Katherine and Mike were killing it with the improvisation. Their dialogue flowed naturally, like they were actually a couple—especially after Mike decided to just roll with the spicy kiss and act like nothing happened.
Of course, Katherine knew the same trick wouldn't work twice, but thanks to her prank, Mike wasn't trying to take advantage of their kissing scenes anymore. She was already planning to eat something equally nasty before the next one, just to keep him in line.
Meanwhile, Marcus was directing the cast and crew surprisingly well. He'd set up subtle sounds from the refrigerator that the characters interpreted as paranormal activity.
Mid-filming, Marcus got a quest notification.
[Minor Quest: Your actors are improvising well. Match their energy by guiding the scene creatively. Improvise as a director at least three times throughout filming. Reward: +7 Points]
Seeing that, Marcus's eyes lit up. After a quick break, he grabbed a remote control. When filming resumed, he secretly controlled the dining room lights, making them flicker on and off for about ten seconds, startling everyone.
When it stopped, Arya gasped.
"Wh-what was that?"
Ryan shook his head. "I don't know."
Katherine and Mike actually rolled with the flickering lights and improvised dialogue around it. They genuinely thought the dining room lights were dying, with Mike saying, "We should probably swap out these bulbs later. They might be shot."
Katherine nodded. "Yeah, probably."
They kept filming despite the interruption, and everything went smoothly.
After wrapping that sequence, they took a longer break since the actor for the next scene hadn't arrived yet. They wanted to review the footage together, so they huddled around the laptop Marcus had provided. Ryan held it, connecting the camera's memory card. He opened the editing software and started organizing the clips.
"I thought you were just the lighting guy. You're the editor too?" Katherine asked, clearly curious.
Ryan nodded shyly. "Haha, yeah. I know my way around computers and programs pretty well, so I volunteered to edit too."
"Besides the boom mic, I also know a bit about sound design—effects and stuff. So I volunteered to handle that," Arya added from the side.
"Oh..." Katherine nodded thoughtfully. Then she asked something that caught everyone off guard. "So how much is our director paying you guys?"
Marcus flinched at the question.
Ryan started, "Payment? Well, we—"
"Of course I'm paying them," Marcus said, clearing his throat. He felt a bit embarrassed.
"Really?" Arya looked surprised.
"Of course. I'm not letting your hard work go unrewarded." Marcus put his hand on her shoulder casually, which made her blush slightly.
Ryan glanced at Marcus curiously. He clearly remembered agreeing to do this without pay. 'Why's he suddenly saying he'll pay us?' he wondered.
Actually, Marcus had initially planned not to pay them because he thought he'd spend most of his budget on the cast. But he'd overestimated that—thanks to Nathan's connections, he'd gotten the actors at a way lower rate. So he still had enough left to pay Arya and Ryan for their work.
Katherine observed the trio and smiled faintly. She seemed to realize there'd been no payment agreement at all—Marcus had just decided right then and there.
Though she didn't really care what her students had worked out between themselves. "Anyway, you surprised me just now, Marcus. I didn't expect you could actually direct this well. I thought it'd be a total mess."
Mike heard that and nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I expected way worse, but this is actually going really well."
"Thanks," Marcus smiled. "But honestly, I'm only able to pull this off because you guys are doing so well too."
He looked at Arya and Ryan directly. "Seriously, you two are killing it. The lighting, the sound—you're making this look way more professional than I could've done alone. I appreciate you guys having my back."
Arya and Ryan felt genuinely touched by that. They hadn't expected their friend Marcus to be able to lead like this. It was honestly their first time being on a real film set, and it definitely made them nervous. But because Marcus seemed so composed, they found themselves affected by his calm energy.
Looking at the clips Ryan had compiled in the editing software, the footage actually looked pretty solid. It had that vlog feel—homemade but well-done—with the mysterious refrigerator sounds and the lights flickering on and off.
It was just raw dialogue with no sound effects yet, but the clips still creeped them out a bit, even though they were the ones who'd made it.
"Damn, looking at this now, the atmosphere's actually kind of eerie," Mike had to admit.
"Yeah." Katherine nodded, then asked the crucial question. "By the way, why did the lights keep turning off and on in the dining room earlier? Is this house actually haunted?" She said it jokingly.
At that question, everyone except Marcus looked curious. "Haha, that was actually just me controlling them." Marcus pulled out a remote. "I did it without telling you guys so your reactions would be more genuine."
Katherine snatched the remote and tested it, switching the dining room lights on and off. Now she and Mike understood—the lights in the house were actually remote-controlled. They'd thought the wiring had gone bad.
"You should've given us a heads up you were gonna pull something like that. I played it cool, but it kind of freaked me out," Mike admitted. He'd actually appeared calm and hadn't asked questions after filming ended so he wouldn't look scared.
"You guys improvised so well, I had to improvise a bit too," Marcus chuckled.
While they talked, the actor playing Dr. Fredrichs arrived. Marcus and the others greeted him and even offered him some of the food Marcus had cooked earlier. Then they got back to filming.
"You're playing an expert on spirits, and your main thing is telling them you can't handle a demon, so you'll recommend someone who can," Marcus kept the briefing short and simple.
The actor playing Dr. Fredrichs went along with the improvisation perfectly—he really embraced the character and made up most of his dialogue on the spot.
