Chapter Text
Janis was getting ready for her junior year of college at NYU. She had gotten a full scholarship to study for her Collaborative Arts degree as a bachelor of Fine Arts candidate. It was challenging, especially because she had to work with multiple different artistic disciplines, but she found that she enjoyed the challenge. It had pushed her to become a more well-rounded artist, especially since she was interested in exploring and improving art in therapy settings.
When she was in middle school, art therapy had saved her life, and she wanted to work in the same field, which was why she was minoring in psychology. Since her goal was to work in art therapy with minors who had gone through traumatic events and were dealing with mental health struggles, she had a Childhood Development course. Aside from the materials she had to study and the exam she had to take, she also had to notch a minimum of 200 hours working with children.
Most of Janis' classmates had opted to work at private schools with teenagers once the school year began. But, Janis found a listing about a music camp in upstate New York that needed counselors.
It was a camp for kids from 6 to 16 years old that had an affinity, or even just a love for music, performance, and theater. She had applied and gotten the job and she was very excited to start.
The camp was going to last for 6 weeks, during which the counselors got three nights off per week. They had to sleep over at the camp, but they could go out and be young once the kids were settled in after dinner.
Janis liked that because most of her friends were New York-based. Her two closest friends at NYU, who she had been roommates in freshman year, shared an apartment in Queens. Janis, on the other hand, lived with Damian, who was studying at Julliard, in an apartment in Brooklyn.
She was still friends with Cady, who was studying something with math at MIT and they met up when they could. Janis and Damian hung out with Aaron, Cady's boyfriend, too, who was at Princeton University as a soccer player.
She also saw Gretchen Wieners, who studied political science at Columbia, and Karen Shetty, who was a successful beauty influencer, regularly.
Janis hadn't expected to ever be friends with two thirds of the plastics, but it happened. After the Burn Book and Regina getting hit by a bus, Cady forced the two groups to hang out. Janis stayed the hell away from Regina, no matter how much everyone told her she had changed, but she found that she liked Gretchen and Karen.
The third and biggest piece of the plastics puzzle, Janis had no contact with. It was strange because Regina George was the only one of that high school friend group to also go to NYU, but Janis wanted nothing to do with her. They had seen each other a few times on campus, but they barely acknowledged each other, and they definitely weren't friends. They just had to be in each other's presence when they went out for their mutual friends' birthdays.
Janis understood that Regina was no longer that person who traumatized her, but she was still filled with rage at the sight of her. Regina had betrayed her trust and hurt her worse than anyone, and Janis couldn't get over that.
Everyone else had fallen for her "the bus crash changed me, I'm a good person now" act, but not Janis. She saw it for what it was, an act. She knew that deep down she was still the same mean, duplicitous Regina that had ruined her life.
Janis' life had been good, great even, since Regina left it.
That morning, Janis rode on the van that the camp owners had provided to take them to the site. Janis, like most New Yorkers, didn't own a car, so she got to knew a few of her fellow counselors on the trip there.
When they arrived at the location, her eyes widened. She had gone to summer camps as a kid too, but she was beyond impressed by what she was seeing.
There were dozens of wooden bungalows spread across a large grass surface, all under large oak and pine trees. There was a paved path that wound throughout the camp, but aside from that, the parking lot was the end of the concrete.
"Welcome everyone!" A middle aged black woman with long braids approached them with a smile "This is camp Emerald, yes, like the Emerald City of Oz."
Janis, along with the others chuckled at her joke.
"Oh, here comes our last counselor." The woman said, nodding to the parking lot, where a large SUV-- a Range Rover, Janis was pretty sure, pulled up.
A moment later, a familiar blonde figure stepped out of the car, and Janis' mouth dropped open. There was Regina George, in all her blonde glory, dressed in a pair of loose-fit distressed jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt.
She pushed her sunglasses up to the top of her head as she approached with a smile.
"Sorry I'm late, I missed a turn." She offered, making Janis scowl. She wouldn't put it past Regina to arrive late just to make an entrance.
"Oh, that's okay." The woman said "Now that we are all here, my name is Kendra Holmes, me and my wife, Layla own and run this camp."
"Let's do the tour of the camp, and then we can all get to know each other." Kendra told them, and then she started moving.
Janis, during the tour, learned that there were three age groups at the camp-- 6-10 years old, 11-14 years old, and 15-16 years old. They typically divided the three categories of kids into two groups each, if there were enough kids, and each of the categories got a section of the camp to themselves.
Of course, all of the age groups ate together and were allowed to socialize, but since it was a music camp, and the goal was to teach them something about playing instruments, dancing, and singing, they found it best to keep them separate.
The youngest group of kids had the most downtime during the day, since the counselors only had 3-4 hours of work on music-related tasks with them, while the remaining time went into playing and socializing.
Aside from a mini soccer pitch and a basketball court, the camp also had an amphitheater, which Kendra told them had already existed, which was why they got the property and made it into a music camp.
They all settled in the amphitheater audience as she came to stand before them at the end of their tour.
