Week 5: Fairytale Week – Amy

In the coming days, the rivalry between Amy and Jake had gotten significantly less heated. There was a lot less heckling and a lot more giggling at inside jokes. Amy would sometimes realize Jake was looking at her when she wasn't looking at him. She assumed he wanted to say something to her, so she'd look over at him and politely ask "yes?"

This startled him and he'd usually reply with something along the lines of "Oh, uh, nothing. I was just staring off into space"

It was an odd feeling, being around Jake. She felt like she had found a real friend in him. He was kind to her and would help her out when she needed it. He'd make fun of her, but was always careful not to take it too far. She liked being around him, but sometimes his looks would make her self-conscious. Was there something on her face? Was he really just looking into space? Or was he doing something else entirely. She tried to tell herself it didn't matter. The looks were inconsequential and it felt really nice to be able to talk to someone who had similar interests.

Jake would sometimes even make it seem like he wanted to hang out with her after the summer was over. Apparently, there was a great Polish place near where he lived in Brooklyn and he thought Amy would like it. That was the kind of thing that filled Amy with glee. She never really got to make plans with people, unless it was a group project or something. It made her happy.

Despite all the warm and fuzzy feelings that came along with friendship, Amy and Jake did still care about their bet. It was pretty close now. Jake's team had gotten a second wind and was now ten to Amy's eleven. She doubted she was going to have much chance strengthen her lead this week though. Week five was "Fairytale Week" where every age bracket was assigned a fairytale and then make a play based off of it. Set, costumes, props, and material had to be all done by the end of the week so other activities were pushed to the side. Amy's kids were actually pretty excited for it, which was rare since her bunch were usually unenthusiastic about the daily line-up.

"Alright guys, looks like Terry gave us 'Beauty and the Beast' for our fairytale which is rad. Okay, first thing: the Beast. Mark, I'm thinking you should get on Tyrell's shoulders and then we just throw a fur coat on ya: BOOM insta-hella rad beast" Jake said one morning at the twelve-year-old table.

"How about we let them choose, Jake?" Amy said, already exhausted by his endless energy.

"I'll do it! Sounds awesome!" Tyrell said.

"Yeah!" Mark agreed as they high-fived.

"Can you hold each other up for the whole play?" Amy asked.

"Ehh, we'll figure out the details later" Jake said, a hand brushing her question off.

"Ohkaay, well any takers for Belle?" Amy asked. The table went silent.

"No takers?" Jake asked.

"Guys, Belle is great. She's super smart, she's well-read, and she cares more about what's inside rather than what's on the outside. Why doesn't anybody want to play her?" Amy asked, looking around the table.

"I was hoping to be the wardrobe…" Maria said.

"Yeah, I like Mrs. Potts" Olivia agreed.

"I really wanted to do costumes" Lauren added.

"Oh, well you guys can do those things…" Amy said, looking around for a solution. A few seconds passed before Ben put up a tentative hand. This surprised Amy because Ben was by far the quietest and shyest of all their campers.

"What's up, buddy?" Jake asked.

"Can I be Belle?" Ben asked in the quietest voice. The group looked at him in silence for a few uneasy seconds.

"Yeah, sure! You'll be great buddy!" Jake said with the sweetest sincerity. Amy saw a small, jovial smile bloom on Ben's face and felt her heart fill up. She smiled her biggest smile at Jake and he smiled back, but quickly looked at the ground.

"Alright, great! Now, we got that's settled…Maria you want to be the wardrobe and Olivia you want to be Mrs. Potts…" Amy said, scribbling down the cast list.

Amy never knew producing a play was so difficult. You had to make sure everyone had costumes and their props, and lots of other bull crap. It was enough to stress her out if they actually had the a-typical five weeks, but no, they only had one. Amy took care of the organization and stage manager duties, while Jake focused on directing and adapting the script with the kids.

"Okay, so Aaron, when Beast and Belle are having their big date scene, you just need to make sure you're like…pumped about it. You want them to fall in love so you can go back to being human, y'know?" Jake asked Aaron who was playing Cogsworth. Amy had noticed this lately. Aaron was the one kid who really seemed to hate this project. He was usually pretty aloof with everything, but his current behavior was odd.

