February,
I was sitting beside Beck in the Blackbox, as Ms. Tilda, our film teacher was teaching us the different filming techniques.
"And, an important thing to remember, is that all movie directors have different styles of filming a movie." Ms. Tilda said, pacing around the front of the Black box.
"Action!" Cat exclaimed, randomly, causing most of the class to look at her.
"What?" Our teacher asked.
"That's what they say when they make movies." Cat answered.
"We're not making a movie right now." Beck told her.
"Cut!" She said, before smiling.
"Alright. Let's take a look at a scene from a short film that Sinjin made last year." Ms. Tilda said, gesturing to Sinjin.
He stood up from his chair, slowly clapping his hands. "Yes, yes... It's called... Monkey-Time Bucket-Balls."
"Money-Time Bucket-Balls..?" I murmured, glancing at Beck.
Ms. Tilda started his short film, the film projecting onto the projector at the front of the room as the room lights dimmed.
"My goodness.." Sinjin said as he walked onto the white set, wearing a suit and tie. "I'm thirsty. So... so thirsty." He shook his head, looking into the distance, before the camera zoomed out, revealing a table with a soda can on it. "Soda," He turned towards the table, unbuttoning his suit jacket. "Yes..." He sighed, as he walked towards the table. Beck looked at me with a puzzled look, my face expression mirroring his as I looked at him. This was so weird...
"Wet.. moisture..." He murmured, picking up the blue soda can up from the table before all we saw was Sinjin's face, the camera moving closer and closer towards him as he opened his mouth.
"Ew!" The class exclaimed as I grimaced, looking away. "Sinjin!" "Oh, what is that?!"
Ms. Tilda stopped the film, before standing up. Sinjin stood up from his chair as well, as we all looked at him, disgusted. "I wanted the audience to experience what a soda feels, when it's drunk by me." He explained.
"Why?!" I exclaimed, shaking my head.
"I bet that soda felt disgusted and ashamed." Jade said.
Sinjin stared at Jade, "What does it mean.. to be a woman?" He asked, making Jade slowly look at him, weirded out as the bell ringed.
"All right, wait wait, wait, just a second." Ms. Tilda said as we were grabbing our bags. Beck stood up with his coffee, putting on his backpack. "Your short films are due first thing on Tuesday morning. So, everyone, meet with your production groups and make sure you're on track to get it all done." She looked at the class, before nodding.
Grabbing my bag, I stood up from my chair as Beck pointed at her and nodded. "Thank you, Ms. teach." He said, switching his coffee to his other hand as we caught up with our friends at the back of the Blackbox. Beck wrapped his arm around my waist as I rested my hand on his shoulder.
"Okay guys, we're gonna start shooting tomorrow morning in Sikowitz's classroom seven-thirty sharp. Uh Tori, you're gonna bring the main prop." Andre instructed, as we nodded.
"Yep. A violin with a secret, scary knife inside." Tori smiled.
"Cool." Andre shrugged, "Any questions?"
"I have one," Sinjin said, popping up beside Beck. "Do you guys think my new spray tan looks natural?" He asked, before taking off his short-sleeved shirt, revealing his tan. It was like he wore the neck part of a turtleneck and cut the lower sleeves off a shirt and just wore that while tanning..
"Oh my God..." I whispered, glancing at my friends. Definitely not natural! How do you even get a tan like that!?
"It's called socks and violins!" Tori exclaimed, glancing at Trina standing behind her.
"Oh, you know what you should call it?" Trina said, making Tori look at her.
"What?"
"Three hundred and fourteen followers.. and sad!" She jeered, as I followed Beck down the stairs, yelling.
"You never listen to me anymore!" I yelled, stopping at the bottom of the steps.
"I try to talk to you! All we do is fight!" He fired back, facing me. "And then you go running to tell Jade!" He gestured his arm in the air, as Tori and Trina stopped what they were doing, watching us.
"That's not fair! I don't tell her everything!" I shake my head, walking closer to him as he starts walking towards the front door. "Beck!" I shouted, my voice wavering.
He pulled his hands out of the pockets of his sweats, his keys in one hand as he looked at me, expectedly and tired.
"I'm not the only one to blame here!" I sighed, "You're the one who started this!" I stressed.
He touched his forehead in frustration, letting out a pathetic laugh. "I apologized!" He yelled, gesturing to himself.
"Yeah, well that doesn't always make it go away does it!?"
Beck closed his eyes, bringing his clasped hands to his chin before he looked at me, his voice low. "Tell me what you would like me to do Y/n, because It's obvious," he said, walking closer to me as he raised his voice. "I don't know how to make you happy anymore!
"How about you be a better boyfriend for the 15th time this month?!" I yelled, instantly regretting it as I saw the color drain from his face. He is a good boyfriend..
"Heh," He laughed, looking at the ceiling after staring at me. "What about you become a better girlfriend?!" He jabbed back, "You know," He shook his head, opening his mouth to respond before he stopped, sighing. "I don't even know who my girlfriend is anymore!" He yelled.
"Yeah, well I don't even know who my boyfriend is because obviously he has bigger priorities and an even bigger ego!" I screamed, hitting the staircase's railing. I rolled my eyes, shaking my head as he stared at me, his chest heaving. This is exactly what I didn't want.. a screaming match.
"D-does that mean you two are breaking up?" Trina asked, as she walked closer. "Because I'm s—" She said, almost smitten as she looked at Beck.
"Trina!" Tori exclaimed, glancing between Beck and I.
