NaNoWriMo, Part 3: The Premise Thickens

Today's word count: 1,712 words
Running total: 5,063 words
Summary: Kenneth meets the newscasting club. The perspective shifts from Kenneth to resident indie girl Scarlett.

Also, there is a girl who shares her last name with the name of an alien spacecraft from a popular British television series.

History comes and goes without incident; the other thing noteworthy about journalism is the confirmation of Dean’s identity. As I thought, it was the cell phone kid.
As the last bell rings and I collect my things, Chase says, “Well… that’s our school. It’s not great, but it works.”
“Mmmm. It’s better than some high schools I’ve gone to.”
“I guess… do you move around a lot or something?”
“You could… say that…” I don’t really want to get into my rocky past right now, so I brush off the question. Then, I change the subject. “So, you’re part of a school news show?”
“I’m on the staff, yeah. I’m never in front of the camera, though. I’m not photogenic… that’s what the head says.”
I carefully look at him again. I could see where one would come to this conclusion, but he seems rather upset about the fact so I don’t say anything. Instead, I ask, “Um… is there any space in the club? Would it be all right if I joined?”
Chase looks at me with disbelief and laughs. “You’re not serious, are you?”
“Well… I thought I’d at least one person there…”
“Kenneth, seriously. The club sucks. The head is this real pretentious chick who thinks she’s better than everyone else, and then there’s only two others—Brian, you’ve met him, he’s that pothead who think we’re friends, and then his girlfriend, Ashley, is… well, crazy.”’
“Chase, trust me. I want to join this club. I have a tough time making friends, so I think this would be a good opportunity.”
Chase sighs and thinks for a good while. Finally, he says, “Well, you can at least check it out. But don’t feel obligated to join, okay? No matter what anyone says. Oh, and you should call your parents so they know you’ll be home late.
I muster the warmest, most genial smile I can and say, “Thanks, Chase. I’ll call my mom now.”
And so begins the next chapter in my adventure.
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Scene II
The Mysterious Stranger Arrives from a Distant Land
Scarlett

