Alright, barely made the "two-week schedule" this time. As always, I hope it was worth the wait.
But I´m in good spirit, my corrector liked it as well.
Big thanks to MrShurukan for helping me with this whole mess once again!
Hope you enjoy!
Beastars – Into the spotlight
Chapter 10 – A matter of respect
POV Legoshi
"Hey Romeo" she asked me once again, while a student from our class tried to explain his question by scribbling something onto the blackboard, "What is wrong, why are you still looking so sad?"
"Wh…what?"
"I asked why you still look so miserable" she repeated.
"I uh…" I sighed, not really knowing what to answer right now. I rested my head on my palms and took another short look at the blackboard. She had a point with asking that, but I didn´t want to answer truthfully.
"I mean…you´re nominated for becoming a Beastar" she said, "The whole school thinks you´re a hero!"
"I´m what?" I asked, almost choking a little there, "They nominated me?"
"They?" the hen giggled, "The principal of our school nominated you! As if you haven´t heard of it yet!"
"The what!?" I asked in shock, becoming unexpectedly loud for a moment. A few of the other students turned around and looked at me as well now.
"I…I mean…where have you heard that from?"
"One of my roommates was near his office because of something else and she heard him talking though the door while she waited" she explained excitedly. "The principal had seen the video of you and that fox guy in the cafeteria."
I actually began feeling sick when I heard that.
"You´re…you´re making this up, right?" I asked, apparently not as lowly as I thought.
"Legoshi!" the teacher now called me loudly, "Is there something you want to share with us?"
He really looked a little mad because he caught me not paying attention to his lesson. This was the first time that ever happened to me.
"N-no" I said with a regretful expression, "I´m very sorry."
He continued with his lesson and everybody looked back at the blackboard again. Except for me.
"Are you serious?" I whispered towards my bench companion "The freaking principal?"
She nodded with a little grin, but I still didn't believe her.
"This had to be a fake. She was just messing with me! …but why would she mess with me? I haven´t ever done anything bad to her, have I?"
The principal nominated me to become a beastar. Not a group of students, not the school newspaper, not Sanu or any of the drama-club members, the freaking principal.
"This can´t be true. I don't believe that until I get proven otherwise. Those are just some rumors. Maybe she was just messing with me because she liked me. Or maybe that rumor was spread by somebody else. There was no way the principal would do something like that."
POV Haru
"So…what is it?" he asked, sounding a little impatient for some reason.
I just couldn´t help but smile at him in amusement. I´ve rarely seen him this stressed out before. Normally, he was much calmer here in the garden.
"…you said you know something that might interest me?"
I still found him quite adorable like that.
"You started that fight with Legoshi on purpose, haven´t you?"
He already seemed a little suspicious about me asking that, but that didn´t stop me. I knew it wouldn´t be easy to talk to him about that, but I also knew he was too interested in what I knew to just leave me right now.
"Why would you care?" he asked defensively.
"I have been quite close to him…" I told him, "…and I could have warned you about that."
"It´s great that you tell me that now" he said, "Do you just want to mock me? Is it that?"
"Legoshi is many things…" I continued, "…he´s strong, he´s gentle, he´s good at acting, whether it is on stage or not, but he is not a Beastar."
"What makes you so sure about that? You´ve seen the students, they all love him!"
"They all love him because he´s proving that carnivores can be gentle and nice as well…"
"Yes, we can be, but that´s not in our nature!" he said, "And it pisses me off that he makes us look like big fluffy pillows to everybody! He´s more herbivore than carnivore at this point!"
I couldn´t help but chuckle a little at that statement.
"I´ve seen him fighting an adult lion right before my eyes…" I explained, "Trust me, Seb, he´s not an herbivore and he´s not weak either."
That made him think about it for a moment. I came a step closer towards him and moved my hand over the soft fur on his arm.
"…and you are really fluffy as well" I told him with an amused chuckle.
"Yeah, yeah…" he sighed, before he playfully added: "I can show you something that´s not so fluffy though!"
I didn´t know why, but his insolence was really amusing me sometimes.
"Nah, not today…" I told him with a little chuckle.
