𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨, 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 ( 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙡 )

𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

focused

"we need to start the casting process," maeve told us.

"agreed! yes! she's right," stressed walker.

i let go of the pencil in my hands and used them to gesture my certainty. "we will. after this project."

maeve squinted at me. "but you just said--"

"i know. but casting takes longer than you guys think. we won't have time to get the project done outside of school if we do that now." as i said that, walker stared at me almost like he knew how nervous it made me.

"i could take rigorous acting lessons, master the skill, star in an epic film saga, and win an oscar before you guys will be ready to film," propounded maeve.

"would that be our film though? no," i sassed.

"not the point," she said. "plus, last time i checked you wanted to prioritize your passion over school."

she was right. that dilemma was still my shadow even in a dark room. lost, i turned to walker. he hadn't looked away from me, but now he nodded in accordance with maeve. "fine," i sighed.

"that's what i'm talking about! how about we design flyers," suggested maeve, "and put them up around school and social media accounts? not yours, walker, but you know."

"of course not," walker said, shaking his head, "but even if people find out i'm gonna be in this from your posts, the outcome might be overwhelming."

i made a half-smile. "we certainly won't have a scarcity of extras for the party scene."

"remember when jordyn said that he would ask his friends to audition and that he would be willing to as well? you two should ask him about that in gym class."

"sure, then maybe extras would be all we need. i would feel more comfortable shooting primarily with people we know," i said. i was friendly with a handful of jordyn's friends. yet they were all cool and old like him, so i got quiet every time they joined our conversations. this would be a good opportunity to get to know them better, i told myself. and i'm also not completely devoid of being cool and old, right?

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

when i strutted into the gym, ready to pitch the casting to jordyn, i was disappointed to see that he was in fact not sitting in our usual spot. i figured he could have been with his other friends and would sit down in our assigned spots in a few minutes. but when i came out of the girl's locker room with one less backpack on my shoulders, he was still not there.

i sat alone on the sticky, icky wood floor looking like the hunchback of notre dame for way too long until, luckily, my lack of company was restored by walker. "hey, is he not here?"