𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨, 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 ( 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙡 )

𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

focused

"we need to start the casting process," maeve told us.

"agreed! yes! she's right," stressed walker.

i let go of the pencil in my hands and used them to gesture my certainty. "we will. after this project."

maeve squinted at me. "but you just said--"

"i know. but casting takes longer than you guys think. we won't have time to get the project done outside of school if we do that now." as i said that, walker stared at me almost like he knew how nervous it made me.

"i could take rigorous acting lessons, master the skill, star in an epic film saga, and win an oscar before you guys will be ready to film," propounded maeve.

"would that be our film though? no," i sassed.

"not the point," she said. "plus, last time i checked you wanted to prioritize your passion over school."

she was right. that dilemma was still my shadow even in a dark room. lost, i turned to walker. he hadn't looked away from me, but now he nodded in accordance with maeve. "fine," i sighed.

"that's what i'm talking about! how about we design flyers," suggested maeve, "and put them up around school and social media accounts? not yours, walker, but you know."

"of course not," walker said, shaking his head, "but even if people find out i'm gonna be in this from your posts, the outcome might be overwhelming."

i made a half-smile. "we certainly won't have a scarcity of extras for the party scene."

"remember when jordyn said that he would ask his friends to audition and that he would be willing to as well? you two should ask him about that in gym class."

"sure, then maybe extras would be all we need. i would feel more comfortable shooting primarily with people we know," i said. i was friendly with a handful of jordyn's friends. yet they were all cool and old like him, so i got quiet every time they joined our conversations. this would be a good opportunity to get to know them better, i told myself. and i'm also not completely devoid of being cool and old, right?

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

when i strutted into the gym, ready to pitch the casting to jordyn, i was disappointed to see that he was in fact not sitting in our usual spot. i figured he could have been with his other friends and would sit down in our assigned spots in a few minutes. but when i came out of the girl's locker room with one less backpack on my shoulders, he was still not there.

i sat alone on the sticky, icky wood floor looking like the hunchback of notre dame for way too long until, luckily, my lack of company was restored by walker. "hey, is he not here?"

i nodded sluggishly. "we can still work on the project this period." we had gotten through a good chunk of it in fennel's, but nothing substantial.

"i don't sense an ounce of desire in your voice to do that."

"you've got that right," i groaned. the teacher had already taken attendance, meaning that class activities would start soon and that jordyn was definitely marked absent. i continued, "how much are you willing to bet that jordyn was grounded again but, like, this time my aunt did not hold back?"

then, almost like the universe wanted to eradicate the question, jordyn appeared entering the gym and approaching the teacher. i couldn't hear him from my distance, but i assumed he was apologizing for being late. pointing to him, i exclaimed, "walker, he's here!"

he cheered unobtrusively to me as jordyn neared us. "he had me worried for a second, i thought we were actually going to have to work on the project."

it wasn't even that funny, and i don't know if it was the delivery of it or the dreading face he made as he said it, but that statement made me unleash my inner pterodactyl, made me howl at the sun. both jordyn and walker gave me looks of pure horror. i didn't care though, my stomach was hurting too bad. i didn't even need to participate in gym class at that point -- i had just let out a laugh worth a dozen abdomen workouts.

"you okay there," walker asked me, his eyebrows raised with a hint of concern. he had a hand supporting my back. if i didn't already look like i was sunburnt from the scarcity of breath, then the blush across my cheeks would be very observable.

"yes, i'm actually great," i panted. i could see why he would think i wasn't. that laugh probably sounded like something out of a horror movie. hearing this, walker withdrew his touch. and i found myself immediately wanting it again.

jordyn laughed ( more normally than me ) and finally got a chance to speak. "sorry i'm late, guys. i slept through my alarm." he appeared as though he had just rolled out of bed, blending in with the rest of the high school and wearing pajama pants.

"it's good. we're glad you're here now," said walker.

he looked at me as though requesting i continue his talking. "oh! uh, yeah, we wanted to talk to you about starting" -- i made a drumroll of anticipation on my knees in the cross-legged position i was in, walker following suit -- "the casting process!" both of us threw up jazz hands.

jordyn applauded us. "this is a long awaited moment that i'm glad i'm actually alive to witness."

"if you bully us you're gonna miss out on us asking you to help us," i chided.

"you just told me what you were going to do, but okay," jordyn teased. "what do you need me to help you with? casting? or do you want me to be in it?"

"either one, man. i think you should audition just for the heck of it."

"there's really only minor males roles left," i added. "who we desperately need is someone to play emily."

"i mean...," jordyn smiled, pointing to himself.

i scoffed playfully. "no, jordyn, you cannot audition for emily."

"i'm just playing." he pulled out his phone from his backpack, which he hadn't had time to put in the boy's locker room. "let me ask some of my friends if they want to."

"hold up," walker stopped him. "we're gonna have to get together after school and make flyers. you can come along, but i'm saying that we need to have a set date. we're aiming to start this week, right?"

i nodded. "we're getting down to business. why now? that is something i don't have the answer to."

"because if we wait any longer, 'now' will be just one moment in the past that we regret spending waiting for the future." walker's eyebrows were furrowed, his voice intent. damn, he must really have been in that indie film mindset. i don't think that would come out of anyone's mouth organically.

"did you just pull a pep talk out of your ass?" jordyn asked, taken aback.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

the reassurance of walker's pep talk definitely helped, because once we were back at mine after school, i was laser-focused on initiating casting. homework and school took a vacation away from my head, which was more like a vacation for me.

i was somewhat right with the bet i had made with walker in gym class. jordyn was still grounded, so he was not involved in the semicircle that maeve, walker and i were forming around my laptop in my room. walker had lied to his parents and saying that he was going to chem extra help. of course, we were also in sort of a time bind. contrary to popular belief, dad didn't reside in his workplace office and would be returning home within a few hours.

we were on some graphic design website, crafting an eye-catching poster to print out. i opened a text box and dragged it to the bottom center of the rectangle. i typed in the date, time and location we had planned and verified. maeve somehow had the guts to ask the guitar teacher -- he was rumored to be a drug dealer -- if we could use one of the secluded practice rooms for the auditions on thursday after school. it was deemed a success!

the design was ready after ten minutes of bickering about which color and font to use. we settled on a classic red and black color scheme. "alright! we're ready to print," i said, standing up from my desk.

"i have to pee," maeve announced.

"thanks for letting me know!" i giggled before clicking the print button. she headed to the bathroom and i led walker the opposite way, to the home office.

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thank you for reading chapter 14!