Scout Gemmings's Story

Scout tapped her foot on the linoleum floor, her fingers drumming on the marble counters. She smiled as the bell at the front door rang. Without looking up, Scout waved. "Hey Hayden!" Hayden grinned wickedly, sitting down at the counter, starring at her as she cleaned. "A very, very, very sweet coffee please?" Hayden posed with his hands cupped under his chin, his head turned sideways. Scout snorted and flicked him in the head. "Fine," She teased, heading to the kitchen, grabbing a cup of coffee, a can of whipped cream and a few packets of sugar.



Scout set the cup of coffee down in front of him. Hayden winked. "Thanks!" He ripped the sugar packets open, pouring them into the black coffee. He eyed the container of whipped cream. Scout slapped his hand away. "No way, I don't trust you with that thing," She teased, grabbing the whipped cream and putting a small amount into his coffee. "Awww....." Scout laughed and handed him it, and he proceeded to spray it in his mouth. "HEY! I knew it!" Hayden laughed and gave her it back.

"Hey, have you heard about the movie being filmed here? Spotlight?" "Duh, this town is just a grapevine," "Yeah. Apparently they're setting up today," Hayden shrugged. "Hopefully it'll be over with soon," He added. Scout shrugged. "It won't be that bad," "Hey, maybe we should be awesome and audition for something," Scout burst out laughing, slapping the counter. "I'm serious!" "Yes, they're gonna let a weird boy and a girl in a plaid outfit and an apron a part," "True," Hayden shrugged, drinking his coffee.

Quinn was excited as she stepped out of the limo, immediately checking the area for paparazzi or fans. As it seemed, none were there, but that was to be expected. The director himself had informed him that while they had announced the movie was going to be filmed there, that they had not disclosed when Quinn herself would be arriving on the scene. Still, it was habit to look around first before doing anything potentially embarrassing. Paparazzi could get her for anything, seriously. And while she really didn't care about them, she did love her fans, and having them read about how she was "in a relationship" with her cameraman or something silly like that would break her heart. She had long ago decided that the 'razzi were monsters. And they didn't understand a boy and a girl could be friends.


Michael didn't know how he had gotten so lucky to be hanging out with someone like Quinn Westly. Actually, he'd been wondering that for about three years now, since the first time he had stood up behind a camera and found himself being bulldozed by a crying brunette. As soon as he had realized it was her, he made to back off, wanting to comfort her but not wanted to overstep his boundaries. Turns out he didn't have to, she practically threw herself into his arms and proceeded to get snot and tears all over his new shirt. Not that he had complained about that, he hated to see a girl cry and wanted to cheer her up. And somehow he did, and they became best friends quickly. After getting out of the limo behind her, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to kiss her cheek, a purely friendly gesture. "I think I see a cafe, you in?" He grinned, knowing she would always be 'in' for coffee.


"Of course!" Quinn answered with a quiet laugh, leaning into him for a moment before pulling away. One more look around, the coast was clear. Kicking her sandals off, she swooped down to pick them up and took off at a run. "I'll race you there!" She yelled back to him, already off. Behind her, she could hear him laughing then start after her. By the time they reached the cafe, they were both breathing heavy and looked disheveled, exactly like they would if they had just run there. As far as she could tell, only a few people in the cafe paid them any notice, but she knew they were already trying to figure out if she was the Quinn Westly. Hopefully they thought that this crazy-looking girl couldn't be a famous actor. Going to sit up at the bar- two seats away from a cutie blonde -, she took a seat, Michael on the other side of her- not on the blondes side, the other-. "Excuse me, waitress? Could I get two vanilla latte's?" Quinn asked with a friendly smile, hoping she hadn't interrupted anything.

Scout made a click-click sound with her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Sure thing!" Hayden looked back at her. "I'm just saying! This would be a good opportunity!" Scout snorted, starting to get a vanilla latte together. "By that, do you mean a great opportunity to humiliate ourselves?" "Basically, yeah," Hayden grinned in a teasing manner.

"But seriously though, at least you could! Plus I'm cute, so that counts for something!" Scout rolled her eyes. "Yeah, just keep telling yourself that!" "Why can't I be better at something then you? Ever since high-school, I mean seriously! Stop crushing my dreams!" Hayden smiled, showing that he was teasing. "The only reason I beat you at football is that you never really cared," Scout defended, finishing the girl's latte.

"Here ya go," She turned back to Hayden. "Why would you ever think of me as a person to audition? Seriously, it's about an 18 year old girl and what she does to get this big part in a musical. It's like High School Musical all grown up, or maybe Glee," Hayden broke into a fit of laughter. "True, true," He grinned, sipping his coffee.

