"Late again I see, Mr. Hood." Her voice crackled through the air like the wayward crack of a whip, Ms. Burns stood up from her perch in the front row of the auditorium and presented herself as though she was some dark caped villain in a really bad 80's thriller.
I personally preferred Phantom of the Opera.
"Caught me again, you really do have a keen eye." I greeted her with a wide smile, resisting the urge to do the arm motion that went along with the words gosh darn. It wasn't like I'd tried sneaking in, I'd probably have used the fire exit offstage left if I wanted to.
"Mr. Hood," She started up, turning toward the stage as if to direct the lead through a certain scene. "How many times do I need to stress the importance of arriving on time? This is becoming quite the issue with you lately-" I'd stopped listening, having memorized most of her lecture after the first three times.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the rest of my drama class going through a script. No doubt it would be Romeo and Juliet, allowing Ms. Burns to relive her glory days as Juliet in a small travelling group of talented actors and actresses through grinding the play into her personal perfection to the point of no longer fun and bordering a burden.
I took off my jacket, resting it over my hunched shoulders. I copied Ms. Burns' movement like a shadow, with my own added exaggeration of course. I moved my lips as if her voice was actually mine, except I pulled my mouth in an extremely disfigured grimace.
A slow clap caught me off guard, bringing me out of my act before my finale.
I threw my jacket down on a chair and replaced my smile when Ms. Burns turned around to find the source of the noise.
"Well, I'll be." She mumbled, squinting over my shoulder to the person that happened to walk in during the little show I was putting on.
"Good morning." The stranger greeted, descending the stairs and taking a seat a row above my jacket.. She looked professional and all business in her pencil skirt and matching blazer, but her easy smile contradicted everything.
"Mr. Hood, go help the setup crew." Ms. Burns waved dismissively at me, forgetting about her lecture as she sat down next to the stranger.
~
As it turns out the drama class had taken a vote and as a result we'd be doing a few scenes of Harry Potter for the spring play. I followed Marissa to the audition sheet for some kind of vague moral support while she signed up for the part of Professor McGonagall.
"Hey Calum, signing up for a part? That's a first!" A snide voice says, attracting a few other peple's attention to the bane of my existence, Andrew.
"I'm not actu-" He cuts me off with another remark.
"Signing up for that part as the Asian person? What's that girl's name. . . Cho Chang?" He grins, assuming my next move would be to grimace at his suggestion.
I laugh dryly, "If you don't shut up, I'll start CHOking you."
It caught him off guard that I'd actually bothered to respond, he nearly started choking without my help.
~
"Mr. Hood!" Ms. Burns yelled across the auditorium at me the next day. I winced, assuming that she woudn't notice my absence near the start of class, seeing as I went out of my way to slide through the fire exit this time.
"Good morning Ms. Burns. May I say, the puke green colour of your shirt really brings out the blue in your beady little eyes." I give her a wide smile, hoping she would refrain from giving me a detention if I complimented her.
"Thank you Mr. Hood." If there was one thing I'd learned in drama, its if you talked fast enough Ms. Burns only caught snippets of what you said and would fill in the blanks with her imagination. "But you're not in trouble."
So close.
"I actually called you over by suggestion of Mrs. Clifford, she'd like to discuss a few things with you." Ms. Burns frowned, making obvious that she didn't know why anyone would want to talk to me.
Why not? I'm a freaking delight.
She directs me to the seats near the doors with a wave of her hand.
"Calum Hood, nice to meet you." The business lady from the other day greets me once I'm within earshot. Today she has a deep purple pants suit with wide sunglasses and her blonde-brown hair is pulled back in a tight bun.
I took a seat, deliberately leaving two seats between us. She looked like a cross between a flight attendant and a praying mantis.
"I was wondering if you'd like to try out for a part in a movie. . ."
~
"Next!" A voice boomed, followed by the person backstage shoving me out from behind the curtains.
"Calum Hood. 18. Auditioning for the part of Josh Hall." The lady who'd begged me to attend this said, in a voice like steel.
I examined the three adults seated at a fold out table who were examining me. What's her face gestures for me to begin.
Looking down at the tattered script they supplied me with last second, I read it over quickly. Half of the words are eligible, a few coffee spills mark the papers up. You'd think they'd at least be able to supply me with a new copy beforehand.
They were obviously trying to test me, seeing as I have no previous acting experience and they'd taken time out of their day to see if I have potential on a whim, a good word.
They had to keep in mind that they were kind of desperate though, the original actor had gotten into the car accident and has been hospitalized since, they'd continued filming anyway. Now, half way through, they realized that they had yet to find a replacement. Although the character was a minor one, from what I'd been told, he was supposed to be symbolic or something.
I tossed the script over one shoulder and shrugged.
"My name is Josh Hall, and I enjoy sitting around and listening to the sound of the highway because I'm too blind to watch the world die."
A/N: I should be writing a part to a different story frick. . .
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Star Signs ✮ Malum
Fanfiction"You know Michael Clifford right?" "The name rings a bell. . ." - - - "That's Michael Clifford." She whispered, she didn't even need to point, you could tell it was him just by the way he handled himself in front of the camera. ~ Or the one where C...
