THE VAMPIRE UNDERGROUND

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER EIGHT

The rest of the week went by a lot less memorably than Tuesday afternoon’s hellish Film class. By Thursday Brin had apologized to Anaya for her behavior and even tried to feign excitement for the upcoming film shoot, which Anaya had scheduled for the coming weekend. By Friday the group had agreed to film the western horror movie at Bodie Ghost Town on Saturday, leaving Grisly at 8 A.M. and returning before nightfall. Anaya desperately wanted two full days to shoot her movie, but the rest of the group managed to sway her burgeoning ego and convince her only one day of filming was necessary.

By Friday Brin also persuaded Mr. Barker to give her a second chance. She apologized five or six times per class period, promised him she was out of line and would never touch one of his things without his permission again. While the class watched Nosferatu—a film that, while silent, managed to reign in all of the students’ attention—Brin became the most involved viewer, even more than Anaya, asking questions before and after the screenings, and staying behind on Thursday afternoon to discuss the film more in detail with Mr. Barker. He could tell she was trying. 

When the class ended on Friday, and after Brin jotted down the homework due for Monday—a three-page essay discussing mise-en-scene in Nosferatu—she gave a dispirited nod to Anaya and headed down the hallway. She caught up with Ash outside, who had his head buried in a how-to singing book.

“Fa la la la…” he said, trying to sing. “Fa la la la…. la la la la.”

“Seriously,” Brin said, slapping the book out of his hand. “Stop.”

He grabbed the book off the ground and shook his head in irritation. “It’s a lost cause, Brin. A total lost cause. I’m gonna fail Film class, I know it.”

“No you won’t. You’re gonna do fine.”

They walked to the parking lot in a solemn manner as others raced to their cars screaming with joy for the three-day weekend.

But Brin and Ash weren’t overjoyed. They both were to make their short movies tomorrow—Brin in Bodie, Ash in Grisly—and neither was feeling confident about the process. 

“What if I just don’t go?” Brin said.

“What do you mean? You have to.”

She shrugged. “I just… at least you get to make your movie here in Grisly. I have to spend six hours in the car tomorrow with the beast.”

Ash turned his gaze away from her. “Yeah, that actually makes my having to sing tomorrow not all bad.”

“Shut up.” She dug out her car keys as they stepped from the grass to the pavement. “I hate this.”

“It will be fine.”

“It won’t.”

“It will. Everyone else in the group is normal, like you. Anaya can’t make all five of your lives a living hell.”

“You want a bet?”

“Maybe you’ll learn something. Maybe you’ll realize being on movie sets is what you’ll want to do for the rest of your life.”

“I highly doubt that, given the person we’ll have in the director’s chair tomorrow.”

“Maybe she’ll have a heart attack and die, and then you can direct the movie after all. It’d be a win-win.”

“Always looking on the bright side, aren’t you, Ash?” Brin unlocked her car and threw her backpack in the passenger seat.

When she took her seat, Ash said, “You wanna watch a movie later?”