⌚ 6:00 AM ON THE DOT

El didn't think she could hear that insert derogatory adjective here horn all the way at the camping grounds, almost a mile from where the horn is situated.

Which, naturally, means she hears it and wakes up in a pool of her saliva. And on a certain Finn Johnson' s arm. With a crowd of pre-teen to teen girls and boys staring down at her, snickering.

"Good morning," Laura teases.

El's face is white hot as she leaps from Finn, wiping the trail of dribble from her chin. How did she even get here, anyway? It takes quite a lot of glaring at each of the Cabin A girls until her sleep-filled brain recalls that very very late last night, she'd woken up thinking that she heard Grace sobbing. Being at the camping grounds and all, that seemed very impossible. But that didn't matter because she was awake and couldn't fall back asleep so she found herself wandering into that mass of trees again and finding Finn there, perched on a tree Troy Bolton-style, which had to be the most hilarious and heart-attack-inducing thing El has witnessed the entire summer.

And somehow, they'd fallen asleep on top of each other? (What?)

"Good morning!" Finn sings as he stretches, somehow still looking like a god after spending the night on the ground.

El probably looks like that one dirt goddess that probably doesn't even exist.

"Have a nice sleep?" a boy from Finn's cabin asks. He sounds just as amused as Laura does.

"Not really." Finn shrugs. "The lying in the dirt really isn't comfortable."

"Especially not with having a skinny girl suffocating you the entire time," El retorts.

"That part was fine."

A lump forms in El's throat. "Was it, now?"

"Yeah."

Before El lets herself smile, she clears her throat and puts a stern face on. "Now if my cabin would be so kind as to stop fuc - freaking giggling, about who knows freaking what - "

"Shut up, El, you know why," Brittany says.

"That's freaking Counselor El to you."

"Okay!" Finn stands up and runs a hand through his disheveled hair. "How about we call it a truce and head back to our campsites, eh?"

"That sounds like a great idea," El almost spits.

"Of course it does, since it's Finn's idea," she hears one Cabin A camper mumble, unable to distinguish which one she is.

El hopes she's imagining Finn snickering.

⌚ 9:12 AM

"So...Finn." Bianca pulls at El's backpack.

The counselor has almost no patience for this anymore - they're hiking the trail back to Cabin A to drop off their things and she's not heard the end of "oh, you and Finn are so adorable together! You're gonna have such nice children! Did you kiss? OMG, you should have kissed him!"

Surprisingly, she hasn't heard any of this from Bianca, who El considers as her closest camper-friend. Until now.

"What about him?" El's voice comes out a lot more bored and tired than she thought it would.

"I feel like I should be asking you that question." Bianca's, on the other hand, is sarcastic, unlike the others who teased El about Finn.

"Okay."

"So...what about him? Do you like him?"

El nearly trips on a root. "No! Maybe... I don't know!" She clears her throat.

"I thought so."

"I'm so close to cutting you right now, Bianca," El huffs.

"You wouldn't!" Bianca gasps, feigning hurt.

"Wanna bet?"

"I'd sue you."

"I could get a lawyer, don't worry."

"My mom's a judge."

Noticing the deadly tones their voices have taken on, El snorts and Bianca does the same. It's amazing how quickly all the angst (that she doesn't even know the origin of) El has bottled up drains from her body. She actually laughs.

"But really, you. Finn. What gives? Are you like, together or?" Bianca sounds genuinely curious. El appreciates that.

"No, god no," and her cheeks are totally not heating up again. "I pledged myself from men for the entirety of my college life." Now that's a lie, but El thinks she should actually look into that. It might help her concentrate in her classes if she'd stop ogling at that one hot guy in each of them.

"So, girls, then?"

"No, not girls! Not guys! No one!"

"Does this mean you're asexual?"

This time, El does trip on a root. "Jesus, Bianca, no. It means..." What does it mean? "...it means, I don't know."

"Yeah, okay." Bianca's skeptical eyebrow raise catches El off guard. Which causes her to trip on a rock this time. "Sure thing, El."

Yeah, okay, sure thing, fuck you, El thinks bitterly. "How about you then?" she decides to say, grinning. "How are you and Laura doing?"

