band camp ⚣ ⌜joshler⌟

❥four

the first camp performance is in two days. camp activities have kicked in and it's been keeping the kids busy these past days. during their free time, melanie and tyler were in the cabin, practicing and judging each others singing.

"i don't think they'll get it." tyler read over his lyrics before setting them down with a sigh. "even if they don't, it's cool! they can just interpret it for themselves." melanie said, tuning her guitar.

"death inspires me like a dog, inspires a rabbit? what does that mean to you?" he asked. melanie looked up to think before replying. "it's almost like fear motivation. like getting out of your comfort zone to see what you can do. doing what makes you uncomfortable to learn and grow from it, does that make sense?"

tyler nodded, registering what she said through his head. "yeah actually, it does." she smiled. "trust me tyler, they won't care about every little detail. the fact that your doing a song you wrote yourself will be impressive enough." tyler smiled. "then why don't you do one you wrote?" he asked.

she shook her dyed hair quickly. "no way!" her face got pink. "why not?" tyler frowned. "the one you sang earlier was cool. the one about the party." he said. melanie glared at him. "pity party." she said flatly. "that songs special to me. and if they laugh at me i'd probably die."

tyler punched her arm lightly. "isn't that what u said. then you yelled at me about how it's original and people will like it for just that on its own?" he asked. mel shrugged. "i mean i guess you're right." she said. "we got this!" tyler smiled at her.

"even if we aren't confident in ourselves, we are confident in each other!" he said. melanie smiled back. "yeah, you're right." she giggled at his enthusiasm.

❥❥❥

"nice to meet you tyler." lin smiled. she was small woman with warm green eyes. she was the camps counselor and met specifically with tyler for two reasons. one, he took pills and she was basically the nurse of the place so she held onto them and gave him them. and two, he has a weekly therapist so she makes up for the one at home.

tyler didn't mind, she seemed pretty down to earth. "i'm not gonna keep you long since you have group activities soon." she glanced at the clock. "i'm only gonna ask you a few questions for now." she took out a clipboard, pushing her glasses higher up on the bridge of her nose.

"are you adjusting well?" she asked. tyler nodded. "i love it here so far." he said. she smiled. "that's good. what about friends? have you met anyone?". "yes" tyler replied. "my cabin mates are my friends here and i like them a lot."

"good good." she wrote quickly. "now just one last question." tyler held his hands together as he twirled his thumbs. "there was an altercation between you and a fellow teen at lunch a few days back, can you explain what that was about?" she asked.

tyler's smiled faded as a sudden serious question appeared. he recapped the moment in his head, not thinking much of it now. he shrugged. "dunno, i just accidentally bumped my chair into him and it made him annoyed. i don't see him daily though, he plays an instrument." he said.

she nodded, keeping her eyes focused on her clipboard. when she finished she clicked her pen shut and took off her glasses to look at tyler. "thank you, that's all." she smiled.

tyler smiled awkwardly as he got up and exited the room. he walked out of the main building to find lizzie, mel, and marina all waiting for him at the entrance. "we have group." marina said. tyler smiled. he felt happy here.

❥❥❥

"i can't believe we are just walking." lizzie complained as the four followed the trail through the forest along with other kids.

"it's hiking, and i think it's nice." marina said. lizzie pulled the lollipop out of her mouth, making a slight pop noise. "this is a music camp. i didn't sign up to walk around in the woods."

"yeah but it's also a summer camp." marina shot back. "so sometimes we might just do nature related things. speaking of this music camp. i've never heard you sing." marina raised her eyebrow with a smirk.

lizzie made a face. "i'm not a huge fan of singing in front of people." she said. "honestly no one is, but i've never heard you make any musical noise before. i mean melanie is always humming and tyler sings in the shower." melanie giggled as tyler's face got pink.

"i just don't like singing in front of others, not so much dining but the lyrics. i hate singing my own writing because people don't like it. especially when they are 15." she said. "everyone's different with writing!" melanie jumped in. "you should at least show us, we're all friendly here!" she smiled.

"i mean if you ever want to, we can help." marina said. "we'll be together for the next two months." she grinned, causing lizzie to show slight smile back.

❥❥❥

it was dinner, and everyone was gathering inside the dining hall. they were all eating hamburgers except for tyler who had a hot dog.

he went back up to the large food table to grab some ketchup. he found mustard and relish, but not ketchup. he looked around confusedly before feeling something hit his back.

"oops!" he turned to see a boy with black hair and big forehead giggling with ketchup in his hand. tyler pulled his shirt to see ketchup all over it. a few people were laughing, even josh who stood behind the black haired boy.

tyler's eye twitched as he stood speechless. he could feel his face heat up with anger. "hey man it was an accident, chill." he laughed. "this-" tyler mumbled.

"this is the second shirt you've ruined!" he yelled, except her was staring straight at josh, who gave him a dirty look. the black haired boy grinned between them.

"why are you looking at me?! he did it!" josh yelled back. "hm i wonder why he did it?!" tyler raised his eyebrow. "j-just leave me alone with your.." tyler tried to make an insult as quick as possible. "shitty dye job!" he yelled before stomping off.

josh opened his mouth and no words came out as the black haired kid began to laugh hysterically. "shut up brendon!" he punch him in the arm.

tyler stormed past his table where the three girls sat, all looking shook. "i'm going back to the cabin." tyler mumbled as he walked out of the dining hall and his hot face met with the cool air of the summer night.