Expelled(15)

In other words, Felix turned his childhood obsession with America’s Funniest Home Videos into a kind of YouTube empire. This doesn’t necessarily make him director material; I can admit that. But he has a jillion followers and good editing software, so he’ll be a far better bet than we are when it comes to figuring out how to make this movie.

“Hey, Felix,” Jude calls. “Can we talk to you for a second?”

Felix slowly ambles over and then says, in a friendly sort of drawl, “Y’all know my mom told me not to hang out with criminal elements.”

I step forward. “You know we’re not criminal elements,” I say. “Although, actually, that is why we’re here. Do you remember how I let you copy my geometry homework all last year?”

Felix shrugs. “Still only got a C.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, but it’s not my fault that you didn’t copy it very well,” I say. “The thing is, I did that out of the goodness of my heart, and now I’m going to ask you to do something out of the goodness of yours.”

“It’s right up your alley, too,” Jude adds.

Felix looks unconvinced. “Lay it on me,” he says.

“We want you to help us make a movie,” I say.

He laughs. “Seriously? You want me to film you guys, like, I don’t know, reading books or something? Isn’t that what y’all are into? Or helping little old ladies cross the street?”

He’s cracking himself up, but I ignore it. “Jude and I were expelled the other day, as you no doubt know. And so was Sasha Ellis, and so was Parker Harris. I don’t care about Harris, but the rest of us I do care about. We shouldn’t have been kicked out, and we want you to help us prove it.”

“Why me?” Felix asks.

“You have better gear, for starters,” I say.

“He means that you have a lot of natural directorial talent,” Jude interjects.

“Right. Plus you have a channel. If you put something we make on YouTube, a million people are going to see it. And everyone knows that if you want people on your side, you need publicity.”

Felix scratches his chin—a funny, old-man gesture. “It’s a ballsy move,” he says. “That’s cool.” He shakes his head and smiles. “But I don’t think so, man. Dekum and Palmieri are scary, and I gotta keep on their good side, you know?” And he’s about to walk away when something stops him.

I don’t have to turn around to know just what it is.

The look on Felix’s face has changed completely, like he was standing in the pouring rain and suddenly the sun appeared and showered him in warmth and light.

I’m obviously not the only person Sasha has that effect on.

Felix blinks and turns back to me. “She wants to do it, too?”

I nod.

“Jesus,” he says.

Sasha’s beside me now, her sunglasses pushed up on her head and her eyes on Felix. She says, “Hey, F.” Simple as that. Doesn’t even use his full name.

“Hey, girl,” he says.

“Are we making a movie or what?” she asks.

“I don’t know,” Felix says, clearly now tormented by indecision.

Sasha puts her hand, ever so briefly, on his forearm. She says, “Why don’t we just talk about it a little more? Come out to Theo’s place tomorrow after school. Bring a camera.”

Felix shakes his head like he just can’t believe what he’s about to say. “Because I’m a gentleman,” he says, “I agree to discuss this tomorrow.”

Sasha bestows upon him one of her rare smiles.

And I die inside—just a little—because it isn’t meant for me.





14


The next day, as planned, we gather at the Property. Jude, Sasha, and Felix are sitting in a circle on the dock, making small talk and demolishing the supersize bag of Ruffles I picked up at the 7-Eleven. Although Felix looks iffy still, he’s brought his brand-new iPhone, some clip mics, and a small, complicated-looking box he tells us is a field production mixer.

Jude’s going on about the movie Tangerine, which was shot on iPhone 5s’s, while Felix extolls the virtues of aerial drone videography and Sasha demands to know if anyone has seen Hitchcock’s Rear Window, “which is less about creepy voyeurism than it is about the quotidian horror of marriage—I mean, it’s about uxoricide, for godssakes.”

I belatedly realize that I am surrounded by serious AV nerds. Also, I have no idea what uxoricide means.

In other words, so far, so good.

It’s just about time to call the meeting to order when Parker pulls up in his dad’s Escalade, and my mood plummets.

I turn to Sasha. “What’s he doing here?”

“I told him he should come,” Sasha says matter-of-factly. “He was expelled, too, you know.”

“Yeah,” I say, “because, unlike the rest of us, he deserved to be.”

Sasha’s either completely unruffled by my annoyance or else she doesn’t even notice it. “Well, maybe he deserves to be a part of the movie, too.”

“I can’t possibly see why.”

Jude says, “I can. The camera will love those cheekbones.”

Parker’s footsteps are heavy on the wooden dock. He must be two hundred if he’s a pound. Stopping at our circle, he towers over us like a cliff. “Yo,” he says.