At the sound of her name, the aforementioned brunette perks up from behind them. "You called?" she beams and it's unfair how people like she and Finn (and even Grace) exist, somehow still looking perfect after an entire night in the woods.

"Nothing!" Bianca squeaks, shooting El a dirty look.

"Your name must've slipped," El smirks. It's much more fun to be on the other side of the teasing game. "Sorry."

Laura's eyes flit between the both of them, utterly clueless, before she shrugs and joins Jana and Michaela in a spirited discussion about photosynthesis.

"That was not cool," Bianca says through gritted teeth.

"Teasing me about Finn and other unnamed crushes that do not exist was not cool," El growls.

"Touché."

"Oh my god, there you are!" a shrill voice cries as soon as Cabin A arrives at well, Cabin A.

El ushers Cabin A to bring their stuff into the cabin then she turns around to see Grace Upland two inches from her. She almost crashes into the cabin's door after losing her balance.

"Jesus Christ," El exhales.

"Where have you been?" Grace demands.

"The camping grounds," El says.

"And it took you three hours to get from there to here?"

"Not to be rude, friend, but why do you care?"

"You're not allowed to friend me until you explain yourself."

Despite the reassuring voice in El's head telling her that it's fine, Grace is her friend now, her heart is beating wildly. "What's there to explain? We spent the entire night camping out there. You taught Cabin A what to do. Thanks for that, by the way."

El catches the quick shift in Grace's expression as it softens. "Y-yeah. No problem."

"Finn and El slept together!" someone shouts from inside the cabin. El resists the urge to pull that girl's hair out

"Oh?" Grace's eyes widen slightly and El is most likely just imagining her cheeks turning slightly pink. "Did you now?"

El prays that she isn't blushing (not like she has any reason to be). "Not like - like that...we just...we didn't...oh god."

"That makes everything crystal clear."

El pushes Grace slightly. "You're welcome!"

Grace smiles - it's still weird to El. "Just hurry up. You're already late enough."

Late. She flinches at the word. "For what?"

"How many days have we been in camp, El?"

It takes her awhile to count, since time seems to slow down within the perimeter of Camp Ashwood. Time is probably just an illusion, anyway. (Seriously, where did philosophical asshole El come from? She's even more annoying than El El.) "...fourteen?"

Grace raises her eyebrows at El, clearly expecting her to figure it out herself.

El's forehead knits. "Fourteen days...? That's two weeks. Wait. Oh! Oh. Shit."

"M-hmm."

"Hurry up!" El calls into the cabin. "You have to sing!"

"We chose a theme without you, by the way," Grace says, already strutting away.

"What is it?"

"Disney."

⌚ 7:05 PM

"Good evening, campers! Your second week at Camp Ashwood is over and you know what that means! That's right, our Weekly Bonfire Music Jam!"

El doesn't know if the slight ache in her core is because of nerves or her period or a different reason altogether. What she does know is that slight ache hurts enough to prevent her from concentrating on what's happening around her.

Next thing she knows, she's being dragged by Brittany towards the stage (almost falling into the huge bonfire, by the way) and Lionel is already announcing the name of the song Cabin A spent the entire afternoon rehearsing. And that doesn't mean they're ready, really.

El sits on the edge of the stage, letting her legs hang off and touch the ground. The rest of Cabin A surrounds her, some standing, some kneeling, some sitting beside her. She clears her throat. "Nants ingonyama bagithi baba!" El chants, hopping off the stage and circling the bonfire dramatically. "Sithi uhm ingonyama!"

The girls onstage join her in chanting, "Nants ingonyama bagithi baba! Sithi uhhmm ingonyama...Ingonyama!"

Already, El senses a collective chill pass over the entirety of Camp Ashwood. Just what she was going for.

Having captured their attention (which is actually the only thing she is good for when it comes to things like this), El leaps back onto the two-foot stage and signals for those who can actually sing, to sing.

"From the day we arrive on the planet / And blinking, step into the sun / There's more to see than can ever be seen / More to do than can ever be done."