After several retakes, they powered through and kept filming until nightfall. The final scene of the day was the bedroom shot—the camera would record the characters sleeping on a tripod.
"Wait, we're not actually filming ourselves sleeping for hours, are we?" Mike asked. He'd read the scene description and it had him concerned.
Katherine shifted uncomfortably beside him. The last thing she wanted was to lie in bed next to Mike for an extended period. Plus, she had to teach in the morning.
"Of course not," Marcus assured them. "There's some movie magic involved."
He gestured toward Ryan. "We'll have you guys pretend to sleep for a few minutes, then Ryan will edit it to look like hours passed."
Ryan jumped in. "Yeah, exactly. I'll loop the footage in the editing software and speed it up with time stamps overlay. It'll look like you were out for the whole night."
"Huh. That's actually pretty clever," Mike said. "I didn't know about that technique."
"Marcus told me about it," Ryan said, nodding toward their director.
Marcus shrugged when everyone looked at him. "I've picked up a few filmmaking tricks from my dad and stuff I've read online."
With that settled, they got to work.
They filmed the actors in bed for several minutes. Then Arya and Ryan created a paranormal disturbance downstairs. Katherine and Mike's characters woke up, investigated, found nothing, and returned to bed.
That wrapped shooting for the day.
They huddled around the laptop to review the footage. Everything looked solid—no retakes needed.
Marcus felt genuine relief wash over him. They'd worked for hours to capture maybe twenty minutes of usable footage. It was exhausting, but exhilarating.
"Thank you all for the hard work today," Marcus said, glancing at the clock: 6:15 PM. "It's getting late. Can I make you guys some dinner?"
"Thanks, but I need to get back to my apartment," Katherine said. "It's been a long day and I just want to decompress at home."
"Yeah, same here," Mike agreed.
"Alright, let me walk you out," Marcus said.
After the actors left, only Arya and Ryan remained.
"I should probably head out too—" Ryan started toward the door, but Marcus stopped him.
"Hold on a second. I need to talk to both of you." Marcus looked between them. "Arya, you too."
They exchanged glances before following him to the dining room.
Marcus got straight to it. "Like I mentioned earlier, I'm paying you guys for this."
"Marcus, we're doing this because we want to—" Arya protested, clearly worried about his finances.
"I watched you both bust your asses all day," Marcus cut in. "I'm not ignoring that. So here's the deal: I can pay you a flat rate now, or a lower rate plus a percentage of any profits the film makes."
Marcus figured they'd take the guaranteed money. But to his surprise, they both chose the percentage option.
"Are you guys sure?" he asked. "There's no guarantee this thing makes a dime."
"I'm sure," Arya smiled. "Honestly, I picked it because the upfront pay is lower. I'm not counting on the percentage."
"Same," Ryan agreed.
They'd chosen it to ease the burden on their friend.
Marcus felt a lump form in his throat. "Alright, you guys are gonna make me cry here," he said with a laugh. "But seriously—you won't regret this."
"I'm already regretting it," Ryan deadpanned.
They all laughed.
After chatting a bit longer, Marcus walked them to the door.
After chatting a bit longer, they left. Marcus watched them go, then glanced at the parking area and noticed Ryan's brother's car was already gone.
'Benjamin must've taken it.' Marcus thought. From talking to Ryan, he'd learned his older brother—who he called "Benjie"—was named Benjamin.
He headed inside and started cleaning up. He knocked out a few Misc. Quests and racked up some points. Around the time he finished cleaning, his dad, Nathan, came home.
"Oh, you're done filming already?" Nathan looked around, pacing through the rooms.
"Yeah. It went well," Marcus said, tossing trash into the bin.
"Oh yeah? You probably rushed through it and did a shit job," Nathan assumed.
"Think whatever you want, old man," Marcus said, not bothering to engage with the teasing.
"Someone's in a mood today," Nathan chuckled. "Anyway, I'm beat after a long day at the studio. Got anything to eat?"
Marcus got a Miscellaneous Quest notification and heated up a meal for his dad.
They talked for a while as Nathan drank a beer. Eventually, Marcus headed to his room and crashed hard.
He was exhausted after the long day of filming.
Night passed and morning came. This morning wasn't for filming—it was a school day—so Marcus took a quick shower, did some chores like making breakfast, and headed to NoHo High School.
That was the reality of being a student. He had to go to school, which meant he couldn't film early. Plus, Katherine was his teacher and worked at the same school, so she couldn't skip out on her job either.
They'd resume filming after school.
After biking over, Marcus entered the school grounds. He talked with Arya and Ryan, then class started. He saw Katherine in her usual professional teacher attire.
"Good morning, class," Katherine said, but she looked directly at Marcus with a smile before starting her lesson.
The guys in the back still couldn't help but check Katherine out. Their hormones were doing all the thinking.
After class ended, they noticed Marcus approach Katherine and strike up a conversation.
The teenage boys' instincts kicked in. "Hey, isn't that guy acting pretty close with our hot teacher? What's he trying to pull?"
"That's Marcus Crown. He's not bad-looking, I guess. But I doubt Ms. Katherine would be into him."
They were actually pretty curious. After all, Ms. Katherine hadn't talked to any guys in class with that kind of smile on her face. It made them wonder.
But overall, they figured there was nothing going on.