slow // joshua t bassett

CINCO

Josephine has been waiting outside of East High in her car for 20 minutes. She noticed the abundance of trailers parked in the student and teacher parking lot. A huge trailer was on top of her senior parking spot, and she felt angry. Angry that someone else's giant trailer was toppled on her spot! Sofia had texted her 3 minutes ago, saying that she's on her way to the front door to escort Jo in her school. She thought it was a little extreme, seeing as it is her school, but she supposed that it was for safety reasons.

Just as Joey was going to belt 'She's Not Afraid' by One Direction, she heard a quiet knock at her passenger window. She jumped, only to see Sofia. She stepped out of the car, turning it off in the process. "Sofia! You cannot do that to a woman! I thought I was going to be kidnapped."

Sofia chuckled, "sorry, you were just so into 1D that you didn't notice that I was standing there for like 30 seconds." They were walking side by side, making small talk. They walked passed the auditorium doors, which was swarmed with cameras and microphones, and other miscellaneous equipment. Joey's eyes widened, "damn, you guys are really going all out."

"Yeah, a little. Wanna see my solo dance routine? My character gets to do it in the show, it's so fun!" Sofia bubbled, she seemed excited to share her dance with her new friend. She had been working really hard on it and is eager to show it off. Josephine responded with the same amount of excitement, "are you kidding? Yes! That would be so fun! Oh my God, you should come over sometime and show my mom and dad too! They love watching people dance! Every time I learn a Tik Tok dance I go 'perform' it for them."

Sofia cooed, "that is so cute! I would love to show them!"

"Also, you guys wouldn't mind if I pick some things up for my friends too, right?" Sofia shook her head, "I'm sure it'll be fine as long as it's not in the auditorium."

She smiled at the bubbly 15-year-old, "great because I made a list just to make sure I don't forget. At the top, we have, of course, my highlighter." Sofia's eye widened at the sheet of paper that was filled with items. "Then we have to go to the boy's locker room to pick up Auggie's gym clothes cause he forgot to take them home to wash them. Anna said she left her Dear, Evan Hansen book in the library so we might have to look there. Jack said that he has snacks in his locker in case we get hungry." Her list continued, Sofia only getting more and more shocked at the number of tasks they'd have to do.

"And then finally we have to...oh damn," Sofia turned to her looking confused.

"What's wrong?"

"Uh, we might have to go to the auditorium." Sofia's eyes widened, "Anna said that she left her script for the spring musical somewhere in the seats. God, her irresponsibility just appalls me sometimes."

Sofia hesitantly replied, "I dunno, Jo." Joey walked up to her locker and opened it jumping up and down to reach the cup that holds her favorite highlighter. "I could probably get that to you some other time cause I don't think we'd have much luck getting into the auditorium."

Sofia began to laugh uncontrollably as she watched Joey try to reach the top of her locker. "I can't believe I let Jack take my stepping stool to use as a squatty potty," she grumbled, making Sofia laugh even harder than before. Matt and Frankie came up to them, giggling once they saw Jo jumping up and down in front of an open locker.

Matt stood beside the jumping girl, "need some help?" He was still laughing slightly. She nodded her head, looking embarrassed.

"I thought you said you have a stepping stool in your locker?" Frankie asked through laughs. Josephine stubbornly mumbled, "it's Jack's squatty potty right now."

Matt and Frankie burst out in loud laughs, matching Sofia's intensity. "Shut up! It's not that funny!" She whined.

Matt handed her the cup full of writing instruments. She picked out her highlighter and held it close to her chest. "Thank you, Matt. Now onto our next task!" she said, crossing out the first task on the paper with the highlighter. "Would you guys mind going in the boy's locker room and going into locker 32 and grab the bag in it?"