Chapter Seven – The Scene of the Crime

"Is everything alright, Courtney?" Sierra asks, noticing she's been silent for most of dinner.

"Yeah… Sierra, do you think I'm a bitch?" Courtney asks.

"Uh… no. Well, I mean… you can get a little mean and bossy sometimes, but…" Sierra trails off. Courtney sighs.

"Did you tell her?" Duncan asks, kicking Courtney lightly to get her attention.

"Ow!" Courtney glares, despite the fact the kick didn't hurt in the slightest. "Tell her yourself."

"I found your phone Sierra and I'm keeping it," Duncan informs her.

"Oh, that's okay. I actually have three phones. That's the phone I show my mom when she realises the first one I gave her is a decoy," Sierra grins. "Wait does this mean you know we were eavesdropping?" Sierra asks, realising the implications of him having her phone.

"Yeah, and I told Courtney before, you girls are going to pay for it," Duncan says.

"Ooh, how exciting! I wonder what he's going to do!" Sierra says.

"Okay kids!" Chris announces, "Dinner's over! We're now going to have a nice bonding session out by the campfire, follow me!" Everyone stands up and heads out of the dining hall behind Chris.

"I don't blame you, you know," Sierra says to Courtney.

"For what?" Courtney asks.

"Having a thing for Duncan. I mean he's pretty hot and he totally has that bad boy thing going for him, and he has a tattoo. You guys should totally date!" Sierra says.

"Let's get one thing straight, Sierra. I do not have a thing for Duncan. I think he's totally gross and immature. And besides, even if I did like him, which I don't, I couldn't date him, because he doesn't want me. Didn't you hear what he said to the guys?" Courtney snaps.

"Yeah, but…"

"Ugh, let it go, Sierra!" Courtney says tiredly. "Heather, wait up!" she calls, speeding up and leaving Sierra behind her, but she can't help but wonder about the tattoo and how Sierra knows he has one.

Once they're all situated around the campfire, Chris addresses the group.

"Welcome to your first campfire bonding session!" he announces.

"Great name, did you come up with that yourself?" Noah says sarcastically.

"Yes! Now campfires are a lot of fun, but beware, they are very conducive to friendship and romance. No one stays enemies for long around a campfire!" Chris declares.

"Whoa, cool…" Owen says.

"We'll be gathering here every night after dinner for an hour before you go to bed," Chris tells them. "Anyone got any songs or stories?"

"Ms O'Halloran confiscated my guitar," Trent tells Chris.

"Ms O'Halloran can he have his guitar back?" Chris asks. Blaineley sighs but goes to get the guitar.

"Aw, Chris was right, campfires really are romantic!" Lindsay says, snuggling into Tyler.

"I wish my boyfriend Brady was here!" Beth sighs.

"I wish I had a boyfriend!" Katie says dreamily.

"Me too!" agrees Sadie.

"You're all so pathetic!" Heather snorts, she looks around for someone to laugh at her jibe but no one does. Gwen and Lindsay are too wrapped in their boyfriends, Courtney is staring into the fire, not paying the slightest bit of attention to the conversation, and no one else even remotely likes Heather enough to back her up. "Whatever." She folds her arms and looks sulky.

Blaineley returns with Trent's guitar, and he immediately launches into his favourite song, She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5. Some people join in and sing along while others just enjoy the music. Heather elbows Courtney in the stomach.

"Ow," Courtney shoots Heather a dirty look. "What was that for?"

"What is up with you?" Heather interrogates.

"What do you mean?" Courtney responds.

"Why aren't you singing? Normally you'd be trying to drown everyone else out. Also, you totally ignored me earlier when I said something funny!" Heather complains.

"Sorry, god. What did you say?" Courtney asks.

"It doesn't matter now!" Heather huffs. "So what's the matter anyway?"

"Nothing really…" Courtney says. "Am I a bitch?" she asks.

"Uh, yes. That's why I like you," Heather says. "Is this about what the guys were saying? 'Cause I kinda thought you liked being a bitch."

"But everyone hates me," Courtney says.

"So what? You can't please everyone. Courtney, don't let what those idiot guys say change who you are. You do whatever it takes to be the best and you make no apologies for it and honestly I think that's great. Why would you listen to people who just want to make you feel bad about who you are? Especially someone like Duncan." Heather says. Somehow Heather's words make Courtney feel a little better.

"You're right. What was I thinking?" she shakes her head and berates herself for letting Duncan doubt herself. "I don't care if everyone hates me."

"That's the spirit!" Heather says. Trent starts a new song and both girls join in. Courtney thinks about what Heather said while she sings along absentmindedly. I don't care if no one likes me, she assures herself. But she knows that part of her does care. She glances up across the fire, only to find Duncan looking at her. Her heart thumps a little harder in her chest as he winks at her. It's just the dumb fire, she thinks, remembering what Chris said. But Sierra was right, he is hot. In a stupid I hate his guts type way.

