What is Normal? (Falsettos High School AU)

Photographs (Part 1)

- "We're more excited than we should be."

     "Alright, well, we're on our way to pick you up, okay?" Charlotte said over the phone.
     "Okay. See you in a bit." Marvin replied. He hung up and turned back to the mirror. His costume was a bit extravagant, with its large purple tail coat and huge top hat. It took a lot of effort to get a costume on such short notice, especially since he wasn't planning on getting one anyway. While making a few minor adjustments, Marvin heard the doorbell. He rushed down to see his friends, excited to find out what kind of costumes they would wear. But once he reached them, he was unimpressed. "Really you guys? Pajamas?"
     "Oh Marv', we're animals!" Cordelia grinned. "I'm a giraffe, and Charlotte's a penguin!" Charlotte didn't exactly look pleased with the costume choice.
     "All I see are two lazy lesbians in onesies." Marvin joked and Cordelia pretended to look extremely hurt.
     "Well, c'mon Marvin. You won't want to keep Whizzer waiting at that party, do you?" Charlotte said slyly. He grunted, and the three of them made their way to the car.
     The ride wasn't extremely long, but Marvin felt as though it were taking an eternity to drive a few miles. He was anxious, constantly second-guessing his costume choice, and worrying about what he and Whizzer would even talk about.
     "Hey Marvin," Cordelia giggled, interrupting Marvin's nervous thoughts, "I meant to ask you, what the heck is your costume?" Marvin scowled jokingly.
     "Isn't it obvious? I'm Willy Wonka."
     "Not obvious." called Charlotte from the driver's seat. "But it looks pretty cool." She pulled up at the side of Trina's house, which was larger than Marvin had expected. As the trio walked up the steps, they could hear some sort of trashy pop music blaring from inside. Cordelia rang the doorbell and the three were greeted by an extremely strange looking kid.
     He wore a bright green shirt with darker pants and shoes. A strange collar that looked as though it were made out of leaves was stapled to his top. On his head was an extremely ugly hat that looked like it had golf balls attached to it, with one on each side. Marvin and Charlotte had no idea who the person was, but apparently Cordelia knew the stranger.
     "Mendel!" she laughed, "What on earth are you?"
     "I'm Kermit the Frog." said Mendel cheerfully as both Cordelia and Charlotte burst into giggles.
     "Guys, this is Mendel. He's in my Geography class. Mendel, this is my friend Marvin, and my girlfriend Charlotte." Marvin gave a slight wave to him as he tried to get inside, but Mendel was in the way.
     "Charlotte! I've heard so much about you from 'Delia." Marvin finally slid past Mendel into the house, which was actually quite nice. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to admire it, because the only thing on his mind was finding Whizzer. As Marvin searched the crowd of people, (the party was much more popular than he had anticipated), he was stopped by the hostess.
     "Hey Marvin! Do you like my costume?" Trina asked. She was dressed as what looked like a Greek goddess, and it was kind of impressive.
     "It's very nice Trina. I was wondering if you've seen-"
     "Oh my gosh, are you Willy Wonka? That's such a fun idea!" Trina gushed as Marvin tried to look around.
      "Thank you. And also, thanks for inviting me. This seems..interesting. Now I really need to know-"
     "I know Marvin isn't this fun? I told you you'd have a good time!" Marvin grunted again.
     "Trina!" he yelled over the absurdly loud music, "I need to know where Whizzer Brown is!"
     "Oh..alright. I think he's over by the punch bowl. At least, that's the last place I saw him."
    Marvin nodded a quick thanks, and tried his best to push though the crowd over to the tables filled with snacks. He was able to spot many girls dressed as cats, a guy who looked like a cowboy of some sort, and, finally, a tall, handsome junior wearing a suit.
     "Whizzer!" Marvin shouted. Just saying his name filled him with a warm feeling. He looked up quickly, and smiled once he saw Marvin. Whizzer strolled over to him, and he felt his heart begin to pound once again.
     "Wow, Marvin," Whizzer praised, "your costume is amazing. Willy Wonka, right?" Marvin blushed, and hoped that the strange flashy lighting would hide it.
     "Uh, yeah! Thank you so much. Who are you?" Marvin asked.
     Whizzer pulled out a fake gun. "Bond. James Bond." He laughed, which made him look ten times better, if that was possible.
     "That's really cool! So uh," Marvin began sweating as he struggled to think of what to say. "How do you know Trina?"
     "See Marv', the thing is, I don't really know her. I might have seen her around the school before, but other than that, total strangers." He shrugged. "Okay, so, what's your favorite song?"
"My favorite song?" Marvin almost laughed. "I guess, 'We Didn't Start the Fire'."
"Classic stuff." Whizzer winked. "Mine's 'A Teenager in Love'." He seemed to notice Marvin's confused expression. "Y'know, by Dion and the Belmonts?"
"Unfortunately I've never heard of them." Marvin stated.
"It's alright. They're an older group from the late 50's." he explained. The two stood awkwardly for a moment, before Marvin spoke up.
"So, you're on the yearbook committee. Do you like photography?" he asked.
"Oh gosh, I love it! It's one of my favorite things, and not to brag, but I happen to be pretty good at it." Whizzer beamed.
"I don't doubt it." said Marvin.
"Here, lemme show you a few pictures." He took out his phone and began swiping through a few images. Marvin paid more attention to him than the photos. It was adorable to see him so proud of something and excited to share it. He did see that the photos were very artistic and quite beautiful. Marvin noticed Whizzer's finger was hovering over his phone.
"Are there more?" Marvin asked.
"Oh there's loads of 'em. The next one isn't great quality though, but it's one of my favorites. I had to download it from my camera. You wanna see?" Marvin nodded, and Whizzer slid his finger across the screen. The photo left Marvin speechless.

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A.N.// thank you to the people who have voted and read this story. I am super happy you liked it!!