Alice: “I know. It needs a few rewatches before you’ll really get it, and even then it’s still up for so many interpretations. Did it make you uncomfortable?”
You notice there’s a small smile tugging at her lips. She’s trying to conceal her glee, but can’t quite manage it.
You nod slowly, this movie would’ve made anyone uncomfortable you think, so there’s no reason to lie about it.
She breaks into a grin.
Alice: “That’s what makes this movie so great. It really makes you feel something.”
Alice Social Link - The Tower 1
Alice
“Oh, you’re the new sign up, right?” She says, her voice a little husky. She almost sounds a little bitter, you think. “I didn’t think anyone would show up.”
You walk over to where she’s sitting, expecting her to have a sign in sheet for you to mark yourself off on, but when she realises what you’re about to do she quickly pulls the sheet closer to herself.
Alice
“Don’t bother. No one comes to these. You can like, do homework or something. I didn’t prepare a movie for us to watch.”
You ask her where everyone is, and she sighs, like she expects you to somehow know.
Alice
“People just sign up for this club so they can go home early. Plus I don’t have any more movies to show since they made it not okay for me to show pirated stuff.” She sighs and rolls her eyes. “What a stupid rule. Why do they care anyway.”
You’re planning to meet up with your friends after this hour, so you’re not interested in going home. You suggest you could bring in some movies next time. Alice seems taken aback you’re actually putting in effort to spend time with her. You can’t say the hour was spent well or that you had much fun, all you really did was make a list of movies you know your aunt owns while Alice sat nearby and looked on. You slip the list towards her and she takes it, giving you a look as if she’s offended by whatever you wrote. It takes her a moment, almost as if she thinks she’s doing something wrong, but she croaks a hesitant “Thanks”.
You feel a faint bond forming between the two of you.
You feel a faint bond forming between the two of you.
You’ve unlocked The Tower Arcana.
Alice Social Link - The Tower 2
You’re sitting with Alice as she goes through the DVDs you’ve brought in. Her expression is her usual scowl, with a slight tinge of nervousness mixed in. You’re not sure why, but every time you’re with Alice it feels like you’ve just hurt her feelings but she doesn’t want to admit it. It’s unpleasant, but you’re not ready to give up on the AV club yet.
Alice
“I’ve seen all of these already,” she sighs without looking at you, “but that doesn’t mean we can’t watch one of them anyway, if you want.” She gives you a look that indicates she hopes you don’t. You decide to pick one of the movies you’ve also already seen yourself, but it’s been a long time and you remember it being quite good.
You watch the movie together in silence, a table between the two of you. You’re not sure, but you get the sense Alice relaxes a little as the movie goes on, though she also seems to get more and more fidgety. When the movie is over, you get up to put the DVD back in its case.
Alice
“We’re supposed to discuss the movie now, like, themes or something, or stuff about the director. But we went overtime by half an hour cos we watched the whole thing, so that should probably wait until next time. Or not, I don’t really care for it.”
You ask her why she didn’t stop the movie. She looks at you as if you slapped her.
Alice
“You picked it, I didn’t want you to get mad if I turned it off.”
You ask her why that would make you mad; now you might be late for something else because you lost track of time. Her eyes widen as if she can’t believe what she’s hearing, but she can’t seem to formulate a response. She rakes a hand through her hair in frustration.
Alice
“Look, I just didn’t know what to do. Next time, we’ll watch something shorter, okay? If you’re still gonna show up.”
You tell her you will. At this point it almost feels like a competition to keep showing up to the club even if Alice doesn’t seem to want you there. Something tells you she’s hiding something from you. She did seem to relax during the movie, you think her demeanor isn’t entirely truthful, like she’s shielding herself from you.
Alice
“Well… See you next week, then,” she says, once again averting her eyes. “This was… an okay time, I guess.”Alice Social Link - The Tower 3
When you walk into the AV room you find Alice already there, as usual, but instead of her usual scowl she has a slightly manic looking expression on her face this time. It’s as if she’s desperately been waiting for you to get here. You can see she’s got a VHS case clutched in her arms, but you can’t see what movie it is; her thick woollen sleeves cover the front.
