Cut Your Bangs [S.Barber]

chapter eleven

The day of the project was here. Forest was extremely excited to see the reaction to her and Stanley's strange film, and also excited to see what other people in her class did.

She sat in between Stanley and Dina in the auditorium. On Dina's right, was Syd. Bradley sat a row ahead of them with Ricky. Him and Dina hadn't spoken a word to each other since the party.

"Good morning, class! Today is a very existing morning, as you all know. Today, we are going to be viewing everyone's projects. I have all the edited tapes right here." The teacher held them up.

Forest looked to Stanley excitedly, though he was fidgeting nervously. She furrowed her eyebrows.

"So, I'm going to be picking these at random.." The woman rummaged for one of the tapes. "Ah! So.." She read the label. "Dina and Bradley." She looked up to the students.

"Would you like to give an explanation for this film before we begin? Or is it something for us to interpret?" She asked.

Dina and Brad looked to each other for the first time in the last few days. Dina glared at him. Forest and Sydney exchanged worried looks.

Brad sighed. "I think it's up for interpretation." He muttered. "Alright.." The curly headed woman trailed off. She started the video.

Dina appeared on the screen. Forest looked to the girl sitting beside her. She, too, seemed nervous. She stared ahead at the projection.

In the video, Dina looked down at a scrapbook. Inside, there were photos of her and Brad. There was a sudden flash of a clip of both of them, then a flash of another Polaroid photo.

Forest watched curiously. Dina was wearing the exact same thing she wore yesterday. This definitely didn't seem like what they originally planned, because Brad had a shocked expression on his face.

Another flash; the scrap book was in flames. Dina stared at the flames, the light reflected on her skin. The screen went black.

Bradley turned back to look at Dina with an angry glare. Dina smiled at him innocently. "Wow! That was amazing. You two did a great job." Commended Ms. Jacobs. "I love the message. It speaks to me. Wonderful job, truly."

"Yeah, us two." Grumbled Dina. Forest chuckled. "You killed it." She whispered. "Thanks." Dina grinned.

"Alright! Next short film, we have... Sydney and Noah."

Sydney stood up. "Uh, so.. we did this thing where these two best friends go on a field trip with their school, and then all this weird stuff happens, and they discover, like, hidden superpowers." She stammered.

Ms. Jacobs paused for a moment. "Wow! Sounds... interesting. Let's play it!" She exclaimed.

After Sydney and Noah, came Stanley and Forest. Stanley seemed even more nervous by now. Forest stood up to explain it, but Stanley pulled her down.

"This is up for interpretation." He announced. "Stan, no one's gonna understand a thing." Forest whispered with. a chuckle. "Trust me." He set his hand atop of her shoulder. "Okay." She looked around in confusion. The video began.

Forest stood in the forest that they first filmed in. She stood in front of the camera. "Am I really doing this?" She looked off behind the camera.

"Yes." Responded Stanley. She sighed and stared back at the camera. "Hi. I'm Joanna Widworth, and I'm twelve years old."

Forest smiled at this. She leaned her head on Stanley's shoulder. Stanley quickly stood up. Forest looked to him curiously while he left the room in a hurry. She furrowed her eyebrows and stared back at the screen.