"Hey guys! Jas here! Welcome back to my channel!" Jasmine giggled as she walked down the hall to the guidance counselor's room. She used her free hand to wave, but the camera in her other hand tousled slightly. "Sorry for the change of scenery, but if I wanted to get this video made and done, I needed to start it right away. Hence why it's okay to be a short one and only a Q&A. After my last one, I ended up getting a lot of questions, but honestly, I'm never going to be able to answer them all. So, there's this video now." Jasmine giggled a bit and opened the door to the room. Most of the members would be there by now, she figured. If was past time for them to arrive and ignoring the norm, she was the late one this time. As she entered the room, she turned the camera around to face the people in here. As she suspected, almost everyone was in here. "Say hi to my stars, guys!"
As she expected, mostly everyone but Mark and Sasha were confused. Jasmine sighed and groaned, letting the camera fall down to her side, momentarily forgetting that it was on. "You guys don't watch my channel do you?" She asked with a small whine. Reluctantly, people shook their heads and Mark laughed a bit at her. "Y'all are so mean. I work hard on that channel, you know."
"If it makes you feel any better, I don't watch anyone?" Kyra asked, tilting her head to the side. Jasmine groaned again and lifted the camera so it was facing her.
"You are so uncultured, Ky. We've got to fix that," She replied with a small giggle. Then, she turned the camera over to Mark. "And you need to stop bullying me, you jerk." He rolled his eyes and pointed a finger gun at her. Jasmine laughed a bit and turned the camera back on her. "Well, that was a fail." She stopped talking for a minute before looking at the group of people. "Just because of that, you're all going to be in my video now. I'm not taking any of this out."
"Hey, I watch your channel. Can I be taken out?" Sasha asked, mostly as a joke. Jasmine laughed for a second and looked over at her.
"Yeah, only you get taken out. Whenever you're on screen, I'll just put a black box over you so that no one can see you. Everyone else stays in though." Sasha laughed a bit and moved off the table to sit in the chair that was normally Jasmine's. Not today. Today she was filming her video and now the club was going to be apart of it.
"Isn't it illegal to post a video of someone if they don't want to be in it?" Anthony called out from where he was sitting with Isa and Leo. Jasmine shrugged her shoulders and flipped the camera again so that he was on the screen.
"Why don't you ask Kyra? Her grandfather literally runs the police station here," Jasmine replied, turning the camera over to Kyra again. The girl just shook her head and sighed, turning her attention from her conversation with Sebastian and looking over at Jasmine with a slightly annoyed look. "Oh, don't give me that look. I want to know if I can actually post this without Anthony suing me. Apparently, he's decided that he needs more money."
"Technically, he's right," Kyra said with a shrug. "Though, I don't think he can sue you unless it gets really big and he just wants some of the money from it. You're not doing anything to hurt anyone who has or hasn't already been exposed. Since you are covering Sasha and Isa and Leo are pretending that they don't exist. Cleopatra and Monet are the only ones who aren't in here at the moment so they can't do anything to you either." Jasmine nodded her head and flipped the camera back around to face her. She looked like she was going to say something, but then Kyra's words processed in her mind and she looked around the room.
"Speaking of which, where are Monet and Cleopatra? They're supposed to be here by now. I can't be the last one here," Jasmine asked, looking over at Mark. He just shrugged his shoulders and she sighed. Gesturing him up, she flipped the camera around so the room was visible again. "Okay, we're going to find them. Whoever finds them gets to be covered up by a black box this whole video. Legitimately. I'll take you out of it if you want." That got a few people's attention and they stood up, though it was easy to see that Sasha, Leo, and Isa were in for the joke. Sebastian stood up slowly, realizing that he could join in the fun. Mark, Kyra, and Anthony remained though. "Okay, okay, fine. You can stay here if you want but I'll give whoever finds them a prize."
