A/N: Apologies in advance for another slow and uneventful chapter, but now, we begin expanding our cast...
By the third week of the school year, all of the students' schedules had, at last, been finalized, which meant that throughout the rest of that week, all of the elective classes and after school clubs saw the last of its additions begin to show up in attendance, and the theater club was no exception to this; there were a number of students who had chosen theater as their elective, but had only now been approved by the school's rather incompetent administration to attend such an elective. When school had wrapped up for that Friday afternoon, the auditorium saw a few new faces grace its stage as the last of this semester's new enrollees had arrived for the first time; these included a friend of Lori's – the lanky and rather pale boy with a unique hairstyle named Errol, one of Leni's close friends – the very pretty and stylish Asian-American girl named Jackee, an Iraqi girl covered in a fuchsia-colored hijab named Parvana, and, perhaps, the most curious of these new enrollees: a rather burly and dark-skinned boy in an orange jersey named Spencer. While certainly a colorful and diverse group of students had made up this club, there was no question that Spencer seemed to be the odd duck of the lot – an observation that had been made by a few of the already-established thespians when they first laid their eyes upon him.
"Well, like, what have we here?" Ruby asked as she took notice of the boy in the number seven jersey.
"Huh, I think that's Spencer…" said Shannon; while she did not know Spencer personally, she did recognize him as a familiar face from Royal Woods Middle in years past. "He does seem kind of out of place, doesn't he?"
She meant nothing offensive with such an observation, though among a group of students like this, Spencer did obviously stick out like a sore thumb, and it did strike some of the others curious as to why a supposed jock like him would enroll in an elective like theater; as Amy walked by, she seemed to possess a most logical theory to such a curiosity.
"He's probably one of those," she snarked.
"'One of those' what?" Ruby asked.
"You know, a sissy," said Amy.
The other two girls shot Amy a pair of rather disapproving glares.
"Yeah, you would know about stuff like that, wouldn't you, Amy?" Ruby asked, her voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Yeah, I know stuff," nodded Amy as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "But, hey, no judging here... if guys wanna join a theater club, that's their business."
"Riiiiiight…" Ruby nodded rather smugly. "Well, that, like, totally explains Rex then, doesn't it?"
Having spent three years attending the same middle school together, Ruby was rather knowledgeable of exactly what buttons to push to not only trigger Amy, but also get her to unwittingly illustrate how she clearly could not take what she dished out.
"Um, F.Y.I., Rex happens to be in touch with his artistic side," she insisted in the defense of her boyfriend. "Besides, I wanted to enroll in the theater club, and we do everything together…"
It was then that Amy happened to notice her boyfriend was elsewhere on stage, and he appeared to be chatting it up with another girl who had just enrolled into the club – a denim-clad girl who possessed a unique haircut that was dyed in a distinct shade of pink; unhappy with the sight she had just beheld, Amy stormed off to fetch Rex and drag him away from this other girl.
Ruby then suddenly took in a big inhalation of air before she turned to Shannon and quipped, "Doesn't the air seem, like, totally fresher when Amy leaves?"
Shannon stifled a snicker at the remark. As the two of them began to visually familiarize themselves with the various new faces they saw in their elective for this week, Ruby could not help but feel intrigued by the presence of this burly jock who almost seemed as though that even he was aware of just how out of place he appeared in this club. Whatever the case may be, she felt compelled to check him out.
"I think I'm gonna mingle…" said Ruby as she began to wander off on her own.
"Yeah, you do that…" mumbled Shannon; she, however, was still a little shy when it came to meeting new people, and instead, opted to see what some of the other thespians she was familiar with were up to before this week's session got underway.
If Spencer Banks fell into any specific Zodiac sign, then astrologically speaking, he could very well be a Gemini, as even he felt as though he may have been two different people in a singular body… at the very least, he did lead something of a double life. His more public life clearly revolved around sports; given his high energy, quick reflexes, and competitive attitude, he was quite a valuable asset to the home team in whatever sport they played during the school year – not to mention his burly build was unmatched when it came to physically demanding contact sports. His not-so-public life, however, revolved around finer things, though he would rather nobody know about such; he held an appreciation for the arts, and would occasionally sneak into the Royal Woods Theater to see whatever plays or concerts were held throughout the year. As long as scheduling conflicts could be avoided, and none of his friends or teammates from the sports club knew anything about it, he saw no harm in also enrolling into the theater club as an elective as well.
