Rita isn't at breakfast the next day, which I pretty much expected-- right about now, she's probably sitting in Miss Rodriguez's office trying to explain how a bag of her underwear ended up in some innocent counselor's cabin. 

I know she might try to pin it on me and Liz, but I actually sort of doubt it. She has to know that if we did somehow get in trouble for it (despite the lack of any evidence), we'd explain why we did it in the first place. We'd probably get sent home, but so would Rita thanks to her being behind the Lizzie's Titties incident. She'd miss out on her precious play and the (seemingly non-existent) chance of Ethan asking her out.

That's why I'm feeling pretty chill as Lizzie and I enjoy breakfast, which, unfortunately, wasn't served by Ethan.

Speaking of every girl's favorite staff member, Lizzie grilled me about how I'd talked to him on the trail as the two of us got ready this morning. She managed to get me to spill every last detail, and tried not to be too offended that I didn't tell her about it as soon as it happened. There was a part of me that wanted to, but I'm:

A) Not supposed to feel anything towards Ethan, and
B) Not supposed to be getting so close to Lizzie that I go to her to gush about the guy I definitely don't have a crush on.

So I kept it to myself... for nearly twenty-four hours, anyway.

"I swear, he totally likes you. I mean, he wants to paint you! That's like, so romantic it makes me gag."

"He likes painting people, and I'm a person. I doubt there's anything more to it than that," I argue, trying to convince myself as much as her. I mean, it does sort of seem like a big deal. The two of us, most likely alone, with him staring at my face for God knows how long? The whole thing is a bit too intimate for me to casually brush off, as much as I want to.

"Well start doubting," Lizzie jokes, "because if I know anything about romance-- which I should, given how many rom-coms I've seen-- Ethan is totally smitten."

I smile, but shake my head. I'm not sure Lizzie knows as much about romance as she thinks, judging by how oblivious she is to Zack's obvious crush.

As if on cue, I just happen to spot Zack making a beeline straight for our table. The expression on his face is hard to place, but something about him seems even more nervous than usual, and it's enough to shake the "chill" feeling I'd been enjoying so much.

"Speaking of romance, your lover-boy is headed this way," I warn. 

Lizzie straightens and brushes a few crumbs off of her shirt. Thanks to his long legs, Zack is at our table in a second, setting his tray down next to hers.

"You're not gonna believe what we did," he says immediately, voice hushed. He glances warily around the room, as if someone could possibly overhear him among the noisy chatter.

Yeah, that chill feeling I was enjoying so much is officially gone now.

"Meaning...?" I wave my hand in a circle, urging him to continue. I hate it when people talk in cliffhangers.

He leans in, and Lizzie and I follow suit as he whispers, "It was Shaefer's cabin."

"Shaefer's..." Lizzie trails off, eyes going wide as it clicks. "Oh my God. You mean...?"

"We planted the bag in Shaefer's cabin?" I ask, stuck between wanting to laugh hysterically and fearing for my life.

Zack nods, his expression showing pretty much the same emotions. "I overheard two counselors talking about it on the way here."

"I thought Shaefer always bunked with the boys?" Lizzie questions, confused.

"Not this year." Zack's eyes continue to flick around the room as he speaks. "This year he's been working with Miss Rodriguez on running the camp, which means he's technically not a counselor anymore, so he can't bunk with campers. Ethan must've gone in his cabin to talk to him, or drop something off, or who knows why, but that's Shaefer's cabin. And he's the only one living in there."

Lizzie has a thousand-yard stare. "We delivered a bag of Rita's underwear... to Shaefer."

"According to what I heard, he and Rita are in Miss Rodriguez's office right now."

I think it over in my head, and unsuccessfully attempt to bite back a smile. "So with any luck... if word gets out, I mean... everyone won't only think that Rita ate a worm, but also that she's got the hots for Shaefer."

Lizzie snaps out of her trance her eyes meeting mine, and it's only a second before she dissolves into a loud fit of laughter. "Oh my God!" she exclaims, tears pooling in her eyes. "This is classic! This is, like, monumental!"

