Scarlett woke up by Valentina shaking her shoulders harshly. She rubbed her eyes with one hand, the other shoving the girl off. "My lord, what is wrong with you?"
Val threw a hoodie towards her as well as a pair of sliders. "We're going to surprise Ricky, come on."
She shrugged her covers off, as she chucked the jumper over her head and slid on the shoes whilst simultaneously walking toward the Honeycomb front door which was held open by Gina who ushered them out.
Scarlett was the last one through the door of the boy's cabin and she quietly closed the door behind her before joining the crowd that had formed around Ricky's bed. She felt the peering eyes of EJ staring into her skull and the idea of making eye contact with the boy sent shudders through her body so she kept her gaze locked on the sleeping birthday boy in front of her.
Carlos silenced them all. "I'm going to count to three."
"On three or after three?" Scarlett questioned quietly as she pulled the sleeves of her jumper over her hands.
He rolled his eyes with a harsh sigh. "Not this again."
"Happy Birthday!"
It was Maddox who broke the silence, screaming the praise from the top of her lungs before everyone joined in, startling the boy awake.
"And happy opening night, for those who are keeping score," EJ announced and Scarlett felt the way her eyes dramatically rolled to the back of her head. Could he give it a rest, they were here for Ricky right now and the idea of getting on that stage later today was honestly a thought that made her want to crawl into a ball and cry a little. "Our show might be in danger, but right now our focus is Ricky."
Ricky chuckled nervously. "Guys, you shouldn't have." He sat up as he spoke, dangling his legs off his top bunk. "For real, you almost gave me a heart attack."
"You're an old man now?" Jet replied earning a small chuckle from a few of them.
Carlos then smirked, "But wait, there's more."
"There is?" Ashlyn asked in confusion as everyone's eyes turned to the door where Carlos was pointing.
"Come on in. Your best friend is old enough to vote."
Ashlyns answer then walked through the door with a baby blue cake and a warm smile. "Please tell me these bunks are air-conditioned."
"Biggie?"
Ricky grinned as he pulled him into a hug. "Of course you showed up."
"We've spent every birthday together since pre-school."
Scarlett watched as they reunited with a small smile before she squeezed Val's hand gently before nodding her head towards the door, signalling she was out of there before EJ's eyes lasered into her head and killed her.
She gently closed the door behind her and took a deep breath as she heard them all enjoy the moment together. She felt guilty leaving, but she couldn't bear another second in that room so she swiftly turned around to make her way back to the comforting walls of the Honeycomb before stumbling into Val.
"Hey, can I just have like two seconds with you?"
Scarlett nodded quickly. "Yeah, of course."
"So, I'm starting to make the rounds and saying some goodbyes, because I've gotta get back to campus tomorrow, so I'm leaving right after the show."
Scarlett wrapped her arms around herself. "Back to college already." Val nodded and the girl smiled in return. "Must be nice. I hope this semester goes better for you."
"Honestly, enjoy high school whilst you can. It's gonna go by really fast."
Scarlett sighed as she looked down at the floor briefly. "Yeah, like this summer. It was here and then it was gone seconds later. Kind of a really weird metaphor for everything." She chuckled slightly.
"Scarlett, when the right person comes along, you'll know it."
She nods gently, playing with the seam of her jumper. "I thought he was." She mumbled quietly.
Val placed a hand on her shoulder. "Then you've just got to wait for the right time. If it's meant to happen, it will."
Scarlett pulled the girl in for a tight hug. "Thank you." She muttered. "And I'm sorry for being a bit of a bitch this summer, it wasn't you I was really mad at."
Val shook her head with a small laugh. "Don't worry about it."
___
Scarlett got to the backstage rooms of the barn a little earlier than needed. Maddox was also already there, so the two indulged in many conversations from EJ to her and Maddison and Jet a little later on whilst she did her makeup. Soon enough, more people began to make their way into the barn and backstage so they could get ready and Scarlett pondered around the clothes racks to find her first costume of the night.
Most people were now in costume and warming up their voices as Maddox strode into the room. "Half-hour call, everybody!"
Scarlett let out a deep breath as she stared back at herself in the mirror. Her first time as a leading lady was tonight and she was internally freaking out.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Okay, so maybe not internally.
Scarlett turned around at the sound of Valentina's voice and let out a shaky exhale. She hummed in response, slowly nodding her head to which the raven-haired girl raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "I'm okay, slightly freaking out, but I'm okay."
"Are you sure?"
"I promise."
Val didn't have any more time to question her as Channing walked into the room with his camera dangling by his side. "Greetings, theatre children. Listen up. You see this camera?" He lifted it in the air as if showing it off as all of them crowded together to listen to him. "There are another ten of them planted throughout the theatre. It all comes down to tonight. Okay? Big new announcement!"
Scarlett shared a worried look with Valentina. "What's he on about?" She mouthed towards her, because if anyone knew it was Val, but the girl just shrugged in return.
