Scarlett hopped up the stairs of their hut, pushing open the door and walking inside as she looked around. Kourtney, Gina, Ashlyn and Valentina walked in after her, taking in their surroundings as they spread out throughout the room. "Oh," Kourtney chuckled nervously. "This is deeply round."
"Six sides is some next-level feng shui." Ashlyn joked as the door closed behind them.
Kourtney smiled slightly, evidently on edge at the unfamiliarity. "And some zero-level privacy."
"Wait." Scarlett stepped forward, pulling Valentina with her as they made a small, makeshift circle. "Should we spread out our bed assignments or do the new-girl cluster?" She questioned, looking around the room as she asked the question.
"I kinda want the top bunk," Kourtney muttered and Gina nodded in agreement.
"I want the top bunk."
Scarlett and Val pointed to themselves, "I also want the top bunk." They spoke out in sync before looking at each other as they laughed.
"I want that one!" Scarlett then called out, pushing through the middle of the group and chucking her belongings on the top bunk farthest to the right. Kourtney threw her stuff on the one beneath, Gina and Val taking the second one over, Ashlyn taking the top bunk of the one beside the couple. "Wow. Guys, I can't believe so many of us showed up for this." She breathed out, smiling joyfully at the girls.
Kourtney nodded in agreement, placing her hands on her hips. "Yeah. I mean, your boy EJ talked a pretty big game." She stated, still anxiously looking around the room. "I was expecting, you know, more of a Four Seasons-y vibe."
"He gets so excited when he describes camp." Ashlyn smiled, the girl having grown up with the boy gushing about his summers at the very camp they were at. "And the only reason I never joined him is 'cause I spent the last six summers Larping in Minnesota." She randomly replied and they all looked at each other in confusion before staring back at Ashlyn. "Live-action roleplay? Anyone?"
Val cringed slightly, "Oh, we're gonna learn a lot about each other this summer, aren't we?" She asked as the redhead smiled, a little embarrassed.
"My best character is a sewing wench from Gondor."
Scarlett furrowed her brows, dropping her head to the side slightly. "From Lord of The Rings?"
"Okay," Kourtney interrupted before the awkward and very random encounter could go any further. "I'm gonna check out the restroom." She peaked her head through the open door before spinning back around and shaking her head. "Ooh! And now I've done that."
"Come on, Kourt." Gina encouraged. "This is gonna be a great summer."
Scarlett grinned, "This guy I know promised." She added on in a sing-song voice, the others girls laughing slightly as Valentina rolled her eyes jokingly.
"I'm glad you've got someone here, but Howie's off to college, Nini's on the road, and my mom's a little too old for camp," Kourtney replied sadly, using her hands to try and express the words she was saying.
Valentina smiled warmly toward the girl as Ashlyn placed a hand on Kourt's shoulder. "And we'll be right beside you every day."
Gadget from earlier then bounded through the door with her belongings. "Yes, my ladies in the Honeycomb." She grinned. "Once again, I'm Maddox." Ashlyn waved excitedly toward the girl as Scarlett gave the girl a confused look.
"I thought your name was Gadget?"
"Ooh! No, yeah, it is also Gadget." She added on and Scarlett shared a confused glance with Val who shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, it's my camp name. Everyone gets one, it's super fun." She then pointed toward Kourtney, who was sitting on the bed she had chosen. "Oh, um, that is actually my bed." Kourt pointed to herself, double-checking that she was talking to her. "Yeah, I've made some deep memories in that one over the years. I actually knocked out my two front teeth in that bulletin board during a massive pillow fight." She chuckled.
Kourtney then grabbed her things, quickly standing up and moving to the bunkbed Ashlyn had chosen. "It is all yours. All good, I am out."
"Oh, thanks!" She smiled gratefully as she dropped onto the bed. "So, lot of new faces. A lot of Wildcats." She chuckled as she smiled at them all eagerly. "Who's got secrets?"
______
It was later, they had unpacked and looked around the camp (and also gotten lost, but they weren't going to speak about that or the fact that it took them nearly two hours to find their way back) and now they were finally being told the guest celebrity. Scarlett grinned as she noticed EJ a little while away in front of her and she picked up her pace before looping her arm through his, his hands in his pocket. "Hi." She chuckled as she caught his attention.
