Authors Note: Yes, its Beck/OC time. It's based off a dream I had. This is chapter one, better known as "The chapter in which Bri fantasizes about what life would be like at HA". I know, it's thick. I promise future chapters will be better.
"Well, Beck. This is coming along nicely!" Sikowitz said, holding his coconut, a blue bendy straw sticking out.
"You think so?" Beck asked nervously. It was his first time directing a play.
"Beck, this play is awesome." Tori said, trying to convince her friend.
"Yes, it'll be great as soon as you get everything together, the sets, costumes, props." Sikowitz gestured to the empty theatre.
"Oh yeah, I was going to ask, who should I talk to about that?" Beck asked.
"You could ask Sinj-"
"No." Beck cut Sikowitz off before he could finish. Sinjin was always asking Beck about how he made his hair so fluffy.
"Well then ask MJ. She's usually in the studios after school. She's amazing, and she smells like lemons." Sikowitz advised him.
"Alright, I'll find her later. Jade, help me make a list of everything we need." Beck sat down next to Jade, who leaned over and puckered her lips for a kiss. Beck dutifully pecked her on the mouth, and started making their list.
Hours later, Beck walked out of his singing class as the final bell rang through the halls of Hollywood Arts. He hung a left and headed to the back of the school where the art studios were. They were placed in the back so the large windows looked out on the school garden, rather than the smoggy depths of LA.
Beck poked his head in a few of the large classroom studios, but didn't find anyone named MJ. He tried some of the smaller studios, where 4 advanced art students at a time worked. Again, he found no one named MJ, so he finally tried the large supply room at the end of the hallway, where rows of paints, clay, metal, and canvases were stored.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for an MJ?" Beck said into the maze of tall green shelved speckled with supplies and large storage bins labeled with things like "scrap metal" and "paper for clay".
"Hold on!" Someone yelled from the far corner of the room. It sounded like she was struggling to get something, then Beck heard a crash as a few small buckets and bins tumbled to the ground.
"Are you alright?" Beck called, working his way to where he heard the sound. He saw a girl wearing a dusty Mary Poppins T-shirt, jeans, and polka dotted canvas shoes. She was a little overweight, and her plain brown hair was pulled into a haphazard ponytail. She had smudges of something black on her face and hands, and her hair was falling in her face. Beck finally noticed she was holding her arm, where she was bleeding. "Oh my gosh, what happened?"
"The box I needed was at the top, so I was trying to get it down when they all came down at once. There was an open box of jewelry stuff, it tipped over and they got my arm."
"Do you want me to take you to the nurse?" Beck asked, looking at her arm. They looked pretty bad to him.
"They're not that bad. It was just a bad angle, so now they'll swell and bleed a bit. But I probably should clean them up." She started to walk through the room, inspecting her arm from different angles. "I am MJ by the way. Mary Jane Somers, to be specific."
"Beck Oliver. I'm working on a play, and Sikowitz told me to come to you for sets and props and junk." They turned down the hallway and started towards the front office.
"Oh, no problem. Let me get put together and we can talk sets." MJ walked into the front office, where one secretary was packing her things up for the day. "Hey, Cheryl. Mind if I...?" She gestured towards the cabinet of medical supplies.
"Help yourself." Cheryl didn't seem concerned. Then again, with all the things that went on at this school, she probably has seen it all already. MJ went into the hyper-clean office bathroom to wash her arm off, swabbed some disinfectant on it, and started bandaging. She had maybe five swollen puncture wounds that were quickly swelling to dime size lumps, and two scratches that were bleeding pretty good. Once she finished, she pulled out some wide ace bandages and wrapped them snugly around her arm.
"Aren't those for like, twisted ankles and stuff?"
"It creates pressure, which will reduce swelling. I have a great pressure sleeve at home, but this will have to do." She popped two ibuprofen and started walking away.
"So, you seem pretty adept at healing yourself."
"Work in the art department and scene shop long enough, and you will be too." She showed him her other arm, which was speckled with scars. "You name it, I've been hurt by it. Anyway, tell me about this play."
"Well its 12 Angry Men, but we're doing it with guys and girls, so 12 Angry Jurors. We're doing it in the round(A/N When the audience sits all around the actors, instead of the traditional seating) in the Black Box(A/N A style of theatre that's composed of a simple room with minimal lights and sound, no curtains, and no orchestra pit). It's a one-set show, we just need a big table, chairs, something to raise them on, and some sort of door frame and window frame. Oh, and I have a prop list."
"We can worry about props later, let's get you a set first." They walked into the scene shop, a large room the size of a small warehouse. There were half-sets for a few shows Beck had seen or been in recently, as well as a balcony, staircase, and a few other mismatches items. There were some guys working on building what looked like a store-front window, and some more guys painting some green wood to look like moss. Beck couldn't help but notice the lack of girls in the room.
"Follow me!" She called as she ducked behind the wide shelving units. The room was divided into three parts by the huge shelves, the middle was the largest, and it was obviously where they did all the real work. The other two sections seemed to be more for storage. MJ walked him a little way down the aisle to where some tables were stored. "Will two of these do?" She gestured to some run-of-the-mill rectangular tables, the same kind that the library had.
"Yeah, those will work fine. And we're just using folding chairs, so those are set."
"You can come in here tomorrow with some more guys and take these. Just tell Q I sent you."
"And Q is?"
"The 50 year old with a cup of coffee permanently affixed to his hand." MJ pointed to a guy sitting at a desk, typing on a computer. "And I know we've got...Ah. Here is your door frame." She pulled out a rectangle of wooden beams that would make up a door and leaned it against the shelf. "And here is your window." Again it was a rectangle of wood with a divider in the middle, where there was a moveable strip of wood to make it look like the window was opening or closing.