Trent finishes the second song and is about to start another one but Eva yells at him to stop.

"That's enough acoustic love songs for one night!" she shouts. Trent puts the guitar down.

"What do we do now then?" Trent asks.

"Chris should tell the story of the Murderous Butcher!" Harold suggests.

"Ooh, I wanna hear the story of the Murderous Butcher!" Izzy claps her hands.

"Alright, but don't get too scared!" Chris warns. "Once, a few years ago, there was a family who came to stay at this very camp…"

After Chris has finished the story and successfully scared everyone out of their wits, they chat about the talent show for a bit.

"I'm playing a song I wrote," Trent says.

"I'm beatboxing!" Harold boasts.

"Sadie and I are going to do a dance routine that we've been working on!" Katie squeals excitedly.

"I am salsa dancing, once I get a partner," Alejandro says. "I need to hold auditions to see who the best dancer is. In fact why don't we do that right now? Leshawna, would you like to go first?" Alejandro asks. Leshawna giggles and goes red.

"Gosh," says Harold, annoyed.

"There's no music! How are you supposed to dance?" Heather protests.

"I can show you, if you like?" Alejandro says casually. Heather scoffs and rolls her eyes. Alejandro walks over to her and grabs her hand and pulls her up, crushing her against his chest.

"This is so stupid," she says, a little breathlessly.

"Yeah, and it's time for you guys to go to bed!" Chris agrees.

"Next time, then," Alejandro promises, letting Heather go a little reluctantly.

As the girls make their way back to their respective cabins to get ready for bed, the boys head back to Geoff's cabin.

"What are you guys doing?" Courtney asks Duncan. "Didn't you hear Chris say it was time for bed?"

"Yeah, I heard him."

"So why aren't you then?" she demands.

"Because we don't want to." Duncan saunters off into Geoff's cabin. Courtney huffs and storms off to the bathroom.

Once all the boys are in Geoff's cabin again, Duncan clears his throat to make an announcement.

"I've told some of you this already, but I think the rest of you should know that when we left the cabin earlier, I found this," he holds up Sierra's phone. "The girls were eavesdropping on us."

"Oh no! How much did they hear?" Owen asks.

"Everything after Sierra came in," Duncan informs him. "Anyway, I think they deserve payback for this nasty trick!" Duncan declares.

"Are we going to eavesdrop on them?" asks Tyler.

"No I have a better idea. We are going to take something from them…" Duncan tells them.

"Their mascara?" asks Justin.

"Nope… their underwear!" he laughs. Cody nods enthusiastically but most of the other guys look dubious.

"Uh… isn't that a little creepy?" Trent points out.

"Aw, not like that dude. We aren't going sniff it and carry it around in our pockets. We're going to hang it on the flagpole." Duncan explains. Cody looks disappointed. "It'll be funny!" Duncan convinces.

"I guess it could be kind of funny…" Trent agrees.

"It will be like a warning not to mess with us. We could make it a competition between the guys," Duncan continues.

"Totally, dude!" Geoff says, getting into it. "Like each guy is given a girl and has to take a pair of her underwear and whoever doesn't get any has to… strip off and run to the lake in front of the girls!"

"This sounds fun!" Owen giggles. "When's the deadline?"

"Tomorrow afternoon," Duncan decides.

"How do we decide who gets what girl?" asks Cody.

"We could draw names out of a hat?" Duncan suggests.

"Uh, I don't like that idea. I don't want to risk anyone else touching my girlfriend's underwear," Trent disagrees.

"Have you even touched her underwear?" Duncan asks.

"Well… no. But that's beside the point!" Trent asserts.

"Fine, you get Gwen. Tyler, you get Lindsay, Owen, you get Izzy," Duncan says.

"Izzy's not my girlfriend," Owen points out.

"I don't care. The rest of us will draw names out of a hat. If you slip me twenty bucks I might be able to rig the results for you…" Duncan says, looking at Geoff. Geoff grins. Duncan writes the girls names on a piece of paper and tears them up and puts them in Geoff's hat. Despite no one giving him twenty bucks, he rigs the results anyway, so that Geoff ends up with Bridgette's name, Cody ends up with Sierra, Alejandro ends up with Heather and he even does a kind deed for Harold, letting him have Leshawna. He of course makes sure he gets Courtney's name for himself. Only because she's the one who was the mastermind behind the plot, and I'm the one who found out about it, he tells himself, not realising it was actually Sierra's idea anyway.

"Okay boys, it's time for bed now. Good luck!"