"Okay, fine. You win, Missy," Mark said with a chuckle. "You're really going to turn this into a game, aren't you?" Jasmine giggled and he and Kyra stood up.
"Fine, I'll play," Kyra replied with a sigh. "Come on, Anthony. You can come with me. We'll get this done really fast and then we can be done." She gestured over to him and he rolled his eyes but stood up anyway.
"Okay, that's not fair. Kyra's a literal detective. That should be cheating!" Sasha called out. Jasmine giggled slightly. "If she and Anthony are going to team, then I'm calling Sebastian."
"Why do you want me?" Sebastian asked, only slightly confused. Sasha giggled and grabbed his arm.
"Because you look like you'd be good at this. So, come on!" Sasha replied before basically pulling him out of the room. Sebastian sighed but followed her anyway. Mark laughed slightly and Jasmine followed them out of the door with her camera.
"I guess I'll be with Missy. Leo and Isa, are you two going to work together?" Mark asked. Leo and Isa looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders.
"Sure, why not?" Mark nodded his head and looked over at Jasmine with a small smile. The blonde girl giggled and flipped the camera back over to her. Then, Leo spoke again. "I guess we can't really have a club meeting without Monet... Or Cleopatra, I guess."
"Hey, be nice to Cleopatra. You guys cannot seriously be holding onto this for two days," Kyra said with a sigh. "She and Anthony just hit a rough patch. Leave her alone." Jasmine giggled a bit and looked over in Kyra's direction.
"Don't tell me that Kyra and Cleopatra are actually starting to get along," She replied in a teasing tone. Kyra looked over at her with a glare and Jasmine shut up. She knew she probably shouldn't tease her about her rocky relationship with Cleopatra, especially considering that all they're conversations with each other were tense and choppy. But they were getting along better than they had before and that was a good sign.
"I'm merely stating facts. That's all." Kyra said softly, crossing her arms over her chest. Jasmine giggled a bit and shook her head slightly.
"Anyway, let the games begin!" Jasmine cheered. She opened the door and held it open for Kyra, Anthony, Isa, Leo, and Mark before turning to Mark and focusing the camera on the two of them. "How long do you think it'll take us to find them?" She asked him, looking at him through the screen on the camera.
"An easy ten minutes. Are you sure you're allowed to film at school?" He asked. Jasmine giggled and shrugged her shoulders. "Of course you don't care about getting in trouble, Missy."
"It's not like I'm hurt anyone," She replied with a smile. Mark chuckled and shook his head slightly. "Okay, anyway, now that I have free time, while we're working on finding Cleopatra and Monet, I figured I'd ask the few questions that everyone seems to be asking me. There were basically three that overwhelmed the comments, so I'm going to go with those. The first was my best memory, which is going to be hard." She smiled a bit and fell into step with Mark. He made a face at the camera and Jasmine laughed and pushed him before checking into a classroom. "Since the rest of the group have split up, I guess it's just us now, so I guess we're talking best memory." She smiled and looked back at the camera. "Okay, so, let's see..." She thought for a minute, looking into a bunch of different rooms. She was going to have a lot of empty space to cut out later. "I think my best memory would have to be my first red carpet. I was really camera shy at the moment, so my Mom walked down with me and it was one of the last things we did together like that before she was hospitalized. Thought, it's tied with the time that Mark and Mo broke into a storage unit just to get me to stop whining about how we had no base for our game." Mark laughed and pushed her slightly before looking into a room.
"Keep in mind that we were almost ten and had no clue that was illegal," He pointed out with a smile. Jasmine nodded her head and looked into another room as she spoke.
