Chapter Text
2
The car ride was long. Longer than Evan had expected. The camp was only a state over, so Evan had thought the car ride would be relatively short. It might’ve been because Evan’s mom was talking non-stop about any possible thing that could happen at camp, and going over her work hours and phone numbers, and addresses of all family members (minus his dad’s, but Evan knew that one).
“Mom, could you maybe focus on the road and not all this stuff that you could send me in a text?” Evan muttered. Heidi looked at the dashboard mirror and made eye-contact with Evan through it.
“Sorry honey…I’m just so excited for you! Oh, look only thirty minutes until we are there. Please send letters! There are very strict cell phone policies even among counselors! Did I mention the address to Grandma Sallie’s summer home? You should definitely write to her! She will be so excited for you!”
Whatever else Evan’s mom was saying slowly faded into the background as Evan stared out the window at the road as it passed by. 30 minutes passed just as slowly as the rest of the time Evan had been in the car, but soon they were pulling into a gravel path, and made it to a large gate. It was like in movies when going into a mansion. And that’s pretty much what The Rune Place was. A huge mansion for rich kids to run around in with help from older kids.
When they got to the entrance, Evan’s mom rolled down the window, and pressed the silver button that was on a small box with little holes. This was probably how the office communicated with people trying to go in. A security camera was above it.
“Hello?” a gravelly voice from the box said,
“Hello! I am Heidi Hansen here to drop off my son Evan Hansen because he’s gonna be a camp counselor here.” Evan’s mom looked back at Evan for a second. She looked more excited than Evan felt.
“Evan Hansen..” There was a rustling of papers. “Ah yes, welcome! The training for counselors starts in fourty minutes. Mr. Hansen seems to be in the Aspen Heights cabin, so drive over there first to drop off stuff, and then the exit is on the other side of this gravel.” Evan’s mom barely had time to say thank you before a loud squeaking sound could be heard as the gates opened slowly. Evan winced. They definitely needed to oil those hinges.
Evan’s mom drove the car through the gravel and followed the signs labeled ‘Counselor Cabins’ to a little village of well...they weren’t much of cabins and more like medium sized houses. Evan felt his jaw drop. Aspen Heights was bigger than his own house! Evan’s mom pulled into one of the parking spaces still open outside of Aspen Heights. There were already four cars parked outside of the cabin, Evan noticed that one of the license plates was also labeled as “New York” New york was a big state, so Evan hoped that he didn’t see anybody that he knew. Of course, that’s when Evan’s brain decided to remind him of Connor’s existence and how he had said “I’ll see you at The Rune Place, right?” Connor had also gotten in, so if Evan saw him, he might very possibly die because of the whole thing at graduation and the interview and–Evan needed to stop thinking for a second.
Evan pushed open the door to help his mom unload his stuff. Evan hadn’t brought a lot, though, just a suitcase and backpack. So once the suitcase was on the ground, and Evan was wearing his backpack, he basically shooed his mom off. He was ready to have her clutches released. She gave him one last crushing hug, seventy more reminders, and then she had pulled out of the driveway, and was gone. Evan stood there for a second, watching the trees sway where the wind blew them, and just as he turned to go inside, another car pulled up in the spot his mom had just left.
Evan turned back around and saw it was another “New York” license plate. The windows were tinted, but Evan thought he saw four people in the car. Two up in the front, and two in the back. Evan decided to not stick around to find out who they were and just head into his new cabin (house) for the next two months.
Evan opened the door and looked around. In the first area, there was a shoe wrack and umbrella stand, as well as a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. On the wall, there was a map and each area of the house was labeled. As well as room arrangements. Evan decided not to look at that just yet, and look at the schedule posted right next to it. Each day for the next two weeks was listed as “Session One” There was a schedule for today, also because it was the day before opening. In big letters listed at 11:30 was “COUNSELOR TRAINING IN DINING HALL” Evan checked his watch, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw it was only 11:09. Evan would memorize session one’s events later today after the training. Evan noticed hooks that had different keys on it. It was labeled “HOUSE KEYS - DO NOT LOSE” There were two left, so Evan tucked one into his sweater pocket and made a mental note to check it every second.
Evan turned back to the map of the house and looked through it quickly. He noticed “DINING ROOM - BREAK TIME USE ONLY” as well as “KITCHEN - NO USING THE OVEN WITHOUT SUPERVISION.” Evan wondered if there had been prior accidents. The stairs were labeled, and at the top of the stairs, were the rooms. “ROOM ONE - JARED KLEINMAN AND ERIC MASIELLO.” Jared?! Had Evan’s mom and Jared’s mom collaborated or something? Ugh. Before Evan could check room two, the door opened and Evan got to hear someone shouting,
“FUCK YOU ZOE!” Evan startled and turned around to face a (might be malicious) kid who stepped in the entryway. They made eye contact and before Evan recognized who it was he just muttered,
“You know..you...you can’t-you can’t s-swear around kids.” Then Evan recognized the long-ish brown hair and yellow messenger bag slung around one shoulder as Connor Murphy. Evan was so fucked. Before Evan’s mind caught up to him, though, Connor just shrugged.
