May,
The next week, we were all in the Black box theater, waiting for class to begin. Marty said there was someone like really famous coming to talk to us today, so class was starting a little later than usual. So, as we waited, me and my friends, except Robbie, started asking each other crazy random questions to pass the time. Robbie wasn't here, we hadn't seen him all morning.
"Okay, if you had to, give up the internet or one of your feet?" Tori asked.
"Foot." Cat said as Andre and Jade said the same thing.
Beck raised up his leg, looking at his boot covered foot. "See ya, foot."
"I don't know, I mean—" I tilted my head, raising one of my legs up from Beck's lap. "Foot." I answered.
"Really? You'd all give up a foot to keep the internet?" Tori asked.
"Totally." Beck replied.
"Wouldn't you?" Cat asked.
"You love the internet." Andre added.
"I know, but my foot is a part of my body, and the internet is... Yeah, bye foot." She said, bringing her foot down from the chair it was resting on as the bell rung.
"All right, future superstars, take your seats because at this point in your lives I am in charge of you." Our teacher said as he walked in. "Come on, hurry up. Let's not waste time, we've got some excitement today!"
"Yay! I love excitement!" Cat exclaimed.
"Who doesn't love excitement?" Tori rhetorically asked.
Cat turned around, pointing at the boy sitting beside Tori. "Damien."
"She's right... Tori." He agreed, slowly turning his head towards Tori. I gripped Beck's arm a little tighter as Tori scooted her chair closer to Andre's. It looked like he was for real on something and hadn't slept in a month.
"Okay. So today, instead of discussing the differences-" The teacher continued, only to be cut off by Robbie busting in the room.
"Hi. Sorry I'm late, sweaty and out of breath." He said as he limped into the room, holding Rex.
"Somebody get me some coffee." Rex chimed.
"Robbie, just sit down." Our teacher told him.
"Why are you late?" Tori asked.
"Cause my uncle Marty gave me this car which I was really psyched about, except it keeps breaking down. And on my way here, the motor died in the middle of a really bad neighborhood! Now don't get me wrong. I like all people but look, a mean guy took my left shoe and Rex's!" He explained as he scooted his way down the aisle of chairs, grabbing Rex's foot to prove his point.
"Put my foot down!"
"Okay. Let's all shut up and let teacher talk." He nodded, "Now I bet you are all familiar with the short film called 'Butterface'?" Our teacher continued, again. A chorus of yes's came from the class.
"Yeah, of course. My God, I've watched that movie online, like, a billion of times." Tori said.
"Oh, we know Tori, I know." I glared, she made me watch that movie with her 'like, a billion of times.'
"Yeah. Who hasn't?" Jade rhetorically asked.
"Well, I'm glad you're all aware of the film because I'd like you to meet the director of Butterface—"
"No way!" Robbie exclaimed.
"Don't tease me." Jade said.
"A former student of mine, Dale Squires." Our teacher introduced as Dale ran out from the curtain, smiling and looking around the room. "Let him hear it! Okay, Dale, podium is all yours."
"Nice. I've always wanted a Plexiglas podium." He joked as he moved to stand behind it, the class laughing at his joke. "Uh, what happened to your shoe?" He asked Robbie.
"Oh, it was taken by street toughs." Robbie answered.
"Hey! Is it true you're going to directing Johnny Depp's new movie?" Tori excitedly asked, raising her hand.
"Uh, looks that way, yeah."
"That even excites me." Damien said, as he stared at the ground. The whole class looked over at him, scooting their chairs away from him.
"Dale! There he is. Oh, my God, there he is!" Trina exclaimed, a group of people following her as they busted into the room.
"Dale... there he is. Oh my God, there he is!" The group yelled, as they jumped and pushed.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Our teacher yelled, now standing in front of them. "What is going on here?" He asked.
"Cat sent out a mass text message that Dale squires is here!" Trina cheesed.
Cat put her phone in the air, smiling. "I love mass texting!"