I haven´t really felt like it ever since I´ve met Louis once again. Him finding that Tiger´s fur on the bed made me realize what I was really doing with my life right now. Since I´ve gotten this close to Legoshi that one night in that cheap hotel, it felt a little different when I was making love with others. Although I broke up with him, it still somehow made me feel like I was cheating on him. It made me feel like I really was a worthless slut.
"…so what is it you wanted to tell me about him then?" the fox wanted to know, sounding a little disappointed that I didn´t want to fool around with him today.
"I…I just wanted to suggest that you…consider apologizing to him" I explained.
"What?"
"Like…officially. So a lot of people would see it."
"Why? Why would I do that?"
"He has a really good reputation right now. He also has the lead role in the next drama-club performance once again, and-"
"Where do you know that from?"
"Let´s say…I know someone from the drama-club…"
"Who, the Wolf? I thought you broke up with him?"
"That´s not important, is it? And no, I didn´t mean Legoshi. All I want to say is: if you continue fighting against him, you can forget about the Beastars."
"I can´t do that" he said while shaking his head, "Not if he continues acting us carnivores down like that."
"I don´t think it´s a bad thing what he´s doing for the carnivores right now. And you´ve nearly burned yourself on the fire you´re playing with already…"
"Oh come on Haru!" he sighed in annoyance, "Stop with the wise-cracking, okay?"
"Just saying, that wolf could be dangerous for you in more than just one perspective."
He now just shrugged his shoulders with a little sigh. It didn´t seem like my suggestion was in his interest. But that was not my problem in the end. It was nothing malicious from my side, I really just wanted to help him.
He now yawned shortly and stretched himself a little.
"You sure you don't want to get into the shed for a quick dip?"
He really seemed a little desperate right now. I actually enjoyed seeing him like this right now, but although the sex with him was by far not the worst I´ve had, I wasn't in the mood for it right now. And I knew he would respect that.
"I have quite a lot to do here" I told him while shaking my head, "Sorry."
"Alright then" he sighed, surely sounding a little disappointed, "Then I´m leaving. Thanks for the talk."
I liked how he still wasn´t able to be mad at me. Not even after all that. He just turned around and headed straight for the exit. There weren't a lot of girls at this school he really respected, but I certainly was one of them.
"See ya" I yelled after him, "Don't get yourself into trouble!"
"Trouble?" he asked ironically, already closing the door behind him "What´s that? Never heard of it."
POV Bill
When we gathered for the meeting of our first rehearsal-session for Volpone today, we were in for a little shock. Not because of what we had to do, because of who instructed us now.
"…as you surely noticed from reading the script" the red deer continued with his speech, "This is not an easy piece to pull off. Much harder than Romeo and Juliet and also much harder than the grim-reaper."
Louis just came out of nowhere and acted like he was never gone. And although he had been gone for almost half a year, it seemed like Sanu still was fine with this.
What annoyed me the most about this though, was that he still thought he was so much better and so much more experienced than us. I didn´t believe it was like that anymore, and I wanted to show him that right away.
"Don´t worry" I grinned at him with an ironic smirk, "You don't have to play in it…"
I wasn't the only one thinking like that, apparently. A few of the others chuckled about it a little, Juno almost chocked from laughter when she heard it.
Louis wasn´t that amused about this, naturally. I could see it on his face, especially because of Juno´s reaction, but he managed to ignore it for now nevertheless.
"I´m gonna be directing it, alongside with Sanu" he explained coldly, "And I expect you all to take this seriously."
Now something happened that I believe nobody of us had expected. Legoshi rose his voice.
"Come on" he sighed, obviously a little bored as well by Louis´ lame attempt to underline his importance, "Why should we not take this seriously?"
A few of the others nodded to that statement as well. I really enjoyed how Louis immediately got slowed down a little. He was not our boss anymore. He was not even on our level on the matter of success, so acting like he was still the most important here didn´t impress anybody.
"That attitude is not going to help us" Louis told him distinctively, actually looking really mad about that comment from Legoshi.
The wolf´s smirk just widened a little more though. I could tell he was enjoying his position as well right now. But there wasn´t really anything Louis could say against that either, so he still ignored it.