“Meh, I’ll work on that skill tomorrow.” So Evan was in a cabin (house?) with Connor Murphy. Why was he freaking out exactly? Connor had been nothing but nice to him since their first accidental encounter in the interview office. Evan blamed it on his anxiety, but maybe he was a bit scared of Connor? He didn’t quite know.
But, as Connor stood next to him reading the map, he tried to shake off his jitters. “ROOM 2 - MATTHEW JILTERN AND DAVID GRANDIN''
Nobody Evan knew...”ROOM 3 - CONNOR MURPHY AND EVAN HANSEN.”
So...Evan was just very unlucky.
Apparently, Evan and Connor had read that piece of information at the same time and they both made eye contact again. Which, Evan found scary and immediately looked down to the floor.
“So, I guess we’re roommates.” Evan just nodded in response. They made their way silently up the stairs and Evan checked the time once again. 11:15. How had it been that long already?! They had only fifteen minutes to make their way to the dining hall and Evan had no idea where it was! Connor must have noticed Evan checking the time, because he said,
“Uh, what time is it?” To which Evan responded,
“E-eleven fifteen..” Connor nodded, not seeming that worried. Evan was confused, to say the least, but decided he didn’t want to question it.
They made it to their room. It was the third one down the hall with a sign on the door reading: ROOM 3. Evan turned open the knob and stepped inside. In the room, there were two twin sized beds with white sheets and white pillows. Two desks were also set up on the wall opposite of the beds. Two identical white reading lamps, and two identical white chairs. Connor snorted.
“The beds in the children’s dorms were more interesting than this.” Evan blinked,
“Y-you went to camp here?” Connor nodded absently,
“Yeah. So my parents didn’t have to deal with me and my sister for the summer. I didn’t even want to be a counselor at this camp...you’ll see it’s so so so boring.” Evan nodded, barely paying attention. He checked the time again - 11:23
“So, uh, which, uh, which bed do you..do you want?” Connor practically threw his stuff at the bed closer to the window, and plopped down on the bed, head buried in a pillow. Evan put his stuff on the floor next to the other bed, and turned to Connor again.
“Uh..since you’ve been here before..do you know how to get to the dining-the uh the dining roo-hall?” Connor looked up from where he lay.
“Yup. What time is it?”
“E-eleven twenty-f-four” Connor immediately sprang up from his bed, muttering
“Shit,” and then louder, “We need to leave now. The dining hall is like a ten minute walk from here...” Evan thought his eyebrows must’ve shot up his forehead as he screeched
“What?!!?” Connor grabbed onto Evan’s wrist, and ran down the stairs. Evan was pulled roughly behind. Somehow, they both made it down unscathed, Connor only stopped for a second, before pulling Evan along with him out of the house, off of the porch, and down the gravel street. Evan, trying very hard to keep up with Connor, who had really long legs, (unfair!) checked to make sure he still had the house key in his pocket. Luckily, it was there. They raced across the campus, past the main building and under an arched bridge. They passed a (blurry but confused-looking) lady on their way through a grass clearing and just when Evan thought that they had made it, Connor made a right turn. If Evan wasn’t already out of breath, he would’ve groaned as they continued to run in between random buildings and corridors until Connor stopped, out of breath in front of a large building with a clock on the front.
Connor stopped so abruptly that Evan wasn’t expecting it and crashed right into him. They almost toppled over and Connor let out a small snort. They stood in silence for a second, both letting out huffing breaths.
“What time is it now?” Evan checked his watch again
“11:31-we need to go!!” Evan muttered this breathlessly, but ran past Connor towards the open doors. Evan walked in, and saw a lady with bleached blonde hair standing on a table in the middle of the room. Around her were many, over 100 even, (highschool and probably college) students standing around her.
Connor had apparently also sprinted after Evan, but as Evan had slowed down, it was Connor’s turn to crash into Evan. Because of Evan’s balance, (or lack thereof) they both fell over, Connor landing right on top of Evan. Somebody, either Connor or Evan, had let out some unholy screech while they fell to the floor, so all of their fellow counselors (and the blonde lady on the table) turned in their direction.
Some let out small chuckles, some just stared. Connor, with more mind than Evan, got off of him, and offered his hand, muttering a small sorry. Evan blinked up in shock at him, getting hit with a sense of déjà-vu. He let out a laugh.
“This is the second t-time that y-you’ve, uh, you’ve knocked me over.” Evan muttered, finally taking Connor’s hand and standing up. Connor chuckled a bit, and put his hand on the back of his neck,
“Woops,” Evan first noticed the small pink that was on the sides of Connor’s ears, and secondly realized that people were still staring at them. Immediately Evan ducked his head with embarrassment. Now that’s the only thing most of Evan’s fellow counselors would remember him for: falling over on the first day of camp- while being late and totally interrupting the meeting.
