After two days of enjoying some leisure time - for the most part - the campgrounds was open to the freshmen. About 120 of the incoming freshmen to be exact. They arrived at Big Bear Lake at around 10:00 AM and the staff helped each student get situated in their proper hall. There were four halls, two for boys, and two for girls. While the freshmen got situated in their sleeping quarters, the staff and faculty prepared the main hall for their welcome lunch. The freshmen were to get a free day after their orientation, and the staff would prepare for their workshops the following morning.
It was 12:00 PM, about the time for lunch, and Festus' team went to work feeding a room full of adolescents. In charge of the presentation was none other than Hollywood Art's most unique teacher, Erin Sikowitz.
"Good Afternoon children!" He said taking center stage. The staff naturally cheered for him so the freshmen thought to do the same. After the applause calmed, he continued.
"I am Erin Sikowitz, a teacher at Hollywood Arts."
"The best one out there!" Robbie hollered.
"No offense to the others. I mean we love you but you know, Sikowitz is… well, Sikowitz," Andre tried reasoning.
"I think they get it, 'Dre," Jade said out loud, feeling the awkward stares at the group.
"Pink Flamingo!" Cat said.
"Pink Flamingo?" Beck asked in a regular tone.
"I thought we were yelling random words?" Cat said in a regular tone as well.
"No…" Tori nodded her head in confusion.
"Oh… heh," Cat smiled like it never affected her.
"Anyway," Sikowitz caught everyone's attention again. "You will be spending the next four weeks in rigorous workshops on areas you want to explore in your artistic careers. Sign ups will occur during dinnertime, so you have the rest of the day to decide the workshops you want to take. If you know what you want, then that's wonderful. If you don't know and want some insight, well then may I introduce you some of my best students." Sikowitz motioned for the six to walk up to the front.
"He means favorite by the way," Jade said before taking a sip of her coffee in such a straightforward response before the audience. No one could really protest because they knew she was right. Not even Sikowitz tried to cover his favoritism seeing as he went straight to sipping on his coconut.
"Hi everybody! My name's Tori, and these are my friends Andre, Robbie, Cat, Jade and Beck."
"She uses the term 'friend' loosely," Jade told the crowd.
Tori glared at her.
"Anyway," Andre interrupted while Beck held his girlfriend back. "We're here to talk to you guys about different programs that HA has to offer and any questions you have about them."
"So we're going to divide ourselves into groups and take as much time as we can to answer your questions," Robbie told them.
"And then later we get free time!" Cat giggled. "Ooh who wants to feed the duckies with me and Robbie?!"
"Cat, focus. Ducks later," Jade kept her friend from running outside.
There were six chairs on the stage so they each took a seat and faced the crowd. Tori and Andre started the discussion first with music.
"HA has been a great benefactor for the position Tori and I are with our musical career. It was the music program that brought us together and since then we've been the dynamic duo," Andre proudly praised his best friend.
"Tori and Andre are so good! Weee!" Cat exclaimed.
"Yeah, they're rad cool!" Robbie added.
Beck nodded and clapped for a bit.
"Harris is great, Vega, she has her moments," Jade gave her two cents. It was actually somewhat of a compliment for Tori.
"Yep, we sure are. Andre you're too kind though. You're the brains in the whole Vega-Harris operation," she tried playing him up to the crowd.
"Yeah, but you got the voice of an angel and sing most of the songs we write," he adds, earning a positive nod from the freshmen.
Tori was being tormented by the words Andre spoke of her. In the back of the room, Helen, Sikowitz and Kojak were watching the gang. Kojak especially was eyeing Tori, smiling at her, mentally reminding her of his offer.
"Uh, back to the program… HA can provide you with wonderful opportunities. You can explore your musical side even further…"
"Meet passionate musicians amongst your peers," Andre added.
"And even meet some people in the business that can jump start your career…"
"That's what Tori and I are hoping to find in our senior year. We're waiting for our shot together," Andre told the audience in a way that he was sure that they would get one. Together.
Tori couldn't handle to talk about their musical journey without internally screaming so she opened the floor to questions. One student raised her hand and asked the first one.
"So you guys are like best friends, right?" the freshman girl started.
"Yup," Tori nodded.
"The best of the best," Andre side hugged his Latina friend.
"Ok, but what if you get offered separate opportunities? I know a lot of groups break up because someone wants to go solo," she finished her question.