"Scarlett Evermore from the Honeycomb, right?" He questioned playfully and she smiled.
"I'm local."
He laughed a little at her reply, staring down at her for a moment as she watched where she was walking. "I still can't believe you're here. And it's all just about to get just a little bit more exciting." He gushed, using his free arm to emphasise what he was saying before Carlos wandered over to the couple and copied Scarlett's actions, looping his arm with EJ's.
"Okay, who is this famous person and why isn't it one of the Real Housewives?" He asked as Kourtney joined them, holding up a lantern nervously as she walked in sync with them all.
EJ shook his head with a small laugh as the two people on his arms looked up at him, waiting for his reply. "You guys, I don't wanna oversell it. To me, a celebrity is someone who gets a bunch of questions about their skin care regimen." He answered and Scarlett rolled her eyes playfully as Carlos and Kourtney trailed behind slightly.
The pair collected a couple of blankets as they weaved through the crowd, dropping into the two free seats beside Valentina and Gina, who had already arrived. Ashlyn, Carlos and Kourtney sat behind them after a moment and Maddox joined the stage, a guitar hanging from her neck. She leant forward toward the mic, "What's up, new campers?" She called out and everyone cheered excitedly, Scarlett pulling the blanket she had closer to herself as she leaned into EJ, trying to capture any sort of warmth. He pulled an arm around her shoulder, rubbing her arm gently.
"We love you, Gadget!" Someone shouted out from the large crowd of people and she smiled joyfully, holding a thumbs up as she pulled her guitar closer to her with her other hand.
"I thought I'd sing a little song. Maybe one or two of you wanna sing along." She strummed her guitar as she swayed to the melody. "Welcome to the Shallow Lake of your dreams: where the days are full and nights are serene. On the way back to your yurts don't forget the lake is dirt. If you fall in no one will hear you scream."
EJ then let out a high-pitched, fake scream, pretending to die and dropping into Scarlett's lap who laughed as she lifted her arms out of the way. "At Shallow Lake, at Shallow Lake, we dive right into every friendship that we make. At Shallow Lake, at Shallow Lake, each year we come from near and far to sing our hearts out in a barn. The Stars of Shallow Lake." Maddox grinned, jumping as she called out, "One, two three!"
"At Shallow Lake."
"There is no lake!" The crowd called out, Scarlett chuckling as she looked around, catching Valentina's concerned, slightly horrified look as Gina joined in with the second chant, just to annoy the girl.
"At Shallow Lake."
"It's all fake!"
"When you eat the tacos that's your first mistake. Big mistake! At Shallow Lake. Shallow Lake! At Shallow Lake, don't go too far into the woods or you'll be gone for good. Under the stars of Shallow Lake."
"Shallow Lake! Shallow Lake! Shallow Lake."
They held the last note, dragging their hands up into the air and Scarlett could hear Ashlyn's excited giggles from behind her. Everyone cheered, clapping widely as Maddox bowed jokingly. The redhead grinned, leaning forward and poking her head in between the couple. "EJ, that was really cute."
"Yeah, we sing it every night." He chuckled, his laugh growing a little louder as he noticed Valentina's traumatised expression at his statement. "I'm just kidding, we don't."
Carlos also leaned forward, seeming to be on the same wavelength as Val. "What's next, the blood sacrifice?"
"Now, give it up for the wood!" Maddox shouted, drawing the attention of everyone back to the stage. "He loves some noise! Yeah!" She laughed, quickly moving away from the centre of the stage whilst fist-bumping the man on her way.
Everyone cheered as he stopped in front of the microphone, looking out into the crowd. "All right, all right, settle down." The shouting continued. "Settle down!" The crowd began to quiet down, so he continued to speak. "For those of you who don't know, I'm your camp director, Dewey Wood."
"Dewey Wood?" EJ called out and the people around them all chanted back.
"Yes, he would."
Scarlett looked around, catching Val lean into Gina as she whispered about the place seeming like a psychotic cult, which was a little harsh but for Valentina, actually not too cruel. "Dewey Wood?" EJ asked again, the camp shouting back the same reply.
