The Real Z

Rainy Week Blues

Two more days of rain keep everyone inside, and Z’s mood is just as gray. Everyone else in the city just zips up a raincoat and keeps moving, but she can’t make herself leave her room. Lauren won’t even look at her in class or at Camera Club, and Mari scooters home without her. Not even the club’s push for a new camera can cheer Z up. Nothing feels fun without her friends to share it.

Too upset to touch her CloudSong footage, she finally pulls out the script Lauren wrote for their next AGSM project, “The Horrible Homework Hacker,” and ends up laughing out loud with Popcorn curled beside her. The guilt hits fast: she could have read it days ago. She fires off a text raving about it. Lauren, as usual all week, doesn’t answer. Z chucks her phone across the bed, startling Popcorn, then apologizes to the dog instead. A photo on her bulletin board of her and Lauren sharing cotton candy at a Seattle street fair makes her miss her best friend even more.

Dad knocks, joking that he’s a “very late production assistant reporting for duty.” He’s been tinkering with an airplane prototype downstairs while Mom grades exams at the university. When he notices Z has shut down filming for the day, she finally spills everything. Both friends are furious with her, and she has nobody to talk to about it, since Gigi’s traveling, Becka’s away at a wheelchair-basketball tournament, and she doesn’t want to make Andrew or Maddie pick sides. Dad gently points out that she hasn’t really apologized, and asks if she’s ever tried doing it in person, the old-fashioned way, instead of over a screen. She brushed off Lauren’s offers to help and treated the song Mari’s band recorded for her movie like it was no big deal. Texting sorry over and over isn’t the same as saying it to someone’s face.

So Z takes Popcorn, and her camera just in case, out into the drizzle to Mari’s house next door. Mari answers wearing one black high-top sneaker and one bright pink one, looking wary, and Z admits how badly she acted about the song. Mari confesses it really did hurt, they squeeze hands, and a hug fixes the rest.

On the walk, Z stops to admire the Tollmans’ famous front-yard garden, and Mrs. Tollman happily talks watermelon, zucchini, pumpkins, and this year’s experiment with French string beans and brussels sprouts. On a whim, Z films a quick interview for her documentary, remembering what she learned at the docks about real people making the best footage. Mrs. Tollman’s line about a garden being worth the extra effort gives Z an idea for Lauren.

Z races home, and with poster board, quick-dry glue, and candy from Sweet Treats, builds a sign reading “‘The Horrible Homework Hacker,’ an AGSM original coming soon from Lauren and Z!” In marker underneath, Z writes “I’m sorry!”

Mom hugs Z carefully around the wet glue, and Dad drives her to Lauren’s soccer game, already underway, the bleachers thinner than usual thanks to the earlier rain. Z pulls her Windbreaker hood up and holds the sign up at halftime. Lauren’s shock turns into a smile, and she invites Z to stay. Pine Crest wins, six to four, with Lauren scoring three goals.

Afterward, Z promises to come to more games and apologizes for making Lauren’s ideas feel unimportant. Lauren admits she needs Z’s help keeping facts straight for their presentation and just likes making things together. Z promises to tell Mr. Kozak any mix-up tomorrow is her fault, and admits she finally read, and loved, the script. Lauren likes the poster idea for their title card, and the two joke their way into a hug, laughing like nothing was ever wrong.