So, guys, that's me again! First of all I'd like to thank all of my readers and reviewers: guys, without your support I'd never have done it that well)) I'm really glad you liked the previous chapter! So, moving ahead: in this chapter the guardians will finally arrive at the mysterious theatre. Oh, what will happen next? Enjoy!
I'd like to dedicate this chap to my loyal reviewers: californiagirl1426, celestial dragon rider, Racheljhoson, juliette by the beach and CCRox4eva. Thank you, girls! (P.S. to all of my readers: don't worry that I didn't mention you, you're also great and I love you all!)
Chapter 5: The arrival
Next morning came and at 11 o'clock everything was ready for the departure. Not far from the Sheffield Institute building were two tourist buses waiting: one was pretty big – for the adults and other members of the troupe with musical instruments and their luggage – and another one was much smaller – it was supposed for the guys, the students of the school.
Everybody was already at the place and was now busy with the luggage. The boys and Elyon gathered around their small bus and were arranging their and their girlfriends' bags and suitcases in the luggage compartment.
While their male companions were doing the men's job, the five guardians came inside the bus and started to choose the best seats.
«Hey, Corny, I'm surprised! » Irma noticed to Cornelia putting her handbag on a double seat next to the window. «You seem to have only one little suitcase and it's not your style. I honestly thought you would take your entire wardrobe with you»
«Irmie, why do I need to take a load of things if we're going to L.A.? » the Earth guardian replied playfully removing a lock of hair from her eyes «I'm gonna buy a lot of clothes there, so there's no point of taking a lot of stuff with me. By the way, I see that you didn't economize and have more luggage than me? » she pointed out.
«Well, yeah, but there are only two bags » the Water guardian nodded «But it's Hay Lin who's the champion, she has three ENORMOUS bags! » she added smirking and pointing at Hay Lin «I bet poor Eric will get worn out while dealing with her luggage»
Hay Lin smiled innocently.
«Why did you take so many things? » Will asked with perplexity.
«You see, I took several things and souvenirs from my room to make my dorm in L.A. feel more like home» the optimistic Air guardian explained with a timid smile.
Taranee came up to the group and put down her handbag.
Then Nigel came inside carrying a rather small but very heavy bag.
«Taranee, here is your bag you told me not to put in the compartment» he said to his girlfriend putting the bag on the seat «Man, what on earth did you put inside? Bricks? »
«No bricks at all! » the Fire guardians said with slight offence and pouted «Just a few books: Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet (since we're anyway performing this), 2 volumes of War and Peace, a book of myths and legends and a couple of plays by Beaumarchais» she explained imperturbably.
The other girls stared at her with their eyes wide open. «And you're going to read all of that in just two weeks?? » Will marveled.
«Why not» Taranee shrugged «I'll at least start it. At any rate, we have plenty of time while getting to the theatre so I'll start reading right now»
«So you're going to read all the time? » Irma leaned against the back of her seat «And I'm gonna spend these 3 hours in a more amusing way – I've taken a lot of food with me so I'll spend that time eating! » she grinned proudly. Eating was one of the top favourite Irma's activities.
«Lucky you, and I had a very meagre breakfast» Hay Lin complained.
«Don't worry, I'll share with you» the Water guardian said helpfully «I have plenty of provisions! »
«You're sooo lucky! » Cornelia sighed «You can eat as much as you want without getting fat» and it was true.
«Oh, as if you're getting fat! » Irma screwed up her eyes playfully «Then why does Caleb drool over your seductive figure every time he sees you? »
«Stop that! » Cornelia crossed her arms blushing although everything that Irma had just said was absolute truth.
The Earth guardian wanted to say something else, but before she managed to do that the boys, who had already finished with the luggage, and Elyon got inside the bus.
«We're done with the luggage» Caleb announced.
«Yeah, and poor Eric got absolutely exhausted dealing with Hay Lin's numerous bags! » Matt snickered. Everybody looked at the Air guardian again and she was only to blush and shrug her shoulders.
