Dawson and Joey stepped off the bus in Boston. This was not their first time visiting the city, but they weren't really accustomed to big cities. That said, they acclimatized pretty well when they needed to.
"Do you know where you're going?" Joey asked Dawson
"I can figure it out" Dawson said "You?"
"Yeah" Joey replied "What time are we heading back again?"
"The last bus leaves at 11.30, so we should probably aim to be back by then" Dawson replied
"Dawson, not that you'll need it, but good luck" Joey said
"You too Jo"
And with that they parted ways
Joey knocked on the door nervously
"It's open" a voice said
Joey opened the door to discover a girl sitting on a chair facing the door, with a desk behind her. There was another girl sitting on her lap and they were being quite affectionate.
"I'm sorry. I must have the wrong room" Joey said
"That's okay, what room were you looking for?" lap-sitting girl asked
"314" Joey said
"This is 314" The chair-sitting girl said
"You must be..." and she swung around to pick up a piece of paper form the desk
"Joseph Potter"
"That doesn't say Joseph" The other girl objected "It says…
Josephine?"
"That would be me. And I guess you'd be Christopher and Larry"
"Not quite. This is Laura, my roommate and girlfriend and I'm Christine" one of the girls said
Joey quickly picked up she was the perky one. Whereas the other girl was more mellow and laid-back
"Nice to meet you both. I guess you're here to show me a taste of college life"
"She is. I'm not" The perky girl said "I have to get going. I'm going to a student film festival. I hear its going to be pretty cool"
"I know. My friend is entered in it" Joey said
"What's your friends name?"
"Dawson Leery"
"And his movie"
"The legend of Witch Island"
"I'll be sure to check it out. Maybe show some encouragement during the Q&A"
"Thanks" Joey said
"Well, I'd better get going. You two have fun, and don't stay out late. Remember, honey, she's still in high school"
"Alright" they kissed and then the perky girl left
"So, what do you want to do first?" the chill girl asked
"Name?" The girl asked
"Dawson Leery"
"Name of movie?"
"The Legend of Witch Island"
"Genre?"
"Documentary"
"You didn't fill in a synopsis"
"There wasn't enough space. You see it started out as…" Dawson started
"I don't care. Favourite Director?"
"Steven Spielberg"
The girl rolled her eyes at this
"Date of Birth?"
"3-14-83"
"Say Cheese" and she took his picture
"Sign here, here and here", he did
She handed him an ID and said "This will get you into the screening room. Next!"
"So, I'm guessing you've never met a gay person before" the mellow girl, Laura said
"What makes you say that?" Joey asked blushing
"The fact that you're from a small town. And the way you reacted to mine and Krissy's PDA a moment ago"
"Well, for your information, last year, my boyfriend and I broke up because he came out"
"Cool" Laura said, but then seeing the look on Joey's face said "Not cool. Cool that he figured it out, not that it happened that way"
"So, aren't you going to show me around campus or something" Joey said changing the subject
"Sure, but I have class in like half an hour. You can tag along if you like"
"What subject"
"American literature. Its a snooze-fest, but its pretty easy"
"Cool" Joey said, and they both smiled
"Nice of you to join us Miss Burke. And I see you have a friend with you" The lecture had said
Joey and Laura had tried to sneak in late, but had caught professor Jordan's eye and wrath.
"Don't be shy, introduce yourself"
"I'm Joey"
"Go easy on her. She's still in high school"
"And tell us Joey, what's your favourite book?"
"Little Women" Joey said confidently
"Who here has read little women, raise your hands"
About two thirds of the class raised their hands
"And what do we all think of Little Women, class"
And the class proceeded to tear the book to shreds. They threw around words like 'Anti-feminist' and referred to its author as "A minor author' who 'wrote for money'
Joey looked pretty upset and Laura was really feeling guilty
Dawson's movie had just finished and the crowd reaction was generally quite underwhelming. There were one or two claps, but mostly silence until the MC got onto the stage and said "And that was 'The Legend of Witch Island'. If you'd like to know more, the director, Dawson Leery as kindly agreed to answer any questions you might have. Mr Leery, where are you?"
At that moment, Dawson wished he was anywhere but there, or that the earth would crack open and swallow him up. Nevertheless, he walked up to the stage to face the scornful and bored crowd.
When he tried to talk, he make the mistake of being to close to the mic and causing feedback. As if this day could get any worse, he thought to himself.
"Hi. I'm Dawson Leery, director of The Legend of Witch Island. Does anyone have any questions…
or comments?"
There was a moment of silence before someone finally raised their hand.
"Tell us more about this Joey character?" they asked. It was the perky girl Joey had met earlier. It was all that she could think of to ask. Adding "She seems cool"
"That was brutal" Joey said
"Yeah, college can be like that sometimes. I'm sorry that happened" Laura said
"Is it always like this?" Joey asked
"No, sometimes its worse." Joey looked incredulous "Then there's the part where you have to work a stupid part time job, yet you're still broke and starving all the time. But I bet you wouldn't know anything about that, would you Joey?"
"I guess not." Joey said and they both grinned slightly
"Its not all bad. Sometimes you get to meet cool people, like I did today"
Joey looked confused for a moment, but then realised Laura was talking about her and smiled.
"So, tell me about Little Women?" Laura asked
"Why, so you can eviscerate me, like your class did?"
"Actually, I want to write a paper about it, and its due tomorrow"
Joey liked this idea.
Dawson was walking out of the screening room and was clearly upset
"Are you alright?" the girl from earlier asked
"Fine" he said in a tone that showed he clearly wasn't
"That was brutal, but I've seen worse"
"Good for you"
"Look, you've clearly not had to deal with anything like that before and I'm sorry, but..."
