Page 33 of The Corner of Heartbreak and Forever
Grace suddenly wondered if Nana knew hers. She’d never given Grace any indication of knowing about her and Reed, but Grace knew better than to rest on her laurels around Nana. She ushered them toward the seats as two teenage girls arrived, chatting as they entered the room.
“Hi. Is this the screenplay writing class?” the taller of the two asked. Her pitch-black, pixie-style hair was highlighted with streaks of vibrant blue, and her eyes were made up as dark as her black shirt and shorts. Her lace-up leather boots added a big-city, trendy touch to her rebellious outfit.
“Yes. Come in. I’m Grace, and I’ll be teaching the class.” She motioned toward the seats. “Sit wherever you’d like. What are your names?”
“I’m Phoenix,” the raven-haired girl said. She nudged the freckle-faced redhead beside her, who was busy texting, and said, “This is Lauryn.”
Lauryn looked up, and her soft green eyes widened. “I’m so excited to meet you. My parents took me to seeSummer Fevertwo years ago, and it was so good!”Summer Feverwas a play Grace had written and produced. It had won several local awards and ran for more than a year.
“Thank you,” Grace said, glad to see she wasn’t like many teenagers, solely focused on her phone. “That was a really fun play.”
As the girls settled into their seats, Janie, a cute curvy blonde, and her guide dog arrived. Grace’s mother had trained her dog.
“Janie? Hi. I’m Grace. It’s nice to meet you in person.”
“Thank you for sending the documentation early,” Janie said. “I’m excited to get started. Do you have room for Friday, my dog, near my seat?”
“Absolutely.” She showed Janie to her seat. “Everyone is sitting around this table. You each have plenty of space.”
Janie began setting up her laptop and braille device, and Grace helped her find the outlets. Once Janie was settled with her pup at her feet and the others were prepared, Grace said, “I think we’re all here. Let’s go around the table and introduce ourselves. I’d love to know what brought you to the class and if you’ve done any other sort of writing. I’ll start. You all know I’m Grace Montgomery. I grew up in Oak Falls and always had a love of theater and later developed a love of creative writing. I’ve been producing in New York City for a number of years, and I’m excited to share my knowledge with you. Janie, would you like to go next?”
“Sure,” she said cheerfully. “I’m Janie Jansen, soon to be JanieHudson.” She held up her left hand, displaying a gorgeous engagement ring, which everyone admired. “I’m sure you noticed my guide dog, Friday. He’s very friendly, but he’s trained to hang out beside me. If you’d like to pet him, feel free as long as I’m not roaming around and needing his help. I’m an erotic romance writer, and my second novel is being released later this year.”
“Hi, Janie. It’s me, Nana. I loved your first book,Sinful Fantasies,” Nana said with a waggle of her brows. “I wonder, do you and Boyd do hands-on research? Because that would explain those steamy sex scenes.”
Janie laughed. “Nana Roberts, that isnotsomething I want to admit to in public.”
“You two know each other?” Grace asked.
“Honey, I knoweveryonein this room,” Nana said proudly. “I changed Lauryn’s mother’s diapers, got Phoenix out of trouble when she was caught making out behind the Stardust Café, and Hellie and I knew Boyd’s parents before Boyd and his family lost them in a fire, the poor things. That was devastating. Janie’s a big deal to most people because she’s an author, but to me she’ll always be the girl who brought Boyd back home to his family, where he belongs.”
Janie smiled. “Thank you, Nana, but I’m still not going to answer your research question.”
Everyone laughed, and they continued with introductions.
“I’m Phoenix. I’m a junior in high school and I just like to write.” She nudged Lauryn again.
“I’m Lauryn, also a junior. I write for the high school newspaper, and I hope one day to move to the Big Apple and follow in Grace’s footsteps.”
Grace was touched by her admiration. “Wow. Thank you. I’m sure you’ll do better than I ever have. Hellie? Would you like to introduce yourself?”
“Like Nina, I’ve lived here forever, so I pretty much know everyone. I’m taking this class because Nina was bored and wrangled me into being her writing partner. I’m excited to see what we can come up with.”
“And I need no introduction,” Nana said. “All you need to know is that with your help, I’m going to write a killer script. Now, let’s get to it. Time’s a wastin’!”
“Good idea. I know you’re excited to write something wonderful, and you will. But much of your actual writing will happen on your own time, and then we’ll discuss and critique it in class, so you can get hands-on, practical experience.”
“Janie’s got a leg up on the hands-on stuff,” Nana said with a smile, earning laughter from everyone, including Janie.
“Hey,” Hellie said. “We’ve got hands-on experience, too. I don’t know about you, but just because the chimney’s got snow on it doesn’t mean there isn’t fire down below.”
The girls giggled, and Grace tried to circumvent an inappropriate tangent. “I can see we’re going to have a lot of fun. Before we get too sidetracked, let’s talk about the topics we’ll be discussing, such as structure, character arcs, dialogue and themes, conflict, style, tone, and cinematic syntax…”
Grace fielded questions and found her teaching groove, enjoying every second of the two-hour class. She felt invigorated, and remembered just how exciting the whole creative process was. She gave her class a homework assignment to come up with a short description of what they hoped to write.
As everyone packed up to leave, the air was filled with excitement. “Can we team up to write?” Lauryn asked on her way out the door.
“Sure, if you’d like to,” Grace said as she grabbed her bag.
