After Wonder

Chapter 14/Distractions

I was so distracted throughout the day, I think Mr. Junior decided for us to not rehearse during Theater. 

"Listen up everyone!" Mr. Junior said getting everyone's attention. "I have noticed some unneeded tension in the theater today. So I decided to plan something fun. Does anyone like just dance?" Half the students raised their hands. 

"Get on stage the lot of you!" Mr. Junior yelled. Everyone ran onstage as the projector was lowered by whoever was sitting up in the projection room. 

"Let's go!" Charlotte yelled. "This'll be fun. Good luck to the people who can't dance." Her comment made everyone laugh and oooo. Mr. Junior started with dances that would warm us up. Then they started getting harder and tiring. Even after an hour, Julian and Charlotte were still going. Most of the class, me included, have sat down. 

"Someone help! She's too good!" Julian yelled. 

"Admit defeat!" Charlotte yelled back. 

"Never! There's been too much backing down in my life. I'm not giving up." Julian said. That's when Charlotte stopped dancing and looked at Julian. 

"Do you wanna talk about it?" She asked. 

"Talk about what? Me beating you?" Julian asked before he started going hard on his dance moves. Charlotte didn't expect that and stood frazzled for a second before continuing as well. 

"August get up here right now!" Julian shouted at me. 

"Okay!" I yelled back and got on stage. I joined Julian and Charlotte for the last minute of the song. After the dance was finished, Charlotte walked off the stage and me and Julian were left on stage. 

"Charlotte come on!" Me and Julian yelled. 

"The dance is out of my hands now!" Charlotte held her hands up and took a seat. 

"No!" Julian yelled. Then he turned to look at me,

"You're going down." He said. If I had eyebrows I'd be raising them at him.

"Oh really?" I asked. "Mr. Junior, pick a hard one!" Me and Julian ended up doing Bad Romance, Rasputin, Havana (Tango Version), and Scream and Shout. After finishing Scream and Shout, Julian collapsed. He refused to get up,

"Let me stay here. That was so hard!" I was surprisingly still standing, but I did have my hands on my knees. 

"Auggie! How are you still standing?!" Julian questioned me. I was breathing heavy,

"I don't know." I said. "Power of the deformed. We're strong!" Julian shook his head,

"You're a superhuman!" Julian yelled. "Time for you to get off the stage." I stood up and walked off the stage, leaving Julian where he was. 

"Wait no!" Julian quickly got up and caught me. He took me by hands and spun me around, making me face him. When he did so, I heard a little "ooh" come from the chairs. I turned around, then ran off stage while yelling. We barely heard the school bell over me screaming and chasing Summer around the theater. I ran her out into the hallway then gave up once she disappeared near the elevator. I felt Julian walking up from behind me,

"If we weren't so visibly together, I think people would believe that you and Summer were a thing." He said. Wait what? What did he say? Did he say we were together!? I think Julian realized what he just said because he quickly said,

"I mean, not that we're actually together. We are still figuring that part out." I quickly nodded then stepped into the elevator, 

"See you later Julian." I said, smiling and waving at him. As soon as the door closed, I started panicking. 

"Are we dating?! I can't believe it! Did he really say that?!" I was saying to myself and pacing back and forth in the elevator. When the elevator opened, I heard the sound of a trombone coming from the end of the hallway. 

"Chris?" I called down the hallway. It slowly came closer and closer, so did two very familiar body masses. Jack was running for his life, Chris was chasing him with his trombone, playing an obnoxiously loud tune. 

"Someone help me!" Jack was screaming as they got closer and closer to me. 

"I'm going kick your ass!" Chris screamed, pulling the instrument away from his mouth. He scream this as they ran past me. I wondered if they saw me as I walked away, paying no mind to what I just witnessed. 

"What just happened?" Charlotte approached me. 

"I don't want to know." I said, "I guess Chris just likes chasing people around with his trombone."

"That was Jack as well. Did something happen that I'm not aware of?" Charlotte asked. I stared forward, ignoring her question. 

"Nothing worth mentioning." I said. I spent the rest of the day looking for ways to distract myself, avoiding Jack, and trying not to think about what Julian said. After school, Julian and Summer followed me back to my house. We all pet Bear as we walked through the door, about to walk up the stairs when my mom stopped us. 

"Where are you three going?" She asked. 

"We are here to do homework Mrs. Isabel." Summer said. Mom raised her eyebrow at Julian, who smiled. 

"Remember, no funny business from you two." Mom pointed to me and Julian. Julian kept smiling, 

"You don't have to worry Mrs. Pullman, we'll keep it strictly professional." He said. 

"Well okay. I trust you guys. Summer, if they start kissing, hold one of them back." Mom said. Summer agreed and we all went upstairs. I started working on English as Summer and Julian were running through her lines for Drama. 

"Did any of you happen to see Chris chasing Jack around the school with his trombone today?" I asked out of nowhere. Julian looked annoyed with the question I asked. 

"Is that face a yes?" I asked him. 

"Yes." Julian replied. "I happened to see them one too many times." 

"How many times is one too many times?" I asked. 

"Fourteen times." Julian said, "It felt almost as if Jack was finding me on purpose, Christopher was just a person running after him."

"I wouldn't put that past Jack. He is extremely petty." Summer added. "He is trying to keep him on your mind. As if he knows that you guys are trying to forget about him." It was my turn to shoot Julian an annoying look. 

"I thought I put him in his place by punching him. Maybe he needs a bigger push to finally leave us alone." I said. Julian put down the script he was holding,

"Not at this moment. We're trying to forget about him right now. Perhaps you can have your revenge later this week." He said. Julian ended up being completely wrong.