"Well we're not ego driven that's for sure," Andre started, "throughout our time at HA I had some opportunities Tori didn't get and Tori had some I didn't get. We support each other with our own work. But right now, Tori and I are making an EP of songs we've sung together. That's the Vega-Harris team. We hope to get an opportunity together."
Tori was sweating furiously. Everything Andre said was certainly something she held true to herself as well, and the guilt of Kojak's offer was eating her up.
"Y-yeah, what Andre said… and no matter what happens, we'll always be best friends. Always," she emphasized.
Andre looked at her funnily and nodded. "Yup," he chuckled.
Tables turned and it was time for Cat and Robbie to take over.
"Hi everyone," Cat waved. Some freshmen thought her humor was an act, so they laughed and waved along with her. But that was just Cat's juvenile nature.
"I'm Robbie," the nerd said enthusiastically.
"So we're going to talk about some talents that don't involve center stage," Cat started. When you gave her a chance, she can really be in the zone and you can talk to her in a serious manner.
"Cat and I, although we are involved in the theatre and music programs, we also like the behind the scenes stuff."
"Yup! Just because you don't want to act or dance or sing, it doesn't mean you're not important."
"Tech, costume, makeup, directing, and other interests are still important."
"I really love costume and makeup."
"She is really good at making costumes," Andre added.
"And for some freakish way, Cat can look at you and know instantly your measurements. Then pow, she'll have a perfect fitting costume for you," Jade added.
"Hehe, and Robbie is a technical genius," Cat praised her curly haired friend.
"Yeah he is, he taught me tech theatre in just one day and I passed with a perfect score," Tori added.
"He also knows prop work and aesthetics like wigs and stuff so he and Cat sometimes work together," Beck said.
"Thanks guys," Robbie blushed.
"Don't flatter yourself, Shapiro," Jade scoffed.
"But seriously," Cat brought the attention back to her and Robbie, "Hollywood Arts has an amazing behind the scenes program."
"And in any production, we never fail to recognize the people who worked on something off stage."
Cat and Robbie did an exceptional job at explaining the many benefits of other programs at HA that none of the students had any questions about it. So they immediately transferred the reins over to Beck and Jade.
"So, let's talk acting," Jade sipped on her coffee, letting Beck take over.
"The stage is your canvas. I say that because we all know acting is an art. Artists have an idea of what they want to paint before they get to work, but sometimes a well thought out plan will have slight changes when it becomes a reality. It could be something small like a sudden change in color on your palette, or something significant like a totally different background for your original thought. My point is that painters, they go with the flow, and let their brush be its own mind. That's what acting is like. You have a script, but there is always room for improv. And your body language can't be thought out. You've got to be the brush when you're on stage."
His speech took only about two minutes but every freshman in the audience was mesmerized.
"The greatest challenge about acting is getting a role that is far away from your own personality. Granted, it's much easier to get in character when you can relate so much and even put some of your personal self into a familiar character, but unlikely characters give you a chance to master other emotions," Jade added.
"Jade's right. We can only be better than our last performance when we set ourselves up for more challenges," Beck added. "And remember, no part is too small."
"Yes, as cliché as that is, it's certainly true," Jade concluded.
This remark made the audience chuckle. She wasn't being humorous but oh well, it didn't bother her.
"So, does anyone have any questions about acting?" Beck opened the floor for questions.
"DO YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND?!" a freshman girl in the back shrieked prompting almost every other female to anticipate an answer.
Robbie, Andre, Tori and Cat grew wide-eyed, stifling any kind of emotion they had about the situation; not making faces and certainly not laughing. Jade, on the other hand, wasted no time in hiding her feelings. Her eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. Robbie noticed she gripped her coffee cup a little tighter and he nudged Cat and Andre to witness it too. Jade could tell her friends were more looking at her than Beck for an answer, and Beck didn't even want to see the morbid expression on his girlfriend's face. He froze momentarily before carefully picking safe words to answer the question.
"Yes. Yes I do. But I asked if you have any questions about acting."
"Good save," Andre whispered to Robbie and the two guys fist pumped.
Jade steadied a bit, but was a little uneasy to the fact that they were only with the freshmen for a few hours and girls were already fawning all over her boyfriend.
This time many hands were raised. Beck decided to go for the safe decision and chose a boy for the next question. Or so he thought it was safe.
"So since you've got a girlfriend," the young man started.
"Oh God," Beck said. Jade was eager to listen to this young man's question.
"How do you deal with stage kissing? Or even the opposite, kissing a girl who has a boyfriend?"
So much for safe, Beck thought to himself.
