Because I don't trust Tim's writing in general, I decided "Screw it! EJ deserves better writing. Time to (un)officially shove EJ to other fandoms and be adopted by his found family!"
This story may contain massive spoilers (that I haven't covered, oof I'm sorry) for my two fanfics '#Love Is In The Air' (#LIITA for short) and 'Starburst' for the post-HSMTMTS season 3 finale. Random stuff to add in before we head into this story (sorry, I tend to ramble a lot): -
~> Val has an appearance in this HSMTMTS season 3 finale. She was the head choreographer and casting director. But I supposed her being busy with college is enough for her to decline the offer of joining.
~> Evan and Jerry are my OCs for #LIITA and they're longtime friends with EJ from Shallow Lake (alongside the #LIITA mentioned members). They act as the Co-Stage Managers for 'Frozen' and technicians/stagehands. Val and the twins carpooled to make the trip.
~> Calix is Cress's older sister. She's the same age as Miss Jenn and takes on the role of the Adult Co-Director for the Frozen Docu-Series. Because someone needs to be there for EJ to handle the stress and kick Channing in the rear end.
Disclaimer: I do not own #Roxy, Secrets of Sulphur Springs, High School Musical: The Musical Series or all the other offscreen mentioned fandoms. Ten and Jeonghan are from 'Weightless' and they belong to my friend @zealous_light, I only own my Original Characters. With that being said, enjoy!
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After the unveiling of the Frozen Documentary Trailer, needless to say it was a dumpster fire spiraling out of control.
All no thanks to poor editing and Channing framing things to be entirely out of context.
"What the FUDGE did I just watch??" A girl with curly dyed blonde hair (Cress Kormos) exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air. The stress ball in her hands had slipped out and hit Ricky Bowen in the arm.
"How am I not even surprised..." A Thai-American teen (Ten) had his face buried in his hands.
"Oh god, we should not have signed that release." Ashlyn spoke.
"Oh dear, this is not what I signed up for..." Corbin Bleu mumbled to himself.
"You're only realizing this was all a bad idea now?" Ten looked up from his hands and grumbled.
"Channing was gonna doom the docuseries from the start. I mean the guy worked for shady and questionable adult reality tv shows before." One of the Shallow Lake campers (Evan Chan) raised a hand, looking uneasy and paranoid.
"Kid's got a point. Who's to say he hadn't thought of or tried wiring the cabins to get more undercover juicy footage?" An older woman (Cress's older sister Calix) commented.
Everyone else let the words sink in before their faces went pale at that remark. That mere idea was enough to make their skins crawl.
"He wouldn't...He signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement!" Corbin's voice faltered, not even sounding convinced of himself.
"He attempted to sabotage the play halfway AND livestreamed it on his social media. We have the evidence caught on camera. I think we can agree it's plausible." Another teen (Jerry Chan) interjected.
"Can we add 'sue Channing for Defamation' into our to-do list?" Cress wonders out loud, "All those in favor, say 'aye'."
A slew of hands went up in unison. (Even Corbin Bleu himself!)
"I'm gonna call Seb." Carlos stood up and excused himself.
"I'm calling Big Red." Ashlyn followed suit.
"I'm calling my agent." Kourtney stood up and walked away.
"Wait, you have an agent?" Gina asked out loud.
"Really? That's your number one question after seeing that?" EJ frowned, motioning to the projected screen where they all saw the horrifying trailer mere moments ago. The trailer is still playing, and each second was made more out of context and horrendous than the last.
Almost everyone had left the room out of sheer awkwardness. Calix is giving a tongue lashing at Corbin while the celebrity tries to salvage whatever's left of the metaphorical dumpster fire. Now all that's left are Gina, Ricky, EJ and a few other campers.
There was a heavy tension in the air, most of it is the uneasiness of Channing framing a secret romance between Gina Porter and Ricky Bowen.
"Uh Gi, we need to talk to clarify some things-" Ricky stammered, looking incredibly awkward.
"I think we all saw this coming." EJ spoke. A sense of dread filled his head, but he's trying his best to keep his composure.
"I don't." Cress muttered out loud, before Ten clasped a hand over her mouth to prevent her from saying something impulsive.
"I'd fake slap you right now, but I am better than that." EJ looked directly at Ricky with a thin smile.
"He might not, but I sure as heck would." Cress muffled from the other side as she eagerly raised her fist. Ten quickly puts down her hand.
"Cress, punching people is not the solution to everything." Ten whisper-yells to his best friend.
"Violence not the solution. It's the question, and the answer is yes." Cress's eyes were transfixed on Ricky, before she tried to lung at him.
But before she could even try to launch herself at Ricky like a human torpedo, the two teens noticed that EJ was starting to hyperventilate.
