CrimsonSilver
Disclaimer: Don't sue me. 'Nuff said.
Invitations all around
The smell of warm pizza was always a great thing to Alan on the morning. He sighed with contentment as he brought it out of the oven.
Heaven, more like, he thought to himself.
The light was slowly getting up to speed, beginning to shine through the curtains. Alan bit into a slice, savoring the taste.
Fifteen minutes later he was getting out of the house, locking up before leaving to go to school. As was his usual routine. Before leaving, he checked all doors and windows of his house, making sure they were firmly secure. Then, he walked off to the curb. His bike was still locked next to the fence gate, with chains way overbuilt for their current application, but he loved his bike, and always used a 'Better Safe than Sorry' approach. Soon the bus arrived and he got on board, going to his usual seat. He waited for the next stop, where he knew his red-haired friend would get on the bus. It had become something he looked forward to everyday. Why? He didn't care much. He enjoyed her company, and from what he'd gathered, she enjoyed his. Sure enough, a couple minutes later, the doors parted, and Alan could see, above the seats, his partner Tech board the bus and walk towards him.
"Morning, Skye-with-an-E." Alan smiled.
"Morning, wiseguy." Skye smirked, taking her usual seat beside him.
And of course, as usual, Alan shared one of his earphones with her and they listened to music as the bus slowly carried on with its route, picking student as it made its way towards Oliver M Berry High School.
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Classes went by as usual. Alan doodled occasionally in his notebook, eliciting curiosity out of Skye, who often peeked at the drawings. Occasionally they'd catch each other glancing at them, at which point they'd awkwardly smile and break eye contact, silently breathing a sigh of relief. It had become routine.
Lunchtime came soon, and the theatre group was bundled up at their usual table in the cafeteria. Ajay was working on something in his notebook, while everyone else was chatting, when suddenly, an ear-splitting squeal rang out from behind Alan, who whirled his head around to see Amber coming on to Annie.
"Annie-poo! I missed you so much!" Amber near yelled as she threw her arms around Annie.
"Yeah… I… uh, missed you too." Annie said in the same dazed, half-afraid expression Alan remembered from the party at the Hutchinson Mansion.
"Right? It's been so long. Three whole hours!" Amber exclaimed.
Alan could hear Erin and Natalie stifle laughs as Amber's sugary-sweet voice carried across the cafeteria.
"Annie-poo? That's the worst thing I've heard all day." Erin wheezed out.
"Yeah, I'm a bit worried about them too. Amber's sweet, but… I think this is too much of a good thing." Alex said, looking and sounding worried indeed.
"Must feel like drowning in molasses." Skye said.
Alan didn't say anything and continued to observe, as Amber pinched Annie's cheek and snuggled up against her.
"I wuv you, my Buttercup! My Heart's Desire!" Amber's shrill voice sounded off once more.
Opposite Alan, Erin finally broke and burst out laughing. Alan could see Annie freeze up, skin paling as he saw her eyes scan the crowd, realizing that a lot of people were looking at them.
"Honey… what's wrong?" Amber asked, and Alan knew she was genuinely worried.
"Nothing, Amber, I… uh, I gotta go… because… bathroom emergency!" Annie said, before abruptly getting up and scrambled away towards the door. Alex got up as well, rushing to catch Annie at the door.
Alan saw the siblings speak in a low volume, avoiding other ears. Soon, they left together. He turned back to his food.
"You think Annie's gonna realise that this is going a bit too far?" Erin asked, her laughter dying down.
"Maybe, especially if Alex talks some sense into her." Alan answered. "I'm worried Annie's only doing this because she doesn't want to hurt Amber. It's a very good intention, but she has to realize it's going to hurt them both in the end."
"My thoughts exactly. Let's hope she does, and in time." Erin said, getting a bit serious, but still breathing heavily from her outburst.
"Speaking of time, we need to discuss the lighting timings for the scenes. Ajay, talk to you during rehearsal?" Skye reminded, before asking Ajay, who simply hummed his agreement, not looking up from his notebook. "Cool." Skye said simply.
"Hey Alan?" Trevor called. Alan looked up to see Trevor pointing at another table. "Those guys wanna talk to you."
"Huh, cool." Alan said, shrugging, before picking up his empty tray, going to discard it, then headed to the table. A boy with black hair and solid frame glasses greeted him.