"You didn't let me finish!" Trina looked at Tori, rolling her eyes before she looked at me. "Because I'm so heartbroken for you baby sister!" She cooed, placing her hand on her heart before walking towards me with her arms held out for a hug.
The front door slammed as Trina hugged me. I shook my head, shrugging out of the fake hug she was giving me before going back upstairs to my room and slamming my door closed.
"How's my makeup look?" Robbie asked Cat, as she did his makeup for our short film.
It was almost 7:41, and we were all in Sikowitz class preparing to shoot our film. On the stage behind me, was a funeral setup. Cat was doing Robbie's makeup, I was going over my lines, Andre was fixing up the lighting, Jade was going through the clothes and Beck was doing something with his camera.
The only person we were missing was my sister, and our main prop, the Stabolin. So, we we're kinda just waiting for her to arrive. She drove with Trina, so I didn't know what was holding her up.
"Fancy." She smiled, powdering his face. "Does it hurt?"
"No. You do it way more gentle than my mom does it." He answered as I smiled at them, turning the page of my script.
Cat grinned, "Aw."
"I'm here!" Tori shouted, pushing the door open with her back as she held a storage bin. "Sorry I'm late. Did we start filming yet?" She asked, putting the bin down on the stage beside me as I stood up.
"No." Beck said, sitting up from leaning on a desk. "Robbie can't play a psychopath violin player without the special prop."
"Yeah. Where's the Stabolin?" Andre asked, settling beside her.
"Uh..." She stammered, looking up from the bin.
"You finished it, right?" I asked.
"Uh, all I have to do is connect the blade to the violin neck part thingy and..." She said, grabbing the blade and the violin from the bin as I sat back down on the stage. Well, it's looking like we won't be filming anything today.
"You didn't finish the main prop for our movie?" Jade asked, walking from the back of the classroom.
"Tori.." I whined, laying my script down.
"What are we gonna do now?" "Come on, man." "Wow."
"It's not my fault!" She exclaimed, over our murmurs.
"Then whose fault is it, Tori?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"Mine!" She cried, sending me a glance.
"You had all last night... what happened?" Andre asked.
"Trina happened! She waved her followers right in my face!" She exclaimed, waving her hand over her face. I looked at Jade, trying to think of followers she was talking about. Trina didn't have followers...? Did she?
"What followers?" Robbie asked, making Tori look at him.
"On The Slap!" She said, walking closer to him. "She has way more followers than I do! And she bragged about it! She shamed me!" She looked at the floor, crossing her arms. What? When did this happen?!
"And that's why you couldn't finish building the Stabolin?" Andre asked.
"Yes!" She sighed, "I ended up on The Slap all night, posting fun pics and tweeting stuff so I could get more people to follow me." She said, looking at the floor.
"Oh my God! So that's why you were posting all those childhood pictures of us?" I asked, as she nodded pitifully.
"Why?" Cat asked.
"Because it bugs me that Trina has way more followers than I do!" She exclaimed.
"Okay, relax, look at it this way... Most people think Trina is an awful, gross person, right?" Jade said, walking closer to her.
"Well... yeah." Tori nodded.
"Okay, and way more people follow her on The Slap, than follow you." Jade shrugged.
"Yeah."
She nodded, "Wow. That says a lot."
I rolled my eyes, why did I think she was going to be nice for once? "Jade." I scolded, rubbing Tori on her back. This was stupid, so stupid.
"Why is this making you so pent up?" I asked, looking at her.
"I don't know..." She slowly shook her head, cradling her arms to herself.
"Don't be sad." Cat said, walking up to her.
"Why not?" Tori whined, facing Cat.
She shrugged, "I don't have a good answer." She smiled, before walking away.
"Ya know, I don't think that anyone should care how many followers other people have." Beck said, as I turned around, rolling my eyes.
"Sure care about your ego and what other people think of you.." I mumbled lowly to myself, not really caring if he heard or not.
I picked up my script, straightening out the long skirt of my costume as I walked up the stage's steps.
"Trina has over a thousand!" Tori exclaimed, making me let out a gasp as I looked at her.
"What?!" Beck and I yelled at the same time, causing us to look at each other before forcing ourselves to look away from each other.
"Really?!" "What was that?!" "Whoa!" My friends said, as Tori nodded.
"Okay, there is no way Trina Vega," Jade said, stalking towards Andre's laptop on the desk as I quickly descended down the small stairs, following her. "has more followers than...—" She said, clicking on Trina's profile. "Oh my God. She has more followers than I do."
"Than both of us." I whispered. How could she have more followers than me? I have like 630 followers! She had 1022!
Jade twirled around, walking to the door. "Where are you going?" Andre asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"To get more followers!" She yelled, walking out the classroom.
"Jade, it's not important how many followers you hav— and she's gone.." I said, sighing. This was crazy! I can't believe this was getting Tori AND Jade out of sorts. I mean— oh who am I kidding, what was the best way to get more followers?
I looked at my friends, shaking my head before Beck shrugged, walking towards the door. "I gotta get more followers."
"Beck, you can't leave, we gotta...—" Andre said, as he held his arm up, flinging the door open.
"Bye!"
Robbie then scurried passed us, walking towards the door. "Where are you going?!" I asked him, we had a scene to do! I did not get all dolled up for nothing!
"...For a walk in the sunshine!" He lied straight through his teeth.
"Ooh, I'll come with you! I love sunshine!" Cat said, walking towards him as he held his hand out for her to hold.
"Hey! Are you guys just going to get more followers?" Andre asked them, as we looked at them.
"No.." Robbie shook his head.
"Yes, that's right." Cat nodded before they left.
