last night was surely a night to remember

a nice movie night, a possible new friend ... oh yeah and finding out my boyfriend is moving to st.louis for his gap year and didnt tell me

i wasn't mad at val its not her fault that e.j confided in her instead of me , I can't even be mad at e.j cause he didn't tell me, because its his dad , and  we all know how much i dislike mr. cash caswell

i was mad at myself, why didn't he feel comfortable telling me?

i hadn't got to talk to him yet but i will, just gotta stay calm and collected for now

we all got called into an early rehearsal So that means I gotta be camera ready at the crack of dawn

the crowd of people flood into the barn doors

i step into the room seeing a set up of white folding chairs

carlos, e.j, and val standing in front of the crowd of chairs with an easel and board that looked like it was pulled straight out of 6th grade power-point presentation

"everyone take a seat " vall calls

i sit at the front next to ricky , next to him , gina.

"thanks for coming in early guys. we've been up all night"e.j expresses

"look, this better be good because up here, its still last night" kourtney raises a finger pointing to her temple

"we've been working on a plan to save the show and give corbin and that channing guy the reality show style juice they really want " e.j says

"sorry! save the show?"gina and i question together

"he just wants a little more excitement from us .a little more..." he tries to explain , carlos cuttin g him off

"he thinks we're boring !" carlos raises his hands in exaggeration

gasps and whispers fill the room

"he's actually missing our rehearsal today to scout out the kids at deep lake camp in temecula"carlos shakes his head

TEMECULA!? what are these words?

"that cant be a real place" ricky says low

i nod my head in agreeance with him

" but not to worry , because we have a plan . and it starts with five letters" carlos says while val slides off the first board revealing a second one underneath

"... ra-cos-el??" gina tilts her head

" no. its ' the real campers of shallow lake " carlos list off whilst pointing at the correlating letters" the franchise i was always destined to join , i mean ... you were"

" look, its easy . you know how normally we act like regular people, we pick up on social cues, care about our feelings ?" e.j ask rhetorically

" do we?" i cough

" huh?"

"huh?" i reply

"... but now thats over" e.j finishes

" because the key to any great reality show is the three b's.bombshells, betrayal's and *****slaps" carlos list off

" are we even aloud to say that?" gina whispers while the people amongst us gasp

"look, i love the housewives as much as anyone,but how are we gonna pull this off when we're real students who don't have millions to burn and kids to blame ?" kourtney questions heavily

"can i be team kourtney on this ?" jet points out

"no. here's what we're doing." carlos shuts down before val pulls off another layer of board

"there's the judgey one, the jilted ex,the one with the dark past, the crier , the one with the catchphrase,the one whos here for the wrong reasons ,the shrink , the bad boy, the instigator , and the dramatic high school lover" carlos listed

"mmh , its a forumla and the formula works "val nodded

kourtney got labbled as the judy one , ricky being the jilted ex ... according to carlos he's ' sympathetic'

ashlyn's got a dark past , maddox the crier , gina the one with a catchphrase, i being dizzy highschool lover to e.j , the one here for the wrong reasons . val -the shrink jets the bad boy and of course carlos is the instigator

i wasn't happy about the tv show thing still or the letter but this could be fun.

" so i know that was a lot but has everyone got it ?" carlos asks

everyone nods starting to stand up

"good, cause there's more " carlos holds up everyone

we all sit back down

"we have four goals for the day .someone needs to run out of here crying , someone needs to get slapped, someone needs to throw a drink at someone,and someone needs to get caught on a hot mic saying something scandalous." carlos runs through " any questions?"

"many questions."

"this is gonna put pour documentary on the map. get into it guys"ashlyn says i a pumped tone

"uh channings coming in 15 " val mentions

"okay , get into character people! there's no time to lose and many , many people's choice awards to gain . come on " carlos finalizes

we were instructed by carlos to practice our fake slaps

i paired with e.j

we practiced going back and forth not getting it right on cue

" well this looks super fake ' carlos walks up to us

i sigh looking down to the floor shaking my head

' this is dumb' i think

" yeah i don't know if this height difference is ideal " e.j teased

"i can hit him for real " i raise my hand up in rebbuttle

e.j flinching slightly

"okay, no . safety first . think of it as actors" carlos suggest " jules , you are e.js high school sweetheart , and he's keeping a terrible secret from you "

"yeah, and then i find out ... somehow in this fake scenario , and i get super upset but hide it then i get so fed up i slap him ?" i ask

carlos nods "yeah i suppose"

"... yeah but in this fake scenario maybe i have a reason to keep this secret from you ? maybe its to protect yo-" e.j goes on . i couldn't stand to hear his excuses anymore i just- i just can't !

