"Simmer down!" Our drama teacher, Mrs. Bickersteth, steps out from behind her desk. We call her B for short because Bickersteth is a mouthful. Plus, I think she's trying to be cool by having a single initial for her name. But she's kind of a cool teacher, I suppose. For an older lady.
She stands beside her desk in the corner and holds up her stupid homemade sign. She has long dark hair, pulled up in a messy bun with loose strands all over so that she looks rather frazzled. "Simmer down everybody!" she yells again, but the drama crowd is really boisterous, because we're full of flamboyant drama kids.
The racket dies down finally. The last ping of the bell sounds over the few people still talking. B blows a piece of hair out of her face and goes over to these two new kids by the door. She has an overly excited smile on her face. "Oh, thank god you aren't identical!" she says, giving them a huge grin. "Which one are you?" she asks the kid with curly hair.
". . . This is Kaden," the other kid says. He has brown spikey hair. Kaden has black curly hair. They both have deep tans. They're obviously brothers, since they're both new and look practically identical except for their hair. How cute!
"Then you're Logan," she says, looking at the spikey haired guy. He nods. The clamor in the room builds back up.
"I said be quiet!" B yells. A couple students over in the corner keep laughing. Tyler and their jock friends. And Drew and his art friends. "If you don't knock it off, I'm going to share that story with your mother, Tyler!" The laughter escalates, and then dies down. Everyone is smiling except for Tyler, who sits back on his couch and holds his hands up, as if to say that he doesn't care what she tells his mother. I don't know why he's in drama; he's such a jock and a totally mean guy. Like, seriously racist! I hate him.
"I'm Mrs. Bickersteth. Call me B," she says quietly to the new kids. Identical, she said. What, are they twins? B raises her voice and says, "Here are the new guys. Why don't you tell us a little about yourselves?"
"Um, I'm Logan Hastings." He raises his eyebrows at his brother.
"I'm Kaden." Gosh, he's cute! With a cute little nose, high cheek bones, thin eyebrows for a guy. His hair is picture perfect, large curls that frame his face. Holy cow, I'd just about die to be his girlfriend!
"We're from Oregon," Logan says.
"They're twins!" Mrs. B. says.
Oh! Twins!? I want to call dibs in front of everyone. But Kaden's brother Logan is just as cute. I like his simple spikey brown fair. He has a confident smile on his face, while his brother looks totally uncomfortable up there in front of everyone. I like the confident type best, so maybe Logan's the guy for me. But the tall silent type is also pretty attractive, actually.
B turns back to the twins and says, "What's your favorite part about Drama?"
"Performances," Logan says. "I wanna do shows."
"Awesome," B says. She switches her gaze to Kaden.
"Uh . . ." He shrugs hopelessly.
"Performing? Reading plays? Improv?" B prompts.
"He helped with the sets at our old school," Logan says.
"Oh, are you the artsy type?" B grins from ear to ear. "We always need people on the set crew."
That's cool. I love the artsy type, too! But it makes me think about my ex-best friend, Miri, who I haven't talked to in ages. Like, half a year probably. She was in my art class last year with Laurel, and though the two of us only took the class for a fine arts credit, Miri really loved it.
I get lost in a snippet of a memory about what happened last year. The events that killed my friendship with Miri. Ugh, I do not want to think about that right now. I pull my daydreaming brain back to reality, to the informal interview B is having with the new guys.
"Why'd you move?" B asks, keeping the introduction moving right along.
"Dad's job," Kaden blurts out. It seems like an odd thing to blurt out. Like, he's trying to say why they moved before his brother can. There must be a mystery there! Oh, how I love to unravel mysteries, especially when tall dark mysterious guys are involved!
"Oh, what's your dad do?" she asks.
"He's a lawyer," Logan explains.
"Yo, B!" Tyler calls out. "Let's play a game with the new guys."
"Yeah, let's do Villains Anonymous!" Stacy shouts.
