CHAPTER TWO

death stares

the room was dead silent. mrs fennel got up from her seat abruptly. "alright class," she said, clapping her hands once. "we're going to do partner work today." i heard some girls scoff with disappointment. i glanced to where that odious sound came from, and i received probably some of the most harsh death stares. they were looks of pure jealousy -- the way their noses crinkled, the impressive curvature of their eyebrows in disgust. it was honestly laughable.

"everyone, turn to your neighbor and review what we learned on friday. i'll stop you in twenty minutes," she sat back down with an unpleasant expression. she looked so done. for once i actually related to her.

maybe i watched too many movies, but i was surprised that she didn't make walker stand up and introduce himself. i suppose she had heard all the chatter. everyone knew who he was already. maybe the displeased look on her face was rooted from the fact that all the attention wouldn't be on her today, or probably anytime soon.

i turned toward walker. he was staring at the clock. i wracked my brain for what to say to the beautiful person beside me. i knew he could see me looking at him in his peripheral vision. but oh my. i remember seeing him in trailers for that percy johnson show or whatever it was called -- something about greek mythology. i have to say that casting was great, because this man looks like he was sculpted by the gods.

"time goes slow in this class, just warning you," i said, with immediate regret afterward. i could have come up with anything better. just warning you? are you kidding me, y/n?

he faced me now. we made awkward, emotionless eye contact for a few seconds. i wonder what he was thinking. like me, i guess, he had a knack for keeping a straight face even when, inside, you could be screaming or laughing. but then i reminded myself, he's a fucking actor. of course i can't read him.

"oh, thanks," he replied with a tight smile. those dimples will be the death of me. i turned forward again with a shameful sigh. he continued, "so, uh. i kind of wasn't here for the first half of the year. what are we reviewing?"

i turned back toward him to let him know, but ... poof, there went all the knowledge of the past week of my life. i blinked, scanning the room for some sort of visual reminder. all i saw were people staring at us. ugh, could i just crawl under the table and disappear for the next 45 minutes?

just ignore them, i told myself. i swung my head back around with a forced grin and made something up on the spot. "uh...uhh...chemical bonds! yeah! chemical bonds. super easy. you'll catch on just fine."

"nice!" was his response. kill me.

"i'm y/n, by the way." names are always good to know.

"nice to meet you. i'm walker," he said. i nodded with a smile, as if i hadn't heard that name multiple times today.

maybe i should ask him something about, uhh, his acting career? yeah, just casual conversation making with my thirteen year old self's celebrity crush! he's a human being, y/n. stop getting so nervous. "so, what are you acting on right now?" why do i feel like a stalker, knowing about his career?

"i'm actually not working on anything right now," he said. "what about you?" i saw his eyes widen for a split second, probably him realizing the stupidity of asking that to someone who is not a famous actress. "i mean, do you act?"

i smiled, trying to be friendly. "no, but i do like filmmaking!" okay, look. i can act, i just don't act on it (cue the "ba dum tss"). as mentioned earlier, maeve and i decided i would be playing caleb's love interest, aurora. i've always found acting enjoyable, unlike her, so it wasn't the cause of any argument.

he nodded. "that's cool!" he sounded genuine, but i physically couldn't bring myself to believe someone like him could think that someone like me is cool.

i contemplated why i wasn't taking this opportunity to ask millions of questions. why was he attending my school suddenly? aren't actors supposed to have onset tutoring? did he need like a bodyguard or something to get into the school? okay, maybe i shouldn't inquire about all of this. the poor guy is probably freaked out right now, and this conversation is already awkward as is.

"so, what films have you made?" he asked me. thank you, walker. i didn't know how to continue the exchange.

should i tell him about howl at the sun? well, if i would answer this question, then no, because it hasn't been made yet, which pained me so bad. a dreadful feeling sunk into my chest. i just told him something that implies i've made a ton of films. the longest thing i've actually made public is a thirty second edit of joseph gordon levitt, posted to my instagram account in seventh grade. does that count? ugh. if i want to have a chance to make thirteen year old y/n proud, then i can't lie to him again.

i inhaled obnoxiously loud. "well, the thing is... i haven't exactly made anything official yet. i've only written a lot."

"hey, that's still something!" he tapped his pencil on the table. "i would love to hear some of it."

"thanks!" my phone started to vibrate. "sorry, i'm getting a call." it was maeve. i pressed on "message". she does this way too often since she's off first period every other day. she seems to forget i'm in the mrs fennel's class everyday.

you

i'm in fennel rn, can't call. what's up?

maeve

the rumors are true, y/n! the famous new kid is walker scobell and he just came back to his hometown!

you

yeah, i know. i'm kind of sitting next to him right now.

maeve

haha, very funny.

you

i'm telling the truth. everyone is staring at me rn :,)

maeve

i'm coming to check rq. don't move a muscle.

you

trust me, it's hard to.

i placed my phone down once again. i hadn't realized my fingers were shaking. "everything good there," walker asked.

"me? oh, yeah. i just forgot to eat breakfast. my blood sugar is probably low." that was a lie. in fact, i had a yogurt bowl: vanilla honey greek yogurt with wild blueberries and chocolate granola, my usual. oh my gosh, can i stop impulsively making stuff up?

"oh, i meant the call," he said. "but, i do have some unopened gatorade in my bag. you want it?"

there's no going back now. "i mean... sure! thanks a lot."

he reached into his bag and handed me a bottle of red gatorade. i tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge, it just scraped my fingers with the ridges on the cap. "could you..?"

"yep," he assured me, leaning in just to open the bottle with ease. "here you go."

we made eye contact again, but this time we were both smiling. less emotionless, that's a start. start of what? i guess having a normal friendship with an actor, something i hope to be doing on a daily basis when i'm older.

my phone buzzed. i glanced over to the door, its window's view of the hallway blocked by maeve's face pressed up against the glass. she had her phone in one hand and the other was covering her mouth.

maeve

are you fucking kidding me? i can't believe what i'm seeing rn.

you

okay, look. he's actually really nice! i just want to have a normal relationship with him.

maeve

you're so smart for that. he'll be perfect to play caleb. a cute guy who's also an actor? like helloooo? if you become close with him, he'll want to be in howl at the sun.

you

omg, i didn't think about that.

maeve

yep. you better ask him to hang out.

you

bye, maeve.

she gave me the finger through the window jokingly and left. but she did have a point.

walker cleared his throat. "okay, i need to know who's keeping you from reviewing chemical bonds with me," he laughed.

"oh, just my friend, maeve," i said. "sorry about that." i realized that this aloof behavior probably wasn't the best way to make a friendship with somebody. this was stressing me out way too much.

i continued, "she's the one who writes with me. it's kind of our thing." i paused to think of what to say next, but it was hard to focus when i could feel his eyes on me like lasers. flustered, i said, "anyway, enough about me. what about you?" -- i caved, to both my curiosity and my desire to continue the talking -- "what brings you here?"

"well, this is my hometown. i went to middle school here, but, ya know, once i started acting and all i couldn't really stay," he said. i wanna know why he's back though, so bad. but something in the way he shifted in his seat when i asked the first question made me think he didn't want to talk about it, at least with someone he just met.

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thank you for reading chapter 2!