Zack snorts as he fails to hold back his own laughter, the three of us becoming a guffawing mess as we try to keep our voices quiet. "We should've planned to put it there in the first place!"

"Let's just hope you aren't the only one who overhears a conversation like that today," I say, wiping my eyes as I take the last bite of my toast. 

We finish eating and head out into the warm morning. It's another no-workshops day, but I know that doesn't mean I should spend it away from my camera. If I don't try to get over this whole creativity block thing, I probably never will.

"One of the counselors is holding an origami class in the crafts building soon," Zack says as we hesitate outside of the mess hall. "You guys wanna go?"

Lizzie grins. "Yeah, sounds groovy," she agrees, looking to me for confirmation. 

I smile, looking between the two of them. Even if I didn't need to get work done today, I'd be tempted to leave them on their own just for the fun of it. "You two can show me what you learn later-- I've got some stuff I have to do for photography. I wanna get some pictures while the morning light's still around."

Lizzie looks at me with wide eyes, as if asking how I could possibly leave her alone with Zack, but I'm almost positive she'll be thanking me later. Zack just nods, not seeming too bothered by the fact that I'm bowing out-- it doesn't take a genius to guess why. 

"Have fun!" I say, turning on my heel and heading back up towards the cabins before Lizzie can argue. If the two of them don't get together soon, I might have to start playing matchmaker, just for my sanity. I can only watch them watch each other for so long without going crazy.

I grab my camera from the cabin and head outside, determined that today will be the day I finally take a picture I'm proud of. But after thirty minutes of walking around camp, I have yet to see anything even remotely inspiring. The SD card on my camera is just as empty as it was when I left the cabin-- maybe I should have hung out with Lizzie and Zack after all.

I head to the lake, which is bustling with campers and staff. Some are swimming, others are paddling in canoes on the water, and a few are sitting along the dock with their feet in the lake as they talk and laugh.

I take a seat on the warm sand, watching as the morning sun sparkles against the small waves. My hands fidget with the camera in my lap, and I know that my lack of photo-taking obviously isn't the fault of my location-- I couldn't ask for a more beautiful subject.

"You get some good shots?" A familiar voice asks from behind me. I turn to see Ethan, and I have to correct myself-- I guess there are better-looking things than Lake Kintaw.

I smile in greeting as he sits on the sand next to me, and our close proximity sends a wave of nerves over me as I scrunch my nose and shake my head. "Not exactly. I'm sort of in a rut."

"Ah." Ethan nods knowingly. "Artists block. I know the feeling."

"I've had it before, but never for this long-- I haven't taken a decent picture in months. Every time I try, it just feels so..." I trail off and shrug, not even knowing how to describe it.

"Forced?"

"Yeah. Almost like I'm pretending to be a photographer, you know? Like I don't actually deserve to call myself one."

Ethan inhales sharply through his teeth, grimacing. "Sounds like artists block with a hefty serving of imposter syndrome on the side."

I let out a short laugh. "Thanks for the diagnosis. Do you always talk in kitchen metaphors?"

"More often than I'd like to admit-- it's sort of becoming a problem." He gives a half-smile. "Y'know, what helps me shake that sort of thing is to try something new. You tend not to be as hard on yourself when you're just figuring things out. Like, last winter I was really burnt out from doing a bunch of commissions, so I ditched my oil paints for a while and used watercolor instead. Most of the paintings were pretty embarrassing, but I knew they would be, so I didn't care. I ended up really liking watercolors, and the next time I used oil paint, I had sort of a new perspective."

"So if I'm burnt out from taking so many landscape photos, maybe I should try..." I raise my camera with the lens pointed in his direction. "Portraits?"

He raises his hand to block his face just as I snap a picture. I laugh and lower the camera as he cringes, shaking his head. "You've got the right idea, but you may want a better model."

Okay, so we can add humble to the ever-growing list of his redeeming qualities. 

