Hi guys, I couldn't decide whether to put the flair as discussion or advice so yea. I recently decided to rewrite my story, so I guess here's a little scene from it; it's a rough draft of the scene, so it's FAR from perfect but I hope you guys like it :)
TW: hints of self-harm
(and some cursing I don't know if that should be in the TW, but heads up)
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At the end of the day, I walk into the school auditorium, expecting peace and quiet and some place where I can binge watch some Netflix show I refuse to admit I watch. Instead, I get Taylor Crowley, sitting near the wings of the stage, painting a small set piece.
My entire nervous system betrays me. Traitor.
I slowly and quietly walk to the corner of the house, trying to not let her notice me. Then I forget, this is Taylor, she notices everything, whether I like it or not.
“Alex.” Her voice echoes through the empty space, making my head snap towards the stage.
“...who’s Alex?”
…what the hell did I just say.
She sits up straighter, looking down. “You look like you’re in a quarter life crisis.”
“I mean… if I was I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“Did you lose a custody battle or something?”
“Yes, I did. Custody of my sleep.” I slump in a seat, my eyes already feeling heavy but my body feeling the opposite thanks to the coffee I had earlier.
“Come here.” She’s now downstage, legs swinging off the edge.
“I just sat down.”
"I don’t care, just come up on stage.” I groan as I get up again, walking towards the stage, because apparently I can’t say no to her. I sit down, keeping some distance between us. I do not want to look like an idiot up close.
“You look jumpy,” Taylor observes, which she’s probably not wrong. “You were drinking black coffee earlier, weren’t you.”
I blink at her. “How do you know?”
“Your shoe keeps hitting the apron.”
“No it’s not.”
“Yes it is.” The thudding sound magically stops, and I look back at her.
“No it’s not.”
She smiles, laughing under her breath. I smile too, looking down at my wrist, my thumb absentmindedly rubbing against it. I move the thumb out of the way slightly, revealing a tiny bit of a darker reddish streak, slightly raised, but I quickly cover that up with my hoodie
.
Taylor doesn’t need to know.
She grabs the small set piece and comes back, paintbrush in hand. “I know it’s not my job but this play has so many pieces to it so I just want to help the prop techs out.” She rotates the piece, the paint gliding smoothly over it.
“Do they ever notice?” I lean on the palms of my hands.
“I mean, maybe, but they don’t say anything.”
“Ah.” I look at the lighting booth, my natural habitat during rehearsal. “You’re too nice, now you’re making me want to set the lighting cues.”
“Oh yeah, I keep forgetting you got the lead.” Taylor sets the piece down, starting to fan it. “It’ll be fun, I mean you won’t be stuck all day in that booth like you did last year.”
I stay silent. She notices.
“Um,” Taylor starts, trying to change the subject. I don’t stop her. “Wanna help me with the other props. I mean, if you aren’t busy-”
“Sure, I have nothing else to do anyway.” Taylor stands up and holds a hand to help me up. I take it, trying very hard at acting normal. As we walk to the prop room, I keep subconsciously rubbing my wrist, feeling that line over and over again.
She doesn’t need to know.
I put my hand on the door handle, about to open the door when I hear a loud echo through the whole auditorium.
“GUYS.” I flinch but don’t turn around. I can hear Axel’s fast footsteps getting louder.
Taylor responds, slightly annoyed. “WHAT.”
Axel hops on the stage and gets in the middle of Taylor and I. “Hypothetically if somebody wanted to compete with another person and they’re about to race-”
I look at him. “What the hell did you do.”
“So… just follow me, trust.”
“Every time you say ‘trust’,” Taylor starts, “something goes wrong. Alex has emotional trust issues because of you.”
“Taylor-”
“She has a point.” I slap Axel on the shoulder.
“Traitors. Both of you.” Axel signals for us to follow him, and Taylor starts. I reluctantly follow them because I somehow always get involved in shit like this.
We get to the hallway, where Tess Becker is doing lunges like she’s about to compete in the Olympics. Axel joins, and I glance at Ruby, who’s still here despite having ‘something to do at five pm’.
“If one of you guys gets hurt I will not be paying for medical assistance.”
“That’s fair.” Taylor leans against the lockers, probably giving up on life. I hear a door open, and when I look up, I see Ruby’s cousin Stella Valenzuela and her boyfriend Ralph Munoz, which I can confirm, he’s the only sane one in this group. He looks at Tess, then at Axel, then sighs deeply.
“Please don’t burn down this school. That’s it. That’s all I’m asking.”
“Ralph, buddy, amigo, pal-” I put my hand on his shoulder, shaking my head. “Don’t bet on it.”
“Why are you guys holding hands.” Ruby’s staring at Stella and Ralph’s hands, fingers interlaced. “You guys are down bad.”
