(At school)
"Yo, Stormbreaker, you ready to rock this trip?!" "I told you, Josh, I am only going there to broaden my knowledge about fossils," Levin replied pushing his glasses up as if to punctuate his intellectual superiority.
Josh smirked-"Sure sure because it has nothing to do with the band camp festival only about 300m away from the camp site. Haha."
"Look," levin continued, "Drumline this year is going to be epic. Exzy's performing, and she's been dreaming of becoming a world-class drummer forever. You know she won last year's competition, right?" Josh nodded already sensing where this was going .."you cannot tell anyone!"
"Speaking of which, where is that English muffin? Their eyes scanning the crowd. As if on cue "a voice" crisp with a british accent called out "hey there lev."
Voice—there's the accent .
Oh, did I mention Exzy's British? She lived in England up until she was 11 and then moved here with her parents. She's the only daughter of Mr. And Mrs. Smith, the richest and most famous people in the city. Her dad owns an oil company, and her mom owns a private airline. But shush! It's a secret, and only Levia and I know about it in the entire school."
"How you doing, Exzy?" Levin asked."I'm good; I just ate my breakfast in the car."
"Would it kill you to eat at home? Geez, man. Wait, when was the last time you even ate at home, huh?" Levin asked. "Are you even listening to me, Exzy?" as if drawn by some gravitational pull, her gaze locked onto someone across the hallway.
"Yeah, he is so handsome…" she sighed dreamily."Exzy, seriously?" I groaned. "You're drooling over Tom? The guy who thinks calculus is a seasoning?"
"He's charming!" she defended.
"He's puny," I shot back.
"Hey, Tom is not puny," Exzy replied. "Seriously."
"Yeah, and to think he's a football player."
"No, he's not," Levin cut in. "He plays football," Exzy re-echoed. "He plays soccer, not football. Soccer, geez, you muffins."
"Really, Lev? This again."
"Well, you know, I'm just saying," Levin replied.
"Whatever. I'm going back to staring at him," Exzy said. "Just go over there and talk to him," Levin encouraged.
"Are you out of your mind? Just look at him, a charming prince."
"Well, what I see is a twat who eats burgers for dinner," Levin criticised.
"Hey, shush! He might hear you!" Exzy cautioned.
"He's two rows away from us; how on earth will that twat hear us?" Levin said smirking. "If you call him a twat one more time, I'm going to hurt you," Exzy warned. "Twat! See, I said it, and there's nothing you can do about it," Levin dared.
"You asked for this. Hold him!" Before I could even protest, Levia appeared out of nowhere, pinning me to my chair with surprising strength.
"Choke him!" Exzy commanded.
"Gladly, without hesitation," Levia said, wrapping her arms around my neck like a python.
"Hey, hey! Let go of me! What is wrong with you—"he croaked, only for Exzy to grab me where no human being should ever be grabbed.
Voice: This is it. This is how I die. At the hands of my sister and my British best friend.
(In a distorted voice) "Oww, oww, stop it. Please, please, pwease, pwease, please."
"Are you sorry?" Exzy asked sweetly, as if she wasn't actively ending his lineage.
"Yes! Yes, I'm sorry! Please stop!" Levin gasped.
Levia and Exzy finally released him, leaving him slumped in his chair like a defeated gladiator.
"What the ..... why would you do that?!" levin wheezed, glaring at them.
"Because we can," Levia replied with a shrug, as if that explained everything.
"Dunno, just like hurting you," Levia said again. "Bullshit, you were pressing down my throat. "Geez, calm down. Why you getting angry?" Exzy said.
"And you, why the hell did you squeeze my Arrgh ? this! I'm going to squeeze you too like a squish ball!" "And you will go to jail with no hands," Levia cut in.
"Oh, you levia, wait till Mom hears about this. You'll be in so much trouble—"
"Who's in trouble?" a familiar voice interrupted from behind.
Voice: oh no, red alert, crush incoming. Stay calm.
"Oh, Ember. Its nothing, absolutely nothing," Levin stammered
"What are you guys talking about?" Ember asked.
"Nothing, as a matter of fact, we were just leaving, right Levia?" Exzy said
"Yep," Levia replied. "Okay...." Ember said. "He's all yours," whispered Levia into Ember's ears as she was leaving.
Voice: "Nooo! No way you guys! I know your plan. Why would you leave a guy alone with his crush? What do I even say?"
"So, erm, how are you doing?" Ember asked. "I'm great. you?" . "I'm good, just stressed out from choir practice," she replied.
Voice: "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you she has the sweetest voice in the whole school. Partly the reason why I… you know what I mean." "We still don't know our groups for the trip yet," she asked.
"Oh yeah, we should receive a briefing soon enough," he replied.
"Maybe we'll be on the same team, you know," Ember said.
Voice: yess yess! Please, universe. Do this one thing for me. I'll never call Tom a twat again."Settle down, class," came a voice that could only belong to Mr. Brafa. He strolled into the room, wearing his usual disgruntled expression. His neatly combed beard didn't distract from the glaring bald spot atop his head.
"Good morning, Mr. Brafa," the class mumbled in unison.
"Yeah, yeah. Save the energy" he replied, waving dismissively.
Voice – "I know right, Brafa, weird name, could have sworn it was a dog's name."
"As you all know, tomorrow marks the start of the school trip," he began, scanning the room as if daring someone to interrupt. "There'll be three groups: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Your performance during the trip will earn your group points. And for those who care, the individual with the highest points gets a guaranteed spot in my archaeology program.
"The groups have been sent to your emails. That will be all. Have a nice day, and remember the bus leaves at 9:00. Don't be late." he concluded, walking out before anyone could ask questions. The classroom buzzed to life as the students swooped up their phones and began to check their groups.
"Looks like we're in the same group, ," Ember said, flashing her phone to Levin.
"Nice," he replied. "I know. "Maybe we'll get to work together on the fossil hunt!"
Voice: Fossils? Sure. As long as I don't turn into one before confessing my feelings.
I'll catch you later; I left my binder at practice."
"Oh sure, no problem," Levin replied. Ember stood up and started walking towards the door.
Voice – "This is my chance…"
"See you around, sweetheart," he said, trying to sound casual while internally planning their future wedding.
"Okay," she replied and smiled.
Voice – "Smooth, real smooth."
"Hey Levin, check this out." exzy interrupted vibrating with excitement beside .
"What!"
"Just look," she said, shoving her phone to my face.
"Thomas Woods, Exzy Smith – Gasp! You're in the same group as Thomas," Levin said.
She nodded, her grin threatening to split her face.
"Great. Now I'll have to keep you two apart while also keeping Levia from setting the fossil site on fire," levin muttered.
Exzy laughed. "Come on, Lev. Don't be such a downer. Besides, I heard Ember's in your group too. Sounds like you've got your hands full."
"Touché," levin admitted.
And plus, we have to go to that band camp."
"Shush!"Don't shush me," he replied.
"You know what I'm gonna go find Tom," Exzy said and started to leave . Before he could even formulate a response, the PA system crackled to life.
"Levin and Levia Johnson, report to the principal's office immediately."
Voice: Of course. Just when my day was starting to look up.
"its not good. You're doomed, man," Exzy said.
"I know (sigh)."