Alice
“This is my favourite movie,” she says, sounding feverish, without greeting you. “It’s only forty minutes, but it’s great.”
You sit down in your usual spot as Alice puts the tape into the VCR player. The movie starts on a black screen and shows credits in a language you don’t recognise for about a minute before the actual movie starts. From there your senses are objected to bizarre scene after bizarre scene, every new scene more disjointed and obscene than the one before. You feel Alice’s eyes bore into you; she’s watching you, not the movie.
When the movie finally ends, the forty minutes feeling like they were the longest of your life, Alice doesn’t get up to take the tape out of the player and instead lets it automatically go into rewind. She is still looking at you.
When the movie finally ends, the forty minutes feeling like they were the longest of your life, Alice doesn’t get up to take the tape out of the player and instead lets it automatically go into rewind. She is still looking at you.
Alice
“What did you think?” she asks. She is studying your face intently as you think up a response; you can’t figure out if she wants to hear that you liked the movie or that she wants honesty.She blinks. It’s obvious she doesn’t believe you.
Alice: “You didn’t look like you were enjoying it while it was playing.”
You’re at a loss for what to say. Did she want you to hate the movie?
Alice smiles widely, and a slightly off-putting chuckle escapes her lips.
Alice: “That’s how most people feel about it. It made you really uncomfortable, right? I saw you trying not to squirm.”
She seems to delight in your disgust at her favorite movie. You’ve never seen her this happy.
She finally gets up to retrieve the tape and put it back into its case. You can see the cover now; it’s a painting, garish colors depicting a lewd scene from the movie in a way you can only describe as tacky. If you didn’t know better you’d think it was the sort of tape you can only find behind the curtained off section of a video rental shop.
You ask her why she likes the movie, especially since she seems happy you didn’t enjoy watching it. She turns to you, clutching the tape in her hands. You notice her nails are bitten down to the skin, and she’s got fraying hangnails on multiple fingers.
You ask her why she likes the movie, especially since she seems happy you didn’t enjoy watching it. She turns to you, clutching the tape in her hands. You notice her nails are bitten down to the skin, and she’s got fraying hangnails on multiple fingers.
Alice
“It’s intense. It’s hard to make sense of, the way the director put it together you don’t get eased into scenes as a watcher, they throw you right into the madness. And when you finally get used to it a bit, it switches to the next scene, usually more out there than the one before it. You don’t get to adjust to it.”She thinks a moment, before she continues. She absentmindedly picks at the corner of the plastic case.
“It’s not nice, but it makes you feel something every time. It got less bad for me because I’ve seen it so much, I have to make other people watch it with me to get the same uncomfortable feeling, but I still think it's powerful.”
She puts the tape in her bag. “It’s actually why nobody shows up to the club anymore. Because I showed them this movie.” She smiles again, but something about it seems a little insincere.
“Well, there was one person who still came. It was just him and me for a bit. But then he stopped coming too.” She looks at you again, this time looking much more like her usual miserable self. “Are you gonna stay away too, now?”
You shake your head. You’re going to keep showing up. If Alice wants to turn the club’s time into a competition where she tries to gross you out, you’re up for the challenge. She seems a little surprised, but you think you also spy some relief.
Alice
“Oh,” she says quietly. “Hm. I gotta think about what to do next week, then.” She averts her eyes. “I… think I’m a little happy about that. I’ll see you then.”Alice Social Link - The Tower 4
You and Alice decided to go into town to get new movies for the AV club. The school’s own collection of movies is rather abysmal, except for some foreign art movies the language teachers like to use to supplement their lesson plan, and Alice has already seen them all.
You’re in the one second hand shop Grey Springs has - which admittedly has a lot of variety in items for a shop of its kind in a small town. There’s a section for clothing, old electronics, unwanted furniture that smells of ancient cigars and dust, a small toy section and a small room in the back that is filled wall to wall with DVDs and even several rows of VHS tapes. You’ve picked out a few DVDs yourself, but you’re mostly carrying movies that Alice has handed you as she’s nosing through the shelves. You don’t talk much, but there is something nice about scouring the shelves together; Alice seems to be in her element.
