𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨, 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 ( 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙡 )

𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

visions

"race you to the end?" asked walker. the hallway seemed incessant like it would keep expanding with every step i took. maybe pulling a maeve and adding some unnecessary games to the mix would help make the ordeal more feasible.

"only if you give me a chance," i said. "we don't want another sword fight situation, mr jackson."

"i'm not gonna let you win. that's just as unfair as cheating. but i will give you some tips," he said, stretching. "pretend... i don't know, let's say that kid from just now, because you said he's scary, you pretend he's chasing you. works like a charm."

"alright." i cracked my knuckles. then, we both got into ready position. i dug my worn out, thrifted converse shoes into the tile, set to traumatize them further. "on your mark, get set... go!"

the walls in my peripheral vision began to blur into streams of beige as i sprinted as fast as i could. whether he liked it or not, the theater kid was now on my tail, clearing his territory of anyone who found out about his secret society. in my head it was actually quite horrifying -- the lights were flickering and the walls were closing in from my left and right, eerie strings swelling. the kid was making demonic shrieks and maybe doing some theatrical dances as he desperately tried to grip my hair and suck me into the depths of hell where mr fennel teaches me anti-theater propaganda for eternity. maybe i've watched too many psychological thrillers.

walker's little trick seemed to work perfectly. the door was close enough that i could see my reflection in the tempered glass. that reminded me that i was still in my lame school before i could let myself get too carried away, before i could humiliate myself by getting too immersed and screaming out loud.

and since i was snapped out of it, i also realized that walker was right next to me. i mean, he was right next to me. we were going at precisely the same velocity and in parallelism. neither one of us were on the way to win. we were about to stalemate.

i didn't want to crash or fall to the floor again. so i just persevered and hoped we would stay steadily in line for a few more feet. the grasp my fingers had on the flyers tightened, not wanting to lose them when i had to break my strides so abruptly. three steps... two... one. we reached the door at the exact same time.

we didn't discuss it. didn't even catch our breath. we were so going to get busted by fennel at that point that we just walked through the door and continued our journey through the halls of the school. eventually, once i recognized where we were, i said, "good race back there."

"if your definition of good is tying, then i disagree," he remarked.

"what, are you embarrassed that you didn't win against a girl?" i teased.

"i'm not embarrassed. i'm just remembering that i'm not a demigod. if that makes sense."

"yeah, i get it," i said. but i knew i could never fully get it.

time, of course, only moved fast when i didn't want it to. a few minutes had already passed when the two of us were approaching one of the flyers near a restroom. if i was an unsuspecting student passing by, i would get hooked. i slowed my pace to take in all of its glory up on the wall like a proud mother. "look how beautiful she is," i gushed.

"we can look at the rest up on walls, too, if we get them there in the next..." walker checked his phone again. "five minutes!"

"what? that went inexplicably fast!" we had four flyers and only one minute more than that to hang them all up and get back to class. trying not to panic, i said, "look, i know i said we should split up, but can you follow me to the principal's office. i think we're going to have to go there soon anyway."

"yeah, sure--" before he could finish talking, i grabbed his hand. he didn't reject it, in fact he made certain that his fingers were secure in mine. we ran once again through the hallway, this time fueled by the fact that we were doomed rather than fantasy. 

i found dowery's office with three minutes to spare and felt around for the tape in my pockets. i hung the fourth to last flyer up on the wall before dreadfully looking at the last three in my hands. "should we just trash these?" i pondered aloud.

"no, let's set 'em up on the way back."

i got an earthquake worthy vibration on my phone. one new notification from the school portal. it read, "y/n l/n has been marked absent unexcused in chemistry" in bold. fortunately, my school only deducted points if i have three absences in one quarter, and this was my first all year. the problem was that my parents got the same notifications through the app. shit.

on the walk of shame back to class, we stayed loyal to our goal of dispersing the flyers. but the operation was in the dumpsters. phase two had met its tragic demise. walker and i were officially done for.

we stood in front of the last flyer, dreading going across the hall and into the room where we would get barked at. he might not have realized this, but walker was mirroring me, both of our arms crossed. i opened my mouth to tell him that about the scoop i got on mr fennel's bowel movements -- just to lift the mood -- right when the odious chime of the bell reverberated. the mood went too low for me to lift.

students flooded the halls around us until we were nothing but just another two heads in the crowd. i recognized a few people from our chemistry class using the time in between the double period to stretch their legs, one of them being madeline. our eyes met, and she took that as an invitation to come over to us. "where were you guys?"

"i was in the nurse," walker deluded.

"is your headache gone?" she asked him.

"yeah -- it's almost like it was never there!"

"nice! what about you, y/n?" she turned to me. i forgot to put on my conversational face, so i probably looked at her like i was debating where i would bury her body.

i blinked and forced myself to smile. "oh, me? i was just getting lunch."

she questioned whether she heard that right. "what?"

"i mean dinn-- i mean breakfast!"

madeline let out a laugh and i was paranoid that it was directed at me. "no way fennel would let us do that. even if you somehow got her to, she's fuming that you guys took so long." she scanned our faces in search for some glimpse of a reaction. we made a delayed one and pretended to be shocked. then she gave us a wary nod and appeared to be at a loss for how to keep talking to us ( or should i say talking to walker ).

then she found something. "what is that behind you?" madeline asked, pointing to the flyer. she stepped closer to the wall and read it before i could answer with some bullshit excuse that prevented her from doing so. she was so close that i could smell the coffee in her breath. 

maeve and my name were in bright red at the top, which she completely ignored. instead, she just said to walker, "i'm guessing you're auditioning."

he gave me a painful glance. we both knew word was going to spread that he's in it if he told the truth, that his audition was just his imdb résumé, so he attempted to turn the attention to her. "you should audition! we-- i mean she needs someone to play a female character."

oh god, i didn't want him to encourage madeline! the shift in the conversation's focus didn't even work. now she crinkled her brows at me. "y/n, is he seriously not in this film? he has to be! he's literally a professional actor!"

i felt threatened by the strawberry blonde in front of me and the fact that her acrylic nails were so close to gauging my eyes out. she was seriously angry at me? over something she just assumed, too! walker sensed this and stepped in. "madeline, i am in it!"

her frown transformed into a peppy smile. "okay! see you on thursday."

this coffee breath bitch had to be joking. i mean, she would be perfect for emily since her character ends up being the antagonist... but i would never want to film with her. let's just say i would take "action!" too seriously ( madeline would have a few less teeth to flash that irritating smile with ).

the hall was mostly clear at that point, apart from a few people who were just leaving, probably intrigued by the catfight that was on the brink of breaking out. that meant that period two was about to start. i appreciated walker sticking up for me, but i could already see madeline walking back into class and telling her clones about the exciting news she just got.

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thank you for reading chapter 17!