Chapter 9
Shane assigned the first project in his Theatre Performance class on Wednesday. It was an assignment where students would break up into groups of three and perform a skit that they had come up with themselves. There would need to be a set of characters, a setting, a plot, a conflict and a solution for the conflict. It was required that it be at least five minutes long, with a written out script given to Shane the day of the performance, and they were also required to use costumes and props. Seth, Mahea, and Dylan were one group and decided to set their skit in a 1940's bar.
"Yeah!" Dylan exclaimed. "I could be the leader of one of those mob gangs. And you could be that good cop, undercover, trying to figure out what's going on in his town." He patted Seth on the back. "And Mahea, you could play the waitress, trying to keep me, the bad guy from being discovered by the good cop by flirting and batting your eyes at his handsome devil." Dylan teased, batting his eyes and looking at Seth. Seth and Mahea both cracked up laughing while watching Dylan fool around.
As Dylan continued to humor himself in his own world, Seth and Mahea looked at each other and smiled.
"Flirt with Seth, that should be easy." Mahea thought to herself, still looking at Seth.
"As kooky as Dylan is, I think his plan's good." Seth continued to look at Mahea, then turned to see Dylan still acting out the skit by himself.
Shane gave the class the rest of the week and the weekend to work on their skits and getting them organized. Everyday they would give him a brief report on how their projects were coming along. The presentations would begin next week Tuesday.
"Okay guys." Shane called everyone's attention before the bell rang on Friday afternoon. They were all itching to get out of school for the weekend.
"I'm leaving it up to you to work with your groups today and this weekend. I'll take no excuses for late presentations next week." The bell rang and people began to get out of their seats. "Okay, see you next week." Shane said loudly as a rush of students fled out of the classroom.
"You coming Mahea?" Seth asked as they left the room and walked up the stairs.
Mahea nodded. "Yeah, I just gotta go to my locker real fast." She said, and quickly walked into the school building. Just before she closed her locker, Damien appeared at her side.
"Hey Mahea." He said happily.
She turned to him. "Oh, hi." She closed her locker. "What's up?"
He shrugged. "Ah, nothing much." He fixed his backpack on his shoulder. "I was just wondering, if you'd wanna go hang out, ya know, get something to eat?" He asked, hopeful she'd say yes.
Mahea smiled. "Well, I would but…" She began to say, Damien then frowned.
"You have plans?" He asked, disappointed.
She nodded. "I gotta work on this skit with Dylan and Seth." She told him.
Damien nodded and lifted his head. "That's okay. Maybe some other time." He said.
"Sure." Mahea smiled, then they began to walk their separate ways.
Just as Mahea and Damien walked away from each other, Seth turned the corner, wondering what they were talking about.
"What was that about?" He asked curiously.
Mahea shrugged. "Nothing." She told him. "C'mon." She said, and led him out of the building.
"Where are they?" Zoe asked, racing into the kitchen. She'd just gotten home from school, and looked around for Seth.
"They're not home yet." Lulu said, looking up from her math work.
Julie looked at her watch. "They should be here soon." She said, and in a matter of minutes, they heard the door open.
"Mom! We're home!" Seth called as he, Dylan and Mahea walked into his house.
The three of them raced out of the kitchen.
"Hi mom." Seth said, smiling.
"Hi honey." Julie said, catching her breath.
Seth looked at Lulu and Zoe behind, who were staring at Mahea. "Uh, you guys know Dylan." He said as Dylan waved. "And this is Mahea." He said, looking at Mahea.
"Hi, it's great to meet you." Mahea said pleasantly.
Julie took a step towards Mahea and shook her hand. "It's good to meet you too Mahea. Seth's told us a lot about you." She smiled, making Lulu giggle.
Seth glared at Lulu and Zoe in back of their mom. "And those are my sister's, Zoe and Lulu." Seth said.
"Hi." Zoe and Lulu said to Mahea, as she waved to them.
"Well," Julie said, breaking the silence in the room. "I know you guys have a lot of work to do." She said.
Seth nodded. "Yeah, we'll be in here if you need us." Seth said, directing his friends to go into the living room.
