Chapter Text
As EJ was stepping out of the Yurt Locker to clear his head, he noticed that the gate to the pool was open. As he got closer, he saw a shadow of a person being casted from within the lounge area of the pool. Once he walked around the corner, he saw that Kourtney was sitting under one of the cabana benches with her legs resting on the seats. Her eyes were closed. She seemed to be sleeping. Oh, to be her right now, EJ thought. It had been a solid 7 days since he had a decent amount of sleep. From the stress of directing a musical he's responsible for that will also be broadcasted on Disney+ worldwide over 60+ countries, and still needing to track down costumes and set decor, there wasn’t much time to rest.
But with rest or no rest and with everything going on, EJ was still a Counselor in Training with a job to do, so he had to wake Kourtney up and ask her to go back to the Honeycomb cabin before she gets written up by Camp Direct Dewey who, surprisingly, was very strict about camp curfew. EJ went up to the sleeping girl and gently shook her shoulder, “Hey, hey Kourt. You gotta get back to your bunk.” he said in a semi-soft loud whisper.
Kourtney was still sound asleep.
An idea occurred. EJ tried again, but a little louder this time, “Kourtney Greene wake upppp! The Women in the Woods is here!”
That got her up real quick.
“AHHHHHH! I’M NOT READY, I’M NOT READY!” she screamed while simultaneously pulling out a nail filer and swinging it in the air. When Kourtney came too, she opened her eyes and saw a hunched over, hysterically laughing EJ next to her. She rolled her eyes and swatted her hands at the young man trying to hit him. “EJ! That was NOT funny at ALL! Ricky and Carlos already played too much the last time she was mentioned.” she said, pouting, “Now I don’t like camping because of it!”
“But didn’t you already hate camping?” he said in between his laughter dying out.
“Yes, but I have an actual reason now.” she said matter of factly. Kourtney continued to gaze at the boy who was still letting out a few chuckles, “Okay, it wasn’t even that funny.” she said, getting slightly annoyed.
“I know,” he said slowly coming back to his senses, “It’s just been a while since I pulled a prank.” Wiping a stray tear from his eye, EJ continued. “Anyway, what are you doing out here this late? And why were you sleeping in the lounge?”
“I couldn’t sleep.” she said, gazing her eyes to the shimmering water. “So, I went for a mini stroll. I noticed that the pool gate was open, so I figured I could come here to get my thoughts in order. Next thing I knew I fell asleep and someone,” turning her head towards EJ, “woke me up.”
“You're welcome by the way.” he said, sounding pleased with himself. “But are you okay though? Any problems with your bunk mates?” he asked in his CIT tone.
Kourtney shook her head, “No. Everyone is great.”
“So, you’re not okay then?” he asked, a little concerned. “What’s up?” EJ made his way to sit beside Kourtney on the bench having his full attention on her.
“Nothing.” she said in a semi high pitched voice. “Everything is fine. Great even! Like I never thought that I would be one of the leads in a musical before, but hey! First time for everything right? No pressure at all too. None! Especially with a power ballad like Let it Go resting on my shoulders. Like Idina Menzel killed it! Truly an icon, but what if I don’t do it justice as her and if I forget the lyrics and trip off stage the theater gods will look down on me for eternity and-”
“Kourtney! Breathe!” EJ interjected. The girl was talking so fast that he feared she hadn’t taken a breath in between her words.
Kourtney let out a breath that she didn’t know that she was holding. She began to breathe in and out to catch her breath. “Oh right, I need to stay alive long enough to make a fool of myself.”
she said, still taking in some air.
EJ gave her a confused look. Kourtney looked at the boy waiting for him to comment, but he still looked at her confused, “Really? You didn’t get anything from my whirlpool of a rant?”
“No, I got everything. It’s just that I don’t get where all of this is coming from?” he asked, genuinely confused. To him, Kourtney has been doing a great job during rehearsals. From what he’s seen, you know when he’s not seconds away from spiraling down into a small heart attack during every rehearsal, she’s doing just fine.
Kourtney looked at him incredulously, “For real EJ.”
“Yes, you’ve been great in rehearsals.”
“Aside from the fact I’m seconds away from throwing up?”
