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𝗕𝗜𝗚 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗦

chapter twelve:
shot down !

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AFTER VIOLETTA'S BASKETBALL triumph, they had moved onto another activity. This one was called Dewey Says, which was basically a version of Simon Says. However, if somebody did the command when Dewey said Simon Says instead of Dewey says, they would get out. Each of them had to be in front of a yellow or blue cone, indicating what team they were on. Violetta stood next to Jet with Ricky and Athena in front of them.

"Dewey says hop on one foot," Dewey instructed, holding a megaphone up to his mouth.

They all obeyed. Violetta lifted her left leg up and hopped up and down on her right.

Ricky raised his hand in the air. "Hey, Dewey? Is Simon gonna sue you for stealing his game?"

"I don't know Simon personally," Dewey responded.

"Breaking news. Dewey locks Simon of Simon Says in his basement."

Violetta immediately laughed, like she always did at him, and covered it with her hand. "Dude, you are so stupid."

Athena laughed as well. "Ricky, what are you even saying anymore?"

Dewey picked up the whistle that was hanging around his neck and blew it before pointing at Ricky. "You're out. Buh-bye."

Ricky stepped away from his spot and tried to get Athena to fall by tickling her. Violetta looked to the side to see EJ standing there with the blue team — when did he get here? And where had he been? They locked eyes and Violetta looked away, staring back up at Dewey. Him not being there to see her succeed at basketball had hurt her more than she thought it would.

"Dewey says stop," Dewey announced, and Violetta stopped along with everyone else. "Dewey says hop on one foot." Violetta rolled her eyes and lifted her left leg back up, resuming her hopping. "Dewey says stop jumping and put your right hand on your head." She stopped in place and put her hand on her head. "Dewey says dance like you're at the Camp Prom."

Violetta started to dance a little — just casual, not technical like she had done on the basketball court. However, her mind then registered what he had just said. Camp Prom? EJ had said nothing about a Camp Prom when telling them all about Camp Shallow-Lake.

Ashlyn completely stopped. "What'd you say?" Dewey blew his whistle to signify that she was out, but Ashlyn ignored it and leaned in closer to Jet. "Did he say there's a Camp Prom?"

Dewey pointed at Ashlyn. "You." He waved his hand, and Ashlyn walked off to the side. "Stop." He blew his whistle and pointed to a girl on the Yellow Team, and she walked off, too. "Dewey says spin in a circle." Violetta did as she was told and spun in circle. "Simon says stop."

Honestly, Violetta's head was caught up in the whole EJ thing and how there was a Camp Prom that she didn't even notice he said Simon instead of Dewey. Violetta stopped in her tracks, along with a girl with the Yellow Team. Athena, Jet, and Maddox were the only ones left.

"Oh, I'm Dewey, not Simon! You two, you're out. Dewey says that is a great victory for the Yellow Team. Congrats, you three."

Violetta sighed and walked off to the side. She could feel EJ's gaze burning into the side of her face, but she ignored it for now.

Athena walked up to them, a smug smile on her face. "Yellow Team wins again."

"I hate Dewey says," Violetta muttered. "It gets me all confused."

"Dewey says get ready for the climbing wall next," Dewey stated. "We're having fun."

"Did he say climbing wall?" Kourtney asked.

"Yeah, I'll meet you guys there," EJ replied.

Violetta blinked in shock and turned to see him walking away. Where was he going? Why was he always disappearing?

"Dude, where are you always going?" Ricky questioned.

"Just getting everything ready for the show," EJ answered, and Violetta frowned — so he hadn't taken her advice of living in the moment.

"You can't do that at night?" Carlos inquired.

"Well, Miss Jenn thinks it's better to push . . ." EJ began to say.

Violetta froze. Miss Jenn? What did he mean Miss Jenn?

"What?" they all chorused.

EJ took them into the barn, and sure enough, their drama teacher was standing there with a bright smile to greet them. Violetta let out a small laugh of amazement and hugged Miss Jenn tightly. She had missed her a lot ever since school ended. The rest of them gave her their own hugs of greeting before finding a place to be. Miss Jenn sat on the stage, and Violetta sat on one side of her with Athena. Their whole group talked at the same time, all excited to tell Miss Jenn all about their camp experience.

Miss Jenn clapped hands together, gaining their attention. "Wildcats."

"What are you doing here?" Carlos asked.

"EJ asked me for a couple directing pointers and I had already been back from my Caribbean cruise for fifteen minutes, so I drove here."

"Wow."

"Are you tired?" Ricky questioned.

Miss Jenn grinned blankly for a second. "It's starting to hit me. Tell me about you. What is happening with the show."

"Oh, I'm playing Anna and Kourtney is playing Elsa," Athena responded, holding onto Kourtney's hands.

