hear my lyrics, taste my venom

She was mostly just bummed that she wasn't the hottest person now.

It was adorable to see that nothing had shifted in Stella much. She had the same nervous energy she always did and Greer wondered if she still was that same fourteen year old girl or if it was simply Greer's own presence that brought it on. "I know who you are," she said, in an almost scathing tone.

A snort left her nose. Saying hi back was probably what a normal person would do in this circumstance. Ask what Stella had been up to, what her career was, did she have a partner? All of the typical small talk, but Greer had never been built for that. There was some wire in her head that had been snipped in adolescence.

"You look cute," she stated. A compliment or a jeer? Well, it was hard to tell with Greer, wasn't it? "Tres grunge."

"thanks," she says, glancing down at her own outfit, as if she'd forgotten that she was wearing her standard band tee and cutoff shorts, "you look... great, but like, duh. you don't need me to say that."

stella realizes then that she hadn't stopped lingering in the other woman's sun. she decides to plop right down on the ground, unconcerned about dirtying her clothes, "so... what have you been up to? something super cool and like... chic, i bet."

at this point, he’s already divided the supply cabinets and labeled them with what he plans to place there once he gets new stock. he’s also double checked that the tiny fridge is working (thank god it is) to hold anything from juice pouches to insulin for the kids. now, he just needs to make the list for jasper. harrison was about halfway through it when the door swung open.

it was like seeing a ghost. or, at least, that’s what it felt like for harrison. his hand froze midway through whatever word he was writing as his eyes caught on stella. his stella. well, maybe not his, not anymore, not for a long time. after staying in touch for all those years, the cut cord between them still ached on harrison’s end of it. and seeing her now, looking as if nothing has changed in the two years since he’s seen her, only exacerbates that pain. he’s tried really hard to block their last argument from his memory, but it never works. the cruel words he used echo in his head some nights when he’s trying to fall asleep. he tried to apologize so many times, by keeping up with their weekly phone call, but stella never answered. and after that last call, when josh told him that stella didn’t want anything to do with him… he stopped trying. he needed to move on— although the letter currently burning a hole in his wallet would suggest he never did.

“right, um…” he trails off, hopping off the stool he’d been perched on to rummage through what he hadn’t thrown out. “all of the pain meds were expired in here. you know, being ten years old and all. but a cold compress should help too.” he pulls out one of the instant ice packs he’d found. harrison moves around the counter, cracking the ice park as he goes, and gestures for stella to lay down on the cot along the wall. “lay down.”

"thanks, but no thanks. i'll lay down in my cabin," she says, though she still reaches her hand out for the ice pack, "i'm sure someone there remembered to pack pain meds."

there was something nostalgic about driving on a road that he hadn’t in years. well, that wasn’t true really? he did have to come around the area for hiking and rock climbing but he didn’t get to blast whatever music he wanted as a kid. “a scrub is a guy that thinks he's fly and is also known as a busta always talkin' about what he wants and just sits on his broke ass, so no!!” he sang poorly as he leaned towards stella, trying to make her laugh. he was clearly doing a great job. his hair in a fluffy bun held together by a scrunchie he had stolen from her as he helped her pack. his little shoulder wiggles as he focused on the road and finding the turn off.

as the song petered out, he reached forward to turn down the next song on the tlc album as he took in the trees waiting to spot the turn in. “you ready for this babe? you're gonna be a music teacher!!”

"i don't know if ready is the right word," she says through a nervous laugh, "terrified might be a better fit."

one would think that with the moderate amount of power that sadie had at camp that summer, she'd have been able to secure the most ideal living situation for herself.

not so, it seemed. because even though she'd originally put herself in the same room as greer, with the other girls from before in a different cabin entirely, jasper had changed things behind her back.

the realization earlier that day had been horrifying, jasper's undoing of her hard work enough to make her consider leaving right there and then, but sadie mei fan was not a quitter. so, she'd stuck it out, leading the other cabin inhabitants to their rooms until she was left with no choice but to accept her fate.

stella was going to be her roommate, and there was nothing she could do about it.

but just because she'd accepted it, didn't mean she had to like it.

"i claimed the bottom bunk. hope that's okay," sadie pointed in the bed's direction as she led stella into the room on her "orientation tour," her words spoken with the confidence of someone who was not about to be changing her mind.

