Flynn slouched lazily against the cool surface of the concrete wall behind him. He could feel the pockets of space where the wall was thinner against his back. The scars of shaved graffiti no doubt. It was common practice for at least one group of seniors to leave their mark on the back wall of the cafeteria building, though the school never let it stay for long. Staring blankly at the football field in the distance, smoke coiled up into the air and obscured his view of the green plain ahead. It twisted slowly into shapeless forms, tiny clouds of gray forming for brief seconds before the wind came to sweep them away. His heated eyes followed the trail they left behind as they surrendered themselves to the breeze.
No direction, no destination. Just… "whatever happens… happens." Flynn muttered aloud. He exhaled slowly, watching a new cloud join the others above. He heard a tiny voice in his say that he felt the same way. Though that might have been the weed talking.
"You know Pinocchio… right?" A raspy, slow voice drifted from beside him. Flynn squinted, turning to look at the tall, lanky figure beside him. Shane's shaggy, dirty-blonde hair hung over his blood-shot eyes like curtains over a fire. A light orange peach fuzz clung stubbornly to his chin like a spreading fungus, though he was optimistic it might one day grow into a flush beard.
"Like… the puppet? The one the school play was about?" Flynn asked, dragging his words slightly as he took his time handing the lit blunt back over to Shane.
"Yeah, I saw it…" Shane said, nodding as he brought the live roll to his tongue. "You know how his nose grows whenever he, like, lies or whatever… right?" He continued after a long pause, a thick cloud filling the air between the two as he did so.
"…Yeah?" Flynn blinked, bracing himself for the nonsense that was sure to follow.
"What if he just said, like, 'My nose is going to grow now'?"
Flynn stared back at him. He awed at how he didn't so much as flinch even as he asked the stupidest questions in the world.
"If he was lying, it'd grow. But if it grew… that means he wasn't even lying in the first place…" Shane was quick to explain the vital context of the situation. "It's like… a parallax or something." He finished, his eyebrows knitting together as if he were putting great effort into unraveling this mystery.
"A…parallax? You mean a paradox?" Flynn raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, that." Shane quickly nodded. "So, what do you think would happen?"
"Hm…" Flynn turned to stare back out at the field of green in front of them. He took a long breath before finally replying. "The universe would probably just… explode at that point, right?" He said flatly.
"Mm," Shane hummed in agreement, nodding solemnly as if the pair had solved a great philosophical puzzle.
Abruptly, the loud smack of a hand against concrete shattered the peace as a booming voice blared from beside the pair. "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE!?"
Shooting up like a startled cat, Flynn felt immediately sobered up, turning quickly towards Shane who still held the blunt in his hands. Panic visibly flashed across his face, and he made the immediate decision to dispose of the evidence, tossing the roll… directly towards the source of the noise. Flynn pondered if he had enough time to strangle Shane with his bare hands before the two got caught as he watched the blunt leave an arc of smoke in the air before falling limply at the feet of the intruder.
"Oh my god, you two look like you're about to piss yourselves!" An eruption of laughter pulled Flynn's gaze up to a brawny, blonde figure whose grin stretched across his face like he'd just won the lottery. Bending over to pick up the still-smoking blunt, Elliot looked up at Shane with a smirk. "What was the plan here, Shane? Throw it at me and hope it blends in with the concrete? Like a hidden in plain sight kind of thing?"
Flynn felt the tension leave his body as he heaved a sigh of relief. Though irritation was quick to replace it as he looked over to Shane who seemed to be going through the same shift in emotions.
"Relax, potheads. You'll live to smoke another day." Elliot laughed again, though the tone felt more mocking than humorous. Despite being equally culpable, Flynn couldn't help but feel bitter at being lumped in with the stoner beside him.
Elliot Aneles, the golden boy of their school. Captain of the basketball team, straight-A student, and of course: the son of the guy who practically owned the place. Although 'asshole' was something Flynn felt the need to add to the top of that list, Elliot had done too much for him to complain about a little harassment every now and then. His short, pale-blonde hair was slicked back perfectly over his ears. Accompanied by his light blue eyes that were bright enough to seem artificial, Flynn often wondered if someone had concocted him in a lab somewhere instead of him being born to an actual human being.
"What's going on?" Before Flynn could respond, an equally brawny figure appeared from behind Elliot before bursting into laughter in an almost manufactured way. "JESUS, you guys looked baked! There's no way in HELL anyone ain't gonna notice." Brandon, another member of the basketball team, chimed in. He quickly jabbed a finger towards Shane.