"I got Olaf," Carlos revealed. "But there's no dressing room, so I basically spend all day in the costume."

"Noted," Miss Jenn voiced.

"And I'm Kristoff, but maybe my dad already told you," Ricky said.

"Oh, and remind me later, he sent me with an early birthday gift for you." Miss Jenn then focused her attention on Ashlyn. "Oh, and who are you playing, Ashlyn? Are you Anna and Elsa's long-lost sister who they discover on ancestry-dot-com?"

"We're not allowed to add parts to this one," Ashlyn told her. "I checked. Several times. I'm actually in the ensemble with Gina and Violetta."

Miss Jenn nodded. "A musical is a beautiful body. The ensemble is its sturdy backbone."

"Sorry, guys, we have to get back to the climbing wall or we're gonna forfeit the whole game," EJ interjected.

"Oh, boy," Kourtney breathed out, and Violetta glanced at her quickly in concern.

"Miss Jenn, you should come watch us," Violetta suggested, because honestly, having Miss Jenn there would make her feel a lot better.

"Oh, I don't have my theater glasses or athletic footwear," Miss Jenn stated

Carlos approached her. "Come on, Miss Jenn. Let's go to camp."

They all went outside — Miss Jenn included — and joined the crowd around the climbing wall. The climbing wall was pretty big. Violetta stared up at it, watching as someone from the Yellow Team came down from the top. Her eyes narrowed in thought at it. Violetta wasn't scared of heights at all. She could totally do this.

"Oh my goodness," Kourtney commented.

"It's big," Carlos agreed.

"This is our final athletic competition before the big sing-off," Val explained. "We'll do a series of sprints mano-a-mano, and one player will prevail each time." She looked down at her clipboard. "Okay, um, Kourtney, Violetta, you're up."

Violetta smirked a little. Climbing wall? No problem. This could potentially help the blue team win. She stepped up to the wall and got handed a harness and a helmet. Violetta put them on and stepped back for a moment.

"Let's look alive, people, we're up next," EJ voiced. He then focused her attention to his girlfriend. "Hey, V, everybody keeps saying that you had this basketball triumph. Tell me about it."

Just like at the Real Campers of Shallow Lake thing, Violetta couldn't help herself. She was petty sometimes. It was just in her nature.

"Oh, it was kind of a more you had to be there sort of thing," Violetta told him. She looked at him accusingly. "Which you weren't."

EJ gave her a single nod and disappeared into the crowd. Violetta felt a sting in her heart. She just wished they could go back to being as carefree as they were this morning.

Violetta looked at Miss Jenn. "Something about us doesn't seem right these days."

Miss Jenn gave her a sympathetic glance. "Life keeps getting in the way?"

Violetta shrugged. "Whenever we try, somehow the plan is always rearranged."

"Let's do this," Val cut in excitedly.

"Oh, um, I just remembered that Indina Menzel mentioned on a podcast that Elsa's actually afraid of heights," Kourtney announced as Violetta walked up to the climbing wall.

"Really?" Carlos inquired. "She lives in a tower."

"Not now, Carlos."

"Come on," Val encouraged.

Kourtney sighed and approached the wall. Violetta stared at her in concern. Kourtney seemed really terrified by this.

"Three, two, one," Val voiced before blowing her whistle.

Violetta latched onto the wall and started to climb it with surprising ease. She pulled herself up while pushing her feet on the fake rocks. Violetta didn't look down or to the side until she reached the top. She reached forwards and ripped off the blue velcro flag placed at the top of the wall to signify that she one. Violetta turned to the crowd with a smile, waving the flag around.

She held onto the flag as she made her way down. Violetta slowly climbed all the way to the bottom and allowed another camper to take the hook off of her. She turned around while unbuckling her helmet.

"That's why we have to push through," Val was insisting. "Even when it's hard. Kourtney, Kourtney, Kourtney . . ."

Violetta didn't know why they were chanting, but she assumed that it was because Kourtney hadn't climbed the wall at all. She didn't chime in with their chant of Kourtney's name. If Kourtney didn't want to climb the wall, she didn't have to.

"Campers," Miss Jenn interjected, taking a step forwards. She then motioned zipping her lips. "Mommy's talking."

Her and Kourtney shared a quiet conversation, one that ended in a hug. Violetta took off her helmet and her harness, handing them to one of the campers helping with a smile.

"Well, I have got to get back on the road, because I have a hard out at being up for more than forty hours in a row," Miss Jenn revealed.

Violetta walked forwards as EJ and Miss Jenn also had a quiet conversation. Ashlyn lifted up her hand for a high-five, and Violetta happily obliged.