"No, Suprize Party!" Drew pipes up.
"Story Story Die!" I call out.
"Shut up!" B shouts. "Learn some manners, people, jeez!"
Logan laughs.
"Drama freaks, I tell you," she says.
I can barely hear her over the chanting students. Half the class chants Story Story Die, and I join in, while the other half chants Suprize Party. She throws her hands up in the air. "Let the new guys choose the game," she shouts over the noise. "Hey, simmer down! Don't make me beat you with my sign!"
I roll my eyes. She tries too hard to be funny and hip and cool, and it comes off as a sad act. But she lets us play cool drama games. So I do enjoy my drama class more than any other class. It's my first period of the day too, so I get to start my day off with a fun class that puts me in a good mood.
The drama room is so cool. It's basically two classrooms joined into one huge room. Because the drama department is so important to our school, we get a double classroom. The main part of the room is open with an assortment of couches lining the three sides of the room, and down the center of the room too. We even have a few recliners.
B has a full-size refrigerator and a microwave on the counter near her desk. She sells snacks and soda to people to raise money for the drama department, and she always gives drama kids discounts. It's the best place to hang out after school. B always plays Dramarama and lets people stay and hang out.
"Hey, can we do World's Worst?" Logan says.
"Excellent game," B says. "Okay, we need two more players."
I jump up immediately, excited for the chance to join in a game with these two smoking hot twins. Tyler joins in too, which makes me roll my eyes. The racist idiot wants to ruin the game. Ugh, so stupid!
"Alright, Nora, Tyler! Okay, let's do the World's Worst part-time job or the World's Worst thing to say to your boss. Remember you're in school, okay? Keep it appropriate."
I step forward. "So, like, I know you only hired me for my smokin hot body and cute face, so I think I should get paid to stand around and look pretty." I tilt my head like a ditz as a few classmates clap or laugh at my joke.
Tyler steps forward, turns toward Logan, and says, "Here, take this toothbrush and go clean the toilets." He pantomimes like he's handing something to Logan.
"Eeeww!" B says, and a few others clap and laugh. But Logan makes a face, like he totally realizes that Tyler is being super racist. Just because the new kids look Latino, it doesn't mean their Mexican laborers that can be bossed around and made to do nasty jobs. Ugh! I hate Tyler!
Tyler backs up, and Logan steps forward.
Logan turns toward Tyler and pretends to shake something in his face. "So I cleaned your toilets with this toothbrush, and all I have to say is you can shove it up your—" Logan cuts himself off and glances over at B, and the whole room bursts into laughter. "Uh, I mean, shove it in your mouth. Minty fresh."
Wow, great line! He's clever and smart! I'm way sold already.
I'm so excited to go again that step forward before the other twin, I think his name is Kaden. I say, "So, that last customer totally hit on me. He called me cute and complimented my lame waitress uniform, so I gave him his food for free. Hope you don't mind, Mr. Boss Guy!" I laugh all ditzy-like. A few of my friends laugh at the clueless act I'm putting on. My jokes are so much better than Tyler's.
"Here." Tyler holds out something invisible to Logan again. "Go sweep the gravel parking lot. Make it snappy."
Logan pretends to take the broom. "Clean up on isle seven," he says like a sports commentator who is way too excited about a play.
Logan's brother Kaden doesn't go, so I step forward again. I open my mouth in a big O and pantomime eating a Popsicle.
"Nora!" B interjects. "Go sit down!"
"What?" I hold my arms out and stomp off to my couch, and the whole room roars with laughter. I blush. She's the one who made it gross. But my joke makes Logan and Tyler laugh so hard that neither one of them can talk. Tyler steps forward, but he's doubled over laughing and can't get the words out.
Then out of nowhere, Kaden finally joins in the game. He blurts out, "Now that's the suckiest job ever."
"Okay," B shouts over the laughter. "We're done."
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