"Well..." I sighed, grabbing my phone from my bag resting on the desk leg. I pressed on the pearsign 2 times, opening to the camera. "If you can't beat em, join em." I said, grabbing my bag before walking to the door. "This is all your fault Tor, love you! Bye!!" I yelled, walking down the hall, taking selfies. I wonder how many likes and shares this was gonna get me...
The next day, as planned we had to shoot for our short film in Sikowitz room. It was currently 7:27 AM, and Jade and I had just gotten to the school when she told me she would meet me there, as she had to do something. Whatever that was.
As I walked into Sikowitz classroom, through the door closet to the stage, I expected to see y'know maybe Robbie.. Cat.. Andre.. not Beck. He looked up as the door closed, and we looked at each other before looking away awkwardly. I put my bag down on a chair, as he continued to set the camera up on the tripod.
I walked over to the casket that had been sitting in Sikowitz classroom, kind of out of the way, and opened it, grabbing all the props and stuff we needed. We decided to just store everything in there, since it would be easier. I glanced at Beck, the room being painfully quiet as the only noise in the room was him chewing gum and the noise, I was making from setting up the props on the stage.
Once he was done setting up the camera, he went up to the white board and started to take it down. I watched as he did it, making sure it didn't fall on him. He laid it leaning against the stage's wall as I checked the time on the clock, it had been about 6 minutes of this torture. Where was everyone?!
Beck cleared his throat, putting his phone back into his back pocket. "Man, where is everyone?" He asked.
I sighed, "I don't know, but if they don't get here soon, we won't be filming anything. Again.." I rolled my eyes, fluffing the pink wreath as he went down the steps to move the tripod over. Now, all the wreath needed was the ribbon and.. the mask. I spun around, going to retrieve the ribbon and the mask as Beck turned around at the same time, bumping into each other.
"Woah." I mumbled, grabbing onto his shoulders Instinctively as he put his hand on my waist to stop me from losing my balance. We stared at each other, before the warning bell rung, and we broke apart.
"I-i'm gonna go find Jade." I said hastily, gesturing behind me as I grabbed my bag and backed up towards the door.
"Yeah, I gotta go look for Andre, so—" He said, violently nodding his head as he grabbed his bag from the floor and sprinted towards the door.
I looked back at him, finding him lingering at the doorway, looking at me before we both averted our eyes away from each other and left the classroom.
As I came back from Sikowitz classroom, I walked down the hall scrolling on The Slap, heading to my locker. So far, I had gained about 80 followers from all the selfies and slap posts I'd been posting. While my friends.. had gained like over 50 to 200 followers doing some excessive and crazy things. As I scrolled further, I came across one of like 30 of the hot pictures Beck had been posting all last night. Those pictures? Had gotten him 200 more followers, which meant he had all of us beat.
Curse his good looks... and all those girls... Don't get me wrong, I wasn't jealous of those girls.. I know Beck is mine.. it's just lately, he hasn't been making me feel like his. We hadn't really talked.. since our fight and I didn't know when we were going to make up this time.
"Hey," I greeted Tori, walking up to my locker as Sinjin was walking away.
"Hey." Tori sighed, looking around before stopping on me. "Come with me." She said, pulling my arm.
"Wai—" I murmured, "I need to put this script up. Tori!" I whined as she opened the door to the janitor's closet.
"And be sure to tell all your friends to follow me on The Slap!" Robbie said, holding his phone in front of him. "And now the contest... Begins!" He exclaimed, before ending the video.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Uploading a video to The Slap." He answered, glancing at me.
"But we were all supposed to meet in Sikowitz's room at seven-thirty." I said, checking the time. It was well past 7:30!
"I had the Stabolin already for you!" Tori said, gently pushing me back a little before she clicked the button on the violin in order for the blade to pop up.
"..Well, I'm busy getting more followers." He said, typing away on his phone before pausing. "See, I'm having this contest... Because contests are one of the best ways to get more followers." He smiled, as Tori covered the blade and put it back down.
"Well, what kinda contest?" I asked. I needed ideas, I only got 80 more followers yesterday and I was not going to let my boyfriend SURPASS ME IN FOLLOWERS.
"It's called 'Where's Robbie?' See, every hour, I tweet a video of myself, in a secret location, and my first follower who finds me gets a cool prize." He grinned.
"So, what prize did you offer just now?" Tori asked.
He raised up his foot, smirking. "My sneakers!" He whispered. That was a stupid idea.. everyone at Hollywood Arts knows what this closet looks like!
"Look, we really need to get to work on our film, because I have rehearsals in like an hour for a play." I said, gesturing to the door as it swinged open with a mob of people.
"AH!" Tori and I shouted, getting squished together behind the door.
"There he is!" Burf yelled, pointing at Robbie before they bombarded him, causing him to fall into the sink behind him.
"Ow! Hey!" I screamed, pushing against the door as they literally attacked Robbie.
"What are you doing? Those are my shoes! Watch my sore toe!" He yelled, as they fought to be the first ones to take his shoes off.
Burf and another boy managed to snag his shoes while the others took what he could get, which was Robbie's socks and ran, the whole group following them out the janitor's closet. Tori and I watched them go with opened mouths, as Robbie whimpered, shrieking when we looked at him.
"Oh my God.." I whispered, looking at the state of him. "Aw.. Robbie." I patted his head, before walking out the door with Tori in tow.
"Then show me! Show me your phones right now!" Jade's voice blared, making the cluster of people in front of her hold out their phones. Tori and I glanced at each other before I shook my head, rolling my eyes. See what I was talking about? Robbie, now Jade?