"…I hope you all have been studying the script over the weekend" he continued then, "I want to see where we´re at."
With that he began calling the actors one by one and asked them to display a little part of the script they knew already. This went on for quite a while, sometimes even two or three actors at the same time because they had parts in that scene as well, and it actually looked quite promising so far. Last but not least, it was Volpone´s turn, and from the bottom of my heart I really hoped he would mess something up right now. Maybe then they would recognize it was a mistake to give the role to him. I was quite confident, actually. Louis didn´t even let him start out with an easy part. I was curious if Legoshi could keep up that confidence in his acting with Louis judging him.
POV Louis
Legoshi was the last one to show his progress, and in terms of diversity and over-all believability, he blew all of the other members completely out of the water.
Although Aoba was really good in his role as well, he just couldn´t bring the emotion across as well as Legoshi could. It seemed like he did this since he was a little kid already and never had the need to tell anybody about this.
"Damn, that wolf really is talented. I have to help Aoba a lot more than him. The others are in a totally different league, hiding that from the audience would be impossible anyway."
At least Bill knew what to do with his role. It wasn´t exactly a difficult one to play, but he was exactly the right type for that character. And although what Legoshi did was classes above him when it came to acting, his role of Volpone was a lot more difficult than Bill´s role of Leone, so there was quite some potential for a little battle of concurrence between them. I actually really needed that, that could make things a lot more interesting.
After I had seen their Romeo and Juliet performance from the recording Sanu took of the premiere, I was pretty sure the wolf and the tiger had settled their differences once and for all and worked well together now, but somehow, I still sensed something unspoken between them. Maybe not getting the lead-role hit Bill harder than he wanted to admit.
But Legoshi was just focused on his acting. He played the loud scenes loud and eccentric, the deep and sad scenes with a little growl in his whisper and when Aoba went to help him with their scene between Mosca and Volpone, the entire drama club watched them with great excitement. It already was really dynamic, although they rehearsed it for the first time today.
"Just where did they get all that self-confidence from all over sudden?"
I´ve never seen the wolf doing something funny or ironic ever, and now he brought all that across just as cynical and well-spoken as the character of Volpone was known for.
He learned all that finesse and diversity in just one production. It took me years to become the well-accepted lead-actor here, and he got it just like that. It frustrated me a little, but I just couldn´t deny that there was a reason for that success of his.
"Alright!" I told them after their first two pages of the script, "Now I want to see the scene between Colomba and Volpone. This is a really hard one to play, so this will probably take us quite a while to get down."
Juno went onto the stage right next to Legoshi now, where the stage-crew had erected a little platform that functioned as a bed, and Legoshi already laid himself down onto it like it would be in the play as well.
"Oh, my dearest Volpone" Juno began, reading from her script as she found the right page, "I´ve heard you´re very sick! Voltore sent me to look after you today, as a sign of his friendship!"
"I…I feel so weak!" Legoshi said lowly, moving one of his arms in a funny way, coughing a little, "…but a beautiful woman like yourself surely brightens the day of a dying man…"
"Oh, if there only was a cure for that terrible disease that plagues you…" Juno whispered.
"There is an old saying…" Volpone told her, trying to stay serious but failing a little already, "A tale of a magic trick even…" he continued, as some of the others began giggling already.
"…they say when a beautiful young woman like yourself places her hands on a dying man´s chest and says: ´Be healthy´ three times in a row, he might find´s back to old strength…"
"Really?" Juno asked, with the same ´poorly educated´ tone her character Colomba really was supposed to have, "I´ve never heard of this tale!"
"It´s true" Volpone told her, still trying to stay serious, "I´ve heard it from a few different people already!"
"Well…if it´s like that, it might be worth it to give it a try, right?" Juno asked, already placing both her hands on his chest quite vigorously.
"Be healthy, be healthy, be healthy!"
And with that, Volpone immediately jumped off the bed, feeling as alive and as powerful as ever. I wasn´t quite sure how Legoshi had practiced that already, but he had just the right amount of energy and a pretty accurate timing as well.
