I wake up to hear kourtney talking  to herself in the dark
" I cant get Any rest here... like are we kidding ?" She slips on her slippers

" what are you talking about ?"  I groan and roll out of bed
" someone is blowing a stupid air horn and I'm going to check who it is " she opens the door but hesitates "... I'm scared to go outside in the dark are you coming with me ?" She asks  confidently

my limp head nods and i slip my converse on not bothering to tie them up

We venture outside  to see the boys cabins lights are on, we walk in seeing corbin bleu and channing standing by the door  as well as all the boys up.

" I'm calling it ,  corbin bleu has officially lost  his mind " kourtney points ." Yeah, what's this about?" I rub my eyes.

" folks were two hours away from camp shallow lakes exciting tradition.tune in to see a bunch of theater kids get their heads out of the clouds  and into the game " corbin points to the camera " report to the amphitheater at 8:00am sharp for a day of sports . It's color war!" He cheers before leaving.

  I stare around at everyone." I'm still confused " I groan.
" cmon let's get you back to bed" kourtney drags me out.

~

After getting a few more hours of sleep  I get up and go to the basketball court

I practice,  and practice. But I'm actually no good ... at all .

" hey" maddox walks up to the court," hey i acknowledge her while still trying to shoot.

"wow... you are really bad at this" she points out as the basketball bounces back to my feet." yeah, i've never been into traditional sports." i tuck my lips in 

"hey, but  you know what they say... practice makes perfect." she says in a quick and awkward tone." can i ask you a question?" i ask her

"is it about my brother?" she raises her eyebrows." maybe..."  I say in a small voice

"then ill shoot you one back, you have a brother. is everything always perfect all the time?" she inquires. "yeah...almost never" i shake my head

"so there's your answer" she gives a small laugh."yeah, for as long as i can remember me and ricky have been fighting almost everyday." i laugh.

'please report to the amphitheater in t-minus five minutes' the loud speaker comes on 

i look at maddox , and we leave to the amphitheater

~ 

 i sit down next to ej on the 'bleachers' and look at the scene covered in blue and yellow.

" so what team do you wanna be on?" i look up to e.j who seems to be spaced out. " eej!" i snap in his face

"hm? sorry just thinking" he says blankly." then don't think. todays supposed to be fun. turn your director brain off and  turn your  water polo team captain sporty jock e.j brain on" i say with enthusiasm.

"sporty jock e.j?" he chuckles," shut up, i'm trying here" i playfully smack his arm.

" when i heard that the camp that's putting on frozen  for disney plus, has a day that's emotionally similar to the 2006 to 2008 disney channel games,I and the folks at the mouse HQ jumped at the chance to include this in our docu-series."corbin raises his voice for the crowd"dewey, you wanna explain the rules?" corbin asks

mr.wood hesitates" uh... yeah,every camper is required to participate in a few challenges. there's  two teams ..." dewey gets cut off by corbin "-and within each team are teammates" he charms before deciding he can apparently take it over from there on out" okay. you know her. you love her. the captain of the yellow team is maddox" corbin announces 

 the multi color haired girl stands  and walks to the stage" not sure everyone loves me but ... thanks" she shrugs." didn't say they all did... and the captain of the blue team , the director of the show within the show, some people call him spaceship man, its E.J" corbin announces 

 i look to him excitedly,"whoo, go eej" i cheer as he stands and goes to the stage as well.

" now with a big smile tell each of your frozen friends are on each team" corbin directs e.j to do, handing him the clipboard, "what about the other campers?"e.j asks softly, but i could still read his lips, corbin responds  but i couldn't tell what he was saying . E.J raises his brows and huffs , taking a big step forward," okay, on my team, we have... ricky, ashlynn and gina" e.j puts on a smile. i'm a bit disappointed i didn't make it to my boyfriends team but... this means war. the called three go up to the stage standing next to e.j" and then maddox's team has kourtney, carlos, jet and jules" e.j says

 we all stand and walk up to maddox. " just so y'all know, im scrappy. i fight dirty and i will cheat." kourtney grits." were on the same team for a reason babes" i hold my pink up and look at her , she interlocks her finger with a game face on . " i'm also incredibly afraid of height.." she leans into the team closely," same " i lean in as well." okay, so plus minus" maddox sighs.

