A/N: Hey guys! So here's chapter two! I know I promised it last week, but band is just eating away at my time! I just finished this, and I hope you like it!
Also, I've seen Jack's last name in so many other fics be Anderson, and it sounds right. I'm also really bad at coming up with good last names for people, so I'm going to use that from now on. Thanks to the author who first thought of it!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kickin' It, or The Diviners.
Seeing as today is Tuesday, I have about three days (if you count today) until I can see Jack in this one-act play of his, "The Diviners". When I asked about it during Biology, he said he only agreed to do it because he had accidentally destroyed Mr. B's precious garden gnome collection while skateboarding, and if he tried out for the play Mr. B wouldn't tell his mom, who would have grounded him into the next century. So, Jack tried out for the play, Mr. B said he was "a natural talent" and gave him the part of the main character, Buddy. I couldn't get any more out of him about the play. Jack just refused to tell me, stating that if he told me, it wouldn't do his acting justice.
Yeah, sure.
Later that day, in English, we were paired up together for a creative writing project where we traded stories and critiqued them, as to "help the editing process". I'm scanning Jack's story of a kid who could see into the future when he looks up at me and says in that oh-so-cocky voice of his, "Don't cry too much when you see me perform, it's something spectacular, I'm told."
I roll my eyes (I mean, what else can you do when someone's so irritating but still so cute?) and continue editing the short story.
He continues like this for the rest of the week, baiting me, boasting about his so-called 'acting skills', and being obnoxious in general while still making me melt inside every time he grins at me.
On Friday, however, I walk into the first class we have together, Biology, and see that instead of the cocky attitude he had been wearing all week, he was sitting in his desk, focused on a point in front of him, his lips moving but no sound leaving them.
I slide into the desk in front of Jack and wave my hand in front of his face, "Helloo? Earth to Jack?" I say, slightly concerned.
"What?" Jack startles from his reverie, "Oh, Kim. It's you. Sorry, just going over my lines," his lips then shifting into an easy smile.
"Ha. Ha. Nice try, buddy, but I can tell." I say, matter-of-fact tone taking over, "You're nervous," I whisper, leaning over his desk.
He leans in (oh dear god his eyes, and his cologne and ughhhh Kim don't give in!) and whispers right back in the most sarcastic tone, "No I'm not, Kimberly Anne."
"Don't pull that middle name stuff on me! You're nervous, admit it! It's fine!" I say, smiling at Jack, "Nervousness is an emotion, Jack. Emotions are normal for us humans."
"I'm Jack Anderson, I don't get nervous."
I do a quick flick of my eyes up and down him and with a sarcastic "Mm-hmm." turn around in my seat, waiting on Mrs. Garcia to finish taking roll.
"I'm not nervous, Kim." Jack leaned across his desk to whisper this in my ear, his hot breath on my ear and close proximity giving me goosebumps,
With one more sarcastic "Mm-hmm." I stare deliberately at the front of the classroom, taking notes on genotypes and phenotypes, and how to keep genetic equillibrium, ignoring the nervous boy behind me (probably still mouthing his lines) for the rest of the class period.
English, the only other class I had with Jack, was right after lunch, and usually we walk to class together, chatting like people do (except for the other days this week, where he boasted non-stop), but today he kept up his strangely quiet demeanor, his lips moving every so often. Also, due to reviewing his lines, he was so unfocused I had to guide him away from walking into walls. Making it to English in one piece is a miracle.
Our teacher, Mrs. Forester, takes the first five minutes of every class (usually, some times she takes longer... like thirty minutes...) to discuss the objectives of today's class period. I watch her get up to the front of the class, and start to explain, "Okay, guys! Today I will hand back the short stories you wrote, and you'll be going in for your second round of editing!" Mrs. Forester then clasps her hands together and smiles like this is the most interesting thing in the world.
"Now, remember class, editing isn't just about grammar. Check for literary devices, like anaphora and..." at this point I'm having trouble paying attention to my teacher when Jack's slight whispering is all I can focus on.
I can't really make out words, just slight hisses where an 's' should be, every once and a while a vowel will slip through, and it's quite mesmerizing... I'm starting to feel like I'm hypnotized and all of the sudden I jolt out of my reverie when the desk in front of me is scraped away to join another.