"I've never been great in front of the camera-- you should see my high school yearbook photos. Every year I always looked like I just got a whiff of rotten egg." He laughs, and I have to say that I sincerely doubt that's true. And if it is, maybe it's only fair-- every male model in the business would be out of a job if Ethan looked the same on camera as he did in real life. "Anyway, apart from your art block, how're you liking camp so far?"

"It's... a lot different than I expected," I answer, knowing this wasn't how I imagined Camp Create It would be back when I was friends with Mei, or how I thought it would go when Dad told me I'd be coming.

Ethan raises an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. "What's different?"

"Well... I told you on the trail about what happened with Mei."

He nods. "She betrayed you for Rita, and now you're all in a prank war that probably has something to do with the bag of underwear Shaefer found in his cabin this morning."

I press my lips together, barely managing to hold back a grin. I should've known he would've heard about it and put two and two together.

"You know, I do have this vague memory of three campers sneaking around the staff area, but I might've been dreaming."

"Sounds like one crazy dream," I joke, glad to see that he's amused by what we did. "But yeah, Mei and I weren't friends anymore, so I sort of figured I'd be alone at camp. And I wasn't really looking to make any new friends, but..."

"But it seems like you're pretty close with Liz," he fills in. "I see you two together all the time."

"She's sweet. It's sort of impossible not to get close to her, even if I know I shouldn't."

"Why not?"

I shrug, feeling my face heat up under his intense, furrowed gaze. "I dunno. I guess my last friendship sort of left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't ever want to go through that kind of thing again."

He nods, looking out to the lake, seemingly deep in thought. A few seconds of silence pass, filled by the chatter and laughter of the teens around us.

"There will always be Rita's and Mei's in the world, but there's a lot of people like Lizzie, too. And if you shut out everyone to avoid the bad... the good can't get through, either," Ethan finally says, still watching the water as he speaks. "Sometimes you have to go through something that's wrong for you to appreciate when the right thing comes along."

I don't know what to say, since Ethan's words are the exact thing I've been trying to avoid confronting.

"Yo, Ethan!" A distant voice calls from somewhere behind us. We turn, and a male counselor standing on the dirt path waves his hand in a come here motion. "Vinnie needs help unloading the truck!"

Ethan sighs, turning to me with a one-shouldered shrug. "Duty calls."

"Thanks for the advice," I blurt, motioning to my camera. 

He smiles as he stands. "You know, in that dream I had, I seem to remember us making a deal about a painting."

I watch the distant staff member sway with impatience as he waits for us to finish talking. "Well... I'd hate to break a deal."

"The day after tomorrow, I'll meet you outside the painting building after breakfast?"

I hesitate, and the guy calls for Ethan again. Ethan raises his eyebrows at me, playfully urging for an answer.

"Yeah, okay. I'll be there," I agree, holding back a million questions. Am I supposed to dress a certain way, or do my hair and makeup? How long will it take? I don't know if I'm prepared to hold a conversation with him for much longer than this one-- my nerves are so shot I can hardly think straight, and that wasn't even ten minutes. Let's hope he's a fast painter, otherwise I'm at a severe risk of embarrassing myself.

"Great-- I'll see you then," he says, raising a hand in goodbye before heading in the direction of his friend. I turn back to the lake, my body buzzing with excitement. 

I pick up my camera again, finally looking at the picture I jokingly took of Ethan. I scoff to myself-- "not great in front of a camera" my ass. The picture caught him mid-laugh, and his playful smile and squinted eyes are just visible through his open fingers that attempt to block the camera. Everything is slightly blurred thanks to the haphazard way I took the photo, but it only adds to the overall liveliness. Sunlight dances on his brown skin and creates a golden haze that drenches everything in a nostalgic warmth. 

The longer I look, the more I realize the picture has broken my streak of photos that felt empty and contrived. This one is different-- it's fun, it's natural, and it makes me feel something. For the first time in a long time, I don't regret pressing the shutter button.

Thank you guys so much for 1k reads! 😄💛

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