"Hi. I'm Luis." He said.
"Hello Luis, I'm Alan." Alan replied.
"Trevor tells me you play League of Legends?" Luis asked.
"Oh… yeah I do." Alan said.
"Sweet! What lane do you go?" Luis asked.
"Bot, mostly. I can adc or support. I also go mid sometimes. Occasionally top. The only thing I can't play is jungle. I suck at that." Alan explained.
"I see. Well, the reason I asked is because I'm looking for good League players. I have two others, you need at least four to be a viable squad. Would you be interested?" Luis asked, hope in his eyes.
Alan considered for a second before replying, "Okay, let's give it a shot. I'll send you my ID."
"Sweet. We come online everyday at 22." Luis said, his eyes now sparkling, almost comically.
"Alright. Maybe give me your e-mail?" Alan said.
"Oh sure. Here…" Luis continued to tell Alan his e-mail as Alan noted it down into his phone. "So, see you tonight, so to speak?"
"Yup." Alan said simply.
"Oh Nishan and Sakura are gonna be stoked." Luis said in excitement. "See you!"
Alan walked off to the theatre table.
"What'd he want?" Erin asked.
"He invited me to his squad. Apparently they need another League player." Alan replied. "Did they ask you about me?" He asked, looking at Trevor.
"Not exactly. They said they need another player. I remembered you saying you play. I just mentioned that." Trevor answered. "Should I not have?"
"No, it's alright. I do get annoyed solo queueing with idiot randoms anyway. Having a squad is nice." Alan shrugged.
Just then, the bell rang, signalling the end of break.
"To classes, everyone, then. See y'all in rehearsal." Erin said, as everyone got up. Alan was already up, and had already started walking, when he noticed Skye falling in step with him. Neither said anything. They didn't need to anymore, it seemed. They simply headed to their next class, content with present company.
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The time for rehearsal had come up. Alan got out of the classroom, and headed to the theatre. He had extra class after the others' last, so he was going to be late, and the others knew it, but he knew it'd be alright, since some time would be taken up for costume measurements, which was planned today. He walked, with only a slight hurry, to the theatre.
As he entered, he noticed a commotion, and quickly ran over.
"… From now on, phones are banned from rehearsal!" Ajay yelled.
"Wait, are you joking?" Rory asked.
"Do I look like I'm joking? This could've been our second injury!" Ajay said, his voice still high. "And I swear, if one more person tries to show me a meme while we're supposed to be focused…"
"But what if there's an emergency? At home or something?" Alex tried.
"Your parents can call Mr. Olson, who will still have his phone. Nice try." Ajay retorted.
"I'm sorry, did I miss something?" Alan finally made his presence known.
"Ajay's banning phones. Danielle here was taking a selfie, and 'accidentally' shoved Alex here into a costume rack while she was distracted. He didn't get hurt, but he could have." Skye said. "I don't care much about my phone, since nobody's gonna call me anyway." She ended with a shrug.
"There's a problem with that, though.." Alan began, when Ajay rounded on him.
"What? Why do you need your phone now, if you can go phoneless at the movies?" he said.
"Wait, you guys go phoneless at the movies?" Trevor asked from the back.
"Not the point, look. The software subroutines I use for the ambience transitions are on my phone." Alan said.
"Oh that's right! Alan's been helping us make the transitions easier and smoother by using pre-written software." Trevor added.
"Right. Now I'm not expecting preferential treatment. It doesn't have to be my phone, but I do need an electronic device with substantial enough specs." Alan told Ajay.
"So you could use mine?" Danielle said, her eyes slightly lighting up with hope.
"No offence, but yours is probably just good for selfies." Alan said dismissively.
"How do you know?" Danielle said.
"Okay, what processor are you running? Does it overclock? How many cores does it have?" Alan now fired off. Danielle looked completely stumped. "Forget all that, have you ever gone into developer mode on your phone? Do you know how?" Alan asked. Danielle didn't answer. "I think I know about tech slightly more than you do, then." He said, before turning to Ajay. "Look, if your concern is that phones are a distraction, how many times have you seen me on my phone during rehearsal? I'll bet you can count with one hand. So, what will it be?"