"The next question was about my family." She looked back at the camera. "Basically, they wanted to know how many siblings I have and how old they are. Which, I guess I haven't really brought up, which is weird to think about." She chuckled and pointed to a room. "Are they in there, Mark?" He checked and shook his head. She nodded and looked back at the camera. "Okay, so, siblings. Monet's my only blood sibling and we're twins so she's fifteen, almost sixteen like me. Then there's Tommy and he's eight. And last but not least, there's Rosie and she's four. Though, Aunt M and Uncle Henry are always joking about how they want to have another kid, so I wouldn't blame them if we end up with another kid." She smiled and looked over at Mark. "Okay, really, where are they?" He just shrugged and gestured to the camera. "You suck, Good sir of Blaten. You suck at your job." With a laugh, he poked her side and went down the hall ahead of her to look at the rooms. She shrieked slightly and looked back at the camera. "We love it when Mark stays silent on camera. But anyway, yeah. That's my family. Rose is easily my biggest fan. She watches everything I do and she wants to be Meredith for Halloween, so you know. She's the sweetest thing anyone will ever met. And Tommy loves sports just like Monet. He wants to play basketball and all of that. He's on the flag football team and he keeps telling everyone that he's going to be a pro one day. I love how passionate he is about it. But, you know, Monet's my best girl friend and I wouldn't trade her for the world. She's always been right there for me and she just has a way of making you feel safe around her. I seriously just love my family." She smiled, a bit sad. No doubt she was missing her mom at the moment, but she wasn't going to dwell on it too much. After all, there was no way that being sad was going to bring her mother back.
"Still can't find them. You think they're at the gym?" Mark called over. Jasmine looked over in his direction and shrugged her shoulders.
"Either that or the music room. Mo might be seeing if Mr. Whit has any spare music for her to use," Jasmine replied with a shrug. She turned the camera around just in time to catch Mark nodding when he noticed the camera was facing him now, he dabbed and started flossing, typical teenage boy things, causing Jasmine to laugh and turn the camera back to her. "You're going to ruin my fame by doing that! I can see my subscriber count falling." Mark laughed down the hall and the two of them continued walking down the hall.
"And the last question I got was asking if I can ride a bike," Jasmine said with a straight face. As soon as she said it, she laughed and covered her mouth with her free hand despite her best attempt to be serious.
"Wait, if you can ride a bike?" Mark asked from down the hall. Jasmine laughed and nodded her head. "Wait, they could ask you anything and they ask if you can ride a bike? Why?" Jasmine just shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know! It was just an overwhelming amount of people asking me if I can ride a bike! Don't ask me. I don't control what they want to know, Mark. Geez." She chuckled and brushed her hair behind her ear. "But yeah, you guys wanted to know if I could ride a bike, so I'm here to deliver. Yeah, I can ride a bike. Actually, Rebecca, who is Mark's mom for all of you who don't know, taught Monet and I to ride a bike years and years ago since our parents were almost always either working or fighting. So my Mom asked her to teach us how to ride a bike to get us out of the house. Monet mastered it faster than I did."
"You feel and fractured your wrist. I remember that," Mark called from down the hall. Jasmine nodded her head and looked down at him, forgetting that she was recording for a second.
"Yeah. And then I couldn't do anything for a few weeks and that sucked more than not being able to ride a bike." She shrugged her shoulders and threw her hair over her shoulder, letting the camera fall down to her side, forgotten for the moment. "But I did learn how to do it before I went filming for Miss B. You remember that? We rode all around town for hours."
"Yeah, and that was when Mom banned us from the ice cream store because we got sick that one time," Mark said. Jasmine nodded her head and peered into the gym.
"Oh, hey. There's Monet and Cleopatra!" She replied, gesturing to the door. Mark walked over to her and nodded his head.
"Yeah. We should have known that Monet was in here. It looks like we win." He pushed the door open and held it open for Jasmine. She cocked her head to the side as she waved over to Monet, who waved back at her. The camera was still forgotten in her other hand. "You remember we made this a game? To be taken out of your video. Remember?"
