𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨, 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 ( 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙡 )

𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙮-𝙤𝙣𝙚

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

eye don't know what to title this

walker sat up and pulled the chair out for violet to take his place. "thank you," she told him, astonished as if he was a mythical creature.

i waved goodbye to walker, and once it was just violet and i alone, i had the sudden urge to talk to her. "violet owsinski, right?"

"yeah. you're y/n," she said. "sorry that this introduction is delayed."

i nodded, studying her. i'd never seen the girl up close. she had a few birthmarks and clumpy mascara and a defined cupid's bow. she actually did look somewhat distinctive from madeline. "i couldn't find your instagram or anything. so us starting the project is very delayed, too."

"i don't even know what it's about. aren't we learning about chemical bonds?"

"mhm, but the project is on reactants." damn, this time i could tell the person next to me what we're learning. my eyes wandered to walker. all i could see was the back of his head, which was moving slightly because he was talking to madeline. she stirred her drink like she was trying to cause an earthquake but maintained intense eye contact with him all the while. i could hear the ice cubes swishing around in her cup. no one could not. it was so loud.

violet spoke again, saving me from observing what was bound to end in me taking that coffee right out of her hand and throwing it in her face. "i can't do it tomorrow. i have something after school. so are you free today? we can get it done super quickly and half-ass it — she probably won't have the energy to fail us after reading through hundreds of pages of this."

"you're right! yeah, i'm free today." i already knew the answer to what i was about to ask next, but i said it anyway. "what do you have after school tomorrow?"

"i'm auditioning for some local short film. i think walker is going to be in it," she said excitedly. so madeline must not have told her friends about me being a casting director myself. "i've always wanted to act, so i thought this would be a cool opportunity!"

"i'm gonna be there too!"

"really? did you sign up to be an extra or are you going to audition for the character emily? because right now, i've talked to around thirty girls who want to also."

oh crap. thirty? and just for emily's part? that could take hours! even chemistry extra help wouldn't take that long. the audition epidemic had established itself in our school. and i feared the only cure was to isolate the virus, meaning we would need to be divisive and implement some sort of pre-screening process.