CHAPTER ONE - Player

With every second, I was getting closer and closer to hell.

Beside me, my mom sighed, as if she could feel my pain. Or maybe she was just glad that she was finally getting rid of me for the summer, so that she could do things like flirt with her boyfriend Bill without me commenting on it.

"This will be a great experience," she said, breaking the silence that had been stretching out for the past seventy miles.

I shifted to a more comfortable position in my seat. "Please," I muttered, tossing my phone from one hand to the other and glared out the window. "Behavioral Correction Camp. Why don't they just call a spade a spade and just tell us we're going to juvie?"

My mom's lips clamped together, and I felt satisfied that I'd irritated her. "Elle, please just try to be positive about this."

I shot her a look. "Be positive? Where do you think you're dropping me off? Happy Fun Camp?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

She was silent, so I turned away from her and resumed moodily staring out the window.

Fifteen minutes later, I caught glimpse of the Behavioral Correction Camp. It looked like my school: plain brick walls. A green lawn. Trees scattered around. There were a lot of kids milling around.

The difference? The giant chain-link fence surrounding the premises, topped off with barbed wire.

Fabulous.

"Is this camp or prison?" I asked incredulously, turning and facing my mom.

She pointedly stared out the windshield and didn't answer me.

"You freaking paid to get me put in prison for three months."

As hard as she tried, she couldn't ignore that. "No, Elle, it's not prison. It is a behavior-"

"Mom! Are you even looking at this place?"

She was silent until we pulled up to the drop off. "After everything you did last year, you need to be here. It will be good for you," she snapped, and then parked. "Come on, let's get your stuff."

Groaning, I got out of the car, slinging my backpack over my shoulder. I grabbed my duffel bag and slung it over my free arm and slammed the trunk as hard as I could, trying not to go crazy.

This was so not fair.

My mom looked at the fence warily. "Have fun in there," she said, offering me a weak smile.

I refrained from rolling my eyes. "Thanks," I muttered, and then walked in, leaving her standing alone on the sidewalk.

I checked in and received my room assignments from a peppy thirty-something named Rosalind. "Go meet your roomies!" she squealed, and I sighed and went to go find my dorm.

As I walked, I took in the scenes around me. A group of girls were standing together under a tree, whispering to each other. They all had bleached blonde hair, tiny frames, and outfits that my principal would have incinerated; they broke every dress code rule.

Past them, a group of four boys lounged on the lawn, one of them playing guitar. They were chattering loudly, their laughs carrying over to me.

I finally reached my dorm in building C and located room 714. I braced myself for my roommates and walked in.

The room looked like a stereotypical camp room: two bunk beds took up half the room, with a couch and table on the other side. There was a door that I assumed led to the bathroom, and a dresser with four drawers.

Three of the beds had already been claimed, which left me with the bottom bunk farthest from the door. Ignoring the one girl in the room, I dumped my stuff on my bed and sighed.

"Uh, hey."

Involuntarily, I looked towards the greeting. On the bunk above sat a girl with auburn hair and green eyes, her face sprinkled with bright freckles. "I'm Anna."

"Elle," I said reluctantly, fixing my gaze on my duffel bag.

"The second drawer is open," Anna said.

"Thanks," I murmured, hoisting my duffel back onto my shoulder and walking to the dresser by the door.

But before I could get there, the door swung open and hit me in the forehead. "Ow!" I yelled, stumbling back, the weight of my bag dragging me all the way to the floor.

"Oh shit," I heard, and I looked up, irritated.

"What the hell?" I hissed, getting to my feet and glaring at the person who had knocked me over.

All I could register was his hair. It was bleached white, and it stuck out in all directions. He looked at me with wide eyes, his mouth open.

"I'm so sorry," he said, and I rubbed my forehead.

"It's okay," I muttered unwillingly.

I bent over to grab my bag when suddenly, the boy who had just rammed the door into my head flew into me, and we tumbled to the floor.

"Oh bloody hell, Calum, look what you've done!"

"This wasn't my fault! It's your fault!"

"Mine? Mine? I was behind you!"

The boy scrambled off of me, giving me view to three other boys who had entered the dorm room. They were the tall, lanky boys I'd seen playing with the guitar earlier.

"Hey, Michael, are you okay?" the dark haired one asked, grinning sheepishly.

Michael glared at him. "So it was Calum, then?" he asked the blonde one.

The blonde grinned. "Yep," he said, his tongue toying with his lip ring.

Michael launched himself at Calum, and the two fell to the floor in a shout of laughter. "Hey, geroff!" Calum shrieked, and Michael conceded, getting to his feet.

I realized I was still on the floor, and got to my feet. "Uh..."

The four looked at me, as if suddenly realizing I was there. "Oh, hi. Who're you?" the curly-haired brunette asked.

"Elle," I said, hating how many strangers I had to talk to.

"Right. I'm Ashton, and this is Luke, Calum and Michael," he said, pointing to each of his friends as he introduced them.

I nodded. "So, erm, why're you in here?"

"Me, sorry," Anna said, climbing down from her bunk and coming over. "They're idiots, and we should probably get them to fix the lock on our door."

"Right," I said, utterly confused.

And then Luke wrapped an arm around Anna's waist, and everything clicked.