"Oh yeah!" Jasmine exclaimed with a laugh. "See, this is why I have you. I never remember anything." She chuckled and they entered the gym. Jasmine picked up the camera again and flipped it so it was facing Monet and Cleopatra. Monet gave her the smallest smile in the existence of mankind and waved at the camera, but Jasmine was quick to take it off her and focus it on the gothic Lolita in the room, who was just confused. Jasmine knew that Monet was camera shy and wasn't a huge fan of being on camera, so she didn't intend to torture her big sister for too long.
"What are you two up too?" Mark asked, sitting down on the floor next to Monet. Jasmine sat down next to him and Cleopatra shifted a bit so that they formed a small circle. "We've got the whole club looking for you. Jasmine offered a prize, but it looks like we won't be needing it since we found you first."
"Lost track of time, I suppose," Cleopatra said nonchalantly. She shrugged her shoulders and looked over at Monet. "We came here for last period and have been here ever since. We were just talking about the Homecoming dance. It's a pity that Monet's not attending." With those words said, Jasmine turned the camera on her sister and gaze her a small glare.
"You're not going to the dance, Mo?" She asked, surprise filling her words. Monet blushed and looked down, biting her lip and fidgeting with her hands. Jasmine tilted the camera down so it wasn't focused on her sister's face, only at her hands, crossed legs, and the floor, and let out a sigh. "Unacceptable. Nope. I won't have any of it. You're going to the dance, Monet. And you can't say no. Everyone's going. Even Kyra. And you know she skips on school events. You're going to the home game, at least. Right?" Monet shook her head.
"I have martial arts on both of those days. And you know that school functions aren't really my thing. Sorry, Jassy," She said softly. Her voice would be hard to hear on the camera and Jasmine knew that she was going to have to put subtitles in, just like the other few times that Monet was on camera.
"If you get a date, will you go?" Cleopatra asked, tilting her head. Jasmine tilted the camera up to focus on her and Cleopatra glared at her slightly. It didn't matter much though. Jasmine knew she was mostly just curious. After all, this was the first time that Jasmine had recorded right after school and it wasn't like she talked about her channel at all with anyone besides Mark, Monet, and sometimes Sasha. When Monet heard Cleopatra's shoulder, she shrugged.
"It depends on who it is, I guess. But I don't have a dress." She shrugged and pulled her knees up to her chest.
"That's an easy fix," Cleopatra replied before turning her attention to Jasmine. "If you would be so kind, could you please explain to me my you're recording things? That would be nice to know." Jasmine held back a giggle and faked a pout.
"You haven't heard of my channel? I'm hurt. Mark, it seems like everyone hasn't heard of my channel. Do you know how heartbreaking that it?" Jasmine flipped the camera back on her and fell back into Mark's arms. He chuckled and caught her, wrapping her in a hug and resting his head on top of hers. "Okay, but yeah. I've got a channel and I need to get this video made before I leave so that I can edit and post it by tomorrow. Hopefully." She looked back over at Cleopatra, keeping the camera focused on her.
"Why can't you just do it after school?" Cleopatra asked shifting so that she was resting on her knees again. Jasmine sighed and squirmed out of Mark's arms, leaning forward to place the camera down so that it would still be focused on her but she wouldn't have to hold it anymore. Then, she fell back into Mark's arms and wrapped her arms around her again until he complied and hugged her again. Then, she replied to Cleopatra's question.
"I'm going to go to the Children's Theater's play as soon as club's over. Aunt M's taking me, Rosie, and Mark to go see their The Wizard of Oz. I've heard it's really good. Normally, I'd just film after club, but this is going to be a fun video," She said with a shrug. The door opened and Sasha and Sebastian came into the room, followed by Kyra and Anthony.
"It looks like you guys found them first," Sasha said. She ran over and sat down next to Cleopatra, gesturing for the rest of the group to come over. Kyra sighed, but she followed Sebastian over to the group. Sebastian sat down next to Sasha, followed by Anthony, and Kyra sat herself down by Jasmine, trying to put enough distance between her and the camera. "Looks like there's going to be no prize for us then. That sucks. I had such faith in you, Seb."
