Nothing like Tom or Daisy Buchanan
Ch. 1 Insult to Character
I do not own Higher Ground, The Great Gatsby, their characters, or anything affiliated with them.
"How many of you have read The Great Gatsby?" Roger asked the class.
Two students raised their hands, while everyone else looked at him blankly.
"Well, then. We've found our next book."
Two weeks later:
"Where's Juliette?" Auggie asked Shelby and Daisy at breakfast.
"She's using all the hot water showering," Shelby said, "Where's Scott?"
"Showering with Juliette," Auggie said nonchalantly. Shelby glared at him. He knew she was shooting daggers with her eyes but refused to look up from his plate. However, he said, "When you stop being insecure about your boyfriend being friends with her, I'll stop making inappropriate comments. They don't even do that much together, but if they so much as acknowledge each other, you think they're planning their wedding."
Daisy smirked at Auggie in agreement but didn't say anything for fear of hurting her friend's feelings.
"Speaking of Scott and Juliette, do they remind anyone else of Tom and Daisy in the book? I mean, when they dated. Not so much now?" Ezra asked as he sat down.
"You mean vain, shallow, and dated out of cliquish obligation? Then, yes," Daisy answered.
"If she hadn't broken up with him after being put on the spot, they'd probably still be miserably dating each other. I'd be stuck dating Auggie," Shelby smirked.
"Poor chica."
"Or me," Ezra added. Shelby shot him a side glance.
"But seriously, it's what they would be like if they hadn't come here and had gotten married." Ezra continued with his thought, "It actual inspired me."
"To do what? Get married?" Daisy asked.
"I want to make a movie based on The Great Gatsby. Limited budget and Horizon as our backdrop, but I can make it work. I have the roles picked out: Daisy as Jordan, me as Nick, Shelby as Myrtle, David as George, Auggie will be Jay, Scott is Tom, and Juliette is Daisy. Katherine will be here on college break and could play any extra characters."
"Yeah. I'm Jay!" Auggie whooped at being male lead.
Ezra and Daisy gathered the Cliffhangers into the lodge to discuss the movie.
"I'm Daisy Buchanan!" Juliette squealed, "It's such an honor."
"Yeah, you and Scott reminded us of Daisy and Tom. At least when you dated each other. Not anymore," Ezra said.
Juliette's face fell as she registered why she had been chosen to play Daisy. Scott looked at her. They silently agreed their roles were given as an insult. "You think Juliette and I are vain and shallow?" Scott stated as more of a challenge than a question.
"Maybe it seemed that way when you two dated each other," Daisy said. Shelby and Auggie both stared at the floor.
"Yeah, you two seemed to only like each other's statuses and looks," Ezra added.
Scott stood up from the chair to his full height. "Were you all that threatened by our relationship? Was it really that big of a deal? So Shelby couldn't get her way using her body. So she had to use her personality to get me. And as if Auggie was pinning away for Juliette, and I came in and stole her. Auggie, you were too busy making snide remarks about Shelby to notice Juliette," Scott bellowed.
He spun around short of walking out the door; "He intentionally uses people. Is that what you think I do?" Juliette quickly followed him out the door.
"If they get back together over this, I will hurt you," Shelby told Ezra.
Juliette had gone back to the dorm room to be alone. She wanted to be good enough to play a lead role in a Horizon play or movie. Now, not only was her pride hurt, but once again, her personality was the focal point of negativity. Truth of the matter was she hated the book, especially the character of Daisy Buchanan. The book bothered her since she had first started reading it. Why? Because she too felt she was Daisy, or at least saw a resemblance between herself and the character. She could see Daisy's flaws. They were her flaws, and so, she hated Daisy Buchanan. She worried it was only a matter of time before she was also in a loveless marriage to a rich man.