Chapter Text
Finally. Scott thinks. After two hours on that stupid cramped bus we made it. So this is Harmony Hill Summer Art Camp.
He looks around to the other smaller groups of people who climbed out of the bus after him. They were forming smaller groups of friends laughing and talking.
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He wandered around alone for a while, before he accidentally bumps into this tall boy with sandy blonde hair and burnt umber eyes.
“Oh. Uhh… hi?” Scott stutters flustered.
The tall boy turns around startled.
“Oh my goodness! Are you ok?!” The boy asked worried
Now that Scott could really see him he was kind of cute. Scott quickly recovers pulling himself back together.
“Oh… Uhh yeah… my bad. I wasn’t looking where I was going. Anyway my name is Scott. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Oh! …That’s good. I’m Jimmy. It’s nice to meet you. What were you doing Scott?”
“Not much. It’s kind of funny how you’re the first person I meet…” Scott admits looking around. He only recognises two faces. His bandmates: Gem and Impulse.
Jimmy’s eyes widen at that.
“Really? I’m the first one you’ve spoken to?”
Scott nods, still taking in the camp and people. Jimmy thinks for a moment before his eyes light up again.
“Well then…” Jimmy starts. “Would you like to explore Camp with me? I was going to look around alone, but the more the merrier!”
Scott pauses for a moment caught off guard by the sudden request. He unfreezes and nods slowly
“Yeah… yeah. That would be fun. Where to first?” Scott glances over the camp once more before turning back to Jimmy. As he looks at Jimmy he watches the other man pause and look around.
As they look around, looking for the first stop on their camp exploration a loud, high pitched, melodic voice shouts:
“SCOTT SMAJOR!!!”
Scott freezes and turns around slowly as a short, ginger-haired girl storms towards him scowling.
“Oh! Gem… hey! Why do I feel like I’m about to get in trouble..?”
“Because you are! Where were you on the bus?!”
“Sorry I was at the front of the bus. I had to get on last and all the seats were full… My bad.”
The girl, Gem, finally notices Jimmy behind Scott who was standing there confused.
“Who’s that?!” Jimmy flinches at her sudden addressal.
“Me? Oh uhm… me and Scott were going to… uhh… explore the camp. I-it’s nice to meet you? I’m… Timmy- Uh no I’m Jimmy…”
Gem looks him up and down and raises an eyebrow.
“Well then Timmy. It’s nice to meet you too.”
Jimmy visibly gulps under her gaze and looks around. Spotting his sister his eyes light up.
“Oh! Sorry I’ve got to go… My sister is over there. The one with bright pink hair… Sorry bye!” He practically sprints away to her.
Scott watches him leave confused about what just happened.
“Sorry what?”
Gem leans in and whispers to Scott
“So. Did I see you blush?~”
A tall boy with short dark brown hair and brown eyes jogs over as Scott mumbles something about how it was just warm today and Gem must be going blind. It was in fact not warm. Quite the opposite really.
“Hey guys!” The boy calls out as he nears the group. He notices Scott’s flustered expression and Gem’s teasing tone. “What’s going on guys? I feel like I’ve missed something important…”
“NOTHING!! Nothing… nothing at all…” Scott shouts quickly. His pink ears give away that it’s not nothing though. Impulse pauses then shrugs oblivious to that. Gem snickers at Scott’s reaction.
“Scott met someone. That’s why he didn’t sit with us on the bus, Impulse.” Gem explains dramatically.
“Uhm… ok? Uhm what are you two doing here anyway? Camp orientation is about to start. Come on. Camp Mess Hall is this way” Impulse starts walking away to the Mess Hall.
Scott shakes off his earlier embarrassment and follows after him.
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The Mess Hall was warm and bright. Filled with chatter and laughter when Scott, Gem and Impulse walked in.
The Mess hall itself was a cute, large wooden cabin with big windows running down on both sides of the room. There were three large tables that sat in the center of the room with a huge fireplace at the end of them. Around the fireplace were couches and bookshelves. It was a cute little sitting area.
As Scott walks in he spots Jimmy from earlier standing with a girl with bright pink hair. He remembers that was the girl the other man had said was his sister.
Jimmy notices Scott and waves, smiling. Scott waves back before Jimmy gets pulled away by the girl.
Up the front of the room a taller woman who looks to be in her twenties with an even taller man who looks younger than twenty. Scott takes a seat as the woman stands and speaks into the microphone
“Good morning everyone! Welcome to Harmony Hills Camp! You’ll be spending the next six months here learning arts and having fun! There are a few rules but we’ll get to those later! I’m Cleo, one of your camp directors. I go by She/They please use the right pronouns.” Cleo says cheerfully
The man beside her stands next. His darker skin stands out against the warm background.
“As Cleo said, welcome. My name is Anthony but you can all call me BigB. I’m the other one of your camp directors. How camp works is you’ll be split into groups by your cabin. We have plenty of times where you guys can spend time with each other even outside of your cabins. I’m sure you’ll get sick of your cabin mates quick enough. Breakfast is at nine and dinner is at eight.” BigB says, his deep voice echoing in the quieting room.
“There are three cabins with five people in each. The cabins read as:
Cabin 1: Taylor, Pearlescent, Ren, Joel, Jimmy, Apo;
Cabin 2: Impulse, Scott, Lizzie, Etho, Bdubs, Marytn;
Cabin 3: Tango, Xqela, Mumbo, Skizz, Scar, Cherri;” BigB reads off a list.