"It´s a miracle!" he now yelled in delight, making everybody laugh with joy, "I can stay, I can move I can…"
He now looked at Juno with a dirty grin, "I can do what a man is supposed to do with a beautiful woman like you!"
"W-what" Colomba now yelled in fear, as she realized Volpone was about to force her to have sex with him, "What are you-"
In that very moment, Legoshi began chasing her already. It wasn´t anything like I had imagined, but it did the trick for now. They knew where they were.
"Hey!" she yelled, "What is that supposed to mean? You´re not supposed to touch me! I…I…" she panted, now laughing out herself "…I can´t find my lines…"
At this point, they both stopped their scene and Legoshi stopped chasing her as well.
The whole drama club, with the very noticeable exception of Bill, applauded that little presentation of Legoshi and Juno.
"Alright!" I told them contentedly, "I see you have prepared already! This is the point where we need to practice a little choreography later. But we probably need a more solid stage set for that…"
"Talking about that" Sanu interrupted here, "I want to gather the entire art-department later. I already worked on a concept for our stage build."
They all nodded a little.
"The part after that one is where Leone comes in and saves Colomba from getting raped by Volpone, right?" Aoba asked, looking up from his script concentratedly.
"Exactly" Sanu affirmed, "That´s another thing we need to practice."
"Can we do that now?" Bill asked right away, "I wanna know what that´s supposed to look like."
"Bill, this is something we need to do later" Louis told him, "That scene takes a lot of preparation."
"No no, it´s fine" Legoshi waved it off, "I want to try that scene too. Doesn´t have to be complicated, just want to know how I have to practice this…"
They both nodded towards each other now.
"Juno" Legoshi called her, "Could we just continue where we just stopped? Just vaguely?"
"The chasing scene?"
He nodded.
"Okay, let me get back into it quickly."
She took a moment to read the script once again, Legoshi laid himself back down onto the wooden platform in the meanwhile.
"Be healthy, be healthy, be healthy" Juno repeated her last line.
Legoshi now acted all that out with suddenly being healthy once again and then he chased her through the room a little.
"Hey!" Bill now interrupted them loudly, pointing his "sword" which was actually just a stick directly at the wolf, "Get away from her, you voluptuary!"
Legoshi took a quick step back after he had almost stumbled into the stick Bill shoved into his face quite recklessly.
"Hey! What are you doing?" he yelled angrily, and in that moment I honestly wasn´t quite sure if he was actually acting or meant if for real, because the stick really got close to his face there, "…what are you doing in my house?! Who are you?"
Bill now pushed him onto the floor like he was supposed to, not actually touching him with his sword because Legoshi dropped himself onto the floor just in the right moment.
"Get out of my house!" Volpone now yelled, "You intruder!"
"You were trying to still your desires on this innocent woman! You belong into jail and…"
Now it seemed like he lost his track completely.
"Isn´t…isn´t that when Mosca is supposed to burst into the room?" Juno asked in confusion.
"It is…" Sanu waved it off, "But that really is one of the more complicated parts. We should postpone this scene for now."
Legoshi stood up and nodded shortly. "Bill" he called him out then, "You need to be careful with that stick, please. I almost got it into my eye."
The tiger now sighed while rolling his eyes, "Yeah, but you didn´t, right?"
"I´m just saying" he sighed, obviously becoming a little annoyed by the tiger already, "It doesn´t have to come this far."
"It won´t" Bill told him, still with that overly dramatic attitude, "Calm down man…"
"Interesting. Bill seems to be really sore. And he really hates Legoshi for taking that role from him."
Now I suddenly remembered the orange fur I´ve found in the shed of the gardening club yesterday. I could think of just three types of animals who had fur of that color right now: Red foxes, red pandas and Tigers.
Legoshi just sighed deeply and ignored it from now on. It seemed like he had it together quite well for now.
POV Aoba
"Why don't we all take a little break" Sanu suggested, "I need to discuss a few things with Louis."
We all nodded and the red deer followed the pelican into his office right away.
The moment they were out of earshot, Juno couldn´t hide a small giggle anymore.
"What are you so happy about?" I asked her in amusement, while the others gathered around us as well.
"Oh, I just like how Louis thinks he´s still above us" she explained, and now a few others couldn't hide their little grins anymore either.
