Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Three
...
"All right, class. We have a few minutes before class ends, so I think we can stop there," Jared said, smiling at the juniors. "I mean, we can keep discussing Lionheart's adventures if you really want?" he added when the students just looked confused.
"So... what are we meant to do in the next five minutes, Mr. Bowie?" Craig asked.
"So long as you stay in this room, I don't mind. I'm going to start grading your assignments on Lionheart's early years. And since we have newcomers, please remember the rule we implemented last week: the class leaves left to right in turn," Jared said, turning his attention to the stack of assignments on his desk.
"Wait, what?" Will asked, frowning.
"There's less bottle-necking, screaming, and threats to power up if you leave in an orderly manner. Honestly, I've had to replace the door frame myself twice since starting here because students wanted to leave as soon as the bell rings. If we start a minute before the end of class, you'll all be out of the room by the time the bell goes, I promise," Jared added with a smile. "The other teachers are aware of it, too, so no one will be in trouble for leaving early. Your side is first, in fact, Mr. Stronghold, so you'd best pack your things and get ready."
Will looked around and wondered why people weren't protesting this. They weren't kids who had to hold hands as they left class! They were old enough to leave whenever they wanted to, and anyway, what if they wanted to talk to Mr. Bowie about their assignment, or compare scores with other students, or impress others with their insights into Lionheart's book?
Looking to where the quadruplets were sitting with Craig, Adam, and Ry, Will tried to think of a way to stay back so he could talk to them. He couldn't hang around the lockers when lunch was on, that would be too weird. He needed this to look natural!
"Can I go to the bathroom, Mr. Bowie?" Will asked.
"You can't wait three minutes?" Jared asked, trying not to be annoyed at being interrupted again while he was trying to mark.
The last week had been so quiet and he'd actually managed to get more work done when he wasn't being interrupted every five seconds by Will. He didn't like the look on Will's face, either, and he'd still spent most of English for Heroes looking to the other side of the classroom where Ry was sitting. Jared sighed when Will shook his head adamantly.
"Go. Be back before the bell, please, Mr. - " he trailed off as Will flew out of the room. "How about everyone leaves now?"
No one argued and they filed out of the classroom, leaving Jared to finally mark in peace, and Will's belongings spread across the desk. Will returned as the bell rang, hair wet and combed through, and his face fell when he saw that only Jared remained.
"A moment of your time, Mr. Stronghold?" Jared said, standing in front of Will's desk as he sullenly stuffed his belongings into his bag. "You have to stop this, Will. It's impacting your work, your attention in class, and to be frank with you, it's disturbing how fixated you've become."
Will's mouth dropped open. "Wh-what? I'm not... not fixated! On anyone! Or anything! It's just... the window. There's a window out there and daylight and - "
Jared looked to the window where dark storm clouds rolled. "Daylight?"
"Well, usually. And it's those kids' hair, too! It's so bright and distracting! I thought we weren't allowed to have brightly coloured hair?" he muttered.
"You mean like Magenta's purple hair?"
"It's not purple anymore," Will said, refusing to look at Mr. Bowie; he thought he'd been more subtle than this; no one could suspect a thing, and even if they did, they were wrong, anyway. He wasn't gay.
"Yes, and whose fault is that?" Jared asked, not quite under his breath.
"What?"
Jared sighed. "Will, you need to admit things to yourself, even if you don't admit them to other people. Living like this isn't healthy for your mind or your mental health."
"I'm not crazy!"
"I never said that, Will. Your mental health encompasses so much more than your mental stability, and I think you need to talk to someone. Someone who isn't your parents or your friends," Jared added. "A neutral third party, if you will. The school counsellor could - "
"No! I'm not... I don't need to talk to anyone! I'm fine!" Will snapped, shoving his pencil case into his bag and probably destroying something if the ripping sound was any indication. Holding his bag to his chest so his things wouldn't fall out, Will flew out of the room and didn't look back.
Jared let out a heavy breath, hating how Will couldn't see how damaging this behaviour was. Maybe he could talk to his parents and get them to talk Will into seeing a counsellor? It was never a great strategy bringing parents into these sorts of things, especially when home lives could be so unpredictable, but Jared was slowly running out of options. He'd try to talk to Will one more time before contacting his parents.