Ajay considered for a second. "Okay. Alan will keep his phone. But I swear, I see you use it for anything other than the play, I'm taking it away too." He finished, looking Alan in the eye.
"We have a deal." Alan said, nodding. "Now, don't we have a rehearsal to get to?" he said, looking at everyone.
"Right, let's get to work." Ajay said, clapping his hands.
"This isn't fair! Why does Alan get to keep his phone and we don't?" Danielle tried again.
"Because Alan needs it for the play, and nothing else. You are an actor, you don't need to worry about tech. And don't try the 'script' excuse. You have your scripts, already printed. You won't need your phones. And I already said that if Alan tries to misuse it, I'm taking his away too." Ajay said in a no-nonsense manner, shutting her down. "Now get to work, everybody."
Alan, Skye and Trevor took their place in the tech booth, swiftly setting up the ambience. Alex and Rory were on stage again, working on their scenes. The rest of the rehearsal flew by sans phone, save for Alan's, and without further incidents.
"Good job, everyone." Ajay clapped, with a smile. "The play is finally completely blocked out."
"Let's everyone take a short break. When we come back, it's time to start polishing." Mr. Olson said, and Ajay nodded in agreement.
Everyone scattered, some going backstage, some going to the seats, sitting and chatting or just having a snack. Alan went back to the tech booth and started revising the routines. He also had a little energy bar, that he opened up and bit into. He'd gotten through most of the routines and about half the bar, when suddenly Alan heard a gurgling sound behind him. He turned to see Skye sitting there, clutching her belly for a second before quickly getting back to whatever she was doing.
"Was that you, Skye?" Alan asked bluntly.
"Was what me?" Skye asked back, although there was a slight stammer in her words. Enough for Alan to pick up on. He sighed and handed her the remainder of the energy bar.
"Here, have this." He offered.
"No thanks." Skye said, looking away.
"Skye. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. You're hungry, so take it. Unless of course… you dislike my help?" Alan asked, feigning confusion.
"No, it's not like that, I-" Skye began hurriedly, when suddenly, her stomach gurgled again. "Okay I may need something to eat. But you don't have to give me your snack."
"But would you like it? Because I want you to have it." Alan insisted. Skye looked embarrassed again, but took the snack nevertheless.
"Thanks." She said in a small voice. Alan heard it though.
"You're Welcome, Skye." Alan smiled. "And it's okay to accept help every now and then." He added, bumping shoulders with her lightly, eliciting a small chuckle from Skye, who then smiled at Alan. It nearly made him forget about all the tech work he had to do, but he quickly, only barely, regained his senses and got back to it.
Soon, rehearsals resumed, and it was once again Alex and Rory on the stage for the 'Waltz scene'.
Despite the scene calling for a sad vibe in the beginning, Alan noticed that as soon as Rory approached Alex, he became a peachy wreck.
"Prince…" Rory said as she came up to Alex on the makeshift balcony, her expression melancholy.
Alex, on the other hand, laughed nervously as she stood beside him. Alan put on a hand on his forehead, or 'facepalmed' as the cool kids would say.
You are in trouble, dear friend, he thought to himself.
"Solemn! Look solemn!" Ajay hissed at Alex.
"Right, um…" Alex tried to begin, partially succeeding in straightening his expression but still forgetting his line.
"It's 'Neither do we', Alex." Ajay said, looking increasingly frustrated.
"Right. Neither do we. No one truly does. We are all simple fools, blind to fate's guiding hand." Alex somehow managed.
"Perhaps those peasants are wiser than we. If we must be in the dark, we might as well dance." Rory said, pulling off her line smoothly. She extended a hand towards Alex, smiling warmly.
"Yes, Rory. I would love to go to ho-" Alex began in a trance, but was interrupted by particularly loud feedback from the microphones.
"Sorry! That's my bad. Accidentally pressed the wrong button. Won't happen again." Alan yelled out as soon as it subsided.
"You're not on your phone, right?" Ajay asked, eyes narrowing.
"Come check. It's plugged in." Alan shrugged.
"I'll believe you." Ajay said, just as the bell rang, signalling the end of the day's rehearsal.
"Wow. Didn't noticed the time go by." Erin said.
"Alex! A word!" Ajay called to Alex.
Alex headed to Ajay with a down face. Alan looked at him with sympathy.
