Thanks to all the reviewers for reading and sharing your thoughts! I appreciate it sooo much. Here's Chapter 3.

Six days later….

It was Day 11 of camp, a couple of days before it would all come to an end. Katie's mood had shifted from joy and exhilaration to frustration. She had come to the galling realization that even here, among people who shared the same interests, she still hadn't found complete acceptance. If I don't fit in here, she thought to herself, where on earth do I fit in?

Katie had made a few good friends at Camp Lilia – Carmen, who befriended her on Day 1, was still her best friend in the bunch, but she'd also made friends with some of the other teens. Things were going well until Katie had started to notice things… whispered conversations that seemed to stop when she got closer, catty comments (usually about people "thinking they were better than everyone else") that always seemed to be made when she was around, glares and stares that seemed to her to be just a little resentful. The main culprits were Reese and Christine, two popular, pretty girls with acting aspirations. Some other kids made a snarky comment here and there, but Reese and Christine's attitude towards her seemed particularly critical and cutting.

It was not Katie's first experience of bullying, of course. She knew what it felt like to be picked on, to be different; but she just never thought it would happen here. She had just assumed that these kids with whom she had so much in common would instantly accept her. Being picked on at Camp Lilia was not something she'd been concerned about. She'd worried about being liked, but not being picked on. She voiced her concerns to Carmen one day at lunch.

'Hmm,' Carmen responded, 'I wish I could say I haven't noticed it. But you're right, there definitely is some cattiness going on with Reese and Christine. I will say though, that it's mostly jealousy. You're really pretty, you're sweet, and you're so good at almost everything – you can act, you can sing, you can paint. They're just threatened by you.'

Katie sighed sadly. 'I don't think that's it. I think they just don't like me.'

Carmen shook her head. 'Trust me, it's the good ol' green-eyed monster. I know what I'm talking about. But forget them,' Carmen continued with a smile, 'I like you – a lot! And I'll like you even more – in fact, I'll love you – when you introduce me to your big brother in a couple of days.'

Katie giggled. 'I already told you – he's not coming. He's busy Friday.'

'What was that you just said, Katya? I can't hear you,' Carmen responded comically, and both girls dissolved into laughter, Katie momentarily forgetting her worries.

Katie's good mood was not destined to last very long, though. At the drama class later that afternoon, Shane spoke to the twelve teens taking the class about respecting one another's work.

'People like to say that teenagers haven't experienced much – and they're right, most teenagers still have a lot of living to do.' The kids groaned and rolled their eyes. 'Calm down guys, I'm on your side. You may not have lots of life experience behind you, but what you do have is very strong emotions and opinions, and that's what you should try to harness and channel through your acting, but in a disciplined way.'

Shane continued. 'As always, it's vital that we maintain an atmosphere of trust, acceptance and open communication here. Respect one another's privacy, support one another, don't judge. Remember, to be a good actor, you have to acknowledge your prejudices – then set them aside and be true to your character.'

The teens were placed in random groups of three or four for the class, and given short, simple scripts to work on for half an hour, after which each team would perform their scenes. To her surprise and dismay, Katie was placed with Christine and Reese. She tried to muster a smile as the other two members of her team walked towards her, clutching their scripts.

'Hey Katya,' Reese said, with a big smile, 'I'm really excited to be working with you. I think you're really talented.'

Katie blushed and looked away as she stammered out her thanks; she still wasn't used to receiving compliments. Maybe this won't be so bad after all, she thought. In that moment, she missed the triumphant look the other two girls exchanged.

After taking a few minutes to read through their script separately, Katie and her team-mates reunited to discuss their approach.

'I really like these scenes,' Christine began. 'Aisha's character is going through a difficult time, and in each scene Rodrigo and Erica are trying to help her, but in different ways… Erica is trying to use laughter to distract Aisha, but Rodrigo is trying to help her confront her problems and change things herself.'

Katie and Reese nodded. 'That sums it up nicely,' Reese said, 'but the one problem is that we're three girls, and Rodrigo's a boy.'

Christine shrugged. 'Shane knows that. I guess that's part of the challenge. One of us could easily play Rodrigo, right?'

Katie and Reese nodded again.

'I'd like to play Aisha,' Reese volunteered, 'It would be a good challenge for me to try and get into her head. She's misunderstood, and she says right here that her mom barks orders at her like a drill sergeant. Things are totally different for me at home, so it would be a good stretch for me.'

Christine rolled her eyes in disgust. 'I just don't get why some parents act that way. I have a friend at school whose dad is in the army. He is so mean, he treats his kids like his own personal platoon – and just as soon as they were old enough, he basically bullied them into joining the army too.'

Reese gasped. 'That is just so… stupid. Why would anyone want their children to sign up to go get blown up or shot in some godforsaken foreign country, because of some ridiculous political dispute? They risk their lives on the orders of rich politicians, and for what? It's bad enough that your friend's dad probably wasted his own career, and the best years of his life, on some misguided ideals… why on earth would he want his kids to do the same thing?' She turned to Katie. 'What do you think, Katya? You've been very quiet.'

Katie took a deep breath. It wasn't the first time she had heard views like these, of course, and her parents had always taught her to respect other people's opinions, but for some reason, Reese's words really stung. She couldn't help feeling that there was something personal and unpleasant beneath the social commentary. 'I think we need to get back to the script… we're running out of time. I'll play Rodrigo, if that's okay with you, Christine.'