"Hey! What's your name?" She said into the megaphone, stopping the girl who had recently joined our school.
"Pepper." She said, shaken.
"Do you follow me on The Slap?" Jade asked, walking closer to her.
"No, I... I...—" Pepper stammered, backing up.
"Why not?!" Jade yelled.
"I just moved here." She nervously answered.
"Okay, well whip out your phone and follow me on The Slap!" Jade told her.
"Okay, okay!" She said, grabbing her phone from her pocket.
The megaphone made a sound, before Jade looked around at the rest of the people standing around her. "All of you, right now!" She yelled, making them move and pull out their phones.
"So, you're scaring people into following you?" Tori asked, as we walked up to Jade.
"I'm gently suggesting that they follow me." She said, before looking the boy who was walking past us, on his phone. "Hey!" She shouted, startling him. "Do you follow me on The Slap?!" She asked, walking towards him as he backed up.
"Uh uh." He shook his head violently.
"Follow me!" She screamed, as he ran up the stairs, typing on his phone.
I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms as she walked back towards us. "Jade, this is ridiculous!"
Tori nodded, "We have to go make our short film!"
"No, I have to get more slap followers!" She said, looking a little uneasy.
"Why?" I asked, slightly exasperated and amused.
"Because your boyfriend was up all-night tweeting thirsty pics of himself, so he got two hundred more followers, and there's no way I am gonna let anyone think someone in my family have more followers than I do!" She explained.
"Why not?!" Tori asked, holding her arms out.
"Because I'm the prettier one!" She screamed, jerking backwards.
Tori titled her head, knitting her eyebrows together. "Are you?" She said, causing Jade to glare at her before she strode past us, bringing the megaphone back up to her mouth.
"FOLLOW ME!" She yelled at by standing students as she rounded the corner.
Tori sighed, touching my arm. "I'm gonna go try to find Andre so we can at least try to film something today." She said, before shaking her head. "I did not stay up all night making the stabolin for this." She whined, walking away.
Just as she walked away, the school doors opened and Cat strolled in, typing on her phone. "Hey Cat," I smiled as I walked up to her.
"Y/n.. just... said hey... to... me." She said, not looking up from typing on her phone.
"Ya know, we're supposed to be shooting our film right now, for class?" I said, before glancing at the time on my phone. "We still have like 10 minutes left; we could at least get the funeral scene done if Sikowitz lets us use some of first period." I shrugged.
She looked down at her phone after looking at me. "Y/n... just... reminded me... about our... short... film. Hashtag. Don't... care." She muttered, making me silently gasp.
"Cat!" I semi-scolded. "Can you put your phone down and actually talk to me?" I asked.
She gasped, covering her mouth. "Sorry! That was mean." She said, tapping my hand.
"It's okay kitty Cat. I understand." I shrugged, nodding.
"I'm trying to do a thousand tweets a day." She answered, grinning as she held up her phone.
"And that will get you more followers?" I asked.
"Yea! Because the more you tweet, the more followers you get." She answered.
"Can you really think of a thousand things to tweet all day?" I asked, it sounded tedious and tiring. But for Cat.. it was probably going to be nothing.
"Mhm!" She nodded enthusiastically. "Y/n... is... my... best..friend.." She tapped my hand again, winking before turning around. "Bye!" She laughed. "I... just... said... bye.. to.. Y/n." She typed, looking at me as she walked away. "I... like... birds. And cheese..."
"Y/n!" Dad yelled from downstairs, "Uh a curly headed bo—" he said before he stopped talking, "Sinjin? Sinjin is here!"
"Coming!" I yelled, jogging down the stairs, holding my phone and laptop.
"Honey," Dad scolded, holding his thermos. "don't jog down the stairs with your laptop, you could fall." He said, as I put my laptop on the coffee table.
"Sorry." I sighed, before noticing he was wearing his police badge. I looked at the time on my laptop, seeing it was a little early for him to be heading to work. "You're on your way to work?"
"Yeah," He sighed, "I'm sorry baby but they called me in. I won't be able to make it to dinner tonight." He explained, leaving a kiss on my forehead.
"It's alright." I nodded, shrugging as I sat down.
"I love you, tell your sisters and mother I said I love them as well." He said as he checked for his keys in his pants before leaving out the door.
"Love you too!"
Sinjin watched as he left before looking at me, breathing hard. "Sorry it took me so long to get here. You live at the top.. of a very large hill." He said, taking pauses to breath.
"You ran here?" I asked, slightly concerned as I looked up from my laptop.
"Sure." He shrugged, "I'm not usually invited to the main people's houses." He said as he took off his backpack.
"Main people's houses?" I mumbled quietly to myself.
"So, what do you need?" He asked.
"Okay so, I'm like, in a battle or... I don't what it is." I shook my head, "with Robbie, Cat, Andre, Tori, Jade and Beck.." I shrugged, standing up.
"The main people." He nodded, walking towards the couch.
I furrowed my eyebrows, slowly nodding. "Yeah. Anyway, we're trying to see who can get the most followers on The Slap. So far.. Beck is winning." I rolled my eyes.
"Oh yeah, you two are in a fight." Sinjin said, pointing at me.
I shook my head, confused. "How do you know about that?"
"..When one of the two most popular people in the school, who are also a couple.. gets in a fight... word spreads." He shrugged. "And you two have been fighting a lot lately..." He mumbled, making me glare at him.
He held his hands up, "Hey. People notice when the both of you aren't attached at the hip."
