The Arts

19 - Exit Plan

TYLER

The last few days seemed to fly by. Tyler never thought he'd be starting a whole charity. Between fielding dozens of phone calls, emailing every teacher at The Arts, brainstorming social media content with Ivan, and near-daily meetings with Gianna, it was basically the only thing Tyler had time for.

They had finally come up with a name for the charity: The Performing Arts Initiative. PAI for short. Once Ivan's mom signed off on the project, the rest of the concentration deans followed suit, which led to a school board meeting, which led to The Arts agreeing to kickstart the charity fund for one thousand smackaroonies.

It was almost too good to be true. In just a few short days, the trio had made astounding progress. At times it almost overwhelmed Tyler with a happiness that he didn't think was possible. It felt good to help people.

His little charity idea was certainly turning out to be a success, to make no mention that his popularity had also jumped up several notches since last month.

Which was exactly what he was going for.

That was why he needed to start thinking of his escape plan.

Not that he didn't believe in the work he was doing. And not that he didn't enjoy it. It just took up so much of his life, and he really only started this to get people to stop seeing him as the weirdo who doesn't know how to consume edibles. And also because his initial conversation with Gianna reminded him just how many people needed extra help to chase their dreams. But he tried not to think so much about that.

Tyler met Ivan at their usual spot after Freshman Orientation got out. Normally, Gianna would be joining them, but considering it was in the middle of homecoming week, she had cheer practice. It was their first time without Gianna in several days. And it felt weird, but good. Tyler didn't think he'd ever be grateful to be alone with Ivan, but the dude was his only guy friend. He had collected plenty of acquaintances, sure, but none of them were people he could really talk to. Ivan pretty much occupied that role by himself.

"Dude. Gianna is seriously so hot. Thanks for setting me up with her, man. You're a real one," Ivan slapped Tyler's shoulder.

"So things are going well, I take it?" Tyler asked.

"After you left last night, I remembered I had some weed from Jack. Gianna came back to my room and smoked with me. It was great," Ivan gushed.

"Okay, ignoring the fact that you conveniently forgot about your weed until after I left," Tyler teased.

"Dude, I promise, next time. I just really needed to impress her."

"And was she impressed?"

"She kissed me. So I'd say yes," Ivan beamed. It really made Tyler proud to see Ivan so happy. Ivan and Gianna never would've gotten together if it wasn't for Tyler.

Wait a minute.

Ivan and Gianna. Together.

Tyler couldn't believe the answer to his problems was right in front of his face!

"Well, I'm glad things are workin' out for you, man. Which reminds me," Tyler said, as if he was suddenly remembering something important, "I need to talk to you about this whole charity thing."

"What about it?"

"Well, it's just that I don't think I can stick with it forever," Tyler started, pushing his sandy blond bangs to the side. "I mean, don't get me wrong. It's a good cause. And I like it. And I like working with you guys. But I haven't had any time to actually focus on my music concentration since I got here. And you and Gianna know so much more about outreach than me. I just think I'd slow her down. Maybe you could take my place?" His eyes were pleading. Ivan didn't look too sure.

"I don't know," Ivan finally said. "It's a good charity, but—"

"No, I know what you're thinking. It's gonna be hard work. I can't even imagine how many times you'll have to meet with Gianna, just the two of you," Tyler was really shamelessly exploiting Ivan's crush on Gianna, but in his defense, things were going so well between the two of them that he figured he'd be the one who eventually became a third wheel in the project anyway. Why not speed up the process?

"Okay, okay, I hear you. Yes. Of course I will take over for you," Ivan smiled.

"Awesome. Thanks, dude."

"Are you leaving so soon though? I mean we just got this thing started. We're doing the silent auction at homecoming and everything."

The silent auction was Gianna's idea. The Arts always had a silent auction at their homecoming dance. A bunch of clubs signed up to do it, and it raised money for them. So once PAI had the support of the school, Gianna wasted no time arranging a table for the silent auction. Tyler never ceased to be impressed with that girl. For someone who wore such a classic mean girl exterior, she worked harder for this charity than Tyler and Ivan combined.

"No. I'm not just gonna dip before homecoming like that," Tyler said. "I think we'll give it another couple weeks or so and then I might have to tap out. It's high time I start doing what I came here to do: find a new band." His stomach twisted in knots as he said it. It was true, he had barely thought about music since he started. He missed his old bandmates. He really did. But their connection was irreparably severed. Tyler had spent his first month at school just trying to stay away from the bottom of the social food chain, and now that he was finally getting his popularity back, it was time to return to his guitar.

"Whatever you want, man. I get it. Balancing all this stuff is hard. But seriously, you're so cool for doing this," Ivan offered a small, genuine smile.

Tyler didn't feel comfortable accepting the compliment. So he made a joke instead. "Yeah, sure, you're just excited to have more alone time with your future girlfriend."

"No, I mean it. I mean, setting me up was a total bro move. But back at Hillside I used to think you were a total airhead, you know? Like didn't care about anyone but himself type of dude. But I can really tell you've turned over a leaf. You actually care about people."

There it was.

Tyler suddenly didn't feel so good. He felt like disappearing altogether.

Because Ivan couldn't have been more wrong.