Chappie 2:
The Art of Reality
- By Ditey
Ephram ran, until he didn't even remember why. The thought struck him again, and he knew he had to do something. Take some sort of action.
Subconsciously, he found himself in front of Amy's house. He tried to come up with an explanation as to why he always seemed to gravitate towards her, but rang the doorbell instead.
A blonde-haired boy opened the door, in his other hand a large tub of potato chips.
"What do you want?" the boy asked, glaring. Ephram rolled his eyes, not thrilled at all at the aspect of talking to Bright again.
"Amy."
"What do you want with her?"
"Bright. Please, this is really important."
"Yeah? What? You want to knock her up or something?"
He sighed. "You really want to know?" Bright gave a small nod. Ephram surveyed the area to the right and left of him in a very James Bond like manner, and lowered his voice to a soft whisper.
"We're being watched." Bright guffawed.
"I'm serious. They could be watching. This. Very. Second." Ephram's grave look made Bright's grin drop severely, and he too began to look suspiciously into bushes and birdhouses.
"Get in," he whispered, closing the door slowly.
"Amy!" Bright called, climbing up the stairs, Ephram right behind him.
"For the last time, I don't know where your Superman boxers are...oh. Ephram! I---I didn't know you'd be here!" Amy tried to inconspicuously tidy up her appearance, reshaping her ponytail and smoothing out her jeans.
"Amy, I need to tell you something."
"Yeah? Whatever could that be?" she mused out loud, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.
"Well...There are these WB people that tape our lives and produce a TV drama called Everwood about it, and it's broadcasted across the world and people actually like it, and they talk about us and there's this weird Greg guy that comes up a lot, and some people write these stories about us, except they're not true, and they're all about us, and everyone we know, and today I found pictures of us making out on the Internet."
"Oh." Disappointed, Amy brought her hand down from her hair, and her sly grin fell.
"Dude, Ame, this is important!" stated Bright. "I mean, they could be watching us now! They could know what we're *thinking*."
Amy thought about it for a while, and widened her eyes in realization and worry. "They would know the way I feel about Ephram! I mean, don't feel about Ephram! Because my boyfriend is Colin!"
"That never, ever cheated on you!" Bright agreed, then pausing and reflecting on the summer of the accident, losing himself while Ephram tried to make sense of it all.
"I know it's something only Rod Serling could come up with, but it's true. Here...um...do you have a computer?" Amy showed him the small Mac on her desk, and sat close to him while he retrieved Google's search results for, 'Everwood stuff'.
The page opened.
"Oh. My. God," Amy breathed. On just the first page alone was so much information...links to the WB, fansites, downloaded episodes, art and fanfic. There were pictures of them, bios of them, and of the small town they lived in...not so much new information, but merely the fact that it was there had them both panicking.
"Should we..." Ephram started, not sure whether or not to venture into the void.
"...yeah..." Amy ended, clicking on the first link she could find. A message board appeared on the screen.
"Breakout Series...fresh faces...engaging love triangles? Everwood has been called a Gilmore Girls on testosterone."
"They've got Rory too?" Ephram asked urgently.
"You know her?"
"Brief thing in New York," Ephram explained. Amy nodded.
"And...oh. Wow." Ephram peered closer to read the post.
" 'AmY aNd ePhRaM ArE sO CuUuTe. diE cOLiN! AnD ePhRaM iS hOTT.' Exclamation point. Well." Ephram leaned back into his chair, puzzled yet oddly intrigued.
" 'I personally think Amy is too good for him. She treats him like crap but when she needs him, she always expects him to be there...' What? I am *not* like that."
" 'God, I can't believe how horrible Amy was in today's ep!!! Telling Colin they never knew each other???? Yeah, Amy, Ephram was never there during your breakdown, or when you were about to give up on Colin. Some friend you are.' Wait...how did they now about..."
" 'Did anyone else crack up when Bright told Dr. Abbott he was a virgin? That was the highlight of my night!' "
"Hey!" spoke up Bright, joining the two at the computer and peering over their shoulders, "I'm *am* not! I happen to have done it! A lot! And wait...I didn't tell anyone but Dad...AMY!"
"I swear, I---I didn't know!" Amy said, between giggles. Ephram reached a more serious tone.
"Guys. This is real. There is really a show about us. How else would everyone know all this stuff? Amy dissing me when Colin came back...Bright's lack of...well...his..."
