It was peaceful day in Camp Campbell, the sun was setting and the birds were chirping and the wind was blowing in such a way that it seemed to lull a certain camper to sleep.

"Oh Maaaaaaaaaax!"

The 10 year old's eyes shot open as the offending voice reached his ears. The silence and peacefulness immediately shattered as he spotted David running up to him by the lake.

"Yeah."

The redhead appeared suddenly in front of the ravenette, "Guess what we're doing in a few days!" Sparkles and stars practically bounced off the dude, which caused Max to roll his eyes. Out of irritation and fondness of course, but mostly irritation.

"Uh, camping maybe? We are in the woods afterall." He said in a dead tone. He didn't really care, Max was humoring him.

"Nuh-uh! Not now sport! Today I managed to rope Gwen into finally agreeing to make the Talent Show with me! Isn't that Great!" The supervisor was all smiles and rainbows while the young camper was clearly frowns and death as he glared at David, "Are. You. Fucking. Kidding me!" "Language! Now c'mon Max, it won't be so bad will it? You just need to participate in this one and I promise that if we ever do another one of these, you won't have to do it if you don't want to." David said kindly.

Max looked at the ground and mumbled, "Yeah, yeah alright. Maybe, I'll do it. But I want three bars of candy and no chores for a week."

"You got it kiddo! Alright the Talent show is at night after dinner, you better find something and start practicing! See you 'till then! Haha, just kidding I need to keep an eye on you kids so you'll probably be seeing me around a lot. Bye!"

The hoodie wearing kid just starred as David ran back into the councilor's cabin, "What the fuck did I get myself into."

"Neil! We have a problem!"

The brunette fell off the cot he was currently working in, "Oh hey Max, what's up?" The boy in question shoved a flyer for the Talent Show into the other boys hands, "This! This is what's up! What am I supposed to even do! I can't do this!" Max growled out, "How the fuck am I going to do this."

"Uh, well I'm doing a science experiment and Nikki is going to tame another wolf, I think the others are doing the things their parents signed them up for." Neil sat for a moment before continuing, "By the way Max, what did your parents sign you up for?"

Max glared at the taller boy, but the venom and irritation that was always in his eyes was no longer there. Instead it was void but with one emotion that Neil couldn't put his finger on. "It's none of your business Neil."

His science friend raised a brow before nodding, "Fine, fine I get it. I can help you look for something though! It might be at least a little bit fun, getting to know a bit more about you of course." The yellow clad kid smiled at his shorter friend. "C'mon! I bet we can find some things in the shed out back!" Max facepalmed, "How did I get roped into this."

"Hey look at all this cool junk! You any good with the- uh, whatever the heck this is." Neil held up the instrument so Max could see it better. Max blinked at the familiar object, "Uh, is that a bassoon? What the fuck is David doing having a bassoon here! Is that a harp?" Max pointed to the dark corner where there was indeed a harp.

"Uh I guess it is." Replied Neil. He walked closer to the instrument that was as tall, if not a few inches taller, than himself.

Max looked around the shed, "I think this is what used to be music camp before it was taken down." He bent over and picked up a torn paper of sheet music for the bassoon he was still holding. "Huh. Wonder if it still works."

Max blew the top of the bassoon and to Neil's and his own surprise, noise flew from the bottom, or opening. "Woah, Max! You could totally play an instrument for the Talent show! We have plenty of time to practice!" The taller exclaimed, stars in his eyes as he stared down his smaller friend. "You could learn the music and instrument in no time! Well at least for the one song. Now c'mon, what instrument do you think would be best for you! Maybe gui- hey where'd ya go?" Neil turned to face his friend to find he was no longer with him, instead he found him a few feet outside the shed.

"Max! Where are you going?" Neil shouted.

"To the Mess Hall? In case you haven't noticed, it's dinner time! And I'll be damned if I don't manage to snag something to eat before we start this hellhole." Grumbled Max. Neil hurried along and followed him to the Mess Hall at the center of the camp.

They managed to scavenge a few cups of pudding along with their dinner before they sat down. Just then David barged into the room holding up his trusty guitar, "Alrighty kids! Now I know you know about the talent show because I spoke to each and every one of you guys this morning and now it's time for you to pick a talent. You have until after dinner to choose! So if I were you, I'd make it quick!"