" if you were on a deserted island and could text one person who would it be ?" corbin walks past us and looks to the camera" your mom? your ex? your life coach? tomorrow the winning team can text whoever they want when they get back there phones" corbin announces 

 i stand confused once again, my eyes squinted and my bottom lip curled out... i thought we weren't allowed our phones?

 everyone around cheers and jumps  while dewey re-states the shallow lake policy." get your team colors from the bins, im corbin bleu, and your watching disney plus." corbin ends the segment.

 i walk to the bins and grab a cup off tank top  that has 'camp shallow lake' printed on the front

~ 

 everyone gets a few minutes to go change and meet back at the amphitheater where we all get split off for different activities. just as i go to do my first activity e.j pulls me to the side.

"hey..." he pulls me to behind a tall bush, no one around." whatcha doing?" i smirk

"just wanted to tell you good luck. since were not on the same team i dont think were gonna be able to  do this all day" he says before planting a long kiss on my lips." hm? so i guess were back to enemies for the day?" i ask with a sly tone to my voice," nemesis." he corrects me 

"enemies is way hotter" i tilt my head,"julianna!" he gasps." oh whatever!" i chuckle

"hey! no canoodling with the other team" ashlynn  shouts  at us. i roll my eyes and let go of e.js hand, i start to walk away, " oh and just because i love you doesn't mean im gonna go easy on you today. i will win this game..."  i walk backwards

"okay ... if you say so" he smiles before  i leave his sight

e.js pov

 just as jules leave my sight  i run to the barn.   i open the doors trying to catch my breath" sorry i'm late" i apologize . miss jen turns around to face me" E.J  my tallest child" she says in a sweet voice.

" i've missed you" i smile."  i made a pact to help any wildcat in need, anywhere in the continuous lower 48 states. where else would i be?" she walks down the stage steps  and reaches for a hug.

oh, how i've genuinely missed her. i kinda feel bad that no one knows about her being here  but i needed her help, so its  just for now.

" i present to you  the writing of a genius,or a woman in desperate need of a nap." she pulls various colored papers out of her purse."its everything you'll need to direct a musical successfully." she hands the papers to me " jennifer's guide to directing children, in the modern era" she boast

 i begin to scan through the papers when  mrs jen pulls something else out of her bag."twizzler?" she offers

" are those from the woods?" i question deeply, since i wouldn't put it past this woman to get lost in the woods an hour being into this place and find twizzlers and take them.

"no? i got them from the local shopkeeper, susan." my heart skips a beat when she says the name..." fine selection of local wares they've got."she adds

 i blink at her heavily a few times,"  lets get to work mr.director" she says upbeat

jules pov 

 i stand at the ball  court, staring up at the basket. i hear the familiar voices of  my brother and bestfriend from behind me  i turn to see that ricky and i  are basically matching

 i clear my throat" go change" i say as he looks to me , " oh, you've gotta be joking" he throws his hands out in front of him" no. no i'm not changing " he poin ts to me dramatically

"aren't you guys twins? your supposed to match" gina cracks a joke , me and ricky give her a blank look"okay, tough crowd" she coughs

"look, youve done this like eight times to me in the past year... you're changing this time" i huff

"no" he huffs back," ricky. we are going to be on  television. there is no way we are going to be twins and matching at eighteen year olds on  television" i say under my breath,"good thing were not eighteen" he says

i roll my eyes and let it go , mocking him when he turns back around . i go back to shooting hoops, when i realize i hadn't seen e.j in a while like anywhere... i guess while  i was spaced out i let the ball slip

 it was heading straight for gina" watch out" but it was too late. it nailed it right in her head  and knocked her out

 i ran to her immediately

  everyone crowded around her," what do we do?" ricky asks." someone go get the nurse" i call out ." wait... i might have something" carlos says, before i even realize  what he's referring to he had already slapped her " carlos!" i hit his arm." what it worked for miss jen" he defends his character." guys, she's with us" ricky hushes us.

gina sits up" what happened?" she questions." i kinda hit you in the face with a basket ball...sorry" i tuck my lips in tight," and you were kinda like mumble singing" carlos points out

"yeah, it was super weird" ricky says, "but you still have a chance to be the hero" kourtney reaches an arm out to help gina up." for the record yellow team is about to win" carlos makes notice of ."really? hm" i question considering i think id been blacked out playing basket ball for about the last ten minutes." unless gina, you can make one shot from the three point line" carlos instructs.

 gina stands and takes a deep breath ricky handing her the respective colored ball,  she does a perfect turn shoots and scores one for the blue team, winning it all for them.  everyone cheers for her, she immediately runs to ricky and pulls him into a hug, my jaw drops " that was actually too impressive" i congratulate her as she lets go of the hug."well thank you, but i do not think i could replicate that" she makes point of.