"You might be able to get away with it if you keep your head up, streetlight." He said, gazing exaggerated up at Shane's tall stature. His gaze then quickly flicked over to Flynn. "But you, short stack? Not a chance." He chuckled as he looked down at Flynn. "You look like a little baked Chihuahua."
As he chuckled, Brandon sent a subtle, almost imperceptible glance towards Elliot, like he was a puppy seeking approval for his joke. Flynn was ticked off. "Big words for someone built like a decommissioned vending machine. Should I toss you some quarters to help you slim down a bit?" he asked, his voice dripping in sarcasm. "And what's with that goatee? Maybe you should practice some hygiene and wash your mouth after eating out sasquatch."
Brandon's hand unconsciously reached for the patch of stray hairs growing around his mouth, but he quickly pulled it away before his face turned red, his fists clenching as he took a step forward. "What the hell did you just say?"
"You still think it'll grow out man?" Flynn asked mockingly. "It's been a whole year. And from the looks of it, you still haven't skipped a meal." he added, tracing a circle around his mouth as he looked at Brandon.
Brandon's face tensed. Elliot, however, burst out laughing. "Yeah, you don't wanna get verbal with this guy," he said, smirking as he patted Brandon's shoulder a few times. Brandon's expression loosened, backing off pathetically as soon as Elliot chimed in. Flynn felt a rising pride at Elliot's words.
Emboldened, he added, "Yeah, careful. Any more barking and Elliot won't give you your treats."
Brandon's eyes narrowed in dangerously on Flynn but before he could say anything, Elliot's spoke. "Alright, Shakespeare, maybe it's time to cool it." The plastered smile on his face betrayed the cold tone of his words as he spoke. Flynn stared back at him for a moment, but that was all it took to understand he wasn't kidding. Though it was great to have him on your side, it was never comfortable to be on the receiving end of Elliot's ire.
Flynn hesitated, eventually averting his gaze from Elliot's as he deflated under his stare. "Sure, whatever…" He muttered, his gaze dropping to the ground. It was pathetic.
"So, this is where you were…" A monotone voice rang coldly in the air. Flynn's gaze snapped back upward to see a girl with snow-white skin rounding the corner. Grace's icy blue eyes scanned the group of boys before settling on Flynn and Shane. Her lips pressed together into a thin line, but her expression remained unreadable. She wore a brown sweater that hugged tight around her figure, tapering off into a pleated gray skirt that remained surprisingly still as she moved. Her wavy blonde hair shifted slightly as she walked, falling behind her shoulders out of sight.
Flynn and Grace had known each other since elementary school. Long before either of them had met anyone else in their friend group. She was a quiet girl for the most part, never exceeding more than a few words any time she opened her mouth. It was enough for most people to perceive her as completely indifferent, though Flynn knew this was just a part of her personality. Seeing her now, the emotions he felt were… complicated.
"Hey, you miss me that much~" Elliot swooped in towards her, wasting no time as he leaned in for a kiss.
"Hey." Grace replied flatly. Though she hardly shared his enthusiasm, she didn't resist it either as he gave her a light peck on the lips.
Elliot's back obscured her face as Flynn felt a weight grow in his chest. Whatever modicum of pride he felt earlier immediately dissipated at the sight. The two had been together for almost two years now, he cursed himself for still feeling anything towards it.
Freeing herself from Elliot's embrace, Grace walked towards Flynn and Shane, greeting Flynn briefly with another "Hey." as she passed him. "Yo." Flynn said coolly before Grace stopped in front of Shane. "You're gonna get yourself suspended again," she murmured, brushing ashes off his jacket like it was the most natural thing in the world. Flynn noticed Elliot's gaze tense on Shane as she did so.
"Haha… don't worry. I'm sneaky. Like, Ninja sneaky. Like… Jackie Chan," Shane laughed idiotically, pulling the hood of his jacket over his head comically while slurring his words.
Grace's expression seemed to soften as she picked the ashes from his jacket, appearing completely unlike the apathy with which she treated Elliot and himself. Flynn felt his heart sink again, he wasn't even number two. Looking up at Shane's tangled hair and acne-ridden visage, he wondered what was so special about him. He and Grace hadn't been together since middle school, yet she only went out of her way to take care of him in moments like this. 'Stop it.' Flynn berated himself again. It wasn't like he was clumsy enough to leave any evidence on himself like Shane had. He shook off the feeling as best he could.