"But what?" Dawson was clearly not going to like what came next
"You were riding the coat-tails of a cultural phenomenon that was over a year ago..."
"Thank you for your input miss…?"
"Nikki, Nikki Greene"
"Nice to meet you Nikki. Any further notes you'd like to share?"
"Take this Joey character for example. Who is she and who is she to you? She's the most interesting part of your story and yet you seem to have overlooked this"
"How perceptive of you" Dawson said, barely containing his frustration
"Don't patronise me. I'm just trying to give an honest appraisal"
"Well, forgive me, its not every day I'm subjected to an unsolicited review from..."
"From, what? A volunteer, a bureaucrat. Next time, I'll stick to filling in forms and taking photos" and she walked off
"It was brutal" The perky girl, Kristine was relaying the story of Dawson's screening to Joey and Laura
"But I've seen worse. At least no one threw things this time"
Joey looked upset
"Look, I know this kid is your friend" she offered
"He's a little more than that" Joey objected, but didn't go into details
"My point is, this happens to artists all the time. If it doesn't make him quit, it will make him a lot stronger and a lot better at his craft, in order to prove all his doubters wrong"
"Well, when you put it like that..." Joey said "I guess he's not going to give up his dream because of one bad screening"
"So, do you have any plans for tonight?" Laura asked "Anything we could help you with?" she added
"Actually, I was going to see a band, The Dave Matthews Band. My friend scored me tickets, because she knows the opening act. But I only have two of them."
"Don't worry about me. I've got a paper to write" Laura insisted "I'm thinking of calling it 'In Defence of Little Women'"
"So, tell me about this band, and their opening act?" Christine was intrigued
Dawson decided to check out another screening. Perhaps, seeing another film will help give him some perspective and help him work out what went wrong, he thought to himself. When it was over, it got a standing ovation. The MC asked for the host to join him on stage. It was Nikki, the girl from before.
"Congratulations" Dawson said, upon seeing her in the corridor, a few minutes later
"You didn't mention you were a filmmaker before" He added
"Why should I have?" she asked
"Because I probably would have viewed your feedback in a very different light"
"Hence why I didn't tell you. So, what did you think?" she asked
"Well, it was clearly better than mine"
"Don't be like that. Its not a competition"
"But it is and you are clearly way ahead of me"
"But artists get better by helping each other" Nikki insisted
"Yeah, I guess. I suppose I just don't think I have anything to offer after what happened earlier today" Dawson admitted
"You'll get over that. All artists have to deal with the sting of negative feedback and if we don't quite because of it, we get better"
Whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger?" Dawson suggested
"Something like that" Nikki said and smiled
Between the opening act and the headline act, Christine decided to ask Joey something she'd been wondering all day
"What did you mean before when you said you're film-making friend was 'a little more than that'"?
"Wouldn't you like to know" Joey said and grinned deviously
Joey gave a very condensed version, leaving out many important details. She then evaded all the follow up questions.
Back in the Screening room, the winners of the festival were being announced. Dawson and Nikki were sitting next to one another.
"And the winner of the first prize is..." The announcer began
"A Tale of Suburbia by Micheal Joseph"
Nikki ran out of the room and Dawson followed her
"What?" she said realising he was following her
"You were robbed" Dawson said
"Now you're just being sarcastic"
"I've never been more serious in my life. I saw every documentary at this festival and yours was head and shoulders above the rest"
"I'd like to be alone now"
"Why?" he said, still confused and irritated
"For the same reason, you did after your screening"
"I get it, failure is tough, but what happened to you and what happened to me was very different. I learned that I still need to improve and mature as a director and you learned that Film Festivals are unfair"
"Did you mean what you said about my movie?"
"Every word of it" and she could tell by the look in his eyes, he meant it.
Dawson was waiting at the bus station for Joey. She was cutting it very close. Instead he saw Nikki. "Hey Dawson" she said
"Fancy seeing you here" he said "I take it you're going home"
"I'm doing the divorced kid shuffle. Mom just got transferred to Chicago, so I'm heading to see my dad. He's just become a high school principal"
"Where?" Dawson asked
"A place called Capeside, in Cape Cod"
"You're kidding" Dawson said as his eyes lit up
"You've heard of it?" She asked
"Hey Joey, you're pretty cool, for a high schooler" Christine said, as she escorted Joey to the bus station
"Thanks. You and Laura are pretty cool yourselves" Joey replied
"Do you wanna keep in touch?" She asked
"I'd like that" Joey replied
"Cool" Christine said and handed her a piece of paper with contact info on it
"If you're ever back in Boston, let us know. Laura and I would love to hang out with you again"
"Same thing if you're ever in Capeside, but I'm sure Capeside is too boring for a couple of college girls like you two" Joey said, with a hint of snark
"Don't be so sure" Christine said in a similar tone
Joey caught Dawson's eye. He was chatting to someone
"Well, its been real" and she walked off, and then a hand tapped Joey's shoulder
"Joey, you'll never guess who I met" Dawson said, surprising Joey
"Nikki Green" she said extending her hand
"Any relation to..."
"He's my father"
"Small world, huh" she said and the three of them boarded the bus and sat together.
"So, Capeside High has a film lab and its run by Mr Peterson. He's notoriously stingy with the lab's resources, but I can put in a good word for you" Dawson offered
"Thanks, but you don't need to. We've already exchanged emails" Nikki said
"Then maybe you could put in a good word for me" Dawson suggested
Joey, sitting in the seat in front of them, grinned, finding the whole thing amusing