Page 23 of Disharmony

“He’s only saying that because he likes to watch girls shake their asses,” Cookie whispers in my ear, making me giggle.

The punch is going to my head.

“It’ll be the same as last year.” Leila rolls her eyes. “More of the Tiffany Show. Last year, my roommate was so close to being on the final stage. Until—”

“Shh,” Cookie interrupts, quickly looking around to make sure no one else is listening. “We’re not allowed to talk about it, remember?”

“You’re not still scared of them, are you?” Leila shakes her head. “We’re here now, aren’t we? They’ve got nothing to threaten us with.”

Conor puts his hand on her shoulder. “This isn’t the time, Lei.”

“I thought a storm canceled last year’s show?” I ask, picking up on the building tension in the group.

“Yes, it did,” Declan says unconvincingly.

Before I can ask more, a cringe-inducing beat erupts from the speakers across the sand.

“This is a Locket original,” Tiffany announces, locking eyes with Zach. “We will be performing our new song, calledOne Chance.”

“One chance to make me puke,” Leila mutters under her breath. She puts on her headphones and downs the rest of her drink. “I can’t listen to this. I’ll catch you later.”

Conor looks torn. “Do you want me to walk with—”

“No,” she shoots him down abruptly. “I want to be alone, okay?”

Her retreating figure moves into the trees and disappears from sight.

“What was all that about?” I ask Cookie.

“There’s some… history,” she says. Her eyes narrow and rest on Tiffany’s blonde mane. “Let’s just get through their song and give her the applause she wants, okay?”

We shuffle over to watch their performance. The beat is catchy, and the lyrics get stuck in my head like an annoying fly I can’t swat away… but they’re empty. The words repeat over and over like an advertisement. What the song lacks in depth, they make up for with a perfectly choreographed dance that is timed with the precision of an Olympic synchronized dive. Like Tiffany’s song in McCallister’s class, it’s been impeccably rehearsed.

Everyone breaks out into cheers as the song comes to a close.

“Thank you!” Tiffany bows like she’s singing to a stadium of thousands, then turns eagerly to Zach. “What did you think?”

“It has real potential, Tiff,” he says.

“Tiff! He called her Tiff!” One of the other campers squeals “Did you hear that?”

Tiffany beams, enjoying being the center of attention.

Zach turns to the onlookers. “Now, who’s next?”

“Next?” Tiffany’s voice wavers, and her bottom lip trembles. “What do you mean?”

“When we came to Camp Harmony and partied on the beach, it was a chance for anyone to perform,” Zach explains, then addresses everyone else. “Any takers?”

Even if someone wants to perform, no one will volunteer to go after Tiffany. Tiffany’s jaw tenses. While she’s not a fan of Zach’s suggestion, she has a difficult decision to make. On one hand, she wants to impress him. On the other hand, she can’t risk being overshadowed.

“Oh yeah, of course,” Tiffany simpers, deciding that brown-nosing Zach is the better of the two options. She lets out a fake laugh that sounds like she’s choking on spicy food. Her eyes scan the crowd for a victim to perform and land on me. “Ashley, how about you?”

Everyone spins to face me. Their judgmental stares make my skin crawl. The bitch isn’t picking me to be nice. She wants to make an example of me, just like McCallister tried to. After our auditions, she’s expecting me to screw up and wants to reaffirm how I don’t belong here, while trying to trick Zach into thinking she’s a nice person.

“Thanks, but I’m good.” I glower at her. Singing in front of Levi was enough humiliation for one day. “Someone else can go.”

“But you were so good earlier!” Tiffany insists. Her perfectly white straight teeth are unnaturally perfect. “There’s even a guitar. You feel better behind a guitar, don’t you? This is your first camp party, why not make it count?”

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