...
Will hated Mr. Bowie. He was an idiot who didn't know what he was talking about, and he wasn't even a super, so Will didn't even know why he was here in the first place. It was a school for supers, not citizens!
Shoving his bag into his locker, Will grabbed his wallet and slammed the locker door shut, startling the few stragglers who were still in the corridor. Heading to the cafeteria, Will forced himself to think about what he could do.
He could tell his mother what Mr. Bowie had insinuated, but then she might ask why, and worse, she might ask Mr. Bowie why. Mr. Bowie would tell her about Ry and that would mean hours of lectures and his mother doing that homophobic thing she did but swore she wasn't homophobic. Considering he still had her as a tutor, Will didn't think that he could handle the lectures on top of the tutoring.
He couldn't say or do something to Ry again because he'd probably get suspended again, since Principal Powers was clearly favouriting Ry. His mother had lectured him on that, too, and he'd spent an evening feigning a headache just to get away from her.
He could see the counsellor and blame Mr. Bowie for taking up time away from his patrolling of Westville. Thinking of Westville made Will think of Death Row and Getim, and how they'd died. Swallowing hard and pushing those thoughts away - it wasn't his fault, they were villains, and they knew what they'd be getting into when they challenged him, Airborne, to a fight! - Will opened the cafeteria doors and walked inside.
His eyes went directly to the brightly coloured hair and Ry's black hair, and Will clenched his jaw when he saw Magenta's hair up in buns at the same table. She was laughing and looked happy and as Will walked over, he could see that Magenta was looking at Lorcan too closely and far too much. Magenta was his girlfriend, she shouldn't be looking at other people!
Magenta had put her hair in buns and was telling the others how she'd fought the twenty-five villains, laughing at the look of surprise on the first villain's face as she'd launched herself out of Will's suit to punch him in the face. They were all laughing at her expressions and story, too, and even Lorcan looked amused.
Magenta wanted to grab his hand to see what he'd do, but he was wearing gloves, and long-sleeved shirts, just like all of his siblings. Magenta had been dying to ask why they were all wearing clothes that covered them so much, but it seemed like a personal thing to ask, and she thought maybe it was something she could ask on a date instead of at lunch with everyone. Well, maybe a date. If Lorcan ever agreed, of course. She didn't even have to leave Will; if Craig could date two people, why couldn't she? She could date Will and Lorcan, and maybe even Malik if she could find out where he lived, and she would still be Will's Hero Support. It was win-win.
"Magenta, what are you doing?" Will snapped. "Take your hair down, you don't know who's a villain here!"
Magenta frowned at Will's glower and tone. "We're at school, Will. Everyone knows I'm Shifter."
"That's not the point! You're meant to be eating lunch with me, not here at this table with... with these kinds of people," Will said firmly, refusing to look at Ry or Lorcan or Kiara or Maleah or Najair.
"Are you being racist, sexist, or homophobic? I honestly can't tell," Donny said, head tilted. "Oh, all three. Great."
"I'm not!" Will snapped, glaring at him. "You shouldn't be getting special treatment, either. Why do the cafeteria staff make all of this for you? It stinks and you're stinking out the whole cafeteria!"
"I made it, not the cafeteria staff," Zach said, frowning. "You really think the cafeteria staff can make food on this scale? I've got teppanyaki here, dude."
"It's damn good, too," Ry said around a mouthful.
Will's cheeks burned and he glared at the quadruplets. "You're not meant to have coloured hair, either! It's in the student rule book!"
"Actually, there's a specific mention about hair colours in the rule book," Ethan said, pulling his copy out of nowhere and flipping through the pages. "Here we are: Students may choose their own hair colours without interference of staff and are allowed to make their own mistakes with their hair. Honestly, I'm not sure that the last part was required, but I heard that the last PTA meeting was a blast, so maybe they wrote the rules then."
"What? Give me that," Will snapped, tearing the book out of Ethan's hands to read the rule for himself, ignoring the hiss of pain Ethan gave at his action. "This isn't the rule book!"
"Yes it is. The PTA meeting on the weekend amended a lot of the rules that were implemented in the last two years. This is the newest edition. You honestly think I wouldn't do my research? I am on the school newspaper," Ethan said, affronted. "You keep that edition; I'll get another."
