"gosh, you leave quick!"
i left my calc class, and just abt bump into someone who is leaned up against wall, just around the door frame of class.
danny spat the words out, as i quickly gasped and the class bell finishes into tune.
"no time to waste." i force out, hand on my heart.
"roles are out."
"they're what!?" i gasped again, wondering how much my heart could take.
he just flickered his eyebrows up, and turned to go down the hallway, knowing i'd join him.
we both rushed together, side by side, to the drama hall.
as i rushed, a rock settles in my stomach. this was it, this was the moment where i found out if i was going to get the chance at the life i suddenly wanted. the life that suddenly kept me awake at night because the change had begun to excite me.
one step closer to living like a normal silver falls teen.
i wasnt even sure what role i wanted. it was romeo and juliet, which i hated, but i had known juliets role pretty well after helping danny a few more times during lunch or our free periods. i could do it.
we rounded the corner, and i let danny run up to it.
"romeo," danny muttered, scanning the names, "danny walter!" he gleamed, all of his teeth showing, but before i could scream congratulations, he spun around.
"juliet, harper madden!"
it took me a second to get in a breath big enough.
"what!!!" i squealed, and danny raced toward me, wrapping his arm around my waist and spinning me around. i felt light as air, and had to force breath into my lungs. i was ecstatic.
"no way." i said as he stopped spinning me, but he hadnt let go yet.
i just squeezed him back tighter.
"hmm," i softly muttered, taking one last look at the role sheet before we both headed to our next period, thinking about what i had reflected on the other night, "fate."
"tea time!"
grace rushed up to me in the hallway on the way to lunch, i was just grabbing my plate and meeting jackie in the extra room, trying not to make myself too known.
but grace was speaking loud, and a mile a minute, so that was quite impossible.
"so apparently, news got out that last year, when cole got with alex's girl, paige, that he ran away crying," much worse terminology was used, but was whispered by the girl.
i rolled my eyes. this stuff happened over the summer, why were people still talking about it??
drama, even still, makes me sick.
"and so, to help alex, i did some digging," i gave the girl a look. apparently me getting close to them had caused grace to do the same, now having her feel like helping them out, "and turns out alex snitched on cole for sneaking girls into the house, which could mean that one of those girls was paige! right?" i nodded my head out of instinct, i didnt really care what it meant, "and so-" i had begun to tune the girl out, grabbing my tray and heading out of the cafeteria, knowing she'd follow until she was done venting.
as i walked by a certain booth, a shoe stuck out to stop my own. trying not to trip, i huffed, and looked to the side. it was cole walter.
"hey harper gray!" he spoke quickly, and as the smirk was just appearing on his face, i opened my mouth to say a quick greeting, but be even quicker on my way out.
aiming my body away from cole and taking a few steps, someone's fast stride interrupted mine. needing to take quicker steps backwards as to not crash, i didnt end up crashing into her.
but the backs of my knees hit the booth, and i fell messily down into the booth. right next to cole.
"okay, guess im sitting here now." i turned my hips to face inside the booth, and sat my plate down, grace just stood awkardly next to me.
the girl who had forced me into what would become a very dramatic scene, was paige. and currently, she was yelling cole's full name, like a scolding parent.
"why have you been telling everyone here that i was one of the girls you sneak into your house?"
i tried not to make eye contact with anyone, but folded my hands together.
cole had a straight face, "why would i do that?"
"cmon cole," a nearby friend of paige's scoffed, "everyone knows. and once your dad tells paige's dad-"
"my life is over!" the blonde wailed.
"ok, i wouldnt go that far." i had said way too instinctively. just because i was sitting here, didnt mean i should be giving input. my input was definitely not wanted, anyway.
or appreciated, i had earned a suffocating glare from the girl.
"who even are you?" paige's glare intensified with her words, and i felt my throat closing.
"she's harper," cole roared, "and she has nothing to do with this. leave her alone."
i just scoffed, not really caring about her, or cole, or this situation, really.