Yes, I had heard that there was a new student from some of my sophomore friends.
Yes, a few of them said he was sort of good-looking in that mysterious bad boy way.
But I was sure that, should he decide to look at some clubs, he’d look at ones that did not have the dismal reputation our news show did.
Furthermore, I was sure that it was absolutely impossible to befriend Chase Summers, and the day he brought someone with him to the club would be the day Hell froze.
Still furthermore, I did not expect Chase to befriend someone who was even borderline ordinary.
Even still furthermore, I did not expect the new student to be so downright gorgeous.
He isn’t tall, but he isn’t short, either. He is the perfect in-between in both height and weight. His face is exquisitely molded, and dark hair falls in front of his piercing blue eyes.
“Everyone, I brought a new kid with me today. He’s interested in the club,” Chase says in his shrill, nasally voice, his innate grotesqueness only accentuated in the presence of someone as beautiful as his partner.
“I’m Kenneth. It’s nice to meet you all…” His voice is deep and soothing, and just a little bit raspy. I am in love.
“Hi, Kenneth,” Brian says in a complete monotone. I think he’s trying to emulate an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, but I can’t be sure. I don’t care, anyway. I stopped paying attention to Brian a long time ago in hopes he would go away. Sadly, he hasn’t.
Ashley says nothing, only looks at Kenneth with suspicious wide eyes and rubs Brian’s leg. She’s really clingy, and I really hate PDA, but I don’t say anything. I am a fair and tolerant person.
“So don’t do anything crazy today, okay guys? We don’t want to scare Kenny away.” Chase gives the group a crooked smile and takes a seat at an open computer, motioning Kenneth to a seat next to him. As the nerd searches in his bag for a flash drive, I pull up a seat next to the new student.
“Hi, Kenneth,” I say in my most seductive voice, smiling.
“Um… hi. Say, I haven’t gotten anyone’s name here. What’s yours?”
“Oh, me? I’m Scarlett. Scarlett Jones.”
He laughs a little, and Chase snorts. Kenneth asks, “Really?”
I frown. “Is that so weird?”
Kenneth waves it off. “Nah, nah. It just… it sounds like the name of some weird movie character.”
“Or a porn star,” Chase adds smugly. I hate him so much.
Brian and Ashley walk over. Well, more Brian walks over. I don’t think Ashley would have introduced herself if Brian hadn’t, but she’s clinging to him for dear life. Wherever he goes, she follows.
“I’m Brian Wells. But sometimes, people call me.” He pauses for a very long time here, trying to think of something witty or something. I don’t get him. “Death.” Another inappropriately long pause. “This is my girlfriend. Her name is Ashley Tardis. People call her crazy, but she’s really.” Pause. “Just a little unwell.”
Kenneth must have the patience of a Buddhist Monk, because he can ignore this really awkward introduction and smile genially again. “It’s nice to meet you officially, Brian.” He offers a hand. Brian takes it and shakes it eagerly. Kenneth looks like he’s in pain but otherwise bears it pretty well. He then offers his hand to Ashley. “It’s nice to meet you, too.” Ashley stares at it like it is some mutant from outer space, then timidly takes it, shakes it a tiny bit, and pulls away quickly.
“Nice to meet you,” she mumbles.
Kenneth looks concerned, but says nothing. He’s so tactful and thoughtful. What a wonderful boy he is. I must make him stay in the club, no matter what.
“So, um… Kenneth,” I say, trying to wrestle back his attention and simultaneously send everyone back to their little workstations. No one moves, but Kenneth acknowledges I’m speaking to him.
“Yeah?”
“Have you… ever… done news casting before?”
“No, not really. Once, back at the beginning of ninth grade, I was in a newspaper club. But then…”
“What happened?”
Kenneth’s eyes glaze over for a good minute. When he snaps back to reality, all he says is, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Well fine then. Don’t. See if I care.
…Okay, I really do care. I’m dying to know what happened, and this suspense will haunt me to my grave if I never learn. I’m like that with people’s secrets. But oh well. I try to move on.
“Well, Kenneth… do you think you’d feel comfortable in front of the camera?”
Chase suddenly snaps out of whatever little world he’s in in front of his precious computer and exclaims, “What?”
Protest is heard from the other two, too. Brian says, “Hey, wait. Back that train up into the station. Wait. What was I saying?”
Ashley finishes his thought. “You never offered to put any of us in front of the camera.”
And now, to justify myself. I hate having to do this for this group of losers, but I do it anyway. “Calm down, you guys. I just think Kenneth here has a lot of potential! He’s good-looking and eloquent, and that’s exactly what we need right now. Do you know why the newspaper is more popular? It’s because the staff is good-looking, whereas our staff is not.”
“Brian’s good-looking,” Ashley retorts. I ignore her, as does everyone else.
“So I think we should just give it a try. Please, guys? It’ll be great.”
There is a period of ominous silence. When Kenneth speaks, his voice falters with uncertainty. This is bad.
“Well—you see, I was only here to try out the club today. I don’t know for certain if I want to join it yet. I’ll think about it, okay? I just want to know what you normally do here and stuff.”
Chase snorts again. He muffles it in hopes he doesn’t alert me to his disgusting habits, but I hear it. He really is Neanderthalic. There were probably some Neanderthals less primitive than Chase, really. He thinks he’s so smart, and sure he gets good grades in his classes, but I get good grades too. And he likes all that dumb nerd stuff, like the stupid action movies where everything explodes and all those shows where everyone speaks in pithy one-liners and makes really off-beat jokes in a poor attempt to be endearing to the audience or whatever and then all the supporting characters die and you’re suppose to be sad about it. There’s a reason why those shows always get cancelled after one or two seasons or whatever. It’s because they suck, and people should stop worshipping their creators like gods.
No one likes the kind of stuff I like. I’m above all that crap. I only watch independent movies, because the studios always ruin the good stuff. I especially like French film. They really know how to do it, unlike slobbering Americans.
Anyway, where was I? Chase was being obnoxious because he hates this club. I have no idea why he’s still in it. He should really just get out if all he’s going to do is hate everything about it. But I need to make a good impression on Kenneth, so it’s time to call together a meeting of some sort.
“All right, everyone… can I have your attention?” I say loudly. “You know, we have a show this Friday, and we certainly don’t have enough material to cover the time allotted to us. Does anyone have any ideas for segments we can do?”
Ashley’s eyes suddenly light up, and she takes a break from rubbing Brian’s chest to raise her hand like she’s in a classroom. “Oooh! Ooh! I have an idea! Pick me!”
I sigh. “What is it, Ashley?”
She lowers her hand. “So, in History class today, our teacher was talking about the history of the school, right?”
This is certainly going somewhere bad, but I let her continue.
“Well, he said that there’s a ghost in the auditorium!”
I knew it. Ashley’s really into conspiracy theories and the Occult, and she’s always suggesting we do segments on things like “now the first lunar landing was staged” and “how to properly perform a séance.” This is admittedly one of her better suggestions, but