"Now, you're gonna introduce yourselves one by one," Kendra informed them "and I'm gonna tell which group you've been assigned to."
There were 10 counselors in total, including Janis and Regina, so it didn't take to long before it was Janis' turn.
"Hi, everyone, my name is Janis 'Imi'ike, I am studying Collaborative Arts with a minor in psychology." She introduced herself.
"Nice to see you again, Janis." Kendra shot her a smile "You've been assigned to the 6-10 age group with one other counselor, since there aren't enough kids for two groups."
"Great." Janis smiled at her. She liked all kids, but she always got along better with the younger ones. Teenagers pissed her off sometimes.
In all honesty, Janis didn't pay attention while Kendra doled out the others' assignments, until she got to the last person left without an assignment.
"Hi, everyone, my name is Regina George and I'm usually not late," The blonde said, making everyone laugh and Janis roll her eyes "I'm studying psychology with a minor in neuroscience."
Janis' eyes widened when she heard that. None of their mutual friends were allowed to discuss Regina with her, and when they were in the same place, Janis ignored her, so she had had no idea what she was studying.
"We're happy to have you here," Kendra smiled at her "you've been assigned to the 6-10 group, with Janis."
Janis' mouth dropped open, and she barely stopped herself from protesting. It was just her fucking luck that she had to look after a bunch of children with the single most selfish, self-centered, manipulative person she had ever met.
"Let me show you to your bungalows," Kendra announced and they all followed her "each of you has an individual bungalow, while the kids' bungalows have four beds each."
Janis and Regina were the last ones left in the group, while all of the other counselors went to get settled before dinner, and Janis made it a point to ignore the blonde.
"These two bungalows are yours." Kendra explained "The four bungalows opposite yours, with the red pirate flag will be for the kids in your age group."
Janis stepped inside her own bungalow. It wasn't anything fancy-- it had a bed, a couch, a coffee table, a shelf with some books, a wardrobe for clothes, and a small bathroom with a shower, toilet, and sink. It was almost like a dorm room, except Janis didn't have a roommate, which she was very grateful for, because she didn't want to catch a murder charge at music camp.
"It's not the Ritz-" Kendra started explaining, but Regina cut her off, her words audible.
"It's great, Kendra." The blonde said, and Janis could hear her smile in the words. If she didn't know better, she would've believed her.
"If there are no questions," Kendra cleared her throat, standing in front of their bungalows, which were side by side "I'll see you both at 7 in the dining hall for dinner."
"See you." Janis shot her a smile.
Janis watched Kendra walk out of earshot, and then out of sight, and once she was sure there was no one around to overhear, she stalked over into Regina's bungalow.
"What the fuck are you doing here?!" She demanded.
Regina, who was unpacking one of her two suitcases looked at her for a brief moment, smiled, and then kept unpacking.
"Hi, Janis," She drawled "nice to see you too."
"Cut the shit, Regina, what are you doing here?!" Janis growled, not in the mood for non-funny jokes.
"I am working as a music camp counselor." Regina replied evenly, making Janis clench and unclench her fists a few times.
"Regina..." She muttered, trying not to lose her temper.
"I need 200 hours of work with kids for the Childhood Development class I'm taking next semester, Janis." The blonde shared, rolling her eyes "I promise you this has nothing to do with you."
"I don't want to spend the next 6 weeks working with you." Janis huffed, crossing her arms.
"I didn't ask." Regina shot back easily.
"Why don't you just go pay to get the hours signed off on and go do whatever spoiled rich people do in the summer." Janis retorted, which made Regina rise to her feet and step closer.
"What the fuck did you just say?" She asked, and Janis fought the urge to tense up and step back.
"Oh, don't tell me you actually want to be here working with kids." Janis snorted challengingly.
"I don't need to tell you anything." Regina countered sharply "I am here to do the job I was hired to do, just like you. Hate me all you want, but I'm not going anywhere. If it bothers you so much, you quit."
"I'm not quitting a great summer job because of you." Janis muttered, scowling. Who did Regina think she was?!
"Then, we're at an impasse." Regina shrugged "Neither of us is going anywhere and tomorrow we get a busload of kids to look after. So, if you can be a grownup about it, that'd be great."
"How dare-"
"Janis, you came into my bungalow, attacking me." Regina cut her off "I'm not gonna let our history affect the kids we're taking care of. Try not to either."
Janis stood there, taken aback by how mature Regina sounded. She almost managed to convince Janis that she had changed.
"Whatever." Janis rolled her eyes.
"If there's nothing else, I'll see you at dinner." Regina nodded towards the door, clearly dismissing Janis.
She wanted to stay and yell at Regina until the blonde left, but she knew there was no point. Regina George did what Regina George wanted to do. There was no power on earth, not even a speeding bus that could stop her from getting to her goals.
So, Janis decided to pick her battles and go back to her bungalow. It was going to be a challenging 6 weeks, not just because she'd been in charge of taking care of and mentoring a bunch of kids, but also because she'd have to share that responsibility with none other than Regina George.