…

Scheduled for Friday
by Anton M.

25: Juicy Drama

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Friday, January 27

It was a relief to be able to open up to Alice, even if the mere thought felt alien. I wouldn't tell her everything but just acknowledging (but really confirming) the reason behind our move and needing a bodyguard had made me feel lighter. I was eager to hear what Alice thought of the whole thing, the surreal but imminent fame, the role(s), everything.

I was worried that she'd be weird around me and that we'd drift apart. I didn't know how to keep our friendship normal after this, but I owed it to myself (and her) to try.

If shit hit the fan, NorthDust Studios would've had to prove two things to accuse me of an NDA violation: first, that media found out through me (a single rumor or a single friend suspecting something wasn't grounds for violation even if it made future violation more likely), and second, they'd have to provide evidence of harm (financial loss) that resulted from the first. For example, if NorthDust Studios was unable to time the release of season one with peak interest (and lost money) due to someone blabbering about the series to a news reporter, that tattletale could (and probably would) be held accountable for a violation of the NDA.

I didn't fully understand all the (sub)clauses within my NDA but my lawyer and parents did. Either way, I had not, fortunately, caused a clusterfuck of epic proportions yet.

Friday brought a chilly, sunny morning, only thirty degrees, and I foolishly wore mom's mustard high-waist miniskirt (with black tights) and a black turtleneck. I'd have never told mom but her forcing me to wear her green woolen sweater under her bomber jacket probably saved my life.

It was cold.

I arrived in school half-dreading and half-anticipating my awkward talk with Peter, but what I hadn't counted on was Jasper leaning against a pillar, waiting for me with a face-splitting grin on his face.

"A two-move checkmate from the one, the only, Bellaaaa Swaaann," Jasper announced, holding his arms open for an exaggerated hug. A few people laughed. Jasper lifted me up, circled me around, and I had to lean against the pillar beside him when he put me down because I felt a bit woozy. Students were flooding the hallways, breathing on their cold fingers as they headed to class. I motioned for Jasper to walk with me to my locker and shoved my extra layers in it. My mom's miniskirt wasn't high enough to get me in trouble but I still shuffled it lower.

"Now be honest," Jasper whispered. "Did you pay that guy to play your boyfriend?"

"I—"

"Oh my God was he the big, buff boyfriend from another school? So he is real?"

"I—"

"Actually, no! Don't tell me. Don't tell me. I need to imagine it's real. Ah, this is so precious. I never dared to hope my senior year would turn out so beautiful."

His glee was contagious and I couldn't help my grin.

"Why does this make you so damn happy?" I asked.

"Because. Because—" He leaned closer, grinning. "Nah, I can't tell you." Jasper hesitated, nodding at Angela and Eric when they passed. "But also because—" He stopped talking. "No I can't tell you that, either."

"Wow, aren't you just… a fountain of information."

Jasper laughed.

"Wait, how do you know about Emmett, anyway?"

He wiggled his eyebrows. "I can give you three guesses but I bet you only need one."

Edward.

But why did Edward care enough to be talking about this with Jasper, anyway?

Alex, I'll take 'ways to squeeze secrets out of my crush's best friend' for two hundred, please.

Speaking of whom, Edward looked lean and tall in dark-washed jeans and his signature hoodie when he entered the school, and a flurry of butterflies took off in my stomach even if I couldn't decipher his expression. Peter was headed towards me from the other side, and both noticed me.

Jasper hid his open mouth behind his fist and looked at me with laughter in his eyes.

"Please let me follow you around for the day," he said. "Please. I'll carry your bags. I'll do anything."

"Oh shut up," I replied, nudging him. "Beat it."

In that moment, Peter and Edward noticed each other. Both hesitated, and Jasper pulled his hoodie collar on top of his mouth when he laughed in silence.

"Please," Jasper asked. "Who's going to live-stream this beauty to Alice?"

"Shoo, you weirdo."

'Catch you late-ah,' Jasper mouthed, still grinning to himself as he joined Tyler on the other end of the hallway, and I turned just as Peter reached me.

Edward had disappeared into thin air but I didn't have time to care. I had to talk to Peter anyway. Strands of hair falling from his pony tail were tucked behind his ears, and our initial greetings were happy if a bit awkward. I motioned for us to walk around the corner to have fewer people around before I swayed on my heels.

"I don't have much experience with this, but it's fair if you don't want to go out with me after I tell you… what I want to tell you."

Peter pushed back his glasses. "Oh-kay."

"Another friend asked me out almost immediately after you did and I said yes." I cringed. "And that's not fair to you but I did it and I needed to tell you in case you want to cancel our plans."

His smile was careful. "Why would I do that?"