I didn't even realize people.. watched us. Maybe we should be worrying what other people think, but not in a way it ruins our relationship, in a way where rumors.. and our business isn't getting spread all over school. But that doesn't excuse Beck's actions.
"Earth to Y/n... woo-hoo!" Sinjin said, waving his hand in front of my face.
I shook my head, "Oh, sorry. I—"
"Thinking about me?" He smirked, leaning closer towards me.
"What? No!" I exclaimed, swatting him away. "Okay, look, to get more followers, I thought of doing the—" I said as I sat down, catching a glimpse of Robbie's follower count going up. "Oh my God!" I exclaimed, staring at my laptop. "Robbie's gotten over a hundred more followers in the last twenty minutes! He's at 700 now!" I whined looking at Sinjin.
"Stand aside!" Sinjin said, gently pushing me out the way to sit in front of my laptop. "Yep, looks like he posted a new video."
"Play it." I told him, looking between him and the laptop. He clicked on the video, revealing Robbie's torso all in the camera as he stood in his bedroom.
"Hey there, Slaparoos! Well, I promised everybody that when I hit six hundred followers, I'd give myself a complete make-over. And since I hit six hundred followers this morning..." He said, before crouching down to the camera and showing his face. His hair was pulled back, he was wearing very shiny neutral makeup, and he wasn't wearing his glasses. He looked like a.. salsa instructor or Michael Jackson from the 'Keep it in the closet' music video!
"Here ya go!" He breathed, flicking the makeup brush against his cheek before making A LOT of poses.
"Oh, my Lanta..." I mumbled, as he started to back up and dance. I wanted to look away but couldn't make myself.
"I don't like where this is going." Sinjin muttered, making me nod my head, agreeing.
"Would you follow me?" He asked, dancing closer to the camera. "I'd follow me." He smiled, shimming his shoulders.
"Hang on, looks like Beck is doing a live stream-cast." Sinjin said, looking at one of the many tabs I had opened on my laptop after closing out the tab with Robbie's video.
"What's he doing?!" I asked, leaning closer as he switched tabs.
"...Let's find out by clicking." He said, looking at me before clicking on the livestream.
"Okay, here I am, live on The Slap, about to wash my car." He said, gesturing to the yellow vintage car behind him parked in the school's parking lot. That wasn't even his car! It was his stupid uncles! "Oh." He murmured, looking around. "You know I forgot my rags. Hmm," He shrugged, "Guess I'll have to use my shirt." He looked at the camera, taking off the unbuttoned shirt off and leaving his grey tank top on. I put my hand over my heart, almost feeling mesmerized as he grabbed the big blue bucket of water and splashed it onto his car, looking at the camera as he dropped it carelessly on the ground.
He stared at the camera, using his shirt to clean the car as the muscles and veins in his arm flexed and his hair got into his face. I picked up the laptop, bringing it closer towards me as the camera zoomed in on his face.
"This can't get him that many more followers..." I mumbled, not taking my eyes off the video. "Who would wanna watch him.. wash his car.." I said, "Oh my God look at his arms." I whispered.
"I'll turn it off." Sinjin said, hovering his hand over the mousepad.
I moved his hands away quickly, moving my laptop out of his reach. "No, no, no, no, no, no!" I exclaimed, watching as he laid sideways on the car's hood, posing. I briefly smiled, remembering that one time where we were washing his dad's car and we got ourselves more drenched with the hoses than the car.
"Um, if you want more followers, you need to make your video." Sinjin reminded me, making me look at him.
"Oh! You're right!" I said, standing up. "Can you man the camera?" I asked as he stood up as well.
"Got it." He nodded, before following me into the kitchen. He grabbed the camcorder from the platform, holding it up as I got ready.
"Ready...?" He asked and I nodded, standing beside the kitchen table. "Go." He nodded, as the camera turned on, making a click sound.
"Hey everyone!" I waved, "It's Y/n and today, I'm going to be doing the hot chili pepper challenge." I explained, getting a little nervous. "Now, usually, people don't make it to the hottest chili pepper because they eat the green and the red. So, I thought, why not just skip to the orange pepper?" I asked rhetorically. "So, here I have the orange pepper.." I said, as Sinjin showed the orange chili pepper on the plate. "And I have a glass of milk because a lot of people said to drink milk after, so yeah." I shrugged.
"Uhh duh." Sinjin murmured behind the camera.
"Okay," I said, grabbing the pepper. I took a bite, not quite eating the whole thing but some of it. As I chewed, I felt minimum heat, making me smile and nod my head. "It's not that hot... and it actually kinda tastes sweet?" I looked at the pepper before taking another bite. "Yeah, I don't really feel anything, I mea—" I audibly gasped, suddenly feeling the heat at the tip of my tongue before it spread. "Oh my God, that's hot!" I inhaled, waving at my mouth. "My tongue— My mouth is burning!" I exclaimed, fidgeting on my feet.
"Uhh Y/n are you okay.. your starting to turn pale.." Sinjin said, as I grabbed the glass of milk from the table, chugging it.
I nodded, drinking the milk. "Mhm." I mumbled before putting the half empty glass down. "I- I just, it's really hot! Like, really really hot!" I exclaimed, looking at him as I grabbed the glass of milk again, feeling myself get dizzy. "This milk.. is so good.." I muttered, my eyes closing. "Am I sweating?" I asked slightly dazed, as I wiped my forehead before putting the glass down on the table. "Okay.. anyways.. I-i survived the Hot chili pepper challenge.. so make sure to foll..." I said, stopping as I started to feel weaker. "ow.. me.. and sha..re with.. um.. you're um.." I stammered, whispering. "You..'re frien—"
"Oh! Shoot, Y/n!" Sinjin yelled as I went down. "This is gonna get you a lot more followers!" He exclaimed, still recording.
