Behind Closed Doors || dnf

Dinner: The Musical

Clay taps the dinner table aggressively, his tie choking him.

"It's fucking obnoxious that we have to wear our uniforms correctly during dinner." Clay mutters, loosening his tie.

Tommy chuckles. "Jesus big man, what's up with you?"

"What?" Clay shoots Tommy a look.

"You do look like you're about to snap." Jenna agrees from the other side of Clay.

Tommy shakes his head, smiling. "And drill a hole in the table with your fucking finger while you're at it."

"Shut the hell up." Clay clenches his jaw, his hand retracting into his lap.

"Where's your little bro? Is that why you're so pissy?" Tommy pries.

"I'm not pissy." Clay snaps. "And I don't know where Nick is."

George sits across the table on his phone.

"So?" Karl nudges him.

"What." George says in a daze.

"What info did you get out of Clay?" Alex asks in a hushed whisper.

"I didn't."

"What?" Karl whisper screams. "What do you mean you didn't?"

"You didn't go?"

George looks up at Clay and their eyes meet for a second. He looks back down at his phone. "No. I didn't. Sorry."

"Fuck." Alex bows his head. "Lazy ass."

The Dean makes his way to the platform at the head of the dinner hall. He stands behind the podium, and clears his throat.

The hall grows quiet.

"Hello, students! I hope you are having a great evening!" Clay and George both scoff at this. "I'll keep my speech short, I am sure you're all very hungry." He chuckles. "But I know we have been having lots of fun over the past few weeks." His eyes quickly find the table where they are seated. "And I would just like to remind you that as we approach mid terms, we will be having our second round of Dean meetings." His eyes scan the rest of the crowd. "Emails will be sent out with your meeting time. Please do not miss this ladies and gentlemen. It is a hassle to track students down. So, be diligent and responsible." He claps his hands together. "And with that, I think we are good to start dinn-"

"Ahem ahem." Another microphoned voice chimes in. "Um- over here to the right." The voice laughs.

Oh god. Unfortunately, Clay knows that laugh like the back of his hand.

Everyone looks to the right to find Nick with a microphone in his hand.

Clay's heart drops. Where the hell did he get that microphone?

"If I may, I would like to say a few words before we start dinner." Nick goes up the steps and stands on stage right next to the Dean. The Dean looks at him bewildered. Nick chuckles awkwardly, he pulls the mic away from his mouth. "5 minutes Dean Himbry. Please."

"We will talk about this at a later date." He mutters.

Nick smiles, giving him a thumbs up, and the Dean reluctantly steps to the back of the platform.

"So." Nick brings the mic back to his face, stepping to center stage. The students look at him with amused looks. "Hi, my name is Nick. I'm new this year if you didn't know."

"What the fuck is he on about?" Tommy leans over to Clay with a grin.

"I don't know."

"And I am here to... uh- confess my love to my crush..."