Our Unlucky Stars

14

Asher looked like crap, but even more than he usually does. He stared at me bleary-eyed with his jaw slacked. His tie was undone and all his shirt-buttons had been done up in the wrong holes. His eye-bags were a dead giveaway to his obvious tiredness.

He doesn't say anything to my reply, and instead just makes his way towards the front of the room. His quietness catches me off a guard and I blinked at him for a moment, before fixing my shoe and following behind him to the front.

We made our way towards the weird kid Director Greene introduced us to the other day. Tofu, or was his name Toto? I didn't care that much to remember. He was on the stage in the back surrounded by electrical equipment. He seemed to be really into it — that is until he spotted us coming over.

Tofu looked up from the equipment that held his attention to meet my stare. The yellow hoodie he wore covered his head so I could barely see his facial expression, but I could tell it wasn't good, for he quickly reverted his gaze elsewhere, his shoulders hunching together as he sunk in his seat.

What a weird kid.

"Yo Toby," Asher called, before sending him an acknowledging head nod. "Where's Director Greene?" He asked.

"He's in the back helping Aria and Corbin find some supplies. They'll be back any minute now." Toby answered, his voice lower than I had expected.

I raised my brow up at him. "What are you doing?" I questioned, my eyes darting to the electrical equipment sprawled out in front of him.

"O-oh, I'm just testing out some of the lightning and effects. Nothing too serious." He stumbled over his words, his eyes refusing to meet my gaze.

I decided to not to ask him another questioned since it seemed to trouble him to answer the first one. God, he's so strange.

A few minutes later, Director Greene finally came to the back of stage where we were. Straighten out his navy suit, he walked over to us, his lips stretching into a smile that was way  too wide for my liking. "Asher, Liam, so glad you two could join us today." He beamed a smile our way and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at his overly cheery tone.

Aria and Corbin stood behind him carrying boxes in their hands and they didn't hesitate to drop them to the floor. Corbin sent me a side-eyed and I mirrored with one of my own, before cutting my eyes and turning my attention elsewhere.

"Please don't tell me we're going to be carrying around boxes all day." I said to Director Greene, who only laughed at my words like it was some joke, but I was completely serious.

"No you won't be carrying boxes, Liam," He laughed, before bending down and opening up the two large boxes at our feet. My brows raised as I looked down at the art supplies, fabric, and sewing machines that filled them both. "Since I like to think of you five as your own little group, I would really appreciate it if you all could work on drawing out a few of the layouts, and start on designing a few of the outfits today."

"You don't have to attack one thing at time. Split up into groups so it can be easier and maybe switch out so it won't get too boring."

Director Greene opened his mouth to speak again, but a girl from the band quickly called his name with her extensions stuck in the strings of her violin. "Again Rebecca?" He whined aloud, before sending us all a knowing look and rushing over to help the girl and her poor extensions.