~

 after a few moments  of  waiting around, i was instructed to go to the front of the barn for 'dewey says' on obvious spin on simon says,  my eyes glaze the crowd to find e.j, but i couldn't find him. i took a big sigh and started the game 

~

 " dewy says hop on one foot" dewy says over the megaphone. the remaining people hop on one foot. " hey, dewey? do you think simon is gonna sue you  for stealing his game?" ricky raises his hand.

"uh... i don't know simon personally?" dewey throws attitude. " breaking new dewey wood locks simon of simon says in his basement" ricky jokes, making gina laugh loudly

"aw at least someone will laugh at your jokes" i taunt. ricky stares at me his mouth hanging open in disbelif"im deeply hurt by that" he scoffs

"mr.bowen... you're out" dewey points to him. i laugh,and point" ha"

 i watch as he walks to the side i see e.j there, i stick my tounge out at him playfully, he mirrors the energy back." dewey says stop" he commands

 i stop hopping and take a deep breath."dewey says hop on one foot" dewey commands

 i groan and begin again."dewey says dance like your at the camp prom" he says

 everyone dances except  ashlynn" did he say camp prom?" she  stops in her tracks

dewey blows the whistle"out"

"stop" he tricks a bunch of yellow people and a few blue ." dewey says spin in a circle"

  gina, jet , me and two others  start spinning." simon says stop" dewy says , i continue to spin

"oh, one two three. i'm dewey, not simon.out,out, out" i hear him announce as i start to get dizzy" dewey says that is a great victory for the yellow team" dewey announces 

"yes!"i cheer and stop spinning " high five!" i raise my hand to jet  stumbling around to find his hand. he takes my wrist and guides my hand to his, " great job. lets get you to sit down tho" he guides me over to e.j." okay" i let out a soft breath still extremely dizzy

"hey..." e.j holds me straight up so i don't fall down,"i think i was the only one spinning as fast as i did" i try and refocus my eyes as much as i can, " yeah, just a bit"ricky says

"dewey says get ready for the climbing wall next. were having fun." dewey announces

"climbing wall?!" i look up to e.j, my balance finally regaining itself." its gonna be fine. its not that high up" he says" ill meet you right there" he pats my  arms and lets go of me  before sneaking off again

"where are you always going?" i question." i'm just getting everything ready for the show..." he explains." you said you were gonna have fun and not worry today E.J" i hold him accountable

"well mrs.jen thinks its better to push through and-" e.j holds his lips tight his eyes going sharp

"mrs.jen?" i question" is that who you called last night?" i ask him

"...yeah, but i just needed her help." he says a guilty tone to his voice. " Eej don't feel bad for needing help... now can i see mrs.jen? where is she?" i ask impatintely

"uhmmmm" he hesitates." oh c'mon pleaseee" i beg

"fine, lets go get the wildcats" he agrees,

~

 after collecting us wildcats we all head to the barn to see mrs jen, of course  everyone crowds her in hugs and starts talking immediately to the point where everything is inaudible.

mrs.jen claps"wildcats" she says catching our attention." what are you doing here?"carlos asks her."e.j asked me for a couple of directing pointers" she answers."and id already been back from my Caribbean cruise for fifteen minutes, so i drove here."

"wow"  " aren't you tired?" ricky asks

"its starting to hit me" she says a bright smile still plastered on her face."tell me about you. what is happening with the show?" she asks

" jules and i got cast as elsa and anna" gina squeals along with mrs.jen

"i got olaf"carlos says."oh how sweet" mrs.jen smiles

"and  i got kristoff, but maybe my dad already told you" ricky reveals." you've been sending letters back home?" i question."oh that reminds me,  he sent me with early birthday gifts for you two." she says " so remind me of that later"

"oh, and who are my two sweet girls playing?" she looks over to kourtney and ashlynn."well we both got the ansamble" kourtney answers for the both of them since  ashlynn hadn't been taking it so well,stepping back from a lead role to ensamble...

"a musical is a beautiful body, the ensemble is a sturdy backbone" she encourages.

" i'm sorry to break this up but, we have to get back to the climbing wall or we forfeit the whole game." e.j announces

 i take a deep breathe and look at kourt who was doing the same." oh mrs. jen do you wanna come watch?" gina asks." oh i dont have my theater glasses or my athletic footwear." she says in an almost serious tone

"cmon mrs.jen lets go to camp" carlos holds his hand out for her.