El hums along, unable to decipher the looks upon the faces of those watching them. Of course the Ashes are there, bright, encouraging smiles - Grace even gives her a thumbs up. But the Woods'...they're confusing. The male faces are completely blank, some bordering on boredom, even less left with the initial shock. El gets nervous.

It was her idea in the first place to sing this.

"It's the Circle of Life! / And it moves us all / Through despair and hope / Through faith and love!"

Was she wrong? El knew it was a risk coming in, but it's a good song, damn it, and a classic at that. Sure, it isn't Mean by Taylor Swift and she isn't scaring Isaac's balls off; still, they're doing a good job of performing it. At least she thinks so.

Thinking.

El should probably do less of that. She tends to overthink a lot. Especially when winning is on the line.

Right. No thinking.

"In the Circle / The Circle of Life!" they finish, and it's quiet for a solid five seconds until Louise starts to clap slowly, and the rest of Camp Ashwood follows, clapping politely.

As Cabin A gets off the stage, El feels tears stinging her eyes. She immediately blinks them away, telling herself that's just silly. No reason to cry when no one understands your artistic integrity. Ew. The philosophical asshole is turning into a pretentious asshole. What's next?

Apparently, it's I'll Make a Man Out of You performed by the beloved Cabin F (starring Isaac Salib).

"They're doing Disney, too?" El quietly asks Mari, who she's just sat beside.

"Everyone is," she says. "We decided on it during breakfast. You should've seen Isaac when the rest of the Woods counselors were cool with it. It's a miracle he didn't implode or something."

"And he chooses this song, obviously." El rolls her eyes.

"I wouldn't expect any less from Isaac," Mari shrugs.

"Let's get down to business / To defeat the Huns / Did they send me daughters / When I asked for sons?"

El tries not to hurl herself at the stage and bodyslam Isaac to the ground. She knows this song is meant to be sexist and ironic, but El's got the distinct feeling Isaac doesn't know this and is meaning every lyric he's belting out. (He is not and never will be Shang.)

She doesn't even want to start on those "dance moves" that they're doing.

"El, you don't look so good," Mari says.

"Hm?" El hums, eyes still trained on the atrocity that's happening onstage.

"You're pale."

El's been holding her breath. She lets it out. "Blame Cabin F."

"They're actually doing pretty good. Just close your eyes and ignore Isaac."

So El does and she's reminded why Mulan is her favorite Disney movie. And why this song is actually good. And why Isaac's a major dick.

"Be a man / We must be swift as a coursing river / Be a man / With all the force of a great typhoon!"

The rest of the song is actually quite enjoyable after this. That dull ache in El's abdomen recedes (like Lionel's hairline) and she finds herself humming along. (Not like she's going to let anyone know about that. That would be like accepting defeat.)

"Mysterious as the dark side of the mooooooooooooooooon!" Isaac belts out after performing a series of kicks and it's gross and hilarious and traumatising all at the same time.

El shuts her eyes again.

⌚ 8:33 PM

After watching everyone else perform Disney songs (such as Part of Your World, Beauty and the Beast, Friend Like Me, I See the Light, Trashin' the Camp - you know, that song that Turk and the other gorillas sang in Tarzan; a true jam, among others that make El's inner child freak the fuck out) in a more bearable and less trainwreckish manner and also having made over thirty s'mores and only eating about ten (it turns out Mari loves them), El stops to watch Cabin E or as she likes to call it, The Grace Upland show. The last time El made s'mores while watching Grace sing did not end well, so she'd rather history doesn't repeat itself.

Grace has tied her hair this time, a contrast to last week's hair-whipping. El tries not to get overly jealous over the fact that Grace still looks beautiful with all her hair scraped into a high ponytail. El usually looks like a carrot. A very brown, dirty, skinny carrot.

"The much awaited last performance of the Ashes for tonight is by Cabin E - they'll be singing..." Lionel glances down at his clipboard, grey brows furrowed.

"I Won't Say I'm in Love. From Hercules," Grace finishes for him. "Sorry, I forgot to write that down."

Lionel smiles at her. "I Won't Say I'm in Love, from Hercules!" He steps off the stage and joins the rest of them around the bonfire.

