It’s finally spring here! We had a thunderstorm last night, but it’s been otherwise warm and sunny for several days now.
I wasn’t going to post today, since I’ve put poor Micah and Cat in limbo for the time being. I’m back to working on Lower Education, doing a whole lot of editing/cutting/adding. I’ve been asked to add some scenes from Alex’s POV, which is fun. I hadn’t written as him before. Turns out, he’s kind of anal and uptight. I had written this whole scene in which Phin messes with Alex’s filing system (by taking a binder off a shelf; the horror!). At dinner last night, my husband made a comment about “binders full of [something]” (without knowing what I’d written), and I nearly lost it. I now feel the need to bring the binders back in a future scene.
Anyway, I decided that since I finished the first new scene, I’d share a little of it here. It’s not beta’d, obviously. I’m going to write all the new scenes before I have them beta-read. My WIP math for the day is 5 + 14 (5/14) for 19 sentences.
Phin ran his finger down the spine of one of the binders and then pulled it off the shelf. “Right, but you’re the resident expert. Teachers can only tell me how they refer their students, not what happens afterward between you and the district.” He opened the binder.
“Give me that.” Alex snatched the binder back, snapped it shut, and replaced it on the shelf with a huff. “Look. If you want to see them, just ask. I don’t keep student information in there—that’s all in the locked files in the main office. You could probably have permission to read some of the IEPs, as long as you use copies where identifiers are eliminated.”
“I see. I’ll have to check on that, then.” Phin inspected the rest of the shelf, examining the books and the color-coded bins. “You are impressively organized,” he remarked, pulling one of the bins down to peer inside.
Alex gritted his teeth. “Stop messing with my filing system, please.”
“Sorry. Just looking.” Pushing the bin back and turning around, Phin smirked.
“Why are you really here?”
Phin held out his hands. “I told you. I want your expert opinion.”
I’m sure Alex will get around to giving his…er…”expert opinion” on something.
Since I’ve successfully avoided K. L. Schwengel‘s flying monkeys by not skipping out on today’s post, many thanks to her for hosting. If you want to join in, share a bit of your own WIP, connected to the date, and link up with us here. Happy Wednesday!
haha I’m sure he will give his “expert opinion” on something *cough*
This is a good scene. The exchange is great. It does a lot for Phin’s personality and a lot for Alex’s.
I love writing as Alex. I was asked for “3 or 4 scenes,” but I think I may do more and cut something else that isn’t necessary. I may have modeled him just a little bit on someone I know IRL. (No, not me. He’s not a Gary Stu.)
Love the tension there. 🙂
Wait til he sees Phin’s butt. LOL!
I sympathize with poor Alex. Leave the poor man’s filing system alone. 😛
Ha! Me too. DO NOT TOUCH THE FILES! Lol.
I like the way they’re at odds, just because of the different ways they look at things and do things. A lot of good characterization in this interaction. 🙂
Thanks! It’s true, adding another perspective did add a lot of depth. 🙂
I just adore Phin. I really do. He must be great fun to write.
He is! He’s even more fun to write from Alex’s perspective. Dani kind of likes him, so that colors her interactions. But Alex cannot stand him (yet), which makes Phin’s more obnoxious side stand out a bit.
I liked this – there was definite tension but it was diffused with some humor/amusement
🙂 It’s a tough balance. They need to come to terms eventually.
I like the way you portray Alex’s OCD attitude to his filing system and how Phin is so amused. And as suggested above, it seems like this scene is a precursor to something steamy happening between them!
Oh, it is. The question is, how will they get there? 😉
Ah yes. That’s always the fun part!
Tee-hee! I LOVE the interplay here. They must be so much fun together.
They are. I’ve missed these guys. It’s going to be tough to leave them again.
Nothing says you can’t write more about them, here and there for the fun of it. Of course…. you may just fall in love with your next set of characters too.
I’m not that organized, but I do hate it when someone messes with my organized stuff. It took so much work to get it like that! 😉
I hope you enjoy whatever you choose to work on Cat/Micah or this 🙂
Exactly. I’m not super organized, but I have systems,and I hate people fiddling with my stuff!
I’ll be working on editing this one for a bit. I haven’t decided what I’m posting for WIPs, but I’ll figure it out as I go.