Chapter 4 - The boy on stage
A week had gone by and I was ready to move to the school. Dad had helped me pack the essentials for the first week, knowing I would return home on the weekend. I was thrilled!
"Well... See you Saturday, dad," I said.
He handed me my bag and kissed my forehead. "Bye, little one"
I watched as he drove away and then turned to face the gate. With a deep breath, I walked past it and straight into the school.
Our first-day tour didn't include dorms and, even though Chris had pointed them to us, I had only a vague idea how to get there. At each end of the main building, there were some kind of tower-shaped buildings working as dorms. One was girls and the other was boys. I knew they were connected to the main building, yet I didn't know how to get there. The map they gave us on the first day wasn't very clear either.
Court told me the left was girls, and right was boys. Still, there were two different entries on opposite sides. I came in through the north gate. Maybe she meant the southern left and in that case, I was about to make a huge mistake.
The school is huge. It has the main building for standard classes, the dorms on each side, and pavilions for the different vocations. Even with the colourful map, it was easy to get lost.
I took the stairs to the second floor once inside the building, supposedly the one to second graders, aka year 8. The corridors were pretty much empty, but as I approached the dormitories, I could hear voices. Soon, realised I did a slight mistake.
We all knew it was going to happen.
Boys wandered around the room, crossing from room to room. I didn't even see any dorms; I saw bloody washrooms and some guys only in a towel. The doors were all wide open and steam came out of the crowded showers.
I stood aside from the commotion, not daring to move a muscle, being very much ignored.
"What the hell are you doing here?" a voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
I looked up to a dripping wet Reed right next to me, holding to the towel on his waist with a tight grip as if he'd just jumped out of the shower. Maybe he was my guardian angel who came to guide me. Who knows?
"I-I hum..." I was amazed and speechless by the vision of him.
Give me a break. It's not every day one sees a cute guy shirtless.
Still stuttering, I said, "I was looking for my dorm but... hum... I got... lost?"
"No shit. Stay here, I'm going to get dressed and then I'll take you to the girls' dorms"
Before I could protest, he had already disappeared in the mist.
I wished I had a phone to call Courtney. She could've told me where to go before I had to venture through the jungle.
Not even five minutes later, he was back, fully dressed but still with wet hair. He grabbed my arm and dragged me down the stairs. Rude.
"Why were you on the second floor?" I questioned during our not so pleasant walk, "There aren't showers in... whatever is your floor?"
"Fifth floor," Damn, he's already finishing. "And no, they're broken, and those were the closest to my next class"
So I'm getting him far away from his class, cool.
I didn't resist asking, "But classes are on the ground floor, wouldn't it be closer to go to the first floor?"
Go, Avery, annoy him even more than he already is.
He just rolled his eyes.
"I have to go to the sports pitch and the stairs lead directly to..." he kept talking, but I stopped listening when I realised I didn't care.
At last, we arrived at the girls' side, a replica of the boys'.
By the entrance, there was a blonde girl, likely older than me, giving some other girls a few directions on rules and schedules.
She looked in my direction and I thought she was going to scold me for being late or something, but that was a weird pet name she gave me.
"Hi, handsome"
Aaaaand she's not talking to me.
Smile plastered on her face, she walked up to a scowling Reed and kissed his cheek. He didn't soften a bit.
"What's wrong, babe?"
Her arms snaked around his neck, and they locked cold eyes with shiny ones.
"I'm late for class," he said dryly.
"Oh, are you having tennis class?"
He rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately."
His girlfriend let go of him softly, the glow in her eyes dying out quickly.
"Well, go then. See you at lunch?"
He nodded, and I looked away at the quick kiss they shared. Ew! Ew! Ew!
I stood there awkwardly, trying to spot Courtney or jade from the entrance, as he left and she stared like a sad puppy.
"What are you doing?" she turned to me harshly.
"I hum... I'm moving in today...?"
Five seconds in and she seemed done with me already. Did it hurt to be nice?