Elliot scoffed. "Yeah, which movie is it again where Jackie Chan looks like he's been skipping meals and the gym for five years?"
"Hey…!" Shane protested, though it sounded more like someone mumbling in their sleep. "I've been bulking recently." He pulled up his sleeve and flexed his bicep. Rather than a muscle, Flynn wondered if somehow an almond had found its way under his skin.
Brandon and Elliot burst into laughter at the sight as Flynn simply shook his head in embarrassment. Brandon looked as though he might topple over, wheezing as he spoke. "Bulking? It looks like you've been curling pencils!" Quietly, Flynn heard Grace clicking her tongue in disapproval. Though, she said nothing to stop the two hysterical boys' laughter.
"Alright, it might be a little hard after that gun show but try and hold back the waterworks ladies. We got student council in five minutes." Elliot clapped his hands before announcing. Brandon let out an overeager laugh at Elliot's joke and Flynn rolled his eyes.
"You're good to go, right Flynn?" Flynn returned his gaze to Elliot who was eyeing him with a smile. He knew that question only had one right answer.
"Yeah..." He sighed.
"Oh, come on, you guys will only have twice the workload starting next week. What's not to love?" Elliot added, his smirk growing. Flynn winced as he was reminded.
Flynn's footsteps echoed in the hall as he followed behind Elliot and Grace towards the conference room where the student council meeting would be held. It had been a while since they had departed from Shane, him mumbling something about hotboxing with his friends as he stumbled towards the parking lot. Flynn could make out the door to the conference room in the distance when Brandon left the group, eagerly receiving a fist-bump with Elliot like he was being knighted by his king. His face was practically glowing as he made his way down the hall away from them.
Flynn's eyes returned to the conference room, catching a rare sight. Valerie stood outside, clutching a stack of books while engaged in conversation with a girl sporting dark bangs that shadowed over her hazel eyes. Her nose ring glinted faintly under the fluorescent lights of the school hallway, it was small enough to be unnoticeable, hanging on the corner of her right nostril. She gestured sharply with her hands, speaking quickly, but Flynn was too far to make out the words. Suddenly, her gaze shifted, seeming to lock on to Elliot who waltzed carelessly ahead of him. Flynn wondered if he should speak up and warn him as Carmen Vera's expression hardened, making her appear just about ready to punt Elliot across the hallway.
Valerie turned slightly, her eyes following Carmen's line of sight. Her sharp green eyes landed upon Elliot and Grace, staring at them for a moment as she spoke to Carmen before her eyes eventually landed on Flynn. Upon doing so, they turned noticeably cold before she quickly retracted her gaze and turned back to her friend. Before Flynn could dwell on it, Valerie spoke quickly to Carmen who gave a final cold glance back at Elliot before turning to walk briskly down the hall. Valerie watched her leave for a moment before quickly turning to head inside the conference room, books in hand.
Valerie and Carmen… Their friendship didn't make any sense to Flynn. He didn't ponder over it for too long, however, quietly entering the conference room behind Grace and Elliot.
The conference room was quite large in size, something Flynn always found unnecessarily extravagant considering the size of the student council. The long conference table stretched almost the entire length of the room, over a dozen office chairs flanking it from either side. It was only at Elliot's insistence that the school board allowed them to occupy one of the larger conference rooms in the building. Apparently, he had felt too cramped in the previous room, something Flynn never understood considering that room had enough space to fit at least three dozen Elliots inside of it. Flynn's gaze drifted over to the person in question. Elliot was talking to Grace, letting out a hearty laugh as she stared back at him with the same blank expression, save for a single eyebrow raised back at him in incredulity. The two sat down on the side of the table opposite the door as Flynn was soon to follow.
He quickly sunk down into the chair closest to the door, a habit he had picked up to minimize the time he'd spend droning away in their meetings as much as possible. At the head of the room was a black podium that sat in front of a large whiteboard which covered the better half of the wall it hung upon. There, Flynn saw Valerie fishing through her bag, a stack of books sitting neatly at her side as she did so. Finally, she pulled out a large binder, standing up to set it on the podium before flipping through it with practiced precision. She looked just as polished as always. She wore a simple black sweater that draped over her white blouse. It was paired with a gray skirt, similar to that which Grace wore, though hers fell noticeably further down her knees than Grace's.