She’s currently crouched down, contemplating a DVD she’s pulled off the shelves. She flips it towards you, so you have a better view of the cover. “Have you seen this one? It’s a romcom which I don’t normally like, but it is a classic, and we’re running a film club, so we should have a little bit of everything, I think…”
You’re about to answer her when a young man walks up behind you.
You’re in the one second hand shop Grey Springs has - which admittedly has a lot of variety in items for a shop of its kind in a small town. There’s a section for clothing, old electronics, unwanted furniture that smells of ancient cigars and dust, a small toy section and a small room in the back that is filled wall to wall with DVDs and even several rows of VHS tapes. You’ve picked out a few DVDs yourself, but you’re mostly carrying movies that Alice has handed you as she’s nosing through the shelves. You don’t talk much, but there is something nice about scouring the shelves together; Alice seems to be in her element.
She’s currently crouched down, contemplating a DVD she’s pulled off the shelves. She flips it towards you, so you have a better view of the cover. “Have you seen this one? It’s a romcom which I don’t normally like, but it is a classic, and we’re running a film club, so we should have a little bit of everything, I think…”
You’re about to answer her when a young man walks up behind you.
???
“Um, aren’t you supposed to be in school right now?” he says in an unnecessarily smarmy tone.
Both you and Alice turn around; and she quickly gets to her feet when she seemingly recognises the young man. She has dropped the dvd to her side, holding it limply between her fingers, her other hand balled in a fist in contrast.
Alice
“We’re getting stuff for the AV club, *Gabriel*,” she sneers, putting emphasis on the man’s name.
Now that you see him up close, you notice he can’t be much older than you are; calling him a man might be a little premature even. He seems to think he’s of some importance though, or at least holds some superiority over you with the way he’s standing with his arms crossed and chin slightly tilted up. He’s taller than both of you so him putting extra effort in to look down on you seems pretty stupid to you.
Alice
“Shouldn’t you be at your super important job, or something?”
Gabriel
He rolls his eyes. “You know that I only work late shifts during the week. They'll manage without me before then. And they know where to find me, if not.”
Alice
“You’re so annoying,” she says through gritted teeth. Her nails are clamped on the plastic case, leaving sharp indents. At this point you’ll have to buy the DVD now whether Alice wants to watch it or not, you think.“Why are you at a second hand store anyway, shouldn’t you be buying suits in the city or something?”
Gabriel
“They have nice vests!”
For a moment the facade of superiority drops and he sounds rather pathetic trying to defend his old man fashion sense to Alice. He quickly tries to regain his composure but doesn’t fully manage to.
Gabriel
“Anyway, I just came over to say mom expects you to be home by six today. You’ve stayed out after dark a lot lately and she’s worried. So there.” He quickly turns around and walks off before Alice can respond.
Alice lets out a frustrated growl as she angrily brushes her free hand through her tangled dark hair, her other hand holding up the DVD next to her head.
Alice
“He’s so ANNOYING!” she says again.When she puts her hands down you see her face has turned a deep red. She doesn’t want to make eye contact with you.
“That was my brother. He’s a total loser and my parents love him. I know mom doesn’t like me staying out, I bet she didn’t tell him to say that to me at all, he just wanted to act high and mighty. I hate him…”
She hands you the DVD. The cover is damaged where she clawed at it, warping the actors’ faces. You discreetly hide it between two other DVDs, hoping the clerk won’t notice.
Alice
“Let’s go pay for these." She sounds even more miserable than usual. “The club has a set budget and I’ve lost count of how much these’ll cost.”
You pay for the movies and as you expected they cost almost nothing; but you don’t say anything to Alice. You suspect she just wants to get out of the store. You walk back to the school in a thick and awkward silence; you don’t feel comfortable breaking it, and besides, you don’t know what to say to cheer Alice up.
When you get back to the clubroom you sit with Alice as she files the movies in the online system the club has; something you didn’t know about before. There’s only one other movie listed on there so far, Alice’s favourite, the anxiety-inducing independent fever dream she showed you last week.