"Come on, come on, come on, come on! Hey, hey, guys, you can't—"
"Hi, Dale! I hear you're directing the new Johnny Depp movie and guess what? I'd be perfect! Here's my head shot." Trina said, holding up her headshot.
"All right. Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Our teacher yelled, getting their attention. "If you are not in this class, then leave."
Trina turned towards the group of people that was backing up out of the room, "Yeah. Yeah, you heard the man. Go on. Get out. Schoochie, schoochie!" She shooed. Once they we're all gone and the doors closed, Trina turned back around, smiling at our teacher. "Hey."
"You too, Trina." He said, his arms crossed.
"But I'd look so good next to Johnny Depp in a movie! Please, Dale?" She peaked around our teacher, looking at Dale.
"Tori, Y/n, can you make your sister leave?" Our teacher asked, looking at us.
"Trina, stop embarrassing us or we're gonna embarrass you." Tori shrugged.
"Don't threaten me!" Trina said, offended.
I sighed, rolling my eyes. "When Tori and I we're 5 and Trina was six, our family went to the mall just before Christmas—"
"Don't say it!"
"And she peed!" Tori continued.
"Tori...!" She yelled.
"On Santa Claus!" Tori and I exclaimed, watching as she scurried out.
"Thank you, girls. Dale?" Our teacher thanked, gesturing for Dale to continue.
"All right. What were we talking about?" He asked.
"In all fairness, I did have a bladder infection!" Trina rushed out as she peaked her head through the door.
"Go!" Tori and I yelled.
"So that's why I went with a handheld camera. I wanted to give it that panicky, jittery feel, you know?" Dale explained.
"I love that panicky, jittery feeling!" Cat exclaimed.
"And it was totally brilliant how you didn't even see his wife in that scene." Tori said.
"Yeah, cause it made you think, like, 'where is she?'" Andre agreed.
"Well, to be honest, she wasn't in the scene because the actress who played the wife got food poisoning and was puking in the bathroom. But hey, I'll take brilliant."
"One time, I ate a hamburger. And then, like, an hour later, I started sneezing, but I don't think it had anything to do with the hamburger." Cat randomly said.
"Maybe your red hair dye seeps through your scalp and into your brain." Jade sarcastically said.
"Can that happen?" Cat asked, frantic, touching her hair.
"No, Cat." I said, then turned to Jade, sending her a glare. "Jade." I scolded.
"So, Dale, why don't you tell my class why you're here?" Our teacher asked.
"Yeah." Damien nodded his head.
"Well, Chris asked me if I'd help you guys make a short film, kind of as a class project." Dale explained.
"A what?"
"No way."
"Cool."
"And you'll direct it?" Tori asked.
"Is that cool with you?"
"That's very cool with me, Dale Squires." Tori grinned.
"So, what kind of movie are we gonna make?" I asked, excitedly, playing with Beck's fingers.
"I don't know. I was thinking something maybe intense, scary."
"Like Jade?" Rex asked, chuckling.
Jade turned in her seat and faced Rex, hitting him with her journal. Rex fell out, his head falling onto Beck.
"Oh! You knocked him unconscious!" Robbie exclaimed, picking Rex up.
"Hey, Beck, maybe we could rework that one-act play you wrote last semester?" Our teacher suggested.
"Yeah, I'd be into that." Beck nodded, as I excitedly hit his knee, grinning.
"Oh. And I talked to a guy in the biz, he's gonna let us use professional film cameras, lights, whatever we need." Dale said.
"Where are we gonna film?" Andre asked.
"Oh!" Tori put her arm up, "We can shoot it at Y/n and I's house?" Tori suggested, looking at me.
I shrugged, nodding my head as I smiled. "Yea, that'd be cool."
"All right. I think we're making a movie!"
Trina popped up from behind the plexiglass podium, smiling at Dale as she held up her headshots. "I created this photo of me and Johnny Depp together, so you could see what we might look like as a—" She explained to Dale.
