Monday. The dreariest of all days. The epitome of sadness. The killer of all joy. The armpit of the week.
I dressed in my black sweater and jeans and headed to the Dauntless building with Kat. As we walked she told me where she ended up being sorted into.
"I'm in makeup," she told me as we walked. "Not sure what we're going to do until the play. Practice eyeliner on doll heads maybe."
I laughed halfheartedly. I had to go to the Mini Performance Hall to get started on learning my lines and how to act properly. I was beyond nervous. What if I choked while practicing? Peter would never let me live it down.
As we got closer and closer to my destination, my hands began sweating and I began biting my lower lip.
"Hey," Kat said. "Don't worry. You'll do great."
I took a shuddering breath and released it slowly.
"Right," I replied.
Sooner than I expected, we were in front of the Mini Performance Hall doors and Kat was saying goodbye. Then she climbed the stairs to the Makeup Floor and I was alone.
Giving myself a mental prod and wiping my palms on my pants, I pushed open the door and walked in. Most of the actors were already there and so were Lauren and Max, our designated acting teachers. Max apparently was sick the first few days and Four was only stepping in for him. So I had no idea if he was friendly or a flat out jerk.
Once I made it farther into the room, Peter, who was sitting on the stage with some other guy, narrowed his eyes at me. He said something to his friend, hopped off the stage, and strode towards me furiously.
"I thought you were going to quit?" he growled once he reached me.
"Well, I thought about it and realized: why should I ruin a great chance at a future because of some ass who I don't like? Why don't you quit instead? I don't know about you but I'm going to tough it out and see how this goes," I said.
"I'm not quitting, Stiff. And I refuse to kiss you. People will try feeding you all this bullshit about how we're not really kissing, that Matthew and Jessica are, but you know that's not true. In the end, it's the person holding the strings making the puppet function."
He walked away from me, leaving me frustrated as always. Why is it that after every time I talk to Peter, I want to punch something? Preferably him.
"Alright, sit down and shut up!" Max shouted from the stage.
As soon as we were seated in the theatre chairs, Lauren said, "Today we're just going to run through some lines. Get a feel for some of the scenes and how we're going to act them out. You'll learn about body language, memorization tricks, and for the morons in the back, how to listen!"
The three guys in the back rows snapped to attention and blushed when Lauren called them out on talking.
"That's better," she said. "The people who are in Scene Three, please come up on stage."
I stood up and walked to the front along with Peter and four other people I didn't know. Max handed us each a script once we got on stage.
"Wait, we don't get, like, a couple of minutes to read the scripts first?" a girl asked. I realized it was Gina, the girl who woke Kat and I up to find out the results of the audition.
"No," Max said. "You're going to do the scene they-"he gestured to the small crowd"-will critique it."
My throat tightened, "They're going to—to watch?"
"What's the matter, Stiff? You scared?" Peter taunted.
"No," I glared.
"Then why stu-stutter?" he said with fake sympathy.
"Why mock, Peter? Covering up your fear?" I countered.
"Both of you, shut up," Max said. "Now begin acting."
Gina and I walked to the middle of the stage, since we were beginning the scene.
"I don't care!" Gina said, her bubbliness leaving her as she transformed into the angry sister of Matthew.
"Marissa, you don't understand!" I pleaded. "I like Matthew and he likes me!"
"Dear god, you know how cliché you sound? You sound like a stupid schoolgirl!"
"Will you forget that?"
"No! You are supposed to be the smart one out of the two of us! You know just as well as I do that my brother is a cold-hearted player who uses girls for sex!" she said harshly.
"It's not like that for me! Look, I know he acts out sometimes but he's changed," I said more gently.
She shook her head, "Don't come crying back to me when he breaks your heart, Jess."
Gina walked off stage. Peter then entered and feigned a look of surprise.
"Jessica, what are you doing here?"
I tried my best to look embarrassed and said, "No-nothing. What are you doing here?"
"This is my house," he chuckled. "I don't need a reason to be here."
As he stepped closer, I stepped back. Not as part of acting, but wanting to stay as far away from Peter.
"So what's your reason?"
"Huh?" I asked, losing my place on the script. "Oh, I was with Marissa. 'Cause we're friends."
My voice sounded weak as he stepped even closer to me.
"Is that really why you came?" he gave me a slightly hurt look. "You didn't want to see me?"
He stepped closer yet again. We were about a foot away. I felt nauseous at the close proximity.
I looked back to my script, realizing I was staring wordlessly at him for at least twenty seconds.
"No," I said. "Just came to hang out with your sister."
He glanced at his script and, following stage directions, stepped so that he was directly in front of me and wrapped me in his arms. Damn, they were muscular.
"I don't see her."
"Yeah, she, uh, went to the, um, the bathroom," I said nervously. I wasn't even acting anymore. This is the scene where Matthew almost kisses Jessica but gets stopped by Marissa walking back into the room.
He was leaning closer. Towards my face.
"She'll probably take a while. That door tends to get jammed," his voice went soft and smooth as he read the line over my shoulder.
"O-okay."
My throat was dry. So unbelievably dry. My tongue felt like sandpaper and I suppressed a gasp as Peter leaned in to kiss me.
Close. He was too close for my comfort. Where was Gina? She was supposed to interrupt us before actually kissing! Why was she taking so long?
Peter was about a centimeter away from my lips when Gina stepped back on stage.
"What is going on?" she shrieked.
"Okay, that's good for now," Max called. "Critiques from the audience?"
I sighed in relief once he said that we were done. For the moment.
A girl in the middle row raised her hand, "They really captured the characters. I could feel Marissa's anger at Jess for liking her brother. And Matthew was so smooth."
"Yeah," another girl agreed. "I liked Matthew a lot."
"Peter's a really good Matthew," another girl said, nodding vigorously.
Max rolled his eyes, "Any constructive criticism? Maybe about something other than Matthew?"
A guy raised his hand and said, "Tris did really well about looking scared that Marissa might interrupt. But she looked too relieved not to kiss him when she came in."
Peter gave me a smirk of victory. He was getting praised and I was getting critiqued.
"Okay so we need to work on Tris's body language? Anything else?" Lauren asked. When nobody raised their hands, she said, "Okay. Let's work on Scene Six!"
I sat down as the guy who critiqued me got on stage with Peter to act. I didn't pay attention to them, I was too lost in my thoughts.
Peter really was willing to kiss me?
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