"oh my god, i never got the top bunk when we were campers," her face breaks into her signature smile (all teeth, a little too wide) for the first time in what feels like forever, maybe it truly was the little things, "so exciting!"

she drops her bags to the floor with a loud thud and doesn't hesitate to start going through the first one. a variety of items (toiletries, multiple cassette tapes, a well-worn dictionary) are pulled out and discarded on the floor before she reaches her sheets. they're the same ones that she'd brought every other summer she'd spent here and she's (not for the first time) thankful that she rarely throws anything away. "so what have you been up to for the last ten years?" she's already up the ladder, army crawling onto the mattress with the fitted sheet, "thought you'd be a, like, rocket scientist or brain surgeon or something by now. you know, genius stuff. not that you're not doing genius stuff, i'm sure you are. just not the genius stuff i was imagining, you know?"

had this place not been cleaned since the camp closed down ten years ago? that's what dani suspected. she had gotten to the arts and crafts cabin early, wanting to check her supplies, and noticed not only was the place covered in dust and leaves, but the paint was so old it had either dried up or become so thick it was the consistence of oil.

"disgusting." she murmured, scrunching her nose up in disgust as she added the paint bottle to the other five colors that needed to be replaced. hopefully that would be coming out of mr. st. james' paycheck. taking the box of old, broken and unusable supplies to the front door, dani threw the box on the small porch without much care for being delicate. noting the person nearby, she immediately explained. "it's crap, gotta throw it away anyway." bringing her hand up to cover her eyes from the sun, she then was able to get a better luck at the person she had been talking to... and well, fuck. was there anyone in this camp that she had a positive relationship with? "hey... don't tell me there are two arts instructors this summer?"

stella should probably be over it by now, but the wound feels fresh as she reaches the steps of the cabin. she's a little worried about the state of the music room, though it goes beyond needing to work in it. she doesn't know how she'll react to seeing the place she'd first touched a guitar in a state of disarray and she'd really like to do it on her own.

"music," stella says flatly as she takes the stairs two at a time, eager to brush past dani. her temper, as usual, has other plans. she spins around to face her former friend, arms crossed over her chest, "how's dean?"

　　　　𓆱　　“ how much of a tight ass do you think st james is gonna be about these cabin assignments ? ”  bambi didn’t really have a reason to dislike the cabin she was assigned to. her plan for the entire summer was not thought out any further than hiding away in the kitchen. maybe it was even a blessing to have two bunkmates that could just chatter amongst themselves and let bambi slowly morph into one with the cabin walls.

but if there was someone that sparked even the slightest bit of life back into bambi, it was stella james. maybe it was closer to how some people described being able to hear things from the outside world whilst in a coma. maybe it was full blown ouija board communication ! in reality, something much more mundane. letters in the mail.

“ and follow up question, do you think he’d even know our names enough to enforce it ? ” it’s not like bambi was a stranger to sneaking in and out of cabins. the first summer that samira had been bunked away from her, the younger girl complained about homesickness. bambi snuck in the next night with a pillow and sleeping bag to sleep on the floor.

when she was older, it was sneaking into one cabin to stay up past curfew. truth or dare, never have i ever. hushed giggles to avoid staff from coming to check on them. if she wanted to see stella, she could. they had the entire day together anyway.

"probably not," the words are slightly garbled around a bite of her own pudding, "it'd also be pretty weird if he was coming into our cabins at night to see if we were in the right place."

stella knew that she'd missed bambi, but she hadn't realized quite how much until they were back together. here she doesn't have to imagine the way bambi's voice would sound or the expressions on her face while she reads words on a page. it was like putting on 3D glasses at the movies, all the blurry red and blue lines forming into something almost tangible. "oh! do you think he'll let us go do the shopping?" she hadn't brought a car, but she imagines most of them had, "i've always wanted to see the town."

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: near the lake

Greer had always liked the lake best when it was quiet and for the next week, she expected no snot nosed interruptions. She was sat in a chair, one leg hooked over the arm and the other swinging, sat like a true queen atop her throne. Although, she had neglected her actual lifeguard chair in the hopes of getting a bit of a sunkissed tan on her skin. She had put SPF on because she wasn't like, trying to be one of those leathery ladies in their fifties, but every girl looked a little better with a tan. That was what Greer thought, anyway. Pale and ghostly were meant for the likes of people that lingered too close to Hot Topic in the mall.

Her eyes were closed and sunglasses were propped on the bridge of her nose, but there was no unmistakably moment that the sun had disappeared in an instant. The forecast didn't call for rain or overcast, so she cracked a singular eye open. "Um, hello? You're like, totally blocking my sun," she stated matter-of-factly, as if she owned the sun itself. She perched the sunglasses further down her nose to peek at the perpetrator. "Is this important?"

greer had confused her the most.

she would, undoubtably, fit right into the top of the portland high food chain. but while those girls had never even considered giving her a shot, greer had promised friendship, so long as stella could prove she was worth it. she'd never quite proven her worth, but surely that was just because they'd run out of time... right?

so much has changed in the last decade, but looking at the other woman now makes her feel fourteen all over again. stella had walked up to her with the intention of a reunion, but her mind had gone blank the second she was in earshot.

"no, not really," she gives a weak laugh as she shifts her weight from foot to foot, "it's me, um... stella. i just wanted to say hi. so... hi."