"Nooo!" Naomi groaned.

Theo stood with a huge grin, arms stretched out to show case camping supplies. "Yes!" He nodded. "We're finally doing it."

The trunk of his dad's car was stuffed with a tent, sleeping bags and other camp-ish things. He sprung the idea on us right after breakfast and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Any reason to put some distance between me and Stephen was a welcomed one.

When Naomi told me what she overheard Stephen telling his friends I didn't want to believe it. My head was still swimming from that kiss under the mistletoe and I wasn't thinking straight. If I was, I would've remembered exactly who it was that I was dealing with.

Stephen Davis. The boy who did nothing but lie to me when we first met. The boy who had a girl for everyday of the week. The boy who, despite being funny and charming and a reader and really good looking, was just a player.

After last night, though, I wouldn't let his charm fool me again.

I felt extremely stupid waiting around for him to text or call. I even went out to the balcony hoping he'd be there ready to explain himself. Instead, all I saw was him with some girl.

Only hours after we were kissing, commemorating our first date, he had another girl in his room. I should've seen it coming.

"We'll have fun," Theo said, pulling me out of my thoughts. He flung his arms around mine and Naomi's shoulders. "Just us, the trees and the stars above."

"And the bears, bugs, coyotes and axe murderers," Naomi mumbled crossing her arms across her chest.

"Babe, relax," he assured her. "I checked out the campsite and according to the ranger there hasn't been a bear attack in four weeks"

Naomi's eyes widened, her jaw slack as she pulled away from her boyfriend. "What?! I am not going out there!"

Theo laughed as Naomi ran back into the house. "It was a joke!"

"You know you'll have to knock her out to get her into the woods now," I told him.

"She'll be fine once we're there and she pulls out her camera," he said, waving it off as he closed the trunk of the car. "I thought you'd be on her side, though. Anti-wilderness."

"Nope," I said, pushing my glasses up my nose. "I'm all for a couple days away from Ste—civilization. I haven't had any alone time to read all summer thanks to the wedding planning."

And my reading dates with Stephen, I thought to myself. So many new books had come out that summer and I hadn't read any of them because I was wasting time with some stupid boy.

Whatever. I was done.

Thankfully, my mom had all the wedding planning under control and was basically just waiting for the big day to arrive, so I didn't have to hang around the Davis's household any more.

I could reclaim my summer starting with the camping trip with my friends. Just the way I intended to spend my vacation in the first place.

• • •

Miraculously, we got Naomi into the woods without use of drugs. Theo was right about Naomi. As soon as she hopped out of the car she had her phone out, wiping the lenses clean with her shirt before snapping photos of the trees and sky and a lizard on a rock she decided to name Pebbles.

Theo's dad was chaperoning the trip, despite Theo trying to convince his parents that three sixteen-year-olds in the woods alone was a good idea.

Not that we were really alone. There were about six other groups of campers spread out around the clearing. Theo must've been hoping for a little more privacy.

I, on the other hand, didn't care how many people were around. As long as none of them were Stephen.

It had been two days since the party and he was still slithering around my brain. But I had two books, my two best friends and two days to get him out of my system.

"Waverly!" I looked up to see Naomi with her phone pointed at me. "Try not looking like you're gonna choke somebody out. I want happy memories for Instagram."

Happy. I could do happy. Even with Stephen Davis on my mind. Especially, if I imagined him contracting some horrible STD that made him piss fire.

Naomi snapped a few pictures of me before coming to stand next to me for selfies.

Theo and his dad unloaded the camping gear while Naomi and I explored and, more importantly, located the bathroom. We followed a dirt trail that everyone else was on, hoping it would lead us to them.

"I refuse to squat behind a tree," she said with grimace. "Especially, with Theo around. I don't think our relationship could last of he saw me taking a crap."

"Yeah, I've seen the face you make and it was definitely unsettling."

"I didn't have time to close the door, okay? Stop bringing that up." She sounded annoyed but a smile crept onto her face. "So, how are you holding up?"

"Fine," I said automatically. She didn't need to clarify, I knew exactly what she was referring to. "It's not like I was in love with him or anything."

"Yeah, but he was the first guy you've—"

"Naomi," I interrupted, stopping on the trail. "I appreciate your concern, but I was really hoping to have a Stephen free weekend."

"Okay, I won't bring him up again." We started walking again and Naomi linked her arm through mine. "Just don't let this turn into another Emmett McKinny thing. You're amazing and beautiful and any guy with a functional brain and an attraction to women would be lucky to have you."

I smiled, mostly for her benefit, because hearing something and believing it were two completely different things.

• • •

Theo's dad was actually the perfect chaperone. He helped set up the two tents and then disappeared into his own with his laptop and cellphone to work. That left the three of us on our own.

