C H R I S T I N A

Earlier that day before the bonfire

"Everything been good lately?" I asked Mitchie, who just stared at me with a worried look on her face. It concerned me, although I didn't want to push her into telling me something she's not comfortable with talking about. "We haven't talked much lately, and I don't want to come to you only when I need something. I just don't want to put off that kind of vibe, and you look kind of... upset, if I'm being honest." I added, biting my lip after her eyes filled with tears.

"I- I'm okay. Why, did Phoebe say something?" She asked, clearly trying to hide something. I glanced around at the people around us, pulling her to the side.

"No, what's going on? You can trust me." I gently rubbed her arm, trying to let her know in the best way that she can come to me.

"I wish I could tell you, but I can't. I'm fine, look I have to go. Practice for tonight." She took in a deep breath.

"Tonight? You're performing at the bonfire? What song?" I asked, a small smile creeping up on my face. I've been dying to hear her songs since Griffin and Phoebe told me she was good, and I really hope she is singing tonight.

"Yeah, but it's a song that Heather picked out." She sniffed, wiping her nose.

"Wait, you're singing with Heather? When did this happen?" I asked.

"She asked Aubrey and I to join. Only to sing backup or whatever, but it's better than nothing." She had a weird look in her eyes, and it caused me to be even more concerned than I was before.

"Well, have fun with that." I mumbled, noticing her behavior. She clearly didn't want to be talking to me right now, and I tried not to take it personal as I just turned and walked away.

Making my way to the cabin Griffin stayed in, I walked straight to his bed where him and Phoebe were hanging out. "Guys, I think we have a problem." I breathed out, and they looked at me. Phoebe stopped snacking on her snack cake, wiping her hands on her jeans.

"What happened? Someone fall in the lake? Take all the snacks?" She asked, her eyes widening. "Please tell me they didn't forget to restock the snacks!"

"No no, nothing like that." I shook my head, sitting down at the edge of the bed. "I just talked to Mitchie."

"Oh, great. How's she doing? Living life?" Phoebe asked, going back to her snack. Is she really not worried about her best friend the way that I am?

"Phoebs, stop." Griffin slapped her arm lightly. "What about her?"

"She didn't look okay at all. She looked nervous, she looked sad, and she barely talked to me," I explained. "She didn't look like herself. Also, I've found out she's singing backup to Heather, didn't you guys say Mitchie was planning to sing her own songs at all the bonfires and final jam?"

"She was, but who's to say Aubrey didn't stop her from doing that, too." Phoebe shrugged. She's clearly bitter about something.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my eyebrows knitting together.

"Chris, I wish we could tell you," Griffin said before taking in a deep breath. "This is something that's kind of going on between the core four - me, Phoebe, Mitchie and Aubrey. It's just a bunch of inside drama that you seriously don't want in on, and if you were in on it you wouldn't want to be."

"Let's just say Aubrey's a little snake and she doesn't deserve any of our friendship, let alone Mitchie's." Phoebe pursed her lips as she stood up.

"Mitchie, what about her?" A voice asked, and I turned to see the most popular boy of the camp - Jack Avery - looking at us with a concern expression.

"Ah, if it isn't the boy that sassed me on the first day of camp," Phoebe spoke. "Oh wait, I know who you are!" She then exclaimed, realization hitting her features. "You're Jack Avery. Most popular boy not only at this camp, but our school too! Why are you always butting into mine and my brother's conversations, Jack? Don't you have something better to do than eavesdrop on others' conversations?"

"Well it doesn't help you're always talking about it right next to my bed where I can hear." Jack rolled his eyes. "Besides, the first time I was just giving shitty advice, I heard Mitchie's name being mentioned and so I got curious. But what's it to you if I'm popular or not? You know I'm human right? There's more to me than just popularity."

"How do you know Mitchie?" Griffin asked, his eyebrows knit together.

"I met her in dancing class." He mumbled. "Just wanted to know about her is all."

"There's a difference between wanting to know drama involving her and about her herself. If you wanted to know about Mitchie you could've asked instead of just wanting to know what was going on drama wise." Griffin defended. "Mitchie's more than just drama and you always seem to step in to comment on her drama."

"Okay, look. I have better things to worry about than your sad ass sappy drama-filled life," Jack rudely said, holding a hand out. "I just wanted to know if everything was okay because even though I'm a student she's still mine for my dance class and if there's a bunch of stuff going on in her life right now it could distract her from class."

"If you're so goddamn worried about her life go ask her yourself," Phoebe said.

"Okay Phoebe that's enough," I spoke up. I could see the genuine worry in his eyes as he asked about her, although it is kind of weird he didn't ask about her when we weren't talking about her drama. But then again, this is the only time I've ever seen this kid genuinely worry about something, so I didn't really want to question it further. It was a miracle the boy even had feelings, after all.

Jack just took in a deep breath before walking out of the cabin with his notebook and guitar, slamming the door behind him.

"Now, back to what we were talking about before." Phoebe smiled as she acted as if that didn't just happen.

****

Watching as Heather, Alex, Sierra, Aubrey and Mitchie walked on stage, I rolled my eyes. She had them wearing ridiculous sparkly dresses, all silver except for hers which was gold. There were four microphones in the back, Mitchie and Aubrey in the middle while Alex and Sierra stood on the outsides.

Heather herself took the middle of the stage right in front of the giant fire, starting her song which was - of course - about her being too cool for pretty much anyone. After it ended everyone clapped and they began to walk down the stage, where I quickly stopped Mitchie. It's not like the others noticed anyway, they were all getting praised for their talents. Mostly Heather, of course. She didn't even give anyone else the chance to shine.