i looked him straight in the face grinding my teeth

i raised my hand quickly slapping him across the face

as i realized what i had just done i smacked my hand over my mouth my eyes widened

as e.js face turned back looking me in the eyes i saw his hurt , physically because i left a mark ... but mostly i saw that i had just done something i don't think i should ever be forgiven for

i quickly walked away from the situation a lump held in my throat tears welling in my eyes

i sat backstage in the stairwell

the way i heard everyone's voices from left to right and how i couldn't stop hearing myself in my head over and over again yelling at me for how horrible i was

to put my hands on somebody i love like that . i couldn't believe myself . i sobbed out holding my mouth shut so i wouldn't make noise

e.js pov

i rubbed my sore jaw peering outside . i saw channing walking towards the barn

i panicked slamming the barn door shut

" he's here " i announced

" okay , places people be reality ready in t- minus 2 minutes " carlos shouted " where's jules ?" he asked me

" i don't know . probably going off slapping people " i scoff

" e.j i know we're looking for drama but we do not want e.j 1.0 , and i know you still love her... go find her " he pushed me

i took a deep breath and crossed my arms turning stiffly.

i knew where she was,i knew exactly where.i had been avoiding the spot for the past ten minutes

i walked to the stairs hesitantly debating weather or not to just turn around and leave her there

i sat down next to her

"channings here " i told

she stood up silently and walked away

as i followed behind her i saw her wiping her face, and rubbing the fallen mascara on her jeans.

my heart sunk for her. i wasn't not pissed at her but i hate when she hurts.

"okay..."channing sighed out" lets you and the rest of the care bears get this love fest over with, huh?"

"i think you'll be pleasantly surprised "i say ,pushing up buried positivity

"i haven't been pleasantly surprised since survivor :nicaragua" channing eyed the place negatively

i sighed raising my eyebrows in frustration as i turned to the stage

"everyone give a warm welcome to channing" i announce

"pretend i'm not here" he whispers while filming me from behind

"no welcome for channing" i clap my hands together

jules pov

i stare at e.j from the stage

"everything good between you and the director ?" kourtney asked "you look like you're gonna ...slap him "

"i did"

"what?" she glares at me

"i slapped e.j , i got fed up with his excuses so i slapped him" i turn to face the girl" i feel horrible about it , but i don't think he wants to talk to me about it " i sigh

"have you tried talking to him about it ?"she inquires ,calmly

i shake my head"well...no but-"

"no, buts you need to talk . theres been alot of tension between you two recently everyone can sense it. i know you two aren't always the perfect couple but just promise me you'll at least talk?"

"i promise"

"good cause you two are my literal power couple " she laughs, causing a slight smile on my face

"emmy, alex, carlos. places for a little bit of you, please" e.j announces

the remaining cast walks to the wings

maddox and val strapping carlos into his olaf costume and rolling him out before putting out the "E" and "A" chest

i watched young anna and elsa put on a amazing performance , whist carlos put on a comedic performance for the camera

a little after , me and gina were called to stage for our scene

i shot her a wink from the left wing indicating i was gonna pull something for the camera

she nodded

"okay, curtains up , and..." e.j direted

"this is nice, elsa, us talking ." gina read

"yeah it is " i reply

"maybe we could do it more often?" she swung her arms

"... oh my gosh, um, like,can we cut?" i ask throwing attitude

"are you like really gonna deliver your line like that?"

" if you wanna talk line reading, or just reading in general for that matter, cause we all know you cant...dont get me started" she threw her hand on her hip. I laugh dramatically "or what?" I get in Gina's face"water" I whisper

Her eyebrows raise,and she goes as gets the cup as i stand and scoff"cmon.lets get-"i boast before Gina throws the cup of water on me. I groan, " you did not just do that" I grit my teeth
" shouldn't of gotten me started...oops" Gina walks away dramatically bumping my shoulder.
I finish my show for the camera and storm off .

I grab a towel and dry myself off as much as I can,the things I do for these people...

I sit down on the sidelines and watch as jet,ricky, gina and e.j enter the stage, maddox dragging the props on. " and action" e.j directs

" oh, I'm sorry, so sorry." Gina says bumping into the wheel barrel," oh,no. Are you okay?"jet says brightly, he glances over to val and I pointing at the chart, stating he's "the bad boy" . " I'm fine... how embarrassing i" gina says.

" director..." jet interrupts the scene" I don't get Hans. He's kinda lame. Can we get him to be rougher or something?" Jet asks . " are you questioning me as a director* slash* actor" e.j says.