~

 we all make our way to the climbing wall,  i try to hide behind  people but  somehow get pulled to the front eventually...

 kourtney and gina are up next, kourtney is practically shaking as she gets hooked up to the harness, her breathing is short and heavy. i walk up to her." hey, its gonna be fine. just  breathe in... and out... in and out... you're hooked up to a harness,  you'll be perfectly safe . okay?" i try to pep talk her even tho i wasn't even sure of this myself.

 the two girls line up to the climbing wall" three two... one" val shouts then blowing the whistle 

 gina starts her climb bt kourt stays frozen for a moment. " you got this kourt" jet cheers for her.

she grabs the first rock hesitantly, she steps back and waits... gina grabs the flag and waves it around, kourtney cheers for her as she comes down and insist to get out of that thing.

"you have to at least try." val says enthusiastically, " look, you guys are all incredible at these games without even trying, if i would try in front of all of you i would be able to control what happens." kourtney sighs 

"that's why we have to push through. even when its hard." val says" kourtney... kourtney.. kurtney" she starts chanting , people start to chant along 

 Kourtney's breath starts to choke, she  rolls her neck and closes her eyes,  i was seconds away from taking her away and hiding in our cabin together when mrs.jen jumped in " campers! mommys talking" mrs. jen shut everyone up... she huddled to kourt and talked to her for a moment.  she turns back to the crowd , i give her a sincere smile as to say 'thank you'

"well i have got to get back on the road, because, i have a hard out at beung uo more than forty hours in a row. " she announces 

 she gives me a big hug  aswell as the rest of her kids... i stand and stare at the wall.

 a few moments as before val announces whos  next up" okay, next is e.j and julianna" she looks to us both.

"you're kidding right?" i look to her, " nope" she looks at me with a certian knowing look.

 i get hooked up to the harness aswell as e.j

"hey, you're gonna be fine... remember, im here to catch you. always" he whispers to me 

i nod and take a deep breath

"three, two , one" val repeats and blows the whistle

 i  begin to climb the wall slowly i reach the middle and before i could recall i had the flag in my hands and i was on the ground.

 i got relesed from the harness looking at e.j" you let  me win..." i smile 

"i would never just let you win" he scoffs, " okay, keep telling youself that" ricky pats his shoulder.

" even i know that im horrible at climbing, dont you remeber spring break?" i ask with a huge smirk to my face.

" agree to disagree" he says

   as  evryone finished up at the climbing wall we all made our way back to the ampatheaater for our last activity.

 ricky stopped me  on our walk there, " here its dads gift, i wanted to open our togather " he says hding me an envelope

"right. okay, ready, set.... go" i say   i open the envelope and he opens his bulky gift, i read the note," dear, julianna, i know that right now may be tough. being away from home,and turning eighteen is a big deal, and ricky told me you were gonna be elsa so id tthought id send you a reminder of the role you were always ment to be. you're still my littel girl, even though it may not always look like it, it will always be true. love, dad."  i reach in the envelope to see a bunch of photos of little me dressed up in my elsa costume, i flip through the photos , it making me tear up. i put the photos back in the envelope and look up to see ricky  looking sweetly at... a rock?

" did dad get you a rock?" i chuckle. " its a moon rock... he remembered  the list"  he says in an 'awe' tone

" he really is  such a softie huh?" i chuckle, " yup" ricky says

~ 

 we all sit waiting for the last game to start... one that i knew was gonna be tough for us to beat the blue team at...  the sing off.

" okay! its a tied game" val announces so the outcome of the sing off dertirmines the fate of this years color war." evryone cheers and whoops 

"oky, so this year, i have picked, its on from camp rock two and i printed out lyric sheets, but if you dont know the words that means something  went deeply wrong in your childhood and you didnt watch this iconic sequel." val says " oh and as a reminder, when  i stop singing somone has to take over, here we go." she says

 my heart races, this is going to be a close one.

val reaches  the mic  to jet " drums" 

" a little guitar please" val sings as she gazes to the crowd," one two three four.  i hope your ready for the time of your life, just look at me ill put a gleam in your eye" val performs" buckle up were gonna take you for a ride..." she hands the mic to ricky

 thankfully for him this is one of the dcoms he actually enjoyed as a kid."lets go, weve gotcha going good in the vibe" he sings, gina coming over and taking the mic" everybody put ypur hands to the sky" she vocalizes" hands to the sky" e.j bumps in as ashylynn runs to take the mic 

" buckle up were gonna take you  high" ashlynn harmonizes then handing the mic back to val

 show me show me show show me  show what ya got

 come on come on come on come on ready or not 

la la la la 

let me show how you bob

 its on its on its on

get crazy crazy crazy

 take it over the top

 cause when we rock we let it  rock

rock it rockit rockit dance till we drop 

 its on its on its on

 we all sing toagther 

 val hands the mic to jet

"okay now, are you ready?  one two, one two three four" jet stands up and lets himself shine

