Josephine scoffed, mostly to herself, but it was still noticeable, "I'm not trying to get on the show. They're just my friends. I'm certain the administration wouldn't mind me being friendly with our visitors. Have a good rest of your day, Pepper." She turned on her heel and made her way to the classroom, popping her head in to quickly announce that she would be in the library to her teacher. Once he sent her a nod of approval she shot him a dazzling smile and began to make her way to where Josh was waiting for her. Jo made sure that Pepper was out of sight, knowing that she would spare no time to tell on her for going to the roof without permission.
The second she opened the door, she saw Josh leaning his head against the rails as it sat in his hands. She rushed up the stairs to reach him, engulfing him in a hug when she did. "I missed you!"
He chuckled, rubbing his hand up and down her back, "Joey, it's been 10 minutes." She huffed, pulling him tighter in her arms, "I know."
Once Jo finally let go, she sat down where they sat a few nights ago, pulling out a piece of paper from her notebook. "Wanna play tic tac toe?" Josh smiled softly at her, sitting down in front of her. "Do you want a blue or red pen?"
He responded, "they're just colors." Joey groaned, mocking him, "they're just colors." Josh giggled, pushing her lightly. She handed him a red pen, keeping the blue one for herself.
"Have you talked to Anna recently? She kept glaring at us during lunch," Josh asked, writing down a red circle in an empty square. Josephine responded, "no, but she definitely isn't over the whole thing that went on. She's sitting with the colossal morons, Pepper, and her white clones, though."
"They do all look the same don't they?"
Joey nodded, but soon yelled in victory, "WOO! Haha, loser!" He sent her an exaggerated pouty lip, "Awww, are you sad? Hm?" She mocked his pout, "well too fucking bad, ass-wipe. You didn't even know you were going at it with the KING of tic tac toe."
He rolled his eyes, "shut the fuck up." She gasped, "thats not very cash money of you. I'm telling Disney."
After a few more rounds of tic tac toe and a handful of insults thrown at the other, Jo had to attend her next class. Joshua offered to walk her, she was hesitant at first, seeing as Pepper already has a target on her for being friends with the actors, but obliged when she saw the smile on his face and his big brown eyes. He took her hand, and her books, and let her stroll their way to her classroom. Much to his surprise, they revived a couple of add looks. Josephine tried to ignore them, and continue her conversation with Josh. "You mentioned your sister coming to visit. When is she coming?"
Josh's grip on her hand tightened, suddenly noticing a few students with their phones out, possibly recording him and Jo. "Oh, Claire's coming sometime next week. I think she's coming on Sunday? I'm not sure, I just know she's coming a little after Madison, Liv's friend comes."
She nodded, coming to an abrupt stop, "this is my sociology class," she reluctantly detangled her tan fingers from his paler ones, "I'll see you later, J." He handed Joey her textbooks and waited for her to enter the room before he turned on his heel to head to his trailer. On his walk down the hall, he caught sight of Anna and Pepper, both sending him a seemingly flirty smile. He chose to ignore it and continued on his way.
Jack threw himself in the seat next to Josephine, "okay so, I heard some tea."
Josephine playfully rolled her eyes, tidying up her desk, "I told you that talking to Allison never brings you anything good."
"She is a very social Freshman," Jack argued, "thats not the point!" He redirects his gaze to look around the room, checking to see if anyone is listening, "I heard that Pepper's been scheming to try to get on the show and that she's trying to get Anna to help her. So, obviously, I told Auggie, and at first, he was confused. The whole cast and crew probably know what went down between us and her, so it's very improbable that she'll be getting any close to those cameras."
Josephine nodded along, comprehending it slowly. "So, Pepper's apparently going to invite all of them to the winter musical in January, so that the producers think she's good and find a place to put her in the show."
Josephine suppressed a laugh, "I'm surprised she's not trying to sleep her way into it."
Jack counteracted, "we don't know that for sure. Knowing her, she might. And you might be thinking: "Jack, how does any of this have to do with Anna?" Well, since Anna's the role of Belle, Pepper is going to convince Anna to give up her role for one of the show's since she's Anna's understudy. So, for the show that Anna drops, Pepper will have the opportunity to showcase her nonexistent talents."
Josephine questioned, "So? Let's just all hang out on the day of the musical?" Jack shook his head, "you didn't even let me finish!"
"Sorry, damn."
He continued, "Pepper's also planning on getting you suspended."
Jo's eyes popped out of her head, "huh!?"
"SHHH!" Jack reached over to slap her arm, "she's trying to get evidence of you trying to, you know, 'rub elbows' with the actors and producers. Right now, you're not looking too hot."
Joey visibly sank in her chair, along with a pit feeling in her stomach, "do you think she'll actually convince the school board? I mean, I've never even been in a timeout let alone a suspension. I cannot have that my senior year, Jack!"
He tried to calm her down, watching as her breathing became irregular, "Hey, hey, it's all good. She doesn't have much proof right now, just that we ate lunch with them. It's all good, Joey."
She kept spiraling, falling into an endless void of worry. Jack, after all these years, still has no idea how to calm Josephine down. You'd think he would, but he's incapable of dealing with Jo's, not so regular, panic attacks. "Do you want me to take to Auggie?"
August, on the other hand, found a way to calm her down. Which was sing her a song and hold her close to his chest? But his class was on the other side of the school. Jack raised his hand to get the teacher's attention, politely asking to be excused. When the instructor saw Josephine's panicked state, they were dismissed. Jack took their things in his free hand, rushing Jo out of the room.
"Josh," she muttered, unable to control her breathing. Her head was pounding and it was almost impossible for her to stand on her own. Her sight was falling in and out, and he kept crying. She didn't know when Jack had led her to Josh's trailer, but she was soon stood outside of it. He opened the door, immediately wrapping Joey in his arms when he saw her.
"Jack, what's going on?" His voice was dripping with worry, his palms smoothing out across her back while she hurried in his embrace. He stammered, "Jo– she gets like this sometimes, and I can't ever calm her down. Usually, Auggie does by singing to her but his class is too far away."
Josh nodded, planting a soft kiss on her head. Jack stuttered, "I'll, uh, I'll go back to class. Just, text me or something."
"Yeah. Thanks, Jack." Josh sat them down on his couch, rubbing circles on her back. His voice softly lulled Josephine, a familiar tune rolling off his tongue. He sang the chorus to Ease My Mind by Ben Platt, knowing that Joey loves his music, and specifically that particular song. It only took a few short minutes for joey to regain her breath, sinking into Josh's tender hold, his comforting fragrance filling her senses.
"Darling, only you can ease my mind. Help me leave these lonely thoughts behind. When they pull me under, and i can feel my sanity start to unwind. Darling, only you can ease my mind."
my arms hurt and i need to proofread this but i'll post it anyways
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