Chapter Text
START - RHONDA ROSEN. YEAR 1, AGE 11. ROLE: CAMPER.
The first time Rhonda went to a summer camp she was 11 years old. She was unaware of the name for being straight and the possibility of not being that. She was unaware of anything gay, and that’s how her parents planned on raising her.
Other girls would talk about their crushes on boys, and how they made them feel and how happy they were to live a normal, white picket fence life: get a boyfriend, get married, have children, be a stay at home wife while their husband worked at a job. And some girls were against that, wanting a more rebellious or different life. But none of them mentioned liking girls, so Rhonda, like she had her whole life, assumed there were no other options.
Except she felt different, because she didn’t really want any of that, and she felt all those feelings, others felt towards men, towards women. She decided she was just wrong, she would get a husband like all the others, it’s not possible to feel romantically about women when you yourself are a woman.
And with that decision, she forgot about it entirely, waiting for her crushes on boys. They never came, so what? Maybe they weren’t good enough, or she’d meet someone else elsewhere.
And now she was going to a theatre related summer camp. She was excited, although very nervous. She loved theatre, and she was glad her parents allowed her to go, although they might not even notice she’s gone. But she’d never spent that much time away from home, she hardly went to any sleepovers and she never got opportunities to stay overnight anywhere, except on vacations, even then her family was still there.
She walked on the bus, swallowing down her anxiety. She took a seat near the back.
Looking out the window she kept to herself, not making eye contact with any others. The bus drove to houses, picking other kids up, she didn’t look at them, mostly out of fear, partly out of disinterest. The bus shook around, like buses do, which never quite bothered her. They drove up to a dull blue house, a dog barking in the window.
A girl walked out of the house, saying final goodbyes to who Rhonda assumed was her grandma. Normally Rhonda wouldn’t stare at someone for long, but this girl peaked her interest.
She wore a shirt of a band Rhonda was sure came from the early 2000s or late 1990s, and she had these orange converse that Rhonda thought was cool, and a plush charm on the belt loop of her shorts.
Unlike with any others, she watched the girl as she walked down the aisle, the girl seemed to notice her, stopping at her seat. “Hello! Can I sit with you?” Rhonda panicked for a moment before getting out a small nod. What was wrong with her? She never felt this way…
Rhonda played with her curly, dark brown hair, which she wanted to cut so badly, her parents thought it was cute as is, which was around down to her shoulder blades. She hated it so much, if she saw a pair of scissors lying around and a mirror this summer, she might cut it herself, her parents would hardly notice anyway.
“I’m Quinn, you?” The girl beside her introduced herself.
“Rhonda.” She said quietly, staring all over Quinn’s face.
Quinn smiled wider, “That’s pretty, I have an aunt with that name!”
Rhonda smiled, her anxious (yet starstruck) expression and frown fading away, her nerves calming down at the sunshiney girl beside her. “That–That’s cool.”
She let her talk her ears off throughout the drive, not minding it one bit. At least it won’t be that nerve wracking if this girl is around. Though she should figure out what these odd feelings may be.