༊*·˚*ೃ༄

your best friend just got stabbed

the cast of the movie had been filming for almost two months at that point, and that day in april was the last scene they'd film. timothée was pleasantly relieved to see that nothing much impacted the andy-april chemistry between him and haley. at least the two were able to hold casual conversations with each other and crack jokes on set.

"HALEY!" bellowed james, his voice crackling through a megaphone. they were filming outside on set in los angeles, and he was directing a crane shot from up above, seated behind the camera.

"YOU WERE JUST STABBED BY A PATHETIC PLASTIC KNIFE, BUT YOU FEEL INCREDIBLE PAIN IN YOUR SHOULDER! HOW WOULD YOU FEEL?" the director screamed down at her.

"I'D BE ANNOYED AS HELL, JAMES."

"GIVE SOME MORE OF THAT PLEASE!" he yelled at her. "AND TIMOTHEE?"

timmy didn't want to lose his voice, so he tried climbing the crane a little so he'd hear better.

james took a breath. "you're filming this all on a camera, and i'm gonna get that blurry movement shot for some scenes. i need you to convey urgency, got it? how would you feel if haley was stabbed?"

"ummm, angry?" he replied.

"yes, but no. you feel frantic. your best friend just got stabbed, for chrissake. one more, from the top."

they clambered into position by a doorway once again on the set in los angeles that mimicked 23rd street in new york accompanied by loads of extras, one of them being the author of the book himself: hank green. he had a goofy smile on his face and had a phone out, like most of the extras there that were also holding up protest signs.

timothée picked up the DSLR camera that his character was using to film april (haley's character) and followed her into frame.

"ready?" haley asked him, as the clapper loader positioned the board in front of the camera.

"ready."

haley made a move to get out the fake apartment door they had set up, as a large crowd of extras jostled around in front of her to get a view of the giant alien statue that was position a couple meters away.

"april, i have to advise you not to go out there right now," andre braugher told her. he had a small role to play, which was april's doorman.

"what fantastic advice jerry. don't worry, it's more of a party than a protest!" she said loudly, since the crowd of extras began cheering loudly. timothée acted unsettled, but he continued filming with his camera. his character, andy, didn't like the idea of april getting out there and mingling with the crowd.

"april may here on 23rd, just outside gramercy theatre, also known as the residence of new york carl." haley began confidently. "a few members of the defenders movement have continued to protest the appearance of a clearly benign presence in our lives, but the impromptu response to their violent attacks will go down in history as one of hope and solidarity." timothée couldn't help smiling behind the camera as he followed her into the crowd. she delivered her lines so easily, so casually, so surely, he forgot that she was the same insecure haley that he used to know.

the crowd around them cleared little by little, then: "HEY, APRIL!" hank shouted. they had rehearsed his cameo for almost half an hour, so they knew what to do at that point. he was holding a sign that said, "DO NOT DESTROY THIS ABSOLUTELY REMARKABLE THING". haley shouted out some response to him, then timothée followed her as she walked backwards heading to carl while saying a couple lines.

"on this truly terrible day the world mourns. but we have to remember that this was not done by an evil world or an evil species, it was done by a few individuals. their goal is to be terrifying, and they have succeeded. i'm scared. of course i am, just like all of you are. this was caused by a few fools who killed themselves and others for some unfounded ideal that took hold in their broken hearts—i'm not afraid of them, i'm afraid of their fear." she said, emphatically. "these people... THIS DEMONSTRATION!" she shouted, and everyone let out a huge cry.

"this is humanity: solidarity in the face of fear. if the carls are here for any reason," haley continued, reciting lines they got straight out of the book, "then maybe they're here to teach us about ourselves." right after that, quick as a flash, a person came from behind, aiming for haley's shoulder. the extras were all shouting in anger, pushing to get through to the attacker, when haley let out a gut-wrenching shriek.

that was his cue. timothée ran forward, the fist with the camera in the air, and brought it down to hit the guy, except the actor had already left and managed to dump a bucket of purple jelly onto haley's shoulder. "are you okay?!" he shouted, agitated.

"yeah, i think i'm fine. though it seems like... there's a knife in my back."

"OH MY GOD APRIL, THERE'S A FUCKING KNIFE IN YOU." at this, it fell out, clattering to the ground, and it is shown that the knife is nothing but six inches of plastic.

"andy, this does not feel so good." haley told him. "can you grab the camera for me?"

"APRIL, YOU'VE JUST BEEN FUCKING STABBED." timothée screamed, acting annoyed at haley, but also showing concern. "WE NEED HELP HERE!"

"ANDY GIVE ME THE DAMN CAMERA," insisted haley, even though she was supposed to pass out at that point. timothée improvised along with her, tugging the camera away from reach before she fell down in her back, pretending to be unconscious.

"CUT!" shouted james. the next scene had been filmed hours earlier, so they skipped to the next one.

haley was cleaned up then positioned in an ambulance, a camera joining her to film her interaction with anya-taylor joy, who had a small role playing a paramedic named jessica.

"andy!" haley called. timothée dashed in, looking confused. "i need that memory card. the cops'll ask you for it, you know they will. let me sit on it for a while."

"you are shockingly lucid for someone with a hole in their shoulder." he said, shaking his head as he began to pull the card out. "what about the last line?"

"let's do it now."

so that's how haley said the last lines for that scene lying sideways in a gurney, ambulance lights flickering in the background, purple jelly on her face, and nothing but a blanket covering her top half.

"as i was saying, even on this most terrible of days, even when the worst of us are all we can think of, i am proud to be a human." she concluded.

once the scene cut, everybody began to scream and cheer and clap. it was, like mentioned earlier, the last scene of the film, and it all felt like a little family that would be left behind.

"WE DID IT!" haley screamed to timothée over all the noise.

"YOU DID SO GREAT, GUYS," yara shouted.

hank green clambered to the top of james' director's seat, which was elevated over everybody and said a few words into the mic tearfully.

"you guys are the best, you all helped create my vision written on paper into a reality." he concluded. "SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR FOR THE PREMIERE, FRIENDS!" he shouted, his energy was contagious.

another rousing cheer came up, and the crowd dispersed for the last time.

I MISS YOU, I'M SORRY