And with that, David exited the room with a bang and with a fork embedded in the door where is head would have been, courtesy of Max. He let out a long suffering sigh, "Ugh, what am I even going to do Neil, I don't know what to do for the Talent Show!" He pulled at his hair and started pacing. Neil watched in astonishment, he'd never seen his friend this stressed before. Other than that time he was planning to do something to David, or Gwen, sometimes Nurf, and when he lost something. So I guess you could say he's seen his friend this stressed before, just not over something as trivial as a Talent Show.

He put his hand on the still pacing kid, "It'll be fine Max, I'm sure you'll find something! C'mon let's go find Nikki, maybe she can help." Max let himself be dragged out of the Mess Hall by his friend. "Whatever."

"Hey Nikki! We need some help!"

"Coming down doc! Ha ha!" The green haired girl jumped down from her tree by the lake, "What'd ya need!" The small girl smiled at her two friends.

"We actually need help with finding Max a musical instrument he can do for the talent show tonight! We found this old shack filled with music sheets and a butt load of different instruments!" He said, "I figured that Max could play something!"

Nikki nodded thoughtfully, "Sounds good, but one problem. Where's Max! Does he even know how to play something?" Neil found himself turning full circle trying to find where his best friend ran off to. "What the heck! Where'd he go?" Nikki shrugged, "I don't know but we better go find him! Let's go nerd!" Together they ran off into the camp looking everywhere for their friend.

Max found himself back in the music shed. Tons of instruments filled the boxes and shelves and sheets of music littered the floor. He picked up a piece and studied the notes, it was something for the violin. Silently he rummaged around the boxes, looking for the instrument that suited the paper. He held it up triumphantly and found the least broken looking stand he could find. Steadily, he held the violin up to his chin and started to play.

Immediately all movement stopped as the sound of a violin filled the air. Sad, unbearably sad was the tune that had everyone stopping and staring. As soon as the melodic sound started, it ended and everyone was left wondering what had happened.

Max stopped from the brief playing and stared at the violin, contempt and irritation in his stare. Yet there was an underlying sadness and nostalgia in his eyes. An ache settled into his bones and he put back the instrument, unaware of the four pairs of eyes that watched from the window.

"Oh my god, Max can play the violin for the Talent Show! I have to talk to him about this! What if he knows the guitar!" David squealed, he actually squealed. Before he could walk in Gwen pulled him back by the old camp T-shirt tied around his neck.

"What do you think you're doing!" She hissed. David coward but forced a nervous smile on his face, "W-what do you mean Gwen? I only want to ask Max if he knows guitar after that amazing performance, no matter how short it lasted!" Gwen sighed and rubbed her fingers against her temple, "I don't have time for this. Look, David, there's probably a reason why Max has never mentioned this to any of us. There's also a reason why confronting him about this won't help! The violin is obviously very personal to him, imagine how uncomfortable it'll make him feel if he finds out about this."

Immediately David stopped and sighed defeated, "I guess you're right." Gwen nodded and gave a pat on the back, "I'm always right."

Neil sighed and spoke up, "So what are we even going to do now-"

"Wait, where's Nikki." Suspicion and apprehension creeping into her voice. Neil's eyes widened and spotted her outside the shed door, "Nikki don-"

Nikki barged in with a yell, "Heya Max!"

Max almost jumped as he was startled out of his musing from his green haired friend who just barged into the shed. "Nikki?"

"Haha, who else would it be silly? Say, I didn't know you could play violin! That is so cool Max! Is this the camp your parents si-" Gwen made a mad dash for it and covered Nikki's mouth, "Uh, hi Max? Alrightigottagobuti'llseeyoulaterhahahabye!" Gwen grabbed Nikki and raced out of the shed, with barely a glance back at Max who stood confused and small in the dark shed with the music papers and instruments. "What the fu-"

"-ck was that Nikki!" She practically screamed into the girl's face. Said girl rolled her eyes at the camp counselor, "Geez, chill Gwen what could possibly go wrong." Gwen had carried Nikki into the counselor's cabin as Neil and David followed and sat down on the chairs provided.