Grace places a hand on her hip and tosses her ponytail over her shoulder. El notices some boys whimper. Of course.
Five girls are off to the side and El guesses they're the Muses. The other ten are seated at the foot of the stage and as they start humming, El realizes shit, they're doing this a cappella.

"If there's a price for rotten judgment / I guess I've already won that / No one is worth the aggravation / That's ancient history / Been there, done that."

If El was roasting a marshmallow right now, she'd have dropped it straight into the fire because Grace is actually Megara and no one can tell her otherwise. El has known that Grace is a gifted actress (hence all the musical roles she got back in high school) and even longer than that, known that Grace pulls off passive-aggressive I-don't-want-to-talk-about-my-feelings really well. But she only now realizes, Grace is Megara.

Well, shit.

"Who'd you think you're kidding / She's the earth and heaven to ya / Try to keep it hidden / Honey, we can see right through ya..."

And the "Muses" are super cute, too.

"No chance, no way / I won't say it no, no!" Grace sings, glaring at Finn. El's chest sinks a little. Is he who Grace is singing about? Not like she cares or anything.

"You swoon, you sigh / Why deny it, uh-oh?" Finn mouths, a smirk on his lips.

Grace scowls and paces to the other side of the stage. "It's too cliche / I won't say I'm in love!"

"She's doing great," El hears Mari tell her.

"Of course she is," El agrees. "It's Grace we're talking about here."

"Yeah, it is," Mari says. Her tone is suggestive but El lets it over her head, choosing to watch Grace and marvel at how fucking amazing she is can she just not.

"You keep on denying / Who you are and how you're feeling / Baby, we're not buying / Hon, we saw you hit the ceiling," the "Muses" sing as Grace lets out a few notes flawlessly ("oh nooooo!")and El is so fucking done.

Why did she have to choose a talented, pretty friend? Barely-friend. Whatever.

"You're way off base / I won't say it! / Get off my case / I won't say it!" Grace spits. She actually seems frustrated, and El feels a little concern coming up her throat.

"Girl don't be proud / It's okay, you're in love," she sees Finn mouthing, still smirking at Grace. El doesn't care. Not at all.

"Oh," Grace descants, now smiling dreamily. "At least out loud / I won't say I'm in love..."

El's the first to leap out of her seat and clap wildly and holler on about how great Grace was, which causes a scene. What, just because not even two days ago, she hated Grace's guts and now she's treating her like Beyoncé? What's so weird about that?

(Everything.)

Still, everyone does cheer along with El. Grace takes an awkward bow, smiling genuinely and gestures to the rest of her cabin. It's a sight to see her like this, really happy, not a trace of sarcasm on her face. Grace seems to feed off of people, and not in the bad way like leeches or parasites do, but it gives her actual joy to see people appreciating her. El finds herself smiling at this too, finding that endearing.

"Okay!" Lionel says after telling everyone to settle down. "Our last performance for the night is going to be by Cabin J - and they're singing Let It Go, from Frozen."

El's jaw drops. "What?"

"That's Finn for you," Grace elbows El when she's seated. "Never fails to surprise."

El frowns at Grace's fond tone. "That's Finn."

Finn brings out a keyboard from behind the stage and props it up center stage. He sits by it, hands already poised on the keys as his cabin takes their positions around him.

"He plays piano?" El mutters, dumbfounded.

"I told you," Grace says. "He never fails to surprise."

"This is gay as hell," one Cabin J boy grunts as Finn starts pressing the keys.

"And let me strangle you, little boy," Grace hisses.

Mari snorts from beside El but immediately shuts up when the camper beside her tells her to shut up.

"The snow glows white on the mountain tonight / Not a footprint to be seen..." that same boy that called this gay starts, looking like he's being tortured by singing this. His only redeeming quality is his voice which rings clear throughout the camp. "A kingdom of isolation / And it looks like, I'm the king."

"He did not just do that," Mari gasps.

"Don't let them in / Don't let them see / Be the good boy / You always have to be / Conceal, don't feel / Don't let them know..."

El is about to go full rant-mode about gender roles and sexism and homophobia but she's learned that is basically really annoying-mode so that rant can be saved for another time. Conceal, don't feel, she decides. (Self-control, too? Is this what El's period does to her?)