"Girls, are you ready? We have to leave soon." Mom said as she came down the stairs, putting her earring on.
"Yeah," Tori nodded, getting the milk carton out of the fridge. "I just need to film this challenge and we can go."
"Okay. I just don't want to be late." She cautioned, walking over to the kitchen as she checked her watch. "Y/n, you feeling any better?" She asked, looking at me worriedly.
I nodded, "I still have a headache, but my mouth isn't on fire anymore." I shrugged, repositioning the icepack on my head.
So, I may have fainted.. and hit my head. Was I ever going to do that stupid hot chili pepper challenge again? No. Did I gain followers? HECK YEAH. But now I had a concussion... Buttt, Beck did text me like 2 minutes after I posted the video, asking if I was okay. I don't know about you, but gaining followers and having my boyfriend check up on me in the midst of a fight is a win-win in my book.
"Let me see your head." She said, moving the icepack away from my head. "Oohh.." She winced, looking at me pitifully as Trina came down the stairs, in 5-inch heels, cackling. "Trina, don't laugh at your sister."
"What? Is it bad?!" I asked, looking between her and mom.
"It's KNOT good." Trina laughed, as mom waved her away.
"Trina, you're not helping." She sent her a glare before getting out her phone and going to her camera. "Here," She held it in front of me, showing the small swollen knot on my forehead as Tori walked closer towards the table.
"Oh my God!" I exclaimed, taking her phone out of her hand.
"Is it throbbing!?" Tori asked, gently touching it as I gave mom back her phone.
Mom winced again, "Aw honey, maybe we should just cancel for tonight.." She sighed, about to call someone on her phone.
"No, mom, we've had these reservations for like 2 months. I'm fine!" I assured her, pulling her phone down.
"See?" Trina said, from the couch. "She's fine. LET'S GOO!" She exclaimed, opening the front door.
Mom looked at me, thinking before letting out a sigh. "Alright.. Tori are you ready to go?" She nodded her head to the door.
"Just a minute.." She murmured, "I have to do the challenge first and then we can go."
"What challenge?" Mom asked.
"The Kioki Powder Milk challenge! Just hold this," She said, holding her phone up and sideways in front of mom so she could hold it just like that. "Andd..." She mumbled, jogging to the middle of the kitchen before tucking a towel into her blouse.
Trina let out a loud groan, making us look at her. "I'll be waiting in the car!" She said, slinging her purse everywhere as she left out the house, leaving the door wide open.
"...Ready?" Mom asked, hovering her finger over the record button. Tori nodded as she fixed her hair and mom started recording.
"Yo yo yo, what do ya know?!" She exclaimed, moving her arms a lot as she looked into the camera.
"Oh God." I sighed, making sure I had everything in my purse.
"This is toe-ray-me," she said, brushing non-existent lint off her shoulder. "And you are on my page, here at TheSlap.com! Now, as I promised yesterday..." She said, backing up to the table. "I am gonna take the Kioki Powder Milk challenge!" She exclaimed, before banging a metal gong.
I closed my head, covering my ear closet to the gong as my ears ringed from the sound. This was not helping my headache. I quietly stood up, walking behind mom to watch.
"People say it's impossible to put a teaspoon of Japanese Kioki Powder, into a glass of milk, and then drink it in under a minute. Well, let's find out!" She said, gesturing to the glass of milk, the timer and Kioki powder she had laid out at the table. She grabbed a spoon before grabbing the Kioki powder, "I'll just uh take the Kioki Powder..." She showed the spoon to the camera, after getting a spoonful.
"Dump it into this glass of milk, stir it.." She murmured, stirring the spoon in the glass of milk that was turning a light green. "And now, I'll hit the timer, and show ya how it's done, son!" She crossed her hands, looking down at the floor as she wobbled her legs. She hit the timer, as I suddenly let out a hiccup, making Tori and mom glance at me as I sent a glare at Tori.
This happens every time! Every time she talks 'urban'!
Tori quickly picked up the glass, taking a sip before coughing it out. She nodded, looking at the camera as I shook my head. "Please tell your friends to follow me!" She said, before taking another drink and stomaching that one. "I'm doing this for my followers!" She exclaimed, letting some of it spit out her mouth. She continued to drink it, visibly struggling as she coughed most of it up. "Follow me!" She yelled, as mom grimaced and looked away, still holding the camera.
What a day...
The next day, at lunch, I was sitting at our table, eating Spaghetti and meatballs while waiting for my friends. I looked up after taking another bite, hearing footsteps, seeing Jade standing over me, with a glare. Oh.. what did I do now?
"What?" I asked tiredly, twirling my fork in my noodles. She glanced at my container of food, before grabbing it. She threw it towards the parking lot, and it landed all over Oscar, the container laying on his head.
I gasped, looking at her. "You chucked my Spaghetti and meatballs!" I yelled, pushing her. "And covered Oscar in it too!" I gestured to him, as students surrounded him, helping him clean it off.
She grabbed the lone meatball that had fallen onto the table, grunting as she threw it directly at random a student. "Ow!" He shouted, holding his head.
"What the hell was that for?!" I asked, trying not to yell as my ears was still sensitive.
"1. You posted a video of you doing the Hot Chili Pepper challenge!" She raised her voice, making me wince.
"So?!" I asked. I did not see why she had to chuck my noodles!
