This is yet to be edited.
Nairobi kept reading her script throughout out last two subjects, History and Values Education. We were going to have our first rehearsal today. Gwenevere had repeatedly reminded her to start memorizing her lines because she had plenty. I would have told her to pay attention to the discussion if I had been paying attention myself. The quiz bee is on Friday and I wanted to do better than I did in the trial quiz bee. So I was reading my reviewer.
After class, everyone headed to the auditorium, as Gwenevere instructed. I hope Sunny takes over directing the play. Gwenevere might be as smart as him, but she doesn’t have half the leadership skills he has. I know she means well whenever she calls out every little mistake, but it starts to get annoying after a while.
“I think we should have another group study,” I told Nai while we were walking to the auditorium.
“Yeah, me too. I didn’t do so good in the trial quiz bee,” she said.
“But when should we do it?”
“How about Thursday? If we do it earlier, we’ll always feel like we should have another one. If we do it the day before the quiz bee—”
“We’ll feel ready and confident,” I completed her sentence.
“Ah, great minds,” she put her arm over my shoulder as we opened the doors to the auditorium.
Since there weren’t any materials to make the props yet, and we obviously couldn’t work on the costumes while we were in the auditorium, only the people with lines got to practice. Those who didn’t have lines, like me, were just sitting there. We were supposed to make plans for the costumes and props, and some of us were doing just that, but after a while we decided to watch our classmates practice. Gwenevere allowed them to read their lines. But she made it very clear that by Thursday, they would have to recite their lines by memory.
Nairobi still struggled with saying her exact lines even though she had the script in her hands. It’s not like she would completely forget the lines. She just rephrased most of them.
“Stop! Stop!” yelled Gwenevere after Nairobi rephrased another couple of lines. She approached Nairobi. “What’s wrong with you? The script’s already in your hands and you still can’t say your lines right!”
“Whoa, whoa,” Sunny was quick to intervene. “Let’s not get carried away. It’s the first rehearsal, Gwen.”
“All she has to do is read the script and she still can’t get it right!” this time she was yelling at Sunny.
“Then get a different Laura,” Nairobi said as she folded her arms. Uh-oh.
“Maybe I will!” Gwenevere answered.
“Maybe you should!” Nairobi wasn’t backing down.
“I think we should all take five,” Sunny separated the two and gestured for the rest of us to help separate them.
I quickly went to Nairobi and pulled her aside. Some of my classmates can’t stand Gwenevere because of her sharp tongue. She has good traits, too. But sometimes, her words really hurt and that just doesn’t sit well with most people. Gwenevere is someone who won’t let a mistake slide. Nairobi is someone who won’t let people trample her. Obviously, their personalities collide.
“Don’t let her get the best of you, Nai,” I tried to calm her down.
“She’s just so irritating. Like, does she want me to just look at the script the whole time? Of course I’ve got to look up at some point. I’ve got to deliver my lines, not just read ‘em,” she said.
“Just put up with her. Do it for the grade,” I told her.
“I think she gave me the female lead just so she can boss me around every single rehearsal. This is her convoluted plan to get back at me for the flag thing!” she exclaimed.
“Nairobi, are you okay?” Sunny approached us. “Sorry for the way Gwen acted. I hope you don’t quit the role. I really think you’d be a beautiful Laura.”
“Don’t worry about it, Super Genius. I’m not gonna quit. I’m gonna show her I can deliver these lines she wrote,” Nairobi said.
“Attagirl,” Sunny smiled at her, and then at me. “Hey. How’s the shark?”
“What shark?” Nairobi asked right away.
“It’s a stuffed animal, I’ll tell you all about it on the way home,” I said.
When the rehearsal continued, Nairobi delivered her lines flawlessly. I don’t know how she pulled it off. But she was spot on. Gwenevere was visibly satisfied with Nai’s performance. She was even clapping at some point. Like I said, she has good traits. She just needs to work on being tactful.
Sunny and Nairobi seemed to be the only ones who were up to par with Gwenevere’s standards. As a result, she kept making everyone repeat scenes. The first rehearsal ended with only ten scenes being rehearsed.
“Well, that was productive,” Nairobi said sarcastically.
“You were great,” I complimented her.
“I just wanted to show her I wasn’t incompetent like she thought,” she smiled at me. “Too bad we won’t have time to swing by the bookstore anytime soon since we’ll always be having rehearsals until 5:00pm.”
“Yeah, too bad…” Okay, I was lying. I thought maybe time apart would do her some good. She’s starting to get too attached to Miguel.