"On Santa Claus!" Tori and I yelled at the same time.
"Bladder infection!" She yelled back.
Our teacher put his head down, touching the bridge of his nose as he sighed. "Out!" He yelled, pointing to the curtains, making Trina run off.
"Hey!" Tori exclaimed when Damien tried to touch her face. Damien freaked me out more than Sinjin and his friends, and that's saying a lot.
"Yeah, that's fine. Cat did you—" I said, checking things off my clipboard.
"Okay, um... Tori? Y/n?" Mom called as she held the groceries in her arms, she looked around, gesturing to the room.
"Hey, mom." Tori greeted, as she walked over to the kitchen, holding a purple clipboard.
"Hi, mama." I greeted, following Tori into the kitchen.
"What is all this?" She asked dumbfounded, looking around the room.
"You said we could shoot a short film here for school." Tori shrugged.
"Yeah. I thought that meant you girls, a couple of friends, a camcorder, maybe a microphone!"
"Mom! Dale Squires is helping us." I said, shrugging as Tori sighed and looked up to the ceiling.
"This is a big deal!" Tori added.
"Hey, did you buy onion dip?" Andre asked, coming up from behind Tori, holding a bag of chips.
"No." Mom shook her head.
"Why not?"
Mom gave him a look, letting her purse fall off her shoulder.
Andre quickly got the hint and turned around, surrendering his hands. "Okay.."
Mom looked around the room as Cat came to stand beside me. "Where's Trina?" She asked.
"Y/n and Tori locked her in the bathroom." Cat said.
"Cat!" Tori and I said at the same time, looking at her.
"You weren't supposed to tell her that!" I exclaimed.
"I'm okay with it." Mom deadpanned almost immediately. "I'm just gonna go take a hot bath. Please don't ruin the house."
"We're not gonna ruin the house." Tori reassured, nodding as a crash came from upstairs.
"My bad!" The boy yelled.
"I'll uh..." Tori stammered, looking back at mom.
"Just try to..."
"Yeah, we'll..." I said, nodding.
"Okay." She nodded, walking off with her bag of marshmallows.
Tori turned around, looking at Jade and Beck who we're putting some props down on the platform. "Hey, what time is it?" She asked looking at Jade.
"I'm not your clock." Jade said, walking away.
Beck stood up from bending over, and got his phone out, looking at the time. "Almost 9:00."
"I need to be home in bed by 10:30. Can we PLEASE get started?" Robbie asked, holding Rex as he and Andre walked over.
"Without a director?" Andre asked.
"Yeah, where is Dale? He was supposed to be here at 7?" I said, looking as they shrugged.
Cat gasped, making us look over at her. "One time, when I was seven, I was at the beach and I made a sandcastle, and I called it Cat's castle." She nodded, as everyone stopped and looked at her. "True story." She nodded her head again, smirking proudly.
I shook my head at her as everyone got back to what they we're doing. The front door opened, revealing Dale. "Hey, hey. Who's ready to make a movie? I am!" He exclaimed, walking in the room. "So, Tori, Y/n, Vega sisters. You're gonna be my little assistants on this project?" He asked, as he walked across the living room.
"Yeah, sure." Tori smiled.
"Okay." I smiled as well.
"In fact, I mean, I know you're the director and everything, but Y/n had a cool idea about how we could set up the first shot." Tori said, walking over to him as he pulled out some of the groceries from the bags.
"Yeah, talk to me." He looked up.
Tori looked at me, wanting me to continue. I sighed, rubbing my arm anxiously. "Okay. So, I was thinking we open on a close-up of—" I started explaining before I got cut off by his ringer.
Dale grabbed his phone from his pocket, looking at it. "Oh, oh, hey, I gotta take this." He put his phone up to his ear. "Yeah, hey, what's up?" He paused, "She did?" He asked, walking towards the back patio doors.
"Um.." I looked at Tori.
"But it's almost nine and we have school tomorrow..." Tori reminded, walking closer to him.
