Page 34 of Romance Languages

It wasone of those March afternoons that made you believe spring was here, even though tomorrow, we’d be back to cold and gray weather. People took advantage of the sunny weather, walking and biking through the park trails.

I had us settle by a small patch of trees on one of the walking trails, then set up the tripod and phone.

“What’s today’s video?” Julian asked.

“Things my students do when they’re in nature.”

“I love it. What made you decide to start your page?”

“I don’t know. My students said the weirdest things. I was lost when I started teaching, so I made these videos to see if there were other teachers who were dealing with the same weird kids. Turns out yes.”

“You’re already at twenty thousand followers. If this continues to grow, you might get approached for sponsored posts.”

“I’m probably a long ways off from that.” I could only imagine what influencers with millions of followers were raking in. Actually, it was better not to imagine or else it’d depress me.

“Not necessarily. There’s an account I follow. He’s got ten thousand followers, and he does sponsored posts. He’s probably not making much, maybe a few hundred dollars, but if he’s already making the videos…”

Julian might be unimpressed with a few hundred dollars, but that could be a game changer for me. That could provide a cushion each month, help me clear away debt faster and get out of Greg and Ethan’s basement.

“Good to know.” I made a mental note to do some research later.

“It could maybe replace that extra job you have.” Julian shrugged.

That’d be nice.

I took my position in front of the phone; Julian cued me. First, I would say all my lines. Then we’d film me acting them out. I’d bring them together for maximum comedic effect in editing later.

“I’m Mr. Shablahblah, and this is how my students act when they’re in nature. They try to climb trees but can’t. They freak out whenever they see a bug. They ask why everything is so dirty. They get bored and go on their phones. If you liked this video, make sure you like and subscribe.”

“Cut,” Julian said, stopping the video and chuckling to himself. “Are all those true?”

“Yeah. I volunteered to take kids on a nature hike last year. It was an experience.”

It was nice having an audience. I never knew whether my videos sucked or not before I posted them.

For “They try to climb trees but can’t,” I jumped up to grab a branch and yelled, “Yo! Look at me!” at the camera right before it snapped, and I fell on my ass. Oh yeah, that was definitely going into the final cut.

I pretended to be a too-cool student who yelps when he thinks a bug is on him. I acted like a prissy girl who looks at the dirt under her shoe in disgust. For the last one, I sat against a tree and pretended to scroll through Julian’s phone bored out of my mind.

Each time, I glanced over to find Julian holding back laughs, a hand over his mouth as his shoulders shook so he didn’t mess up the audio. I enjoyed his responses more than all the comments from followers.

When I was done, I looked over Julian’s shoulder as he replayed the video footage for me.

“This is perfect,” he said with a snort.

I rested my chin on his shoulder and continued to watch.

“Did you plan for that branch to break?”

“Nope. That was dumb luck.”

“You should do a video about high school kids sitting on park benches. Because they never actually sit on the bench. They sit on the top part, or they do stretches against the bench, or they put one foot up.”

“Excuse me, are you trying to push me out of the job?” I teased playfully in his ear.

“I’m merely offering up a suggestion.”

“I’ll have to credit you to make it fair. Mr. Brahbrahbrah.”

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