Saturday. Finally.
Percy was playing video games with Conner inside the Walters' household when someone knocked on Percy's bedroom door.
"I'll pick it up." Conner sighed as he put down his remote control and walked towards the door.
"Afternoon, Conner," Alex said as Conner opened the door. "Can I come inside?"
"Yeah," Conner replied.
As Conner sat beside Percy, Alex sat beside her brother and pulled out a stack of papers from her backpack.
"So guys," Alex said flipping through the stack of papers in her lap. "How about we go to the park to talk about some plans for the play?"
"Guys?" Alex said looking over them. She was now waving her hands over their faces but with no luck, their eyes were still glued to the screen. "I'll bring double cheesy chicken burgers!"
Conner snapped back to life. Percy didn't.
Alex unplugged the tv. Percy now snapped back to life.
"What?" Percy asked slightly annoyed. Alex was now standing in front of the boys. The two were looking up at her now.
"Now that we're on the same page," Alex chuckled as she held up her stack of papers regarding 'on the same page joke'. The pair of boys looked up, confused.
"It was supposed to be a joke," Alex said and went back to her normal self. "Anyway, I decided for the seven of us to go to the park later for an hour's- hopefully longer discussion about the play on June."
Percy did a double-take. He was sipping his lemonade. "Hold up, seven? I thought it was you, Conner, Bree, and me?"
"Well, actually, I decided to invite Bianca, Katie, and Matt too."
"Ok," Conner said plugging back the wire for the television. "What time?"
"In two hours."
Percy spat out his lemonade. "IT'S AFTERNOON ALREADY?"
"Yeah. You two have been playing all morning without breakfast," Alex said adjusting her headband.
Conner gestured to the chips and lemonade at Percy's study table.
"Not that," Alex said slightly annoyed this time. "A proper breakfast."
"Your sister is like my mom Conner. Can you believe it? I have two mean women in my life now," Percy said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh shut up," Alex shrugged. She hit Percy playfully in his shoulder using one of his own pillows. Percy groaned but he went red. He hit Alex with a pillow too.
A pillow fight has just begun.
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Saturday, Oct 23, 1:30 PM
Conner: elo
Bree: Hello
ur at the park already ryt?
Conner: yeah
me, my sis and percy
Bree: okkk
I just stopped in a convenience store
to get some food for later
Conner: nice
can you get us coke?
if you cant its ok lol
Bree: ofc
I was actually holding a bottle of it
just when you texted u wanted one
Conner: :skull face:
Bree: speaking of writing (good segway btw)
hru with Brit?
Conner: brit?
Bree: Britney-
Conner: oh uh
fine ig
I just did my thing to the story
and btw Bianca was right
once we started writing the story
she kept asking questions abt Percy
lets jst say I was phusiccally and mentally drained aft that
*physically
Bree: oh-
well just ignore her
If I were you, you shouldn't have accepted this writing thing w her
Conner: welp, idk really
ig being with Britney is better than not joining the contest at all
btw, hbu?
are you doing fine w ur short story entry?
Bree: yea
Alex and Bianca are a big help ngl
I would have to do it last min if it weren't for them
Conner: those two are always studious
Bree: true tho nice talking to u btw I have to checkout now ttyl :D
Conner: ok
ttyl bree :D
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Conner looked up from his phone. He just realized that Percy's face was only an inch from his own.
"Bree?" he asked. "Asking where she is because you can't stand another minute without her?"
"What? No!" Conner said who was kind of disgruntled. Ever since he met Bree, Percy wouldn't stop teasing him about her. As if..
"Hey, guys!" Katie said. "Is Matt here yet?"
"Nah," Percy said walking towards her. "Also, why are you here again?"
"I'm a part of the drama club idio-" Katie started, but saw that Matt had just arrived.
"Hello baboons," Matt said to the group. "I am last?"
"Hey Matt," Alex said. "We're just waiting for Bianca and Bree."
While Percy, Matt, Alex, and Katie are having a conversation, Conner borrowed Percy's phone and played a song on Percy's speaker.
we go together. better than birds of a feather you and me...
Conner was nodding his head to the beat. Percy and Matt heard the song and got all hyped up. Percy grabbed a soda can and began using it as a microphone.
"I've been dancing on top of cars and stumbling out of bars- I follow you through the dark, can't get enough," Percy sang.
" You're the medicine and the pain, the tattoo inside my brain..." Matt continued.
For some strange moment, Conner thought it was his moment to shine. The chorus of the song. Yes.
And, baby, you know it's obvious..
"Im a sucker for you!" Conner bellowed despite getting weird looks from people. "Say the word and I'll go anywhere blindly! I'm a sucker for you, yeah! Any road you take, you know that you'll find me!"
"He's totally losing his mind right now," Percy said who tried to join singing with his best friend.
"Oh shut up." Alex elbowed Percy. "He's having a moment- well, he has a lot of moments but-"
"And you're making the typical me, break my typical rules!" Conner sang. With fair judgment, he was just a normal singer. Nothing that special. He also closed his eyes for dramatic effect.
