.

"We're here dorks." Conley slammed on the breaks and the only thing that kept me from flying through the front window was Edward's iron grip.

"Thanks for almost killing me Conley." I glared at her.

She laughed. "You're welcome my dear Bella."

Edward's grip tightened on me. "No, I believe you're wrong. Bella is MINE."

I know that the phrase he used should have freaked me out but it didn't. The thought that Edward claimed me was exciting. I liked being "owned".

"Well let's go." Conley opened the car door. "Who knows it might start raining in point two seconds."

Edward opened his door. "You know she has a point. I think this is probably the only place I've been where it can be pouring rain one minute and then nice and sunny the next."

I yawned and followed Edward through the door. "Let's get this summer started." I was surprised at the enthusiasm in my own voice.

"That's what I'm talking bout." Emmett's booming laughter caused me to look up. Coming down the trail was a jeep. Emmett was standing out the back and some music about summer was blaring through the speakers.

I looked down to see Jonathan with a relieved expression on his face while Rose and Nancy sat laughing at them. Following the Jeep was Rachel driving her silver Saturn. Jordan was in the front seat and I could see Jasper's blonde hair over the seat. I was sure Alice was there somewhere.

The sun warmed my back so I flipped my hair over and pulled it up to sit on top of my hair. Familiar arms wrapped around my torso and I looked around for the first time. We were in a clearing surrounded by pine trees. They weren't the looming trees that we had in Forks though.

There was a huge lodge typed building in front of me. To the left were two long cabins. They weren't too shabby looking but I figured that they housed the campers. There was a huge lake behind the lodge and a white house to the left of the two cabins. I figured it was the bathhouse.

I turned to my right and saw two smaller cabins. They actually looked in better condition than the other two. One had girls inscribed on the door and they other had boys inscribed on the door. They were about ten feet apart and a bathhouse was on the other side of the cabin marked girls. This could be a good sight for the girls. I was suddenly very happy that the campers were staying across the grounds.

Edward urged me toward the lodge where the others seemed to be headed. Before we got to the steps I pushed him off a little ways and pulled him to the hill right in front of the lake. The sun started setting and twilight was soon approaching.

Edward kissed the back of my neck and started to sway me back and forth to the rhythm of the waves. There were steps down the huge hill leading down to the waterline. I watched as the sun dipped lower and painted the sky splashes of pink and purple.

"It's beautiful." I whispered not wanting to ruin the moment.

Edward chuckled and I felt his chin rest on my shoulder. "It is, but no beauty can compare to yours."

I leaned back into him. "Edward Cullen, you are just too much."

I heard a screen door slam and I looked to my right to see Alice standing on the side porch. "Come on you two, the briefing is starting!"

I reluctantly followed Edward as he urged me into the lodge. He and I both knew that we would much rather just sit and watch the sun fade away from the earth. We entered the cool air conditioner and I looked around to take in the building. We were standing in what I assumed was the mess hall. There were tables and benches running the length of the room. Another plus was the line of windows along the wall that gave a pretty view of the lake.

We followed Alice through the mess hall and into the lobby area. Old couches were placed around some tables where I recognized some old magazines and a couple of books. An old stereo was in the corner and I didn't see a computer or a TV in sight. When they said outdoor, they meant outdoor.

Edward and I took our seat on one of the couches next to Alice and Jasper. The front screen door creaked open and a middle aged lady came in with a yellow folder in one hand and a coffee mug in the other.

I took time to notice that she was kind of round and her skin was the color of a tootsie roll. She smiled widely at us making eye contact with each of us. I had a feeling that she was the camp director or something.

She sat down her coffee cup and took a deep breath. "Well, look what we have here." She raised an eyebrow. "You know that you are all insanely pretty right?"

Jordan burst out laughing and I could help but notice that she was directing her comments toward the Cullen family along with Jasper and Alice. She was right though. They were all insanely beautiful.

She coughed. "Um, er sorry I know that was random. Anyway I would like to welcome you to Camp Hardee!"

She pulled out some papers from the folder and passed a stack to Jake who was on one of the ends. "Okay let's get down to business. Theses are you camp maps. They aren't very hard to learn but incase you have a bad sense of direction here you go." She waited for everyone to take their maps.

"Okay so you see the basic overlay of the camp. When you're facing the lodge the camper cabins are no the left while the counselor cabins are on the right." She paused as her eyes roamed the maps. "The counselors and campers also have separate bathhouses."

"The camper cabins have ten bunks in them a piece while the counselor cabins have three bunks in them. Guy counselors and girl counselors are to stay in separate cabins although the bathhouses are conjoined." She paused and I thought of many pranks to play on the guys. Mostly it involved taking their clothes –and possibly towels- while they were in the showers.

"You need to watch out in the bathhouses because there are multiple granddaddy long legs. For those of you who don't know, they are supposed to be the most poisonous spiders on earth." Alice and I screamed simultaneously and the lady laughed. "Don't worry girls, their mouths are too small to bite you so you don't have to worry." (A/N: This is always what I was told growing up but I just researched it and found that that myth isn't true. You should look it up on Wikipedia… it'll freak you out!)

I was a little relieved but I still didn't like the thought of bathing with spiders anywhere near me. I regained my breathing while the lady finished her spiel. I noticed that Edward was rubbing small circles on my back and humming into my ear. I leaned into him and my whole persona relaxed.

"Any questions?" She asked. Emmett raised his hand and she called on him.

"Hey, I'm Emmett and I was just wondering about PDA." He asked the stupid question.

Her eyes lit up. "Ah yes thank you for asking about that. PDA is to be strictly kept at a PG level around the kids mostly." She paused. "We're going to have a time when the high school girls get here though. You boys are rather cute."

I raised my hand and she called on me. "Yes dear?"

I smiled. "Well I wanted to ask you what your name was."

She laughed. "Oh, I always forget to introduce myself. I'm Mrs. Tootle but the campers usually call me Tootsie. Usually we have the whole code name thing but our head director retired so I'm afraid we're not doing the same things."

Alice stood up and introduced all of us. Then we agreed on no codenames because it would be too much of a hassle. Tootsie explained that there was a pizza place in town along with some restaurants and even a karaoke bar.

I watched as Alice's eyes light up. "I'm hungry. Who wants pizza?" She didn't wait for a reply and whipped out her cell phone. "Aw man, no service." She frowned.

I shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to have someone go get pizza while we get unpacked."

Of course Emmett volunteered and I'm sure Jonathan gave Emmett his keys out of pure fear. We all pitched in money and then he was off with Rose. The rest of us grabbed our bags out of the cars and headed toward the cabins. It was almost dark now and I could feel my eyes drooping.

Alice bounded up the stairs and flipped on the lights. The small cabin was revealed to me and Edward threw my suitcase on a top bunk next to one of the windows. He left and I got my stuff situated. I looked around and pulled up the flaps on the windows. I looked out and Edward flashed me a smile from the guy's cabin.

I sat on my bunk and looked around the room. The three bunks were situated like a box without a bottom. Alice was on the top bunk against the wall while Conley was under me. Rachel was under Alice and Nancy was under the empty bed that I assumed was to be for Rose.

I had a feeling that with these close quarters and no TV pranks would be played, and secrets would be shared.

A/N: I re wrote this chapter twice because I couldn't figure how I wanted it to go. Then I just got bored with it and put it aside for awhile and came back to it different times. I'm glad it's done though. Merry Christmas to us!

Insider Info: Camp Hardee is a real campground in North Carolina. I use to go there for camperies when I was a brownie in Girl Scouts. Wow, that was a while ago.

Kayla