"Right. I'm Beth, a guide. You can choose your bed out of the unoccupied ones. Breakfast is at eight, lunch at one and dinner at six. Do not be late unless you want to starve. The common room is next to the showers. Lights off at nine, all beds have to be made before breakfast, the nursery home is on the third floor and if you need help talk to me or one of the designated guides"
I didn't write it down and would soon forget all, but I had Jade. She knew rules.
She took me to the shared bedroom, a square room full of beds pushed to the walls.
Courtney was sitting in an empty bed, annoying Jade, who was fixing her white bed.
I walked up to them, looking at the empty bed next to Jade.
"Hey, girls" I greeted.
Both looked at me automatically. Only Jade smiled. Courtney had someone throw her a ball of rolled-up sheets at her face.
"I want that laundry by tomorrow, Meyers! A bet is a bet"
"A bet is a bet," she complained under her breath. "And spiders on your sheets are spiders on your sheets"
A small smile made its way to my face at that. I needed to make someone do my laundry, too.
I threw my bag on top of the pearl white bed and sat on it, making it squeak. There were curtains designed to separate each bed and most people had them semi-open as they finished cleaning up for breakfast.
I wasn't worried about breakfast. I had already had mine.
"I just saw a bunch of semi-naked guys," I said.
"What!?"
The way Courtney wiggled her eyebrows at me made me fall off the bed, laughing.
"That's easy," Jade noted absentmindedly. "You just have to watch any of the football practices"
She helped me settle in as we talked. Hanging clothes in my personal wardrobe and stuffing other stuff on the bedside table. I placed a picture of mum, dad and me back when we were a happy family on the small table and finished unpacking.
"So, what are our classes now?" I asked, and she checked her timetable.
"Drama with the Wicked Witch was replaced by some lecture for all drama students. After breakfast, of course"
No, we didn't give Miss Wick such an evil nickname. She came with it.
The sound of the bell rang loud and painful in my ears, and the crowd started evacuating from the dorm to the canteen.
We dragged ourselves to the sombre lobby where many were joining in. I already knew the way to the canteen, but I let myself be let by the crowd, a wave of students marching slowly to one common destiny.
Instead of grabbing a tray like everyone else, I sat down waiting for them to get breakfast. The line was huge, but progressing quickly, Jade and Courtney were placed in the middle.
From the back to the front of the immaculate room, five rows of tables were each year assigned seats. Some chairs were already occupied, but the majority were empty.
At the bottom of the second-grade table were Micah, this time wearing the uniform properly, and his two friends. Although I hadn't talked to any of them so far, they all seemed too wrapped up in their little conversation, so I sat a few seats away, besides an Asian boy, all alone.
"Hey" I greeted him.
He kept playing with the food on his plate, so I nudged him with my elbow. Looking startled, he gawked at me, eyes wide.
"What?"
The bewildered look he gave me was surprising. Did I scare him?
"Hi" I waved "I'm AJ"
He blinked and looked from a side to the other before going back to me, a questioning finger pointed to himself.
"Yes, you" I snorted.
"Hello"
His voice was so low I had to lean my head in closer to hear, which made him get farther away.
"What's your name?"
Stuttering, he said "I'm Yuki"
"Yo, Yuki!"
Both our heads snapped right when his voice called from the bottom of the table. One of Micah's friends was looking at us with a shit-eating grin on his face.
"Aren't you going to present your new friend to us? Come join us, you two"
The other two looked at us, but they didn't look very interested.
"We're good here," I shouted back.
"Oh, come on, we don't bite"
We didn't move, but Yuki looked ready to break.
Jade and Courtney were being served and would be here soon. I wished it was faster, though.
"Yuki!" he demanded, and the boy got up automatically, head down.
I was mortified, watching him sit beside them.
Leaving him alone dealing with them didn't sound like a good option, so I got up too and sat next to him.
"Aren't you hungry, darling?" he asked.
"No"
"Yuki, give her your breakfast,"
I shook my head, but he took the tray from Yuki and put it gracefully in front of me.
"Eat"
I stared at the half-eaten sandwich in front of me. This guy is a douchebag.
