𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐘

[23] Life-Altering News

l i f e - a l t e r i n g  n e w s
COVEY'S POV:

I'm sitting in the school library on Thursday, writing and reading and cross referencing a bunch of different books and pieces of literature, when Venice comes to the table, sliding a to-go cup of coffee my way.

"For you, caramel macchiato," he says, a smile in his voice.

I lift my head up from my books and grin at him. "Thank you, Venny. I needed a pick-me-up."

He nods and sits down next to me, looking at my work. "Woah, what are you doing?"

"Do you really wanna know?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at him as I take a sip of my drink. "Or are you gonna tell me I'm a weirdo and nerd or something?"

"I'm interested," he says, opening one of the books I had on the table. "I mean, why all the classics?"

I smile to myself and grab Pride and Prejudice from him. "Remember when Professor Monroe said that in order to write great work we must read great work?"

Venice laughs, shaking his head. "I swear, the fact you take him so literally—" He picks up another classic; The Grapes of Wrath. "But okay, go on. What are you doing?"

"There's a reason why they're classics, you see," I explain, turning Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in my hands. "These stories shaped society. Meaning, there's something about their characters, plots, and themes that impacted enough people. I want to write like that. So I look at all these books and recreate and create my own writing."

"So you steal?" he asks, not understanding anything I just said.

"No, that's what everyone thinks," I correct, smirking a little. "One of my favorite quotes is, 'A good writer borrows, but a great writer steals.'"

"So you... steal?" he repeats.

I laugh to myself. "Have you read Hamlet from Shakespeare?"

"In high school," he says, tilting his head a bit.

I nod. "Okay, so you know the plot line then?" 

"Yeah, pretty much."

I pause for dramatic effect and he waits for me to continue. "Well, Hamlet is pretty much the same exact thing as The Lion King but everyone sees the two as different stories. It's the same concept, but their characters, plot, and setting is completely different. So, same themes, same concept, just a different storyline."

Venice doesn't say anything for a minute. He just looks at me like I told him the Easter Bunny isn't real. Or that Santa Claus was a childhood flook. Or that my celebrity crush is Tom Holland.

"Wait, so all this time Simba was Hamlet?" he asks, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"Pretty much," I say, sipping my coffee again.

"Holy shi—" he stops himself. "I mean crap. Holy crap, Covey. That's some life-altering news, babe."

Babe v.s. Baby?

Inhaling a deep breath, I let out a shaky laugh. "Yeah, it's pretty well known, but still." I purse my lips together. "It's pretty interesting. A lot of movies are like that. Star-crossed lovers, forbidden love, etcetera etcetera."

"You're pretty," he says abruptly. "Pretty smart—pretty and smart."

I blush. Sometimes.

My phone rings and Mr. Grumpy's contact name flashes across the screen. I widen my eyes and quickly swipe right, bringing the phone to my ear.