Yeah, I wasn't planning on posting this short story, but I saw SuperNyanChat upload hers and I was like, "uwu I should do that too.

It was eleven pages in google docs.

Here we go.

It's Soomer Time,
By Kelli Redwenner
(Yes there is a character based off of me, don't judge meh pllzz)

I moaned under my breath. School’s only been going on for two weeks, and already the lunchtime seating arrangements have changed. Instead of the long, rectangular tables I’m used to, there’re circle tables with only four chairs. Four? I looked around, looking for my friends and a table I can sit at. I almost threw a tantrum when I saw that almost all the tables were full of people I didn’t even know. I didn't throw my tray on the ground, though, because I saw that at one of the tables, one of my best friends, Kelli, sat. 

        “Hey Kelli!” I said, walking over to the circular table housed in the corner of the cafeteria. Kelli looked up at me, looking somewhat surprised. I understand her, though, almost every day last year, in sixth grade, I sat with my other group of friends. Kelli’s best friend, Kenzie, looked up at me with a small smile.

        “Hi Soomer!” Kelli said as I sat down. I would try to explain where the nickname Soomer came from, but, really, I don’t know. One day in fourth grade, Kelli just started calling me Soomer instead of Summer, and I just rolled with it. Some day, I may ask her where she got it from, but for now it’s fine.

“So…” I said, trying to think of a conversation starter, “How are you guys doing?”

 “Good.” Both Kenzie and Kelli said simultaneously.

I rolled my eyes, “No!” I said, “That’s what everyone says! Give me details, or at least
something I can turn into a conversation.”  

Yeah, I’m terrible at conversation starters…

“Well…” Kelli said, looking up at the ceiling, probably trying to think of a conversation starter. “Maybe…” Then, all of a sudden, she threw her arms up into the air and yelled, “I don’t know! Why can’t you start the conversation?”

I looked at her with a joke death glare and picked up an apple, deciding that it would be more fun to joke than to actually talk.

I held the apple up above my head and said, in a dramatic voice, “This apple, this apple is an amazing apple, this apple is the best apple that has ever lived!” I sat there, staring at the apple, waiting for one of them to ask the golden question. If I took my eyes off the apple, the joke would be ruined.

Finally, “Why?” Kenzie asked.

“Because it’s part of my lunch!” I yelled, punching my fists, along with the apple, into the air before munching on my apple. It was a very horrible joke, but Kelli laughed anyway.

“Wow…” Kelli said after her and I finished laughing, “I thought that you’d just ask some sort of question to start the small talk.”

I thought about what she said, and, even though it wasn’t something Kelli was expecting a response to, I came up with a reasonable explanation-thingy.

“Well,” I started, trying to figure out how to phrase what I was trying to say. “Asking questions is the normal way to do things, but I’m not normal, jokes are just way more fun! Besides, asking questions - even joke ones - invade people’s privacy. I don’t wanna do that.”

“Then make a talk show or something.”

All of our heads turned toward the sudden new voice. Standing there, with her lunch tray, was Jennifer.

Jennifer was a friend of Kelli and Kenzie, but I didn't know her too well. The time we intersect is usually at Kelli’s birthday party or something of the sort. That’s the main reason I was so surprised when she sat down between Kenzie and me.

“Jennifer?” Kelli said, sounding as surprised as I felt, “You’re really sitting here? I thought you’d sit with Riley and-”

“Well, you know, I was going to…” Jennifer said, cutting Kelli off. She turned to me, “But I overheard your joke and thought a talk show would be fun so… here I am!”

“Hey, you know what?” Kenzie said, her face showing some sort of interest in the idea, “A talk show would be pretty astonishing! Especially for someone our age!”

“Yeah!” Kelli said excitedly, punching the table, not giving me a chance to respond, “Then you could ask people questions and invade people’s privacy without being judged! At all!” She finished before stuffing a piece of green lettuce in her mouth.

I opened my mouth, intent on replying, but Jennifer beat me to it, “Actually… I was thinking more along the lines of…” She paused, thinking, “Joke questions…?” Like, maybe questions with jokes sprinkled every here and there.”

“Or just jokes.” I said without really thinking. I couldn’t do that, that would be a comedy show, not a talk show.

“I guess it could be a comedy show.” Kelli said, her face morphing into disappointment.