When you get back to the clubroom you sit with Alice as she files the movies in the online system the club has; something you didn’t know about before. There’s only one other movie listed on there so far, Alice’s favourite, the anxiety-inducing independent fever dream she showed you last week.
Alice
“He’s just a cashier, did you know that,” she suddenly says. You haven’t spoken in the last 15 minutes but it’s obvious she’s talking about her brother.“Well, store manager or whatever, but who cares since it comes down to the same thing. Julian Weaver works there too, so I thought maybe you’d know. You guys are friends, right?” You nod.
Julian doesn’t talk about his job much, but you do remember the occasional mention of his boss and how seriously he takes the job.
“He acts like he owns the whole chain or something. And so do my parents. He still lives at home with us, how good can that job really be.”
Alice is clearly hung up on this, though she manages to file away each movie accurately as she rapidly types the titles and years into the system.
Alice
“They’re all like ‘oh look at what Gabriel’s done, he’s really made something of himself, we’re so proud’ They’re clearly angry that I don’t have a job.” She stops typing and looks up at you, her eyes glinting with a fire you haven’t seen in her before.“He didn’t have a job when he was my age! He didn’t even run a club. But back then they would always talk about how he never had a failing grade. They weren’t even GOOD grades, they just never fell below a passing mark. My grades are way better, but they won’t say anything about that. They’ll just use it to say that means I have time for a job. I spend most of my free time studying, can I have no time to myself?” She looks at you again, then becomes slightly flustered as she blinks a couple of times and looks away.
“Um, anyway. Do you think going to college is worth it?”
Alice nods thoughtfully, and turns back to the computer to continue filing movies before she answers.
Alice: “I think so too. If you work as hard as you can, you can really find out what you’re truly capable of achieving. I’m looking into universities already, even though it’s still a while away. I want to make sure I’m prepared when the time comes for applications.”
Alice averts her eyes from you and stifles a sigh. She turns back to the computer.
Alice:“My parents think so too. You don’t need all that for a job in Grey Springs, they say. Gabriel made it to store manager or whatever and he never went to college.”
You can tell she wants to say something else, and her face grows dark. But she doesn’t say anything more.
Alice: “Right? I think if you’re passionate about something and you want to spend time and effort pursuing it, you should! Even if it means leaving behind your hometown. Even if no one else in your family feels the same way.”
She absentmindedly closes her fists as she seems to think something over.
Alice
“After I graduate, I’m out of this place,” she says, her voice suddenly sharp. Before you can say anything, she closes the laptop and turns to you. “Club time’s over. You should go home.”
She gets up and heads for the door before you can get a word in. She grabs the door handle, but hesitates for a moment and turns back to you.
Alice
“Thanks for today. I had fun, even if Gabriel sorta ruined it. And, um. Thanks for hearing me out.” She quickly turns around again and leaves the room. You're quite sure you saw her turn a little red before she could hide her face from you.Alice Social Link - The Tower 5
When you enter the AV room you find Alice hasn’t arrived yet. You spy a bright pink notebook on the table she usually sits at. You know it’s hers, you’ve seen her write in it before during class. You wait a few minutes, but Alice never shows. Maybe she’s sick? After ten minutes you decide to go home. You pick up her notebook and put it in your bag; you’ll give it to her next time you see her.
The next day you spend the free hour before club time with Julian. You’re getting through some homework together when Julian spies the pink notebook in your backpack. He pulls it out before you can stop him.
Julian
“Didn’t know you were a hot pink kind of guy,” he says with a chuckle as he flips the notebook open.You explain to him it’s Alice’s, and that you don’t think he should read it. “Lezniki’s? Why do you have her notebook? Ezra used to be in the movie club with her, you know. He seemed to like her. Dunno how, she always looks super pissed off when I see her. I think they got in a fight, he stopped going after…”
Julian trails off as his eyes scan the pages of the notebook. You thought it was homework for one subject or another, but from the bit of the page you can see it looks like a story of some kind. You spot quotation marks and the blocks of text are neatly divided into paragraphs. Julians brows knit together in confusion, and his expression slowly turns to disgust as he keeps reading. You ask what’s wrong, but he flips the page without answering. He quickly scans the next two pages, then flips through a few more.