Quinn turned back to Michael once she told the girl the order, hearing her start making one of the lattes. "Vanilla, really?" She only smiled at her friend, pulling an innocent face. "Come on! You know you love vanilla latte's Michael, don't be such a man." The look on his face after that only made her laugh some more, because he looked seriously confused. One minute she was telling him to be more manly, and the next she was trying to convince him to let her paint his nails. Even if she was nineteen, she acted like a little kid sometimes. Constantly changing her mind about things, unable to make decisions and all that crazy stuff. It was why she hadn't become a director, like she had originally wanted. Sure, she had great ideas and people generally followed her, but she wasn't too good at running things.


When the girl came back and only handed Quinn one latte, he saw the annoyed look flit across her face. Fortunately for the waitress, Quinn hid her emotions well, and she really wasn't one to hold a grudge about a coffee. Instead the golden eyed girl just said thank you and slid the coffee over to him with a calm look that sort of just said, oh well. Then he watched her zone into the conversation happening behind her, and the anger that crossed her face when her musical was compared to High School Musical wasn't something she even tried to control. "Excuse me?" Oh gosh, he thought, watching Quinn spin around to face the two.


Hearing people insult her musical didn't make her angry, it made her furious. If she hadn't thought this wasn't going to be amazing, she wouldn't have accepted the role when she was offered it. Her job wasn't about the money, not for her, it was about doing something that she really enjoyed. They could have offered her a million dollars for it, but if it wasn't something she felt was going to be good, she wouldn't agree. "Did you really just compare my movie to Glee or High School Musical? I have more talent than all of those plastic amateurs combined, and this movie will be incredible. You two are obviously too pin-brained to realize that, or maybe just simply jealous because you don't have the talent for it. You don't even have the talent to be a waitress, I asked for two latte's." Even Quinn seemed surprised that she blew up like that, because almost immediately after her face fell, shoulders slumping as she realized Michael's hand was on her arm and everyone in the cafe was staring at her. "I-I'm sorry, I just-." The place seemed to erupt in chaos then, people starting towards her and asking if she really was Quinn Westly, and for autographs and pictures. She looked hopelessly towards the pair she had just almost-shouted at, and then at Michael, who seemed about as clueless as to what to do as she did.

Scout rolled her eyes. "Hayden, fifty bucks and my BB gun," "Fine," Hayden grumbled, handing a crumpled bill over and a small BB gun. Scout aimed it at the door bell. It rang loudly, making people go silent and turn around. "Alright, break it up people, back to your damn seats," They stirred, grumbling going back to their seats. "Dammit Scout, what was that?" A loud voice boomed. "It was called making people quiet the hell down. Don't know if you've heard of it Dad," Scout growled, starring at her boss/dad. She watched the clock.

"YES! SHIFT'S OVER!" Scout celebrated, ripping off her apron. Hayden snorted. "Let me guess, football field," "You know it Blondie! It was part of the bet anyway, you give me fifty dollars if I accidentally piss off someone, plus you must tag along like you usually do anyway!" Hayden snorted. "Yeah, but you..uh... well, I dunno!" Hayden gave up on a defense. Scout winked at Quinn and the other guy. "If you want to go by unnoticed, don't draw attention to yourself. I recognized you when you walked through the door," She commented.

Michael knew almost immediately that Quinn didn't like this girl, at all. At the same time though, he was not surprised, at all. Quinn just didn't get along with her own species, considered herself a boy half the time. For some reason though, he sort of thought he knew why these two clashed so badly. They both seemed.. really similar. In a few ways at least. He would bet any money that this redhead girl didn't get along with girls either, and she probably considered herself a tomboy too. It was sort of hot, he supposed, which was also weird. She seemed like the exact same person as his Quinnie, but he wasn't attracted to Quinn at all. No offense Quinn, if you can hear my thoughts!


Quinn frowned, not liking the way her hands still trembled from the shot. It reminded her of when someone broke into the house down the street from hers when she was little, how the only thing she had heard was a gunshot and soon after police sirens. It was a long time ago though, and it didn't do her well to dwell on the past. "Thanks." She murmured, pulling out a ten to pay for the latte. Michael had somehow found time to finish it, so at least the ten wasn't going to waste. Or the latte. "Come on babe, let's go do something. I got too much sleep on the plane ride." The brunette said to Michael, pulling him up out of his seat and heading towards the exit.

Suddenly, a whole football team barged through the door. "Hey Scout! Move it or lose it! And Hayden, same goes for you!" The one in the front yelled. "Alright, alright, get your sweaty, stench filled bodies out of here," Scout grinned. The football player tossed her a helmet and a football. She strapped it on and Hayden got one too. "C'mon!"