"Whatever, fairytales are dumb. Only little kids believe in them" Aaron said with a scowl on his face.

"Well, let's try so that the little kids will like it, okay?" Amy said gently. Aaron shrugged, but his performance wasn't any more enthusiastic than it had been. Amy thought it might be a good idea to talk to him by himself when she got a chance.

The chance never came because Amy was knee-deep in painting flats and gluing sequins to old dresses. It wasn't until dress rehearsal that Amy even remembered the Aaron issue. They finally got a chance to rehearse in the dining hall, the venue for each play, and everything was almost done for the next day's performance.

"Hey guys, before we start the run, can we get Mark, Tyrell, and Ben on stage for the transformation scene? I want to work Mark's exit" Jake asked. It was actually a pretty cool trick. Lauren and Hannah raise a flowy blue fabric in front of the entire stage, while Mark jumps off Tyrell. Tyrell has his quick-change into his prince clothes and BOOM, He's a prince. Amy had choreographed how the whole transition would work and was very happy with the results.

She intently watched the scene as Ben "cried" over the beast's lifeless body as he chanted "I love you! Please, don't leave me". Lauren and Hannah's timing was spot on with the fabric and Tyrell changed faster than ever.

"Wow, that's looking great Amy. Terry loves Beauty and the Beast"

Amy turned around and found Terry standing behind her.

"Oh! Thanks. Yeah, all the kids are working really hard"

"Great! How long is your show running?" he asked.

"Eh, like thirty minutes"

"That's a lot longer than the other campers, but I guess that's expected from the older kids" Terry said.

"Alright, little people! Double-check your props because we're gonna start a run in five!" Jake said.

"Thank you, five!" the kids echoed. Jake walked over to Terry and Amy.

"Hey, Ter-Bear, how's it going?" Jake asked. Terry glared at him.

"No" he said.

"Allllright" Jake responded.

"I'm really impressed with the work you two have been doing. The kids seem really engaged and the quality, from what I've seen, far exceeds expectations. Director Holt will be really pleased when I give him my report. I knew you two would be a great team"

"Thanks Terry!" Amy said, always excited for a word of praise.

"Jake! Amy!"

The group turned to look back at Lauren carrying her sewing kit and looking a little panicked.

"What's up, Lauren?" Jake asked.

"I can't find Aaron and he has a ripped seam on his costume. Do you know where he went?" she asked.

"You can't find him?" Amy asked and immediately started looking around backstage and calling his name.

"Hey, has anyone seen Aaron?" Jake hollered out, while Amy ran to the doors to see if he was outside. He wasn't anywhere.

"Jake, check the boys bathroom" Amy yelled at him, which he quickly did. He came back out and shook his head.

"You don't know where one of your campers are?" Terry asked and all the good feelings Amy had moments ago disappeared. She bit her lip and shook her head.

"He was just here" she said.

"Alright, both of you go searching and text me in 10 minutes if you don't find him. I'll watch them" Terry said, his tone slightly disappointed. Together, Jake and Amy shot out of the dining hall.

"How did we not see him leave" Amy said, panic reaching her voice.

"It must have been during the transformation scene. He's not in it and all our attention was on that" Jake replied, an edge to his voice Amy hadn't heard before.

"I knew something was up with him"

"Didn't you say you were gonna talk to him?" Jake asked.

"I was, but this week has been so crazy, I didn't have time"

"You didn't talk to him?" He asked and Amy swore he was accusing her of something.

"Hey, you had just as much opportunity as I did!"

"But he's your camper" he said. Amy stopped in her tracks.

"Jake, stop it. We need to find him, so stop trying to put the blame on me and let's think logically where he is" she said, desperate not to fight.

"He could be anywhere, this place is huge" he said.

"He wouldn't be just anywhere. Where does he like to go?" she reasoned, trying to breathe steadily.

"Nowhere, he always seems happiest when we're about to go to bed" Jake said, shrugging.

