HATEFUL LOVE | ej caswell

make ups and break ups

Nadia got ready in the girls cabin along with all of the other girls, smiling ear to ear even though she and EJ weren't exactly going as dates. But she understood the reasoning for it so she couldn't really be mad at him; she was more disappointed.

But, she tried to forget about it by focusing on helping Ricky. She had been planting subliminal messages to Gina, which consisted of mentioning his name a lot or things associated with him, to get her to subconsciously think about him.

She told Ricky it would definitely work since girls tend to overthink everything when it comes to guys so if Gina started thinking about him more, she would probably question her potential feelings for him.

Ricky was unsure if it would actually work or not, but he seemed really eager to do go forward with the plan for some reason.

"Okay, I am very hyped for this dance tonight, but someone needs to explain to me why we're doing a vintage theme for camp prom," Ashlyn spoke up as Nadia put in some pink flower earrings to match the vintage vibe. Since Ashlyn told her EJ was wearing some sort of pink outfit, Nadia tried to match that a bit by getting a pink groovy 70s style dress even though they weren't going as dates.

"Ooh, I think it has to do with Susan Fine's birthday. Or the day she died," Gina guessed.

"Definitely one of those two," Ashlyn replied slowly as she and Nadia shared a look.

"Honestly, I've never known," Maddox shrugged.

"Look, any camp tradition that doesn't involve climbing a wall is good by me," Kourtney joked, making them all chuckle.

"And I'm gonna miss having all this time with you guys," Gina whined with a frown.

"I know. Once this summer is over...I'm gonna be going to college and leaving you all," Nadia voiced sadly.

Gina frowned even more. "Have you made a decision yet?" she asked.

Nadia shook her head. "No, I need to talk to EJ before making a final decision."

"Don't let my cousin persuade you from not going to Duke. That's a great school and it would honestly be a missed opportunity," Ashlyn advised.

"I know, but I don't think EJ wouldn't let me go. I just don't know if I'd be able to let myself go if he felt bad," Nadia explained her.

Gina sighed. "Okay, sisterhood vibes all night, okay?" she said, trying to make them all feel better.

"It's gonna be a night of many vibes," Ashlyn smiled excitedly.

"Yeah, I wonder what all the guys are wearing. Especially Ricky, I feel like he fits this vintage style for some reason," Nadia voiced, looking directly at Gina on purpose.

"You know, you keep mentioning Ricky a lot," Gina pointed out, narrowing her eyes.

"I am?" Nadia played dumb and Gina nodded. "Huh, that's weird."

"Yeah..." Gina trailed off, seeming to go into thought. It's working, Nadia thought enthusiastically.

"Hey, Nads, are you good with going solo to the dance tonight?" Ashlyn questioned out of nowhere.

"What? I'm not going alone. I have all of you," she held her arms out. "Honestly, it's fine. It's a Shallow Lake tradition," she shrugged it off.

"That's right. It is," Maddox confirmed.

"Everyone goes stag," Gina added, making Maddox laugh a bit. "Honestly, Ash, I think your cousin's gonna spend the night without me as his date, realizing he's kind of been ignoring me for a week and a half even though we talked about it, and I...don't know. I mean, he promised he'd save the last dance for me, so..."