CHAPTER ELEVEN

watch out

"maeve, listen to me. you are not maeve. you are emily." i begged. walker and i had been trying to get maeve into character for longer than we'd hoped. she had just been reading like she was trying to sound out each syllable.

"sorry i can't act like you guys can! at least you know you can trust me," she defended.

"we really need to cast more than just me," walker said.

"i agree. this isn't working," i said. "no offense."

maeve shrugged, accepting it. "i also agree, but tell me when you find a good option for emily in our little town. it's crammed with people that are either men, above the age of twenty five, or bad at acting like me."

i sighed. she had a point. even though this was just a practice run, the fact that there was a scarcity of feasible actors in our area was a little concerning, and disappointingly realistic.

after a few seconds of silence, it was broken by the sound of approaching voices. in the distance, by the corner of the school where maeve had come in through, madeline and a few other girls from my chemistry class came into view. my heart sank, the weight of embarrassment and intuition that this girl will be so annoying to us because of walker pulling it down.

i shot glances at other two, our eyes meeting in agreement that it would be best if we avoided the group of girls that was progressing toward us. they all had puffy winter coats on, clutching steaming coffee. they looked like clones of each other, making me question whether that was really madeline who had asked walker for a pencil or just one of her twins.

"warning! madeline, jamie, tasha and violet are approaching! we must abort," whispered maeve.

walker snatched the mic, maeve grabbed the mobile flash kit, and i tightened my grip on the camera. then we made a run for it. just a few yards away was the thickest tree i have ever seen, which is where i pointed to frantically. as i did so, my one hand faltered its grasp and the camera nearly slipped out of my hands. once we were behind the tree, i embraced it oh so lovingly.

we slowly recuperated and waited for the four of them to complete their passing through the campus to what i hoped was somewhere else to convene. but they took their sweet time, their conversation lingering in the chilly air. i was growing warmer, however, because walker's shoulder was pressed up against mine.

"what the fuck?" i heard madeline say. she sounded concerned at first, but then she started laughing, peaking my interest. "the hell are these sandwiches doing just laying here?"

the other girls joined her in the maniacal cackling. "should we take them?" i heard jamie ask.

maeve's eyes widened so big that it appeared as though she lacked lids. "i swear to the sweet lord baby jesus..."

i accepted our fate of lost lunch, expecting to hear the crinkling of the foil. but instead of that, tasha made a gagging sound and said, "personally, i'm not eating sandwiches off the ground."

"you've never done that?" jamie sounded completely serious. i prayed that she was just such a great actress and that we could probably cast her. because if she was being genuine, i think i would throw the sandwiches away just from being in the contaminated girl's presence.

the silence that followed that inquiry led me to imagine the freaked out stares from the other three that were probably being shot at jamie. madeline coughed. "you're joking right?"

"no...," said jamie as if she was the normal one.

walker let out a booming laugh that instinctively sent my arm flying to cover his mouth. i put a hushing finger to my mouth with the other hand, and the camera came falling down. but thankfully, i was so tense from knowing that the girls definitely heard him, that my legs glued together created a convenient safety net for it.

someone whispered, "did you hear that?"

maeve cuddled up on the other side of me like a scared child clutching its mother's leg. and i leaned my head against the bark and pushed walker's against it too, maybe with a little too much force. i realized i was probably hurting him as he set the mic down on the grass to try and release my hand. i did so and gave him an apologetic expression.

"yeah, okay. now i'm kind of scared," said violet. "the sandwiches plus the mystery laugh? i'm out of here."

madeline laughed. "you're seriously leaving?"

"yeah, what if there's like a crazy poisoned sandwich serial killer?" violet started to walk away. "bye guys!"

"i think i'm gonna go too," added tasha.

"no way. guys, it's a fucking pile of sandwiches!"

"my mom said i should be home for lunch anyway," murmured jamie.

"sure," madeline said, the anger in her voice beginning to reach boiling point, "go eat your lunch! fresh off the floor, yum!"

the three girls exited through the front entrance's gate, which was far enough for me to safely view it from the tree. i hadn't heard madeline leave though, which meant she was either helping herself to a precious sandwich or was the evil witch that her voice had morphed into and vanished into thin air. either way, i was still terrified of leaving the tree's refuge.

after around a minute of us silently asking each other if we should go back out there, madeline finally spoke up. "is anyone here?" okay, i guess the answer is no. that meant more waiting -- i was getting impatient. i just wanted to film. but madeline just had to be there with her uncannily similar looking, eating off the ground, paranoid of killers friends.

she called out again, "i heard you laughing. you're not sly." pause. her voice grew more desperate, and i started to pity her. "look, if you're michael or his friends, please stop. i know cheating was bad, but i made a mistake. you don't have to keep bugging me for it." oh!

walker turned to me slowly, a smile forming. "don't even think about laughing," i mouthed, a slight smile also playing on my lips -- his was so contagious ( and so, so beautiful ). he took a deep breath like he was meditating in an effort to not be the one to blame for us being caught.

"i'm gonna go inside and report you to the principal," threatened madeline.

like the school would be open on a saturday? maeve covered her own mouth this time, probably in disbelief at how stupid she sounded. i was amused at the whole thing until i heard madeline start to walk in our direction.

then, the worst thing that could possibly happen, happened. my eyes started to water and my nose started to tingle. no... don't sneeze, y/n. i held my nostrils together, but it didn't do anything. my chest began to heave, and i had to force myself to let go of my nose and shove it into my elbow. achoo!

"bless you," whispered maeve, but in the most distressed tone.

"i knew you were there," madeline said, running up to the tree. oh shit. "you thought you could hide--"

she stopped talking once she got behind the trunk, once she saw the three of us looking like we were preparing to be crushed by an incoming rogue wave. we all smiled tentatively at her and her bafflement. i watched her first comprehend that there were three people sitting before her, then notice maeve, then me, then how her cheeks flushed when she saw walker.

"hey guys...," she hesitated. "whatcha doing here?"

she shifted her weight as maeve blurted out, "hiding from you." i facepalmed. great. i guess, what else would we have said? we're having a picnic but left the food on the pavement? or, yeah, we're playing hide and seek and felt like including you as the seeker? now madeline looked like she wanted to hide from herself too.

walker scratched his neck. "y/n's allergic to coffee. we had to run once we saw you guys. and that's also why she just shot her snot all over us." you've got to be shitting me.

madeline looked down at her hands, her right one holding the unfinished cup of joe. she backed away. "oops, sorry about that."

"it's good," said walker casually. "do you have a napkin by any chance? ya know, for a tissue?"

she nodded aggressively, so much so that if she was holding up the sign of the horns, i would think she was getting into it at a metal concert. "of course, of course." she pulled out some brown paper sheets from her pocket and handed them to walker.

"thanks, i owe you a pencil," is what he said. every fiber of my being was repulsed by that statement. but it seemed to work like a charm, that is if his goal was to get her to walk away blushing and giggling like a little girl who just got a lollipop.

i blew my nose into the coffee shop napkins. it was cheap, rough, and uncomfortable. just like how i expect this filming process to be.



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thank you for reading chapter 11!



here are the faceclaims for the clones!