Cam

Mogermentry Park's parking lot was extremely long. White and yellow lines filled the place, all of them untouched for ages. I wonder why they built such a huge parking lot for a place that only people over sixty and under seven ever visited. All of us proceeded to run towards the entrance, with Mark leading far ahead of the rest of the pack. All of us except for Marcus that is, who was walking behind up and shouting some nonsense about how we are not wearing proper shoes and were going to regret it in thirty years. I guess he's pretty smart, but the kid gets on your nerves after hours on end of being corrected of your grammar.

Just when the entrance seems like so far away I'll never make it, we're already there. This grumpy old woman calls to us to say on the trails and a bunch of other words strung together into meaningless sentences that I could care less about. Marcus is now far behind us, discussing something intently with Guard Lady, probably something that had to do with the dangers of children roaming the woods late at night.

So we ran. And ran and ran until I could no longer feel my legs. Suddenly, Mark came to a halt, followed by Derrick and then the rest of us. Mark motioned for us to 'shh' and start tiptoeing. As we advanced further, I heard the faint sound of Mack, Gabriella and Annabelle's voices. As I looked around, I knew exactly where we were.

"Wait for me!" I heard Mack call. I concluded that they probably weren't yet where I knew for sure they must be headed. There was still time, but so little of it. Reasoning with myself, I decided that it was time for me to reveal my secret to the guys. I mean, I suppose the deserve to know. And with so little time left, I was desperate.

I cleared my throat, and our entire crew's ears perked up. "Okay guys, so here's what we need to do. There is a little ravine about ten feet from here, and if we time it right, the girls won't be able to see us go through it. We can go through the back door into the cabin, which I'm sure is where they are going. The ravine is a pretty tight squeeze though, I would know, so we have to go one at a time." The guys stared at me like I had two heads.

"Do you like, lie awake at night, studying maps of Mogermentry Park? I mean can you believe this guy? Stupid!" Martin turned towards the rest of our friends for support, who just gave him blank looks, probably in disbelief for saying something so tacky. Matt pulled him aside, and started working his peacemaker magic in teaching Martin a lesson on being tactful.

"But seriously, how did you know all that?" Mitch asked, and I tried to hide a smile. Leave it to Mitch to help me out and move things along. Derrick was at risk of being surpassed as my favorite by Mitch.

"I actually like practically live here." I guess my secret was out. "I spend so much of my time here. It's not even funny, actually." I laugh at myself a little, thinking of the countless hours that I've spent in these woods. "Whenever I tell you guys I'm going to practice, more than half the time I'm coming over here."

"Well, apparently that's going to come in handy now. Let's move!" Derrick got us

moving again. I think he's still my favorite.

I go down the ravine first, and Derrick comes second. I'm too focused to figure out the order in which the rest of the boys come. Before I know it, I'm faced with a golden doorknob. Derrick comes around and pats my shoulder. "Together." He whispers. We push the door open. I'm overwhelmed with the familiar sights and smells of what I like to think of as my second home. From the books to the fireplace to the comfy chairs, I could live here. The snacks wouldn't last me forever, but I could try.
The sound of Gabriella's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Together" I heard her whisper through the green door. I ushered Derrick out of the cabin and shut the door oh-so-quietly, and just in time too. The girls opened the door soon thereafter. "Woah." I heard Annabelle whisper in this naive little voice. It took them a while to notice me, but they did. Gabriella noticed first, she always does. Mack followed her gaze and locked her eyes on me. Annabelle's eyes were still floating around the room, but eventually she noticed. When Annabelle finally saw me, her face turned an interesting shade of pink.

"Why hello?" Annabelle whispered. I wasn't quite sure if she was talking to me or asking herself what she wanted to say.

"Annabelle, sweetie, do you wanna say hello to Cam?" Gabriella said in a motherly voice. Sometimes I wondered who ever kept Annabelle intact through the day, and now I knew Gabriella was the one working behind the scenes with her. Annabelle stood, frozen.

"Uh, hi." I murmured, turning my gaze down to my feet and starting to mentally pray that my face was not as pink as it felt.

"What are you doing here, Cam?" Mack looked at me up and down, probably looking for any signs that my friends were with me. I figured I would just let her think that they weren't for a little while.

"Why, you upset to see me?" I held my arms up in innocence. Mack just smirked and turned her attention to Annabelle.

"No. I mean, well, no." Annabelle was tripping over her words. Gabriella wrapped her arms around her in comfort. Annabelle quickly broke out of her embrace and walked across the room towards me, seriously invading my personal space until she was an inch away from my face. Not that I minded, anyways. Gabriella and Mack just stood in the background, not really sure what to do with their friend's newfound confidence.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered. I could feel her breath on my face, which made it really hard to come up with a witty answer quick. Luckily, I had years of practice.

"If you mean what am I doing this close to your face, I think you brought that on yourself." I cracked a smile. Annabelle's expression stayed blank, but I could see the joy spark in her blue-gold eyes.

"We'll be back." Annabelle said, staring into my eyes, but I knew she was addressing Mack and Gabriella.

"Oh-okay?" I had never heard Mack respond with such ill confidence, but I also had never thought that I would see Annabelle so sure of herself, and I had only known the girl for a few hours!