        “No, no, no.” I said. A comedy show would be fun, but for some reason, a comedy talk show just sounded more fun. “Millions of comedy shows already exist. There’s no talk show quite as unique as the one I have in mind!” I didn't think so at least.

        “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, here.” Kenzie said, waving her hands above the table. “Creating a talk show would take lots of effort. Besides, we don’t even have anywhere to air it!”

        “There’s always the internet!” Jennifer said, stating the obvious.  I don’t know why, but I really didn’t feel like airing it online. I wanted a real television show!

        “Well we can just do it for fun, if we want! Kinda like a hobby or something.” Kelli said. Of course she wanted to do it just for fun! Kelli lives life just for fun!

        The lunch bell rang, and I gather my stuff and finish the best apple that has ever lived, before standing up and walking to my next class.

After lunch, I expected the entire talk show talk to cease, but, to my surprise, the very same day in science class, Ms. Keger, the coordinator of our gifted program, ACE, had an announcement to make.

        “Hi guys!” Mrs. Keeger said. “Today I have something exciting to say.” I started hearing whispers go across the classroom, everyone must be wondering what this exciting announcement is. “So, I’ve been talking a lot to your English teacher, Ms. Peelarski, because a few weeks ago, I received an email from ECA TV channel.” The whispers didn’t sound very much like whispers anymore, and more like exciting chatter. “They noticed how amazing we were last year when we went on a field trip there for Search, and offered us something amazing.”

        At this point, I was kind of upset with Mrs. Keger. Why was she taking so long to tell us what the special thing is? Just get to the point, woman!

“The offered us a television show!”

The whole class burst into noise. For the most part, there were surprised shouts and clapping, but, if you listened closely, you could here some cheers and some disappointment. I don’t believe anyone would be disappointed at an opportunity like this, but hey, maybe they were just hoping for something better.

“Everyone will be offered the chance to be part of the TV show.” Mrs. Keeger continued after the class settled down. “But, since I know many of you will want to be in it, we decided that everyone can have the chance to make their own little television skit. It could be anything - reality, tutorials… You guys have until next Monday to decide whether or not you want to apply to get a short of yours on our new show, which Ms. Peelarski and I have decided on the name ‘ACE it’! Now, if you have any questions, now would be the time to ask.”

People shot their hands up into the air, but I didn’t really bother listening to most of them. I already knew what I was gonna do and almost exactly how I was gonna do it. Especially with the help of Kelli, I’d be a star in no time!

“If you decide to apply”, Mrs. Keeger continued, after most questions have been answered, “Fill out this form that’ll be outside my classroom,” She held out a blue permission form and set it back on the desk in front of her, “And make a pilot episode for everyone to watch. Then, we’ll vote on the winners. Only eight’ll be chosen.”

Eight? She said eight as if it were out of a thousand! I don’t even think we’ll accomplish eight, especially since I haven’t heard anyone else talking about their new talk show at lunch.

More than half the class immediately shuffled to get to the front of the room, where the forms were. I stayed back a minute, waited for the crowd to die down, before heading up.

Mrs. Keeger left the room, and Ms. Elliott gave us our work for the day. It wasn’t that hard, really, just a venn diagram comparing different cell types. Easy.

After I was done with my schoolwork, I walked over to Kelli’s desk to see if she was done. Even from feet away, I could see a blue piece of paper on her desk. I was exhilarated at the fact that Kelli’s gonna sign up to help me with my talk show. I quickened my pace until I was only inches from her desk.

“So you’re gonna sign up with me?” I asked, without even saying hi, intending on getting the answer I was looking for. “For ECA, I mean.”

“Actually…” Kelli said, averting her gaze from me, “I was thinking about making my own short, Kelli’s Kolorful Reality! It’s gonna be a reality show about my life and the butterfly effect! Sounds fun, right?”

My heart dropped, and I realized that it was my fault it did. I expected Kelli to help me so much that I didn't even consider the possibility that she was going to maker her own.

I understood her logic, though. I knew she didn’t want to be famous, but she definitely wanted a way to publicly express herself.

Besides, she probably just wants to do this for fun, really.

        “Um… okay then.” Kelli said, obviously noticing the change of atmosphere. “What are you going to name your talk show?”
       
 I haven’t really thought about that. Since Kelli wasn’t going to help, I wasn’t sure if I was even going to do the talk show anymore. I knew that if I told her that, though, I’d make he feel guilty.