Before he knew it, he noticed one of other these students appeared to be approaching him.
"So, like, what's a dude like you doing in a club like this?" Ruby asked while she added a hint of playful ribbing to her voice.
Nearly immediately, the jock was mesmerized and enchanted by the Indian girl who had just approached him; having only a vague idea of the artsy kinds of kids who would likely enroll in such an elective as theater, he was quite surprised to find a girl in this club who was actually quite a hottie… at least, in comparison to the freckle-faced girl with the large glasses, or the skinny girl with the curly ginger hair, or the girl with the head covering, or the girl with the weird pink hair, or the late-bloomer girl with the large ponytail and braces across her teeth.
"I forget…" he mumbled in tranced stupor.
Ruby chuckled at the boy's amusing behavior as she continued to engage in a little playful teasing: "I think the gym's, like, on the other side of the school."
"Yeah…" Spencer mumbled again before he was finally able to collect his thoughts and return to his senses. "I mean, yeah, I know that… I mean, I can't join the theater club if I want to?"
"Hey, you do you," said Ruby with a shrug. "Last I heard, it's still a free country."
"Yeah, I wonder about that sometimes…" Spencer said with a most peculiar look on his face before he tried to not-so-subtly get to know the Indian girl a little better as well. "What about you? What brings a girl like you to this club?"
"Show-biz just happens to be in my blood," said Ruby with a sense of pride.
"And, your blood happens to be from…?" He asked.
"Like, my family came from India, like, generations ago," she explained.
"Ah, that would explain why you seem so… so…" Spencer was suddenly at a loss for words, which resulted in Ruby giving him a rather menacing glare. In this day and age, Spencer was familiar with how difficult it was for anybody of the male sex to speak to girls, let alone compliment them without saying something wrong and/or politically insensitive, lest a chauvinist label be hung from his neck. Still, he was enchanted by this Indian girl and wanted to extend some kind of compliment to her, if only he could find the right word… "Exotic?"
Exotic? She could accept that; compared to most other girls who were either far much lighter than her, or even those who were a little darker than her, she was rather aware that she did not exactly fit too many molds of your typical high school teenaged girl, which did help her stand out from the crowd.
With a smile and an extension of her hand, she finally introduced herself: "Name's Ruby."
"Spencer…" he said; as soon as he touched her hand, he felt something of an electrical jolt shoot up his arm and into the rest of his generously-proportioned body. It did not take long for him to consider just how fitting such an exotic handle was of the equally exotic girl who possessed it. "You know, you really do look like a ruby… I mean, I don't mean your name… like… y'know… the jewel? Ruby?"
Ruby continued to smile, "Yeah? Well, thanks… my parents thought about naming after my great Aji, Rubella… like, thank Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva they didn't!"
Spencer nervously chuckled, "Yeah, a name like that would be pretty sickening…"
Ruby laugh, which contributed to the cultured jock's growing smile; a hot girl had laughed at his little joke, that had to have been a good sign.
"Y'know something?" She asked. "You're alright, Spence…"
He continued to smile, though by now it had turned into something of a rather coy smile; he seemed to really be hitting things off with this girl, as he replied, "Same to you, Rubes…"
The two stood and smiled at each other for a brief little moment.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on stage, Lyberti had decided to kill a little time before Mrs. Bernardo made another one of her grand, dramatic announcements, by putting Shannon through another little practice session; she helped manipulate the girl in the orange sweater into a completely straight position.
"Okay, so just stand straight… lower your shoulders, and relax your head…" she instructed, though she could tell the other girl was a little resistant. "Come on, Shannon, just relax…"
"I'm sorry," mumbled Shannon. "I get tense really easy…"
"There's nothing to be tense about," insisted Lyberti. "After all, singing's a lot of fun!"
"Yeah, when you can sing…" said an insecure Shannon.
"You can sing, Shannon; I know you can!" Lyberti assured her to help boost her confidence. She took a step back to face her potential protégé to further instruct her through a singing exercise. "We'll just start with something simple, okay? Now, empty all the air out of your lungs."
Shannon did as instructed; she blew out every last puff of breath she possessed as if to blow up a rather large balloon.