Eyes still closed, he stuck out his pointer finger and pointed at something, and continued singing. "It's true, I'm a sucker for you-"
He opened his eyes. He was actually pointing at Bree who had just arrived just in time. The girl tried not to panic much. She really did try.
Conner, on the other hand, thought that if he was a little bit smaller, he can fit into the trashcan and spend the rest of his life there. Great imagination.
"Hey Bree-" Conner tried to say casually but failed. Though his mouth was moving and words actually escaped from his mouth, his whole body, however, couldn't move. He was paralyzed with embarrassment.
"Hey, Conner..." Bree's voice faltered. She didn't know what to say or do or think. She didn't know whether to be happy or not at this very moment. So naturally, people do the thing that first comes into their minds. "You want Coke?"
She has now failed at socialism. Well, that's what her brain convinced her anyway.
"Well yea ok," Conner replied awkwardly. He knew that he has now failed at socialism. Taking the coke hesitantly from her, he immediately turned off the music that was still blaring from Percy's speaker.
"So um," Bree started. "We're still waiting for Bianca right?"
"Yea," Percy responded. He popped off the lid of his Coke and drank it. He sat in between Katie and Matt.
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Even before Bianca had even arrived at the meeting place at the park, the park table looked as though a small tornado has passed through their space.
"Ok so, we need Ideas for the play," Alex said. "D'you guys have any ideas?"
"Well, I know that it has to be relatable, lighthearted, and funny," Bree said. "I dont know what the story should be, but I'm sure everyone would like a middle school-related play- Like some rom-com or something."
"True," Katie said biting off an apple. She was surprised that her best friend Bree was welcoming other genres other than mystery now. "It's better if we keep the structure of the play that way so that people who are actually gonna act in the play won't need that much acting practice."
Bianca and Alex had already started making notes.
"I'm not sure how the heck I got in the writing club but... I figured about a smart girl and a popular boy kind of thing?" Percy suggested.
Alex's eyes met Percy's for a second thought it didn't last for long.
"That's too overused," Bree commented. "It has to be unique yet something that every middle-schooler experiences."
"But I agree with Percy though," Bianca said. "Though I don't think the girl has to be in a teacher's pet kind of trope. More like, the girl has an obsession with a dorky hobby that she is known for being smart in."
"What though?" Conner said finally joining in the conversation. "It has to be something weird that nobody believes in- Kind of like Luna Lovegood believes in the crumple horn thing."
"YES!" Alex agreed enthusiastically. "I think people would most likely relate to being the odd one out so-"
The others nodded in agreement. The reason all were friends in the first place was because of a certain thing that united them all. None of them fit in a certain clique in the school that's why they made a group of their own. Alex beamed at all of them.
"I'll try to think of a good plot for the story," Bianca pressed on. "But I think the base idea is ok."
"Matt," Katie said looking at him. "What do you think?"
"Well-" he started. Matt wasn't part of either the writing or drama club so his experience with this kind of stuff was very close to zero. "I think that this girl needs to step out of her dorky phase and check out all the cliques in her school- she learns more about life and stuff- then she meets the boy she likes on a certain clique she doesn't expect to be in."
The group stared at Matt in surprise. Katie beamed.
"Hmm..." Conner thought. "Well- that could be the first draft for our play. When we have our morning Club meeting on Monday, the rest of the members could talk abt it more."
The others nodded approvingly. And some started to clean up the mess they made. Their weekend hangout meeting has officially ended. Conner and Bree still sat on the park table and read the notes Bianca and Alex made.
"You know, I think I'm getting burnt out with all the commitments I made this year. I think it's too exhausting," Conner sighed.
"Me too though," Bree said as she took the notes Conner was reading. "I guess it's just all work and stuff." Bree never told this to anyone at all as she tried to keep a responsible image in the eyes of others.
"Well, it couldn't hurt resting for a day or two," Conner suggested to Bree. Bianca, Katie, and Matt had left the group already.
"See you at basketball tomorrow Matt!" Percy bellowed in the background as a car pulled up to pick Matt up.
Bree smiled at Conner's suggestion. "You too, make sure you take a rest."
Conner smiled back at Bree.
"Oi lovebirds!" Percy exclaimed as he got another bottle of coke and sat in between Bree and Conner. Bree stood up and picked up her stuff awkwardly as she tried to leave.
"Hey, Alex, thank you for this hangout- it was really fun," Bree said to Alex as she saw her Mother's car pull up the park entrance.
"No problem." Alex smiled. "Anytime."
Bree left the park and it was just the three friends again. Alex, Conner, and Percy. A golden trio of some sort.
"Oh wow I think I'm third-wheeling again," Conner remarked at the sight of the two.
The three laughed. It was the trio's kind of signature inside joke. Alex, looking the happiest of the three. Though she missed the land of stories, she also liked the world here on Earth. She would miss these days where she would just live carefreely with her friends and worry less.
They left, walking into the maze of a suburb they lived in. Alex was in the middle and put her two arms around Conner and Percy's necks and laughed more.
The three watched the lowering sunset as they walked for a few minutes more. With Conner making more jokes along the way, endless laughter, and playful shoulder-punching every now and then.