«OK, if everybody is here, we're ready to set off» the bus-driver, a rather fat and practically bald man of about 40 or 45 years old, said loudly after turning his head back to the passenger salon.«Then I'm closing the doors»
The doors were closed and both buses set out to L.A., California.
«So, ladies and gentlemen» Irma rubbed her palms with enthusiasm «We have 3 hours before we get there, so let's hang out! »
First of all, the gang divided into a male and a female section. The boys sat in the row on the right side and the girls sat in the row on the left and each group started chatting on characteristic topics to pass the time.
The guys were chatting about football and basketball, skateboarding, surfing and other sports, recollected their last battle in paintball, argued about latest movies and fantasy books, mentioned a word about the advantages of their girlfriends, generally about typical boyish stuff.
The ladies in the contrary were discussing typical girly stuff: trendy outfits, make-up, Hollywood stars, books and movies (mostly romantic), fashion, the advantages of their boyfriends, 10 reasons why I am not worse than Julia Roberts and so on. Cornelia who had all the issues of Vogue since 2001 was an expert. Than they started arguing if Sarah Brightman in the musical was better than Emmy Rossum in the Phantom of the opera movie and came to the conclusion that both were good, after that it was decided that Cats were not as good as they were thought to be and that Les misérables were all the way better, then they wondered if a new movie about the Pirates of the Caribbean was going to be made and if yes, whether the same hot Jhonny Depp and Orlando Bloom would star in it and in the end Elyon told them the sad story of her life. She told them in detail how she started dating one cute guy who was the blacksmith's son (indeed he was very cute and generally medieval guys from Meridian were in average cuter than those from Earth) in Meridian and how they broke up two months ago because he turned out to be dumb and, beside that, fell for carpenter's daughter. Elyon was quite hurt and at first wanted to use her queen's power to show him who was the boss, but later decided than she didn't like him that much and generally speaking, he wasn't as cute as she had thought, so she forgave him and got over that tragedy very quickly. The five guardians were very sympathetic and decided to find a new party for her right then, on Earth. Then they went on chatting about trendy outfits and books and movies.
After approximately an hour of thematic conversations both male and female groups got bored and divided again, but this time in pairs. Caleb and Cornelia sat on the first double-seat in the row on the left side – Cornelia next to the window and Caleb next to the aisle, then Matt and Will – Will next to the window and Matt to the aisle, then Hay Lin and Eric – Eric – window, Hay Lin – aisle, then Irma and Martin – Irma – aisle, Martin – window, then Taranee and Nigel – Nigel – window, Taranee – aisle, and in the back of the bus was Elyon alone on the last double-seat.
Each couple was occupied with its own business. Caleb and Cornelia were together listening to Cornelia's new I-pod. Will and Matt were just chatting about school, the guardian stuff and their future stay in the theatre. Taranee started to put her plan into action and took one of her numerous books. Soon Nigel also got interested in it and in a minute they were both reading and discussing Macbeth by Shakespeare – good girls sometimes have good influence on bad boys. Irma and martin were also doing the thing they had planned – they were consuming one after another large packs of crisps, hamburgers and bottles of water from Irma's fathomless bag with provision and were sharing with anybody interested. The Water guardian was praising the tasty cherry rolls made by her mom and thought that reducing world's food supply was the most innocent thing ever done. As for Hay Lin, she, for some reason, knocked into her head that she would definitely be asked to help with designing costumes for the play, so she started making sketches for different medieval dresses and camisoles right there in the bus and utterly took Eric in this activity.
And Elyon, who didn't have a pair, was spending the time surfing the web in her laptop. After Caleb had enmeshed half the castle with wires and had installed access to the Internet in Meridian, the young queen could spend more time on Earth and didn't need to worry about her kingdom – she was always abreast of meridian events by means of few people in the castle who had been somehow taught to use e-mailing.