"Okay, now take a great, big, deep breath through your mouth…"
What was the point to empty your lungs only to fill them back up again? Shannon was puzzled about this, but she did as she had been instructed; she took a huge inhalation of breath to the point that her entire torso nearly turned into a blimp.
"Good, now just sing a simple note…"
Shannon attempted to do just that: sing a simple note… while all of the air inside of her rushed out as well, which sounded more like a squeaking balloon that was being deflated.
"Not bad, but you're still too tense; it's really important to relax, just don't slouch or anything."
Shannon sighed dejectedly, "I told you this was easier said than done."
"We'll just keep practicing; you'll get the hang of it soon enough!" Lyberti continued to insist.
The bespectacled brunette still was not too sure about that; she even stole a glance out onto the rest of the stage just to ensure that Amy had not listened in on her little practice session, which surely would have provided her with more ammunition for some of her catty brand of heckling. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on the position you were in, it appeared that Amy was too preoccupied spooning a rather big dose of her attitude toward Rex… she still could not comprehend what a boy like him could possibly even see in such a girl as Amy to want to date her, and to see him currently receive something of a verbal tongue lashing from her only further contributed to her lack of comprehension over their relationship.
Once again, the lights in the auditorium shut off, and a dramatic drum roll echoed throughout, accompanied by a very proud voice that called out to the pupils who were dispersed throughout the stage…
"And now, thespians, back for her third consecutive week of being your drama teacher, here she is, the one, the only, the incomparable…"
The lights were brought back up to reveal said drama teacher as she made her way down the aisle with a boom box in her hand – this was the source of the drum roll they had heard.
"MRS. BERNARRRRDOOOOO!"
She then pressed another button on the boom box to skip ahead to a different sound effect track – this one was of a packed house that roared with applause and cheers. As was the usual case, this entrance from their drama teacher resulted in more than a few perplexed responses from her thespians, particularly the newer arrivals, including Spencer, who turned to Ruby and queried…
"What the heck was that about?"
Ruby rolled her eyes in annoyance, "She does that at the beginning of class, like, every week!"
"Sheesh," grumbled Spencer. "And I thought I could be a big ham, but this is ham and cheese!"
This remark garnered yet another response of laughter from the Indian girl. After Mrs. Bernardo finally shut her little stereo off and set it aside, she climbed her way up onto the stage, where she was excited to see a number of new faces in the club this week.
"Ah, how wonderful! Fresh new faces have joined us this week!" She exclaimed. "This will certainly work to our benefit… the more thespians we have in our club, the BIGGER our productions can be!"
This sounded rather exciting; after all, for many of the enrollees, this was the exact reason they chose theater as their elective: to take part in big school productions. However, as with any class, they were also here to learn, which Mrs. Bernardo was quick to remind them of…
"Of course, we still have a lot of work to do before we're ready to tackle our first serious production of the semester!" She said. "Since we have some new students amongst us, I do believe this week, we shall work on small group assignments, so that our veteran thespians can pass on what they have already learned to their new colleagues, and take them under their wings!"
"Well, I believe I can fly!" Luan quipped as she started to flap her arms, much to the amusement of others; it was not enough that this odd girl had to crack a joke about most things, sometimes she was unable to also resist the occasion of quoting song – a quirk possessed by her music-loving sister and roommate that had apparently rubbed off on her a little.
"I believe in you, too, Luan!" Mrs. Bernardo exclaimed. "Now, for this week's exercise, we're going to work on a technique known in theater circles as The Bus Stop…"
"Oh, dang it!" Luan interrupted again, as she turned the pockets of her plaid yellow skirt inside out, which allowed for tiny yellow fibers and pieces of lint to flutter down to the stage floor below. "I don't have exact change!"
Once again, the Loud girl managed to garner a few amused chuckles from her peers, though others just glared at her with puzzled looks on their faces for her strange and bizarre behavior.
"Thespians… our class clown…" said Mrs. Bernardo, as she extended her hand toward the proud comedienne. She then resumed her explanation. "Now, this may seem like a rather simple exercise technique, but it requires that the participants possess a sense of imagination! We'll have three of you line up, as if you're waiting at a bus stop… one of you will project an unspecified emotion, while the other two theorize why you're experiencing said emotion… it can be anything! Perhaps you're excited that your new show was just NOMINATED FOR AN AWAAARRRD! Perhaps you're upset that somebody else beat you out for a role in that new body wash commercial! Perhaps you're nervous that the audience is too dense to comprehend the true art behind the story of your STRUUUUUUGGLLLLEEEE!"