"Ahh," I said, and Anna flushed.

"Get used to us," Michael said, crossing the room and flopping onto my bunk.

I frowned at him. "Get off!"

"Like I said, babe, get used to us," he said, crossing his legs and smirking at me.

I glared at him. "Who do you think you're calling babe?"

"Uh, you?"

"Don't even try."

"I just did."

"Are you always this annoying?"

"If by annoying you mean endearing, then yes."

I groaned. "Just get off my bed!"

Michael grinned. He was having way too much fun with this. "Why don't you just let me chill out here while you go put away your things?" he asked, nodding to my duffel, which was still on the floor.

Infuriated, I turned away from him and began to unpack, blindly shoving my clothes into the drawer.

"Sorry about Mikey," Ashton said, and I shrugged.

"He'll be sorry," I promised, pausing unpacking to give Michael a devious smile.

He laughed. "Like you could do anything to me."

"We're all at BCC for a reason," Ashton reminded him, and Michael raised an eyebrow.

"I wonder what Blondie over here did to get here," he wondered aloud.

I shrugged and winked at him. "You don't want to know," I mouthed to him, and he laughed.

I finished unpacking my things and threw my duffel to the side. "Get off my bed," I said, walking towards him.

Michael put his hands behind his head and stretched out. "Nah, I'm pretty comfortable."

Behind me, Luke whispered, "He's dead, dude."

I was about to get to the bed when the door burst open, whacking Ashton squarely in the nose. "Ah, fuck!" he yelled, his nose starting to bleed.

"Oh, sorry!" A short Asian girl entered the room, looking at Ashton with a horrified expression. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Ash!"

"It's fine, Kat," he said, using his shirt to soak up the blood. "Where's Alara?"

Kat sighed. "Talking to Zach. Or rather, being cornered by Zach. Again. He won't leave her alone."

Ashton frowned, his eyebrows drawing together, and he started swearing under his breath. "Alara's my girlfriend."

"Yes, but Zach still doesn't get that Alara broke up with him," Kat sighed. She caught sight of me and said, "Oh, you must be our fourth roommate! Hi, I'm Katherine."

"Elle," I said, wishing I had a more interesting way to introduce myself.

"Everyone calls her Kat," Michael explained from my bunk.

"Alara is our other roommate," she said, climbing up the ladder to her bunk.

I looked between them. "How do you all know each other?" I asked.

Kat shrugged. "We all go to school here together."

"But I thought this was a camp."

"Yeah, it's a summer camp. But it's also a year round correction facility for us troubled teens," Calum said sarcastically.

Anna said, "We're really not bad kids. I mean, except for maybe Michael-"

"Don't even go there, Anna," Michael said.

"I just did," she said, tossing him the line he'd used on me earlier.

He grit his teeth. "Dammit."

"Anyways, welcome to BCC. It's a little camp for screw ups. There's only one rule here: don't ask what they did to get in here. Other than that, it's one beautiful free for all," Anna finished, grinning.

Just then, a brunette entered the dorm room. "Why are there so many people here?"

"Alara!" Ashton cheered, and her bright expression faded when she saw the blood.

"Ashton, what the hell just happened?" she asked, gingerly pulling his shirt away from his bleeding nose. "Oh god, what happened?"

"Kat slammed the door in my face."

"On accident!" she protested, and I laughed.

Alara turned straight to me. "Hey, fourth roommate! I hope you aren't as lame as last year's," she said, smiling. "I'm Alara."

"I'm Elle."

"Anyways, sorry I missed your nose being wrecked by Kat. Let's get you to the nurse," she said, taking Ashton and leading him out of the dorm.

A bell sounded in the distance, and Michael jumped to his feet. "DINNER!" he screamed, shoving Luke and Calum out of the way and bolting out.

Anna laughed as Luke tripped over my duffel, which I had left on the floor. "Dinner. You coming babe?" he asked Anna.

"In a bit. Gotta get to know Elle a bit more," she said, giving me a smile. "Go ahead!"

Luke grinned. "I'll save you a seat."

"I'll be there soon!"

Luke and Calum followed Michael out, and Anna immediately said, "Which do you think is cutest?"

"What?" I asked, totally thrown off guard.

"Be honest. Who is the cutest?"

"Uh, I wasn't really paying attention, seeing as Michael hit me with the door and then shoved me to the floor," I said.

Anna laughed. "Damn, what a first impression. Okay, real talk: cutest?"

"Michael!" Kat said immediately, and then giggled.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Michael? Really? He's so irritating."

Kat sighed. "But he gives the best hugs and-"

"Keep it PG, sister," Anna said, and Kat laughed.

"We kept it PG," she promised. "We didn't like, hook up or anything."

"Does he hook up with a lot of people?" I asked.

Anna nodded. "Oh yeah. He's a giant player," she said. "But then again, so is Kat, so they're basically perfect for each other."

Kat threw her pillow at Anna. "Am not!" she shrieked.

"Please, let's be honest."

"We are being honest! I haven't hooked up with that many guys. Isn't it time for dinner or something?" Kat asked.

"Dinner sounds great," I said, and for some reason, the rest of the night I was bothered by the fact that Michael was a player.

[A/N Photo is Michael in this story (we'll pretend he keeps his hair color for more than ten minutes)]