Julian
“This is all about Ezra. She wrote a story about him.” He closes the notebook and moves it a couple of inches away from himself, as if it exudes an unpleasant aura.“About him and her. And it’s really dirty. What the hell?” He looks at you as if he expects you to have an answer for him.
You take the notebook and have a look for yourself. You close it again quickly after reading only a few lines; you don’t know if you got unlucky and happened to open the notebook on a particularly steamy page or if the whole story is like that. Julian gets up and grabs the notebook.
Julian
“I’m gonna confront her. This is way weird, why does she think she can write shit like that about him?”
You rush after him as he makes his way to the AV club room.
This time Alice is there. She looks up at the door as it opens, her expression hopeful until she sees it’s not you, but Julian who opened the door. Her eyes cloud over for a moment, before they widen in shock as her eyes fall on the notebook. She scrambles to her feet and runs over, demanding Julian give her the notebook.
This time Alice is there. She looks up at the door as it opens, her expression hopeful until she sees it’s not you, but Julian who opened the door. Her eyes cloud over for a moment, before they widen in shock as her eyes fall on the notebook. She scrambles to her feet and runs over, demanding Julian give her the notebook.
Julian
“Why the hell are you writing about Ezra?”
Alice turns beet red and momentarily leaves the notebook for what it is, instead pushing you out of the way to close the door.
Alice
“Stop shouting,” she hisses. “The whole school doesn’t have to know.”
Julian
“Answer me!” Julian waves the notebook around.
Alice turns her back to the door, but doesn’t make eye contact with either of you.
Alice
“That’s none of your business,” she growls. “That’s mine, it’s private! Why do you have it anyway?” Her eyes briefly flick to yours, and she gives you a look of betrayal.
You want to say Julian snatched it from you before you could stop him, but you feel too ashamed to say anything. You could have stopped him, but you didn’t. And you have to admit to yourself that you were also curious about the contents of the notebook.
Julian
“Ezra’s my best friend, it is my business! Does he know you wrote this?”
Alice
“It’s not about you! Just give it back!” You hear the lock click behind Alice’s back. “I’m not letting you go until you give it back,” she says through gritted teeth.
Julian takes a step towards her.
Alice
“If you touch me I’ll scream!"Julian:“Why are you on her side? Don’t you think this is weird? Doesn’t Ezra deserve to know about this?”
Alice:“It’s a private thing I wrote for myself, no one was supposed to ever read it,” Her voice is shaking. “If you give it back I promise I’ll destroy it, okay?”
Alice:“I know, I left it here. But I didn’t think you’d let a friend of yours read it. I never would have if I suspected you’d do that.”
Julian:“You meant for Yon to find this?” He waves the notebook around again, as if it's a dead animal carcass Alice left for you as some sort of warning.
“Did you want him to read it? Are you gonna write a story about him now?”
His voice pitched up with every new question. You try to snatch the notebook off him, but he deftly moves it out of your reach.
Alice:“It was just for me, not anyone else. I thought you…” Alice sighs and casts her eyes to the floor. She is still blocking the door, but most energy seems to have left her.
She slouches her shoulders as she continues to speak. “With the time we’ve spent together, I thought I got to know you a little, and you got to know me, and… I thought you’d give it back.”
Julian:“Did you really think he wasn’t gonna read it? Especially if you left it on purpose.”
Alice:“It would have been fine if it had been Yon who read it,” Her eyes are full or fire once they’re locked on Julian again. “Not YOU. I don’t even know who you are!”
Alice suddenly lunges towards Julian. He takes a step back and tries to hold the notebook out of her reach, but she moves so fast she collides with him. Julian lets out a cry of pain and drops the notebook, which Alice picks up so quickly you hear it rip. She’s back in front of the door before you know it, clutching the notebook to her chest. The bright pink cover has a large tear on it.