Feeling even more perplexed by this teacher's overly dramatic and flamboyant flair, Spencer once again turned to Ruby.
"Is she always so…"
He was at a loss for the right kind of word he could use to describe just how peculiar their drama teacher seemed to be, but he did not even need such a word, because Ruby already had a sense of his befuddlement, as she went ahead and answered.
"Yes. Yes, she is," she said with a nod, before she grabbed him by the arm and began to drag him away. "Come on, you can totally, like, work with me and Shannon…" After she managed to find the bespectacled brunette in the orange sweater elsewhere on the stage, she brought Spencer over toward her. "Hey, Shannon, what do you say we let Spencer work with us?"
"Yeah, sure," nodded Shannon.
Ruby turned to Spencer with an idea of her own: "Y'know, Shannon is, like, totally good at projecting emotion, maybe we should, like, let her do that part while we guess what she's feeling and why!"
Spencer shrugged, "Sure, I'm game."
Shannon did feel a little sense of flattery by Ruby's remark in regards to her ability to project emotion when acting, which gave her a little boost of merriment inside her to the point that she figured out what emotion she would emit for the two of them to theorize about in their exercise.
Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Bernardo decided it was time to put the thespians to the test; although she did not usually like to play favorites among her students, she had a good feeling that whatever little group Benny and Luan were in would very much excel in their exercise, so she called them up to center stage first. The new enrollee they partnered up with was Parvana, and as they made their way out onto the center of the stage, already she looked a little nervous – genuine nervousness over the exercise, to be sure, but she, unfortunately, also had some insecurities of her own, and had asked Benny and Luan if it was alright with them if this could be the role she took in their exercise, of which they gladly obliged. They formed a single line in the center of the stage, while Mrs. Bernardo went over the instructions of the exercise once again…
"Alright, now remember, the three of you are at a bus stop," she reminded them. "One of you conveys a readable emotion, while the other two use your imaginations to theorize what could be the root of their present state of mind! Aaaaaannnnd ACTIOOONNN!"
The nervous look upon Parvana's face remained and she continually darted her eyes toward Luan and Benny as they stood besides her waiting for an imaginary bus that would not arrive to pick them up; the uneasiness on her face was a cause for concern as they began to discuss the matter among themselves.
"Hey… does something seem a little off about her to you?" Luan asked Benny.
Benny took a better look at Parvana's face and nodded, "She seems rather nervous, doesn't she?"
"Wonder why?" Luan asked.
Benny paused for a moment, before he responded, "I think it's kind of obvious, don't you?"
Luan took another look at Parvana, and as she thought about it, it seemed apparent to her that she was probably nervous that other people on the bus would probably stare at and/or judge her based solely on her appearance. She turned to Benny once more, and with a slow nod, agreed, "Yeah... I do..."
"You know what?" Benny said. "I think we should try to help her feel more at ease…"
"Yeah, you're right…" Luan said before she turned to the girl in the fuchsia-colored hijab and addressed her. "Excuse me?"
Parvana turned toward Luan and looked even more nervous than before, though the comedienne and her friend attempted to ease her nerves.
"Hi, I'm Luan," she introduced herself and her best friend. "This is Benny."
"Hi," greeted Benny. "What's your name?"
"P-Parvana…" said the Iraqi girl.
"Nice to meet you, Parvana," said Luan. "Would you like to sit with us on the bus?"
"You… you want me to sit with you?" Parvana asked.
"Sure, we don't mind," said Benny. "Bus rides can be so boring if you don't have anyone to talk to."
"Yeah, a bus ride is certainly no walk in the park," Luan quipped with her signature obnoxious laughter.
This got Parvana to chuckle a little, but she more or less appreciated the friendly gesture from these two strangers who chose not to judge her based solely over how she had presented herself in public.
"Th-thank you," said Parvana rather meekly. "That is very kind of you…"
All the while, Mrs. Bernardo had nodded along as she watched intently on their little exercise.
"Well, I must say, I am very impressed with your efforts!" Mrs. Bernardo exclaimed in praise. "And, Parvana, I'm glad to see a student such as you enroll in our club; the theater world needs to open its doors to more culturally diverse thespians such as yourself!"
"Thank you, Mrs. Bernardo," said a flattered Parvana.
