9: Action!

Adam looked down at the script in his hands. He didn't know how he got here, between his friends. He looked up from the paper to see Eli in the far left corner of the room and Clare in the far right. Adam sighed. None of them were talking. They were the broken misfits.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, Adam looked down at the script to read his lines.

"Clara! Clara!" Adam called out. "Where are you?"

"I am here," Katie said emerging from stage left.

"Oh, Clara," Adam said with fake love and adoration in his voice. He walked quickly over to her and stood beside her. He took her hand just as the script said to do. "I was afraid you left," he said trying his best to keep a good act.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," Imogen said standing up. Adam tore his eyes away from Katie to look at her confused. Katie also turned to her as did everyone else in the room. Imogen looked back at Clare and then faced Adam. "You're acting too innocent," Imogen told him. "In this scene, Elliot is aggressive and controlling over Clara, questioning her and interrogating her more than worrying about her."

"No," Eli's voice rang from the other end. "You're wrong. The innocence of Elliot is what makes the scene so heart wrenching. His innocence makes Clara's accusations seem more judgmental than caring or loving."

Clare began writing quickly on a piece of paper. Imogen glanced down at it and started to read while Clare finished writing. "But that's not the point of the scene. The importance of the scene is to establish a climatic point the Elliot and Clara's relationship where the audience sees that Clara finally recognizes what being with Elliot had done to her. And so, acting too innocent with shadow the main reason behind the tension in the relationship, Elliot's faults."

Eli, in the corner, folded his arms. "Clara has faults too," he muttered. Clare immediately hid her face. Eli continued. "As the director, I think that the acting was spot on to get across the point of this particular scene, which is to show Clara's aggressiveness towards Elliot and his protective ways."

Imogen, reading from another paper Clare wrote on, said, "Clara isn't aggressive in this scene. She is calm and collected. Elliot, however, is obsessive over her and so it needs to be shown how crazy he is."

"Crazy?" Eli shouted in disbelief. "But there's no evidence to show that Clara thought Elliot was crazy! In all actuality, this scene doesn't really fit in the play the way it's written at all. If you ask me, I would say it needs a rewrite."

"Oh that's ridiculous," Clare interjected finally fed up with having her thoughts read out loud. "The play, from start to finish, displays Elliot's mental instability and problems thoroughly."

Eli glared in Clare's direction, but not directly at Clare. Although he'd never say it out loud, no matter how much he tried, he just couldn't ever be mad at her. It stung deep because after all they went through and after a breakup like the one they had Eli felt he had the right to be angry. But he just couldn't find it in himself.

"Let's get back to the play," Eli finally said after glaring a moment longer. He looked in the direction of the stage where Adam was now sitting on the edge and Katie next to him.

"Not until we all understand how the scene should be portrayed," Imogen stated firmly without Clare telling her to.

Eli looked at her annoyed and frustrated. He didn't like that the new girl he met last night had this kind of power just because she was helping Clare. He remained silent as Imogen stared back at him with determination apparent in her eyes.

"Okay, fine," Fiona said finally breaking the silence. "Let's all just take five while everything gets settled, shall we?"

With that, Eli and Imogen broke eye contact. She turned back to Clare and Eli to Fiona. With the tension still obvious in the room, the other students working on the play began to get back to whatever it was they were doing before rehearsal started. The silent working was eerie, but, slowly, it got louder as people decided it was safe to talk again.

Adam laid his head in his hands. He shook his head and took a deep breath. Things were bad and he didn't know if there was any way to fix it. But if there was, Adam would find it; he was determined to do so.

"Are they always going to be like that?" Katie asked startling Adam. He had been so caught up in Eli and Clare that he hadn't even noticed her sitting next to him.

"Oh, um, I hope not," Adam told her, but there was no assurance in his voice. He sounded depressed and dejected.

"Oh," Katie said sadly. She turned away.

Adam noticed the disappointing tone of her voice and decided to strike up a conversation. They were cast mates after all. And they would have to share a stage kiss at some point. He figured they should at least be able to talk freely.

"It wasn't always like this," Adam said. She turned to him. "They used to be the perfect couple."

"So I've heard," Katie said. When she saw Adam looked confused, she continued. "I talked to Clare yesterday. She told me about her and Eli…" Katie told him. "And about what happened between her and you."

"Oh," Adam managed to say.

"Yeah," Katie said with a similar awkwardness. There was a brief silence before Katie spoke again. "Nasty breakups suck," she said to defuse the uncomfortable air.

Adam nodded. "Agreed," he said looking into the left corner of the room at Fiona who was standing next to Eli. She must've felt eyes on her because Fiona looked up to meet Adam's eyes, but they both quickly looked away. None of this went unnoticed by Katie.

"What happened there?" she asked.

"What happened where?" Adam feigned puzzlement.

"You know," Katie said with a smirk. "There," she said with her eyes trained on Fiona. Adam looked over at Fiona, but looked down immediately. Katie nudged him with her shoulder and he grinned a little.

"Nothing," he told her. Katie gave him a disbelieving look. "Look, you wouldn't believe me if I told you," he relented.

Katie gazed at Adam seriously sensing that his playfulness was forced. He returned her gaze with his very own questioning eyes.

"Try me," she replied.