Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue.
A/N: Hey ya'll! I know it's been a while, but what can I say? Life's been crazy (as always) what with juggling school and work and sometimes sleep, never mind ever eating. :D
Special thanks to ktkakes, my faithful reviewer – and might I add, THE ONLY reviewer for the last chapter! Listen, I have a very short attention span, meaning I get bored with my stories very quickly. Reviews are the one thing that keeps me from abandoning my fics long before they're complete! If you read my story, please review. I'm not asking for a long and drawn-out critique and commentary (though I would welcome any that you wish to offer), just a short note saying whether or not you liked it, and a short explanation WHY you feel that way. Please do not just type "UPDATE pls!" because I will scream very loudly and probably hunt you down and make you explain WHY you want me to update! Lol…there, I feel a lot better with that off my chest…now don't let me down!
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(previously…) 2:10 am (Wednesday)
I had to pee. Clicking on my flashlight, I reached for my door key, but I couldn't find it in the dark, so I decided to just leave the door ajar. The bathroom was a ways down the hall. It was creepily silent and I hurried, wanted nothing more than to be curled up in my arm bed again.
Approaching my door on the way back, I noticed it was shut. What the heck? Jiggling the doorknob, I found it to be locked. I thought I had propped it open -- strange. Luckily, I still had a bobby pin in my hair from earlier and had been taught to pick locks by a bored older cousin at a family reunion a couple years back. After a few tries, I felt the lock turn. Sighing with relief, I pushed the door open and came to a noisy stop as the wood smashed into the metal of the chain bolt that had been put in place.
Oh great. Two in the morning and locked out of my dorm room by a vengeful roommate. Never underestimate the power of a pissed off violinist! … …
(2:20 am, Day 4 – Wednesday) "Hilary!" I hissed through the gap in the door. "This is not funny. Get up and unbolt the door, or else I'll go wake Sarah up and have her come take the door off its hinges and kick you out of camp!"
"You can try," she whispered back. "But Sarah's a dead sleeper, she'd sleep through a fire drill if there was one. Good luck."
"Open this door!"
I heard her yawn and roll over.
"Now, Hilary!"
"Go away, Julia, or better yet, go to hell!"
With an angry huff, I turned and marched to Sarah Jacob's door. Sarah was our counselor, though I hadn't really seen much of her. Her door had several sticky notes on it from various people and a large flowery sign that read, "Mademoiselle Jacobs – Knock and Die." I hesitated, my fist raised to pound on the wood. Was I really a tattletale, reporting all wrongdoings to the authority? Was that how I wanted to be perceived by all my peers – for surely Hilary would spread the news should I rat on her. Wouldn't it be easier just to go down to the first floor and wake up Anne and Klara and sleep on their floor for the night?
I lowered my arm and rolled my eyes. Room 186. Quite the sneaky walk waited for me, seeing how we weren't supposed to be up and about after eleven. Marching to the stairwell exit, I creaked open the door and let it shut behind me.
Creak. Creak. Squeal. Clink.
I tiptoed down the stair to the first floor. And then stopped as I realized my horrible mistake. To exit a floor into the stairwell was easy, requiring nothing, however to get into a floor from the stairwell one needed their key and guest swiping card. Mine were on my table next to my bed. And I was now locked in the stairwell. Morning would come and the counselors would find me there, assume I was sneaking out to meet a boy, and kick me out of camp. Damn, I hated Hilary.
I knew without re-climbing the stairs that the third floor door had shut tight, I had heard the distinctive click. I was trapped. I climbed the stairs anyway to check. Locked. Stuck. Dead.
For the next half hour, I marched up and down the stairs, watching through the small windows in the door for any campers in the halls. Apparently no one had to relieve themselves.
I was so tired, and my legs ached every time I lifted them to take another step. I was also freezing. The air conditioning was on too high and all I was wearing was my pj pants and a white tank. Finally exhaustion won, and I sat down next to the 2nd floor door and laid my head back against the wall. Seconds later the door next to me opened.
"What the hell are you doing out here? I get up to go to the bathroom and I see this white figure outside in the stairwell!" a very sleepy Asian boy asked me.
I recovered my shock, and stood up quickly. "I got locked in here by accident. Can I borrow your slide card so I can get back onto my floor?"
"Sorry," he frowned, "our keys only work for the guys' floors, same with yours' – they only work for the girls'."
"So I'm stuck here?"
"That sucks."
"You think?"
He studied me for a moment. "Is there someone on this floor, a guy friend of some kind, that you'd like me to tell about this?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess so. I don't know what room number though."
"There are name tags on all the doors, I shouldn't have a problem."
"Jason Jones and Ryan Brecker."
"Oh, I know where they are."
"Well, thank you so much for this, I'm Julia, by the way."
"Swifty. And I'll be right back."
He disappeared in a flash, perhaps something to do with his name, I mused. It was several minutes before he returned with a disheveled Jason in tow.
"Here's one of them."
"Thank you so much, Swifty."
"Don't mention it. Nice to meet you."
Jason and I watched the friendly guy return to his dorm room before either of us spoke.
