Chapter 07: Shooting
Thursday lunchtime the coach turned up to take us all up to 'location' for the start of official shooting and we all got on board and Mrs Price did a quick head-count.
"Anyone seen Paul?"
No-one had and Mrs Price sent me to dig him out. I found him in the paper office which was the first place I looked. He said he wasn't coming. So I went back to the bus to tell Mrs Price and actually that was the last time I saw him.
He didn't come into school Friday and when he didn't come in Monday either I went to see his parents and they said he'd gone to California to stay with his uncle and they acted like they thought it was my fault which maybe it was. I've often wondered since whether he'd thought he was normal - like how could he, we'd all seen porn and some of those guys have like massive weapons - or whether he'd just been spinning a line and by taking it seriously I'd backed him into a corner he couldn't get out of.
Whatever, that Thursday afternoon we announced he'd got stage fright and we filmed stuff his character wasn't in. At the end Mrs Price gathered us all round and said like casually that if Paul didn't come back I'd take over his part and a couple of people said I didn't look much like a hero and Mrs Price said no but I was a good actor and knew the script and everyone else who could act had parts anyway, which was sort of true.
That night we had a pow wow. Mrs Price had got us together in the paper office after school, and said, look, we need to talk, and because Mom was on late shift again my house seemed like the best place.
When they'd all arrived Mrs Price started things rolling.
"OK, what are we going to do? Are we going to give up?"
I looked up from pouring the wine she'd brought into mugs.
"What choice have we?" I said. "We don't have a male lead."
"So you're just going to give up?"
I handed out the wine and sat down. "Hey, you know, I think it's kind of your call - like all of you... I mean, I'm not getting fucked. Who would you trust? Like, who would you want to bring in?"
There was a silence, which kind of stretched.
"We can't bring anyone else in," said Nancy, "because of the official cut. Like, we've said you're going to do it. How are we going to explain if we suddenly switch you for someone else?"
Mandy said "why do we need to bring anyone in?"
"Well, because! I mean," I said, "who's going to do the fucking fucking?"
"Why not you?"
"Hey, no... hey no... Like, I'm no stud..."
"Kyle," said Mrs Price very directly, kind of schoolteacherish, "Do you actually want to make this film?"
I sort of said I did, if we could.
"Then why not you?"
"Look, do I look like a porn star?"
Mandy said she didn't look like a porn star either.
"Hey," I said, "You're fucking gorgeous. You're all fucking gorgeous. I'm... like... well, look at me... I mean, what woman would want to fuck me?"
"Me!" said Nancy, very firmly.
"Yes," I said, "but that's different..."
"How is it different?"
"Well, like, because we're an item..."
"We are now" she said, with careful emphasis. "Like, that's the point, isn't it?"
Mrs Price sort of called us to order and said OK, what did everyone think about me doing the fucking. She went round us, one at a time, and if seemed even more weirdly schoolteachery. Lill said sort of dubiously that if everyone else was still in she was. Mandy sort of grinned and blushed and said that actually she was quite keen to go ahead, like because she wanted to see her big scene. Nancy said she'd prefer it because it meant she didn't have to cheat on me.
"Hey," I said. "You were only going to have to fuck one other person, and I'm going to have to fuck three!"
There was laughter.
Lill said "like you're objecting?"
"But it's like all in the gang, isn't it?" said Nancy. "I mean it isn't really cheating because I'm in on it... It's like it's in the family..."
"Incest is best" said Mandy, seriously, and we all cracked up.