“Join us over here, you two. Congrats on making an effort on not being late…grab a name tag over there, and write your name.” The lady on the table called to them. Evan ran over to one of the tables, which had a stack of name-tag stickers and markers. He could feel his face burning as eyes turned towards him, and he just closed his eyes for a second, trying to calm down. He heard Connor walk up next to him, and opened them.
Evan grabbed a sharpie, and a name tag sticker. Underneath the “Hello, my name is..” he wrote Evan as he listened to the lady on the table.
“Anyways…welcome to camp! As I was saying, this year so many counselors have come back, that any new counselors who have any unanswered questions can just find anybody with a yellow pin on their backpack starting tomorrow.
“The groups for counselors are 4-5 year olds, 6-7 year olds, 8-9 year olds, 10-11 year olds, 12-13 year olds, 14-15 year olds, and 16-17 year olds. Everybody in your specific cabin are for the same age group, but just your gender.”
Evan looked up from sticking on the name tag to his shirt, and made eye-contact with Jared. They just stared at eachother for a second, before Jared looked away to talk to the guy next to him. Evan realized that eye-contact with Jared didn’t really scare him. Huh. Evan had been excited to get away from home, but he felt that he was just back there. Well. Blame that on Jared, worry about it later.
Evan turned his attention back to the lady on the table.
“…There are about 40 children in each age group, that’s why there are so many counselors. I would say good luck, but my job is to teach you how to do your’s. That is gonna take more than just today’s meeting…uh what to expect from children: for the younger groups, lots of crying, for the middle groups, lots of ur mom jokes, and from the older groups lots of sarcasm. The seventeen year olds don’t listen, but they’re basically counselors themselves anyways, so good luck there.”
There was just too much to take in. Then, the lady from the table, (who Evan and Connor had obviously missed an introduction) jumped down to the ground, and started directing the counselors around. There were twelve counselors per group (6 girls, six guys) -but each day somebody was off in each gender, so there were ten counselors a day. They were handed paper schedules of what was posted in the entryway of their Cabin-house. Evan met the fellow counselors, and avoided eye-contact with Jared, even if it wasn’t scary, he just didn’t want to have to talk to him.
The new counselors were given a tour of the grounds. Connor tagged along even though he already knew the place.
“The Rune Place is fucking anchient, s’been around since like the 1960’s..I think the food’s gotten worse, though.” Connor muttered as they passed the kitchen (it was behind the dining hall, so they had made a big loop). The lady who had stood on the table previously, then sent them all back to their Cabin-Houses. When Evan checked the time, he was surprised to see it say 7:30. It wasn’t even that dark out!
Connor looked over Evan’s shoulder.
“Time flies when you’re slowly dying before real torture starts.” Connor said, and Evan, casting a frown back in Connor’s direction, walked towards what he thought was the direction of the village (of cabin-houses).
———————
Evan pulled shirts out of his suitcase to hang them up in the closet that him and
Connor shared. The sun had set hours ago, and Connor had wandered off to some other part of the house. So now Evan was alone.
Connor was cooler than Evan had thought. He had his nails painted black, and clunky doc martens. Not just his appearance made him cool, though. The way he talked was cool, and just. Evan thought Connor was cool. Unlike Jared.
Evan realized that he had no reason to be afraid of Connor, and there was no reason why he needed to dread rooming with him. That was just his anxiety talking, because Connor was cool. And just. Evan needed to shut his brain up about Connor being cool.
Even though he was.
Evan continued to unpack, when he heard a creak of floorboards near the doorway of his room, and he turned around, expecting to see Connor (just being cool) but instead was greeted by the somewhat smelly presence of Jared.
Evan looked down again, and continued to take shirts out of his suitcase to put in the closet.
“You can’t avoid me forever.” Evan continued unpacking. “Evan.” All of Evan’s shirts had been hung up or folded into the closest, on Evan’s side. So Evan pulled out his 23 pairs of socks. He grabbed a handful. Turned to go to the closet. Was met with Jared. Collision happened. Socks went flying.
“The reason I’m even here is because my mom knew you were coming from your mom! We need to talk at some point! I might have to pay for my own car insurance!” Jared shouted. That took a moment to set into Evan’s brain.
So his mom had told Jared’s mom about Evan being a camp counselor. So Jared was here ot report back to his mom, who in turn would report back to Evan’s mom. So Evan could just never catch a fucking break!
“Oh.” Instead, Evan said, “Sorry.” Evan bent down to pick up his socks. The anger that was boiling under his skin was not unbearable.
But Evan might send a strongly worded text message over to his mom if he could find the time after packing. That’s how angry he was.
Jared left when he saw that Evan was not going to respond with anything more than that.
As soon as Evan had finished unpacking, he collapsed onto his bed.