"I want you to remember that five minutes from now when you confront Max about this and everything goes wrong." Neil said sarcastically. Nikki and Gwen ignored him and continued, "Did you not hear what I just said before all this! You can't confront Max about that!"

"Uh, Gwen,"

"WHAT!"

Neil continued, "I'm pretty sure Max already knows, I mean, Nikki managed to get quite a few things out back there."

Gwen swerved to Nikki, a wild glint in her eyes, or maybe it was just desperation. "What. Did you. Say."

Nikki gulped, "Uh, I might have asked how he knew how to play violin and said that it was cool, hinting that we were listening. Can you blame me woman! That was the music of the Gods!" Nikki interrupted before Gwen could speak. "Yeah, he was really good." David said quietly, "Why doesn't he play more often."

Gwen glared hard at him, "We said we wouldn't confront him about this but it seems that we're going to anyways."

Nail glanced out the window to find it was already night and the stage near the lake was lit, "Hey uh, aren't you guys supposed to be running a talent show right now?"

"WHAT!" Both counselors exclaimed at once, "Oh man, oh man, oh man! What time is it! Gwen we have to get down there right now, we can talk to Max after this, I don't think he's going to show up after what happened! Hurry!" Gwen and David sped out of the cabin to rush towards the stage and left Nikki and Neil hurrying after them.

Max was waiting behind the stage slowly breathing in and out to calm his nerves. He's done this before, when he was younger, why was he so nervous now? He gripped the violin tighter, he had adjusted the strings so it would sound right when he played. He was last which wasn't helping him calm, they had already gone through two of the contestants, Neil and Nikki. Max let out a frustrated sigh, god he couldn't believe he was doing this. Why was he doing this? He could be escaping Camp by now!

Max growled and slumped against the wooden post and stared at the water. God, this was so stupid, just suck it up, play, and get off the stage when finished.

"Why am I doing this." He mumbled dryly.

Four campers have gone by now. He was going last and four campers were already done. He could hear Nikki and Neil calling around, probably for him.

The 10 year old sighed and slumped his head against the the post, he had memorized the sheet music so he didn't need the stand, but just in case.

Max pulled out the music and studied the notes again, engraving them once again into his memory.

His parents called him a prodigy but paid no attention when he tried to do be one. They called him smart when he got all A's but paid no attention to the poor bruises covering his arms. His parents acted like they cared but really didn't, he found that out two years ago. They'd been acting since he was born. Preston would probably be proud of their acting skills.

There was only one more camper left before him.

Nurf threw the knife at the dummy he found and nailed it straight in the head. He'd decided to show off his knife throwing skills at the Talent Show, mostly to show he meant business with a knife, also because he just really liked throwing knives.

David cleared his throat nervously, "Ah, yes, t-thank you Nurf for that uh, excellent performance!"

Nurf made eye contact at Harrison and glared, "You know what I can do nerd." The small magician nodded frantically and moved away silently as the bully sat next to him.

Gwen cleared her throat to announce the next camper, "U-uh yes thanks Nurf for that. And the next contestant we have is, Max!?"

"MAX?"

The other campers were surprised, they all kind of expected Max to ditch it and spend the night escaping. Some were wary about what Max was about to do, would he set the stage on fire? Set up a dummy and rig it with explosives? Would he just walk on stage and flip them all off? The campers didn't know what to think when the small boy walked on stage with a violin.

Nikki and Neil both looked up to the stage in surprise as their friend, clad in his token blue hoodie walked up on stage, pointed to the crowd and gave a look that quite literally meant 'shut up or die'. The violin was clenched tightly in his small hands as he raised it to his chin. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and began to play.

The song was Youth by Daughter. Every camper had heard the song before and was surprised when it was played by the violin. It was fitting.

The song was usually played with a guitar, but when Max played it on his violin, it sounded right. The tune was sad and light which sounded weird but that was all that Gwen could use to explain it. Making fun or being sarcastic of a sad or depressing situation. It made some of the campers tear up, even Nurf.

The sound resonated over the lake, being heard by all the camps surrounding it. It was faint but well enough to be heard. The birds and crickets stopped and time seemed to stand still as the song echoed over the woods.

All too soon the song was finished. Max slowly opened his and without a word left the stage, leaving the audience in astonishment. No one knew what to say, not even David who always had something to say.