"And acting is all about making people believe!" Sikowitz said, droning on and on about an acting topic that Cat honestly couldn't care less about right now.
She stared blankly at the wall. Cat had never felt like this before; this insane mix of something entirely unfamiliar. Whatever it was, it had coped well with the hard task of hiding her emotions.
Tori turned in her chair and shot her a weird look from the row ahead of her, noticing her unusual silence. It wasn't like her not to be bubbly and cheerful. Andre noticed her silence as well, reaching over and patting her knee lightly.
"You okay, Little Red?" he questioned in a hushed whisper.
She nodded, not bothering to turn her head to look at him or open her mouth to respond vocally. She could see his worried expression out the corner of her eye, and she knew she wasn't selling the fact that she was alright.
Sikowitz droned back into her brain, and began to explain how to "effectively" re enact a sad scene. Tori put her hands up in protest of his insane rant, and he waved her off.
Cat leaned back and stared at the back of Beck's head. His head was lowered and angled towards the ground, which meant he probably wasn't paying attention to Sikowitz's inane rambling either and staring at the ground instead. She wondered why Beck had been so shaken today. Maybe it was something with Jade? After all, she was known for blowing things out of proportion.
Cat was brought back to reality by having a coconut rested on her head, as her overly enthusiastic teacher demonstrated how to fake cry. It was awful showmanship, but Cat pretended not to notice, so as to not disturb the man.
In another classroom on the other side of the school, Tyler was sitting in front of his canvas, paying little attention to whatever his teacher was saying. He glanced at the clock, thinking about how he couldn't wait to get out of this class. Art had never been his calling, and he was stuck in a double block of some cross between painting and drawing. Who even knew what it was at this point?
"Forty minutes to go..." he muttered to himself, willing the hands on the clock to turn faster so he could finally get out.
"Tyler, what do we have here?" he heard behind him, feeling a firm hand on his shoulder. He paled slightly, realizing his teacher was right behind him.
"Uhm, I... I have no idea." he answered honestly as the man leaned in toward the canvas, hoping the teacher would recognize the mess on the canvas as something artistic instead of something he had no idea what he was doing with.
"Looks like a prime example of action painting!" the teacher declared, praising him, much to Tyler's surprise.
"I... um, guess so?" Tyler raised an eyebrow. "Maybe it's just luck."
A student across the room spilled a can of paint on the floor, the can clattering noisily, distracting the teacher from Tyler's work. Once the teacher was on the other side of the room, Tyler glanced up at the clock again. The hands on the clock still mocked him, seeming to turn even slower, backwards, even, to torture him. God, he felt like he would be stuck here forever.
A loud, unfamiliar bell rang, the level of the noise making him wince. This bell sounded much different from the normal bell that rang to end class. Tyler looked back up at the clock, squinting to determine that there was still time before the end of class.
"Fire!" someone shouted, the word rippling around the room. The class began to line up at the door like they were instructed to. Tyler got up and hurried to join the class at the end of the line, his mind racing. Was there actually a fire, or was this just an unexpected drill?
The class began to proceed calmly through the door, and he relaxed. No sign of anything in the halls, maybe it was just a drill. Then he saw it. The sprinklers were on, soaking the walls and flooding the school.
Sikowitz's rant was interrupted by a loud, sharp ringing emanating through the room. At first, he thought it was just a noise in his head, but he soon realized it was the ring of the fire alarm.
"Every man for himself!" Sikowitz shouted, jumping through the window head first and tumbling into the flower garden just outside the window.
Tori ran to catch the window before it shut, but she was too late and it slammed shut, refusing to budge further after Sikowitz opening it to make his escape. The room quickly descended into pandemonium. Utter chaos abounded as students threw aside chairs in feeble attempts to escape the room.
Beck managed to open the door and ran into the hallway, heading for the exit. Halfway there, with his classmates on his heels in hot pursuit, he stopped. Cat! She'd been sleeping in the chair behind him, and he doubted she would have woke up even with the noise. After all, unexpected noises were an everyday occurrence in Sikowitz's class.
Beck spun around and ran back toward the classroom, ignoring his friends' shouting after him. He burst into the room and found Cat just where he'd expected. He picked her up easily, her body light and limp in his arms, and carried her out of the room. He ran as fast as he could with another person in his arms and burst out the front door.
It was a sunny day out, the birds were singing, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. He glanced back at the building; it looked normal, just like it did every day.
Cat stirred, opening her eyes, jumping slightly from fright when she realized she was no longer in her chair.
Beck shook his head in disbelief. He'd just ran back into a building he'd thought was burning to save her, and he was greeted with this romance killer?
"What happened?" Cat asked, in a daze.
"Fire drill," Beck mumbled, gently setting her down.
Yes, it was a romance killer that the day was fine and the building was unharmed, but he couldn't wait. He went for it anyway. Their lips met, and at first he felt Cat draw back in shock, but she soon moved in and embraced him as well. He was gentle, but passionate, and she felt at home with him. She felt the butterflies in her stomach finally settle a bit after having swarmed her for the entire day.
They separated after a few moments. Cat opened her eyes to look at Beck. He was smiling, which was a good sign. She opened her mouth to say something, but Beck touched her face gently, stopping her dead in her tracks. She stared into his eyes for what seemed like an eternity before they turned away. As she looked away, she saw the back of a muscular boy stalking away. She recognized the hair, her stomach flipping, the butterflies in her stomach picking up again and leaving her with an odd feeling. It was Tyler. What had she done, and just what had he seen? One look at his cold expression left her with no doubt in her mind; she had some explaining to do if she ever wanted his company again.