"It´s about time he gets to know his place" Bill commented dryly, "Isn´t it?"
A few of the others nodded a little but didn´t seem entirely convinced by that either. Especially coming from him.
"You gotta be careful with statements like that" I reminded him, and by Legoshi´s expression I could tell that he was thinking exactly the same thing right now. Bill was in no position to say something like that.
"Isn´t it like that?" Bill asked a little louder, "The dick comes back out of nowhere, being gone for half a year and now thinks he can boss us around!"
"You need to calm down" I told him distinctively, "Trust me, he´d rather be on that stage than back here directing us. And it´s not like he´s done nothing for the drama-club before he left."
"Whatever." He just shrugged his shoulders, still looking rather stubborn than understanding. I just sighed deeply but didn´t say anything more to that for now.
Bill really has changed a lot in the last few weeks. He was so obviously jealous of how everybody looked at Legoshi right now, but he still thought people wouldn´t notice if he kept marking the big-shot all the time.
But I decided to leave them to their business and concentrate on my own role. I had a lot to do and needed a lot more practice for this as well. I wanted it to at least look like I was in the same league of acting.
"Have you been rehearsing that scene on your own already?" I asked Legoshi when I turned towards him, "You knew those lines all by heart already..."
That made him smile a little bit, before he actually nodded. "My roommate Jack helped me with a few scenes. He had a lot of fun with this, and last evening I gave roles to my entire dorm."
"What, really?" I asked with a little grin, "And that worked?"
"Kinda…" he chuckled, "…but it was quite funny."
I nodded with a little smile. Just everything that guy did made him sympathetic. Almost the entire ensemble looked at him like he was their cool big brother or something like that. He brought just the sort of spirit that everybody needed.
"Gotta say" I confessed after a little pause, "I´m still a little nervous about my role. I´m not quite sure I can live up to it."
"Really?" Bill asked with a dirty chuckle, "You´re giving up already?"
I shook my head with a little sigh about that stupid comment. Although he probably meant it ironically, bullshit like that never helped anybody.
"Come on, Aoba" Legoshi told me, still rather calm and seriously, "You were awesome as Mercutio! This role fits you just perfectly. And you´ve earned this. You got this!"
Him saying that actually meant quite a lot to me.
"I want this to be good" I told him, "And I really have a lot to catch up to…"
"Catch up to…what?" Bill asked, as if it wasn´t totally obvious.
"Catch up to…" I sighed, looking the tiger right in the eyes this time, "Catch up to Legoshi, Bill."
There was another big silence after I said that. Bill slowly seemed to understand that I really meant it like that, and now that shut him up, finally.
"…I…I mean…" Legoshi said lowly, "…You could come to my dorm later and we could practice a little more if you want. Or here in the rehearsal room if they let us."
"That´d be really cool" I agreed by nodding.
Bill now shook his head in disbelief and left us standing there for a moment. "Why don't you two get a room?" he asked while heading for the restrooms.
We all just stared behind him, shaking our heads in disbelief to that.
"Just what is wrong with him these days?" Tao asked.
"He´s jealous" Juno spoke out the obvious thing lowly, "But he didn´t get the role because he´s not good enough for it. It´s not just that Legoshi is so much better than him…"
The other wolf just shook his head about that statement with a deep sigh.
"What?" Juno chuckled, "It´s true!"
"Everything I do seems to be made of gold to everyone…" Legoshi explained lowly.
"Well" I chuckled with a little smile, "Most of it is."
He just kept on shaking his head. He still played it down like it was nothing special. "I am no god either, and…I´m not getting used to being treated like one."
That left all of us a little speechless for a moment. But it seemed like he really was serious about this.
Just when Bill came back from the restroom, Louis and Sanu came back from the office and wanted to continue with their instructions. But just when everybody had gathered around them once again, something totally unexpected happened once again.
POV Louis
"Good day honorable drama-club students" a quite rare voice suddenly interrupted the conversations.
We all turned towards its source and it immediately became really quiet in the entire room.
"Principal" Sanu greeted him, "What brings us the honor?"