"So, what's the story," Jason asked, his voice still heavy from sleep.
"Hilary locked me out and then I forgot about the swipe cards and tried to get onto the first floor so that I could find shelter with Anne and Klara."
"Your roommate locked you out?"
"Yeah, I had to use the bathroom and I couldn't find my key."
"Well, you can't stay in the stairwell all night. They'll find you and…"
"Kick me out, I know."
He sighed and opened the door further. "Come on, you can stay with Blink and me."
"Really? If we get caught…"
"Then we all get kicked out, I know," he said, mimicking my early comment.
"How does Ryan feel about this?"
"He's fine, we'll shove you under the bed or something. Our beds are really high up and we have some extra blankets and pillows. And we'll sneak you out during the counselor meeting before breakfast. Don't worry. Now come on, I'd hate to think what would happen if a counselor sees us just standing here talking at two-thirty in the morning."
I followed him into the guys' hall, and down the long corridor. We took a left and headed down another hall, finally stopping at a door two-thirds of the way down.
"Home sweet home," he whispered as he unlocked and opened the door.
"Hey Julia," Ryan's groggy voice came from the gloom. "What's up?"
"Shhh," I warned.
"Blink, can you get the extra blankets and pillow? I'm going to clear my suitcases out from under my bed and make a hiding spot behind them for Julia."
The boys moved about quietly for a few minutes before Jason declared my new bed ready. "Normally I'd offer my bed to a guest and take the floor myself, but seeing how our counselor, Morris, makes routinely random dorm room checks at ungodly hours, I think it's safer with you out of sight. As I said, it should be a piece of cake sneaking you back out in the morning. So, sweet dreams."
I crawled under the high bed and found the blanketed spot. Laying my head on my pillow, I called out softly, "Night boys."
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6:45 am
Sneaking me back out turned out to be as simple as Jason had promised. No one saw Ryan checking the hall or Jason taking me by the hand and running me to the nearest exit. Well, actually, there was one person who saw us. Tony was leaving the bathroom as Jason and I rounded the corner right next to the stairwell entrance. He gave us a resigned look and shook his head before going back into his room. I was pretty sure that he wouldn't tell anyone though.
Once back in the stairwell, I waited till a girl from the third floor entered and then I caught the door and went inside. Listening outside my door, I heard Hilary practicing her violin skill. Good, I thought. I hadn't missed her.
Eventually the playing stopped and Hilary opened the door to go to breakfast. I jumped up and slipped past her as she did so and closed the door behind her. The first thing I did was find my key, making sure that Hilary hadn't swiped it or "lost" it for me. It was there, just under the corner of my bed and I scooped the lanyard up and hung it around my neck.
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8:00 am
"So, I saw you this morning," Tony said as I took my seat next to him at band.
"It wasn't what it looked like, and it really isn't your business," I informed him quickly.
"Sure, of course not – I'll only get stuck with some stupid crappy replacement 2nd bassoon when you get kicked out of camp for sleeping around!"
"I didn't sleep around!"
"Right, just with the first oboe."
"If you must know, I got locked out in the stairwell without my key. Jason found out and was kind enough to let me sleep on his floor so that I wouldn't get in trouble."
"Look, I don't want to hear about it. And I'm not going to rat on you, in case you're worried about that. Just next time you want to visit some guy for the night, be sure no one sees you doing so, or else I'll have to kill you!"
Dr. Denton clapped for attention from his podium. "Listen up, band! For today's rehearsal I'd like you all to return to the mixed up seating arrangements that we had yesterday."
I smiled gratefully at the conductor, relieved not to spend the entire day sitting next to Tony.
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11:00 am
Master class came and went – Tony and I both playing our audition pieces for critique and commentary. After that the rest of the bassoons treated us like we were gods. It was rather confusing, because I sucked compared to Tony – however, I had heard one of the other boys practicing and had realized how much better than them I was. Still, if only they had seen me in orchestra the first day when I botched the Rimsky-Korsakov, I knew they wouldn't be as impressed.
Lunch was a fun affair as well. Neither Jason, Ryan, or I mentioned the events of the previous night. We all knew that Anne would do something crazy to Hilary to get back to her, and we really didn't want to risk our friend getting kicked out of camp because she was sticking up for us. So, instead we got everyone talking about the talent show that was happening that night. Grekory and Taras claimed they had something planned, though they wouldn't say what. Klara was playing a violin/euphonium duet with Anne, and Ryan was going to do an improv skit with his imaginary friend, Bob. Jason and I laughed when Anne suggested we sing or dance together for the show.
"I don't dance," I said.
"And I don't sing," Jason added emphatically.
"Besides," I smiled, "I'd rather be in the audience laughing at all of you guys."
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1:00 pm
Apparently Tony was pretty pissed at me, because he didn't say more than five words to me during the entire orchestra rehearsal. Those five words were: E-natural, ritard, subito-piano, and shut up. Well, what could I do? When I tried to talk to him he told me to shut up! It all sucked. Tony had been one of the friendliest people towards me at camp and now I had ruined it somehow.