“I don’t know.” I responded, hoping my face wasn’t giving away too many hints.

 “Well I have an idea, Soomer.” Kelli said, looking up at me with a playful smile.

“Well, just don’t look at me like that, tell me!” I said. Even though I was pretty sure I wasn’t doing the show anymore, I still wanted to know what kind of name Kelli had come up with.

“You have to guess, Soomer.” Kelli said, her voice constantly becoming more babyish, as if she was talking to a dog or a little kid, and it confused me.

Then, out of the blue, I started wondering, “Why do you keep calling me-”

“Soooooomer” Kelli said, in a baby tone, drawing out the O.

I gasped suddenly, realizing what she was trying to convey. “Soomer Time!”  I shouted, and the entire class fell silent. Kelli looked at me with amusement, and across the room I could hear someone whisper, “Soomer what-now?” I laughed. If Soomer Time was going to be known, shouting was definitely the best way to make it.

“What are you standing here talking to me for?” Kelli said in a false bossy voice.

“You were helpi-”

“You have yourself ideas to write and a form to fill out if you wanna make it on ACE it!” She interrupted, her expression serious. Except, because I know her well, I knew that serious look wasn’t at all serious, but rather a joke. “Chop Chop!”

“Summer, Summer, Summer, Summer, Summer, Summer, Summer, Summer!” Jennifer yelled as she ran down the hallway in my direction. I ducked, as if ducking would stop her from colliding into me. It didn’t, and we both fell to the floor, laughing.

        “Why are you here?” I asked after we stopped giggling. It took awhile, but eventually we did stop.

        “I’m assuming you’re signing up for ECA?” She said, as we stood up and started to walk away.

        “Uhh…” I said, not really know how to answer her question. If Kelli wasn’t going to help, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to. I decided to answer her question with a question from myself, “Why? Aren’t you doing your own thing?”

        “Actually, I was wondering if I could help you!”

        I almost stopped dead, right there in the middle of the hallway. She wants to help me? It kinda seemed awkward, since Jennifer and I didn’t really know each other well. We didn’t know how each other worked  We didn’t know where each other lived… it seemed almost impossible for her to help me.

        Then again, if I had someone to help me, I could possibly make Soomer Time a reality! Well, not a reality… a talk show.

        “I guess some help would be needed…” I said, smiling at her.

        She jumped up, “Great!” She said, “Wait, over here.” She grabbed me by the edge of my shirt and pulled me to the side of the hallway before plopping on the floor. The whole action caught me by surprise, and before I knew it, I was on the floor beside her.

        Jennifer fumbled in her backpack, looking for something. She pulled out a small spiral notepad with a panda on the front. I laughed. Jennifer’d always been the dark and death kind of person, and to see a panda on her notepad was kind of amusing.

        “We need IDEAS!” She said, flipping her pad to the first page.

        I looked down at my wrist, as if jestering, at an invisible watch, “Well, I mean, it’s time to go home, and I kinda want to… you know, get home.”

        Jennifer grabbed her backpack and stood up, “I guess I’m coming with you then!”

        “Yeah- Wait what?” I said when I realized what she had said. “Don’t you have someplace to be?”

        “Nahhhhh.” She said, “My mom doesn’t get home from work until later, anyway, she can just pick me up at your place.”

        I scrambled through my brain thinking of an excuse before I realized that there was probably no way I could convince her otherwise. “Fine.” I said, standing up and continuing down the hallway. I didn't want to be late for my bus.

I got off the bus and plopped down on the grass beside the playground. I looked around, and it actually took me a moment to realized that Jennifer wasn’t behind me.

        I looked around once more before I heard charging footsteps. I looked back toward the bus to see Jennifer, once again, running at full speed in my direction.

        “WHY!” I shouted. Luckily, though, I wasn’t hurt this time, because Jennifer fell right onto her face before she got close enough to impact me. She sat up and burst into laughter.

        Once she finished laughing, she walked over to sit beside me and pulled out the same panda notepad she pulled out just a few minutes ago at school.

