love and war in your teenage years [2]

a family matter

Jed stood on the balcony of our common room, just waiting to strike. His heartbeat pounded in his ear as he felt the nerves tingling inside him. This was it. This was going to make or break everything.

Three, two, one...he jumped off of the balcony to try and land in Hope's arms as she was swinging from a rope. She caught him for a second, but as quickly as he was in her arms he was on the floor with a loud thump! Jed let out a groan as he laid there on the floor.

Thank God for supernatural healing.

"Stop the music," I told Wade, "C'mon guys, you need to trust each other! In order for the choreography to work we need to trust each other. That doesn't just go for Jed and Hope's Rewrite the Stars choreography or any choreography. This goes for the acting and everyone else's scenes," I tell them, pinching the bridge of my nose, "It was a good try. Let's just set up for The Other Side,"

"Why are we doing the original choreography from the movie? Zac Efron and Zendaya had weeks of acrobatic training, we're just high school students who can barely sing," Jed complained.

"This is my senior project, guys. There are so many horror stories from the past seniors that Emma and Dorian's grading is tough. Now with Headmaster Bennett also grading, she could be the toughest judge there is. So, we need to make this look as close to the original as possible," I explained and both Jed and Hope let out a sigh.

"I get it," Jed said, "But you're buying me ice packs from all of this falling I'm doing,"

I laugh softly, "Deal. Kaleb, Jed, you're up,"

Everyone else was sitting and watching. It was easy to notice the tension between the two best friends. Ever since they went on that very first stakeout. They wouldn't hang out alone anymore and it was just weird.

They stood there awkwardly, just waiting for instructions. I cued the music to play and everything about it was just awkward. I looked at Hope and she had her eyebrows furrowed as she mouthed the words 'What the fuck?'.

I stifled a laugh, looking at all of them. Even Lizzie and Josie, who looked a lot better than the last time I saw her, all looked confused. Lizzie looked more scared than anything else.

I hit pause on my phone and looked at the two, "What's going on between the two of you?" I asked.

Both of them shook their heads quickly, "Nothing," they both answered at the same time.

"Mhm, why do I feel like that's a lie? Both of you have been acting weird since you got back from the stakeout," I pointed out.

"Yeah, I was there with her when we saw you guys come back. It was definitely a scene," Lizzie added.

"Nothing's going on!" Kaleb snapped, "Can we just end this rehearsal and call it a day?!"

I was taken aback by the way he raised his voice. But nevertheless, I looked at the time and let out a sigh, "Yeah, yeah. It's getting late anyway. Nice job today guys, we'll try again tomorrow,"

Everyone left, giving small waves, and I went backstage to grab some set pieces that needed to be painted. I walked back to the front of the stage and jumped when I saw Hope standing there.

"Jesus, you scared me!" I put a hand against my heart.

She laughed softly, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I was going to ask if you knew what was going on with Jed and Kaleb. You know since Jed's like your brother,"

"Oh yeah, no. I don't know what's going on with them. I've been asking, but he always avoids it," I told her as I started to paint the box in front of me.