Scout laughed as she charged ahead of the rest of the team. They started to set up. "What position do ya want to play?" Hayden asked. "I'll just be the wide receiver," Scout shrugged. "And that leaves me as running back," He yelled in triumph. "Let's go!" Scout snorted as they got into playing position. "HUT!"

When they finished up a game, they sat on the benches, cooling off. "You really did piss her off," Hayden grinned. "Thank you," Scout lied. She was concerned, she didn't like being not liked.

Twenty minutes later and they were out at the park, running, Quinn in her sports bra and basketball shorts. Though it was more of a game for the two of them, chasing each other around, seeing who would get to that tree faster or if they could jump a bench without breaking an ankle. They had too much fun together, it shouldn't even be allowed. Actually, she was pretty sure the director would have a cow if he found out what good friends they were. It wasn't like it wasn't allowed, but it probably wasn't proper. And they were all about being proper and all that stuff that she really didn't care for. If she wanted to be friends with Michael, she would be. Luckily the director was hardly even there, at least he hadn't been so far, so she didn't see how it could be a problem. On set they'd be too busy to mess around anyways.


Michael remembered the one time he had kissed Quinn, it was something like this. They'd been running around, just like they were now. Quinn had felt the need to try and tackle him, and they'd ended up tangled on the ground laughing. In the end he had kissed her, and she'd stopped talking to him completely. For a whole month there was just silence on her end. Lucky for him, she came around, and he got over the little crush he had had. This was nice anyways, just being friends. He realized after the fact how much he liked this. They were having a great time until Michael spotted the two from earlier up ahead, sitting on a bench. He thought about telling Quinn, but let her continue running towards them, hoping she would pass and not even recognize them.

Scout looked at an attractive woman and just starred for a moment before looking away. "I'm serious when I say this. If you chopped off your hair, you'd basically be a dude," Hayden commented. "Same with you," "OH BURN!" Hayden laughed. Scout jumped off the bench and put him in a chokehold. "AH!" He gasped for breath. "I SURRENDER DAMMIT!" Scout laughed as she moved her hair back.

"Never say that again, or you're DEAD!" Scout exclaimed. A few people looked their way before a small group approached her. "Hey Scout," They greeted her. Scout smiled, it was the little kids she used to coach in girl's football. "Hey girls!" She smiled cheerfully. They exchanged quick greetings before they ran off. "Well, at least they still remember me," Scout sighed. "Hey, at least you have a future! I dropped out of school, so don't feel sorry for yourself!" "Fine,"

Fortunately for him, they seemed not to notice Quinn, and his girl just ran past them as if she didn't notice them either. He was only a few steps behind, flashing the pair a friendly smile before stepping up his speed a bit to catch up with the actress. Sometimes he still did a double take when he saw her up on stage, doing her thing. It was just, she didn't act like an actress at all. Seeming so down to Earth and nice most of the time, but he knew that was sort of just an act too. Her whole life seemed to be an act, in Michael's eyes. She didn't let anyone close, even he hardly knew anything more than her favorite color and latte flavor. "Hey Quinnie!" He called, making her slow a bit so he could jog beside her. "I'm gonna head back to the hotel, alright?" She nodded, getting out her phone. "Text me if you need me, hell, call me!" He grinned, lightly bumping his arm against hers before veering away.


After Michael left, she grabbed her phone and put her earphones in, content to exercise with some background music. A little bit later she stopped, dropping down a few feet off the path and in the grass. After giving herself a little rest, she started stretching, singing quietly- or sort of loud, since her phones were in and she didn't know - to the song Iris and trying not to think about the pair from earlier. She hated being angry, and yelling at people just made her so mad at herself! It just bothered her so much when they compared the movie to High School Musical, it was almost as bad as comparing it to Twilight or something. And she would admit, she was sort of jealous that that redhead had someone as cute as that blonde, and she couldn't even get a date.

About three minutes later, Scout and Hayden were launched into a debate. "I'm telling you, the fifth season was the best!" Scout argued. "But the sixth one had more action!" "So?" Scout leaned forward, observing a line of ants crawl over her foot. "Why are we even arguing about this?" Scout's voice cracked a little. "Because there's nothing to do around here!" Hayden exclaimed. Scout shrugged. "True," Her voice came out hoarse. Hayden opened his bag and tossed her a cough drop. "Thanks," Scout whispered, popping it into her mouth. Once she had sucked on the cough drop enough, she spoke again.