" show stopping whe i step in the place before its done  you're gonna beg me to stay." jet  goes to the blue teams side and sings to them"get on board, lets ride the wave." he sings then passing the mic to maddox"lets go lets go we just do whay we do  watch me break and pop ill pass it to you. you wanna rock like us cause were never second place." she hands the mic   back to val for the chorus

 show me show me show me show me 

show what ya got

 come on come on come on come on ready or not

 la la la la lemme see how you bob

 its on its on its on

 get crazy crazy crazy 

take it over the top

 cause  when we rock we let it rock

 rock it rock it rock it just till we drop

 its on its on its on

 we all dance around and just have fun.

 ricky gets handed the mic, but  val pulls out a second one and hands it to me 

 i raise my eybrows to him, he does the same

" you ready?" he says on beat

" one two one two three " i chant as we all huddle  to a group

" the- ther- there- is no compatition thats why we in the number one position that crew cant hang with us , man we two dangerous" i rap before handing the mic over to kourt" aint got the style or the stamina"

" just doing my thing get hooked on a swing" ashlynn and ricky band toagther

"rocking the place, dropping the bass" me and kourt bop togather

"making evryone sing" gina and eej  match togather

" yeah, we make the bell ring"  maddox and jet rap in sync

 the mic gets handed back to val" its on, its on its on" she sings 

"ist on its on its on" jet and her harmanoze togather  leading us up

 show me show me show me show me

show what ya got

come on come on come on come on ready or not

la la la la lemme see how you bob

its on its on its on

get crazy crazy crazy

take it over the top

cause when we rock we let it rock

rock it rock it rock it just till we drop

its on its on its on

"its on" jet harmonizes  finsihing the song 

 everyone cheers, i  breath heavily  caling down from ourr impecable performance 

 " i am so glad the missing camper got rescued, caus he just caused the yellow team  to win color war" corbin shouts to the camp

 the yellow team huddles togather and we all cheer for jet

cofetti canons blast off as we all praise jet

e.j hangs his head low and walks up to me" whos the winner baby?" i chanted 

he lifted his head smiling "...never saying it" he scrunches his nose at me and shrugs his shoulders,"oh, cmon... who won?" i push back

"you" he says low, " oh... what was that?" i dramaticlly cup my ear," you are the winner of color war" he gives a small smile," yes i am, thank you thank you" i bow down 

 before i relized, e.j had picked me up throwing me over his shoulder and sinning me around. he lowered me back down still holding onto my waist, i just looked at him for a moment, forgetting everything from before, i loved him so truly and deeply and thats all i wanted right now.

" you want me to come hang out with you later, i know your probobly busy but im sure i can help you" i offer, " you dont have to do that julie i promise ill be fine" he says

" no, i want to. trust me, i just wanna spend time with you" my cheeks fill with color. he nods to me" okay then, sure,  id love that" he says then leaning down to kiss me.

 ~

 e.j and i  sit toagther  working in the barn, a single desk lamp eleuminating the spot, we hadnet talked in what felt like hours, but it was a comfortable silence." hey jules" he broke the silence," mmh" i contiued taking notes down, " i know i promised you that id be there all day, and i know that i didnt meet those expectations, but i promise you that tomarrow will be better okay?" i  was fully focused on him

i looked at him for a second" you know you could really make it up to me by going to the camp prom with me " i say to him hopefully, " oh... uhm, theres actually  a thing. no dates to camp prom, its a shallow lake tradition, so noones feelings get hurt." he informs me with a sorrowfull look " im sorry, but, i promise that even tho theres no dates ill save you a dance, and itll be fun tomarrow, ill try my best to focus on you all night" he says

i nod with a quiet"mmh" and go back to the papers

 after about a half hour more of working id decided to clock out and go to bed 

  i went back to the cabin  and go ready for bed but i guess it was still early cause nonone was here yet.

 i sat in the corner of my bunk and hugged my knees tight, i take the list from off  my bulletine board and start checking things off of it, almost all of them were complete, all except four...

 i huffed and kept replaying what had just happened ot too long ago, i was embarresed i had even asked

______________

 two chapters, in one week.  wow... hasent happedn in a long while lol

 well it is currently 3:13am when i finished writing this so... i am exhausted...

  i am almost done writing for this book and then i will start on the last book... wish me luck

love you all-kat