"And that's my fault how?" Sebastian asked, genuinely confused. "You were the one who said I was going to be good at this. You should have picked the literal detective."
"It seems like the detective failed. She was here at the same time as you," Cleopatra pointed out. Kyra shrugged her shoulders slightly and leaned back on her hands.
"That's only because Kyra and I weren't actually looking all that well. We were mostly just talking," Anthony replied with a sigh. "Did we really just spend our whole club meeting pointless things like this?"
"I don't think it was that pointless," Monet said softly. She folded her arms over her legs and sighed slightly. "I mean, I got to spend some nice time with Cleopatra. I'd count that as a win." Anthony let out a huff and rolled his eyes, causing Cleopatra to glare at him.
"If anyone can count that as a win," He remarked under his breath. Jasmine reached over Kyra and kicked him in the leg. Well, she tried to kick him in the leg. She mostly just nudged his leg because of the space between them.
"Well, if you got to know Cleo, maybe you'd say that same," She replied with a huff. Then, she turned to Monet and the camera was once again forgotten on the floor. No one seemed to remember that Jasmine was still filming at this point anymore. "What are you doing after school? I'm sure Aunt M wouldn't mind if you tagged along with us to see the show." Monet shook her head and sighed.
"I can't. I have a few of my kids in a competition tonight and I told them I'd come and be their support," Monet replied with a shrug. "It's their first competition and one of them said that he wasn't going to do it unless I came and the others agreed. So, you know, teaching is fun." Jasmine giggled a bit and shifted slightly in Mark's arms so that she was more comfortable.
"Yeah, I guess you really can't come," Mark replied. "Tell them that we wish them luck, Miss Knight." Monet rolled her eyes slightly.
"Your wish is my command, good sir," She said with a smile.
"Ah, no. I was the one in charge. Don't forget that," Jasmine whined playfully. But that was the end of the conversation because the rest of the club was still there and they didn't understand a word of what they were saying at the moment.
"It sounds like the kids you teach love you," Kyra said, looking over in Monet's direction. The raven haired girl just shrugged her shoulders a bit in response. Jasmine rolled her eyes at Monet and looked over in Kyra's direction.
"They adore her. Whenever I hang out there with her, they're all over her. I swear she's their favorite person in the whole world," Jasmine replied, stretching her legs out so they laid over Kyra's lap. The girl just brushed a strand of her white hair behind her ear and leaned back on her hands. Monet's face had gone red and she tilted her head forward so her messy bangs hid her face from view.
"It must be nice to be so loved," Sebastian said, stretching his legs out so they weren't crossed anymore. "Maybe I should stop by and watch them."
"I think they would like that very much." Monet looked up and smiled at him. "If you can, you're welcome to come with me if you want." Sebastian nodded his head and it was decided. Jasmine couldn't help but feel proud. Sebastian, who was brand new was fitting in really well. That was good, considering that Kyra and Cleopatra needed a lot of work. At least Cleopatra was making friends with Monet, but the only people that she seemed to get along with were Monet and Jasmine. Everyone else seemed to have an issue with her somehow. And then there was Kyra, who only seemed to get along with Jasmine and maybe Sabastian. They had been talking quite a bit, but maybe it was because they had been in the same grade. They might have had some history, but it wasn't something that she could just ask.
"Where are Leo and Isa?" Anthony asked, letting out a sigh. The group looked around, but it was clear that the last two members of the club had gotten lost or distracted and they would have to take another trip to go find them. Jasmine giggled nervously and looked in Anthony's direction. "Okay, fine. I guess we're doing this again." He sighed and stood up.
"I'm going to have a lot of content for my video now!" Jasmine said, squirming out of Mark's hug, who only hugged her tighter just to make it harder for her. When she was out, she grabbed her camera and jumped to her feet. "Come on, guys. Let's go!" She gestured everyone up and they groaned, mostly playfully.
