CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
without batting an eye
i left the school with a solid vision for the cast, practically jumping for joy. one, because i couldn't sit in the stuffy practice room for much longer. and two, because a major step forward on the way to filming was accomplished.
maeve volunteered to take home the notepad so there was no suspicion on my parents' end if they stumbled upon it in my bag. i accepted her offer along with the fact that there was a high possibility the length of my grounding would be extended anyway, since it was four thirty by the time i began my walk home. and on top of that, the next day was when walker and i were planning to see each other, when i would sneak out for the first time.
the moment finally arrived when i had to open the door. i couldn't even hesitate outside to think of an excuse; we had a camera on the porch and that would just look suspicious in hindsight. i went for it, trusting my improv skills were better than tasha's.
"i'm home!" i called out. i hefted my bag onto the hardwood floor, carefully so that the crash of it wouldn't cover my parents' responses.
that wasn't necessary, though, because dad walked into the foyer and stood right in front of me with his hands on his hips. usually, dad put his hands on his hips when angry, but when i wrenched my neck up to see his face, it was pleasant. "how was extra help? looks like you had a lot to catch up on."
"yep. i missed a pop quiz and six pages of notes. that can explain how it was."
"at least you're home now!" he leaned in and wrapped his arms around me. ever since our agreement about homework, he'd been more... lovey-dovey? it took me a moment to reciprocate the hug, my hands tied by the guilt of this whole sham.
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
"what time am i coming over?" i asked walker before class the next morning. but i faltered over what i said out loud. inside, i was raving about how he looked peculiarly good that day. his hair was flawless, every curl a perfect spiral framing his gorgeous face like an intricate, golden border to a masterpiece painting. and his eyes! as sunlight poured in from the window beside us, they glittered with the blue of an ocean i would willingly drown in.
he snapped me back to reality. "does five work for you?"
"i'm free the whole day according to my parents. so, yeah."
"i want to propose to you-- i mean, an idea to you." just like the first day we met, he made the strangest, most adorable slip up. i couldn't help but chuckle.
he continued like nothing happened. "i was thinking last night about what filming's gonna be like. we know we're gonna need some money, right? so why don't we have a little fundraiser?"
huh. that was true. none of us in our tiny crew had a job to fund production. there wasn't much budget needed, but still some, as walker said. we would need to feed the cast and extras on longer days and such, and now that i thought of it, i had never ordered another flash kit. "what would we do to raise money? usually people do a bake sale."
"exactly! so i was thinking, when you come over, we can bake cupcakes or something."
my pulse quickened like a drumroll. this scenario had been a romantic staple that always captivated me, a recurring daydream with every new celebrity crush. since i met walker, i hadn't even thought about those old men. but making that fantasy a reality with him, my real crush? there was no way i could pass up that opportunity. "that would be awesome!"
"sweet," said walker. then he noticed violet diverging from her friends and making her way over to our table. "alright, see ya."
"wait, walker!" called violet from a few tables away.
he'd only made it a few steps before freezing. "yeah?"
"i wanted to ask you guys about yesterday," she eventually said, getting settled in her seat. "were you guys... satisfied with my audition? you kind of looked miserable before, and after, you didn't give much feedback."
"we were speechless, really," i told her. "you were phenomenal."
"mhm. it was such a long day but you made it worth the wait."
i didn't think it was possible for a mouth to widen so far across one's face. "thank you! thank you," violet cried.
fennel suddenly arose following the bell. walker gave violet a thumbs up and got to his seat just in time to evade our teacher's wrath. she spoke with great enunciation. "today is the day your reactants project is due."
she gave the class a moment to murmur amongst itself. violet and i gave each other wide eyes. after the time in class that fennel gave us to work, we completely forgot to complete it! "shit!" was all i could get out.
"yep. shit."
"was this a shock to you?" fennel asked everyone. "after i said multiple times that it was due today and had it bolded, italicized, and underlined in the packet itself, was this still a shock to you?"
after a moment of silence, almost like a memorial to our happiness, michael spoke. "yo, is it just me or did, like, no one do it?" the "laugh" that followed sounded more like a yawp of pain than anything, echoing off the walls and, from the looks of it, returning to his throat because he covered his mouth not a second after.
fennel's lips thinned. "i hope that's not true. raise your hand if you completed the project."
to my surprise, the class was a corpse. i thought that maybe one person would do it, even though it was a partner project, so they could get some credit. but no, the room was so dead i could have been in a cemetery. what wasn't dead was fennel's very much alive, burning rage.
"that's it! i'm done with you all!" her yell could have woken up the dead with the impressive magnitude of it.
it did, prompting tasha to say, "i have a reason though! jamie and i were both busy after school yesterday."
"what could be more important than my project?"
come on, tasha, don't say it. "we were auditioning for a short film and--"
"a short film? you prioritized some cruddy art?"
i was frankly offended by the questions in question. her opinion shouldn't have meant anything to me, but the oozing disgust in her voice was just vile. "what if your son made one instead of schoolwork, fennel?" i found myself asking.
"i would be just as revolted. plus, he'd probably be doing it as schoolwork anyway since that little twit decided to study liberal arts."
and before i knew it, the words were spilling out of my mouth. "if the whole world went into stem then you wouldn't have the illusion that you're better than everyone in it."
the class turned to me as mrs fennel's face turned sour. her lips moved ever so slightly like she was formulating the right words to say, but she never let any out. instead, she sat back down and began moving the mouse on her desk. she turned on the smart board and it reflected what she saw in front of her, which was a spooling website. when it loaded in, an airline's homepage was shown. the cursor clicked on the "book your flight" tab. what was she doing?
answering my question as she typed in her desired location, aruba, she said, "i'm taking a little vacation. just me, myself and i. i need some time away from you all."
the class now had the energy of a circus and let's just say mrs fennel was the clown. it burst into chatter, very upbeat chatter. it was a jumping madhouse. i heard a cacophony of ecstatic noises; some cheering, laughing, whistling, and at one point, i heard someone thank me.
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
i sat alone in my room that evening, which was a typical friday of mine, but it was depressing compared to the morning i had and what i would be doing that night. i reminisced about the cheerful chaos of our classroom that i had unintentionally caused and how i was bombarded with gratitude when the bell rang. no one came back for double period.
what i did on that expedient off period was go to the library with walker. after we managed to stop cackling about the whole situation, we discussed what type of cupcakes we would be baking. we concluded on a simple chocolate and vanilla assortment, anticipating that a good portion of our chemistry class would enjoy it. our plan was, because there was going to be a substitute teacher, we could easily store them in walker's fridge and sneak them in for a controlled, hopefully not disastrous, profitable bake sale on monday.
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thank you for reading chapter 26!