Top Bunk

DAY 16

⌚ 6:00 AM ON THE DOT

That horn. One day, that damn horn will be at the bottom of the lake and El will have nothing to do with it (at least that what she'll say).

"How do I look?" Is that Grace?

El forces her eyes open and blinks her crusty eyes numerous times until they feel less like rusty hinges and more like...eyes. This takes her awhile, and after yawning way too many times, she spots Grace (and to answer her previous question, it is) across the room. Except, she doesn't look like Grace.

Sure, the billowing strawberry blonde locks and pristine eyebrows are still there, but there is an overwhelming lack of pink. Replacing her usual pink Camp Ashwood logo tank top is a plain grey tee shirt with the same logo. Instead of her shorts that are too short to even be considered shorts, she has on denim capri pants. Her baby pink Prada sneakers aren't on her feet, but a pair of regular hiking boots are.

Because of the sudden change, two questions enter El's mind: where did she even get these clothes and just...why?

Slightly delusional and still sleepy, El considers the possibility that she's dreaming.

That's how unlikely Grace Upland would be caught in anything that isn't pink is.

"I don't know if you've ever been taught, El, but a question usually requires an answer," Grace says, raising an eyebrow, yet her light tone doesn't match her sarcastic words.

El rubs at her eyes. Yawns again. "You look...different."

"Duh," Grace bunches her hair up into a high ponytail, and that's new as well. (The only other time Grace has worn her hair in a ponytail was last night, when she was actually literally Megara.) "I wouldn't ask you that if I looked the same."

"Why?" El stretches her arms over her head.

Grace busies herself with prodding at her hair, deliberately avoiding El's groggy gaze by looking in the mirror on the wall.

"Hey," El finally climbs out of bed, "someone once told me questions usually require answers."

Grace rolls her eyes (as expected). "Funny."

It's a painstakingly slow journey that El takes from her bunk to where Grace is standing. When she gets there, she places her chin on one of Grace's shoulders and pouts. "What happened to the pink?" she asks innocently.

"Please get away from me," Grace says. "Morning breath."

El raises an eyebrow and repeats her question, this time exaggerating the H in happening and exhaling long and hard in Grace's direction. Teasing her.

"I just wanted a change," the shorter girl replies simply.

"Why?"

Grace rolls her eyes for the second time today. "Why do you care?"

"Because you're dressed like me." El doesn't even realize it until the words come out of her mouth but it's actually true. Grace's outfit is actually something El wears on a regular basis.

"I haven't done laundry in like, a week - " Grace starts, her voice turning slightly more frantic. "Seriously, morning breath. Gross."

El grins, applying more pressure on her chin so she's pushing Grace down. "Like your daddy didn't buy you enough clothes to last the entire month we're here."

Grace elbows El in the ribs, not hard enough to injure her, but enough to push her away. She rolls her eyes. "For the record, Daddy didn't. But fine, it's not...because I don't have enough clothes."