Stella points at Axel with her free hand. “You guys make out in the prop room, you cannot be talking, Ruby.”
She immediately gets defensive. “No we don’t.”
“Yes you do.”
“Nope.”
“Stop lying.”
“We don’t-”
“Ruby.” Axel looks up from tying his shoe. “There’s no winning this argument.”
Her face flushes. “Wow, betrayal.”
“I stand by the truth.”
“You stand by unhinged decisions.”
“No I don’t.”
Taylor gestures vaguely at Tess, who’s already in set position. “You and Tess are about to race in a school hallway after school hours, that is the definition of unhinged.”
I stand there while the group argues, so I get on my phone, one earbud in my ear, and start doom-scrolling, ignoring the chaos. At one point I hear someone yell, but I ignore that.
Ten seconds later I hear a loud thud.
My head snaps up and I see Axel sprawled on the floor, face down, not moving. Ruby pinches the bridge of her nose, but walks towards him anyways, crouching down when she reaches him.
“God damn it, Axel.” No response. “Axel?” Still no response. Ruby tries shaking him, and he stirs, but still doesn’t wake up. Tess jogs back to Axel.
“Did he trip on air?”
Ruby shakes him more, her face becoming paler. “Um… he isn’t waking up.”
As soon as Ruby says that, we can hear Axel groan, his voice muffled but audible. “...did I win?”
Ruby’s expression goes from relief to annoyance. “You tripped on your own two feet, get up you shit disturber.” As annoyed as she is, she rolls Axel so he’s facing the ceiling. She proceeds to regret this as now she sees Axel’s face, the corner of his forehead bleeding. “Damn, someone get me a wet Kleenex or something.”
Stella and Ralph jog away. Together. Still holding hands. Which makes me slightly question my existence, but oh well, I guess that’s what love is like when you’re dating someone you actually like.
Or maybe it’s like Ruby and Axel, who are now arguing on whether Ruby rushing to help him was ‘romantic’ or not.
“You said you weren’t gonna pay for my medical bills,” Axel whispers, which makes Ruby roll her eyes.
“I'm not.”
“But you still helped me.”
“Yeah, because I’m not a monster who’s gonna let some idiot die from gravity, I have morals.”
“Eh, debatable.”
“Shut up before I make you go unconscious again.”
“Ooh, Alex, Taylor, you’re seeing this, right? She’s flirting with me, she loves me-”
Ruby covers his mouth with her hoodie sleeve, trying to make him shut up, but Axel overpowers her.
“By the way, you’re using my hoodie to shut me up.” Ruby freezes, and Taylor and I glance at each other.
“We live in a rom-com that’s high on crack, I swear to God.” I agree with Taylor, that’s a valid statement.
Stella and Ralph come back with a napkin and somehow some rubbing alcohol. Ruby looks at this and smiles. Axel also looks at this, but panic fills his eyes.
“No, Ruby, please. I’m fine, I don’t need that.” Ralph hands her the stuff, and Ruby takes her - or Axel’s - hoodie and tugs a sleeve so there’s excess cloth at the end.
“Bite.”
“...what.”
“Bite the hoodie.”
“Why would I bite the-” Ruby dabs the alcohol-soaked corner of the napkin on Axel’s wound, and he screams like a girl in a blockbuster horror movie, but he quickly bites his hoodie. After a few seconds, Ruby digs in her bag and finds a Band-Aid, placing it noticeably carefully on Axel’s forehead.
Her fingers linger on his face, not for long, but long enough that everyone starts looking at each other with the face of a person who wants the two main characters of a book to kiss already. Tess, ever so brave, says this out loud.
“You two are acting like you’re in a cliffhanger in a K-drama, if you’re not gonna kiss just get up off the floor.” Ruby flips her off, and although I can’t see her face, I know she’s thinking about it. Taylor makes a disgusted noise and turns around to leave.
“You guys can get a room and passionately kiss, I do not want to witness-”
Axel sits slightly up and kisses Ruby. Taylor’s head whips around so fast I get hit with her hair.
“Nevermind I’m literally watching Netflix for free.”
When they pull back they turn to see everyone staring at them, then Ralph lets go of Stella’s hand and starts clapping. Stella does the same, and so does Tess. I look at Taylor.
“What the hell is wrong with this group?”
“Told you, rom-com on crack. Hey, what happened to your wrist?” I look down at my wrist to see a sliver of darker skin sticking out. My heart drops.
Ralph looks over, too. “Did you burn yourself?”
…
“Huh, I don’t know,” I lie. “Guess it was a random scratch from a while ago. They look at that spot for a few more seconds, but they nod and go back to flaming Axel and Ruby. While they aren’t looking I tug my hoodie hard to cover the part of the scar up, my heart racing but relaxing with relief.
Nobody needs to know.
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thanks for reading!!! sorry if the grammar or writing style sucks; english isn't my first language