"So! You fainted and hit your stupid head! And had the NERVE NOT TELL ME, WHEN I HAVE BEEN YELLING ALL DAY AND 2, I was gonna do that to get more follower! But now I can't because you did!" She rolled her eyes, hands planted on her hips as I looked at her confused. "If I had done it FIRST, I could've gained followers which means you wouldn't have done it and ended up injuring yourself!" She scolded...?
"I'm sorry??" I apologized, looking at her crazy.
She rolled her eyes, "Whatever." She said, angrily pouting as she sat down and slammed her phone down. I closed my laptop, shaking my head. What just happened?
"You're buying me another Spaghetti and meatballs." I said, looking at her as she rolled her eyes and nodding.
"You know it's true!" Beck yelled, making me look in the direction where his voice was coming from.
"Why would I do that?!" Andre asked, looking at Beck following behind him as they walked towards our table.
"You tell me why!" Beck said, as Andre had stopped in front of him.
"You're just jealous!" He exclaimed, taking off his backpack.
"I'm not jealous!" Beck fired back, almost immediately as he walked behind me. "Why don't you just admit it!" He shrugged.
Beck sat down beside me, looking at Andre.
"Admit what?" Andre asked as he put his backpack under the table. sitting across from Jade.
"The truth!" Beck shouted as he took off his backpack, throwing it beside mine.
"I got nothing to admit!" Andre said as Beck sat down beside me on the bench and stared at Andre. I glanced awkwardly at Jade, scooting a tad over to make room for Beck to sit, seeing as, our shoulders we're touching. I just assumed we weren't going to be sitting next to each other because we really hadn't been.
"What is your guys problem?" Jade asked, looking at Beck.
"Andre is desperate to get more followers!" He said, not looking away from Andre once.
"At least I do my videos with my shirt on." Andre retorted.
Beck pointed at him, "Well, nothing is as lame as having somebody tweet for you." He said, making my mouth open as I looked at Andre.
"Really?" I asked, more amused than upset.
"Woww." Jade murmured, looking away.
Andre stared at Beck, getting ready to straight lie. "He can't prove that! Nobody can prove that I had anyone tweet for me!" He waved his finger, glancing at Jade and I.
"Your grandmother's been tweeting for you and you know it." Beck said, leaning closer to the table.
"Hey, hey." Tori greeted with a grin, sitting down beside me.
"You don't know chiz!" Andre squinted his eyes at Beck, causing Tori to look at him, confused.
"What doesn't he know..?" She asked, looking between them.
"Oh!" Beck exclaimed, "Oh, don't I?" He asked rhetorically, picking up his phone. "Andre's been having his grandmother tweet for him!" He answered Tori as he scrolled on his phone, "Let's just read some of 'your' tweets from last night." He said, sassily. "Uh, at nine-thirty 'you' tweeted... 'Ah! There's a martian under my bed!'"
"...I thought there was." Andre shrugged.
"And at ten-seventeen 'you' tweeted... 'Help me! My vacuum cleaner wants to eat me!'" He continued, making us look at Andre for an explanation.
"I got confused" He deadpanned, nodding.
Beck put his phone down, glaring at him as Cat walked to our table. "Hiiii." She greeted, quickly sitting down and setting her bag down. "I.. just... sat down... and said... hiiii." She typed on her phone, her back facing us.
"Cat," Tori sighed, "If you're just gonna sit there and tweet stupid, pointless tweets, then please go sit somewhere else!" She whined.
Cat looked at her phone, after glancing at her. "Tori... is being... mean... to me. Hash-tag... cramps?" She said aloud, as Tori silently gasped.
"How could you?!" Robbie yelled, walking straight up to Cat as he gestured to his phone. "I mean, really, how could you?!"
"What'd Cat do?" Tori asked, concerned.
"She tweeted... 'Big news! Robbie Shapiro has bimples!'" He read aloud from his phone, and Cat giggled.
"What are bimples?" Beck asked.
"Butt pimples!" He shouted. WAS not expecting that. "Pimples on one's bottom!" He yelled, pointing to his butt. "Which I do not have!" He assured, pointing at all of us.
"I know!" Cat said, as he stared down at her.
"Then why'd ya tweet that?" Andre asked.
"Because I ran outta real stuff to tweet! And anyway, people like reading weird stuff about other people!" She defended.
"Okay, so she tweeted that you have bimples, nobody's gonna believe her." Jade said, right as Sinjin creeped up behind Robbie.
"Hey Robbie, I have a doctor that can get rid of your bimples." He told him, before taking a sip of his drink as Robbie turned around, angrily.
"Dang it!" He yelled, looking at Cat as she stood up.
"Look, it's not my fault! Tori's the one who started this godforsaken followers war!" She exclaimed, blaming the result of her lack of tweet ideas on Tori.
"Yeah, Cat you're right it is Tori!" Jade said, as she started to stand up from the table, making the others do the same and attack her.
We all knew what we we're doing, and we were all over the age to be blaming our actions on someone else!
"What? You're blaming me?!" Tori asked, standing up.
"Yeah, you're right." "You did it!" "Tori!" "This is your fault!"
"Hey, don't act like didn't all knew what we were doing!" I exclaimed, looking my friends as they yelled.
"But Tori is the one who brought it up!" Cat said, as her, Robbie, Beck, Andre and Jade started to yell over each other and at each other!
"Cover your ears." Tori said as she stepped out from the bench. I slowly nodded, covering my ears as I watched her grab, Randy the boy from our film class's trombone and blew it, stopping everyone's arguing.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Cat asked.