"You just gave my boyfriend a papercut, Stronghold. You going to apologise?" Zach asked lazily, slurping noodles as Ethan took out a neon orange bandaid from his pocket.
"What? No, I didn't!"
"So you're calling me a liar?" Zach asked, standing up abruptly.
Will took a step back, eyes wide. "Dude, what the fuck?"
Warren wiped off his mouth and stood up, grabbing Will by the back of the neck. "Everyone settle down. I'll deal with this," he said.
Zach sat down again, fussing over Ethan and making sure he had enough antiseptic for the cut. Will felt like he'd been whiplashed with the rubber banding between heated anger and cold dismissal. Warren turned them around and led Will to his usual table, Magenta hurrying to grab her food and follow after them, her cheeks bright red in embarrassment.
"Will, just leave off, okay? You're embarrassing yourself and your family name. You know your mother talks to Principal Powers a lot; she might hear about this whole thing. You wouldn't want that, would you?"
Will swallowed and shook his head. "No."
"Just calm down, okay? You're obviously hungry and taking it out on the wrong people. You need to save all that anger and emotion for villains, all right, dude? Just bottle it up 'til you face a villain, okay?"
Surprised by the advice, Will nodded quickly.
Warren sat Will on the bench, his hand leaving the back of Will's neck and taking a significant amount of body heat from him, a seed puncturing through a tiny wound at his hairline.
The sudden loss of warmth made Will feel cold, and he wondered if it'd be weird to ask for Warren to come back and touch him. Wait, yeah, that was weird. Warren was his friend, ewww.
"Next time, I'm going to sit next to the aisle. What's the use of having this super restraining order if it doesn't even work?" Ry muttered, taking another teppanyaki and batting Craig's hand away from his food.
"Five bucks says he'll go through a window," Craig said.
"Nah, it's not that super. Hyacinth wouldn't let me make it the super strength one," Ry said with a pout.
"Dude, you've got sauce, like, everywhere. Clean that shit up," Adam said, handing a napkin to Ry. "Oh, and I bet he'll bounce halfway across the cafeteria."
"What are you talking about and will it hurt that prick?" Maleah asked with a broad grin.
"Please say yes," Kiara muttered.
"Can you make him bounce in a certain way to knock into his girlfriend? I will pay you to do that," Lorcan added desperately, Najair looking sick beside him.
Ry grinned. "Don't worry, Lore. I'll do it for free."
...
"They're nice, Will. They all are, and they let me sit with them while you were... not in school, and they shared their food! Like, the food is amazing, and Ry doesn't share, at all, but he gave some to me! I get that you want him to be your friend, but it has to be his choice, too," Magenta said. "Lorcan could be a really good friend to both of us, if - "
"Magenta, are you done... Are you talking to yourself in the mirror?" Layla asked, blinking when she saw the intense expression on her face.
Magenta blanched and shook her head. "No. I was... checking my makeup," she said quickly. "Too much, not enough?" she asked with a bright smile, makeup caked on thick.
"It's Save the Citizen, Magenta. Are you sure you want to be wearing all of that?" Layla asked.
Magenta nodded firmly. She hadn't played in ages so wasn't expecting to now, so that meant she could sit with Lorcan in the bleachers. Lorcan and her friends, of course. Their friends.
Wendy pushed the door open behind Layla. "You coming or do you need more time to get that off?" she asked Magenta, raising her eyebrow.
"I'm coming," Magenta said, checking her reflection and hair once more before following them.
Layla: challenge Magenta and Will
Ry: KICK THEIR ASSES!
Ry: oops, caps lock. Point stands
Craig: we already fought them!
Craig: and won!
Wendy: so? you have to make it rain on Magenta
Adam: what?
Layla: makeup on top of makeup
Wendy: with extra makeup
Craig: ew, that's going to be a bitch to clean out of the gym floors
Ethan: Are you definitely challenging Airhorn and Stalker? I need to update my schedule of fights, unless you think you can defeat them in enough time to continue with the scheduled opponents for this afternoon?
Craig: lol, autocorrect
Craig: we'll whoop their asses, easy
Ethan: No, I don't want my phone to remember either of their names. I'm still getting targeted ads from the last time I mentioned their super names.