"Uh, well… If you've got an understanding girlfriend, then it shouldn't be a problem to stage kiss. I mean after all, it's just acting, right?" he sheepishly laughed. "Next question, please!"
Jade chose the next student. It was another boy.
"What's a woman's opinion of her boyfriend kissing another girl? Because I sure as heck would be jealous of my girl kissing another guy. I want to know if girls think the same way and just fake that they're ok."
Jade was going to have fun with this.
"Oh boy," Andre said.
"Brace yourselves," Tori added.
"That's a great question," Jade told the boy. "If your girlfriend knows any better, she wouldn't let you do stage kisses with pretty girls."
"What do you mean?" the boy asked.
"Kiss ugly girls."
"Jade!" Beck said.
"So girls do get jealous too?" he reasoned.
"Everyone gets jealous," Jade said.
"I thought you said you weren't going to be jealous anymore," Beck argued.
"Right," Jade corrected herself. "Because we learned our lesson the hard way, ok?" she told Beck. "But they have to learn that too."
"That's a good point," Tori helped Jade out. It was a surprise for them, but Tori didn't want it to be awkward anymore.
"Yeah, so long as you trust each other, it shouldn't be a problem," Cat added.
"Yup, just learn to trust," Beck nodded.
"So I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that you two are boyfriend and girlfriend," the boy pointed.
"Yes we are. Any more questions?" she gave a look that terrified every female in the room.
"Actually I do. It's about stage kissing in general," the boy asked.
"Ok, might as well get this topic out of your systems so fine, ask away kid," Jade told him.
"How do you make it look real?"
"Well, you can't fake passion. That's for sure," Jade stated.
"Amen!" Robbie raised his hands in the air.
"Robbie!" Cat hit his arm.
"What was that for?" the kid wondered.
"Well, Robbie was once convinced that my sister Trina liked him when they had a stage kiss," Tori explained.
"But the thing is, she hates his guts," Andre noted.
They all laughed.
"She was just acting. A good actor gets into character. She had to have some kind of attraction to him, but you have to be really good at separating reality."
"Yeah, I mean, Cat taught him that lesson," Jade smirked.
Cat had told Jade about her stage kiss with Robbie after she started feeling a little wonky about it. She and Robbie never brought it up, and Robbie never knew she had told Jade about it. Currently, Cat and Robbie were turning as red as her hair.
"Huh?" Tori asked for clarification.
"Cat kissed Robbie afterwards to show him you can fake passion," Jade shared.
"Well I'll be," Andre commented.
"The point is," Cat tried saving herself. "You can either be acting or be real, but stage kissing first and foremost is acting."
"So did you guys feel anything?" a girl in the crowd asked.
The two had no idea how to answer that… Nor did they want to.
"They're best friends," Beck saved them. "Whatever happened then doesn't matter now because it hasn't affected their friendship."
The two mentally thanked him and he nodded.
"I think we're out of time now so why don't you guys take the rest of the day to get acquainted with one another, the camp grounds, and think about the different workshops you might want to take." Beck concluded.
If they thought the orientation was difficult, the gang could only imagine the many predicaments they'd face for the duration of the camp.
A/N: Song Title - Take a Hint - When the students ask questions, there are so many hints to the rest of this story.
To answer CabbieLoverSAC22's questions and share with you all who are familiar with my writing style, none of the events I created in this story are related to my life. The only thing I compared it to was location. Big Bear Lake is a real place I've been to and I describe the camp like it is, Cat and Robbie's secret spot is a place called Sunset Cliffs. I thought about a real ending for them, that I wanted to see happen between storylines, so I didn't want to relate it to my own life.
I made this a general story because I'm touching base in at least ONE chapter with the following pairings: Tandre, Jori, Cade, Bandre, Cabbie, Cinjin, Cori, Trade, Rinjin, Trinjin, Randre friendships. Even touching on tri-pairing friendships with Catorade, Batori, Catorina, Jandrobbie, Rodreck.
The only romantic pairings I have in this story are Cabbie and Bade relationships.
Lastly, I'm adding the bond between the Vega sisters (I have no idea if they have a ship name).
I hope I didn't forget any. I'm not going heavy with the minor pairings - they have at least one interaction in this story. The main friendships you'll see are between the main characters. I really wanted to focus on FRIENDSHIP more than romance, but I'm sure the Cabbie and Bade bits will help (mostly Cabbie). After all, this show is a story about following your dreams, with the help of your friends along the way. Anyway, thanks for reading!