We were in a "two bedroom" tent that, thankfully, had a privacy barrier down the middle. Theo and Naomi promised they wouldn't make me feel like the third wheel, but they'd been all over each other since Naomi and I got back from the bathrooms.

"Please tell me you didn't forget the marshmallows," Theo said to Naomi as she dumped the backpack full of snacks and hotdogs that were supposed to hold us over that weekend. "We can't have s'mores without marshmallows."

"Good! Because we do have marshmallows." She held the bag up like a prize. "But hopefully we can make s'mores without graham crackers."

Theo heaved a sigh, his shoulders dropping. "How could you forget—"

"Nuh-uhn. Don't look at me." Naomi's yellow painted finger pointed at me.

My brain chose that exact moment to remember that I was supposed to grab the crackers when I went to the store for drinks. I wouldn't have forgotten if I hadn't seen that girl I saw on Stephen's balcony the other night. At least I thought it was her? "Sorry."

The annoyance wiped right off of Theo's face. He a Naomi shared a quick look, but I caught it.

I rolled my eyes, standing from the air mattress that was my bed for the next two days. "You can stop with the pity," I told them. "I'll go ask around. Someone here should have extra crackers."

"I'll go with you," Theo offered.

I turned to Naomi, thinking she'd join us. She shook her head. "I'm going to stay and finish setting everything up. Please don't get attack by wild life or fall off a cliff or something."

"We'll try," Theo said, giving her a quick kiss before we left.

Theo was being quieter than usual so I nudged him with my elbow. "If you offered to tag along to give me a pep talk—don't."

He chuckled. "I'm not. I wasn't going to let you go out into the woods, alone, to talk to strangers and possibly be kidnapped."

"I think Naomi's paranoia is rubbing off on you."

Finding graham crackers was a lot harder than I thought. The first couple of people we asked didn't have any. Well, one person had cinnamon flavor and Theo nearly gagged at the thought.

We wondered a little further from our camp site, determined to not go back empty handed. When we came over a hill there was a group of people around our age or a couple years older playing music and setting up their tents.

Theo started to go over to them. I pulled him back when I realized I recognized one of the guys. It was Killmonger—I couldn't remember his actual name. He was Stephen's friend and my Stephen free weekend included staying away from his friends.

"What's up?" Theo asked, his brow pulled together.

On the other hand, if I wanted Theo and Naomi to believe that I was fine and not stressing out over Stephen, then running from his friends probably wouldn't be the best idea.

"Watch your step," I said quickly, pointing at a tree root that was hardly a tripping hazard. "Naomi would kill me if you didn't come back in one piece."

He glanced from the root to me, not fully convinced. "Right." If he saw through my lie, he kept it to himself.

Theo took over asking for crackers while I stood back, slightly on edge. I'd managed not to see Stephen the past two days, but what if he was there with his friend? What would I even say to him? What if he was there with a girl?

No! I wasn't supposed to be thinking about him. Who cared if he was with another girl? I didn't.

"Waverly?"

I jumped at the sound of my name. Theo gave me weird look like he debating whether or not to call me out on how weird I was being.

He chose not to and instead held up a box of graham crackers. "They had extra. And they invited us back for a weenie roast."

"A what?"

"I think they're talking about hotdogs." He pulled a face. "I hope they're talking about hotdogs."

When we made it back to our camp site Naomi had just finished stringing up LED lights inside the tent, giving it a purple hue. She had also put sheets and covers on the air mattresses and set up a "living room" area with the lawn chairs.

"Did you get the crackers?"

Theo held up the box, still taking in the decorated tent. "You work fast."

Naomi grinned, taking another look at her handiwork. "You like it?"

"It looks amazing!" I said, dropping into one of the lawn chairs. "It's so cozy in here we we'll never have to leave. For any reason what-so-ever."

"What?" Naomi's gaze shifted Theo and I.

"We got invited to weenie roast," Theo supplied. "Obviously, Waverly is thrilled to go."

"No, she's not," I said. Unless one of those weenies were Stephen, I thought to myself.

"I'm with Waverly on this," Naomi said, dropping down into the lawn chair next to me. "We've hardly had anytime to ourselves this summer. Tonight, we make s'mores and have our own weenie roast."

Theo's shoulders dropped in defeat. "Alright, well, what do we do until then?"

"I need a nap," Naomi said, relocating to the air mattress.

I pulled a book from my bag and waved it in the air. "I've been waiting almost two years for this to come out."

Theo rolled his eyes and fell into the lawn chair Naomi had just vacated. "I'm never taking you two camping with me again."

"Promise?" Naomi asked, already sounding half asleep.