Staring at the phone book for western Montgomery County, Charles ran through his mind whom he would select as the first recipient of the good news. He didn't want to call just one of them, especially if they gave someone else the news first.
One thing was for certain. Charles would tell Preston last. The pussy stayed behind when the rest of them went back to Lillian to find Alice. Martin may have been a nerd who puked whenever anything gross happened, but at least he came along too, and got badly hurt in the process.
Maybe Martin, then? Besides getting injured, he played John, the film's protagonist. But then, Alice was specifically recognized for her acting by the Super 8 Film Festival jurors, so maybe she should have the honors. Or Cary? Charles knew that he risked his life, along with Joe, to find Alice, and set off fireworks to help Joe escape with her from whatever they saw under the ground near the cemetery. Or Joe. Especially after going through his mom's death earlier in the year, and for coming face-to-face with the thing that escaped from the train wreck.
Charles felt a twinge of jealousy, which he had attempted to downplay during the events of that summer and afterwards. For Joe's sake, Charles gave up on his attempts to make Alice like him, even though he had already told Joe about his feelings for her. That was why he asked Alice to be in The Case in the first place. And he didn't regret his decision, especially as he contemplated that her contribution might have set The Case above all other submissions in the Under 18 category.
Alice wasn't like the other girls in school, either. She was pretty enough to be a cheerleader and date the star quarterback of the J.V. team. And yet, she enjoyed hanging out with the motley assemblage of nerds under Charles' self-appointed leadership. After the events of that summer, however, the group's power dynamic had shifted in Joe's direction. Charles also hoped that, since Joe knew about his motivations for casting Alice, he had not told her about their conversation. Losing Alice's friendship would be much worse for Charles than simply not being able to call himself her boyfriend.
Although struck by her beauty initially, Charles had come to realize that Alice possessed something else that the other girls in Lillian did not. She had a maturity, poise, and intensity that made her more like an adult. Maybe because of her dad's violent temper and drinking, which he had given up a few months before, Alice had to be more self-assured in order to survive. When she joined Charles and the other boys in making The Case, she brought an intangible sense of calm and order to their boisterous shenanigans. And yet, she could somehow channel the mindless brain-starved frenzy of a zombie to great effect, like when she attacked Charles' well-coiffed and well-heeled auteur alter ego in the post-credit sequence of The Case. Alice was such a perfectionist, too, asking for several takes before she felt that her attack was convincing enough.
Charles had decided whom he would tell first. For everyone else, he decided to call them to meet at the local diner that night, where he would give them the good news.