“I’m gonna tell Miguel all about today’s rehearsal when I call him tonight,” she said with a chirpy tone as she picked up her bag.
“When you what?” I wasn’t aware that they already had each other’s numbers. Maybe I should have expected it because they have gotten incredibly close since he came back. But I thought Nairobi would tell me about it when it happened. Then again, this might be her way of telling me.
“When I call him. We call each other almost every night,” she said.
“When did that start?”
“Oh, I don’t know, last week or the week before that,” she had a goofy smile on her lips. “I’m telling you Dune, I think he’s really starting to like me.”
“I hope so,” I murmured.
“What?”
“I said let’s go talk to Cai and tell him about the group study on Thursday before we forget.”
“Oh right,” she searched the auditorium for Cai. “There he is!” she pointed to Cairo, who was sitting on the edge of the stage and texting.
We approached him and told him about the group study. He was enthusiastic about it. He said that we only needed to tell him the place and the time and he’ll show up. Honestly, he didn’t need it. But he was being such an ideal teammate. Nairobi and I were happy to have him. Mr. de la Vega made a good call when he put him in our team.
After saying goodbye to Cairo, and then to Sunny, Nairobi and I headed home. We talked about when we would look for rental shops. I was able to get the contact numbers of the others who were put in charge of costumes. I gave them to Nairobi. We couldn’t figure out when we could look for a rental shop. Since we had rehearsals every day after school and Saturdays, we didn’t have any time in our hands to spend on looking for a rental shop. Maybe I could skip rehearsals, since I didn’t have lines anyway, but Nairobi couldn’t do that.
“Dune, you’re forgetting something,” she said.
“What?” I asked.
“You haven’t told me about the shark thingy,” she teased.
Well, finally! I took out my phone and showed her the picture. She shrieked when she saw it, saying how sweet it was of Sunny to win me the shark. Then she teased me about how I kept getting awesome gifts from two equally awesome guys. If she only knew the down side of that…
When we reached my house, I reminded Nairobi to study her reviewer. Her nightly calls with Miguel might affect her focus on studying for the quiz bee, and studying in general. I don’t mean to think badly of Miguel. I guess I’m just really worried that Nai will end up getting hurt. But if she trusts him, maybe I should, too. After all, he makes my best friend happy.
I held on to the shirt Cai gave me while I was sitting on my bed. I had my earphones on and my songs were shuffled. For some reason, I never got tired of reading the message over and over again. It was really sweet of him to get me this shirt. And when I remember what he said to me when he gave it to me… I hope it’s the right size… I can’t help but smile. Did Nairobi tell him about how she found out she was going to the concert with Kyle and not me? Or did he just really know the right words to say?
Half of my heart’s got a grip on the situation
Half of my heart takes time
Half of my heart’s got a right mind
To tell you that I can’t keep loving you
Can’t keep loving you
With half of my heart…
I got up from my bed and put the shirt in my closet. I wonder how mom’s gonna react when she sees this. I bet it’s gonna be something similar to how Nairobi reacted.
The next day, Nairobi and I told Sunny about the difficulty in finding time to look for a rental shop because of the upcoming quiz bee and the rehearsal schedule. He talked it over with Gwenevere. Then he told us that Nairobi would no longer have to look for a rental shop. That was good news. Sort of. That meant I would have to look for a rental shop alone. Sure, there were people who were supposed to go with me. But… well, how should I put it… they don’t participate. Yep, those three words pretty much sum it up.
Thursday arrived sooner than I thought it would. I’d been feeling nervous all week. Nairobi’s been stressed with studying her reviewer and memorizing her lines. Cai seemed to be pretty relaxed. How ironic. The only one in our team who didn’t have a problem studying his reviewer is the only one who doesn’t have other problems to deal with. Seriously, Nairobi and I needed to catch a break.
Lunchtime was the only time we could hold the group study. We decided not to eat lunch so we could spend a full hour in the library. Since Cairo was already very familiar with his category, he volunteered to help Nairobi and I review by asking us questions from our category. He even helped us study some facts.
“Here’s an easier way to remember the first seven decimals of pi, think of the phrase, ‘May I have a large container of coffee?’ If you count the number of letters in each word, it would be 3.1415926,” he said to Nairobi.
I have to say, he really impressed me. Not that he was trying to. But anyway, he really helped me and Nairobi study. It was actually more like a tutorial than a group study. Maybe Gwenevere should keep an eye on Cairo. He might be Sunny’s new competition…