Channing chuckled. "We will be live streaming tonight's frozen performance on Disney + in order to drum up interest in our documentary." He explained and Scarlett could feel the wind being knocked out of her. Now she had thousands of people, possibly even hundreds of thousands of people watching her instead of just the loved ones of the cast members as well as a few other campers. Carlos let out a high-pitched scream. "Save the scream for onstage, Snowman. When you find out your carrot's been replaced by a stick of dynamite!"
Ricky furrowed his brows as everyone shared confused glances with each other. "Dude, what are you talking about?"
"I may throw a few things at you guys, last minute. It's fun things to shake up the show."
Scarlett really couldn't breathe now. Not only was she having to perform in front of basically anyone in the world, but she was now going to have to deal with Channing and his stupid ideas to make it more interesting. "You mean, different than how we rehearsed it?" She questioned, hoping maybe she was being over dramatic, sensitive, literally anything that would mean she heard him wrong.
"You guys were so great at the last rehearsal, remember? We need that, but more. Okay? So, just change some dialogue, and slap each other. You know, pull some wigs off. It's fun stuff to amp up the lifestream, right?"
EJ cleared his throat, and it was only then that Scarlett realised she was right beside him. "We can do that. No, we will do that."
Scarlett had never felt so angry in her entire existence as she stared at the side of his face.
"Excellent. Okay, have fun, all right? At each other's expense." Channing chuckled as Scarlett crossed her arms over her chest. "If you aren't trending in Brazil at midnight, you haven't done your job. Okay?"
He then left the room and Scarlett shook her head, sitting back down again as people bombarded EJ. "Dude, why would you say that!" She couldn't even look at him.
"Elton, even I think we shouldn't pull each other's wigs off!"
"Exactly!"
EJ wafted his arms about. "Settle down! You guys, I was acting, okay? To get that jerk off our backs. Channing may know what makes a good TV show, but we're theatre kids. And we're going to do tonight our way. Final decision."
Everyone quickly agreed, going back to finish any last-minute makeup and voice-warming techniques as Scarlett sighed. She slowly walked over to the back doors that led her outside and she sat down on the small bench that was just left of them.
Moments later, the same doors opened gently and Scarlett was expecting Val to walk through them, grab her hands and hoist her up but instead a timid EJ walked outside, offering her a small smile. She couldn't tell whether her heart broke or glowed in that second but she returned the small gesture. "Are you okay?"
"Little nervous, I guess." She looked down at her hands as she felt him sit down beside her.
He let out a small sigh before shaking his head slowly. "Don't worry about Channing, okay? I've got that under control." Scarlett finally made eye contact with him. "Just go out there and show everyone here and in Brazil who Scarlett Evermore is, yeah? The world deserves to know."
She nodded gently but her hesitation was evident. "What happens if we don't end up trending in Brazil? Won't your Dad-"
"That's tomorrow's problem." He replied and Scarlett smiled slightly. "Go get 'em, Anna." EJ squeezed her hand gently before making his way back inside and she honestly couldn't decide whether that conversation made her feel better or worse.
She leaned back against the bench and looked up towards the now black sky before she was brought out of her trance by Maddox. "We're on in five, you ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
___
The show had been going amazingly, everything was like it was the last time they rehearsed it and they just had one more song before the ten-minute intermission and Scarlett was feeling a lot calmer.
Kourtney was about halfway through the Let It Go, her confidence had grown tremendously as she went on and Scarlett stood with Ashlyn, EJ and Ricky in the wings as they watched their friend shine under the bright spotlight. That was before it was shut off, the barn going dark in an instant and Kourtney's voice did the same.
The audience gasped as the music stopped and Scarlett's heart dropped as she looked around the room for Channing. They all knew it was him. She swiftly turned on her heels, grabbing EJ's wrist and dragging him with her. "Where are all the electricals in this place?"
EJ soon realised what had happened and he guided the two backstage and up a small hidden staircase where they found Maddox and Corbin messing with all of the lighting equipment trying to find the problem but Scarlett pushed past the pair to find Channing next to the entire electricals lever. She rushed forward, pushing it back upwards resulting in all the lights to come flooding back on. She turned back to where Corbin and Maddox were stood and she looked toward the older man. "Keep your camera guy in check."
She hurried back towards where EJ was still standing on the staircase and he held out his hand for her to guide her back down the dark stairs. "Thought you had it under control." She stated, but her tone was humorous and he let out a small laugh as they made their way back to the wings.
"Thought I'd let you have a crack at him, he seems more scared of you than me."
Scarlett chuckled quietly at his reply, the whole situation feeling almost normal as they wandered back to the others to watch Kourtney finish her song. EJ's hand was still tightly interlocked with hers, which she'd defend by saying she didn't even notice as they rounded the corner, Scarlett's other arm going over Ashlyn's shoulder.
She took in a deep breath as the music died down and the curtains came to a close. Just halfway left to go.