Summer Dream

Chapter 11

The next morning, Aspen walked into breakfast with her campers. They dispersed and Aspen found Michael. "Hey, are you gonna sit with us today? I'll give you my sausages again." She smiled. Her smile quickly faded as Michael walked right past her, without even a glance. "What the hell?" She furrowed her eyebrows and watched as she walked to Audrey's table, sitting next to her. She kissed his cheek and smirked at Aspen. Aspen shook her head and walked to the back table, sitting down. "Something is deeply and terribly wrong."

"We know, we watched the whole thing happen." Alex said, a worried look on his face.

"Did something happen between you two?" Luke asked.

"No, things were fine yesterday. He was as flirty as usual. Although.." She pondered a minute before speaking. "At chapel, I was gonna teach him to do the cylindrical lanyard, but he ignored me. I thought he was just really into the discussion on early music."

"He was acting weird last night with me, too. He hardly said anything to me when we were getting the kids ready for bed." Alex said.

"I wonder what's gotten into him." Carly said, furrowing her eyebrows. "He's always so flirty with you. Did something happen during freetime yesterday?"

"No, I was helping the kids during freetime. We didn't see each other at all." Aspen shook her head.

"Do you think.." Calum trailed off. He looked around the room before leaning in closer. "Do you think it has to do with the rivalry?" He whispered.

"Calum, you genius son of a bitch." Aspen said, looking at him. "That has to be it."

"Okay, you're gonna have to fill us in now." Rian said, crossing his arms.

"It's a long story, though." Aspen sighed.

"They need to hear it." Calum said, holding her hand on the table. "You can do this."

"Okay, but this doesn't leave the table. Everything I say here is 100% truth and I do have witnesses and testimonials to back up my story." Aspen said.

"Get on with it, please." Jack said, interested in finally learning the secrets of the rivalry.

"Okay, Audrey and I used to be best friends." There was a collective gasp from around the table. "I know, it's shocking. Anyways, we were, like, 13 and decided we were gonna start a band. It was just the two of us, but we figured I played enough instruments to help us succeed. So, we spent a few years writing songs and recording demos. By 'we', I mean me. I wrote every single song we had. Audrey has zero talent when it comes to songwriting." Aspen explained.

"I could've told you that. Have you listened to any of her music? It's garbage." Jack rolled his eyes.

"No interrupting. I need your undivided attention to get through this story." Aspen said. Jack zipped his lips and threw away the key, leaning closer to hear better. "Anyways, we had a few demos recorded, so we sent them out to a few different labels. We got a call from my current label, but they told us they only wanted one artist, not a group. They determined that they'd sign me, because I had country roots and they wanted to sign a country artist. So, I was signed. I licensed all the songs we had, because I wrote them. My label said they would send Audrey's demos to their sister companies, which they did. Only one wanted her, so she got signed. When they found out she had no songs going into it and she couldn't write for shit, they dropped her. That's when she found her current label. They got her signed and got her a songwriter, and soon enough, she had an album out."

"Wait, if she still got a career out of this, why is she so bitter?" Ashton asked.

"Hey, what did I say about interruptions?" Aspen asked, looking at him.

"Right, sorry." He nodded.

"I did ask myself the same question. Why did she care so much?" Aspen took a sip of water before continuing. "She was always jealous of me because my grandpa pushed me to learn as many instruments as I could, but her parents really didn't care how many she played as long as she played perfectly. So, she only learned guitar. She tried learning other instruments, but she couldn't do it. She wanted to be as versatile as I am, but it's not for everyone. And, it's certainly not for her. The summer after I got signed, I went on a headlining tour while she was still an opener for shows no one wanted to go to. She only just went on her first headlining tour, and her ticket sales flopped."

"Okay, I know you said no interrupting, but I need to ask. Why is she working here, if you guys have a rivalry? Can't you guys fire her? This is your camp, after all." Alex pondered.

"I've tried to get Carter to fire her, but he says she does pretty good with the kids and he can't fire her without reasonable means." Aspen sighed. "She has to do something major to get fired. This camp is pretty lenient on what happens here. Carter knows Michael and I have been fucking, and he hasn't done anything. Technically, relations between counselors is forbidden." Aspen looked at Carly and Luke. "You two better be careful."

"Can I just say, I'm very shocked that your rivalry was about something real. You're so petty, we thought you were just enemies because of some boy drama. But, this is a much better reason to be rivals with someone." Zack said.

"Oh, no, boys aren't involved yet. She did, however, fuck my first real boyfriend since becoming famous. They were together for quite a while during and after my relationship with him." Aspen shrugged.

"We need to find out what Audrey told Michael." Calum said. "We'll start Operation MASDREY to determine what Michael thinks is true."

"See if you can get him to talk to Aspen. If he hears her story, maybe he'll start piecing together how much of a cunt Audrey is." Jack said.

"Great idea. If I can get him to talk to me, that could give me the chance to tell the real story. I'll talk to Carter about getting me switched back to Michael's partner." Aspen nodded. "Sorry, Cal. I've loved our time together, but it's time we go our separate ways."

"How could you do this to me?" Calum said, pretending to cry. "After everything we've been through."

"You'll get through this. We both will." Aspen said, holding his hand. "I'll never stop loving you."

"My God, you two are dramatic." Alex rolled his eyes. "Just figure out what bullshit Audrey's been feeding Mike. Try to bring him back to the good side."