Despite the simplicity of her outfit, she appeared unnervingly immaculate. Not a smudge nor speck of dust was present on any of her clothes. Stopping at a certain page in her binder, she turned to quickly jot down what appeared to be a list on the whiteboard behind her. It wasn't long before she turned back to face the group.
"Glad to see that everyone could make it," Her voice cut through the room, brisk but composed. She looked out at the room with determined green eyes. Though they were obscured by her makeup, Flynn could still make out the faint traces of dark circles under her eyes, marking her exhaustion. Her hair was tied back into a neat black ponytail, giving way to her russet-brown skin which appeared as equally flawless as her clothes. Flynn felt she was putting in far too much effort even into something so benign. Yet he felt it was to be expected at this point from the guaranteed Valedictorian.
"There's quite the bucket list on the agenda for this week. We're just T-minus two weeks until Prom, ladies and gentlemen." She flashed a professional smile, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "But before all that," She continued, "there are a few announcements we'll need to get out of the way first—"
A loud thump abruptly sounded from the door to the conference room, interrupting her words. Valerie turned to the source of the noise along with everyone else in the room. In a few seconds, a few more dull thuds sounded out from the other side. It sounded like someone was trying to open the door as unnoticeably as possible, though failing miserably to do so.
"Um, Mrs. Student Council President, I believe Tori has yet to arrive to the meeting." Elliot remarked comically, raising his hand as he spoke in a clearly exaggerated formal tone.
At his words, Valerie let out a deep sigh. She pinched the bridge of her nose as if warding off a sudden headache. "Tori," she called out firmly towards the door. The thudding quickly stopped, followed by a muffled yelp that escaped from the other side of the door. "It's a pull door." Valerie added, doing her best to conceal the frustration in her tone.
"O-oh!" A muffled exclamation came from the other side of the door before it slowly drifted open. A girl with dyed, snow-white hair slowly poked her head into the room, surveying it briefly as she made her way across the doorframe. She wore a stylish white undershirt, tucked neatly behind a black belt which held her brown pants tight around her waist. The pants tapered off as they ran down her legs, turning into baggy pockets of air before tightening just above her boots. A long-sleeved, beige, wool sweater hung over her shoulders stretching past her wrists which clutched a binder full of colorful sheets of paper tight to her chest. Her dyed hair and stylish outfit made her a sight one wouldn't be surprised to find on the cover of a fashion magazine. But Flynn knew her personality was the complete opposite of what her flamboyant getup would have one believe. The girl quickly dropped her eyes to the ground upon seeing the four pairs of eyes in the room land upon her. With ashamed fervor, she shut the door quickly behind her before scurrying over to the seat beside Flynn. She dropped the binder with an almost violent force on the table as Flynn winced from the sudden 'PLAP' that sounded from the poor furniture. Sitting down in the office chair beside him, he watched along with everyone else as the girl pulled the chair mechanism to raise the chair. It seemed like she had forgotten she was sitting as she pulled it, so she let out a sudden, quiet squeal as the chair suddenly plummeted down. She let out a dry cough before hastily standing up to raise the seat back where she wanted it. The clack of the wheels echoed awkwardly as she sat down once more and rolled the seat into position under the table.
"Looks like someone was too busy to make it to the student council on time! Where were you, Tori? We were all waiting for soooo long." Grace elbowed Elliot in the side as he broke the silence with a teasing remark toward Tori, his tone obviously joking.
The girl kept her head down, trembling as she squeezed her eyes shut. "I-I'M SORRY!" She shouted out her apology like thunder, with a sudden and copious volume Everyone in the room grabbed at their ears, wincing from the noise. Flynn, particularly, felt a ringing in his ears from his position right beside her.
Tori was the head of the event planning committee, basically making her the event coordinator of the student council. She was an extremely strange girl whose personality completely mismatched her chic and outgoing sense of style. She was well-liked by most, but Flynn only felt fear in her presence
"I-It's okay, Tori. Elliot was just joking. We didn't wait long." Flynn quickly offered to the girl quivering in shame beside him, with the ringing of his ears still obscuring his hearing, he still wasn't sure if the words had truly left his mouth. "Y-yeah, I was just pulling your leg." Flynn turned to see Elliot voicing an uncharacteristic apology. Seeing the deadly glare Grace directed at him from the side, he quickly surmised why. "O-oh…" Tori raised her head for the first time, seeing Elliot's hazardous expression as she gave a curt laugh. "Sorry… haha. Good one." Her previous ashamed countenance seemed to have completely disappeared as she responded to Elliot with an awkward smile.
