Film Addicts//PhanAU

no.11

[Dan's POV]

   I walk to class with Amelia, before sitting down next to Phil. I edge my seat a bit further away from him. He's still really mad at me.

   'Ok Class!' Miss Dun walks in and places a big box of [what looks like] little bits of paper. 'Today, we will be choosing your film genres! To make it fair, we'll just pick them out of a hat. Ok... Who's going first?'

   Vic and Kellin go up together first. They get adventure. Then Jack and Alex get action.

   Emma and Luke get sci-fi, Jessica and Alexandria get thriller, and Tyler and Josh get comedy. Which is just perfect for them.

   Catherine and Abi get crime. Andy and Joe get war. Chris and PJ get drama. Frank and Gerard get mystery. Patrick and Pete get family.

   Brendon goes up with Spencer, reaches into the hat, and picks out musical. The whole class bursts out with laughter as Spencer and Brendon lift imaginary top hats and go back to their seats, tap-dancing.

   Hayley then walks up with Amelia. Amelia plucks a little piece of paper out of the hat. It reads horror. Hayley claps and squeals and high-fives Amelia. They laugh and go up to their seat together.

   I go up last. Phil stays in his seat. Miss Dun looks like she is going to say something, before thinking better of it, and looking back at me. I rustle around for a bit before realising there are only two slips left. I reach in and pull out romance.

   Cràp.

   I read out the genre, and the whole class falls silent. Phil looks completely cool and relaxed. There are a few awkward sniggers and I feel my face go red.

'Ok, ladies and gentlemen. You cannot change your genre. You can, however, cast other people in your film. The film should be around half and hour long. The shortest it can be is twenty minutes, the longest, forty. Now you should create a story board for your chosen genre and then present it to another pair next lesson. You have twenty one minutes left.'

I turn to Phil and smile awkwardly.

   'So...' Phil turns away from me and starts covering his hand in black ink from his pen. He grabs a piece of paper and starts slamming his hands down on the paper, making handprints on it. He grabs his pen and writes in block letters:

'THE DEATH OF DREAMS'

'Phil...' I say. 'We need to talk...'

'no.' he says quietly, grabbing his papers and his bag. 'i have nothing to say to you.'

The teacher starts to object when Phil puts his papers into his bag, pushes his stool back and silently walks out of the room. Everyone turns to look at me, and I have no choice but to look down at my desk and feel my cheeks burn red.