𝐈 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐃𝐎 ― e. caswell ⁴ ✓

009

Violetta placed a large smile on her face and walked up to Quinn. "Quinn, hey. I just have a quick question, if you have a minute?"

"For my leading lady, thirty seconds," Quinn answered.

She laughed slightly. "Right. So, my schedule says that all the scenes I have left — besides the big reunion song with everybody — are all with Mack in this area of school."

"Fifteen seconds, still no question."

"I was hoping that we could just shoot like crazy and get it all done . . . like, today."

Quinn officially looked at her. "Wow. What an exciting idea. Listen, not only is it not your job to set the shooting schedule, but getting it all done would require a lot of time and a seasoned cast, which, frankly, you are not."

Mack suddenly stepped up beside her. "But V-Force has been killing it. And I think it'd be a relief for the crew if we got ahead of schedule for once."

"Okay, kids, here's some great advice. No is a complete sentence. Thanks."

Violetta, however, was a master at stuff like this — she let out a sigh and glanced at Mack. "Yeah, honestly, I'm really sorry. It was just ridiculous of me to think that just because Maria Jay said Directing is a team sport in her cover story for The Hollywood Reporter, that you would be as inclusive as her."

"Maria Jay?" Quinn repeated. "That hack that directed This is Where the Money Went? A faint shadow of my Sundance runner-up film, Where Has All the Money Gone?"

"Yeah. You know, I heard the cast actually bought her a Tesla."

"I'm hearing awards buzz," Mack admitted.

Violetta nodded. "I hear them too."

Quinn suddenly grabbed her microphone. "Okay, listen up, everyone. Change of plans. Today is going to be a marathon, because I, Quinn, the director of this film, have decided so by myself."

Violetta smirked, waiting for her to walk away fully before raising her hand to Mack. "Up top."

Mack hit his hand against hers in a high-five. "No way."

"Thanks for having my back."

"Any time, V-Force."

Violetta scrunched her nose up a little bit. "We really have to do something about that nickname."

Mack chuckled. "Absolutely not."

The cast and crew got everything ready. Violetta now stood in the Miss Darbus classroom setup next to Mack, moving some of her hair off of her shoulder.

"All right, people," Quinn announced. "Hi, yes. Today, we are attempting to shoot twenty-two pages. If we make our day, we will break the record famously set by the crew of The Revenant who shot all of the forest stuff in an hour because the bear was in heat."

Mack tapped on Violetta's shoulder, and she turned to him. "So, you ready to crush it? No prisoners today, just gotta nail that chemistry. That's our only job . . . as friends." He then punched her shoulder again. "Best friends."