"As a matter of fact, we should all feel comfortable, not only in our own skin, but in being open to other inquiring minds about who we are..." the drama teacher continued before she further asked, "Parvana, would you feel comfortable in enlightening your fellow thespians should they ask you questions about your culture or heritage?"
The Iraqi girl shrugged, "I suppose if they are curious to learn about my culture or heritage, then yes, I would be happy to answer whatever questions they may have."
"Wonderful, and thank you again, you three did splendidly with your exercise; you may now step down," she said to dismiss them from the stage and back into the auditorium, as she looked over the rest of the thespians. "Alright, who shall we critique next?"
Ruby shot her hand up and volunteered on behalf of her and her two scene partners: "Like, how about us?"
Mrs. Bernardo seemed satisfied enough as she nodded, "Very well, Ruby; let's see what the three of you have for us!"
With that, Ruby, Shannon, and Spencer hopped out of their seats and made their way up to the stage, where, just as before, the three of them lined up in the center and pretended they awaited a bus that would not actually be coming to pick them up. Actually, Shannon took it a step further… using her experiences in Advanced Mime from eighth grade, she held her closed hands up in the air with her elbows slightly bended while she walked into position, as if she had a pair of invisible suitcases in hand – this would certainly be indicative of a rather long bus trip for her… and the look on her face was sheer elation, which was noticed by her two scene partners while they watched her happily rest her invisible suitcases before her feet.
"Whoa, somebody looks totally psyched, doesn't she?" Ruby asked Spencer.
"Yeah, and it looks like she brought quite a bit of luggage with her, too," said Spencer; Mrs. Bernardo was actually pleasantly surprised by how well he delivered his dialogue.
"I bet I know what all the excitement's about…" Ruby continued, "I bet she, like, just won a sweepstakes, and is on her way to, like, an all-expense paid trip to some totally tropical resort."
"Either that, or maybe she won tickets to that big game they're having in Great Lakes City this weekend, and got herself a pretty sweet suite at the Lexicrown Hotel," deduced Spencer.
"I mean, it's, like, totally obvious whatever's got her all excited, she's gonna be gone for quite a while," continued Ruby. "Looks like she packed everything, but, like, the kitchen sink."
Just then, Shannon looked aside, as if she saw something that was approaching from a distance, which prompted her to grab and lift her invisible suitcases once again.
"Oh, the bus is coming!" She exclaimed, before she made a final announcement: "Well, fare-thee-well, Royal Woods! My bud may finally bloom under the bright lights of Broadway, but I will never forget that my roots were planted here!"
Ruby and Spencer exchanged surprised looks with one another over Shannon's revelation, while the look of impress returned to Mrs. Bernardo's face.
"An excellent job from the three of you!" She praised. "First of all, Shannon, I just LOOOOOVE the little pantomime you added; it brought a little extra touch of realism to the exercise!"
"Thanks, Mrs. Bernardo," said Shannon graciously.
"Ruby?" Mrs. Bernardo continued. "You made a much better effort in this exercise! I was really convinced of your inquisitive commentary over Shannon's elation!"
Ruby was not exactly sure just what her drama teacher meant by that critique, but at least she sounded a lot more satisfied with her attempt this time around, and took such as a compliment.
"Like, thanks a lot, Mrs. B.!" She said.
"And, Spencer?" Mrs. Bernardo continued. "I was most impressed with how very natural you were, you seem to be very comfortable with your presence on the stage… directors sense these things!"
Spencer was appreciative of the praise he had just received, however unexpected it was to him.
"Uhh, yeah, thanks…" he mumbled while he stroked the back of his head.
"Thank you three very much for your little performance, you may return to your seats," said their drama teacher as she dismissed them from the stage.
As the three of them disembarked from the stage, even Shannon was impressed with Spencer's performance as well.
"She's right, you were a natural, Spencer," she told him. "You must really be in touch with your creative side."
"Yeah, I guess so…" he shrugged it off.
"You must be a dude of, like, many layers," added Ruby. "I like that."
Spencer smiled once more; he could very well enjoy this elective… especially with a girl like Ruby around.
Spencer has presented us with a unique challenge, mainly because the source material has been rather inconsistent with him in the three episodes he's appeared, it makes for a rather enigmatic character, but, hopefully, this story can, at least, provide him with not only some context, but even subtext as well.