"Richard," Miss Jenn called before digging through her purse and bringing out a very heavy-looking present. "From your dad." She threw the present at him, and Ricky caught it, but he doubled over a little from how heavy it was. "Break a leg out there. Jennifer, out." She walked away from them for a moment, but soon stopped, clearly having no idea what they were doing. "Where's the door?"

The last activity of Color War, like Val said, was the sing-off. All of them gathered in the amphitheater and chose a side depending on their color. Violetta, of course, sat with the blue team in between EJ and Ashlyn. She was very hyper-aware of the way her and EJ's shoulders were pressed up against one another's. Something so normal, but seemed so strange, considering how weird they had been lately.

"Okay," Val said into a microphone from her place on the stage. "Hi. Um, it's a tie game, so the outcome of this cheer-off determines the fate of Color War." All of them cheered. "Okay. So, this year, I have picked It's On from Camp Rock 2. And I printed out lyric sheets, bit if you don't know the words, that means something went deeply wrong in your childhood and you didn't watch this iconic sequel. Oh, and as I reminder, when I stop singing, somebody has to take over. Here we go."

Jet started off the song, and Val continued it. She then handed the microphone off to Ricky, who obviously took this opportunity to use the rivalry flirting tactic on Athena. The rest of the members of the Blue Team followed after him to the Yellow Team side, each of them chiming in for different parts of the song.

They all sang the chorus together while performing different choreography. And, for once in hours, Violetta felt true happiness rising up in her. Dancing was truly the one thing that could help calm her mind, and maybe because she hadn't done it a lot lately was why her emotions were all out of wack.

It was then the Yellow Team's turn, and just like the Blue Team, they took their own turns singing different lyrics. After another chorus, all of them stood in two lines in front of the stage, facing the other teams. Violetta and EJ even sang a lyric together there, and the bright smiles that they shared was enough to bring her spirits back up. More choreography was done, which included Violetta dancing with Ricky and Athena dancing with EJ, before Jet ended the song while on two people's shoulders.

They all cheered for themselves. Violetta let out a small laugh and placed her hands on her hips, waiting to hear who won the cheer-off.

Corbin gazed into Channing's camera. "America, I am so glad that the missing camper got rescued, 'cause he just caused the Yellow Team to win Color War!"

Violetta froze for a moment, her heart sinking to her stomach. Sure, it might've just been a stupid game, but EJ had said they would win if they were on the same team, only for him to disappear for most of it. She watched with conflicted feelings as Val handed Jet an oar to signify their victory and how blue and yellow streamers erupted.

She suddenly felt a pat on her shoulder. Violetta looked up to see Ricky standing there with a sympathetic smile. She gave him a tight smile in return before looking at Ashlyn.

"Everything all right?" Ashlyn asked.

Violetta sighed. "Yeah. Things are just . . . strange."

She stared at EJ's figure as he grinned, high-fiving people around him. Violetta wanted nothing more than for them to be okay. He was truly her rock and the one who kept her above water. Yet, at the same time, she didn't know if she could deal with being pushed away all the time.

"You okay?" Athena's voice questioned to her quietly, and Violetta glanced over to see her standing there.

"Yeah," Violetta responded. "I'm fine. Maybe just thought that today would end differently."

"Well, the day isn't over."

Camp Prom. This could really be something — they had really solidified their friendship during Homecoming. Maybe they could really solidify their relationship during Camp Prom.

Violetta looked at her with wide eyes. "Can you help me with something, actually?"

"Yeah, of course," Athena replied immediately. "What's up?"

═════════ • ° • ✰ • ° • ═════════

VIOLETTA'S IDEA WAS to set up a small picnic on the floor of the barn so she could ask EJ to the Camp Prom. After all, she had asked EJ to be her boyfriend, so she was breaking gender norms yet again and being the girl asking the guy to Prom.

She had left Athena alone in the barn for a little bit to finish setting up — truly, that girl was a lifesaver — so she could get ready. Violetta showered quickly back at the barn before getting changed into a white flowy tank-top that had blue flowers and tied at the shoulders, a jean skirt, and her Converse. She tied half up her hair up and put a blue ribbon around her hair tie. Violetta put on a tiny amount of makeup before deeming herself good. She walked back to the barn to see Athena had finished.

"You look beautiful, Vi," Athena said. "How could EJ ever say no to this?"

Violetta took a deep breath. "I sure hope he doesn't, because that would be really sad for me."

"He won't." Athena looked down at the picnic and nodded in impressment. "I'll go get him."

"Hold on," Violetta cut in, bringing up what she was worried about all day in the back of her mind. "I wanted to ask you . . . what happened with Gina last night? That argument seemed intense when I left."

Athena let out a sigh. "She, um, accused me of stealing everything from her. Like, roles, and stuff. Gabriella, Belle, Anna." She paused for a moment. "And then she accused me of stealing Ricky."