Dr. Snyder was obviously pissed at me too. Probably something to do with the fact that Tony and I had made him look like a fool the day before. God, if it weren't for the actual music (which was beautiful), I would quit orchestra in a heartbeat.
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6:00 pm
We hurried through dinner, everyone looking forward to the talent show. The Syzsmanski brothers left first, hurrying off to practice whatever they were doing. Anne and Klara took off to rehearse their duet next.
"Ryan, when are you and Bob going to practice?"
Looking up from his monster hamburger, Ryan laughed. "We rehearsing in my head right now!"
Jason snorted. "We know you're not schizophrenic, so you can stop trying to mess with our minds, Blink."
"I'm getting ice cream," I announced as I rolled my eyes at the boys.
"Oh, I want some too!" Jason decided and we headed for the dessert line.
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7:30 pm
"Welcome to the Coughren Music Camp's Talent Show. First we have Erika playing a trumpet solo."
"Why, oh why! did they let Kloppman emcee?" I moaned as the older man cleared his throat and said in his dry monotone:
"Please be quiet."
Klara giggled. "I love Kloppman. Oh, and Ryan, you still have to hug him, remember?"
"Yes," he hissed back. "Now shut up, he's looking our way!"
After Erika played, Spot and Layla got up and did a contemporary dance together. Then Hilary did a violin solo, followed by Anne and Klara's duet. The girls did an amazing job, and I happened to overhear Jack Kelly saying vehemently to my right, "There! The girl with the black hair! She's the little snot who's been telling me I don't play the Tuba right. Geez, she just doesn't get that I am the Tuba God!"
Ryan was next. His routine with "Bob" left the entire audience in hysterical laughter and got a standing ovation.
Some other people I didn't recognize got up and did some quartets and ensembles and skits. Most of it was pretty boring, but there was an occasional humorous or talented bunch that kept us awake. Finally Kloppmann got up and announced the last act.
"Last, but not least, we have the Syzsmanski Brothers – Grekory and Taras, and they will be juggling."
The boys bounced onstage carrying two brightly colored bags.
"Hey everyone, how are you all doing?" Grekory asked.
"I'm sure you're probably bored out of your mind by now, but I guarantee that this act will wake you back up," Taras added.
"First of all," Grekory said as he opened his bag and took out three juggling balls, "we will be juggling – therefore we must have our juggling balls."
His brother took over, "We will referring to them as just plain balls. We will be juggling balls, holding balls, catching balls, squeezing balls, tossing balls, shaking balls, and taking each other's balls. Please get out all of your perverted giggles now."
"Because we really don't want to hear a chorus of snickering everyone we mention our precious balls," Grekory finished.
"It's really weird to hear Itey say 'don't be perverted'," Ryan said softly causing us all to join the tittering of laughter.
"Alright, enough with the dirty minds – what we have to show you is going to astound and amaze! The following program is extremely challenging and immensely exciting. Enjoy."
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9:20 pm
The talent show had ended not too long before and I was on my way to meet the gang outside the dorm. There was a section in one of our camp chorus pieces that I had a question on, so after the show I found Ms. Larkson and spoke with her about it. She had cleared things up quickly and I was now only a few minutes behind everyone else.
"Listen up, this ain't over yet," a low voice growled in my ear.
I whirled about, bumping into a tree and finding myself up against someone no other than Oscar Delancey. "Shit, what do you want?"
He snarled at me, "You think you're so safe with all your little boyfriends looking after you, but you're not. I'll get you somehow. I'll get all of you."
The nearness of his body scared me to death, his bad breath, his horrid smirk, his bulging eyes – one discolored by a nasty bruise. Frantically I tried to shy away but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back.
"I wouldn't tell them about this if I were you," he said before he grabbed my neck with one hand and drew my face closer to his.
"If you don't let go of me, I swear, I am going to scream!"
He laughed. I opened my mouth to make good on my threat and he leaned down and kissed me. I screamed. After a second he let go of me and shoved me away. Stumbling, I caught my balance and turned and ran for the dorms. Holy shit, I wanted to go home!
When I reached the safety of the dorm lights, I slowed down. My heart was still racing, but I had to make myself think. Oscar had threatened me, all of us, but who would believe me? His older brother was a counselor, and he apparently knew Dr. Snyder quite well. He'd probably say that I kissed him, or some other stupid thing, and I wouldn't be taken seriously. And if I told the gang, they'd go tar and feather the younger Delancey and everyone would, again, get sent home. So, I finally decided not to mention what happened, and just make sure that I didn't go anywhere alone anymore.
Taking a deep breath, I hurried over to where everyone was waiting.
"There you are," Jason said, putting his arm around my shoulder. I tensed for a moment, then relaxed into his protective aura. "I was getting worried about you."
I forced myself to smile. "You're silly. I was just talking to Ms. Larkson."
Jason nodded and started conversing with Ryan, but he didn't remove his arm from around me. I was glad. I laid my on his shoulder and wished to myself that I could always feel this safe.
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A/N: So, do you remember my earlier melt-down about reviewing?
-- pj