Ethan: Besides, this is more accurate: he blows his own horn and she is very obviously a stalker. I am very concerned for the quadruplets, especially Lorcan.
Zach: She was overly focused on Hagen last Friday, too.
Adam: you shouldn't be receiving any targeted ads; I'll fix that in the next update.
Adam: we can report her with the new anti-bullying initiative, but we need evidence.
Zach: Her face isn't enough?
Zach: On a daily basis, I mean, not just with the makeup now.
Ry: I was going to ask what was so bad about it, but I can see that purple eyeshadow from the other side of the gym
Ry: also, I'm sitting front row; try to throw him this way so he'll bounce back into the arena
Ry: the quads saw Magenta & are terrified
Ry: Lorcan's shifted & hiding in Kiara's hair
"Everything okay? You've been on your phones this whole time," Magenta said, frowning at Layla and Wendy.
"We're just trying to find out where our friends are sitting. You want to sit with us, don't you?" Layla asked.
"Is Lorcan with them? Or... his sisters and brother?" Magenta asked, looking around the gym for their brightly coloured hair.
"Yeah, they're all sitting together. Don't want to lose our buddies, do we?" Wendy asked pointedly.
"No, definitely not. Do I look okay?" Magenta asked.
"You look like you're wearing gym clothes," Wendy said, raising an eyebrow at her.
Magenta reddened. "Right. Well, that means everyone else will be wearing their gym clothes, too, right? Do you think Lorcan is? The white shorts on him... Uh, I mean... oh, look, I think I can see everyone," she said when Layla and Wendy looked at her.
Layla and Wendy shared a discreet glance as Magenta hurried over to their friends, following after the eager girl.
"There you are, Lorcan! You promised me you'd sit with us, remember?" Justina asked loudly as Magenta approached.
"I did? Yes, I did. Thanks for reminding me," Lorcan said, seeing Magenta's reflection in the barrier. He moved to sit between Justina and Robin, Terrence and Adam sitting behind him, while Craig, Ethan, Zach, and Ry continued the human barrier between him and Magenta.
Kiara looked over her shoulder and smiled at Magenta briefly. "Here, Magenta, you can sit with me," she said, patting the seat next to her, as far away from Lorcan as being on the other side of the gym, as far as Magenta was concerned.
But if his sister wanted to sit with her, that must mean she liked her, right? She could talk to Kiara and get info about Lorcan!
"Champions, take your positions! Come on, we do this every week," Coach Boomer called from his seat.
"Yes, Coach," Craig called back. "Are you wearing a kilt? Holy fuck, I love it."
"Language, Carbon Copy."
"Pretty sure it's English, but who knows with the English language, am I right?"
Boomer rolled his eyes. "Get in the arena already."
Craig shifted to Boomer's form, kilt included, and sashayed down into the arena. "Adam, did you see this? I want twenty."
"Talk to Zach about fashion, not me. I can get kilts trending on Twitter, if you like?"
"Love you. You listened to the PTA recording, didn't you?" Craig asked, remembering the skirt thing with that kid's mother.
"Of course. It's my bedtime lullaby; listening to Josie Stronghold hurl is soothing," Adam deadpanned.
Craig narrowed his eyes at his best friend. "You're fucking with me, aren't you?"
Adam just looked at him and didn't respond.
"Aw, c'mon, dude, you've gotta tell me!" Craig said.
"Concentrate on the game, would you?" Adam said, nodding to Coach Boomer. "We'll play heroes this time, Coach."
"We're challenging Airborne and Stalker, I mean, Shifter!" Craig corrected with a quick grin.
A few people booed loudly.
"Don't worry; we'll kick their butts and then we'll kick yours. No one's losing out," Craig called out to his audience.
Magenta had been focused on getting closer to Lorcan and only heard 'Shifter' being called, looking into the arena in surprise. "What? You're challenging us again?"
"You haven't fought any villains in ages; you've gotta keep your skills sharp!" he replied with a grin.
"A minute to discuss strategies," Boomer called, pressing on the button before Shifter or Airborne were ready. Like the crowd, he wasn't entirely pleased to see them up again. Besides, they had real world experience and in the real world, a minute to strategise was a luxury.