Christine giggled. 'Oh, that's more than okay with me. I have no interest in playing a boy. Eww. I'll play Erica – I need to work on my comic timing, so the role is perfect for me. So, why does the character of Rodrigo appeal to you, Katya?'

Katie shrugged. 'Like you said, playing a guy is a challenge. And he's an interesting character.'

Reese smirked. 'Oh, okay. I thought it might have something to do with the fact that he's a poor Mexican immigrant hoping to achieve "the American Dream".'

Christine laughed scornfully. 'Yeah, but since he's such a pretentious, self-righteous character who probably thinks he's better than he actually is, he doesn't have a chance in hell of making that happen, does he?'

Katie gasped in shock. There was no question in her mind now that the other girls were out to draw blood.

Reese waited a beat, and then spoke up. 'Well, not unless he's got some nice American "family" waiting in the wings to give him a boost. But hey, we're running out of time here. Now that we've established who's playing who, let's rehearse. We have just,' and here she consulted her watch, 'fifteen minutes left'.

Katie had a confusing mixture of emotions coursing through her. She felt humiliated, sad and angry all at once. She wanted to cry, but instead she gritted her teeth and tried to pretend the other girls' cutting words hadn't made an impact on her. She shrugged and nodded, trying to appear nonchalant, and the three girls began their rehearsal. Katie stood to the side while Reese and Christine took their places in chairs and began their scene.

'Hey Aisha,' Christine began.

Reese sighed. 'Hey.'

'Are you okay? You look sad.'

'It's my mom. She's so mean. I asked her if I could go to the dance this weekend, and she said no.'

'Really? Why?'

'Something about my grades… she actually thinks grounding me for two whole weeks is a fair punishment for the "crime" of flunking one class.'

'Aww, she's way too harsh.'

'You're telling me! She yells at me all the time, like some kind of drill sergeant. She keeps telling me she knows what's best for me.'

'Parents always say that.'

'Yeah, but my mom is something else… and she keeps comparing me to my sister, Jasmine… you know, the one who rats me out all the time and never gets in trouble because she does everything right.'

'That sucks. Well at least it's not your senior prom or anything. The fall dance is usually pretty boring anyway. Wanna hear something really funny? I –'

Reese interrupted Christine's lines, going completely off-script. 'No, I don't want to hear a joke right now. I want to talk about my sister, little Ms. Perfect, who does nothing wrong. She gets everything she asks for, and all I get is a hard time. I want to talk about frustrating it is to live with this girl who thinks she's so damned perfect, just because she's pretty and blonde and does everything right. She feeds the hungry, she takes care of the sick, she sings, she paints, she can do it all.'

Reese paused to catch her breath after her tirade. Looking a little unsure of how to proceed, Christine spoke up. 'Uh, I feel your pain. I hate it when people act like they're better than everyone else.'

'Exactly. And when they get special treatment, it's even more nauseating,' Reese continued, her eyes flashing with anger and resentment, 'especially because they're getting it just because someone took pity on them and decided to lend them a helping hand, like they were a beggar in the street. Maybe they should've been left in the street to die. It would be better than living off someone else's charity.'

At this point, Katie couldn't take it any longer – she had to stay something. 'Hey guys, I know Shane encourages us to ad lib, but you've both gone way off the script. Maybe we should move to the next –'

But Reese was too angry to stop now. 'What do you know about it? You're not Shane, you don't get to coach us. Quit butting in, this isn't even your scene. Gosh, I hate the way you go around acting like some kind of paragon of virtue, acting like you know everything about everything. Hey, newsflash – you're no better than anyone else here, Katya! You are nothing but a miserable orphan. Where would you be if two misguided people hadn't ignored all the kids in this country that need parents, and gone off to some godforsaken –'

At that moment, Shane called out Reese's name, a note of warning in his voice. The girls snapped their heads around, surprised to see him standing only a couple of feet away. They realized belatedly that in his approach, he'd probably heard most of what they'd said. As it dawned on them that they'd been caught out, Reese looked defiant, while Christine looked more subdued.

Before Shane could say anything else, a pale, trembling Katie turned back to Reese and Christine and spoke up. 'You two think you know me. You think you know all about my life, you think you know how I got here. You even think you know my parents.' She laughed, and her laughter was ironic. 'You uncovered a few facts and went around making up your own neat little theories and trying to put me down every chance you got. That's okay, that's just what bullies and gossips do… they're weak, and they know it, so they try to make other people look bad so that they can feel better about themselves.' She paused for a moment, looking the other girls in the eye. Christine looked down, and even Reese looked away for a second.

Katie continued. 'You crossed the line when you talked about my parents. I won't let anyone talk about my mom and dad like that. You don't know them – you have no idea who they are and what they've done with their lives. And if I tried to tell you, I know you wouldn't understand, because you're shallow, and selfish, and petty. You have no concept of the things in life that are true, real, deep and lasting. I actually pity you, because you just don't know any better. I hope you get it someday, but until then, I promise that if you ever say anything about the people I love again, I'll make you regret it.'

'Katya, that's enough –,' Shane cut in, but Katie had already turned around and was walking away, ignoring Shane's attempts to call her back.