" I think maybe that's something I would do." Jet questions himself.
"Lets keep going." E.j pushes, " hi. Can I ask you lovebirds something" ricky steps in." Lovebirds?" Gina laughs " no. We've actually never met" gina says .

" but we're meeting now." Jet says his voice deepened. " yeah we are" gina says, her eyes wide. " great. Do you like cold drinks?" Ricky asks." Very much" jet replies, his voice still oddly deep.

I shake my head and put my palm in my face,this is a disaster.
" hey" carlos snaps " look, I know you and e.j aren't on the best terms at the moment, but you are an actress and I need you to act like you don't want to kill your man right now." Carlos says in a whisper.

I nod" I know. I'll do better" I stand up straight.
" That's ma girl" carlos pats my shoulder before stepping away.

Not much later I hear a sobbing squeal from the wings of the stage,I peek to see maddox trying her best to do a fake cry.
" it's so hard to see my man with another lady"

She runs across the stage to the other wing.
Kourtney and carlos judge the crap out of her in the meanwhile.

~

I wait for them to wrap up the scene before going outside and trying to get a second to myself. I sit on the bench of the barn giving myself a moment to breathe before channing walks out and shoves a camera in my face.
" so I noticed you and your lover were not speaking today... wanna tell the audience about it ?" He clicks on the camera

" me and e.j are wonderful, but I do have to say, he didn't share his food with me and that's just like... not cool. Like we are a partnership, and I'm just so done with him not seeing that you know" I act like a ditz just to get him out of my face. Channing turns off the camera and walks away.

I roll my eyes and sigh. A few minutes later e.j walks out and comes and gets me, " channings on a break. And i- I need help getting g into the reindeer costume..." he rocks on his heels. I stand up and follow him to the back dressing room.

It was so silent you could practically hear heartbeat from outside my chest. He stepped into the costume me helping him pull it onto his arms.

" can we talk about it ?" He tries to break the silence, "not right now. After channing leaves" I look up at him fixing his hat . He nods

I step back and hold back my smile . " what?" He smiles, " I'm not smiling" I giggle.
" oh my god , yes you are. Do I look that bad?" He laughs. I nod trying my best not to laugh at him as he turns to the mirror practically knocking me over with his backset of legs.

His mouth hangs open, " I cant go out like this" he says shocked, " you look fine, cmon" I push him out of the door.

~

I watch as ricky , gina , and e.j get ready for the song...

" hey guts, I know we've barley run this song, so just mark it.use the space but be safe. Half energy" val advises.

The background soundtrack starts and channing starts recording,

"But Hans is not a stranger"gina says
" so what's his last name?" Ricky asks

Gina hesitates" of... the southern isles..."
" hmm. Uh..foot size?"

" foot size doesn't matter." Gina glares.

" but knowing a man before you marry him kinda does"

Gina stands as the drums come in , "you've got opinions on my life and my relations, but let me tell you what " gina walks through the side door and ricky follows , channing moving his potion quickly to catch them

" okay enlighten me" ricky says

" love is the one thing that has zero complications, and I can trust my gut " gina sings, " okay you frighten me " ricky side eyes her

" some people know there hearts the minute true love starts." Gina gets up and dances on things

Absolutely not halfing it ...

" some people read a lot of books "

" I like books"

"Some people simply know when true love says hello." Gina waves to channing shutting the door in his face. " some folks are taken in by princely looks." Ricky grins.

" oh what do you know about love?" Gina takes Ricky's shoulders and spins him around as they both sing.

Chemistry radiates off of them as they dance around each other.

They finish the song on the pediatle and there eyes locked. While everyone was silent.

Seeing them reminded me of e.j and I, the nervous looks, the never knowing what's gonna happen next...

Channing gets all in ricky's face with camera , he gets up and pushes the camera out of the way storming out of the door, I run after him.

" hey" I shout. " just leave me alone jules" he calls back.

He follow him until he stops.

" oh my god. What?!" He turns to me.

" what happened back there?" I ask him. " channing was in my face... jilted ex. It's my thing" he brushes off.
" no, that... that was you ricky. Not character ricky. I'm your sister, I know this stuff... cmon" I tilt my head.

" I don't know, it's like, I came here, and I expected it to be a great summer. Even a summer that I'd become...something with gina but it's difficult to sit here and try to be myself after breaking up with... with nini" he says.

" okay... so don't pressure yourself, what I saw right there was you and gina performing am amazing song with amazing chemistry, you don't have to take it any different..." I say, he nods " okay." He gives a half smile. " c'mon let's go back"

We walk back to the barn and see channing leave.

Gina sits outside on the bench. Ricky gives me a look, I nod and head inside leaving him be.