"I guess we're going to go find Isa and Leo now. Come on, Seb. Let's go." Sasha put her phone in her pocket as she stood up, moving over to Sebastian again. "Kyra and Anthony are going together again? And you and Mark, Jas?"
"Why not?" Mark asked, pushing himself off the ground and offering a hand to Monet and Cleopatra. "It worked out well last time. That'd mean Monet and Cleopatra are a team."
"I can live with that," Cleopatra replied with a nod. She pulled at the white button up to pull it out of the skirt slightly, before undoing the bow in the from and pulling the cinch tighter, tying it in a neat bow once again. "I suppose we just have to find Leo and Isa, correct?" Jasmine nodded her head, focusing the camera on the group.
"I'll count to start you off. Ready, set, three!" She called. The group stayed still for a second, as if they were confused. Then, they realized the Jasmine had told them to go and started out of the gym, though Sasha and Sebastian were the only ones who hurried out of there. Jasmine was about to start out of the room, but Mark grabbed her hand.
"Can we talk for a second?" He asked, pulling her over to him. Jasmine nodded her head and put the camera down at her side.
"Of course! What's up?" She said with a shrug. He looked over to the side, like he didn't know what to say. Jasmine slowly realized that this wasn't going to be one of the normal, joking conversations. "Oh. Oh... You're serious. What's wrong? Did I do something?" She bit her lip and slid her hand down to hold onto his fingers.
"No, it's not you. It's just..." He started before blushing and laughing slightly. Jasmine studied him for a second before understanding crossed her face.
"You like someone, don't you? That's what this is about, isn't it?" She laughed, giving his hand a squeeze. "Come on! Who's the lucky fellow? I wanna know who I need to stalk!" She bounced up and down on her feet. Judging from the way he blushed harder at her comment, she was right. Still, why didn't he look embarrassed. She knew that he didn't like her and vise versa. So what was going on? "Mark, what's wrong?"
"I want your permission," He finally said, taking his hand back and resting it on Jasmine's shoulder. She blinked, confused.
"Why do you want my permission? It's your love life. You can like whoever you wa..." Mark interrupted her before she could finish.
"I want to ask Monet to Homecoming." Jasmine stopped and she stepped away subconsciously, wrapping her arms around herself.
"Oh..." Was all she said. She had always figured that Mark might have a crush on her sister, but this was all rather new. Mark reached out and grabbed her hand. He had known that this was going to make her uncomfortable, she guessed. That's why he wanted her permission. But still... He wanted to date her big sister. What did that mean for her.
"Jasmine, you're my best friend and I love you a lot. You know that. I don't think I could ask for a better best friend. But, Monet is your sister and we've all been best friends for years. I don't want to ask her to the dance or on a date or anything like that if it's going to make you feel like you're third wheeling. That's why I want your permission. Because I value our friendship and your relationship with your sister more than me potentially getting a date to a high school dance." That was the Mark she knew and loved. Jasmine sighed and nodded her head.
"If you like her, you like her. I can't change that even if I wanted too. If you wanna ask her to Homecoming, go for it. I don't care. Just... I can't lose you, okay?" She gave a tight smile. Mark smiled back at her and pulled her into a hug, one that she returned.
"You're not going to lose me. You know me too well. I might have to dispose of you if we were ever to stop being friends. You could ruin my life," He joked and Jasmine giggled. She pulled away and poked him in the chest.
"Now, how are you going to ask her? It'll need my approval," She replied. Mark chuckled and put his finger to his chin, pretending to think about it.
"How about I get down on one knee and..."
"Stop right there. Ah, no. This is why you have me, Markus Anthony Nijer. We're going to get the best Homecoming proposal in the next hour because that's really all the time we have." He laughed and poked her back.
"Lead the way, Missy." And with that, they ran out to plan the proposal.