LPS High School AU

The Experience

"Eww...what the hell did I just read?"

Vinnie grimaced as he quickly turned off his phone, setting it aside on his desk. It was currently study hall, and there appeared to be no teacher in the classroom at the moment. As soon as he said this, Pepper, who had been working on an essay on her laptop, glanced over at him, raising a brow.

"What are you doing?" She asked, "weren't you working on that video project for English?"

"Yeah, But then I found a weird story on Facebook and it led me to some fan fiction site." He grabbed his phone again, "it was the weirdest thing I've ever read."

"Lemme see!" Pepper motioned for him to hand over his phone.

"You sure you wanna read it?" He raised a brow, hesitating for a bit.

"Dude, it's just a story. How bad can it be?" Pepper grinned, "I've read some of Russell's before, and I don't think this one could be just as cringey."

"Okay, but you might regret it..." he handed it over to her.

Pepper scoffed, "Like I said, how bad can it be? Fanfics aren't exactly..." Pepper took one glance at Vinnie's phone, her eyes quickly widening.

"NOPE! Pepper out!" She set the phone aside, standing up and walking towards the door. Vinnie couldn't help but laugh.

"Wait! Where are you going?" He chuckled.

"I need to go and cleanse my eyes out with bleach." She said as she exited the classroom.

Vinnie rolled his eyes. He did warn her. Seeing that she wasn't going to come back anytime soon, he scooted over to Pepper's former seat, deciding to check out the flyer for the parade once more. Mainly for Bruce.

"Oh man...it would be so great to actually meet him." He sighed. Even though he had little to no idea what insurance was or what it did, he mainly liked watching the commercials for the humor, and for the animated iguana that occasionally appeared in them. Once, he looked up the iguana and was bombarded with fan art, something he clearly did not expect. So now he had an entire folder dedicated to this animated creature. He wondered how he looked in real life?

"Good morning, Vinnie darling!" Zoe's voice rang as she and Penny Ling walked in, smiling at the green haired boy. His eyes did not leave the screen, as he unconsciously waved at them.

"Ooh! Is that the parade flyer again?" Penny Ling took one look at the screen.

"Oh, those floats are absolutely gorgeous!" Zoe exclaimed, her eyes shining at the many kinds of floats in the pictures.

"Cool..." Vinnie merely nodded as he continued staring at the screen. Penny Ling and Zoe both looked at each other, raising a brow in question. However, both girls soon realized what this was about, both grinning in amusement.

"Oh Vinnie, is this about Bruce again?" Penny Ling giggled.

"No doubt." Zoe noticed the goofy grin that immediately planted on Vinnie's face. "He's obsessed."

"Whaaat? That's not true!" Vinnie nervously chuckled. However, the girls were not buying it.

"Hmm...I actually have an idea." Zoe grinned, a wild thought coming into her head. "Since we're only helping out the Sweet Delight's truck for a bit of the parade, why don't we do ourselves a favor and say...sneak into the warehouse where everything is at!" Her eyes shone in excitement, looking over at Vinnie.

"But...why would we go there?" He raised a brow. "Aren't we just gonna see it at the parade anyways?"

"Yes yes, I know that!" Zoe waved off, "but I mean a little behind the scenes! Being able to get a much better view of what is yet to come! Sort of like a VIP experience..."

"But don't you need to be a part of the parade in order to be back there?" Penny Ling asked, a bit concerned, "I wouldn't want you guys getting in trouble..."

"Nonsense! Everything will be just fine!" Zoe grinned.

"You just want to see if any famous celebrities are back there, don't you?" Penny Ling crossed her arms, Vinnie chuckling in response.

"Oh, darling, you know me so well." Zoe sighed as she grinned again, "Besides, you know I am kinda famous around here myself...So Vinnie? Are you in? I know how much you want to see this fellow of yours up close!..." She batted her eyelids in anticipation.

"Hmm....let me think..." he pondered for a second. "Yes! Let's do it!"

Both teens grinned excitedly as Penny Ling rolled her eyes. Wait till Russell heard about this...

-

"Okay, now, do you remember what you need to do?"

Russell and Minka stood by the Sweet Delights truck, everyone else finishing up in unloading everything they needed for their area. It was now the morning of the parade, as the group decided that coming in early was the best thing to do, already having checked in with the staff, they were all set.

Minka nodded, "Yup! Though, I'm still not sure why I'm doing this.." She raised a brow at him, "I know Scout asked you, but I didn't think you wanted to get involved with the paper at all!" She chuckled.

"Well, let's just say we talked.." He nervously grinned, not wanting to reveal what Scout was keeping from her, "And I, being the generous person I am, decided to do her a favor and cover this story!"

"Impressive!" Minka grinned, "That's so sweet of you!"

"Yeah...terrific.." He halfheartedly chuckled at that.

"You know what would be terrific?" Pepper called out from inside the truck, "If you two lovebirds cut the chit chat and give us a hand here!"

"R-Right!" Russell and Minka grinned at each other as both continued helping the others set up the exterior.

-

"Well, That takes care of everything." Sugar Sprinkles finally announced, all of them stepping back to admire the view. The truck was decorated with lights, various tables set up with a variety of treats. It was all neatly organized, courtesy of Russell, while Zoe and Minka handled decorations and tablecloths. Everyone else helped organize the tables and treats, and making sure there was plenty of treats left in the truck.

"Wowie Zowie! This is gonna be super duper exciting!" Buttercream eagerly jumped in place, loving what she was seeing.

"Well, I'm glad we got this part done." Pepper sighed in relief, now all we do is wait..."

"For how long?" Penny Ling asked, looking around. A couple of people have already started making their way into their seats, while others walked around the area. The parade wouldn't start for another hour or two, but people liked coming in early to get the best seats.

"Hmm...not long I hope.." Zoe responded.

"Well, I appreciate the help, everyone." Sugar Sprinkles smiled at the group. "I'm so glad you all came out to help set up."

"Don't forget, some of us will stick around to help with selling today!" Sunil proudly reminded.

"Yeah! We decided that maybe we could attract customers somehow. We're still not sure how though..." Pepper shrugged.

"Well, we better get a move on before the parade starts!" Russell nodded.

With that, everyone nodded as they began going of into their separate ways. Zoe, Vinnie and Minka took off in one direction, Sugar Sprinkles, Buttercream and Penny Ling stuck around the truck, while Pepper, Russell and Sunil took off in the opposite direction.