Chapter 7: A Disaster Worth Laughing About
Thursday – 9:42 a.m.
The classroom buzzed with half-interest. Mrs. Duvall's English class wasn't exactly the highlight of anyone's week—especially not with group presentations scheduled.
Aiden, Noah, Aria, Lana, and Ethan stood at the front of the class, their project loaded awkwardly on a USB stick. Noah tried to take charge. Aiden looked half-asleep. Aria was clutching the flash drive like it might explode. Lana whispered final notes, and Ethan adjusted the volume on a mini speaker for the background music.
Then it began.
It was supposed to be a deep, analytical breakdown of Romeo and Juliet.
It was not.
---
9:44 a.m. – The Technical Meltdown
Noah clicked the file. The screen glitched. Then—black.
Followed by an error sound.
Aiden leaned toward the computer. "Did you break it already, Topper?"
"I didn't break anything. This—this is the school's fault," Noah said, panicking.
Ethan tried to plug in the speaker. It made a strange static sound.
Then the slideshow launched—but instead of their first slide… it was a drawing Aria had forgotten to remove.
A pencil sketch. Of Aiden.
The class fell silent.
Aiden leaned closer, eyebrows raised.
Noah choked on air.
Aria's face turned crimson.
"Next slide!" Lana hissed, trying not to laugh.
Aria slammed the key and skipped ahead so fast they nearly skipped the whole presentation.
---
9:47 a.m. – Improvisation Chaos
No script. No visuals. The music was wrong. Ethan, trying to salvage things, launched into a dramatic reenactment of Romeo.
"Thus I die—with WiFi failing me!"
The class laughed.
Aiden, never one to pass up the spotlight, jumped in. "Juliet, thy USB betrayed us all!"
He grabbed a textbook and pretended to faint dramatically. Aria covered her face.
Lana tried to explain the literary themes, but she couldn't stop laughing.
Noah muttered, "This is a nightmare."
But even he couldn't stop smiling.
---
10:12 a.m. – After the Bell
As they walked out of the class, breathless and still laughing, Aria bumped Aiden's shoulder.
"You didn't have to act like a total clown, you know."
Aiden smirked. "I was saving us."
"By dying on stage?"
"By dying beautifully," he corrected.
She rolled her eyes—but didn't move away.
Behind them, Lana whispered to Noah, "That drawing looked… good."
Noah glanced at Aria ahead. "She's got talent. And guts."
Lana smiled. "So do you."
He looked at her, surprised. Then maybe just a little flustered.
---
Later that day, at lunch
They all sat at one table now.
Ethan pulled out a small notebook. "I wrote down our lines from this morning."
"Oh no," Lana groaned.
"Are we becoming a drama club?" Aria asked, half-horrified.
"Worse," Noah muttered. "We're becoming… friends."
Aiden lifted his juice box. "To chaos!"
They clinked juice boxes like champagne flutes.
And for once, no one cared if they fit in or not.
They had their own thing now.
And it was loud, messy, hilarious… and kind of perfect.