Chapter 5: Morning Mayhem

Welcome back to another monthly installment of "Something in the Summer Wind". In other words, let's just say the first morning in Tremont Hotel isn't quite like how its new residents had in mind.

Disclaimer: I do not own Secrets of Sulphur Springs, High School Musical: The Musical Series or all the other offscreen mentioned fandoms. Ten and Jeonghan are from 'Weightless' and they belong to my friend @zealous_light, I only own my Original Characters. With that being said, enjoy!

One of the first things you should know about Elton John Caswell is that he's a very early riser. One of the first to wake up actually.

Sometimes, EJ questions his friends' sleeping habits, but he's grown to adjust and love them for it.

Ten is the most flexible guy EJ has ever known and somehow his sleeping position can be compared to a complex yoga move.

Also, Cress sleepwalks. And on occasions, she sleep-talks and recites horror movie lines while sleeping.

That is, until Ten's morning alarm started ringing loudly on his phone.

Unfortunately, EJ forgot Ten has incredible and swift reflexes. The tall teen was unfortunately sitting up and did NOT anticipate Ten switching off his alarm…with his leg. Ten's leg casually knocked EJ right over the head.

"Wow, morning entertainment!" Cress exclaimed, not even bothering to hide her grin at her two guy friends.

"What time is it?" Wyatt drawled in a tired tone.

"It's…6:45 am." EJ read the time on the shared alarm clock.

"It's too early!" Zoey groaned, burying her face with the pillows.

"I don't wanna go to school!" Wyatt whined.

"Wy, we're only starting school tomorrow." Zoey corrected her twin brother.

"Sorry Caswell, natural reflex." Ten let out a yawn, still a bit tired.

"Albeit too natural." EJ stifled a wounded groan, still doubling over in pain.

"I'm awake!" Griffin got up at the sound of Ten's alarm clock.

"Ugh! Morning people!" Wyatt grunted, covering his ears with his pillow.

"Kids, oh I see you're awake." A pair of voices called out from outside the door.

"Please tell me you just got here." Griffin grimaced at his parents, his cousin must be mortified enough that he got whacked over the head by his friend.

"Breakfast is almost ready. Could you help set the table, kids?" Ben notified the children. He rushed off when he heard the sound of the kettle boiling.

"On it, Mr C." Cress nodded her head. What sort of guest would she be if she doesn't help out the generous hosts?

"I'm gonna go wash my face first," Ten finished folding his blankets, and headed to the bathroom. Seconds after, he reached up and grabbed the towel off the hanging rack…with his bare toes.

Is that even possible?

The Campbell siblings had looks of disbelief at Ten's immense reflexes.

"Ok, now you're just showing off." EJ jokingly grumbled.

"You should get changed too, Griff. Wouldn't wanna be late on your first day of school." Sarah turned her attention to her eldest son.

"We could just skip school today and go tomorrow." Griffin hummed, hoping to convince his mom otherwise. I mean, the twins aren't even starting school today! Why couldn't he join them by skipping out?

"Yeah, that doesn't sound like a bad idea, Aunt Sarah." EJ nodded along at that idea.

"Nice try, you two. But my decision is final. Get dressed." Sarah refused to fold.

While his family and the guests were down in the dining room setting up tables for breakfast, Griffin was getting dressed and ready for school. And by 'getting ready', I meant practicing air guitar.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The one and only: Guitar God Griffin Campbell!" The young boy started recording himself playing air guitar with his laptop. His jamming session was cut short by the arrival of his older cousin.

"Nice moves." EJ smiled, leaning against the doorframe. "Music is a terrific way of relieving stress."

"Thanks, I'm still working on the details myself." Griffin puffed his chest a little, looking very proud of himself.

"Elton, we need your help down here! The twins are on a sugar rush and fighting over cereal." His uncle's voice called out from down the staircase.

"Caswell, seriously! Get down here. Cress is just teaching Zoey how to Ankle Pick Wyatt." Ten's voice urged.

"Ok, I surrender!" Wyatt whined from downstairs.