Realizing that Jack and I need to at least look like we're working, I turn my desk around to face his, "So, are you going to keep muttering to yourself or are you going to actually work on our project?" I ask, and Jack looks perplexed as Mrs. Forester hands us each our stories.
"What are we supposed to be doing?" he whispers across the desk.
"Editing, again." I whisper back.
Jack raises his voice back to its normal volume, "But didn't we already do that? Like, Monday?"
I roll my eyes and smile, "It was Tuesday, and we're supposed to look at them with fresh eyes today, see if there was anything we've missed. That's why Mrs. Forester took them up, so we wouldn't mull over them."
"Oh! So you can look at them after not thinking about them for so long!" Jack says as it dawns on him.
"That's what I just said, genius."
"Well!" Jack's hand flies up to his heart and he pretends to be taken aback by my snarky comment, I laugh. He's so funny, and he starts laughing too, his adorable dimples showing.
"Jack, Kim. I hope you're working over there..." Mrs. Forester trails off.
"Yes, Mrs. Forester." We say meekly, and actually begin to work.
I read over my paper one more time and then I trade with Jack, looking over his for any errors I might have missed. I get caught up in the story and don't notice the time until the bell rings, signaling the class has ended. Jack and I trade papers again, stuffing them into our respective backpacks before saying goodbye and hurrying off to our next classes, mine being cheerleading his being study hall.
I scurry off to the gym and I see Jack's head turn around the corner, almost turning too soon and hitting the wall. I laugh and continue on my way, thinking that Jack couldn't be that good of an actor... I mean... It's just not possible. He can't tell a lie to save his life, even if it is the response to, "Did you put pudding in my bra?" (It was a "No." shaking with laughter. Couldn't act his way out of that one to save his own butt).
I pull my hair up into a high ponytail, heading into the gym, and push all thoughts of Jack out of my mind. There's no way I can focus on the new routine for competition (remembering at the same time to make my movements sharp and clean, unlike the fluidity of my dance) with Jack on my mind. I've got a rule for myself, once your feet touch the mat, you don't think about anything but the cheer at hand. I become so focused on cheering that I forget about everything else.
Which is probably why I forgot about Jack's performance til I got home. Cartwheels and back hand springs were chasing around my head until I dropped my backpack on my floor. Some how, all thoughts of the new routine disappear from my brain, and I start worrying about the play. I'm not even in it for goodness sakes! I'm just going to see it! But I start pacing, and I worry about it when I'm eating dinner, as I'm in the car on the way back up to school, walking into the black box.
I pick a seat in the third row, picking up the playbill, a picture of a dreary farm on the front. I flip through it, looking at all the cast, and there he is, first character, "Buddy Layman, played by Jack Anderson." Any small, lingering doubts of him lying to me jump out the window. I'm sitting there, thinking about what could go wrong, whether or not Jack will remember his lines when Mr. B walks to the front of the seating area. You see, as the play is a one act, and it's taking place in the black box, there's no raised area for the performers. Actually, the seats are put on risers, and we take up about a quarter of the room. The other three quarters is the 'stage'. So, the front row is right up on the action, and actors some times are less than a foot away from the audience. It makes for an interesting experience, to say the least.
Mr. B starts off welcoming everyone to the play, as it is typical for the director to do.
"Hey, everybody, thanks for coming out to see our play! We've spent the last month or so preparing this, and everyone's worked so hard on it. As you know, tomorrow we go to competition with this, and I wanted to give the students a feel of what it's like, performing this for an audience, before it's actually time to present it to the judges." Mr. B pauses, "This play, The Diviners, is a very special play. It's dramatic, it's funny, and I hope you love it just as much as we've loved putting it together."
Mr. B takes one last look around the audience as we applaud, then walks to the second row and sits down. All the house lights dim, and then only the 'stage' is lit, and Jack's there, in filthy over-alls.
The play had begun.
A/N: So, yeah. The Diviner's is a real play, and it was the play my school competed with for One-Act competition. It's so good, and so sad. I cried when I saw it, and it's just amazing! I could totally see Leo Howard as the main character, Buddy, so I figured that play would be perfect!
*fun fact!* I looked around for my old biology notes so I could find something for Kim to take notes on. Yeah... I'm lame!
Anyways...
Thanks again to bballgirl22 for helping me with this fic!
Please review, it makes my day!
x Em