Scott was disappointed that he only knows one person in his cabin, but he was glad for the opportunity to make new friends. BigB keeps talking
“Our cabin leaders are in cabin 1: Taylor and Pearlescent; cabin 2: Impulse and Scott; cabin 3: Tango, Xqela.”
Scott jumps as his name was said but Gem just turns to him grinning
“I can’t believe we’re cabin leaders together!” She exclaims ecstatic.
“Yeah. Crazy right. It’s a shame we’re not in the same cabin though. I only know Impulse in my cabin.”
“Oh well. At least you know one person!”
“Gem. You know you get Pearl and Jimmy right?”
Gem pauses for a moment, thinking.
“Oh yeah… I do. Ohh… you’re alone” Gem finally realises “Well… that’s ok? You can still make friends? Just don’t leave us behind!”
“Of course. I can make new friends. And I won’t leave you. Why would I do that? I would never skip band practice anyway.” Scott says before BigB released them to their cabins.
As Scott steps out of the Mess Hall as the cold air hits his face. The sky is painted bright orange and red as the sunsets on their first night at camp. Scott walks towards his cabin.
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Scotts corner of the cabin was fully decorated by the time Scott’s cabinmates came. The girl with pink hair was first in the cabin after Scott.
“Oh! Oh wow. That was fast… how did you set all that up already? It’s been twenty minutes.” The girl says
“I pride myself on my designs. And the cabin looks boring and plain. It’s much better now. The rest of the cabin is still boring but I have six months to fix that for you all.” Scott says proud.
“Anyway. I’m Scott. It’s nice to meet you, cabinmate.”
“Oh I’m Lizzie. It’s nice to meet you too.” The girl, Lizzie, says.
“Do you know who else is in our cabin, Lizzie? I only know Impulse… were in a band together.” He pauses, finally recognising Lizzie “You’re Jimmy’s sister right? He said you were the girl with pink hair. That’s you right?”
“You know my brother?!”
“Yeah I accidentally bumped into him earlier. We were going to explore the camp together before my friend Gem came over and scared him away…” Scott says slightly disappointed he didn’t get to explore camp with Jimmy. Lizzie picks up on his disappointment instantly.
“Really? And you look disappointed about that…”
“What?! No! I… uh… It’s a shame I didn’t get to… see the camp. It looks lovely.” Scott says just a bit too quickly.
Lizzie sees straight through his lie.
“I don’t mind if you have a crush on my brother. But if you break his heart I will destroy you. I will leave you as nothing more than ashes.” Lizzie’s voice drops to cold and scary. Scott shivers under her glare
“Yes ma’am…”
At that moment Jimmy walks through the door
“Hey guys! Cool cabin!”
“Uh… Jimmy. This isn’t your cabin” Scott says looking amused
“Oh I know. I just wanted to see you guys! You know she was super cool up there talking to us during the orientation!”
“Who?” Scott says now confused
“Cleo!” Jimmy says confused about why Scott was confused
“Jimmy… Cleo uses she/they pronouns…” Scott teases
Jimmy’s face falls
“Oh no… I’m so sorry!! I have to go apologize to her right now!!”
Jimmy runs out of the cabin to apologize as Lizzie looks between his leaving figure and Scott
“He trusts you quite a bit… I’ve never seen him actively find a person other than me on camps…”
“Maybe I’m just too amazing.” Scott says before a boy a bit shorter than him with short brown hair and brown eyes walks in with two boys, one who’s tall with grey hair with black and red eyes and a scar over his eye, and the other shorter with brown hair and blue eyes with glasses.
“Hey Impulse. Oh and new friends! Hey, I'm Scott, your new cabinmate.”
“Ooh! Ooh! And I’m Lizzie! His soon to be sister-in-law.” Lizzie says with a smirk.
Scott blushes and flustered says
“I- Hey wait no! I mean… No!”
“Ahh blossoming love!” The shorter boy says in a thick German accent “I’d be Ren lass’ and lads”
“Oh I’m Etho” The taller one says softly before vanishing to his corner of the room.
“And I’m Impulse. It’s nice to meet you all. I can’t wait to get to know you all over the next six months.” the Impulse says
“It’s nice to meet you all then. May I ask if you would all decorate your parts of the cabin? It’s so plain.” Scott says as everyone notices his beautifully decorated corner of the room and his mildly proud expression.
“Uh… Really Scott?! We just got here!” Impulse says exasperated
“Yeah? And? It’s been long enough to have my area perfectly decorated.”
“Scott. It’s been twenty minutes”
“And?” As Scott says that Gem barges into their cabin
“Scott! Impulse!! Where have you two been?! We’re going to be late for band practice!”
“Gem band doesn’t start for another week.” Scott says still startled at her entrance
“There is always room for practice!”
“No Gem. I will not do band today. I want to explore camp.” Scott says arms crossed … And maybe meet Jimmy again… he thinks as a small blush crawls up his neck. Gem and Lizzie instantly notice the blush.
“Oooo~” Both say in unison
“I-uh… Wait no! It’s not what you’re thinking..!” Scott splutters
“Really? It’s not? Then tell me, what were you thinking?” Gem says as she and Lizzie smirk knowing it’s exactly what they’re thinking.
“I-Uhh…” He sighs knowing he was caught “Fine. Think what you will.” With that he leaves the cabin to find Jimmy and explore camp. Behind him he could hear Gem and Lizzie start giggling and say things about planning the wedding. He rolls his eyes and keeps walking.