Will hurried to put the protective gear on properly, though he was certain he'd put the breastplate on back to front. "What are we going to do, Shifter?"
Magenta was surprised he was asking her, but replied, "You take Adam out, and I'll distract Craig. While he's distracted chasing me, you can get to the citizen. You have a better chance of getting to the citizen than I do," she added, swallowing hard at the memory of those metal teeth being far too close to her everything.
"That's a good plan. Have you been strategising with my mother?" Will asked.
She shook her head and took pity on Will, fixing his breastplate, which was upside down. "I thought about it after the last game. We can win if we stick to the plan. Can you handle Adam?"
Glancing over to the boy with dreadlocks and not much else, Will nodded firmly. "Yeah, I can handle him."
"Remember what your mother said about acid; be careful," Magenta added.
The buzzer went off to signify the end of their strategising and the start of the game.
"What did she say? Magenta?"
Shifter indicated for Airborne to face Adam, ignoring his very serious question. She ducked behind a building and shifted, shrinking to a guinea pig and running down the length of the building to round the corner and face Craig... who was no longer there.
Looking around as her guinea pig heart pounded in her chest, Shifter saw Blue McQueen floating off the ground. Scrambling up the side of the building as fast as she could, Shifter launched herself at Blue McQueen. Blue McQueen disappeared as Shifter connected with her, and she realised far too late that Craig hadn't shifted to the B-list movie star; he'd changed to Illusion. She screamed as she fell from a height that was nothing to a human and deadly to a guinea pig. Her eyes squeezed shut, Shifter breathed in relief when she was caught before hitting the ground, opening her eyes to find herself pressed against Airborne's breastplate.
"You 'kay, Maj?" Will asked.
"Better now. Thanks for saving me," she squeaked, looking down into the arena.
On the ground, Adam was fighting Airborne.
"Craig? You saved me?"
"I didn't want your death on my hands. Hey, Coach, is it against the rules if I leave Magenta with you?"
Super Jesus, they were up high enough for Craig to have a conversation with Coach Boomer?!
"Get back to the arena, Forge."
"Sure thing, Coach. Hey, Airborne! Incoming!" Craig called loudly, doing a spinning dive down towards the arena.
Against his chest, Shifter screamed.
Craig stopped abruptly, grinned at Airborne, and threw Shifter towards him. Airborne's eyes widened as he realised that Craig was throwing his girlfriend around like a tennis ball, and he flew forward to catch her tightly. He set her on the gym floor and turned to where Craig and Adam were running towards the metal teeth and citizen, the dummy still crying out for help and a saviour.
Seeing Airborne's attention on them, Craig shifted to Wendy's form and made a rain cloud gather above Airborne and Shifter, rain pelting down even as Magenta hurried to shift back to her human form. She shivered in the cold rain but didn't dare shift to her guinea pig form; pneumonia was the most common cause of death for guinea pigs, and shapeshifters were just as susceptible to their animal counterpart's weaknesses.
Airborne ran across the gym, trying to escape the rain and stop Craig and Adam at the same time. He punched out at Craig, who dropped down to avoid being hit, spinning around and standing in The Commander's body a second later.
"Why would you hit your father like that, son?" Craig!The Commander asked, hands on his hips.
The action was so familiar that Airborne's mind stuttered, even though he logically knew it was fake and not really his father. The Commander grinned, broad and heroic, then he grabbed Airborne and lifted him over his head. They spun around in circles, the Commander stopping and throwing Airborne fiercely towards the stands.
People screamed and then Airborne was bouncing back into the arena abruptly, knocking into Shifter.
"Oww," Shifter groaned in pain, struggling to sit up.
Airborne jumped to his feet, swishing back a cape that wasn't there. He looked around the gym to see Craig and Adam helping each other climb up the metal teeth contraption and unhooking the citizen from the chain. They freed the dummy and threw it to the floor before jumping down after it.
He couldn't let them win!
Airborne flew across the gym and stopped abruptly in front of Craig and Adam, his hands on his hips in a pose as a Important and Heroic Figure. "Put that citizen down this instant!" he commanded, glaring at them.
"You want us to... leave the citizen alone?" Adam asked in confusion.
