The final bell rang, and Victoria was already waiting for me in the parking lot, leaning against her car with that cool, older-sister vibe she always had. “Hurry up, Jake,” she called, tossing me a soda from her bag. “The movie starts in an hour.”

We’d been talking about seeing Joker all week, and she insisted on taking me after school. It wasn’t every day that Victoria offered to hang out with me, so I wasn’t about to pass up the chance. The drive to the theater was full of her blasting music I didn’t recognize, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel while I threw in random comments about the trailers I wanted to see.

When we got there, the place was already buzzing with people, but Victoria knew how to skip the lines, flashing her membership card like a pro. We grabbed popcorn and slushies before finding seats right in the middle—her perfect “no neck-craning” spot, as she called it.

Victoria and I shuffled into our seats, balancing the popcorn and slushies between us. The theater lights dimmed, and the previews started rolling, one loud trailer after another. “That looks terrible,” she whispered during some cheesy action movie promo, making me laugh. She kicked her feet up on the empty seat in front of her, settling in. “I just hope the movie’s worth it,” she added, glancing at me with a smirk as the next trailer started.