Love in Dangerous Waters

Chapter 7 - Theatre Scene

After our bus got through the crash, it didn't take us that long to get to school. We all shuffled off the bus and onto the asphalt path that we had to take to get into the building, and all the orphanage kids piled into the school. Honestly though, school wasn't much of our lives. I was always either doing something Theatre or Choir, and very little was academic work. I only did what I needed to when it came to  getting into a good college, if I ever got accepted. I'm hoping Theatre can help me with that, and hoped to major in it because of my love for it. Of course, it was no match for the ocean, but I was thinking about jobs. Being realistic wasn't my specialty, but in a time like this, I had to face facts; dreams are dreams. Academics is all colleges look at nowadays.

"Come on, let's get to Theatre and practice again. I think Tristan and Julie are meet us there." Danny told me and I nodded, following him through the long, crowded hallway to get to the Theatre room that was all the way on the other side of the school. Our Theatre scene for school was from the play "God of Carnage", which apparently was made into a movie called "Carnage". I've never seen it, or read the whole play, but I knew the scene well enough. It was more comedic than anything else, throwing random conversations here and there and even mentioning a stupid hamster and ends with all of us drinking. I wasn't too sure why my director picked this scene, but I followed what he told me to do, so I didn't have to face his wrath.

"Tristan!" Danny greeted his school friend, doing their weird handshake thing that I didn't know. "Where's your wife?"

"I don't know, probably getting ready." He answered, shrugging his shoulders. "I see you found your wife though."

"Yeah, of course. We live together." He smirked, and I shoved him aside. In the scene, it was Julie and Tristan, and Danny and I who were the couples, who were named "husband and wife". I didn't understand why they were making such a big deal, it was Theatre… strictly acting.

"Yeah, but Julie and I are actually the cute couple." He teased back.

"Because you've had a crush on her since, what, fourth grade?" Danny teased back, and my first urge was to laugh, but I could see Tristan looked hurt by it. "Dude, you don't even have the courage to ask her out. Do something about it."

"She'll say no." He stated automatically.

"You don't know that." Danny shot back.

"I'm gonna go find Julie…" I jumped in awkwardly to get away from their weird argument. I made my way to the dressing rooms, dodging random people with props and running into my teacher. Julie was in there, putting on her costume and makeup.

"Hey, I think we're gonna run the scene one more time." I told her as she nodded. "And I mean before class starts."

"Now? I'm getting ready." She whined, but I dragged her away from the mirror and down the hall, where I flung her in the door. She tripped over a chair leg and fell into Tristan's arms, which I had to admit was cute, but awkward once she pulled away from him after regaining balance.

"Let's just run it." Tristan ordered, clearing his throat. We nodded and set up the five chairs we needed, took our starting places, and began our scene. My character's name was Annette, and I was starting offstage, but I came in at the fifth line or something like that. Of course, my favorite part was the hamster saga, which was really stupid, and my character felt compelled to bring it up.

But about fifteen minutes later, our run-through was done, and class was going to begin. We had to do this in front of the class…

"Danny's group is first." Ms. Williams ordered, so we all sighed and got up, introduced ourselves properly, and then went to starting positions.

But of course, the same college lady I had at the orphanage comes into the room. We all turn towards her, and I'm shocked she's on campus, let alone in Theatre.

"I'm here to observe the Theatre department here." She told my teacher, who nodded and gestured for us to move on. The college woman smiled at me, and I was getting a very bad vibe from her… but then again, it was college. So I just went on with the scene.

I was more concerned with the college lady that I just kinda spit out my lines until the hamster saga, and that was my most focused part.

"Go on, go. But can I say one thing? Having met you two, it's clear for me that for what's-his-name, Benjamin, that there are mitigating circumstances." Tristan stated, saying his line like he was trained to.

"When you murdered that hamster…" I muttered, crossing my arms and turning away.

"Murdered!?" Tristan shot back at me, glaring.

"Yes!" I snapped, approaching the chair I was behind, and leaned on it with my hands.

"I murdered the hamster!?" He countered, dropping his jaw.

"Yes. You've done your best to make us feel guilty, but your virtue went straight out the window once you decided to be a killer!" I snapped, and yes, the whole part was ridiculous, but it was Theatre and a comedy. It rarely made sense, but the college woman was certainly enjoying it.

"I absolutely did not murder that hamster!" Tristan shouted back, his tone ridiculous.

"Worse. You left it, shivering with terror, in a hostile environment. That poor hamster was bound to be eaten by a dog or a rat!" I shrieked, and that was my last line of the hamster bit, so I focused more on the college woman… why was she here? She didn't even say where she was from…

Our scene ended a little while later, and we all had drinks in our hands as the audience clapped, so we clinked glasses and got offstage. I placed my glass down on the coffee table when I felt a finger tap on my shoulder.

"Hi Lily, may I see you for a second?" The college woman asked, and I was a little freaked out. What did this mean? Was I going to be given a scholarship? Was I actually going to do something in life? Was my acting really that good?

"Yes, of course." I replied as I followed her out into the hallway. "What's this about?"

"Well, I was very impressed with your acting skills." She stated, and my heart soared with hope. "I would love it if you could come to our college, but I need to see more. Why not I stop by after school?"

"I would love it if you did." I replied automatically and excitingly, but realized I couldn't, making my head drop. "But I have musical rehearsal later."

"After, then?" She asked, and I nodded. "It's at Fullerton, right? I can come watch."

"That'd be great. I'll see you then!" I waved as she headed off, realizing that my future was being handed to me easily by this woman… but I still didn't know who she was. And there was still something off about her, but I couldn't quite place it… but why was it bugging me so much? It shouldn't have been.

I walked back into the classroom and all eyes were on me. I took my seat silently, and the room was just as quiet. No one made a sound.

"Well?" Ms. Smith asked me, and I turned to face her. "What was that about?"

"She wants to see me later…" I answered, and the other students gasped, either in shock or jealousy. "I might actually get into their college for acting!"

My teacher was immediately excited, but the one question I didn't know the answer to was asked. "Which college?"

I shrugged, facing the person who asked. "I have no idea, but it's a college! Anything to get me away from the orphanage."

That's when it hit me. I was going to leave the orphanage, which meant Danny and Molly… was I ever going to see them again? But they were going to move on with their lives, as I had to move on with mine… so I knew I had to do this.

I left the Theatre room with Danny and my head held high, knowing my life was going to change for the better completely. If I was getting out of the orphanage, my old life would be gone, and my new life will begin, and it was going to be great.