'Scary' Flynn thought as he heaved an internal sigh of relief. Glancing at Elliot, he seemed to do the same, although he held his side in pain as he did so. Grace sat quietly beside him with her arms folded in front of her. Her expression remained the same, but Flynn could tell she looked satisfied. "Alright." Valerie began again, grabbing everyone's attention. "Now that we actually have everyone..." She started, before running through the brief list of announcements she had prepared beforehand. She flipped through her binder with practiced precision. Flynn tuned out, only catching glimpses of the announcements as she spoke. Among the announcements was something about the departure of certain school staff members for an international transfer trip, trivial changes to the inordinately large budget the council had access to, and other unimportant jargon Valerie was obliged to tell them to keep in mind before getting to the main agenda. But of course, there was one important thing among the list of announcements. One Flynn had been dreading for a long while.
"And, last but not least, Grace and Elliot have their own announcement that they want to share themselves." Flynn's eyes trailed over from Valerie to Elliot and Grace. Elliot quickly rose from his seat to make his way to the podium. "Oooh!" Tori exclaimed with what seemed like genuine curiosity and surprise at Valerie's announcement as Flynn once again consolidated his belief that he would never understand what went on in her head. "For the next two weeks, me and Grace…" Elliot paused after taking the podium. "Will be away on a college visit to Princeton!" He announced dramatically as Tori's face contorted from her previous curiosity to surprise, or more specifically, shock. "Two weeks…? But I thought prom was in two weeks?" Tori voiced her confusion with a look of genuine befuddlement. "Oh, don't you worry. We're coming back on the Friday before prom, so we'll be there right on time!" Elliot smiled and gave a thumbs-up as he happily addressed Tori's concern. "Oh!" She said suddenly, all confusion immediately dispelling from her face. Flynn sighed.
"Yep, so they'll only be back in time for the finishing touches. Which means that it'll be up to us to plan the whole thing while they're gone~" Valerie announced from behind Elliot in a tone that was almost sickly sweet as her grip tightened around the whiteboard marker. Despite the news, however, Valerie's smile didn't falter. Flynn knew that she must have been pulling her hair out when she first found out. On top of everything else she had to do, losing two members of the student council for the two weeks of planning before prom could only mean a drastic increase in her own workload. "Two weeks." She repeated, her voice calm yet sharp. "It's more than enough time for us to finalize the groundwork." As Valerie said so, however, her gaze landed solely on Tori, not bothering for a second to glance over to Flynn. Though it bothered him slightly, he wasn't too surprised. His position on the council was as 'Treasurer'. Something he had only got because of Elliot.
When he'd mentioned a passing interest in the council, Grace had asked Elliot about it, and it was pretty much settled. With his connections, Elliot had gotten Flynn this position without him so much as lifting a finger. On top of all that, 'Treasurer' was basically a pointless position on the council. The job amounted to keeping track of the budget and ensuring it never went over. Of course, given the affluence of the school, it was impossible to go over the budget in the first place. Because of that, Flynn basically worked as a glorified yes-man, signing off on any expenses that were within a 10-mile radius of what might be considered a 'council expense'. As a result, Valerie treated him like a ghost. Not bothering to include him in any conversation remotely important to what they were meant to do. It wasn't that he didn't understand. She had worked her ass off to become student council president whereas he didn't need to put in any even after becoming treasurer. He used to wonder why he even stayed on the council in the first place, eventually concluding that it would be more of a bother to quit at this point. Still, it annoyed him slightly to be treated so callously.
"U-um, did I do something wrong?" Tori asked in a shaky voice. Valerie gaze seemed to contain all her pent-up anger from the news of Elliot and Grace's departure. "No, but you won't be allowed to from now on." Valerie replied coldly as Tori stiffened up in fear. She released Tori from her gaze as Elliot walked back to Grace with a smile. He didn't seem to feel a modicum of guilt about his decision. Tori, on the other hand, looked as though she would cry but Valerie simply flipped through the pages of her binder before speaking again. "Since we still have Elliot and Grace here for today, I've decided it best that we get through all of the big decisions for Prom right now…" Flynn groaned quietly in boredom as Valerie began to write another list on the whiteboard behind her.