ANYTHING BUT ENEMIES

38. a changed cleo

WE'RE HAVING ANOTHER party.

It's not really supposed to be one, but chips, dip, and drinks really seem to have that effect on people.

"Okay, let me set the scene. Rain, rain, and more rain. It's a dark, stormy night, and the character's—"

"Boring," Julia interjects, waving her hand at Reece from over the bag of tortilla chips. "Did you really just start with the 'dark and stormy night' thing?"

"It was a succinct way of putting it, Julia," he bites back after flipping her off. "I'm not actually going to write that."

"Then maybe you should have made that clear."

"God, I'm sorry I don't have a five act outline like some people."

"I can't stand pansters," she sighs, falling back deeper into her bed.

Anaya nods along in agreement, swiping her chip along the spinach dip. "Where's the compelling vision. The imagery?"

"I haven't even gotten past the first goddamn sentence."

"Apparently you don't even have a first sentence," Marty points out, dipping in the salsa, "To be fair."

"That doesn't make anything fair. I hate you guys."

"Love you two," half of us chorus back.

"I'm done."

"No, no, keep going. Frances wants us to help each other with the solo projects."

"Well, I'm not getting any help so—"

"Continue!"

He sighs loudly. "Fine. So it's raining, and I'm thinking my main character should meet a deity of some sort. I want to write about some kind of curse."

"Nice," I say.

"Right? So the god comes to the character and says something wise, you know, and the character's like 'what the hell, was that a god?' or something like that, I don't know. I'm still ironing out the kinks. And then the god disappears, and then I do some Hamlet shit."

"You want to write a tragedy where everyone dies at the end for no particular reason?"

Reece shrugs. "You make it sound like it's not a tried and true method."

"You got me there," Marty admits. "Can we get a round of applause for the innovative creation of Reece?"

We all clap, and he bows sarcastically before sitting back down.

"Okay, now that Reece is done sharing his story that no one wanted to hear—" Julia starts, immediately getting flicked by Reece. "Let's discuss my piece."

"The stage is all yours."

"Awesome," she gets up, stumbling over Ruby's legs on the floor before catching herself on my shoulder. "So I'm thinking we keep things more realistic. I kind of want to do a feminist commentary of some sort. You know focusing on the idea of how society likes to put women against women."

"Preach, sister," Anaya says, snapping.

I snort.

"Have you worked out any of the specifics yet or it's just a brainstorm idea?" The question comes from Ruby.

"Yeah, more of a brainstorm thing. I just know I want a plot twist at the end. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going for though."

"You should add a murder—that always makes for a good plot twist."

"Shut up, Reece."

I look down at the list of topics I've typed on my document, hammering out random sentence fragments whenever inspiration strikes.

My progress has been pretty slow so far, a topic hard to land on despite having had two free days to work on coming up with something. It's comforting to know that everyone else seems to be struggling just as much though.

"We're still gonna talk when this is all over, right guys?" Everyone glances over at Ruby at the question, Julia and Reece's incoming bickering match shuddering to a halt.

When this is all over.

Damn.

It's a reality I've been trying to avoid. The idea that one of us will win the scholarship then we'll all be separated, all pulled to different sides of the country, forced to go back to our normal everyday lives.

Cashiering at Crafty Corner, greeting rude customers, and organizing piggy measuring cups. Going skating on weekends with Sam and cooking for my mom in the afternoons.

"Are you trying to get rid of us, Rubes?" I ask, nudging her.

She rolls her eyes. "No, I just...I like this, you know? All our craziness, bad advice, the awful karaoke, the talks. It's nice."

"Hard to make friends when you're not in school, huh?" Marty muses, popping another chip into his mouth. "I kind of forgot what it was like to be this social everyday."

"Yeah, I think of writing as a solitary thing so often. It's been nice getting to talk my ideas over with other people. It's been nice just spending time with other people." Anaya joins in.

"I think that answers your question," I say to Ruby. "You're gonna get sick of us."

"Hell yeah, I'll drink to that." She tips her cup toward her face, downing the last amount of soda at the bottom.

I pull my legs up to my chest, lost in thought as the group continues to talk about their pieces.

If I got the scholarship, I could be at my dream school across the country in a couple months. A real college girl. With college friends. That I actually go to school with.

Real friends besides just my mom, Sam, and Roselyn. Real friends that I don't have to bring to life with my pencil and keyboard to live through vicariously.

I click my tongue to the roof of my mouth, thinking about the money I have stashed in my savings account, the loans I'd need to take out if I want to run through a traditional undergrad experience without the scholarship.

Screw capitalism, really.

And then I'm thinking about Dane, because apparently I can't go a day without thinking about the demon that's managed to crawl his way out of hell.

I'm thinking about how I have no way of contacting him once we get back, why I have the strange urge to think I'd even want him to contact me in the first place.

Change is something I love, change is something I hate.

That bitter feeling that tosses your stomach up into knots as life as you know it is shoved to the side to make way for something new and unknown. That thrill of glee that rushes from the pit of your gut to the base of your throat, making you bounce on your heels as you consider all the new, wonderful possibilities.

Whether I win the scholarship or not, I'll be going back home a changed person.

A new group of friends, a new knowledge of a craft I love, and a jumble of feelings that confuse me while simultaneously appearing clear as day when the clouds part.

And surprisingly, I'm okay with that.

***

okay so let's say hypothetically there was a spicy scene coming up at some point. would y'all prefer i marked this book mature and put a warning or put the scene in a different book separate from this one? 💀 ik i didn't really have a disclaimer at the beginning about mature themes, which was why i was considering a separate book lmaoo

also we're almost to the end (i think) guys 🤭 how we feelin?