Roman and his friends wondered around the during break, bored out of their minds. Nothing interesting seemed to be happening and the most they could do was kick the few stones on the concrete and yawn. It was like that for a solid five minutes (more like five hours in Roman's opinion) before Zack perked up.
"Hey Roman, you're auditioning for that play right?"
"Yes, we've established this," replied Roman smartly, rolling his eyes.
"I saw the sign up sheet earlier and I guess what name I saw on one of the backstage roles?"
"What?"
"Virgil!" Zack clapped his hands and doubled over laughing as if it were the funniest thing in the world and the others joined in. Roman couldn't help but chuckle as well. Virgil? Auditioning for a play? Please!
"Zack, do you need your eyes tested?" asked one of the guys and the rest of the group started practically howling. Exaggerated, sure, but they liked a good laugh.
Roman seriously doubted Virgil would want anything to do with a play or entertainment of any kind, but after the bell went and Roman headed to his classroom he wandered by the sign up sheet which just so happened to be nearby and sure enough there was Virgil's name. He noticed Logan had also taken up a backstage role too but Roman was too overcome with surprise to really care.
Virgil and entertainment did not mix. Unless of course a horror movie of some sort was involved, Roman thought to himself. For a brief moment he worried that Virgil would try to audition for the lead role last minute and start singing but shook the thought away. Virgil was far too... well, Virgil, to sing a song in front of people.
Roman sat in science, and it just so happened that Virgil was in the same science lesson. Roman considered simply sending a text to him after school asking about the play but was far too curious to keep his mouth shut.
During a small experiment which the whole class was doing, some people working together and chatting about this and that, Roman wandered over to Virgil and stood next to him. Virgil managed to ignore Roman's presence for almost five whole minutes, despite him humming random Disney songs under his breath and twiddling his thumbs, until Virgil finally snapped.
"What?" he asked a little aggressively. "I'm not in the mood today, Princey."
"Oh I was just wondering if I could work with you for the experiment."
Virgil narrowed his eyes. "Why?"
Roman shrugged. "I'm just... in a good mood, that's all."
Judging from the look on Virgil's face Roman's excuse wasn't being sold. But Virgil just sighed and moved over to give him some room around the beaker.
"So..." said Roman casually, inspecting one of the vials," thinking about the um... school play?"
Far too obvious, Roman thought, and was quickly proven right.
"I knew there was some other reason you wanted to work with me," Virgil muttered,"what's it to you? I'm not gonna try and steal your spotlight or anything - trust me, I'd rather stay away from people as much as possible."
"But then why did you sign up to help? The play rehearsals and stuff go on till well after school's over. If you wanted to avoid people wouldn't you just head home without a second thought?"
For a while Virgil went quiet and Roman knew better than to ask again, although he was sorely tempted. Eventually, near the end of class, he spoke up.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I feel like I should go. I was walking past the sheet and suddenly I found myself writing my name down on the help list. I don't know what I was thinking." He went silent again and Roman gave him an odd look.
Virgil could be losing it, thought Roman as we walked towards his last class of the day before he went to rehearsals. But somehow, Roman knew that wasn't the case. Something was wrong, but Roman just couldn't put his finger on it.
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Rehearsals had begun. Whilst the actors were practising their lines the backstage help rushed around doing little jobs to improve the play. A small group of people (four girls, three boys) were deciding on which style they should use for the outfits - three people were working on lighting and making sure they knew where the lights should face at all the right times - people were crafting props and designing backgrounds - overall it was a busy affair.
In the middle of all this Patton and Logan were up in the rafts along with some other kids, Patton carefully putting together a lamp to put in the corner of the stage in a few of the acts whilst Logan was making notes of suggested props that could be included in the show. He was trying not to make the list too long but every now and then Patton would look over Logan's shoulder and point out a couple of small things that probably didn't really need to be made. Despite being slightly put off by Patton's interference Logan was thankful for his input and made a few corrections to his list.
Virgil was also there, checking off his own list of the cast. Anybody taking part in the actual acting part of the play had to check in with Virgil, and needless to say he wasn't over the moon about his assignment. But he decided to grin and bear it - well he didn't grin, actually he didn't even smile - and reluctantly spoke to all the actors and actresses.
When Roman strolled in, in his usual overbearing confidence, and wandered over to Virgil. Virgil was busy looking over the list and frowning at the couple of people who hadn't arrived yet. Roman tapped him on the shoulder and Virgil spun around.
"Oh," he murmured. "You're here. Good, I can tick you off. Just go stand behind stage, the actual rehearsal starts in about five minutes."
Roman nodded and walked away, not even thanking Virgil. Virgil rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. It wouldn't be smart to start anything without proper reason.
Not yet.
Virgil's head shot up and he looked behind him. Nobody was there except a couple of teenage girls gossiping about some cute guy they'd talked to earlier. He could tell as he could hear them pretty clearly thanks to his supernatural hearing.
He'd heard something. Not a teenage girl. Something... Someone? Virgil couldn't be sure but shrugged it off, although he found himself listening carefully. Maybe he'd just been imagining it.
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Hey there! I'm so sorry that I haven't been posting much lately, but thank you for your patience and the opportunity to continually boast to my friend about how many views I have. Thank you!