"Yes, he would."
The director looked at the crowd, evidently unimpressed with their childish antics. "I'm gonna keep this short and sweet. It's another summer. Let's have fun. Friendship is magic. Be careful what you flush. Okay?" Scarlett chuckled a little as everyone seemed to nod slowly in sync. "Now, I know the reason we have many new faces here is because of the exciting news. This summer, Camp Shallow Lake has been selected for a very special opportunity, and to tell you all about it, here comes a very familiar face..."
Scarlett turned to look at EJ who was already staring down at her with an excited, wide grin. "Are you ready?"
"What did you do?" She chuckled, slightly nervous as she and the others around her anticipated the unveiling.
EJ just smirked at the girl, nodding his head to the stage. "Mr Corbin Bleu!"
Scarlett's jaw practically dropped to the floor as she watched Dewey step away from the mic, being replaced by the Chad Danforth. A camera followed behind him as everyone stood up excitedly, cheering wildly as he took the microphone from the stand. "Light 'em up!" He shouted and Maddox pulled down a lever, confetti flying across the stage and into the crowd. "Yes! What, what?" He shouted to the campers before looking into the camera, "What, what?"
Scarlett laughed in amazement, "Oh, my god!"
"Oh, I am so excited to be here at Camp Shallow Lake. You guys, I can't wait to tell you about what we've planned for this summer." Everyone finally began to sit back down. "My pals at the House of Mouse have given us the keys to the Magic Kingdom. And that means you guys are gonna be the first camp on the planet to premiere a global blockbuster which became a Broadway sensation." He paused for dramatic effect, but Scarlett already knew what he was going to say and she leant forward, looking over Gina's lap to where Valentina was sitting, who was already looking back at her. There's no way... "Does anyone have a jacket? It suddenly got cold in here."
Dewey, who apparently hadn't noticed what he was saying, stepped forward. "I suppose." He began to take off his jacket but Corbin ignored him as he smiled brightly.
"We're gonna put on Frozen!"
Cheers erupted from the crowd and Scarlett shook her head, "Wait, really?"
"Best summer ever," EJ replied, equally as shocked before their attention was drawn back to Corbin Bleu.
"And there's more. So, this camp was chosen by Disney Theatrical's licencing agent, MTI, to do the first-ever production of this Frozen script in advance of the release of licensing rights to high schools everywhere. And this camera is gonna be following us all around because we're also making a documentary about the show, and it's gonna premiere on Disney+. And it's gonna break the internet."
If Scarlett's jaw wasn't on the floor earlier, it definitely was now, as she placed a hand to her mouth whilst simultaneously shaking EJ's arm in utter shock. "Hang on," Valentina interrupted. "Is that camera gonna be here all summer?"
"Well, not in the yurts."
Corbin then pointed out into the crowd as he smirked. "And hey. I know there are some real-life wildcats out there." They all smiled at each other, slowly standing up and making themselves known. "And I look forward to signing headshots for you all later this summer." They all awkwardly sat down again, trying not to make it obvious. "'Cause, it's all going down at Shallow Lake. So watch this space. Thank you so much!"
Scarlett grinned as she stood back up with the others, clapping enthusiastically before he began to leave the stage and walk behind a large group of trees and in the opposite direction of the crowd. "Wait, where'd he go?"
The atmosphere was buzzing and EJ excused himself, walking over to where Dewey and Corbin had walked off toward. Scarlett watched him leave before turning to Val whose smile had finally grown out of a frown. They began to chat excitedly until the crowd began to disperse and the others went back to their yurts, whilst Scarlett followed the path EJ had followed, quickly hurrying over to him as she wrapped her jacket (which technically wasn't hers) closer to herself.
"Hey, what did I miss?"
EJ hesitated for a moment. "Uh, a small change of plans in the celebrity arrangement." He looked down at the new clipboard in his hands before quickly looking back up, placing on a smile. "But nothing is gonna ruin our perfect summer together. Nothing's gonna get in our way." Scarlett smiled in return, he was right.
Nothing would get in their way.