"Did you enjoy singing backup?" I asked. There was slight edge in my voice, but at the same time I was genuinely curious. She didn't look like she was having fun, but all day she's been... off. I've actually seen her more than once since the last time I talked, and although she was perfectly fine that day we had the conversation in the mess hall before Heather called her over, every time after that for the past few days she's seemed to be down in the dumps.

"I-" Mitchie stopped, knowing I was right. Tears filled her eyes and she just shook her arm out of my grasp, walking off and passing her other friends.

I didn't mean to upset her, but maybe on top of the way Phoebe and Griffin have been acting around her, me showing my obvious dislike to her being around Heather was beginning to be too much.

Although I have a feeling it's more than that, considering Phoebe and Griffin know something that I don't, and they're choosing not to tell me. But then again, maybe they're right and I'm better off not knowing, but deep down I know I'm going to find out.

And I just don't have a good feeling about it at all.

****

It's been a good two days since my last encounter with Mitchie, and all she's been doing was avoiding me. But from the looks of it it's not just me she's avoiding, it's everyone but that kid Jonah I always see her with. I've even seen her with a boy named Daniel and sometimes I'll see her have a short conversation with Jack, but she doesn't talk to anyone the way she talks to Jonah anymore. I barely even see her talking to Aubrey and the other girls anymore.

Sighing, I continued to focus on what I was doing on my laptop, when someone tripped over my foot. I didn't even realize it was in the middle of the aisle.

"Sorry," I spoke before looking up, my face immediately falling at who it was. "Never mind. No I'm not." I added, and Heather raised her eyebrows.

"I would respond, but-"

"But you are, by saying you're not responding." Alex cut Heather off, causing her face to twist in annoyance.

"Shut up, Alexandra," She spoke, and before I realized what was happening, Heather had poured her plate of pasta onto my lap. I gasped, immediately pushing the food off of my legs.

"That was on purpose and you know it," I said, grabbing some off of my shirt and slinging it onto the floor.

"Does it really matter though?" Heather asked. "Anything, and I mean anything, would make that outfit look better." Before I could respond she poured more onto me, smirking. "See?"

Anger coursing through my body I grabbed some, throwing it at Heather. I earned a loud gasp from her, and felt satisfaction run through my body before it was quickly replaced with anger, as she threw some back. It turned into this huge food fight, before I saw blonde wavy hair move in between us. It was Mitchie.

"Guys stop! Seriously stop! There's no need to fight!" She exclaimed, and I stopped for a second, caught off guard by her reaction. She seemed genuinely worried, as if she pushed all of her fears and worries from before to the side and is now only worried about Heather and I fighting and getting in trouble.

After realizing Heather was still throwing pasta at me, I continued to do the same, ignoring the fact that we were practically bringing Mitchie into this for no reason.

"My spaghetti slipped, oops!" I said sarcastically, grabbing a plate from the table next to me and dumping it on Heather's hair.

She gasped, narrowing her eyes at me as if it were the first time I did this. "I can't believe you did this!" She exclaimed, her breathing ragged and heavy.

"Neither can I," A deep accented voice said, and we looked over to see Brown staring at us, disappointment on his features. He then walked closer to us, pointing at me, Heather, and Mitchie then at the door. "I hate it when I have to be un-cool."

We took that as our cue to leave the room, and I took a deep breath as I just turned and walked out, not bothering to wait for the other two. Part of me feels bad because Mitchie was only trying to get us to stop fighting, but at the same time she is the one that inserted herself into the issue, all could have been avoided for her if she just avoided it like she's been doing everything else lately.

The three of us stood in Brown's office, noodles and sauce smeared all over us. I began to gently wipe my cheeks of the red sauce, trying not to let it sit on my skin for too long. This is definitely going to cause a pimple or two.

"Lay it on me," Was all Brown said, before Heather and I both began to try to explain ourselves, Mitchie just staying silent in the middle of us.

"She has always been jealous of me and cannot stand the fact that I'm most likely going to win final jam so she just started flinging-"

"She's impossible!" I cut her off, knowing that final jam had nothing to do with why we were fighting. "She just walks around like she owns the place as if she's queen bee when-"

"Whoa!" Brown exclaimed, realizing his idea for us to lay it on him was bad. "Enough! Make it plain, who threw the food first?"

"That's easy. Christina!" Heather pointed past Mitchie's chest at me. I sighed, my face growing red.

"That's technically true, but I only did-"

"No buts." Brown cut me off, holding his hand up. "Since you want to play with food so bad, I'll let you. I'll give you a job for the summer, you're now on kitchen duty."

"What?!" I asked the same time Mitchie happened to say that. Why does she even care if I get kitchen duty or not? She hasn't said one word this entire time.

"I mean, ew." Mitchie looked down, after Heather had given her a look also. She's acting really weird, but I know not to ask her because she's obviously not going to tell me.

"But I-"

"Again with the buts, Christina. Look, it's settled. Now go clean up, you guys have classes and other activities to get to." Brown sat down at his desk, beginning to look through what looked like song sheets.

"Happy cooking," Heather said. She blew a fake kiss toward me and walked out of the cabin, brushing noodles off as she did so.

"Thanks a lot," I sarcastically told Mitchie, pushing past her and out of the cabin, to the showers.

--

i still have so much planned, don't worry :)

edited: september 11th, 2019