"What?" she asked.

"You're going to wear that?" Maria asked.

"Yeah, why? Is that wrong?"

"No," Maria said, shaking her head. "I just didn't think that sweat-shirts were your style. But don't worry, I think that Alex will like it. You'll look...."

"More natural," Liz finished for her.

Isabel shrugged and pulled her pants on and then sniffed, realizing that the smell of the lake wasn't very appealing. "Yuck!'

"What?" Liz asked as she pulled on a baggy polo shirt over her shorts and pulled her hair up into a pony-tail on the top of her head.

"I just realized how I'm not going to be very attractive smelling like that dirty lake that someone who shall remain nameless pushed me into," she looked pointedly at Maria but their was a joking smile tugging at her lips.

"Hey, like I said before, it was an accident. I must have lost my balance or something," Maria shrugged. "But don't worry, we both will smell like that and so will the guys, at least Max and Michael, so it's okay. Just...I don't know, put some extra perfume on or something."

"Thanks," Isabel said sarcastically as she finished getting dressed and then picked up the travel mirror she had brought with her and began to use her powers to alter her hair style.

Maria snorted. "Who needs a hair-stylist when you can just wave your hand over it and make it look perfect?"

Isabel smirked and began to do her make-up.

"Ahem."

Isabel turned around to look at Liz and said, "And whatever happened to natural?"

"I can only go so far and then I need make-up to do the rest. Here," she said, reaching her hand out towards Liz's head and turning her pony-tail into lose spirals. She handed the smaller girl her mirror and Liz nodded appreciatively. "Not bad."

"Do me now," Maria said, appearing at her side.

Isabel rolled her eyes and then ran her hands over Maria's hair and suddenly, she had large curls at their bottom of her hair. "Very nice! Thanks Iz," Maria said as she finished getting dressed.

*****

They left the cabin twenty minutes later to find Max, Michael and Alex waiting for them outside.

"See, what did I tell you," Alex said to the guys, "five minutes in girl time isn't the same as five minutes in normal time."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up," and then she walked over to Michael and wrapped her arms around him. "Hello," she whispered and gave him a soft kiss. He kissed her back and squeezed her hand.

Liz greeted Max the same way and then motioned towards the direction of the bon-fire.

Isabel's heart sank when she tried to give Alex a smile and he wouldn't even look her in the face. He was pretending that she wasn't even around and that from Alex was astounding. She longed for the good old days when she was always the center of attention where Alex was concerned and she sighed. It would never be like that again because she had screwed it all up. She wished that she had a power that let her jump back in time to the point where she had jeopardized hers and Alex's relationship. She would fix it in a moment by making the right choice. But sadly, she didn't have that power so she was going to have to try this the hard way.

She took a deep breath and glanced over to see Maria giving her a look that told her to talk to Alex. She nodded and then bit her lip and stepped up closer to Alex. "Hello," she said quietly as she fell in step next to him.

Alex hesitated, looking at her questioningly and then mumbled "Hi Isabel."

She was instantly even more discouraged. She felt more like an annoyance than anything. She looked back at Maria and gave her a look that said, see, I told you. Maria just shrugged and gave her a blank look. Obviously, this wasn't going to work. She sighed and then slowed her steps so that Alex could walk by himself but he surprised her when he began to talk to her.

"So," he said. "Are you looking forward to this bon-fire thing?"

Isabel felt her eyebrows rise. "Uh...yeah. I mean sure. I haven't been to a bon-fire since I was younger. That was when I used to like camping but now I'm not really into the outdoors and all that."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," he replied. "My dads has never even taken me camping before. I went with my cub-scouts when I was young but I got poison ivy so I've been kinda discouraged since then."

From that point, the conversation got awkward and fell into silence. They walked in step together but neither of them could think of anything to say. They reached the bon-fire a few moments later and Alex said, "Well, maybe I'll talk to you later."

She smiled and watched as he moved to sit down next to some people he knew from school.

"Come on Isabel, sit with us," Maria said and she looked back to see the others all getting comfortable on an empty log.

"Is there enough room?" she asked. The log looked awfully small for five of them to sit down on.

"Sure there is," Liz said and she got off the log and moved to sit on the ground between Max's legs. "There you go. You can sit there."

"Thanks," she replied and sat down on the log between Maria and Max.

"So," Maria smiled, nudging her. "What were you and Alex talking about?"

Isabel sighed. "Nothing really. We said like two sentences to each other and then nothing. I told you this wouldn't work. He's not interested anymore."

"Don't be discouraged, Isabel. You just have to keep trying. I mean, he spoke to you right? Maybe he just needs some time before he opens up to you again." Isabel nodded slowly and glanced over to where Alex was talking with his friends.

Liz reached out and squeezed Isabel's hand. "Don't give up on him Isabel. He needs someone like you but I can see why it's hard for him to just let you back in. I know you don't want to be reminded of this but you broke his heart once already and to him, letting you back in can be a gamble."

"No, you're right. I did break his heart but I still don't think that he'll ever let me back in."

"He will," Liz said, releasing her hand. "Just give it some time."

Isabel nodded and looked over at Alex again, catching his eye for a moment but he looked away almost immediately. "At this rate it could take a millennium before he forgave me," she told Liz but Liz didn't hear her because she and Max were totally lost in each other as they exchanged soft kisses. "I'll see you guys later," she muttered and stood up. She didn't really feel like hanging out at the bon-fire anymore. She had only come to see Alex but that wasn't working out so she was going to go back and get some sleep.

"Bye," everyone said absently, too wrapped up in their significant others to even really care.

Isabel wrapped her arms around herself and then turned to make the trek back to her cabin.

*****

Sometime after Isabel had left, Alex moved over to sit with the others. "Hello all," he said and smiled at them as he took the seat that Isabel had been occupying earlier. "What's up? Having a good time?"

"I'm having a great time!" Liz replied as she licked melted marshmallow goo off of her hands.

"Ditto," Maria agreed and leaned in to give Michael a kiss. "How about you?"

"Oh, I guess I'm having fun," he replied and looked into the fire. "But not as much fun as everyone else it looks like."

"No," Liz shook her head and Alex looked at her. "Not everyone is having fun. Isabel isn't having fun. She left to go back to the cabin because she was bored or something."

Alex nodded and then looked away again. "That's nice."

Liz rolled her eyes. "I bet she would like some company. She has to be bored back at the cabin. All by herself," she added when Alex gave no response.

"Yeah, she probably would," Alex agreed carelessly.

Liz looked to Maria for help and Maria leaned forward. "So Alex. You aren't going to forgive her?"

Alex shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that I can't just forget everything that happened before and jump back into a relationship with her. That may be okay for you all but not for me. She hurt me, Maria. A lot. I don't know if I could handle it again if she broke my heart again."

"I see your point," Maria agreed and then sighed. "Look, I'm not going to tell you what to do but it might be helpful if you at least work on a friendship with her. That way you can give yourself some time to decide if you can let her back in. But like I said, you have to decide that for yourself."