"Then let's go there!" Amy said, storming off to the boy's cabin. Jake followed her and when they reached the cabin he opened the door.

"Aaron?" Amy asked as she came in. They found him sitting in the corner, leaning his back on the frame of his bunk.

"Leave me alone. I don't want to be a part of the stupid play anymore" he said. Amy sat in front of him as Jake texted Terry that Aaron was found.

"Aaron you've been acting weird the past couple of days. Wanna tell me what's going on?" Amy asked gently.

"No! It's none of your business! Just shut up already" Aaron said.

"Hey man, that's no way to talk to someone" Jake said, sitting down next to him.

"Please, Aaron we just want to help" Amy added. Aaron's expression softened and he sighed.

"My mom texted me a few days ago and said she's divorcing my dad. I don't want to do a stupid play about 'true love' or whatever. It doesn't exist" he said, doing his best to obscure his face. Amy stared at him with pity in her eyes. Of course he'd hate being a part of this.

"Oh, Aaron, I'm so sorry" she said.

"Whatever" he said and shrugged.

"Y'know," Jake said, a seriousness coming over him that Amy had never seen, "my dad left my mom and me when I was seven. He didn't even tell us, he just left. I can't even remember the last time I saw him. I do remember feeling abandoned and alone, but y'know what? I wasn't. My mom was there for me, my Nana was, and I had few great friends who helped me too. There were a lot of people who cared about me and I know there are a lot of people who care about you"

"You don't know that" Aaron said, miserable.

"Sure I do. Look at that ugly wrinkle on Amy's forehead. That ugly wrinkle only appears when she's worried about someone. See? There's one person and then there's me, that's two" Jake said and Amy let the wrinkle comment slide.

"Lauren was worried about you too!" she said.

"She was?" Aaron asked.

"Yeah! She was and I know it might not feel like it, but I'm sure your mom and dad care about you too" Amy continued.

"They don't care. My mom just sent me a text about it and my dad hasn't said anything to me at all"

"I know it might be hard to understand Aaron, but your parents are probably both really sad right now. I know they probably should have found a way to talk to you in person, but they probably don't have the best judgement right now. They both will probably really want your support and to know that you love them both" she said, hoping her advice made sense. Her parents were both still together, but she felt like she had to say something to him.

"Yeah, man. No matter what happens, you'll be okay, okay?" Jake asked.

"Okay" Aaron said, looking at the ground.

"Hey, what do you say we go kill this dress rehearsal, and then afterwards, you and I go sneak some ice cream from the freezer? Do some classic lashing out?" Jake asked, coming back to his usual, light-hearted self. Aaron, despite himself, gave Jake a small smile.

After that, dress rehearsal went on without a hitch, and Amy even noticed Aaron was trying harder to get into character. Terry was pleased that they had figured everything out so quickly and assured Amy that he would still tell Holt what a good job they were doing.

When the play went up every staff member and camper were there. Amy and Jake sat next to each other on a bench near the back. Amy was unbelievably nervous for a silly little play they made up in a week. Jake noticed, grabbed her hand and whispered in her ear.

"Hey, it's gonna be awesome" he assured her. She smiled and whispered back.

"I know" and they were right. All of the other campers were totally hypnotized and when Amy dared to take a peek back at Holt, she saw him nod. He might have even been moved. Amy chest swelled with pride. She watched Ben as Belle being the most expressive she had ever seen him and absolutely loving what he was doing. She watched Aaron as he put on the meanest face he could as he shouted the hell out of Andy as Lumière. When the play was over and the cast did their curtain call to uproarious applause, Amy looked over at Jake. They smiled at each other.

"Yeah," Amy thought, "maybe this summer isn't a bust after all"

AN: Man, this was a hard chapter to figure out haha. Well, here it is. It's a little easy on the JakeAmy fluff, but I thought it would be nice to get to know the kids a little better. Next chapter will have some new developments, never fear.

Is my theatre nerd showing?

Thanks for reading! I love your feedback, but I ask that you don't make suggestions for plot points. You guys have great ideas, but I gots a plan! I promise. Love y'all! 3