"Ugh, I wish I didn't sound like a teenage boy. See, that's why I never leave this town. People around here understand, while the rest of the world just assumes," Scout said. "Are you writing a motivation speech? Jesus girl!" Hayden screeched, making Scout burst into a fit of laughter. Leaning back, she posed with her legs crossed and stroked her chin. "It's elementary dear Hayden, elementary," "I can't tell if you're trying to be Sherlock Homes or Batman," Scout laughed, and flicked Hayden in the head. "Why must you hurt me so?" Hayden asked with puppy eyes, making Scout laugh a little harder.

When Scout stopped laughing, Hayden grinned at her. "I bet you... twenty bucks that if you put your hair up, put a helmet on and full football gear, someone will think you're a guy," Hayden challenged. "Only if you give me twenty bucks if someone does! Otherwise, no," "That would just be paying for yourself to humiliate yourself," Hayden complained. Scout rolled her eyes and got on her feet. "Whatever," She waved him off. "Oh, when since did you become a teenager?" "Technically, I still am," Scout offered. Hayden snorted and got to his feet too.

"I'm bored," He announced. "That has got to be the most common phrase used here in Pinestaff," Scout laughed. Hayden grinned. "Guess what?" He said, tapping on the bench's smooth wood surface. "What?" Scout asked. "I'm bored," He replied. Scout hit her head with her hand. "Wow. Just wow," Hayden laughed as they absent-mindly walked around the park.

Quinn used to run around with the boys a lot when she was little. It was just force of habit, because instead of being blessed with an older sister to show her the ways of make up and boys, she was cursed with an older brother who knew more about sports and how to be a guy. That's how she grew up, following Colton around, wishing she could be like him. Back before she had realized that she sort of liked being a girl, she even tried out for the boys baseball team in ninth grade. It was probably that incident that set her in her ways, since they'd only laughed at her and said she should go join softball. Fortunately for them, she wasn't holding a bat. When she was though, she proved them all wrong. And then she'd turned down their offer to be part of the team. Silly, maybe, but again it was just how she was.

Pulling her earphones out, she tucked both them and her phone into her pockets, moving a little closer towards the little pond. Finding a nice tree for shade, she laid out underneath it, still close enough to the path that she could see what was going on up there. Sadly, that meant they could see her too, but she didn't dwell on that. She hesitated before pulling her phone out again, sending a quick text to Michael wondering if he had made it back to the hotel before she pulled her hair down, letting it fall around her as she laid back and waited for a reply.

Today was a day, in time. One more second Aurora was here and not in New York, or London, or Maui, or Chicago. Here in this small little town she had grown accustom to. Living with her father, who'd gone broke when her parents divorced. SO living here was a truly horrible punishment she didn't deserve. Yet some how she made this small town work. She'd memorized every square inch of it. And kept up with the town gossip like it was no ones business.

Aurora had found out early in the month that a movie was being filmed here, in this small ragged town. Yes, a movie. They must have wanted to make the movie look as real life as possible. Well they found a good place. Aurora had already promised herself she would interview the leads. Yes she would make it happen, if it meant sneaking onto the set and into a trailer dressing room, then it would happen. And the interview would go up on her blog and get tons of reblogs, go worldwide famous and well that was all in her head, but any one can dream.

Anyways, the young girl walked happily along the side walk, her small white bag swinging along over her shoulder. She wore white jeans(a risky but worth it decision) and alight blue top that hung comfortably over her shoulders. She'd brushed her hair out, waves of dark brown hair lay across her shoulders. She carried her notebook along in her purse and was headed to the park, to take a rest from her walk. As she walked over Aurora saw Hayden and Scout nearby. She waved to them slightly but sat down alone at a bench. Scout would be pretty, if she tryed.. Aurora thought pulling out her notebook.

Hayden grinned at Aurora and pulled Scout along. He took a few steps back from the bench Aurora was on. Then he did a backflip, landing... not so perfectly on the bench. He ended up upside-down, his legs braced up against the back of the bench. "Ow," He muttered. Scout broke into a fit of laughter.

"Nice... fall?" She offered, clapping her hands slowly and sarcastically. "Yeah... I meant to do that," Hayden groaned, dusting off his jeans and taking Scout's hand and stood up. "You alright?" "Nah, I died," Hayden said sarcastically. Scout rolled her eyes, then sat down normally next to Aurora.

"Hey-o! It's been awhile, what's new with you? Wait, bad question. Nothing happens here. Alright, how are you today?" Scout offered as Hayden plopped down. "Smooth Scout," Hayden teased, earning him a flick in the head from Scout. "Ow! That actually hurt! How is that possible?" Hayden cried as Scout shook her head, rolling her eyes.