"I can't be here right now..." EJ felt his breathing and heartbeat quickening.
"We know, we can head back to the hotel to rest if you want." Ten offered, trying to calm his friend's nerves.
"Excuse me for a second." EJ quickly headed to a quiet side of the auditorium, as his friends gave him the space.
"Wait, you can't just leave. We still have to wait for the guests to come in." Corbin called out.
"The boy said no, asshat." Calix Kormos narrowed her eyes on the celebrity.
The older woman glanced at her younger sister and her friends, "Go. I can take care of things."
"You're just gonna curse everyone to hell and back. On international TV. On a family-friendly channel." Cress raised an eyebrow at her older sister, before slowly beaming, "Mama would be so proud of you!"
"Yup. Lisa's getting her chanclas and list of swears ready in the backroom." Calix nodded with a fond smile. Lisa is Calix's girlfriend, and she's easily protective of the teen campers as well.
"I'm sure the stellar cast can survive without their director. They've been doing a banged-up job not giving any craps so far while this guy put in his all to save the show." Calix scoffed at the celebrity.
"Way to go, Cali!" Cress cheered for her older sister in total awe.
— — — — — — — — — — — —
While Calix was busy calling out Corbin Bleu (and making the celebrity tremble in fear, and her youngest sister cheering on the chaos), EJ had excused himself to the corner of the auditorium to call someone.
EJ shakily reached to pull out someone from his contact list and pressed the 'call' button.
After a few seconds, someone picked up.
"Hi EJ!" Two young voices answered the phone.
"Hey Wyatt, hi Zoey." Hearing their voices made him smile a little.
"Kids, where's my phone?" A woman's voice called out from the other side of the line.
"Here! Mom, EJ's calling us!" The young girl's voice cheerfully replied.
"EJ is calling? You didn't even tell me?" Another voice chimed in (a slightly older boy), sounding rather grumpy.
"Hey Griff." EJ chuckled, greeting the fourth person.
"Tell him I said hi." A fifth voice (belonging to an older man) called out.
"Wyatt, Zoey, could you pass the phone to Aunt Sarah for a moment? I need to talk to her." EJ said.
"Hey Elton, what's up?" The kids have passed the phone back to their mother.
"Hi Aunt Sarah...So this sounds very last minute and all, but can I come over to your place to stay for a few days? My friends and I are going on a cross country road trip." EJ explained, feeling his voice cracked a little.
"What's the matter?" Her voice softens in concern, her maternal instincts kicking in.
"It's a long story that I don't feel like getting into right now..." EJ mumbled in response.
"Ok, I'll text you my new address. Drive safe, ok?" Sarah eventually agreed, causing EJ's shoulders to sag in relief.
"Oh, and by the way, could you not tell Griff and the twins? I want to keep it a surprise." EJ added.
"Sure thing, Elton." Sarah nodded.
"Bye Aunt Sarah. See you then." EJ ended the call, somehow feeling a sense of peace as opposed to moments before.
— — — — — — — — — — — —
And that's the prologue for 'Something In The Summer Wind'. I'm just genuinely surprised HSMTMTS season 3 took place in Summer 2020. What else happened that summer/year? Secrets of Sulphur Springs (seriously I am surprised season 1-3 took place within the same year).
Chapter Notes [sorry for the mass info-dumping but I overshare]: -
(1.) Now this story is one of the two possible canon divergent endings I have for EJ's arc based on the possible ships (AKA the Rina route and the Portwell route). There are two possible divergent routes I have: 'Slice of Life Healing' route (Wellard AU) and the 'Time Travel with your cousin and his friends' route (Aunt Sarah AU). Yes, the Wellard route (also the Ricky/Gina route and the closest AU that fits the show's Canon timeline) is still its own story to write, I love both these ideas too much to choose just one.
(2.) In this story, Debbie (Ashlyn's mom, whom I like to think Ashlyn got her red hair from), Penelope (my name for EJ's mom) and Sarah are all cousins. As a result, this makes the Caswell cousins and the Campbell siblings related/second cousins. Yes, the world is *that* small. The more this story goes on, it will lampshade how small the world can be. They get revealed in SoSS's season 3 plotline.
(3.) Cress, Ten, EJ, alongside their fourth member Jeonghan (or as I like to dub them 'The Golden Gremlins') are all platonic found family soulmates and are the 'Ride or Die' best friends. Jeonghan is primarily absent in this story but gets a passing mention every now and then. Because ooh boy time travel will be giving everyone trauma and they all need someone to confide in. And yes, SoSS season 3 will hurl EJ and his friends into more trauma conga.
That's all for the opening chapter, hope you all have enjoyed this interesting concept. Feel free to leave a comment down below and let me know what you think so far. Have a wonderful day.