"You know, just go ahead and start shooting without me." He said, waving us away.
"Um, but we don't know how to—" I spoke up, glancing at the living room.
"J-just do your close-up thing, yeah. The one you were telling me about." He pointed his index finger at me, turning towards the back door. "So, she's hot. How hot?" He asked into his phone as the door was closing.
"Okay." Tori sighed, looking at me. "Let's start the first shot." She raised her voice, getting everyone's attention.
"Beck!" I called, looking around for him.
He peaked his head out from the hallway, "Yeah?"
"Let me have you... on the couch." I said, trying to do my idea.
"Okay." He said as he sat down, laughing slightly.
I gently hit his knee, laughing as I realized how it sounded. "Shush."
Another crash came from upstairs, making everyone look up. "My bad!" The boy yelled again.
"You know, just yelling 'my bad!' doesn't make it okay!" Tori shouted, talking with her hands.
"Monica! Monica! Do not die on me! Wake up! I mean it! Wake up! Come on!" Jade yelled as she shook Cat, or should I say 'Monica'. Jade then slapped Cat, hard. The slap was in the script, although how hard Jade just slapped Cat..wasn't.
It was now a few days later and we had almost finished the movie, and when I say we, I mean my friends and I. Dale hadn't directed since— Well, he hadn't directed at all! A little direction here and there when he wasn't on his phone or eating up our food, but other than that, he'd done nothing. Anyways me and my friends tried to enjoy this as much as we could, I've actually had a lot of fun shooting this movie, I loved directing.
Cat gasped, opening her eyes and mouth as she looked up at Jade. "Owww!" Cat exclaimed, holding the side of her face.
I sighed, glancing at Tori. "Cut!" I yelled.
"What?!" Jade asked.
"You're not supposed to hit her!" Tori said.
"I felt that's what my character would do." She deadpanned, looking Tori dead in her eyes.
"Jade.." I scolded, rolling my eyes.
"My face hurts!" Cat exclaimed.
"Can we try it again, please, without the physical assault?" I asked.
"Uh, you're not the director." Jade remarked.
"Our directors over there playing with his laptop." Andre said, looking over at Dale who was sure enough on his laptop and phone, eating potato chips.
Tori sighed, grabbing my hand. "Wait here."
"Wha— I was okay being over ther—" I protested as Tori dragged me along to the kitchen table with her.
"Dale, please hang up!" Tori exclaimed.
Dale looked up, still laughing as held a single potato chip. "Hey, I gotta jump." He said, hanging up the phone. "Sorry, but you gotta take a look at my website. Can you believe how many comments? People love me!" He gushed about himself.
"We know. Now could you please help us shoot this last scene?" Tori asked.
"What, for the movie?" He asked. Are you serious?
"Yes!" I spoke up, crushing the potato chip he was still holding. My potato chips!
He sat there, looking at his hand that now held nothing. "All right! Let's take a look." He said exasperated, standing up. "All right. For this scene I think we should..." He paused, looking back at Tori and I. "What scene are we shooting?"
"Scene 29, where Olivia finds Monica dead." I answered, staring at the ceiling.
"Oh. Right. Okay. I want you two up on the couch for that." He said as he walked closer to Cat.
"You can't have them on the couch." Andre told him, sitting on the couch as he edited what we already shot.
"Why can't I?"
"Cause at the end of scene 28, Monica collapsed on the floor." Tori reminded.
"Well, we don't have to shoot it that way."
"We already shot it, Squires!" Andre exclaimed.
"When?" He asked.
"Last night." I said.
"While you were in the jacuzzi!" Tori added.
"Just show him the scene." Jade sighed as she got her hair touched up.
"You already cut it together?" He asked.
Andre stood up, holding his laptop. "Yeah. Here." He started the video.
"No, Monica, don't." Beck's character said, as Cat's character, Monica, ignored him, kissing him. They broke apart and Monica collapsed to the ground.