        “So, I have some ideas about who to bring on the show.” She started, “My first thought was Ayla, but since she’s a pretty good friend of yours, I realized she might be a little biased, but, if we get another biased person who doesn’t like you to even it out, that would be fine.” She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts before saying. “Well, as I was saying, we could get three people on the first episode-”

        “Wait, wait, wait.” I said, “We only need a pilot episode, not a super long one hour long one! Let’s stick to one person.” I thought about Kelli. If she were here now, instead of Jennifer, I don’t think we’d have this problem. Kelli and I think a lot alike, but, so far at least, it doesn’t seem like Jennifer and I do. “How about you just think like Kelli for a bit-”

Jennifer cut me off and gave me a look as if I was crazy. “What?” She said in surprise, before looking down at her notepad, “KellI? She’s not even here!” She sighed and changed the topic, “But we can’t have a biased person on, then.”

I raised my eyebrow, “Really? Why not? The whole talk show’s gonna be a joke anyway.” I paused for a minute, feeling like I should add on, but not knowing what to say. I feel like Jennifer didn't really understand where I was really coming from. Kelli would have. “You’re taking this too seriously. It’s not like we’re famous or anything.”

Just when I expected her face to fall, it lit up. “Hooray!” She said, throwing her arms into the air. “Then we can do  anything we want!”

I laughed at her enthusiasm. “Yeah, we could have you on the show!” I said sarcastically.

Apparently, Jennifer didn't get the joke, though, “Summer, that’s an amazing idea!” and then she looked at me with an awed face, “Summer, what if, instead of making a talk show, we script it and make it look like a talk show!”

Even though her idea seemed so absurd, Kelli and I would’ve never thought of it.  It kinda made sense. If we scripted it to seem like a talk show, we could let our creativity flow, and all the while, making the talk show funnier.

I smiled and knocked Jennifer’s notepad out of her hand. I took a pencil out of my backpack and starting writing a script.

“What is it?” Jennifer asked quickly after I started writing, “Who are we having on?” She poked her head around me, trying to get a glimpse of what I was writing.

“You, just like I said earlier.”

A few days later, after the dismissal bell rang, I practically ran down to the cafeteria, intent on meeting Jennifer there to record the pilot episode. A few nights ago, when Jennifer and I were in my neighborhood, we did a lot of talking about production. And somehow, we managed to email the principal for permission to film, decide how we’re going to film, write, and edit a script all within only two days. We were so ready!

        The only downside though, was that I didn't own a camera. Jennifer didn’t either. Last night, when discussing this topic, I was afraid that we’d have to give up completely and resort to plan B - continue to be couch potatoes. Luckily, though, it didn’t take long for Jennifer to realize that we both had cell phones with working cameras.

        I got down to the cafeteria to see Jennifer standing there, talking to somebody. It didn’t take me too long to figure out that that somebody was Kelli.

        “Kelli?” I said, astonished, “What are you doing here?”

        “Don’t worry.” Kelli started, “I”m not staying long, I just wanted to give you this to use.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, blue box with buttons.

        “A camera!” I almost shouted, before yanking the blue camera out of Kelli’s hands. “Amazing! But wait…” I said, realizing something, “Don’t you need this for KKR?”

        She waved a hand dismissively, “No, not really. My mom has a more professional one at home, besides, if I can’t figure out how to work it, I can animate the show instead. I may not be the best drawer, but, hey, that might make the show all the funnier! Besides, it’s just for fun.”

        I leapt up and hugged Kelli, so grateful for the fact that she was letting us use the camera for today. “Sheesh,” I heard Kelli say, “It’s just a camera.”

        I laughed and pulled myself away from Kelli, “Thanks again!” I said, “My phone’s camera quality is only like 144p.”

        “Ha, no problem, now, I should probably get on the bus…” Kelli said, slowly making her way to the back doors that led to the bus loop.
        “Yeah, probably.” Jennifer said.

        “Yeah, okay, bye!” I said, waving to Kelli. She gave me a goodbye salute before skipping out the door.

        “Ok,” I said after Kelli had left, “Let’s get started.” I looked over at Jennifer. She was sitting at a table, fiddling with a little plush panda she had attached to her backpack.

“Huh?” She said, looking up.

I sighed and walked over to Jennifer. I knocked the panda out of her hand and said, “No more distractions. We have to start!”

Jennifer looked up at me with an angry expression, “Heesh.” She said, “Does it really matter that much? We have 3 hours, and a 2 minute skit to perform! Why can’t we slack for a bit?” Her expression softened a little and her voice became calmer, “I don’t know, finish our homework or something first?”

