"H-hello," Yamuraiha said nervously.
The audition room was small- tiny was more like it. It had only two windows on the side where the light peered through and a lamp that hung from the ceiling. It looked more like a scene from a scary movie rather than a place where people would judge her acting skills.
Two teachers sat side by side. A man and woman with clipboards, surprisingly seeming too professional to be sitting on crates near the door.
"So, Yummy-rai-haah M-mouwgawment," the male teacher cleared his throat after butchering her name. "What part are you auditioning for?"
"Well- I think I would be a great Ophelia." She pushed the loose strands of hair out of her face. "I know the play pretty well-" she stopped explaining after seeing the pure disinterest on both of their bespectacled faces. "Right I'll just- I'll just do the scene that I'm supposed to do."
And she did. She spoke confidently and not once did she look at her sheet. She felt happy while speaking and noticing the emerging expressions of admiration. Halfway through she threw the sheet down and let her hands help her speak: making both dramatic and subtle gestures. At the end she took a short breath.
"Was- was that okay?" Her anxiousness came back to her awaiting their response- fearing their rejection.
"Well, I have a few questions for you Yamuraiha," the female teacher said. "Would you be fine doing the drowning scene, the original play doesn't show it, but we are changing a few things, we would be bringing a clear bathtub and filling it to the brim with flowers,"
"That's completely fine-" she answered.
"Good," she scribbled something down on her clipboard. "You don't have any allergies to any materials?"
"Not that I know of."
"And how would you feel about doing a stage kiss?"
"Ophelia doesn't kiss anyone in the original play, not that I know of anyways,"
"Yes, well we are adding some drama." the male teacher said in a pretentious tone. "How would you feel about it?"
"I mean, sure- it's not like I haven't kissed anyone before." She laughed nervously. "Sure."
"Okay, well we have a few more kids doing auditions today, the results will be posted at the end of the day today."
"Hey!" Sharrkan greeted her as she walked out. He was wearing brown robes and had dark paint rubbed underneath his eyes. "Miss let me be the grave digger. " He grabbed the fabric of the robe and swung it side to side.
She gave him a thumbs up. "Well I'm glad to see you looking like you just went to a weird concert. The makeup suits you, but you smudged a bit of it on your cheek,"
"Where?" Sharrkan pulled out his phone to use as a mirror.
"It's fine I'll do it." She stood on her toes to get a better view of his face before pressing her thumb against his cheek. "There it's better." She moved backwards.
"Sharrkan, I need to-" Miss Vinea paused and studied Yamuraiha. "Hello dear, what's your name?"
Just by looking at this woman for less than a second Yamuraiha knew her type. The young teacher that knows everyone and the one that everyone likes. She could tell by her trendy shoulder length haircut dyed ash blonde and clothing that was classy, yet stylish.
"Yamuraiha," she answered after a short pause.
"Yamuraiha," Miss Vinea echoed. "Ah, so you're the reason why Sharrkan actually read a book. When he told me he read it I was baffled, he does so good on the essays and personal pieces, but fails the book reports and assignments. No matter what I couldn't get him to read,"
Sharrkan rolled his eyes. "The other books were boring," he said defensively.
"That's because you didn't read them, anyways you guys better start packing up third period is starting soon."
"Thanks, and would you mind telling me where room 100 is?"
"That's first floor English with yours truly," Miss Vinea proudly pointed to herself. "Come, I'll show you where that is,"
"Thank you, Miss."
"What's your class after English?"
"Oh, well since I moved here I didn't get to choose two of my classes, which is fine since I did my more important ones first semester. So I'm in drama- 11th grade drama."
"Hey, that means you're in my class!" Sharrkan raised his hand for a high five, which Yamuraiha ignored.
"Don't worry, it's March. Not much school left especially for a senior. These months will fly by I promise." Miss Vinea said in a reassuring tone.
"It sure doesn't feel like March. It's still frigid."
"That's because we're a bit up North, it'll get warm once April hits."
"Yeah, but summers here are great! Lakes, hikes, festivals, the middle of nowhere has its perks." Sharrkan exclaimed. "Just watch, by the end of summer you're going to fall in love with this place,"
And Yamuraiha found herself smiling.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
After English Yamuraiha followed her school map to drama class. She heard noises and shrieking before entering the classroom. So it was going to be that class, huh? She prepared herself before entering, but it didn't help much. She was unable to comprehend the mess that was drama class.