"Wow. The movie looks really good." Dale said, nodding.
Andre looked at him, "Thanks. That means so much." He sarcastically said, very monotone.
"So, see? Monica has to be on the floor." Tori gestured to the floor as she looked at Dale.
"Yeah, yeah. Okay. Let's shoot one! Ready? Roll."
Jade got up from the couch and crawled over to Cat as Cat looked up at Dale. "Can you please tell her not to slap me?" She asked.
"She should do whatever feels right."
Jade looked at her as Cat shot me a worried look, "Lie down." Jade told her.
Cat looked down, grabbing her hair and pulling it to one side. She laid down, getting into character.
"Action." Dale said.
"Monica! Monica! Do not die on me! Wake up! I mean it! Wake up! Come on!" Jade exclaimed before she started slapping Cat.
"Um." I said after the 3rd slap, trying to get Jade to stop. "Um, Jade— Um." I said as she hit Cat for the 5th time. "I'll go get some ice." I sighed, walking to the kitchen as Jade continued slapping Cat.
Tonight, was the movie's premiere, and I was so excited! Not only was Beck's play made into a movie, me and my friends actually made a movie, that was legit and directed by Dale Squires! Well, really Tori and I but it was probably gonna have his name on it. I just hope me, and Tori would get some kind of credit because we pretty much directed the WHOLE movie. It's only right. I was sitting in-between Beck and Jade, Jade having the aisle seat.
"Monica! You cannot die! You're gonna ruin everything! Monica!" Jade's character yelled as she slapped 'Monica'.
"It looks great, babe!" I whispered to Beck as he smiled softly, kissing my temple.
"I don't know what happened." Beck's character said, talking to the detectives who we're interrogating him.
"You're a killer." One of the detectives said.
"I'm not. I loved her."
"You're a killer!" The same detective exclaimed.
"I loved her!" Beck shouted. He rested back in chair, sighing. The scene ended, now showing Jade or Jade's character, cleaning a 'bloody' knife. I heard Cat gasp, making me glance at her, she was still holding an ice pack to her face. She'd been doing that for 2 days now.
Jade put the knife away, closing the drawer that had Monica's picture in it. The audience clapped and whistled as the movie ended.
I sniffled, wiping away a tear that had betrayed me. Beck looked at me, and gripped me tighter, getting my attention.
"You crying?" He asked, amused and laughing.
"No." I whimpered, looked away as I wiped away another tear.
"Aww, baby." He pouted, laughing as he teased. He moved around slightly, wrapping both his arms around me as his hands found my own.
"Shush." I pouted, laughing as well.
Jade made a gagging sound as she rolled her eyes. "You two disgust me." She nodded her head up to the projector screen, "Here come the credits."
I looked up, seeing them start.
ᴡʀɪᴛᴛᴇɴ, ᴘʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴇᴅ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴅɪʀᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ
𝘿𝘼𝙇𝙀 𝙎𝙌𝙐𝙄𝙍𝙀𝙎
"Andre said he put all of our names at the end! What the f—" Jade exclaimed as she shook her head.
"Fuzzball!" I said, purposely cutting her off.
"Thank you!" Dale thanked, running up to the front of the room as the audience clapped and whistled, some even stood up.
"Thank you so much! Yes!" He yelled as he jumped around, grinning ear to ear. My friends and I looked at each other from where we sat, not believing he would take ALL the credit. "Oh, yeah! Whoo!"
"Shouldn't we say something to him?" Tori asked, looking back at all our friends.
"Yes." They all said, pushing me and Tori towards Dale.
"No, no, no!" I fought back, as they kept pushing us.
"Go, go, go, go, go!"
"Thank you. Thank you." Dale thanked the guy who was in front of him.
"Great film, Dale!" He said walking away.
"Hey. Dale!" Tori exclaimed as we stood in front of him.
"Hey, Tori, Y/n. Can you get me a bottle of water?" He asked, smirking.
"No!" I exclaimed, dumbfounded.