After some time listening to music, Caleb and Cornelia got a bit bored and took some books they had with them to read. Suddenly, when Caleb was reading he felt something soft and a bit heavy on his shoulder. He turned his head to check what it was and saw that his girlfriend had got tired during the long trip and gradually fell asleep leaning her head on his shoulder. The rebel leader smiled and put off his book. He looked closer at Cornelia's face – she looked like an innocent fair-haired angel. He could feel her warm calm breath, watched how slowly her bosom was rising and going down, saw how barely noticeably the tips of her fluffy eyelashes were trembling in her sleep. They young warrior recalled the first day they met, the first moment they saw each other. Then, when was hung by a thread, when Cedric in his awful snake form was dragging him into the portal, he could never imagine that this very cute and attractive blonde would one day sleep peacefully upon his shoulder like this. Caleb carefully put his arm around his bright angel and gently kissed her on the forehead – Cornelia smiled radiantly while sleeping and cuddled up to him tighter. Then Caleb slightly leaned his head against Cornelia's and it wasn't long before he was also fast asleep. They were both sleeping sweetly beside each other – Cornelia with her head softly resting upon his shoulder and Caleb gently embracing her – it was such a cute and peaceful scene!
But the rebel and the Earth guardian were not the only ones who fell asleep in the bus. All the other young travelers had grown tired because of the long enervating journey and soon joined them. Will and matt were sleeping holding hands. Taranee's eyes started to close, she dropped her book and fell asleep. Her boyfriend also dozed off, comfortable put his head on Taranee's bosom and went to the land of sweet dreams. Irma fell asleep with an unfinished doughnut in her hand. Martin took off his jacket, rolled it up, carefully put it under his and Irma's heads instead of a pillow and also fell asleep. Eric got exhausted both because of the trip and Hay Lin's grand plans about the clothes-designing and gradually dozed off. The Air guardian was left without audience so she decided also to have a nap and finish the sketches later. She fell asleep quickly but for some reason felt cold in her sleep and started shivering. Eric opened one eye and covered his girlfriend with his jacket with care. Hay Lin immediately stopped shivering and smiled. Eric went on sleeping. Even Elyon began to nod in front of her notebook. The entire bus (except the driver, of course!) was enveloped with sleep and the air filled with rhythmical slow breaths and exhalations and quiet puffing.
Finally the time passed and the buses arrived to the outskirts of Los Angeles. The bald driver stopped his bus and announced, «There! We're at the place! » The man expected that the young passengers would get up and go to take their luggage, but there was absolutely no movement heard. He turned his head in perplexity to the passenger salon and discovered that all the 11 guys were sleeping peacefully. «What a land of Nod! » the man smirked in surprise and took the loud-speaker. «Rise and shine! We've reached the destination! » he commanded through the loud-speaker, this time his voice roared like thunder in the air and the sleep vanished as if by magic.
All the guys shrieked from unexpectedness and leapt up, Taranee and Nigel even bumped their heads. But everybody was awakened. «Huh! » the driver giggled at their reaction and then announced loudly, «Sorry to interrupt your sweet dreams, but we've arrived, so take your things and get lost, and don't forget anything in the bus! »
The guys started to stand up and head their way towards the doors.
«That was not very friendly of him! » Taranee complained to Irma, who she met in the aisle, and rubbed the small bruise on her forehead.
«Duh, it cannot be denied! » the Water guardian agreed and, to Taranee's obvious horror, forwarded the rest of her doughnut, which had become fairly stale during the journey, into her mouth (food shouldn't be wasted!).
Everybody went outside the bus and started taking their bags and suitcases out of the luggage compartment. The other bigger bus had also stopped nearby and Mrs. Scott, Mrs. Knickerbocker and other members of the troupe went outside.
Caleb put his rucksack over one shoulder and took Cornelia's small cream-coloured two-wheeled suitcase to help her, then looked around to see the theatre. In front of the guys was rather a big square building with a flat roof. To the major building was added another smaller one (there must have been the dorms for the actors). A little further was a canteen with an outside summer pavilion. This set of buildings was surrounded with a low metal fence. The territory was quite big for a common theatre and had a lot of benches to sit on, paths and trees. «So that's what it's like, the theatre…» Caleb murmured to himself looking it over with admiration – he had imagined something much smaller and less significant.