"Because… it's not right."

Peter chuckled and took off his glasses to wipe them with his flannel shirt. "So you have two dates planned with two guys and neither of them is the guy you actually want to go out with."

I burned with shame but only grimaced.

"Relax, Zendaya," he continued, shrugging. "It's fine. It's just a date."

"It's fine?"

"Totally fine. Don't worry about it."

I threw myself at him in relief. He caught me, if a bit awkwardly, and I didn't feel butterflies or insane energy when we hugged but it was still comfortable and happy. Peter chuckled. "Wow, you were really worried there."

"Of course I was worried!" I agreed, pulling back with a grin. "It may not look like it but I'm not an asshole. Not intentionally, anyway."

Edward gave us the side-eye when he passed, but I didn't show that I'd noticed him. "So we're good?"

"We're good," Peter repeated. I felt like a rock had lifted from my chest as we walked our separate ways to our first class.

So I had to lie to make it seem like Emmett was the real deal, but I had not wanted to give up my very first date for a fake boyfriend, and now I didn't have to.

I was a little blown away that it wasn't a big deal to Peter and also… getting excited for my date on Saturday.

…

I had no clue what happened. All I knew was that one minute, I was sitting on the hallway floor behind the Anthropology classroom, chatting with Kate and Skylar, and the next, Edward strode through the hallways, jaw set and murder in his eyes. I gaped as he approached, and my stomach fell into my boots when we locked eyes and he began to walk straight at me.

Oh my God, what did I do?

My friends and I fell silent when Edward reached us. Eyes blazing, jaw clenched, and arms crossed, he looked positively pissed. I gulped when he stood in front of us, fire in his eyes.

"Can I sit here for a moment?" he asked, his surprisingly quiet voice full of repressed anger. I nodded.

But he did not sit.

Edward threw his backpack on the floor, tore off his hoodie, lay on the side of the hallway a few feet from us and covered his face. My friends and I stared at each other, wide-eyed, wanting to laugh but unsure if it was the appropriate response to… whatever the hell happened to Edward.

We weren't the only ones who'd noticed, either. Several of our classmates raised their eyebrows at me, but I had no answers and shrugged in response. A passing teacher intended to admonish him but recognized his hoodie and reconsidered. Must've been some serious shit if Mrs. Patel didn't scold you for lying on the side of the hallway.

'they broke up,' Jasper texted me, and my heart skipped a beat.

'Edward and Lauren?'

'don't know what happened. she said something, and masen… looked like he could punch a hole in the wall, and it was very clear that they're done.'

'What did she say?'

'you tell me. he took off, too. no clue where he went.'

'He's here.'

'with you?'

'Yup.'

'doing what?'

I looked over at Edward's chest rising and falling with his breaths. His elbow was thrown over his hoodie-covered face. 'Breathing.'

'wdym?'

'I mean… he lay down on the side of the hallway, covered his face with his hoodie and now he's just… here.'

Jasper sent me an avalanche of smilies with sweat drops on their foreheads.

'Should I be scared?' I asked.

'just leave him be for a while.'

I wasn't in the habit of poking a sleeping bear, so I steered my conversation with my friends away from Edward's peculiar presence next to me. He got up and walked away the moment the bell rang, but I received a new text from Jasper not even fifteen minutes into my class.

'holeee shit.'

'?'

'lauren… made a presentation and masen is ripping her a new one. it's a sight to behold. the entire class is shitting themselves.'

'Why?'

'because… might not look like it, but masen never acts up in class. he's a pillar of support. hot damn. wish I could record this. lauren might leave with two assholes.'

I swallowed my laughter. I hadn't quite registered yet how I felt about the whole thing but I did not mind the mental image of so much juicy gossip (delivered to my phone).

'Which class are you in?'

'AMDM. miss strickland. you should see masen. always known he's something else but holy shit what a sight when he unleashes his genius. savage. don't think lauren understood a tenth of her assignment and masen is making sure everyone knows it. almost feel sorry for her, but… nah. don't know what she did but I bet she deserves it.'

'How do you know?'

'masen's only ever pissed when there's some kind of grave injustice or someone's hurt. like with his cousin, you know?'

I remembered dad's comment about Edward carrying a justice boner.

'Do you think she cheated?'

'on him? or in school for a test?'

'Either. Both.'

'don't think it's either. I doubt she would've just said it to his face if she'd cheated on him, and masen wouldn't be nearly as pissed if he discovered she cheated in class. I mean, he wouldn't be happy, but… no way. this is something else. he didn't say anything to you when he left, did he?'

'Nothing at all.'

'me neither. but this is the best movie I've seen since corona started. if this continues all day I will die a happy man.'