I see everyone dancing around and cheering for carlos. " I take it , his feedback went well" I bump shoulders with kourt, she nods, and continues to cheer. Just as everyone settles down a bit , channing burst through the door.

" children, I forgot about the group photo. Can't do publicity at the mouse house without a super fierce cast pic." Channing says . We all line up and fit handed signs.

I get an ice tiara and gina stands next to me .

" smile ... harder, like your angry happy" channing takes the photos. " thanks again. Great day , you guys. The bleu man's gonna be so happy. I can call him that cause we're close" channing continues to yap his way out of the door.

I stand up and stretch" that was the longest day... of my life". " I am for one.. looking forward to being reviled by america" ricky says

" you know a simple thank you would do the trick" carlos says.

"Guys, can we stop getting worked up over this?" Kourtney asks" if we cant pull this summer togather, thank we're gonna have bigger problems than just labels on a poster." Kourtney raises her voice

" okay, do you wanna take it down... like 1000" carlos says " being this anxious all the time is litterly bad for your skin" carlos advises.

" I'm sorry what was that word" kpurtney rakes a deep and irritated breath," anxious?" Carlos repeats

I look over to kourt... knowing her struggle. My heart sinks into a deep pit.

" guys this is a natural response, to a day of hightensions and intense emotions,so let's just walk it off, take a deep breath..." val analysis let's the room go steady and makes tension thick.

" val, maybe nows the not the time for your psychoanalysis. Read the toom" ashlynn grits her teeth snd holds her breath tight.

Suddenly ashlynn fires up again " haha ha ... I have a boyfriend " she says hostily

" cam you just once stop telling people who they are and how they should be ?" Jet attacks maddox. " oh, your talking to me now ?" She fires back

" forget it. You're just gonna yell." Jet starts to walk away. " yeah, that's right, jet. Make me the bad guy , once again." Maddox follows jet

" did I miss an episode of our reality show? Did there two know each other before camp?" Ricky asks. I bump him and glare at his as to tell him ' it's not the time '

" look , Maddie, I'm here, aren't I? I'm trying " jet shouts. " yeah only cause you were forced to come hereafter you litterly got expelled from our school.or are we just pretending that didn't happen? " maddox shouts back at him.

" you have litterly never let me explain that." Jet says . " okay well why don't you also explain why you didn't show up to my fifteenth birthday party?explain why I lose all my confidence when your around me , and heck, jey, why don't you explain why you told mom and dad about me and madison when you found her text in my phone ? Explain that." She leaves the room silent

Jet leaves and maddox storms out the other way .

" mom and da...wait what??" Ash stands confused.

" I have done a terrible thing " carlos gasps

" I need to sit down " ricky holds his face and sits ." I need to lie down" he dramatized

" I guess there are alot of secrets floating around ... huh?" I huff

E.j looks to me, I walk outside and he follows.

We sit on the benches.
" I know about saint louis" I say
" I know. Its not what I want, I don't want to go"  he trys to defend himself

" I know that. But what I don't know. Is why you wouldn't tell me. And you'd confide in val?" I express. " I mean it's not like you're not allowed to talk to your freinds but It just feel like your hiding stuff from me now."

" I'm sorry, I just didn't want you to worry." He trys to apolagize." E.j , that's what I'm here for. I'm here for you to be able to talk to. Don't worry about me." I take his hands

" I just want you to talk to me. I don't wanna feel hidden from you or ignored by you. And I never wanna put my hands on you like that again,I'm gonna be  sorry for that forever. I'm gonna try to be more trusting if you'll try to let loose more and tell me when things bother you so we can fix them togather,okay?"

He nods and kisses me," I'll try. I promise"

" hey. You wanna go for a night swim?" I rub my thumb against his arm

He nods" yeah, ill meet you at the pool, just gonna make a call first ."

 i nod with a quiet 'okay' and walk to my cabin 

~

"hey, where ya going?" kourt asks  while i grab my towel

"don't tell maddox, i'm going to the pool with eej." i whisper

"so i presume you guys talked?" she asks with a small smile ," yeah, and thank you by the way for telling me to do that. i'm not good with admitting that somethings wrong most of the time, and i appreciate you calling me out on it" i say sincerely

"no problem, thats what im here for." kourt smiles,  i wave bye just as i'm about to step out of the cabin, "oh, and kourt, if you ever need to talk to me about what your dealing with, i'm here too. always." i give a sincere smile , she nods and i leave to go to the pool.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 idek, im not so proud of this but yk ya get what a get

im gonna try to finsh this book up so i can start on season four which is more of an independent story line from what season four actually is but im excited for that. sorry ive been so busy with school and everything. love you guys - kat