𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 ↣ peter maldonado

chapter 01

Tuesday, March 15, 2016. It was an admin day, so no classes were held.

27 dicks were spray-painted onto 27 cars in the staff parking lot of Hanover High School in Oceanside, California.

The vandalism occurred between 2 two and 2:30. We know this because the security footage in the parking lot from that time frame is missing. Oceanside Police took statements and collected a can of spray paint left at the northeast corner of the parking lot.

Dylan Maxwell, a student here at Hanover was blamed for the vandalism. All signs pointed to him and soon enough, the school didn't need anymore evidence. He was expelled.

I've known Dylan for two years. I would say I'm part of Hanover High School's Morning Show, but I'm not. I've been allowed to be there to do whatever I want for two years. Usually I'd just put in my headphones and listen to music while pretending to do something on my phone.

Dylan, on the other hand, was a cameraman. I wouldn't call him a good one, but you get what you get.

Right now, I'm contemplating if I should actually walk in school. Before I can even try to walk away, I feel someone push me on my back towards the school, not letting go.

"You do this every day." I hear them say. When we're at the school door, I turn around. Well, if it isn't the one and only.

"Peter." Peter Maldonado. A reporter for Hanover High School's Morning Show. I don't know him well, but he seems like a nice guy.

After a few seconds I give him a confused face, "Wait, how do you know I do this every day? Do you even know my name?" He laughs and I cross my arms at him, confused by how he could be laughing.

"Of course I know your name. Lavina Westbay." We both stand in silence for what felt like ours before he continued, "I actually wanted to ask you something." I scoff before walking into school. Of course he wants something.

"Where are you going?" he yelled from behind me. I walked faster, trying to get away from the situation. "Lavina, wait up!" I heard.

Eventually I stop due to pain in my left knee. Of course, right now it would try to give up on me. I rub it with my left hand, wincing a little.

Peter ends up next to me, "You okay? I could take you to the nurse." I stand up straight, taking a deep breath before responding. "It's fine. I'd suggest you ask me whatever you want before I fully recover and run away again."

"O- Oh, well, I was gonna ask you if you wanted to work with me on my documentary?" he smiles sheepishly. A documentary? I smirk, "And what would make me want to work on a documentary?"

I notice his eyes widen a bit before answering, "W- Well, I've seen your editing before, it's really good. Editing is important." It's true, editing is super important, especially for a documentary.

I look around, avoiding eye contact with him, "Actually, I'm already working on an extremely big project. Like, confidentially big."

He looks down, clearly sad about what I told him. We both stand here with each other before I have a laughing fit. Oh, God, how could someone be more vulnerable?

He looks up at me, confused. "How could you have believed that, it made no sense. My God, Peter, you're such a puppy." Now, he just looks disappointed. "Sorry, sorry. What's the documentary about?" I say, finally finished laughing.

He sighs, "Dylan Maxwell and the 27, um.. dicks on the cars. I don't think he was the one who did it, and I want to prove it." I have to admit, that's bold. Smart, too.

"Wow, Maldonado. I have to say... That's good. I can see where you're going with this, I'll do it."

He looked at me in awe, "Really?" I nod and he smiles at me, my face heating up. Is it really that hot here? "Uh, well, can you meet me in the Morning Show room after school? Sam and I will already be there waiting."

I playfully groan, "Sam? I haven't gotten to talk with him in a bit. Tell him how much I hate him." I say, smiling. Sam and I have this thing where we pretend to hate each other. Everyone knows we don't actually hate each other, it's all fun and jokes.

"Will do." he says, chuckling. I start to walk backwards, waving Peter goodbye before turning around and making my way to my first class.

❁ ❁ ❁

It's after school now and I quickly made my way to where the Morning Show is filmed. I don't think I've ever walked faster in my life. I honestly don't know why, probably just the fact that I'll actually have something to do.

After thinking I've been pranked, I pull out my phone and turn on the camera. I sit down in the reporter chair, Peter's specifically, and set up the camera so it's facing me. I turn it to video mode and record myself.

"Hi, my name is Peter Maldonado and you're watching Hanover High School's Morning Show." I say, mocking him, also making the Disney symbol with my right index finger. "I love asking for favors from people I don't know anything about and yes, I am a puppy."

Suddenly, the door opens.

My eyes widen and I stop talking, grabbing my phone and stopping the video. I hope he didn't hear me.

"Wha- Were you pretending to be me?" he asks. I scoff, "N- No. I was just.. Vlogging."

"That's why you're sitting in my chair?" I look in my lap before standing up, trying to act as natural as I can. Of course, I'm failing. Behind Peter, Sam is just laughing. That fucking bitch.

"Sammy, my least favorite person ever." I say, acknowledging him. He smiles, "Lavender, the most annoying person I know!" I chuckle before looking at Peter who's obviously annoyed at us.

I clap my hands once, "So, what're we doing here?" The two teens fully enter the room, Sam walking over to me and Peter pulling out a bulletin board that I've never seen before. "Has that always been there?" I asked Peter from across the room.

Before he could answer Sam pitched in, "Of course you wouldn't notice. Aren't you half blind?" I slapped the back of his head, causing him to groan and rub it. I chuckle, "Aren't you full idiot?"

"Guys, stop. We have to set up for tomorrow." Peter said, grabbing some papers from his backpack. I walk up to him and away from Sam, getting into my work mode. Okay, somewhat work mode.

"Wait, tomorrow? We're not doing any filming today?" I ask. I wasn't actually told what we were doing today, which means I probably won't have that important of a job. Maybe I should've just walked away from school today, no question.

"Well," Sam starts, causing me to turn around to him, "we have to know what's gonna go where. We can't just start and not know if this setup will actually work, it's not smart."

"That literally wasn't my question." I stare at him, expressionless. I turn back to Peter, "So, what's my job?"

"You-" Sam started, only to get interrupted by me. "If you try to answer for him one more time, you might as well say bye-bye to your balls."

We all stand in silence for a little bit, waiting for someone to break the awkward silence. The extremely awkward silence. We all look at each other, hoping we wouldn't be the ones to talk first. Soon enough, Sam and Peter are looking at me.

"So.. What's my job?"