"Great job, Zoey. Next up, I'm gonna teach you how to put your brother in a headlock if he keeps stealing the last slice of pizza from you!" Griffin could almost hear a 'hi-5' from the dining room.

"I am learning so much from you!" EJ and Griffin could already picture the gleeful look on Zoey's face.

"Excuse me for a sec." EJ plastered a polite smile, before frantically scrambled downstairs to prevent his best friend from corrupting his younger cousins.

"You're gonna be late for your first day." Sarah shut down her son's laptop.

"We could just skip it altogether?" Griffin smiled weakly, hoping he could change her mind.

"For a guitar marathon session? I don't think so." His mom crossed her arms.

"This is how all the greats started out! In their room perfecting their art. Seriously, I read about it in a book." Griffin refuted in his most convincing tone.

Apparently, it wasn't enough to change his mom's mind.

"Well, a real book would be nice." Sarah handed her son some of his discarded clothes to put them away.

"See those are the kind of books I'd be reading in Ballard." Griffin commented, averting his gaze. "And dad sure killed that dream."

"There are other music programs at your new school." Sarah pointed out, "And you'll find one just as good."

"Around here? Doubt it." Griffin looked around his new home, before grumbling quietly, "This place sucks!"

"Language." His mother admonished.

"Fine! Stinks." The boy corrected himself, "Happy?"

"How could I be happy when you're determined to make yourself miserable?" Sarah frowned at her son's outlook.

"Don't you miss Chicago?" Griffin asked out loud.

"Of course," Sarah nodded, folding one of Griffin's discarded shirts, "Would be back in a second."

"Great! Let's go. Won't take me long to repack." Griffin chimed with a feigned optimism.

"It's not that simple." Sarah interjected, noticing her son looking down by their current predicament. The boy could tell there was something more than his parents were letting on.

"This place isn't completely awful. If we hadn't moved here, I wouldn't have found this." Sarah slipped an old photo to her son's hand.

It was a boy around Griffin's age with dark hair holding a trophy.

"A picture of some random kid?" Griffin frowned.

What does this have to do with anything? Did this belong to the previous family (or landowner) that owned the hotel?

"Turn it over." She hummed mysteriously.

Griffin flipped the picture over and read what was written behind it.

Talent Show Winner

Bennett Campbell

1990

"This is dad?" The young boy beamed at the surprise.

"Can't you tell from the goofy grin?" Sarah chuckled softly. It's the same grin she sees in her two sons.

"I haven't seen him smiling like that in a long time." Griffin murmured.

"I could say the same about you." Sarah countered, "I'm hoping you might change your mind once you make some friends. C'mon, you need to eat something before going to school."

After finishing their breakfast

"You know, I could drive you to school today, Griff. It'd be nice to check out the neighborhood." EJ suggested.

"What neighbors? We live in the middle of nowhere." Wyatt frowned. There's literally not a single house in sight beyond their current house.

Unless you venture further beyond the Tremont grounds, then yeah you might see other signs of life.

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm cycling." Griffin shook his head.

"Nah E, you will look like freaking kidnappers tailing behind a kid on a bike like that." Cress snorted, before shoveling a spoon of cereal into her mouth.

"You're just describing yourself whenever you pick up your nephew from school." EJ mocked in a cheeky manner.

"Elton John Caswell, it's 7 in the morning. I'm caffeine-deprived and it's way too early for me to wrangle you. I just taught Zoey how to Ankle Pick her brother, want me to teach her what a Double Head Takedown looks like?" His friend hissed in mild agitation.

"Do it." Zoey had a similar impish gleam in her blue eyes.

"Caswell, do you have any first day advice for your cousin?" Ten casted EJ a side glance, changing the subject.

"Starting a new place is scary, and lonely especially when you don't know anyone. But give it time. Who knows? You might make some new friends here?"

"Is that supposed to be helping me?" Griffin withheld a sigh. Doesn't this sound no different from his mom's pep talk.

"What I'm trying to say is, give it some time. You might make new friends here. Maybe you'd meet someone like Ten or Cress here?" EJ smiled at his two friends.

'Preferably someone more like me than Cress here. You need all the moral compass you can get.' Ten mumbled.