"Let it go / Let it go / Can't hold it back anymore," Cabin J sings in unison and El gets chills (that was probably a pun) because harmonies. "Let it go / Let it go / Turn away and slam the door!"

Shit, they're actually good, El thinks worriedly. As if reading her mind, Grace says, "They're pretty okay...but we did better."

"So humble," El mumbles. "As always."

"Let it go, El."

"Fuck off."

"Let it go / Let it go / And I'll rise like the break of dawn! / Let it go / Let it go / That perfect boy is gone!"

Conceal, don't feel. Repress.

"Here I stand / In the light of day / Let the storm rage on!"

Finn stops playing. He raises an eyebrow at Grace (El pretends not to notice), pulling an impressive Elsa (and sometimes Grace) face. "The cold never bothered me anyway."

⌚ 10:49 PM

"I can't believe we lost," Grace huffs, extinguishing the bonfire.

Lionel's just announced that the Woods have won tonight Bonfire Music Jam, everyone did a good job, it's time to sleep, see you next week! The campers have gone to their respective cabins, leaving the counselors to clean up after their burnt marshmallows and crushed graham crackers.

"It's my fault," El says shamefully. She's sweeping the stage. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, man," Isaac chuckles, crossing his arms. He's not helping at all. "If you hadn't sung that stupid Lion King song, you could've had a chance. But not really."

El accidentally sweeps a load of dust in his direction. "Says the one who accidentally kicked a twelve year old in the jaw."

"That was epic, though, you have to admit."

"No!" all the counselors shout at once and end up giggling at each other. (It's times like this El is grateful her mom forced her to go back to Camp Ashwood. And she's thinking about her mom again. Of course, after almost a day had passed without a single thought of the weeping mess - it had to come sooner or later.)

El is finished with the stage so she helps Will out with clearing the burnt-out firewood. She figures if she's productive, it'll distract her from...those thoughts.

"You did great," Will tells her.

El starts to smile but he continues, "for someone who sucks at music."

"Coming from someone who sucks at music." She sticks her tongue out.

Will dumps a charred log into the trash bag beside him. "Are you kidding me? We killed that Phil Collins song."

"You were literally just banging on the stage."

"But we won."

El bites her lip, averting her eyes and throwing another log into the trash bag rather violently.

"Sorry. Low blow." Will places his hand on her back and he's about to do what she thinks he's about to do.

"That's okay." El moves slightly away from him so his hand is off her back. "I would've totally rubbed it in your face, too."

"I kind of figured," Will grins, tying the trash bag and lugging it over his shoulder. His hands are covered in soot and El imagines the back of her shirt is, too.

"Well if you two are done flirting now..." Isaac stretches. "We should crash. I'm tired."

"From all the kicking," Sky says. Mari gives her a triumphant high-five.

"We weren't flirting, Isaac," Will winks at El. "I know how jealous you get."

"For fuck's sake, I'm not jealous!" Isaac groans. "But I sure do know a few people who would be - ow!" A piece of balled-up foil is at his feet.

"Sorry, Isaac, did that hit you?" Louise asks, voice dripping with sweetness. "I swear I was aiming for the trash bag."

"Look here, you crazy bitch - shit, ouch! What the hell?"

"Oh, sorry," Grace says sarcastically and El almost feels sorry for Isaac, "I wasn't looking where I was going. Would you like some ice?"

"You're crazy," Isaac sighs. "All of you."

"That's what Camp Ashwood does to a person," Finn shrugs, hooking Isaac by the neck. "We're all mad here."

"Just because we did Disney songs - "

"Yeah, I totally went there."

_____________________________________________

a/n: thIS SHIT CAME FAST DIDNT IT HECK YEAH i just need to apologize for the horrible writing quality and the amount of typos i cba to edit. but yayayaya disney sorry i couldn't help myself i'm trash

i'd really appreciate if u commented plsplspslspslspls (u can even tell me this sucks ass bc i know it does jUST COMMENT) dont expect the next update to come at ur face this fast tho lol

the beauts banner (oN TOP NOW WTF WATTPAD KILL UR LAYOUT) is by casey aka @doctorhorrible and the dedication goes to amy bc she's rlly cute unlike this book :-)