"I won't let you destroy it!"
Craig held his hands up in a gesture of peace, shifting back to his own body. "Sure thing, Airborne. You got it."
"Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"
The buzzer sounded loudly and Will was certain that the heroes had won, just as they always would and should.
"Heroes win! Forge and Spattle, stay in the arena. Airborne and Shifter, back to the stands!" Boomer called.
"What?"
"We picked heroes, dude. You were meant to destroy the villain, but you gave us a full ten seconds to catch our breath. Thanks!" Craig said cheerfully.
"What? No, we're the heroes! We're always heroes! We're real-life heroes!" Will said, his voice practically echoing in the gym around them.
"You didn't listen to instructions, Airborne; take it on board for next time. Forge, Spattle, who's next?" Boomer asked, putting a note next to Will's name and waiting for the next two names.
"No! It's not fair!"
"It's high school," Adam said with a shrug.
"We choose Evan and Bella," Craig called.
Tearing the protective gear off, Will dropped it in the gym and stomped back to the stands. Magenta hurried after him, sneezing into the crook of her arm and her makeup smeared down her face.
"The protective gear is broken, Coach," Evan called, glaring at Will's back when he saw the mangled mess on the floor.
"There's more in the storage room," Boomer replied, the door unlocking on the other side of the gym.
Evan nodded and jogged over, opening the door.
"Save me! Save me! Save meeee!"
"Ah!" Evan cried out, falling backwards and several dummies falling on top of him.
"Go rescue your partner, Fernandez," Boomer called, not looking up from his clipboard.
Bella rolled her eyes and bounced over to the storage room door.
...
"Okay, I've finalised the plan for Maxville Fashion Week. Can you have a look and let me know what you think?"
"Why? I'm an actor; I'm here to learn from you, not the other way around."
Zach blinked and frowned at the man in front of him. "Can you at least pretend to be interested?"
"Oh, on the day, I'll be a hundred and ten percent there, but I don't like to ruin the vibe before I start, y'know?"
"Honey!" Zach called loudly, trying not to hyperventilate as he stumbled back through Labyrinth to get to her office, practically falling through her door. "Honey, what the hell was that?"
"Sorry, I know," Honey said, holding her hands up in a gesture of peace. "I thought he might've changed his response by now. I've got three other actors; look at their headshots and pick one. Their resumes are on the back," she added, offering three photos to him.
Zach looked at the three photos and glanced at the resumes briefly before handing one back to her. "They worked retail before; they'll either have war flashbacks, or at least be able to handle the pressure and demands of models. Can you check that they'll be the latter before hiring them?"
"Yes, I'll make sure of it. Sorry, Zach. Do you want to fire him?"
"I'm seventeen, Honey; I don't think I legally can."
"Then do it illegally, and I'll do it legally. It'll make you feel better," Honey said with a shrug.
"Hey, actor guy?" Zach called, listening for a response. When he received one, he said, "You're fired!"
"Wait, what?"
"Are you sure all of the models are hired and they're okay with their outfits? Like, I keep freaking out that Red Velvet isn't going to work and there's just too much material, y'know?" Zach said.
"It will be fine, Zach. I promise. No more mistakes like - yes, you're fired, get out of my office," Honey said, waving the man in the doorway away. "It's your fault for not being a better actor. Next time, actually act like you're interested in the role!"
"Whatever!"
Zach ignored the whole interaction, two pens behind his ears and a third in his mouth as he flipped through his folder and scrawled on post-its. "Okay, what about Zebra Cake?"
"They've already emailed and gushed about the outfit; it'll be more difficult to get them to leave it behind than it will be to have them model it, honestly. Well, about that..."
"They can have them all. They're prototypes and not final designs."
"You are going to have a lot of happy models, Zach."
"Good. If anyone's unhappy, you'll let me know, right? They have to be happy with what they're modelling, and not, like, that fake happy where their smiles are plastered on, or - "
"When was the last time you slept?"
Zach stopped talking abruptly, frowning and counting on his fingers, then stopping that too. "I don't remember."
Honey looked Zach over, who was even paler than usual and twitching, and shook her head. "Do me a favour? Push that painting to the left? Towards me," she clarified.