Cornelia approached him to look closer at the building. «How adorable! I already hear the sound of applause! » she clapped her hands in delight.
The rest of the guys were also looking at the theatre building and sharing their opinions. Most found something a bit mysterious about it, but generally everybody liked it.
«So, I hope you like it here! » Mrs. Abbigeille Scott said approaching the young people and putting her hands on her hips with pride. «Now, about your accommodation. Right now you'll be shown your rooms, where you'll be staying for the nearest two weeks. There will be two people in each dorm; girls will be roomed with girls and boys – with boys, so don't even hope! » she turned to the guys and strictly shook her finger. The boys had a little disappointed faces – they wanted to be roomed with their girlfriends (what do you want from them, teenage hormones)) «OK, now settle down, unpack your stuff and don't turn your dorms into a pigsty! » the woman added and led the guys, another teenage members of the trope and orchestra and elder actors to the annex.
Soon everybody was allocated to their dorms. The dorms of the Sheffield students were on the first floor of not a big two-storey building. Caleb was roomed with Matt, Hay Lin – with Irma and Will with Taranee. Cornelia wanted to be in one dorm with Elyon, but Elyon had already been allocated to another room on the second floor with Paige, a girl from the small theatre orchestra, and Mrs. Scott didn't want to transfer her again. So Cornelia was roomed alone in her dorm. She would then boast that she had been given an individual room because she was the prima donna of the theatre. «And that's not the reason! » Irma would always spoil everything, «You were roomed alone because you were caught short of a neighbour. » «I know, » the Earth guardian would sigh «But it would be so pleasant to think that I'm the prima donna! »
On the first day of the arrival there were no rehearsals so the members of the troupe could settle down and unpack their things in tranquility and look around the theatre and spend the rest of the day as they wished. So, after arranging their stuff in their dorms, the guys went exploring the theatre, while Mrs. Scott invited the principal and elder actors (including Lord and lady Capulet, Lord and Lady Montague, the Nurse, the Prince of Verona, Friar Laurence and others) to have a cup of coffee and then go and hang out somewhere.
In the past instead of the theatre there had been a boarding school for young actors with a small hostel where they, the students, used to live, a canteen and fenced territory. A few years ago Mrs. Scott and her husband became the owners of the territory and built up the main theatre building in front of the hostel. That's why this little L.A. theatre was so unusual – the couple had kept the hostel and the canteen as it was very convenient. The members of the troupe could live in the dorms of the small building during the rehearsal time and thus could prepare to the performance more efficiently. Mrs. Abbigeille regretted that the theatre was not in the centre of the city – this way it could have gathered larger audiences.
The territory of theatre was very green and resembled a tiny park – it was a great place to have a rest and relax between rehearsals and acting and vocal classes. The canteen was small but clean and tidy. In the spring, summer and early autumn there were long tables and benches outside the building where the actors could eat when the weather was fine. The other rather small building (the former hostel) had two floors with plenty of dorms and a large common bathroom on each floor. The biggest building was the theatre itself. It had classes for rehearsing and an immense hall with the stage where the performances themselves were due to take place. There were a great number of soft chairs for the audience, not as much as in other bigger city theatres, but much more than in their school Assembly Hall.
After exploring every corner of their new temporary home, the 11 teenagers came to the opinion that they really liked the theatre and considering all the significance of the matter decided to do their best to shine in the performance.
When it was already nearly evening, Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, Hay Lin, Caleb, Matt, Martin, Eric, Nigel and Elyon gathered at the gate to decide how to spend the rest of the day…
There! I did it! I decided to stop here, otherwise the chap would have been too large. In next chapter you will find out how the guys spent the evening. (I guarantee a lot of romance!) And now don't be too lazy and press that nice little button down there and tell me you like it (if you really like it, of course)! I'll try to update ASAP! The best reviewers will get a cookie))
P.S. I'm also updating the very last chap of my other fic "Love is forever") Hope to get your support!
Kisses!