"That was no accident, was it?" Skye asked, suddenly appearing in front of Alan.
"No. No it was not. He needed a wake up call before Ajay chewed him out." Alan looked at Ajay who seemed to be having words with Alex. "Looks like he's doing that anyway, so… maybe a little less."
"Still, it's better than what could have been." Skye said, looking towards Ajay and Alex.
"Yeah. You wanna get out of here?" Alan smirked at Skye.
"Yeah let's go. I, uh… I actually have something to talk to you about." Skye said, looking embarrassed.
"Okay…?" Alan trailed off as he and Skye walked out of the theatre hall, and towards home together. Alan looked back to see Danielle and Rory getting up from a seat to leave, Ajay still talking to Alex.
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Alan and Skye were walking back home. The first few minutes there was an awkward silence, mostly from Skye, which Alan seemed to pick up on, so he gave her time.
"I need to ask you something." Skye said, very softly.
"Okay. No pressure, either way." Alan said, being as gentle as he could.
"Can you go to homecoming with me?" Skye just blurted out.
"Huh?" Alan said, trying to keep it under control, but he was slowly going fuzzy.
"Please, go to homecoming with me. I much want to go with you than some random person my mom finds and forces me to go with." Skye said.
"Oh…" Alan felt a small tinge of disappointment thinking she was only doing this to avoid other people. But once again, when he went to ask himself why he cared, why it mattered to him, he drew a blank. He didn't fully understand what exactly was causing this, but he didn't seem to want to care.
"So? I'd much rather go with you than anyone else I know." Skye said again. "Are you going to say anything, or… I ruined this didn't I?" she began speaking frantically. "Forget I said anything. I'll go…"
Alan snapped out of it and quickly spoke. "Skye. Skye! Hey!" he took her by the shoulders and shook to snap her out of her stupor as well. "I'd love to go with you. Relax!"
"… really?" Skye said, her voice barely audible.
"Yeah. I mean I didn't plan on going, and that was partially because I thought you wouldn't either. But hey, if you need me, I'll be there." Alan shrugged with a smile.
"You don't have to do this, you know. You can say no if you want." Skye said, looking down, her eyes constantly swaying side to side to avoid eye contact.
"Hey I do that anytime, anywhere, anyway, regardless of who I'm talking to. I just don't wanna say no here." Alan said, still smiling. "Skye-with-an-E Crandall, I will go to homecoming with you." He said with a dramatic voice.
Skye finally looked up at him. Alan found himself entranced by her vibrant blue eyes. She then smiled as wide as he'd even seen her, and it just about melted him down into a puddle. But he barely remained composed, tilting his head to his right a little, smiling brightly back at her.
"Come on then, let's go home. It's getting late." He offered with a smile, gesturing to the pavement.
"Right." Skye said, her smile not yet gone. "Let's go."
"Gosh, I gotta find my damn suit." Alan said with a hiss, getting a small chuckle out of Skye.
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The next morning, Alan, Skye and Trevor walked up to the theatre. It was only them today, as they had to work on the set.
Trevor unlocked the door, going to enter, when they're greeted by Alex and Ajay running up.
"Ajay? Alex? What the heck are you guys doing here? No, how are you here?" Alan asked.
"Was there some rehearsal in the schedule I didn't see? 'Cause I need the space to work on the set." Skye said.
"We got locked in here by mistake after rehearsal." Alex said, sighing. "And because somebody banned phones…" he added, glancing sideways at Ajay.
"Hey, how was I supposed to know about this?" Ajay shrugged.
"Okay, roomies. Right now I need the space. We have work to do on the set." Skye said in her usual monotone. "Fly away, starlings. Us techs have to focus here."
"Yeah yeah. Bye." Ajay said as him and Alex walked out.
"That was weird. How'd they get locked in there by mistake?" Alan asked.
"Beats me. My question is how we're gonna build that piece of the set." Skye asked as she got to work, referencing her notebook.
Alan dismissed his previous thoughts and focused as he, Skye and Trevor spent the rest of the day working on designing and refining the set to the play.
!-!-!-!-!
There you go. Another chapter from the Book of Magic. Sorry, I probably haven't been present enough to refer to myself in the third person. Oh well…
So, as always, review to let me know how you liked this chapter, if anyone even reads this. But I like writing, so that's what I'm gonna do.