"Great! We just finished up a game, and the quarterback, he was running and-" Hayden went on and on for about a minute about football. "And then-" Scout cleared her throat loudly. "What?" Hayden asked. "You are aware that she doesn't even know what you're talking about, and even if she did, well then she still wouldn't care, right?" Scout snorted. "Whatever!" Hayden said in a high-school valley girl voice. Scout rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, we heard about the movie," "Scout managed to piss off the leading lady at the cafe," Hayden grinned. "It was mainly your fault, you were distracting me and making fun of the movie first," "Whatever!: Hayden repeated. Scout laughed. "Anyway, My dad is going to throw one of those cocktail parties because the movie is going to bring in more customers. It's tonight at 6:30, so it'll be the most exciting thing in years. A bunch of people drinking and laughing randomly," Scout shrugged. THere was a loud rumble. Hayden looked up. "Is that a bus?" "Yep, and full of tourists and crazy fans," Scout sighed as multiple cars pulled up.

As soon as Hayden said "quarterback" Aurora went in to immediate zoning out mode. Only to come back to reality at a girly pitch of Hayden's voice. He then began to speak "Yeah, we heard about the movie, Scout managed to piss off the leading lady at the cafe," "You saw here?! What!?" She began freaking out, "What time?" Aurora opened her notebook writing in it Star at the Cafe, in the morning...snobby... "I really want to interview her...er well met her." She told them. Scout was changing the subject though "My dad is going to throw one of those cocktail parties because the movie is going to bring in more customers. It's tonight at 6:30, so it'll be the most exciting thing in years. A bunch of people drinking and laughing randomly," "A cocktail party? But none of us are even old enough to drink...well Hayden almost is right?" Sure it would still be fun to go though, maybe she'd find out more about the movie. "Sure I'll be there!" She grinned looking at both of them.

Quinn, after awhile, got up from her space beneath the tree and started walking back to where her and Michael left their duffel. Once she got close to the site though, she noticed three people sitting on a bench near the black bag, and immediately recognized two. The cute boy and the waitress, both sitting with some brunette that looked like a grouchy bitch from where she was. Then again, you can't judge a book by it's cover, she chided herself. But she also didn't have to engage said book in conversation just to piss herself off. It wasn't like she was a mean person, she really wasn't most of the time, but the first few weeks of a movie she was usually so frazzled, little things set her off.

Trying to sneak by the group as inconspicuously as possible, she walked past looking as if she hadn't even noticed them. Two more benches down and she found her bag, and quickly picked it up to sit it on the wooden boards. Pulling a Hollister hoodie out, she put that on and got a few looks, as if some of the guys at the park were disappointed she'd put a shirt on. Closing the bag again, she didn't notice the phone falling out of the bag, and started lazily walking towards her hotel.

"True, but we can still mess around. Plus, you might get some more boring stuff to turn interesting. I have to go anyway, my Dad happens to suck. I have to work at the cafe he owns, and I don't get a single dime! Ever!" Scout complained. Hayden shrugged. "I drink every once and awhile," "Yeah, at church," Scout said, rolling her eyes. "You're making me sound uncool," Hayden complained. "You did that yourself," Scout shot back. Hayden watched Quinn.

"Looks like a fan frenzy's about to happen, Quinn just dropped her phone," Hayden reported. A sudden rush of people came out of their vans, flashing pictures, not realizing the lost phone. Sighing, Hayden walked a few feet and picked it up. "Ugh, that was so hard!" He joked. Scout rolled her eyes. A sudden flash went off near them. "Ah!" "Take a picture over there, we can use it for the front page," A woman commanded to a troupe of photographers. Scout spied a small clip badge hanging off her jacket pocket. Squinting, she read it.

"Looks like the movie attracted the mother of all tabloids, and here's the editor," Scout sighed. "We have to deal with this until the movie's filmed? Wonderful," Hayden said sarcastically. Scout rolled her eyes.

"So are you going to return the phone or just complain all day?" "I'm not sure, let me think," Hayden snorted. Scout rolled her eyes. "Here, give me the phone," She snatched it from his hands. Walking around the paparazzi, she jogged slowly after Quinn, making sure she didn't draw attention to Quinn. Paparazzi was never fun, she could tell. "Here, you dropped your phone," Scout quickly handed it off, then jogged back to the bench.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Scout announced. "That's just your opinion," Hayden complained. "How lazy are you?" Scout cried. "I'm not lazy... I'm just highly motivated to do nothing," Hayden said. "Big words for you," Scout teased. "Whatever!" Hayden repiled in his valley girl voice.