"You took all the credit for the movie we made!" Tori continued.
"So, I can't get a drink?" He asked.
"Why did you take our names off the movie?" I asked.
"I directed it." He said matter of factly.
"Really?" Tori rhetorically asked. "You didn't even show up most of the time!" Tori exclaimed.
"And when you did, you just talked on the phone, ate our snacks, and napped in our jacuzzi!" I added.
"Oh, come on. You think Steven Spielberg really directed jaws?" He asked, talking with his hands.
"Yes!" Tori and I answered at the same time.
"Look, I really gotta go." He said, walking away.
"Wait!" Tori stopped him before he officially left.
"What?" He grunted, turning around.
"You know Y/n and I directed that movie."
"Beck wrote it and Andre did ALL the music and editing!" I added.
"What did you do?" Tori asked.
"I took the credit!" He whispered, loudly.
"Well, that's mean!" I exclaimed, crossing my arms. "You should at least share the credit with us."
"Man, you girls really don't get Hollywood, do you? Oh, by the way, the after-party's been canceled, so tell your friends no after-party." He said.
"Hey! Great movie, Dale. See you at the after-party." A man complimented, shaking hands with Dale.
"I'm there!"
I looked at Tori, offended as she shared the same look. He said it was canceled!
Dale looked back at us, smiling as he clicked his tongue and walked off.
It was now a new week, and I was glad. The movie had blown up, and Dale had been taking all the credit, all while we had to sit back and watch. I was devastated, not just for me, but for Beck and my friends. Beck literally wrote it.
It was passing period and I had a free period, so I was sitting in the hallway, against the lockers with my journal, studying. I liked people watching and sitting in the hallway was perfect for that.
"Y/n." Andre called as he and Jade came around the corner, holding his laptop.
"Vega." Jade added.
"Hm?" I asked, looking up as Andre sat beside me.
"Check out the homepage on splashface." Jade said, sitting down as well.
"I've already seen the 'lobster on a bicycle' video." I said, laughing slightly at the video.
"Look up top—"
"Hey, Vega." Jade called, cutting Andre off as Tori walked by.
"What?"
"Come sit. Look up top, Y/n/n." Andre continued as Tori sat by me.
I looked at his laptop, seeing our movie #1 featured video, with 2 million views!
"Our movie is the number one featured video!" Tori exclaimed, looking at Andre and Jade.
"Two million views in one day." Jade sighed.
Andre shook his head, leaning back on the beam behind him, "And Dale Squires is takin' all the credit."
"And he keeps deleting all my very creative negative comments!" Jade said, making me laugh.
"Ugh." I groaned, scrolling down a little. "He's using our movie to promote himself."
"What'd he write?" Andre asked.
"Catch me Thursday night on the Mack Murphy show." I said, exgratting my voice and rolling my eyes.
"Hey, don't they tape Mack Murphy down the street, off sunset?" Tori asked, once silence had settled around us.
"Yeah, I think." Andre nodded.
"Sooooo, maybe we should go." Tori suggested as she smirked and nodded her head at us.
"Ulch, gross. Talk shows are for tourists and canadians." Jade scoffed.
"And revenge-seekers!" ITori said, matter of factly.
"Ahhh. So what's the plan?" Andre nodded, smiling.
"I dunno. You're smart, she's sweet and she's mean, come up with something." Tori said, closing Andre's laptop and handing it over to him before she got up and walked away.
We sat in thought for a little, before the bell rung and kids started clearing out of the halls.
"We'll come up with som—"
I gasped, cutting Andre off. "Oh, my God!" I exclaimed, standing up.
"What?" Jade asked, as they stood up as well.
"Okay, so Oscar, he won like 6 tickets to the Mack Murphy show last week! We could ask him to take us?"
"That's actually really.. good." Jade nodded her head in satisfaction.
"Yeah, go ask him, girl!" Andre laughed, high fiving me.
"Alright, how much time till lunch?" I asked, putting my journal away in my bag.