"I don´t want to interrupt your important work for very long, I just wanted to talk to one of your students quickly" he explained while looking out for them already.
I was pretty sure I already knew who he was talking about. I had been gone from this school for almost half a year now, so he probably had a few questions. I haven't actually been talking to him yet.
"I first got to know him as Romeo" he announced with a little smirk, "But I learned that his actual name is Legoshi. Where are you my boy?"
The wolf now slowly took a step forward and lowly reported: "Right here, sir."
"There you are!" he greeted him, "Good to see you!"
Legoshi just nodded with a polite little smile. He didn´t know what to expect right now, but neither did any of us for that matter.
"…I´ve been shown a video yesterday" he stated, "A video of a fight in our cafeteria… somebody must have recorded it with their phone or something like that."
"I´m…I´m very sorry, Sir" Legoshi told him lowly, "It won´t happen again."
"At ease" Gon told him to all our surprise now, "I know what is right and what is wrong, and I was deeply impressed by how you handled that situation."
"W-what?"
"You settled that argument with words and commonsense, rather than with violence and the advantage of strength you clearly had. This is the kind of behavior we need more of at our school, this is one of the most important qualities a good person can have."
Now there was another moment of silence and the whole drama-club stared at the wolf now.
"…and this is -in fact- also a quality a Beastar needs to have. Compassion, the qualities of a leader and good role model, commonsense, bravery and the ability to stand over your own feelings in tough situations…"
"I…I…" Legoshi stuttered.
"I´ve seen all those qualities in you, Legoshi" Gon explained with a serious expression, resting one of his hands on his shoulder, "You´ve saved a student from the Shishigumi, you´ve solved tough situations with calm and clarity, you´ve shown that carnivore students can be peaceful and restrained as well and you´re a very talented actor on top of that. That´s why I used my right as a principal for the first time in my career and personally nominated you for this year´s Beastars vote."
"W…wha…"
Legoshi looked really shocked about this. He didn´t just look like he was shocked, he looked like he was getting sick in his stomach hearing that.
"Wow" Aoba commented with a surprised little chuckle.
Gon just nodded affirmingly, "Congratulations."
"I…I…" Legoshi stuttered, not knowing what to say, panting in fearful excitement quite noticeably.
I wouldn't know what to say to that either. I was a little baffled myself.
"I´m also really glad you´ve accepted the lead-role for the next performance once again. You really helped our drama-club to new glory and passion."
"I…" Legoshi now finally found his voice again, shaking his head a little, "I didn´t do all that myself. I´m just part of a gr-great ensemble…I…I think the whole drama club deserves the credit for that."
"It was a delightful performance and even the professional critics praised it" Gon said with a proud smirk, "I expect great things from all of you with the quite difficult challenge of Volpone!"
We all nodded in agreement.
"One more thing, Legoshi" the principal told him with a little wink, "It´s a noble thing to be humble, but it´s not wrong to take a compliment every once in a while."
"Y-yes, Sir" Legoshi told him, still rather nervous, "Thank you, Sir!"
With that and a little nod, the white Bengal-tiger went right back on his way towards the exit.
"Keep working hard, I count on you! Have a nice evening" he told us for the farewell, before he closed the door behind him.
There was another moment of silence after he left, and Legoshi just remained shaking his head in pure disbelief. "Fucking hell" he then whispered very lowly, and that made even me chuckle a little. I never thought I´d see Legoshi curse one day.
"Yeah, Legoshi!" Tao now yelled excitedly, clapping his hands together, "You got nominated by the principal!"
"That´s so cool" Ellen told him, "Honestly!"
"I loved how you handled that fight in the cafeteria" Els threw in, "You really deserve it!"
"It seems like you have quite a fan on your side, Legoshi" even Sanu told him.
The wolf still just remained standing there and shaking his head. But the praises wouldn´t stop coming.
"You should think about releasing your own line of merchandising soon" Aoba chuckled ironically.
"Yeah" Juno giggled, "…like a T-Shirt that says: ´I would die for chocolate´ or…or one with some scratches on the backside…"
"Yeah!" Sheila agreed in amusement, "Or both of them…like the Romeo-shirt of-"
"Guys!" Legoshi now interrupted them, raising his hands shortly, "Can we calm down a little, please? …this is ridiculous enough already."