"Let's go out for a jog around the area, that always refreshes my morning." Ten quickly diverted their attention.

Who knows? Maybe they'd find a cafe around the area and Cress can get some coffee?

"I like the sound of that." EJ agreed.

"And it'd be fun to cover the grounds here. Who knows what we might find?" A cheery smile formed in Cress's face. "I'll get my running shoes!"

"You three have fun jogging." Sarah called out from the kitchen. "You two, still need to finish unpacking."

"Fine…" the twins groaned out loud, they were hoping they could tag along their older cousin for a morning walk too. But it looks like their parents have the final say.

"I'm off." Griffin announced, grabbing his bike helmet.

"Nervous?" Sarah noticed her son's tense posture.

"Never been the new kid before…" Griffin admitted.

"Just be yourself, that kid's really great." Sarah gave her son a reassuring smile, he returned a tiny one. It wasn't much, but at least it's something.

"Have a great day at school, Griff." Ben called out from the counter. He had gotten a head start at cleaning up the hotel as soon as he finished breakfast.

"And hey, if school is worse than you thought, just give me a call and I can pull you out for a 'Family Emergency Mental Health Day'." EJ leaned over to whisper in his cousin's ear, making sure his aunt and uncle weren't around to overhear the conversation. Griffin couldn't help but smile at his cousin's reassurance.

"Encouraging the boy to commit truancy? I'm disappointed in you, Caswell." Ten whisper-yelled in mocked surprise.

"I'm not, it took 18 years to break that Golden Boy mold and better late than never." Cress smirked.

Sulphur Springs Middle School

His old school was way bigger than this one, but it made sense since this is a small town compared to the big city he was used to.

Griffin walked around until he reached his locker. Just great! The bottom locker.

He tried to open up the locker with the given combination code, but it refused to budge. He slams the locker with a hand in frustration. Nope, still won't open.

Suddenly, a foot swept by him and kicked open the locker.

He spotted a pair of white canvas hightops in front of him. Griffin looked up and saw a pretty girl with a bright orange sleeveless shirt smiling at him.

"Works every time." The girl hummed mysteriously at him.

"C'mon, class is starting soon!" Another student called out for the girl from a distance.

"Alright!" The Locker Ninja (as Griffin silently dubbed her) called back, before she walked away.

"Why were you helping that guy anyways?" Indigo asked out loud, casting a side glance back. The new boy was looking at Harper with curiosity and fascination.

"He looked like he could use a hand, Indigo." Harper simply replied.

"Or a leg." Indigo joked, that alone earned a smile from her friend.

"He's looking at you, Harps." Indigo smirked in amusement.

"Oh shush it, Indi!" Harper lightly nudged her friend by the shoulder as they made their way to class.

And that's all for November. Hope you liked it, sorry if it's a bit of a filler but I'm shoving as many Breather scenes as possible before the eventual Plot starts to traumatize everyone. I ended up shifting some of the canon dialogue here and there to make some sense, hope you don't mind the slight changes.

Chapter Talk: -

(1.) I gotta throw in some references to Ten's flexibility here. It's based on this video down here. The only ones I managed to reference are the Alarm Clock segment and the Towel Grab part. EJ loves his two best friends, no matter how weird they can be. The feelings are mutual.

(2.) Am I churning as many sibling-like moments with EJ and the Campbell siblings as possible? Yes. Is Cress gonna corrupt the kids by imparting wisdom of chaos? Also yes. Is Ten getting graying hairs by the minute playing Peacemaker? Triple yes.

(3.) Random Kormos/Campbell parallel traits I just realized: -

Wyatt Phyrros – Redhead boys who will lose in a fight against their older sisters; Also Youngest Siblings in the family

Cress Zoey – Brunette girls who can and will win a fight against their redhead brothers

(4.) I've read quite a few SoSS fics where there's a Third member (most of which are 'Griffin/OC' and 'Friends with Harper/Harper's Sibling' based) in the team. Anyways: meet Indigo (she/they pronouns. Comes out as they/them when they're older). Indi's my spin on 'having an OC as part of the Core Member'. You'll get to read more of her later on.

That's all for now. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading and have a fantastic day.