"I prefer, inexperience," Bright mumbled.
"Right. We've got to do something about this." The three joined together in a moment of silence, looking upward hoping a brilliant plan would come to them.
"I got it!" exclaimed Bright. "Okay, we get these leather outfits, and break into WB studios, pretend we're Smallville freaks of the weeks..."
"Eh...I don't think so," said Amy.
"Clark's in on it too?" Ephram inquired dramatically. Amy sighed.
"What about, we just don't do anything, and sit in our rooms all day, so that they have nothing to film?"
"Duh, Amy. Not only have you got that little I-love-him/I-love-him-not thing with Ephram, but your boyfriend that was in a coma is going through surgery, and we don't even know if he's dead or alive. Yeah, they'll find *something* to film."
"Actually," spoke up Ephram, "there are some spoilers on here that reveal the outcome of Colin's surgery. Colin is officially---"
Bright and Amy covered their ears.
"Ephram! You'll ruin it for us!" scolded Amy.
Bright continued to ramble on. "---and then there's Ephram's sister---she's got a pretty creepy crush on me...good thing it only lasted about two scenes...and then there's our parents---I'm pretty sure my dad has a boycrush on yours---"
"Okay, Bright, we get it!" Ephram announced.
"Just making sure."
They all sighed once again.
"I don't know what we should do," exhaled Amy, leaning back.
"Um...you want to read more of those stories about us in the meantime?" Ephram offered.
"Okay!" they agreed in unison.
"Only in the ones that I'm not a total bitch, though, and cheat on Colin and cause your destruction."
"And only in the ones in which I'm straight."
"I had a really good list up here the other day...here it is." Ephram pulled up the Everwood Escapade page.
"What is it?" asked Bright.
"Well, Ivy and Ditey here, said it's a way to honor the best writers and stories of Everwood fanfiction. And have fun. And keep them busy," Ephram said, reading the scrolling bullets.
"Nice. A blonde and the goddess of love..."
"Bright. They're too young for you."
"What's a few years when it's...ow!"
Ephram ignored the siblings and continued to look at their short story nominations.
"Hey, listen up! For best short story, we've got:
Massive Attack, by bj.
Break Away, by Eilla.
Falling, by Elle Mira.
Moonlight Sonata, by Black Opal.
Pencils and Erasers, by Clark's Girl.
Imperfection, by Ditey.
The Safety vs the Risk, by HisPunkRockPrincess.
Another Me, by Bellaitaliana.
She Was Invulnerable, by bj, and
One Day You'll Know (Alternate Version), by twinlakeshgrl."
"Well, let's start reading. And don't worry, Bright, they're short," said Amy. Bright instantly smiled.
"Hmm...you know, these are really good," commented Ephram, almost finished reading the stories on the list.
"I know. It's going to be hard to pick just one," said Amy.
"Yeah," agreed Bright. "Hey, do you think any of these girls will give me their number?"
---------------------------
A/N: And there you have it! The nominees for this year's, "Best Short Story." Congrats to all nominees! And here's the REALLY IMPORTANT PART! We decided that to keep the suspense going, instead of voting in our guestbook, e-mail us your awesome nominations at MysteryWays4Me@aol.com. We know we are cruel, we know we are sneaky, we know that you most likely hate us now and want to kick our casket with a mighty force. But that's how it goes! But don't worry, you beautiful people, we will count the nominations that were already sent in!
The official list of categories is as follows:
Best Everwood Fanfiction Writer
Best Short Story
Best AU/New Character Story
Best Soliloquy
Best Song/Poem Fic
Most Original Story Idea
And the Nacho Supreme of them all: The Daydreamer Award, reserved for that one story
that changed your life and how you see the world around you. And other philosophical questions such as, 'why is canon Bright *not* gay?' and, 'Dammit, why is Ephram not in love with *me*?' etc.
MAKE SURE NOT TO VOTE IN YOUR REVIEW! That's a HUGE fanfic.net no-no!
Send 'em over by the wonderful invention of e-mail, or off with your head! *Motions to medieval guillitine*
Remember: your vote really counts! Thank you all so much!
Love always!
Your fellow writers/fans,
~Ditey
and
~Ivy (a.k.a singcraz)
P.S. Check out the site in a few days, you nominees! We'll have some really awesome buttons for your own sites to choose from!