"and what would my father have to do with this?"
"alex." the dots clicked in my mind, and my understanding came out in a whisper.
unfortunately, a whisper cole had heard.
"alex snitched." paige finished, and cole's eyes were filled with emotion. and not the good kind.
he bursted up from his seat, and i watched him stalk over to jackie, innocently waiting in line for her pizza and cake.
i felt a nudge on my shoulder, and i looked up to see grace's eyes. urging me.
do something, they seemed to say.
i shook my head wildly. but her gaze didnt change. i groaned, getting up too.
running after cole, calling his name, he didnt seem to hear me.
"where's alex?"
"i dont know." jackie seemed stunned.
"yes you do."
"even if i did," she seemed to go cold, "i wouldnt be telling you." the look in cole's eyes only worsened, "just leave him alone."
"ok, so youre on his side now?"
jackie huffed, "no, but-"
"i guess boyfriend overrules." cole only muttered it, but i had heard it.
boyfriend?
i looked over at jackie, who looked at me, scared.
cole bolted, and i just stood, frozen.
"harper, i-"
"would love to catch up some other time," i said as genuine as i could, "but i think theres a potential fight we need to stop."
jackie quickly nodded, and we ran after cole.
"i was going to tell you," she still quickly whispered as we barely kept track of cole down countless hallways, "today, right now, actually." she side eyed me, "it hasnt been that long."
i wasnt mad. seriously. jackie's life is her own, and i had been getting closer to the walters myself so, anything could happen at this point.
that had begun to be both a theme and the catchphrase of my life.
"why the theater?" i groaned, turning down the theater wing, getting dejavu from this morning.
"danny will be here, he might know." cole spat out, obviously trying to speak as little as he could.
"yeah, but can it not be the theater?" i groaned again, finally feeling like i had a place in this school i had come to love, and it was about to be dowsed and ruined with walter drama.
he bursted through the doors, anyway, with a bang, and jackie and i quickly stumbled in after him.
fortunately, danny was actually there.
unfortunately, alex was with him.
"what the hell?" cole's voice boomed, and both walter brothers turned their heads to him.
cole and alex glared at each other.
"cole!" i scolded, "stop-" i went to reach for him, but he flew himself down the stairs.
"no, no, no," danny whined, "not in the auditorium, please?" danny's pleading eyes looked towards me, and i shrugged, and he went to stand in front of cole.
danny put his hands on cole's shoulders, telling him to cut it out, but the brothers screams overpowered any of his efforts.
"youve been telling dad ive been sneaking in girls, huh?"
"he asked, i didnt say anything."
"which is basically a yes."
"youre one to talk, brother of the year right here, telling everyone i cried like a baby."
"what are you talking about?"
"guys!!" i had finally got to the bottom of the stairs, and while danny fumbled to hold back cole, i decided to go for alex, "this is ridiculous." a bang startled all of us as students began to pile into the auditorium, and i groaned.
"so youre gonna play it cool? act like it wasnt you? good thing i have a great memory of you bawling your eyes out to mom when your football dreams ended-"
"enough!" i shoved alex backwards, away from cole and danny, but his eyes stayed glued on his brother.
by then, it was too late. cole quickly dodged around danny, and lunged for alex.
danny barely threw me out of the way of cole's fist, and i tumbled towards the ground. danny was able to keep his footing, and still tried to peel the brothers off of each other, but i kept my distance.
soon enough, mr choudry got whiff of what was happening in his theater and came booking it down the stairs, pushing teens out of his way.
"thats enough!" he yelled, making the room fall silent, "all of you, and i mean the whole walter clan, to the principal's office now." his eyes skirted around the scene, "with an addition of ms madden and ms howard."
i went to interject, but his eyes then told me to save it.
i wanted to scream. i wanted the floor to shake, give out right then, burying me in a hole i couldn't ever climb out of.
welcome to life with the walter's, i heard life taunting me, its not going to be an easy start.