A beat of silence. Violetta blinked in shock. Oh? That was a lot, and it was just most definitely not true.

"He was never hers," Violetta voiced, but her statement sounded more like a question because she was confused. "Ricky was always yours."

"Ricky was Nini's first," Athena protested.

"No, he wasn't. He was always yours, even when he was dating Nini." Violetta gave her a concerned look. "Are you okay?"

She shrugged. "I cried last night about it, but . . . I don't know. My mind's just kind of a mess."

Violetta smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, 'Thena."

"I'll be fine. We can talk about this later, but right now, there are more pressing issues. Let me get EJ. Just sit there and, I don't know, look pretty."

"Ah, yes, a talent of mine."

Athena giggled. "I'll be right back."

She then left the barn. Violetta was now left in complete silence. She ran her palms down the denim of her skirt and walked up to the picnic basket. Violetta sat down on it and sat with both of her legs curled up at her side. She was nervous — her stomach was twisting and her heart was beating against her chest. Maybe she shouldn't have been this nervous, but like she said earlier to Miss Jenn, something about them didn't seem right these days. All Violetta wanted was a chance to fix it.

The door to the barn then opened. Violetta looked up to see Athena leading EJ into the building with one hand over her eyes and the other holding onto his arm. She smiled softly at them.

"Chill," Athena was saying. "It's a surprise. I told you to trust me."

"This better be good, 'Thena," EJ insisted. "And can you please stop pushing me forwards?"

"Well, can you please stop talking?" Athena asked. "You're being annoying."

"Oh my God, Violetta has really rubbed off on you."

"As I should," Violetta commented.

"Wait," EJ cut in. "V?"

Athena removed her hand from in front of EJ's eyes. EJ looked down at everything, seemingly frozen in shock.

Violetta smiled at her boyfriend. "'Sup."

Athena elbowed EJ's side. "Well, don't just stand there. Go sit with your pretty girlfriend."

EJ walked up to the picnic blanket. He sat down in front of her and immediately reached forwards, taking her hand. Violetta grinned at the familiar feeling, starting to feel all fluttery inside.

"I'm gonna go," Athena admitted, taking a couple steps backwards.

"Athena," Violetta called, making her stop. She gave her a look of gratitude. "Thank you."

She smiled and made a heart with her hand. "Of course. Love you."

Violetta watched as her best friend left the barn before looking back to her boyfriend.

"What's all this for?" EJ inquired.

"Well, I really wanted us to spend all day together," Violetta answered. "Which didn't happen, because you were disappearing to, where I now know, to see Miss Jenn."

He nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"And after that extremely weird rehearsal that we had, I was hoping for once that the universe would give us a win. But the universe always has a way of messing things up, right?"

"Right," EJ agreed. "I'm sorry about the win, I know you wanted to."

She shook her head, letting out a small laugh. "It's okay. But, even though you missed my basketball triumph, since I now know how to throw a ball, I thought I could use the same confidence that I had there to do this." She reached over and picked a flower out of the picnic basket, one that Athena had found earlier. "EJ, my love, will you go to the Camp Prom with me?"

He blinked. "Wait, you did all of this . . . for this?"

"Uh, yeah," Violetta responded, chuckling slightly in nervousness, because what did he mean by that? "It is."

"Oh man." He paused for a second. "V, listen to me. I want nothing more than that, but . . . there's a rule. No dates are allowed to the Prom. It's a Shallow Lake tradition so that nobody ends up with hurt feelings."

Well, Violetta's feelings were pretty hurt. The smile immediately slipped off of her face. She felt so incredibly stupid. Violetta reached over and put the flower back in the picnic basket.

"Oh," Violetta let out. "How . . . progressive of them."

"Yeah," EJ agreed quietly.

Tense silence. She cleared her throat and looked down at her lap. Violetta didn't really know what to do.

"Hey, come on." EJ reached out and took her other hand in his. "We can just sit here and talk like we normally do and wait for the fireworks to go off. I have a couple of minutes before I have to get back to work."

Oh. And there it was. Going back to work. Leaving her. Just like he had done all day. She should've known.

"Fireworks?" Violetta repeated. "Another Color War tradition?"

"Yeah," EJ responded, looking out the window of the barn.

She looked out the window, too. Violetta felt her bottom lip quiver and tears prick at the back of her eyes, but she pushed them away. Against her own will, she squeezed EJ's hand.

And right at that same moment, blue and yellow fireworks erupted in the sky.

∘ ₊ ✧ ──── ✧ ₊ ∘

and as we will come to learn, their relationship will not be solidified at camp prom :)

BUT I made them still have the fireworks because the spark is so obviously still there <3 they'll be okay I promise.