Julian
“She bit me!” He studies his hand with wide eyes. “What is wrong with you?”
Alice
“I had no choice,” she hisses. “You made me do that.”
Julian
“Freak."He looks at you. “Do you think I should ask the nurse to take a look at this?” You see a bright red ring of teeth on the inside of Julians hand, between his thumb and forefinger. It looks like Alice bit hard enough to break skin; you see two drops of blood begin pearling at the edges of the bite.
“What if I get sick,” he says more quietly, as if he’s worried he’s saying something stupid.
Alice
“Sure, just get me expelled. Like you haven’t done enough damage already. And for the record,” she adds loudly to drown out Julian’s retort, “Ezra knows about the story. He read it.”She then leaves, slamming the door behind her. You think she looked like she was on the verge of tears.
Julian
“He knew? ...He never told me. Wouldn’t you tell a friend if some girl wrote a story like that about you?”
You shrug. It would probably depend on how you felt about the girl, and the story. Maybe Ezra had felt the same. Julian is wiping the blood from his hand with his other thumb. No new droplets appear.
Julian
“Whatever, it’s not that deep I don’t think. Still, who the hell bites another person over something like that? Is she like that during club meetings?”
You tell Julian that Alice is a little weird, but that you like spending time with her.
You offer to talk to her about what happened today, though you’re really not sure she will want to speak to you again, as it seems letting Julian read her notebook betrayed her trust in you. Then again, it’s not like you knew she was trying to test you, and her testing you to begin with was a strange thing to do.
You and Julian walk home together. He keeps talking about the story. You begin to wonder if he wants to read it again with how he won’t stop talking about it in such detail. You don’t ask; you don’t want to know.
The rest of the evening you can’t help but think about Alice, and wonder how she’s doing. Maybe you should apologise to her? Despite how it turned out, you feel closer to her. She tried to show you something important to her, and you failed to accept it.
You offer to talk to her about what happened today, though you’re really not sure she will want to speak to you again, as it seems letting Julian read her notebook betrayed her trust in you. Then again, it’s not like you knew she was trying to test you, and her testing you to begin with was a strange thing to do.
You and Julian walk home together. He keeps talking about the story. You begin to wonder if he wants to read it again with how he won’t stop talking about it in such detail. You don’t ask; you don’t want to know.
The rest of the evening you can’t help but think about Alice, and wonder how she’s doing. Maybe you should apologise to her? Despite how it turned out, you feel closer to her. She tried to show you something important to her, and you failed to accept it.
Alice Social Link - The Tower 6
You’ve been making yourself comfortable in the AV room for about five minutes when the door opens. You expected Alice not to show up, but went anyway because you want to talk to her and she’s been avoiding you in class.
Alice
“Why are you here?”
She bustles over to where you are sitting. She passes your table without sparing you a glance, instead diving into the locker that contains the VHS tapes you bought from the second hand tore.
Alice
“Don’t you hate me now? Don't you think I’m weird?”Alice stops rummaging. You can't see her face, but you can still tell she didn't expect you to say that. After a few moments, she closes the cabinet.
Alice: I... honestly didn't expect you to say that.
Alice: ...Oh. Thank you. But, that's okay. I kind of expected you to. I just didn't factor in Julian taking it from you and reading it first...
She points behind her at the laptop that's open on the table.
Alice: Of course. The database is on there, just check it for a movie and pick whatever you're in the mood for. But I'm not up for discussing it afterward.
She turns towards you, her eyes cast down. You don’t think she was looking for anything in the locker; she just didn’t want to look at you.
Alice
"Thank you for showing up today." Her cheeks are red and she doesn't look you in the eyes. "I really thought that after last week, our friendship was over. U-um, we are friends, right? You think we're friends too?" Her eyes widen and somehow she's turned even more scarlet.
You tell her you do consider her a friend. You might not be that close, and Alice might be a little unpredictable, but you kind of like that about spending time with her. You never would have thought joining the movie club would entail so much talking and hanging out, but it's nice. It's hard to deny the giant elephant in the room however; the pink notebook and what happened the last time the club met up.