"Awesome, these are perfect!" Beck said.
"And you can use the portable stage to raise your set on, it's in the front there, I'm sure you've used it before." Beck nodded. The portable stage was a foot high platform that could be easily transported. "Now, hand me that props list." Beck handed her the list and they traversed across the shop. "I'm going in the loft!" She called to the guys working.
"What did you do to your arm, Somers? Get in a fight with a nail gun again?" One guy yelled, teasing.
"Fuck you!" She called back and they all laughed. "Alright, climb on up." She gestured to the ladder leading to some sort of attic. The ladder stood straight up a foot away from the wall, and rather than flat rungs, they were round metal bars. "Yeah, the ladder is kind of a bitch. Try it with no shoes, it's tons of fun."
Beck let her go first, and she grabbed two plain canvas bags and started up. Beck followed behind her, and when he got to the top, he gasped. There was a virtual flea market of items, spanning a loft the size of the warehouse below, but with a lower ceiling with round air ducts crossing through at three points.
"Okay, 2 matching switchblades, water cooler, false cigarettes, handkerchief, trash can, cups for water, notepads, pencils, chart, what chart?" She stopped reading at looked at Beck.
"Oh, it's a chart of the apartment, I can make that one."
"Alright. You got a stage manager for this thing yet?"
"No, well we did, but he had to drop out."
"Would you like me to be your stage manager?"
"That would be amazing, thank you so much." Beck had been worried about getting a new stage manager. On show night, they were the one who called the cues and made sure everything ran efficiently.
"No problem. I'll come during free tomorrow." 4th period for everyone was a free period. At another school, students would leave, or spend the hour goofing off. But at Hollywood Arts, the students were driven enough to put the time to good use.
"Awesome, thank you!"
"Yeah, yeah. Now let's get this shit."
"Is there any sort of organization here?" Beck wondered aloud, looking around at the random assortment of items.
"I know where everything is." She emphasized. "Just try not to hurt yourself, Oliver." She led him under the first beam and they picked up the items Beck required, ending at the shelves in the back, where 4 large boxes were filled with false cigarettes.
"Why do we have a mountain of cigarettes?" Beck asked.
"They were a good deal. We paid about 10 cents per."
"Ah. Well thank you very much for everything. You're welcome to come to rehearsal, we're starting in," Beck checked his phone, "3 minutes."
"Yeah, I'll drop by. You owe me one, though."
"Yeah, anything." Beck offered. In 20 minutes she had gotten him a set and props as well as agreed to be her stage manager, he owed her more than one. They lowered the bags of props down using the rope attached to the railing, then began their own dismount.
"Well, I'm an artist. I need models. And you do have an attractive bone structure."
"Thanks? And yeah, no problem." They walked down to the black box where everyone was waiting for Beck to show up. The usual gang was all there, Tori, Andre, Cat, Jade, and Robbie, as well as 8 more assorted cast members. 12 jurors and a guard. "Come on guys, let's go grab our set." Beck commanded, beckoning his cast towards the exit.
"Hi MJ!" Cat said, waving excitedly at MJ.
"Hey Cat!" MJ responded, as Cat engulfed her in a hug.
"Hey." Tori waved, and MJ waved back. As Robbie greeted MJ as well, Beck couldn't help but ask.
"How do you all know each other?"
"Well Cat was in my makeup class, and she did some modeling for me. Tori and Robbie modeled for me, too."
"Happy to help, her work is amazing!" Tori said, tossing her arm around MJ.
"Great, I'd love to see it later. But we're burning daylight, let's go get the tables and water cooler." Beck wasn't a harsh director, but he was serious and didn't like wasting time. They all walked down and made short work of carrying the few items and placing them in the theatre.
"That's perfect, right there. After rehearsal if a few of you can stick around to help me move the portable so we can raise the stage, that would be great." They ran through their rehearsal productively, everyone was just getting off-book, so there were quite a few slip-ups, but other than that the show was coming along nicely. "Alright. That's good for today." Beck said, dismissing his cast. His friends stayed behind to help move the platform from the shop.
"So MJ, what are you working on now?" Robbie asked as they started to walk.
"I'm working on this series dealing with vulnerability. I'm doing side-by-side portraits of people, one in charcoal of them at their strongest, and one on pastel of them at their weakest. I'm also just starting the concept work for a seven deadly sins work."
"Sounds cool." Jade said genuinely.
"If you guys are willing, I always need models." The gang gave general sounds of approval as they started lifting the heavy pieces of the stage. They finished the task and everyone started to leave.
"MJ!" Beck called to her before she left. "Heading home?"
"Oh no. I'm working a dance showcase tonight, and in the meantime I'll be working in the studio." MJ replied.
"Beck? Are you taking me home?" Jade asked from a few yards away.
"Yeah, hold on a sec." He turned back to MJ. "You mind some company?" Beck didn't know what it was about MJ, but he liked her. He wanted to spend more time with her. She was funny, and smart, and good at her work. There was a quirkiness to her that appealed to him. It wasn't a quirkiness like Jade, an almost forced macabre. It was a genuine nerdiness that was endearing. She was also vulgar in a way that his friends never were. After they had gotten the props, they had chatted with a few of the shop guys, and they were constantly teasing one another, slipping in swear words like a sailor, making sex jokes, it was something that reminded Beck of his easygoing, blue collar family. His friends were clean and predictable. MJ was...Not dirty, but smudged. She was something new in Becks repetitive life.