"Uhh, almost 2 hours." Andre answered.
"Okay." I nodded, "I'll ask him at lunch."
"Okay, people. Listen up, listen up. We're about 10 minutes away from go-time on 'Up Late with Mack Murphy', so lemme hear ya!" A man on the stage exclaimed, hyping up the audience.
It was Wednesday, the night of the Mack Murphy show and Jade, Cat, Tori and I we're all here, waiting for the show to start. Oscar was here too, he happily obliged when I explained why we needed them and what happened. We we're standing off to the sides, not yet in our seats because Andre's cousin, Kendra had just arrived, and Andre went to get her. Andre paid for her ticket, because Kendra was going to play a big part in our little plan.
Cat and I clapped, as the audience clapped as well. Tori looked around anxiously, waiting on Andre and his cousin.
"Look at all the stupid tourists." Jade said, glaring at the audience as Andre and his cousin came around the corner.
"Hey." He greeted.
"Hey, Andre." Cat greeted back.
"Hi." I greeted as Tori smiled and Oscar sent him a nod.
"This is my cousin, Kendra." Andre introduced.
"Hey." Tori and I greeted, sending her a smile.
"Hello." Oscar greeted.
"Pretty shirt." Cat complimented.
"'Sup." Jade nodded her head.
"She's a great actress." Andre smiled.
"I get paid up front." Kendra said, holding out her palm. "20, 30," She counted, as Tori and Cat handed her their money.
I digged in my bag, fishing out the $40 I had in my wallet.
"40," She said as she took my money and turned to Jade, "Keep it comin', 50."
Kendra looked at Oscar, who was standing beside Jade, expectedly as she put the money up in her bra. He shook his head and held his hands up.
Kendra looked back at Tori, as she started talking. "Okay. So, when Dale squires sits down, you're gonna wait exactly two minutes, and then your gonna—" Tori explained before Kendra cut her off.
"Andre told me what to do. I don't have to hear it twice." She shook her head, holding up her hand.
Tori stood up straight, smiling nervously. "Yes, ma'am."
Kendra looked back at the audience as we stood in silence, then looked back at Tori, looking her up and down. "What do you eat? Salad?" She smirked.
Tori looked down, then looked back up at her. "Sometimes.."
"Figures."
"That's not very nice, Ms. Kendra." Oscar said, readjusting his glasses as he shook his head disappointingly.
"Yeah, Tori has been nothing but nice to you, don't be rude." I spoke up.
I'm not confrontational, not at all, but I can't stand seeing my sisters or my friends hurt. Tori's expression broke my heart, so I had to say something.
Kendra looked at me and Oscar, looking me up and down as well. "Hm." She mumbled, crossing her arms and looking elsewhere.
"And you're gonna be working with Johnny Depp on a big movie?" Mack Murphy asked, as he and Dale sat upfront on stage.
The show had started, and they had talked about Dale's previous movies, how his dog was doing and now his upcoming movies. I was sat behind Tori and Andre, in between Jade and Cat. Oscar was sat beside Jade and Kendra was sat a few rows up from us, closet to the exit. I had been checking the time as they talked, counting down the minutes till Kendra would— well, you'll see.
"Yeah, made the deal this morning." Dale said, making the audience clap.
"Awesome. I'm betting it didn't hurt that this new short film that you just did has already gotten, what, like, three million views this week?" Mack asked.
"Uh-huh." Dale nodded.
"Have you guys seen Dale's short film?" Mack looked at the audience, as people cheered and whistled in response.
"Jerk." Andre mumbled, shaking his head.
I picked up my phone, checking the time. "30 seconds."
"Yeah, about that film. I, I gotta be honest." Dale said, looking guilty.
"So you're not going into politics?" Mack joked.
Cat giggled from beside me, "That was off-the-cuff!" She and Oscar laughed as Jade sent her a glare.
"It's just, I've been feeling kinda guilty." Dale continued.