"It was nice meeting you." Mahea said to all of them.
"Same here." Julie said, and walked back into the kitchen with Zoe and Lulu following her.
Once Seth, Mahea and Dylan were settled in the living room, they started to go over their script with each other. Julie and Zoe watched from the living room.
"She seems like a nice girl." Julie said, observing how she acted around Seth.
"I like her." Lulu said, working on another math problem.
Zoe nodded. "Me too. I just don't know why she'd wanna kiss Seth." She said, turning to her mom and folding her arms across her chest. "I mean, she's too pretty and sweet for Seth." She smirked.
"Oh!" Julie said, playfully throwing a dish towel at Zoe.
Just after Seth started to go over his lines, Tyler and Peter ran in the living room from downstairs, saying that they wanted to meet Mahea. Mahea introduced herself to them, and Tyler and Peter were glad to share that Seth said he thought Mahea had pretty eyes and kissed well, which made them both giggle.
"Great." Seth mumbled, burying his face in his hands, while Mahea smiled and blushed, and Dylan laughed quietly to himself.
Julie rushed in the room. "Sorry about that." She smiled, taking Peter and Tyler into the living room.
Seth looked up, his face still pink. "Huh, my brothers." He said, as both Mahea and Dylan smiled.
"Any uh, news goin' 'round in this neighborhood I should know of?" Seth asked, sitting in a chair with his arms crossed over his chest.
Mahea looked at Seth. "None that I know of." She said, pretending to serve him some beer, looking past him at Dylan, who sat on the far end of the living room.
Dylan jerked his head, motioning Mahea to go to him. Mahea nodded back, then looked at Seth. "I'll be right back." She smiled, then walked to Dylan.
Dylan raised his chin. "I got some business to do in a few minutes." He looked at Seth. "Make sure he stays clear of my business." He said in a low voice.
"Gotcha." Mahea smiled, and strutted back to Seth.
They went over their scripts several times, stopping in the middle when one or two of them started to laugh. It was hard to do a good run-through since they would always laugh about something. After they practiced a few times, they talked about their props and costumes they'd want to use.
Dylan agreed on bringing his own costume, since he had one perfect for this scene. Mahea said she'd look through some of her old costumes that night. Seth knew his dad had a dark blue suit that he could fit into, and said he might be able to use that. Seth and Mahea agreed to go down to some thrift stores the next day to look for more costume ideas and random props they could pick up. Dylan unfortunately had to go to a cousin's birthday party, a cousin whom he hadn't seen in eight years, nor did he like this cousin.
"Bye D." Seth said as Dylan got closer to the door.
"See ya Seth." Dylan said, walking out of Dylan's house. "Bye Mrs. P." He called to her, in back of Seth.
"Bye Dylan!" She waved.
Seth turned to Mahea. "So, I'll meet you at your house, around, eleven?" He asked.
Mahea nodded. "Sure." She smiled, then turned to Julie. "It was great meeting you." She said again. "And tell your brothers and sisters it was good meeting them too." Mahea said to Seth.
"It was a pleasure to meet you. Come back any time." Julie replied, smiling at both Mahea and Seth.
"Thanks. See you tomorrow." She said, and walked out of his house.
"Bye." Seth said, and closed the door behind her.
"So, another date tomorrow?" Zoe asked as Seth walked into the kitchen with Julie.
Seth looked at Zoe. "No, it's not a date. We're looking for things for class." He said.
Lulu looked up at Seth. "Well, it could be a date, if you make it into one." She suggested.
Zoe nodded. "Yeah, she's right. Just make it into a date." Zoe agreed.
"Why are you so interested in what I do with Mahea?" Seth questioned Zoe.
Zoe placed her hand on her hip and stared at Seth. "Hey, at least be happy I'm rooting for you for once. Usually I'd take any chance to make a joke about you, but this is something good, something that shouldn't be joked about." She said as Seth rolled his eyes. "Trust me, you'll thank me for being so interested in your relationship with Mahea." She smiled.
"I have no relationship with Mahea." Seth said, somewhat disappointed.
Zoe grinned. "Well, not an official one. Not yet anyway."