Courtney lies in bed, listening to Sierra snore. She checks the time on the phone and groans inwardly to see that it just after midnight. Will I never sleep? She thinks. The bed is too hard and the blankets are itchy and the pillow feels like it's hardly there. I should've known to bring my own, Courtney scolds herself. She plays over the events of the day in her mind, dwelling on every little word someone had said to her, or about her, from her counselling session with Duncan, to her disagreement with Bridgette, to what the boys had said about her, to what Heather had said by the campfire.

What am I even doing here? Courtney wonders. This camp is a total waste of time. She grabs her phone and walks out of the cabin, heading towards the campfire. It's still crackling away, although it has died down quite a bit. Courtney finds her mother's number in her phone and presses the call button, sitting down on one of the stumps they'd been using as seats.

"Courtney?" her mother finally answers. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Mom," Courtney says.

"Then why are you calling so late?" she asks.

"Will you come and get me? This camp is horrible. You wouldn't believe how they're treating me here," Courtney says.

"Why? Aren't they feeding you?" Courtney's mother demands.

"No, it's nothing like that… it's just…"

"Courtney, it sounds like you're just complaining for no reason. You know I hate it when you complain. If you don't like your situation, only you have the power to change it. But we never quit, understand?" Courtney's mom says.

"But, Mom…"

"Go to sleep, Courtney. I'll see you in a few days." Her mother hangs up the phone, without saying goodbye. Courtney sighs, and is about to head back to her cabin when someone grabs her and growls menacingly at her. She screams, turning around, only to be faced with none other than Duncan. He bursts into laughter as she glares at him.

"Did you think I was that butcher?" he asks, sitting down beside her.

"Of course not! Why would I think that?" Courtney snaps.

"Well, you know, criminals always return to the scene of the crime," Duncan explains.

"Well you would know," Courtney concedes with a smirk.

"Who was that on the phone? Your mom?" Duncan asks.

"That was my boyfriend… Derek. He begged me to call him every night," Courtney lies.

"Right…" Duncan nods, smirking.

"What are you doing here anyway, Duncan?" Courtney asks, a little snappishly.

"I saw you sneaking out of your cabin… so I followed you," Duncan replies raising an eyebrow.

"Wow, my own personal stalker!" Courtney says, pretending to be flattered. She shakes off the idea that maybe she isn't actually pretending. She shivers, and it alerts her to how little clothing she is wearing. A cropped pink tank top and tiny shorts aren't exactly ideal outdoor attire. She considers heading back to the warmth of the cabin, but for some reason she really doesn't want to leave. God damn this fire and it's magic powers, she thinks.

"Are you cold?" Duncan asks, turning towards her slightly so their knees touch. She shivers again, although this time it isn't from the cold.

"A little," Courtney admits.

"We could move closer… you know, to the fire," Duncan clarifies. "Unless, you know, you were going to go back to your cabin or something…" he glances at her nervously, hoping she'll stay.

"I should probably try and get some sleep," Courtney tells him, standing up. The blood rushes to head as she stands and she wobbles a little. Duncan stands up and puts his hands on her bare waist to steady her. Not just because you want to touch her, he tells himself.

"Are you alright?" he asks.

"Yeah, I just…" she looks up into his blue eyes that bore into her, "… feel a little drunk to be honest," she giggles, his closeness and hands touching her waist making her feel slightly giddy.

"How would you even know? Have you ever been drunk?" Duncan asks sceptically.

"Well, no…" Courtney admits. "I'm underage."

"Never stopped me," Duncan grins, his hands still on her. He moves his thumb, brushing against her skin. The slight movement sends a jolt through her and she subconsciously leans her body towards him. Duncan bends his head and puts his lips to her ear. "Do you want to stick around? I've got a lighter," he whispers.

"So?" Courtney asks, confused.

"We could burn something," Duncan suggests. Courtney smiles at the ridiculous suggestion.

"I'll take that lighter!" says Blaineley, walking up to the pair, shining a torch on them. Duncan squints into the light and reluctantly drops his hands from Courtney's waist. Blaineley holds out her hand and Duncan rolls his eyes and hands over the lighter. "Courtney, get back to your cabin." Blaineley says. Courtney glances back at Duncan as she walks away and he shrugs. He watches her retreating figure, feeling annoyed at Blaineley's interruption. Once Courtney is out of sight, Blaineley turns to Duncan.

"This is your last warning, mister. Break any more rules and there will be severe punishment. And don't drag nice girls like Courtney into your downward spiral. You're not going anywhere in life, we all know that, and Courtney's got prime minister written all over her. Now get back to your cabin." Blaineley tells him. Duncan scowls and obeys Blaineley's command, but doesn't let her know how much her comments hit home.

Hey guys, thanks again for reading! I'm really hoping for about 3 reviews per chapter and I'm not going to hold back chapters if I don't get it but I'm just letting you know it would be nice ;)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!