"About?" Mack asked.
"Well, it wouldn't be fair for me to take credit for that movie. See, most of the work was done by a really talented group of students from Hollywood Arts High School here in L.A.," He said, making us look up. He sat up, slightly, grabbing the little piece of paper he had in his back pocket. "Specifically... I would like to give credit to Andre Harris, Jade West, Beck Oliver—"
"Aw, he's giving us credit!" Cat exclaimed, looking at me and Jade.
"On national TV.." Jade added, watching Dale.
"..Robbie Sharpiro, Sinjin Van Cleef, and most importantly, Tori and Y/n Vega." He finished.
Tori gasped, turning to Andre. "Your cousin!"
"My cousin—" he said before Tori cut him off.
"She's gonna..."
"Oh man." Andre winced.
"We have to stop her!" I said, sitting up in my seat and looking at them.
Jade, Cat and I stood up as we all looked at Kendra with wide eyes. "Abort. Abort. Abort. Abort!" We whispered, talking with our hands.
"No. No. No. Stop. Stop!" Andre said through gritted teeth as she smiled back at us, nodding.
She looked down at her phone, as the timer she and I both had went off. I looked down at my phone as we sat back down, grimacing. "Aww, here we go." I pouted.
Kendra stood up from her seat, looking at Dale and Mack. "Hey there! Dale squires!" She yelled.
"Uh, apparently, you have a fan in the crowd." Mack said as they looked over at her. A man, who I'm assuming was security of some sort, came up to her, trying to get her to sit back down. Kendra flinged him out the way like he was nothing and walked up onto the platform where Dale and Mack were.
"Hey, Dale! How come you lied to me?!" She yelled, now standing a few meters in front of him.
"Uh, ma'am?" Mack intervened.
"I don't know you." Dale shook his head, glancing at Mack. "I don't know her." He quietly said to Mack.
"You, you don't know me?! This man took me to a fish restaurant two weeks ago and told me he loved me, and I haven't heard from him since!" Kendra yelled, turning to the audience. Andre groaned, rubbing his face as I tried covering my eyes from this horrible horrible sight.
"No, no, no, no, no. C'mon, all right, she's lying! Okay? You are a liar!" Dale denied, waving his hands out.
"Ay, Dios mio." Oscar groaned, shaking his head and covering his eyes. (Oh, my God)
"Liar?! Oh no. That's it! I'm about to open up a cloud and rain all over you!" Kendra exclaimed, taking off her earrings as Dale started to run away.
Dale screamed, as Kendra grabbed hold of his legs and he held onto the chair. "Get off me! I don't know you!" He yelled as she pulled on him, keeping him in place as he tried to run.
"I wanna go back to that fish restaurant!" Kendra yelled, letting go of his legs as Dale tried to sit upright. She grabbed him by his shirt as she maneuvered her way behind the chairs, holding him in place the whole time.
"Can you go to a commercial?!" Dale asked as Kendra jacked him up.
"No way, man, this is awesome!" Mack chuckled, turning to the audience. "You guys' likin' this?!" He asked as the audience cheered and laughed.
"Yeah!"
"Now you're upside down! How do you like that, Dale squires?! How do you like a that?!" Kendra taunted, holding him upside down in the chair as she jerked him back and forth.
"She's so strong!" Cat exclaimed as we watched in horror.
"Dale gave us credit." Andre said, intently watching.
"Even I feel bad." Jade murmured.
"We should do something." I said, shaking my head as Kendra ripped off Dale's jacket.
"Waffles, kids?" Oscar suggested.
"I like waffles." I mumbled, nodding.
"Waffles are good." Jade agreed.
"I know a place." Andre said.
"Off we go." Tori muttered, grabbing her bag as we got up.
"Oh uh, doll a little help?" Oscar grunted as he tried getting out of the chair.
"Oh, yeah. Here." I said, grabbing his hands as he grabbed his light blue jacket from the back of the chair.
"What did I do?!"
~