"Dude, don't." Micah told the guy.
"You're new, aren't you?" he went on, "I think you should learn the rules of NAA"
I gave the tray back to Yuki and stared at the guy dead in the eye.
"I already read through the rules. Thank you, though. I'll come to you if I need any help"
His smile widened, but I didn't falter.
"That's enough, Tony"
"Shut up, Dean",
Micah looked at me, but I didn't take my eyes off Tony's. I knew he was examining me, but I didn't care.
"What's your name?" he leaned forward.
At last, I looked away and turned to Micah, waiting for an answer.
"What is yours?"
"I'm Micah. And that is Dean and the arsehole is Tony"
I contemplated what to do for a second, but luckily, Courtney dropped her tray in front of me, next to Micah, loudly and sat down.
"God, I hate breakfast lines!"
We all stared at her and at Jade, who sat beside me silently.
"Hey, Yuki, how are you?" Court asked.
He answered with a wave, concentrating on his breakfast instead of us. Poor guy.
"I don't remember inviting you to sit with us, Meyers," Tony said.
"Shut up"
Dean seemed pissed at his friend, enough to get up and go away. His leaving was enough to keep both his friends quiet throughout the entire meal.
Later, we were led into the pavilion that looked a lot like the drama room, which was just a way to say theatre. We took our seats in the front, but it quickly got full of drama students, from the first to the fifth graders.
I looked around, trying to spot Reed. I don't even know what is he taking, but maybe I would meet him here.
Miss Wick and four more teachers were on the stage alongside someone sitting on a chair, scrolling on his phone, ignoring the dirty looks one teacher was giving him.
"Good morning, students," started an old man with glasses falling from the tip of his nose "As I assume you've been informed, this year's showcase will not only be staged by fourth and fifth graders but also some of the younger students. As Drama students, you are to perform a play on this very stage. In February we'll start casting people for each role, the ones that won't make it will help in other tasks like costumes, scenarios, sound..." and he kept talking and talking and some of my colleagues took notes whilst I took a nap.
All teachers explained how everything was going to happen, every single detail. The play would be based on Sleepy Beauty.
Awesome, I bet Beth and her ponytail will be Aurora. I want to be Maleficent.
In the end, the Witch introduced us to the guy sitting down, I mean, tried.
She asked him to stand up, but he rolled his eyes at her. The Art teacher, Mr Lou, lost his patience and grabbed the guy from the back of his shirt and forced him to stand up.
"Students, this is Mr Deeks," she started, but the guy, who couldn't be older than twenty, stole the mic.
"It's spelt D-E-E-K-S, not any other form your lewd minds may think. Thank you"
He put the device back in the Witch's hands. She looked kind of shocked. I doubt anyone ever had the guts to take things from her like that.
"Yes... hum... Mr Deeks will supervise your work when you rehearse"
Some fifth and fourth-graders started whispering as if they knew him and Jade was looking at him with an adoration smile. Who was that guy?
Courtney grabbed me by the arm and whispered in my ear, "Are you going to the tryouts?"
I shrugged. I can't believe they added an hour to our timetables for the play. Thank god it just starts in February.
"I don't know. Do you think I'd do a good Maleficent?"
She laughed "What? No, you're too sweet. You should try Aurora. I think I'm going for the blue fairy. Are you any good at acting?"
"I think I am, but let's find out"
I didn't tell her my dream is dancing. Nobody supported my idea of a career in dancing, but they put me here just to shut me up.
Jade jumped to our side once we were outside again and grabbed my arm, a smile plastered on her face.
"Did you see the boy on stage? So hot!"
I shrugged. I had paid little attention, my napping was better.
"Who is he?"
"You don't know him? That's Michael Deeks, the principal's son. He is in some fancy university taking an acting course. They say he's the best"
Courtney rolled her eyes. "Rumours"
"Or not"
"Or yes"
Their discussion died out as we went to our maths class. Spoiler alert: it was super boring.
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Hello, my loves!
I don't have anything to say haha
Well, bye fellow readers, stay safe x