"Yeah" Bill agreed with him, rolling his eyes yet once again, "For real."
I knew he would bring something like that. I could literally feel how the tiger hated that wolf and his position with every fiber of his body.
"I don't think it´s ridiculous" Els mentioned once again, "There was not a single word of a lie in what the principal said, was there?"
"I´m not a Beastar, Els" Legoshi sighed, "You know that."
"That is all for Legoshi to decide" I tried to get that topic rid of for now, and I believed Legoshi really was thankful for that, "I think we should continue with our rehearsals now…"
"Good Idea" Sanu agreed, "I would like to talk to the art department and the stage crew about the build and the costumes now. Could you follow me to the stage, please?"
While the stage crew and our director went to the main hall to discuss their details, I gathered all the actors and the dance crew in a big circle in the rehearsal hall once again.
"So…" I began, "You´ve heard the principal. He´s expecting a lot of our show. And just like Legoshi said himself: He can´t carry all that on his own."
The wolf nodded in agreement.
"Although Volpone and Moska have by far the most stage time, you all really have to step up to this.
"Come on" Bill sighed.
"That means you too, Bill" I told him, "Playing your character in a believable way is way more difficult than you might think."
"You think I´m not capable of that?" Bill asked loudly, "I was supposed to play the lead-act, and you know that!"
I knew he was sore about this, but I didn´t expect it to be this bad. Since I didn´t want that discussion to start all over again, I ignored him for now and continued where I just got interrupted.
"Sanu has already cut out quite a big part of the script, because it would be way too long otherwise. This piece usually goes over three hours in regular theatres and has a pause in the middle. We´re trying to do it in a little over 90 minutes" I explained, "That means we´re going to need quite a quick pace and somehow still try to bring the story across so everybody can understand it. Not everybody is as familiar with this piece as with Romeo and Juliet."
"When we just talk about it" Tao asked, "Do we really have to use that weird old language throughout the entire thing? That´s really complicated to understand I think and will only make it harder to stay focused."
"Yeah" Legoshi agreed, "That´s true."
"It´s also a bit old fashioned" Juno mentioned.
I didn´t find that suggestion too bad actually. I thought so too when I was studying the script over the weekend.
"I don't want it to become too modern though" I shared my stand, "…but you´re right, we could lighten it up a little."
They all nodded contentedly. I noted that down onto my list for now.
"Next thing" I continued, "Fitness."
"Huh?" it went through the group.
"This one goes just for Legoshi and Aoba" I pointed out then, "Sanu and I thought about a little highlight we could do, to underline how healthy Volpone actually is, although all the legacy hunters think he´s really sick" I explained.
"You want us to do push-ups or what?" Aoba asked with a chuckle.
I nodded with a serious expression, although they both probably thought I was joking. "Or pull-ups even…" I affirmed, "Depends on if that´s doable while speaking your lines…"
"Haha" Bill laughed out, before he ironically added: "Good luck with that."
There was no doubt about it at this point, he really was massively jealous of Legoshi.
"Bill" the wolf now sighed lowly, but with a little growl in his voice now, "Can you please shut up already?"
Now that was something I wasn´t expecting either. Legoshi was actually getting a little aggressive.
"Come on, I´m just joking around…" Bill told him.
"Well don't. It´s annoying."
"Awww, what´s the matter, Superstar? Has the fame gotten into your head yet?"
"You are annoying" Juno supported what Legoshi said, "Just shut up, this isn´t even about you."
Even Aoba nodded to that.
"What has happened to your sense of humor?" Bill asked while shaking his head in disbelief.
"We´re just tired of it" the bald eagle told him coldly, "Your obvious jealousy is really irritating and annoying."
Now that statement stood in the room for quite a long moment.
"I…I don't understand why you´re all running around sucking each other´s dicks all over sudden. This is still just a fucking high school drama-club. Why is everything so serious all over sudden?" the tiger asked while shaking his head.
"Just because you didn´t get the role you wanted doesn´t mean we all have to stop caring about it" Aoba told him, "It´d be nice if you at least would not judge us for taking it seriously."
