𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨, 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 ( 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙡 )

𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣

CHAPTER ELEVEN

watch out

"maeve, listen to me. you are not maeve. you are emily." i begged. walker and i had been trying to get maeve into character for longer than we'd hoped. she had just been reading like she was trying to sound out each syllable.

"sorry i can't act like you guys can! at least you know you can trust me," she defended.

"we really need to cast more than just me," walker said.

"i agree. this isn't working," i said. "no offense."

maeve shrugged, accepting it. "i also agree, but tell me when you find a good option for emily in our little town. it's crammed with people that are either men, above the age of twenty five, or bad at acting like me."

i sighed. she had a point. even though this was just a practice run, the fact that there was a scarcity of feasible actors in our area was a little concerning, and disappointingly realistic.

after a few seconds of silence, it was broken by the sound of approaching voices. in the distance, by the corner of the school where maeve had come in through, madeline and a few other girls from my chemistry class came into view. my heart sank, the weight of embarrassment and intuition that this girl will be so annoying to us because of walker pulling it down.

i shot glances at other two, our eyes meeting in agreement that it would be best if we avoided the group of girls that was progressing toward us. they all had puffy winter coats on, clutching steaming coffee. they looked like clones of each other, making me question whether that was really madeline who had asked walker for a pencil or just one of her twins. 

"warning! madeline, jamie, tasha and violet are approaching! we must abort," whispered maeve.

walker snatched the mic, maeve grabbed the mobile flash kit, and i tightened my grip on the camera. then we made a run for it. just a few yards away was the thickest tree i have ever seen, which is where i pointed to frantically. as i did so, my one hand faltered its grasp and the camera nearly slipped out of my hands. once we were behind the tree, i embraced it oh so lovingly. 

we slowly recuperated and waited for the four of them to complete their passing through the campus to what i hoped was somewhere else to convene. but they took their sweet time, their conversation lingering in the chilly air. i was growing warmer, however, because walker's shoulder was pressed up against mine.

"what the fuck?" i heard madeline say. she sounded concerned at first, but then she started laughing, peaking my interest. "the hell are these sandwiches doing just laying here?"