I opened my mouth, but decided to take a breath in before lashing out at her. I knew this was the kind of stuff I was signing up for when I told Jennifer she could work with me. I don’t know what else I expected. I still, even today, have the mindset of working with Kelli, so that’s what my mind expects. Jennifer isn’t Kelli, though, but I can’t help but wish she was at times like this.

“Ok…” I said, re-speaking the words in my head to make sure I wouldn’t offend Jennifer at all. “How about we do homework afterwards? As you said, it won’t take too long. Kelli and I would be done by now.” I knew that if Kelli was here, she’d agree easily. She’s usually the kind of person to get the work out of the way first. But this wasn’t Kelli.

Jennifer sighed, “Fine.” She said, drawing out the end of the word. She stood up and pulled a clasped tripod from behind her backpack and began to set it up. While she was doing so, I took the camera Kelli had lent us and started arranging it onto the tripod.  

“Can you gimme a minute?” Jennifer asked, annoyed, “It’s kinda hard to set this up while you’re putting the camera on.”

I knew that Jennifer was already upset at the fact that I was making her help with the show now.  I didn’t want to push her to the point in which she decides not to help at all. I stepped back and let her finish assembling the tripod before I put the camera on top.

“Ok…” I said, making sure the camera was positioned correctly before I pushed record. “Action!”

Jennifer and I were laughing like maniacs by the time the short was done. The jokes included in the episode were really bad, but it was funny to see how Jennifer performed them.

        “Wow…” Jennifer said as we re-watched the footage, “Now this… is pure art!” We burst into laughter again. “But how are we gonna edit it?”

        I paused, realizing that I hadn’t thought about editing at all.

        Jennifer continued, “I mean, with the whole retro thing at the end I’d think we’d need some editing…” She trailed off, mumbling.

        Editing. There was only one person I knew that was more than okay at editing.

        “We could get Kelli to-”

        “No, Summer.” Jennifer said, snapping her head up in my direction. “Kelli is not part of this project, Kelli is not part of Soomer Time, and, most of all, Kelli is not me, Summer. You need to stop saying things like that!”

        “But, I mean, she’s the only one who-”

        “Why do you think that? Sure, I’ve only picked up an editing software once, and sure, I’ve never actually put the clips in the editor, but I could, you could. It doesn’t have to be perfect!” Jennifer said, her eyes blazing with anger. I couldn’t help but feel stunned. Just a minute ago, we were both laughing away at some bad jokes, and now she’s here. Sure, she’s not yelling, but it sure feels like it.

        “Why don’t we try?” Jennifer continued, almost whispering at this point.

        “But Kelli-”

        Jennifer suddenly stood up and slammed her fists on the table. “Okay, then. Then Kelli. Good luck trying to get her to distribute her time between you and KKR!” She said, and, this time, she was yelling.

        “But you’re here, all she’ll have to do is edi-”

        “But what if I’m not here, eh Summer? What if Kelli was here instead, like you’ve wanted from the very beginning.” Jennifer yelled, putting on her backpack.

        “Well n-”

        “Don’t try to deny it.” Jennifer said, she wasn’t yelling anymore, her voice was actually pretty low in volume, but it conveyed lots of anger. “Since day one, you’ve been mentioning here. ‘What if Kelli were here?’,’You should think like Kelli.” It’s not fun Summer, it’s not.” Her voice was loud again. She picked up her lunchbox and started to walk toward the door.

        She was right beside the door when she said, “You know, next time you do a project like this with someone, make sure you’re okay with them being themselves.” She said before walking out the door, slamming it behind her.

        I stood there in shock of what had just happened. Did Jennifer just quit? A day before the due date, too? I looked over at the camera, the one thing that had all the footage of us. All the footage of us messing up, laughing, mispronouncing words, and just having fun. It is just for fun, as Kelli would say.

        But no. Jennifer just left for that reason in particular. I can’t seem to think of Soomer Time without thinking of Kelli. What is wrong with me? I made Jennifer feel so insecure around her own friend. I made her feel like she was supposed to be someone else, and I completely feel that now. I’ve been so blind, my mind filled with the dream of Kelli and I doing this together, that it blinded me of all Jennifer’s good qualities. No, she’s not Kelli, but she’s still my friend.

        At least, she was.

That night, when I got home, I downloaded a free editing software and threw all of the clips together. It wasn’t as good as I imagined it, but it was okay. I knew that I couldn’t turn back on entering the contest, and I knew that if we got picked to win, I’d just have to explain to Mrs. Keger that we can’t keep making episodes.