"I didn't start this followers war! I just wanted to get more followers than Trina!" She exclaimed, as Beck and I sat back down.
"Well, how the helicopter did your dang sister get so many followers in the first place?!" Andre asked.
Sinjin rose his hand, after watching the whole time. "Uh... I can answer that... Three months ago, Trina told me that if I'd hack into The Slap and change her number of followers from thirty-four to nine hundred, she'd teach me how to jump rope. So, I hacked in, and I gave her nine hundred slap followers."
900 FOLLOWERS? 34 FOLLOWERS!? TRINA HAD 34 FOLLOWERS!??
"You rigged her numbers?!" Tori asked.
"Can I have my trombone back?" Randy asked.
Tori handed him the trombone, "Sure." He looked at the mouthpiece, before looking at Tori and walking away.
"Look, I just wanna say... You guys make me sick." Sinjin said, making me furrow my eyebrows.
"Why?" Beck asked.
"Because! You're all great-looking... And talented... and popular... I mean, you guys star in every play at this school. And you sing all the songs. And you do all the talking in class. You guys have it all. And you're really worried about which one of you has the most followers?" He said, making me feel really... ashamed and dirty. Were we that shallow!?
It was dead silent compared to all the yelling we were doing earlier, all of us realizing how stupid we looked.
"Yeah. You feel the shame? Cause... You should feel the shame..." He guilted, staring at us a little longer before walking away as Beck opened his mouth to say something but opted not.
"I feel the shame." Cat broke the silence, looking at Robbie. "Do you guys?"
"I certainly do." "Yeah... I feel the shame." "Mhm.." "Sure."
"Man. We make Sinjin sick. And he eats food that other people chewed up and spit out." Andre said, sitting beside Jade.
"I hate myself." Robbie hissed, looking at us.
Cat looked at him, "You've hated yourself for years..."
"Yeah..." He sighed.
"Ya know what?" Tori said, getting our attention. "I'm happier with the six real friends I have at this table, than I would be with twenty million friends on a computer that I don't even really know."
"How do you get six?" Jade asked, making Beck and I stare at her, shaking our heads.
"Uh, I hate to bring this up, but all of us real friends was supposed to turn in a short film tomorrow morning and so far, we've got nothing." Andre reminded.
"You're right, we've got nothing." Beck shook his head.
"Heyy," I softly said, "If anyone can do it, it's us," I said, grabbing my phone from my back pocket, checking the time. "We have.. nineteen hours to finish that short film and I think that's plenty of time for seven great friends, to make the best short film this schools ever seen." I encouraged, smiling.
It was in fact NOT time for seven great friends to make the best short film this school's ever seen... I— Just watch...
"Thank you for coming." Jade told Robbie as he carefully descended down the stairs, playing the violin.
"Beautiful performance!" Tori cheered, clinking her glass a spoon.
"He is a wonder to the world." Beck mused as he and I sat on the couch, watching the performance.
"Bravo!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands. The door then busted open, and Andre and Cat came into the house.
"That's him!" Andre yelled, and Robbie turned around towards the camera dramatically. "That's him right there!"
"Mister Bowman!" Cat shouted as she and Andre held up their police badges. "You're under arrest for the murders of..." She stammered, as Jade, Tori, Beck and I stood up, in shock. "Some people!"
Ohh and here comes the part... "What's happening?!" I exclaimed, touching my head, "What's happening?!" I screamed.
"There is no way.." Jade said, as she stumbled, walking to Robbie. "my violinist husband would harm anyone!"
"People do crazy things for money..." Beck stared into the space, as I looked at him, clinging to his chest.
"Mister Bowman doesn't need money!" I whined, before dramatically looking at the camera.
Tori gasped, "Or does he?" She asked, looking around the house.
"No. All he cares about are his Socks and Violins!" Jade slurred, looking at Andre as Robbie crouched down to the floor, under our noses.
"Socks and Violins don't come cheap." Andre said, making jade choke on her drink, and look at him with her one eye as the camera zoomed in on her.
"Ha!" Robbie yelled, popping up the blade on the violin. "Don't be fooled by the size of my knife! Ha, ha ha... Now you're all gonna be... Murdered!"
I glanced at Beck, grimacing at what came of our short film. This not how we'd thought it would come out...
"In the dark!" He yelled, turning off the lights.
"Nooooooooo!!" Tori screamed bloody murder, crouching down to the floor as she covered her head and the camera zoomed in on her, before it showed Robbie coming towards us with the stabolin.
"Ahhh!"
"Teh end?" Randy said, before laughing. I sighed, cringing.
"Well." Ms. Tilda said as she walked to the front of the Blackbox. "That was the.. worst short film I have ever seen at this school." She nodded, as I looked anywhere but her, my tongue resting against my cheek.
"Hey... Where's Sinjin?" Tori asked, after looking around the room, and noticing his chair was empty.
"And jump, and jump, and jump, and jump..." Trina said, as she and Sinjin jumped roped in the parking lot of the school.
"I think I'm getting it!" Sinjin exclaimed.
"Good." Trina smiled, glancing at him. "Now let's do our rhymes."
"'Kay kay."
"B my name is Betty and my husband's name is Bob..." Trina started them off.
"We live in bubble city where we sell... Bea..ver medicine." Sinjin continued.
Trina looked at him out of the corner of her eye, "..Why don't you start the next one?" She suggested.
"S my name is Sinjin and my wife's name is Trina..." He grinned.
Trina dropped her jump rope onto the ground, "I'm done with this." She said, walking away.
~