Edward returned to lie on the hallway floor near me for the next two breaks. He continued to look pissed, and his grim expression nearly scared away my friends but the fact that I kept ignoring him probably helped. Rumors spread like wildfire, one wilder than the other.

In one, Edward wanted to have sex and Lauren wouldn't put out (discussing this on a Friday morning would've been curious timing even for horny high-schoolers). In another, Edward found out that Lauren had an STD (just casually dropping that information in a conversation before class, sure). Then, Lauren killed squirrels in her backyard (I mean, I had no evidence that she didn't). And the most wide-spread rumor of all: Lauren cheated on him. But… when you started to dig deeper, everything was just total bull, like the one where Edward cheated on her (with me).

But then… why was he lying next to me on the hallway floor and not even talking to me? Why weren't we sneaking off to staircases to make out if he'd been cheating on her? Why would he be the one angry with her if he was at fault in their breakup? Everyone else was just as confused as I was, and I'd been trying to catch Lauren in the hallways just to see how she was coping but she was probably avoiding Edward just as much as he seemed to be avoiding her.

It was explosive, juicy drama for Willie W. Smith, so it was no wonder that Peter found me sitting behind World Literature and Composition with Edward lying not too far from me with a hoodie on his face. Peter didn't have to say anything for me to get up and walk to the end of the hallway with him—which was, admittedly, not far, but it was far enough that the flocks of students heading for lunch covered up our voices. Edward hadn't moved since I got up.

Peter pushed back his glasses and gave me an awkward smile.

"I don't know why he's here," I rushed to explain before he'd even opened his mouth. "He hasn't said a word beyond asking if he could lie down. I'm pretty sure this is just a convenient way for him to avoid her."

Peter swatted with his hand as if driving away invisible flies. "I heard," he said quietly. His eyes were friendly but mouth twisted. "But I guess you won't be up for our date tomorrow anymore now that…" He motioned behind me.

"No!" I argued, way too loud. I lowered my voice. "No," I repeated, quietly. "Nothing's changed. I'd like to go out with you."

Peter assessed my face in silence. "You sure?"

"Absolutely." I gave Peter my best grin. "Whatever is happening between them has nothing to do with me," (did it?) "and I think it'd be fun. Yeah?"

Peter's shoulder's sagged in relief, and he returned my grin with a friendlier smile. "Awesome."

Having settled the details for our date tomorrow, I returned to sit by my backpack to study for the (next) geometry test, and I'd done that for a few minutes before Edward sat up as if stung, narrowing his eyes. Following his gaze, I found Lauren walking in the hallway with two of her friends. Her eyes were red. She looked embarrassed or ashamed, almost puppy-like in her vulnerability, and I found myself feeling bad for her. But Edward narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw, everything in his expression saying, 'I fucking dare you.' Lauren paled when she noticed him. Her eyes flickered between the two of us, but she was visibly shaken to have chosen a route with us in it (she'd probably hoped we'd be in the cafeteria on the first lunch break). She and her friends rushed past us before Edward and I locked eyes in the quieting hallway.

His green eyes were full of restrained energy: anger, exhaustion, and something imperceptible that made me feel breathless and alight. He gave me a nod before he lay down in his spot, and I didn't ask if I could leave my bag next to him when I brought my lunch from my locker. I sat back down and ate my lunch next to him. It was relatively silent, now, with the first lunch break, and his hoodie now covered his upper body instead of his face, but he stared off into the ceiling looking homicidal as ever. Finishing my salad, I observed him in silence.

"You have the worst resting bitch face I've ever seen."

Edward looked at me, upside down, and made a sound that was something between a sharp exhale and a laugh. But he did, finally, sit up. He stretched his long legs in front of him, resting his back against the wall, dug out his chicken sandwich and ate in silence next to me as I studied math. He offered his sandwich to me, and because I forgot to pack my banana and granola bar with my lunch, I suppressed my stupid giddiness of sharing food with him and took a bite. It was good.

Together, we finished it, and I had a thousand questions for him, including 'why are you here?' but his deadly gaze wasn't exactly inviting to an in-depth discussion. I fought with myself not to say the polite, expected thing, but the people-pleaser side of me won.

"Maybe you can sort it out," I forced myself to say, words that went against everything I wanted but… I couldn't tell him that I thought Lauren seemed like an immature jerk because what if they got back together on Monday? Then I was the jerk.

Edward, though, hit the back of his head against the wall as he laughed. He turned his head, searching my face with an amused, exhausted sparkle in his eye.

"Only if she gets a personality transplant."

I choked on his home-made chocolate-chip cookie as I laughed.

…