“Is it a stomachache? Because we got some antacids in the nurse's office if you-”
“It’s not stomach issues EJ!” she said, a little frustrated. Not at him, but at herself. “I’m sorry. It’s just… I feel all this pressure of having to do a great performance and it's kind of tearing me apart inside.” she said with her voice going quieter.
“Hey,” he said putting a hand on her shoulder, “no one is putting pressure on you-”
“I know.” she said looking at him. “It’s ME who's doing it. Not intentionally though.” Kourtney paused for a second to take a deep breath. EJ waited patiently, seeing how she needed to get this off her chest. How badly she needed to let the words out. Kourtney continued, “I’ve always put this pressure on myself to do the best in anything I do: Class assignments, tests, projects, my job, you name it. And I usually do because Kourtney Greene doesn’t fail at anything. But I’m starting to think that this may be the time where I do…” she said as her mind and eyes slowly drifted off into a territory she’s been trying to avoid for a while now.
“Kourtney,” EJ said as he squeezed her shoulder, sensing that he was losing her, “Speaking as your director, I can assure you that you are not failing. I’m not supposed to tell you this, but Val told me she chose you as Elsa because she saw the same spark in you that Elsa had in the movie. She saw that you had a voice that needed to be heard and seen.” he said with a thoughtful smile. “And as your friend, I saw it too. Remember when you literally blew out the sound system at that abandoned theater?”
“The one that was haunted by ghosts, yes.”
“There weren’t any ghosts there?”
“Did you see any?” she questioned
“No but they don’t exist.” he said matter of factly.
“To you.” she countered, “To you they don’t, but they're here. They’re everywhere. But anyway, back to the haunted theater.” gesturing for him to continue, while holding in a bit of laughter.
EJ shook his head playfully, “I was saying that was the day when all of us saw a glimpse of the part of you that was dying to break free and be heard, in a musical sense. Like we all knew you were brave and bold, but we didn’t know that you had this gift of voice that really blew us away.”
Kourtney was in awe. She didn’t know that people, especially EJ Caswell, felt moved by her voice. “Aww, thanks EJ.”
“Don’t thank me,” he said bashfully. “I’m just speaking the truth. You’re our Elsa. No one deserves it more than you.” Kourtney didn’t realize until now that she needed to hear that. She was always her own number one fan along with her mom, but hearing someone else who is on the outside of what she’s feeling is refreshing and… a little reassuring.
She’s got this.
Starting to feel tears coming to her eyes, Kourtney leaned over to give EJ a hug. “Thank you, EJ. Really thank you.” she said while blinking rapidly to hold the tears back.
Returning the hug instantly, “You’re welcome.”
When the two pulled apart, EJ saw a slight change in Kourtney’s demeanor. She seemed more relaxed and lighter. He wished that he could feel that way, but he was too occupied with making sure tomorrow's rehearsal goes well because Corbin Bleu and his camera crew are arriving early to set up confessionals for the cast to do interviews on how early production is coming along. And Corbin also wanted EJ to do an interview on his vision for the musical and the timeline he hopes to get everything done, which he had no clue.
His heart started to race a bit faster until Kourtney’s voice broke through his consciousness. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” he asked, lost on what she was saying.
“I was about to say that we should head back to our bunks, but you zoned out on me. Are you okay?” she asked a bit concerned herself.
EJ waved her off, “Yeah I’m okay, just getting tired.” he said nonchalantly. Kourtney was about to ask him again to make sure, but EJ cut her off before she got the chance, “You’re right, it’s getting late, and we have a busy day tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” she said as she was standing up from the bench. EJ followed in suit and stretched his arms out and let out a slightly fake yawn. “See you in the morning.” he said as he made his way to leave the lounge to exit the pool area. Kourtney followed behind. After she left out, EJ used his CIT keys to lock the pool gate.
“Good night,” Kourtney said as she turned left to make her way back to the Honeycombs. EJ turned around to wave in response and headed to the right to return back to Yurt Locker.
That night, both wildcats went to bed. One feeling more confident and surer in herself, while the other was still going through every scenario in his brain to pray that everything goes well tomorrow morning.