The chairs were in a circle around an empty space where Mr Amon, her gym teacher was standing; belligerently snapping his fingers to get the attention of the class.
She spotted two familiar faces amidst the chaos. Sharrkan and Pisti were watching a video together on his phone, sharing their headphones and completely ignoring Mr Amon. She found herself being a bit jealous of how close they were. She had friends before, but they weren't close friends. She wouldn't talk to them outside of school except for school matters. Just by observing them bopping their heads up and down in unison to video confirmed their closeness in her eyes. There was no fear of judgement, something she had to let go of.
"Oh hey," Pisti took out her earphone, "it's Yamu!" She patted the seat next to her. "Come! Sit next to me!"
Yamuraiha nodded and sat next to her. "Hey, why is Mr A teaching drama? Is he our teacher? I thought he was gym."
"Staff is short. He's gym and drama." Sharrkan answered.
"CLASS!" Mr Amon yelled, and cleared his throat after noticing that everyone stopped talking. "I'm sure that you just heard the bell ring, and that it's finally time to settle down."
A few kids in the class whispered amongst each other and laughed.
Yamuraiha felt bad for the man.
"Well, we have a new student in class today. Her name is Yamuraiha," he paused, probably trying to remember what to say next, "Yamuraiha why don't you tell us about yourself?"
"Alright." It's not like she had trouble introducing herself to the three other classes, but for whatever reason she had trouble getting a word out in front of Pisti and Sharrkan. "Well I used to live in a nearby suburb, or city I guess since it only took me 5 minutes to get anywhere- and then my dad just wanted to move here."
"Great, and do you have any interests you want to share? Any talents?"
"I'm really good at chemistry and biology, and I have a good memory when it comes to school- it's awful when it comes to anything else though, uhm," she let out a small nervous laugh, "that's all."
The teacher clapped his hands together. "Thank you Yamuraiha for sharing. Now we all know what we're doing today right? Mirror exercises and our projects."
Sharrkan passed a note to Yamuraiha behind the chairs. Texting would be better than a not obviously, but Yamuraiha would never even think to touch her cellphone in class. He tapped her on the back to get her attention and threw it over her shoulder, landing it on her lap.
Yamuraiha rolled her eyes, and opened the note when Mr Amon's back was to her.
Want to go to the mall with me and Pisti after school? It's a 20 minute drive.
That couldn't wait until the end of the day? Yamuraiha crumpled the note and put it in her pocket. She turned to Sharrkan and gave him a thumbs up.
Both him and Pisti smiled.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
The final bell was about to ring. The teacher had given up on teaching the class that had made up its mind to pack up and relax for the last five minutes.
"I really don't know why they call this the country when really everything is still close by, we just have bigger houses and more land." Pisti said.
"That's because you live right where the 'country' part ends," Sharrkan corrected Pisti. "And Yamuraiha, we can leave your stuff in the car since the school is closer to the mall than any of our houses, is that okay?"
"Yeah, of course. I just have to tell my dad. See if he's okay with it."
"Oh come on, you don't have to tell him everything." Pisti said.
"There's nothing wrong if she does." Sharrkan shrugged. "My parents were like that towards my brother when they were around."
Before Yamuraiha could say anything the announcements had turned on.
"We have found our cast," the voice over the announcements said, "it was a tough choice and everyone gave their best, congratulations to everyone who tried out,"
Yamuraiha felt her stomach turning. Pisti squeezed her hand for support and gave her a sympathetic nod. She didn't understand why they had announced it instead of just posting it on a bulletin board.
The voice went through a handful of other names before getting to Ophelia.
"Ophelia will be portrayed by Yamuraiha Mogamett." the voice said. "Congratulations to all who tried out, the substitutes for each part will be posted on a bulletin beside room 208, thank you have a great day."
The final bell had rung.
Yamuraiha sat in shock as the class congratulated her.
Please review if you liked it or didn't. I'm just writing this for practise, but I have an ending and plot in mind. Please suggest anything you want.