𝑊𝐴𝐿𝐾𝑀𝐴𝑁 | 𝐴𝐿𝐼𝐸𝑁 𝐼𝑁𝑉𝐴𝑆𝐼𝑂𝑁 ✔︎

The Flier

Sunnyvale, California.
1986

______________________________________

Jett Williams had never been so excited in his whole life. As his eyes hovered over the flier on the cork board outside of Mr. Jenkins's office, a smile spreads across his face.

Film Contest!
The name of the game is to create an eye catching short film!
This film must be ten minutes long at the least and thirty minutes at most!
Any themes are acceptable!
Call this number to admit yourself into the contest for a chance to earn a cash prize of $1000!!!
Good luck and may the best director win!

Out of the corner of Jett's eye, he sees Mr. Jenkins walk by. "Mr. Jenkins! Quick question." He hollers louder than intended as his grumpy geometry teacher shuffles towards him.

"Yes, Mr. Williams?" Jenkins huffs, being quite used to Jett's energetic personality.

Jett quirks up a brow. "Is this contest school sponsored? Or can anyone do it? Like adults, I mean."

Mr. Jenkins squints at the neon orange flier while adjusting his glasses. "Let me ask you this, Jett..." He trails off.

Jett nods, waiting.

"Does the flier say it's school sponsored?"

The boy with the curly brown hair just blinks. "Er- No. I guess-"

"Does it say that there's an age limit?"

Jett's face turns a bit red. "No sir." Mr. Jenkins rolls his eyes. "There's your answer. And you should get home. The last bell rang like fifteen minutes ago."

Jett grabs the flyer from the board. "I know, I have AV club until four."

Jenkins just nods and waddles away while wiping sweat from his creased forehead. Jett ignores his oddly rude teacher before heading to AV. He looks over the magical piece of paper the whole way there.

What Mr. Jenkins didn't know is that Jett was the only member of the AV club. It was mainly used for school broadcasts and other things before it became less popular, leaving just one member.

This also caused Jett to have a lack of friends.

As Jett entered the room, he sat down and grabbed for his notepad. This notepad in particular was filled with many ideas Jett's had over the years for making his own movies.

The more dumb ones were things like Zompires. Yes, zombie vampires. He was in the sixth grade when he started this thing, okay?

Now as a junior in high school, he has his notepad pretty much filled. But what would he choose? Jett sat there flipping through ideas until his watch read four thirty.

"Shit. Mom's gonna be mad I'm late." He mumbles as he shoves his things into his backpack, including the school's camcorder. Which was technically his.

As he ran out his empty club room, his body is collided with something tall as he falls to the ground. His bag falls to the floor as Jett attempts to process what had happened.

When he looks up, he sees basketball player Marcus Anderson.

Jett blinks before standing up, and frantically looking through his bag. "Shit, shit. It didn't break did it?" The curly haired boy had grown a love for the camcorder. It was his most prized possession.

"Shit, sorry man. I didn't see you there. My ball rolled into the hallway from the gym and I was just getting it. So... yeah." The tall teen says sheepishly.

When Jett sees there is no harm done to his camera, he lets out a sigh. "It's.. fine. Nothing's broken." He shrugs, a bit awkwardly. This was his first time ever talking to someone on the basketball team, actually. At Sunnyvale High, the Sunnyvale Warriors were like the school's version of God.

Now that Jett looks at Marcus, he notices headphones around his neck, along with a walkman attached to them.

"So... we're good? I need to practice and-"

"Yes! Good. See ya, later." Jett mumbles, as if he'd ever speak to Marcus again. Marcus just nods and the two go their separate ways.

As Jett walks towards the school's exit, all he can think about is Marcus's walkman. Before he knows it, a film idea envelopes around his brain.

Jett runs home, partly because he wants to get a start on planning out his film, but also because his mother was absolutely going to be furious if he took any longer.

Time skip: the next school day.

Once again, Jett was sitting in the AV room. It was almost time for first period, but Jett had shown up to school early to get a head start on his film. Since the night before, he was jotting all types of details for his film down.

He continues to scribble before the door opens creakily. "Hey, Jett. Computer Programming Club needs to borrow a few things from in here. Is that okay?"

Jett glances over to the door to see Bell Garcia, a former AV club member. She mainly had quit because she couldn't balance her schedule between both clubs, and ultimately liked computers more.

Jett didn't blame her one bit. He understood, after all.

"That's fine. Go ahead." He mumbles while continuing to write. Bell couldn't help her curiosity as she glances over the brown haired boy's shoulder.

"Short film? No way, are you entering the contest?" She questions. Jett's head shoots up in shock. "Hey, this is private. Okay?" He huffs.

"Oh c'mon. Please let me read your idea! I can give you pointers! After all, I was in this club before." Bell holds out a hand for the notepad. Jett doesn't bother arguing and hands over the storyline.

As Bell's eyes gloss over the pages, her smile turns to a toothy grin. "Walkman. Interesting name. So the main summary of it is about a walkman that can make you see things based on what you're listening to?"

Jett nods. "Yeah. It's gonna have a deeper message though. Something about how music can change you or how it's good for your mental health or something. I figure appeasing the judges with some life lessons could win me the one thousand dollars."

Bell flips another page. "Characters? Hmm. So you need a girl and a boy? That's it?"

"I figured I'd keep it minimalistic. Besides, simplicity is sometimes a better route. I'm thinking that the girl and boy need to be the opposite of what their listening to. Maybe a cheerleader type would be listening to some rock music or something. And a heartless jock would be listening to something calmer." Jett shrugs. "It might not work though."

"Can I help you with it? I mean, er- do you need help? I'd love to contribute." Bell smiles. This shocked Jett a bit. Yeah, he knew Bell through his club but they were never all that close. Why was she being so nice?

Jett nods. "Uh... yes. I actually would like that. Maybe you can-"

"I'll help you scrounge up some actors! Thanks!"

"Wait-"

And before Jett knows it, she's already gone. Jett leans back into his chair with a sigh. This project shouldn't be that hard now that I have help. He thought to himself.

Jett continues to write on his notepad before the bell rings for first period.
______________________________________

I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! Stay tuned because this is so much more than a story about a short film contest!