I got on the bus and sat down immediately. I pulled my chromebook out and entered my passwords. I clicked on the shortcut to the video and plugged in my headphones. I clicked play and started watching.

There was a brief pause before the video showed up. I saw Jennifer and I sitting at a round lunch table, very similar to the one we sit at during real lunch. The view zoomed in on an apple that I was holding up as I said, “This apple, this apple is an amazing apple, the best apple that has ever lived! Why is this apple so great?” The camera shifted to Jennifer, who’s face looked very confused. I have to say, Jennifer did a great job at acting. “BECAUSE IT’S PART OF MY LUNCH!” I threw the apple into my teeth, munching on it while trying to say “yum yum yum.”

        In the video, I put the apple down on the table and looked at Jennifer, “So Jennifer” I started, my voice sounding super professional. “The end of the school year’s approaching, how do you feel?” Yes, I knew that it was only the third week of the school year, but the script wouldn’t make as much sense if it took place at the beginning of school.

        Jennifer’s face was super stern, as if she was mad at something. “Like I need more yearbook signings.” she said in a complete monotone, making herself sound pretty angry.

        In the video, my face lit up with humor, “Haha, wonderful.” I said, as if I thought it was a joke.

        “I must get REVENGE!” Jennifer yelled, throwing her fists in the air.

        “On me?” I said, trying my best to sound completely innocent, “Why?”

        “You DID NOT SIGN MY YEARBOOK!” She said, face and tone angry, and her finger pointing at me.

        “Yes I did. After school yesterday.”

A second later, she pounded the table, saying “Either way! I challenge you to a revenge battle!”

        See, usually, if this happened in real life, you’d start an argument because you didn't deserve the revenge battle. But not in Soomer Time, in Soomer Time, everyone, except Jennifer of course, goes with the flow.

        I shrugged inside my little computer screen. “If you say so.” I say, standing up.

        See, here was supposed to be a retro street fighter’s battle, but since I suck at editing, it’s kind of hard to tell.

Jennifer and I stand on opposite ends of my chromebook, in fighting positions. A female narrator voice, - who, fun fact, is really just me with my voice edited, - starts to say, “Fighters ready?” Of course, the fighters don’t respond because, in theory, they’re not supposed to hear us. “FIGHT TO THE REVENGE!”

The episode ends there, without anyone knowing who really won. Kenzie suggested this ending because she thought it would be cool for people to try to figure it out themselves.

“Yeah!” Jennifer had said, agreeing with Kenzie. “It won’t take them that long to figure out it was me!”

“What!” I had said, turning to her, smiling, “I won!”

        I smiled to myself as I powered down my chromebook. I felt really proud and excited, but at the same time I still felt the guilt from the night before with Jennifer. The guilty feeling had only gotten worse as the night went on, and now it’s kind of at a point in which I’m afraid to make eye contact. I knew I’d done wrong, but I didn’t know how to admit it.

Mrs. Keger came to the room during Science, reminding everyone to email her their videos before dismissal, and immediately a good portion of the class pulled out their chromebooks, since it was the last period of the day.

        I was spooked. So many people started emailing Mrs. Keger, and everyone who pulled their chromebooks out were entering. Most people were probably even on a team! The thought that so many people were entering, decreasing my chances of winning, was kinda terrifying.

        And suddenly it hit me, like a baseball on a bat. I’d have to wait a whole weekend for the winners, since the day was Friday. A weekend seemed like such a long time to wait. I don’t know why I felt this suspense, though, because even if we did win, would I be able to make up with Jennifer?

On Monday, the next week, I walked into English class and caught my breath short. There, in the front of the classroom, stood Mrs. Keger, organizing some papers in her hands. She must be here for the winners, I thought.

        I quickly shuffled to find my seat in the class and sat down. I looked over at Jennifer, to see her reading. I wondered what she was reading, since she isn’t much of a reader to begin with. Needless to say I still felt guilty. Then I looked over at Kelli, who was also reading, except I didn’t bother wondering why she was reading since she has a new book every three days.         

Before I knew it, everyone was seated, and Mrs. Keger was talking, “Hi everyone! You’ve probably guessed what I’m doing today-”

        But the class was way ahead of her, already whooping and cheering before she could even get a word out. “Wow.” She said, “Okay, you guys seem pretty motivated, let’s just skip to the winners.”