Utterly confused, Zach did as Honey said, pushing the large frame aside to reveal a Murphy bed against the wall.
"Pull the red tab down, that's it. Okay, now, lie down on the bed and rest. I'll wake you in three hours. I promise you'll feel better for it. If you don't sleep now," she added when Zach opened his mouth to protest, "you'll throw up on three models, and you want them happy, don't you?"
Zach opened and closed his mouth once more, then yawned widely. "Is Eth here? I always sleep better with him."
"He'll be in soon; Sarah's meeting with him about his internship."
"Mmkay," Zach murmured, hugging his folder to his chest and asleep before Honey had even finished closing the curtains.
Leaving her office and putting a 'do not disturb' tag on the door handle, Honey headed to Sarah's office so Zach could sleep soundly.
...
"Good morning, viewers. Welcome to the special report of Maxville Fashion Week. As you all know, this is day four of the seven-day fashion extravaganza! We're crossing live to Candice Jenkins, our fashion reporter on the scene," Brian Anderson said with a broad smile.
"Thank you, Brian, and welcome to day four of Maxville's Fashion Week! In the last three days we have seen some iconic and well-known fashion designers and jewellery artists, but today is all about new designers and artists. I, for one, am extremely excited to see what they have to offer," CJ said, smiling. "Of course, the newest fashion designer on everyone's lips is Bright Designs, the mastermind behind Gemstone's amazing outfit. From what I've been able to see before Security escorted me away, everyone will love it!"
"Out of the artists, several influential people have been talking about Gemstone's very own jewellery design. It seems like she has an eye for beauty. That's a little in joke for those of us who've seen the Astraea 'Star' Collection," CJ said with a laugh. "Stay tuned and I'll be bringing you more highlights from day four of Maxville Fashion Week as they occur!"
Backstage, Zach inhaled and exhaled into a paper bag, wondering if he should use it to throw up instead.
"Hey, sweetie. You look like you're having a small breakdown. Can I offer some advice?" Gwendolyn asked.
Zach looked at the woman who was acting as the owner of Bright Designs during Maxville Fashion Week and nodded, still breathing into the paper bag. "Please."
"Breathe, smile, next!"
Zach blinked; three words were significantly fewer than he'd been expecting.
Gwendolyn grinned. "I know, it sounds stupid, right? But I worked in retail for far too long and one thing I learned: you have to keep on going, no matter what. Unfortunately, since it's retail, you have to breathe, smile, and call on the next thing that comes your way, whether it's a customer or challenge. You either meet that thing head on or end up crying in the break room."
Zach inhaled and exhaled into the paper bag again.
"So... A snotty kid destroys the perfect Valentine's Day display you spent three hours creating? Breathe, smile, next! Someone leaves half the store on the change room floor and expects you to pick up everything like you're their damn maid? Breathe, smile, next! A sweet old lady turns out to be a total bitch over an expired coupon from last year? Breathe, smile, next!
"So you breathe, smile, and deal with the next thing over and over. Then you keep doing that 'til you either realise that you've got this 'cause look at everything you've already done!, or 'til you can pay for the therapy you need after that shitshow of a job," Gwendolyn added with a laugh.
"I haven't done anything like this, I don't got this!" Zach panicked.
"You designed all of these clothes, yeah?"
Zach nodded.
"And I'm assuming you cooked all this delicious food?"
Zach nodded again.
"And you dealt with hiring models, and other fabulous beings like myself," Gwendolyn added with a wink, gesturing to herself, "and organised the material and colours, and every other thing to get this thing running and off the ground?"
Zach nodded once more.
"Then, sweetie, you got this!" she said with a broad smile, holding her arms out for a hug. Zach practically fell against Gwendolyn to hug her and be hugged in return. "You can do it, you just gotta start off by trying to do it, okay?" she said, squeezing gently.
"You're good at motivational speaking," Zach said, feeling somewhat calmer now.
"Thanks, sweetie. You're good at designing. Now... you got this?" Gwendolyn asked with a broad smile.
Zach nodded. "Yeah, I got this."
...
Note: Gwendolyn is named after/based on the mail lady from The Good Place because she's amazing and I want that energy 3
...
End of the hundred and thirty-third chapter.