        Saying that was probably a mistake on her part, since the crowd got even louder afterwards.

        “An astonishing 17 shorts were entered.” She said, and I suddenly became more nervous. That meant I had less than a 50% chance of winning… Not like it mattered though, unless…

        I kept thinking about making up with Jennifer, but it felt almost impossible at this point, since so much time has passed. I sat there, thinking of what to say. I realized that I didn’t need to think, because what I want to say would come out naturally if I really meant them. I needed to make up with Jennifer, and I was gonna do it right after winners were announced.

        “Okay, let’s just begin.”

        Mrs. Keger paused, waiting for the applause and screaming to die down a little bit. “If you wanna hear, you might wanna quiet down.” Ms. Peelarski said after most everyone got a hold of themselves.

        Mrs. Keger started announcing the winners in no particular order. There was a vast variety of shorts - fashion shows, slime making tutorials, conspiracy theory shows, a comedy show, a meme decoding show, an ACE news show, and…

        “Kelli’s Kolorful Reality submitted by Kelli Dugan.” Mrs. Keger said, and the class erupted into applause. She continued reading off her clipboard what Kelli had written as her description, “‘A terrible reality show about a girl and her fantasies.”  Kelli looked at me and beamed, and I tried my best to smile back at her, but I really was thinking more about Jennifer, it was kind of hard not to. It took me a second to comprehend the fact that Kelli’s short was the 7th chosen. Out of 8. What if-

        “Soomer Time, submitted by Summer Anderson.” She said, and, once again, of course, the class bursted into a mixture of clapping and cheering. Once again, Kelli beamed at me, and, this time, I could smile back, a little happier. Jennifer looked over at me, her face blank. I wish I could tell what she was thinking Mrs. Keger continued. “‘A talk show, that isn’t really a talk show, with bad puns and good scripts.’”

        I smiled again, this time at nobody, as I realized what I had just accomplish. And, just like earlier this morning, I heard a voice in my head that sounded awfully a lot like something Kelli - and Jennifer - would say.

        “Sure, we won, but it’s still just for fun, right?”

“Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer!” I yelled as I ran down the hall towards Jennifer. She turned around and it took her a minute to understand what was happening until we were on the ground. “Oof!” I said.

        “Really?” Jennifer said, sounding annoyed. I was worried at first, until I looked up at her and saw her smiling. It didn’t look like a really happy smile though, more like one she was forcing on.

        “Look, Jennifer,” I started, knowing I’d have to apologize.

        “Go ahead.” She said. She definitely knew I was apologizing, “I want to hear your excuses.” She looked up at me again, except this time the smile looked genuine.

        “I’m sorry for Thursday. You were right…” I started, “My mind was just so set on Kelli that it wouldn’t think about other people helping. You did a great job, and, obviously, since we won, I had to edit it. Editing isn’t really that hard actually. You just…” I paused, realizing I was going off topic. “Anyway, You were right. I was blinded by my hopes, I guess. And, don’t take that the wrong way, you were really great!”

        I had more for my apology, but Jennifer apparently thought it was enough. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s fine. Just don’t let it happen again or you’ll be in the time-out corner.” We exchanged a laugh.

        “So still Soomer Time?” I asked.

        “Still Soomer Time.” She responded.

So, am I proud that I get to be on ECA? Of course! Who wouldn’t? Do I regret anything? Well, a little. Well, actually, a lot. But the past is in the past and so is the argument, and argument that, by the way, Jennifer won big time.

What episode are we on now? The last one in the season, the last one of the school year, and the last one in the making. It’s about a girl named Summer and how she made a talk show with a girl she barely ever knew. I’m not the host this time, though, it’s Jennifer. Last week I suggested, as a joke of course, that she should host instead of me, and, being Jennifer, she took it seriously and thought it was a good idea. So, she’s interviewing me for the last episode. Plot twist, am I right?

Have I learned anything? Well, duh, it’s produced in school! I learned how to edit and use chroma key, which is very handy when I’m trying to make flashbacks or something of the sort. I also learned how Kelli’s camera works, thank goodness. And, most importantly, I learned to appreciate what I have and how good I have it.

You can’t judge a book by it’s cover. Or, really, you can’t judge a person by your standards.

Jennifer taught me the most important lesson of all though:

Run at full speed, and this time, try to stop before the damage is made.