"Yeah, whatever."
Now those were some pretty clear signals the tiger was sending us. He didn´t really care about this performance anymore. I was already playing with the thought of kicking him out of the drama-club at this point, but then our already too low number of actors would be even lower. I would have liked to be on the stage as well, but not as just one of the side roles. That was beneath my dignity.
"And who else could do Bills role of the knight Leone? There was barely anyone with the same statue as Bill, that´s the biggest problem…"
I decided to postpone that thought for now and looked back at my list of things I wanted to discuss with the actors.
"…yeah, about the pull-up thing" I remembered my earlier topic, "Legoshi, how much do you weigh? So they can build that part of the stage in the right dimensions…"
"Uh…I don't know exactly…about…165…I think" he said while shrugging his shoulders, "…maybe a little more. Haven´t checked it lately…"
"Wow…" Juno chuckled.
She was right. I just realized that that might not even be possible to build with our budget. That would require a really sturdy pull-up bar. And when it was just for this one scene, that might not even be worth it.
"Maybe we could borrow something from the gym for that…"
"Okay" I said while noting that down as well.
"Let´s just hope they can´t build a pull-up bar" Aoba said jokingly, nudging the wolf a little.
"Yeah" Legoshi agreed with a little smirk, "Gonna be exhausting enough…"
Bill rolled his eyes yet once again.
"It´s gonna be fun seeing you train push-ups for that" Juno chuckled.
"For you maybe…" Legoshi said with a little sigh.
"Oh come on now" Bill grinned, "Man up a little. Can´t be too hard."
They all really stared hatefully at the tiger right now. He just wouldn't stop messing around with him. I was actually attempting to say something about it at this point, but Tao was faster than me: "What is your problem, Bill?" he asked with a deep sigh.
"Yeah, really!" Juno agreed, "This isn't even about you."
"I just can´t sit here and listen to him cry all the time. ´Oh no, they nominated me for a Beastar! Oh no, I have to fight a little fox! Oh no, I got the lead-role once again!´ Do you ever listen to yourself? And now you complain about some pull-ups? Sometimes you just have to work through it to achieve something great! Can you stop acting like everything and everybody is so bad to you already?"
Interesting, Bill actually felt really clever right now.
I had already opened my mouth to ask him from that experience he was talking from, but this time Legoshi was faster than I. What happened right now though, nobody in this room could have expected. It seemed like he really had enough at this point. The wolf went into his beast-mode once again.
"Listen here, Tiger!" he said loudly, making him shut up therefore, "…I tried to be nice to you, but now I´ve had enough of your bullshit. You malicious little piece of shit still think you´re of any importance to anyone, but you´re just not. You´re just a little asshole in the end! …I tried to pretend you never poisoned Juno and I with Viagra at that Halloween party, I tried to pretend that I don't know that you´re jealous because I got the lead-role once again and I tried to pretend that I don't know that you´ve slept with Haru just to take revenge on me for that…"
"W-what?" Bill gasped, trying to act stupid, "what are you talking abou-"
"Shut up when I´m talking!" Legoshi growled at him, "The whole freaking garden smelled like you! Stop trying to deny it! I have been patient with your bullshit, but now that´s enough!"
There was a big silence after he said that, and some of the drama-club members even covered their mouths in shock. I couldn´t deny I was really surprised about this as well.
I had a slight foreboding already because of the orange fur on Haru´s bed, but now there was no doubt about it anymore.
"You douchebag…" Aoba told his old friend lowly, shaking his head in total disbelief, "You have a girlfriend!"
"Yeah" Legoshi picked up there once again, "Let´s see if she forgives you for that as well when she finds out."
"I…I…" Bill tried to defend himself, "I didn´t…I…"
But Legoshi wasn´t done with him yet. "You wanna know the best thing about this?" he asked, now more lowly but still quite intriguing, "I´m over her since quite a while. The only one you´ve fucked with is yourself you idiot."
"… …Oh yeah?" Bill now yelled, and the pitch of his voice was noticeably higher right now, "What were you doing in that garden then?"
There was another short silence after this.
"…I needed a quiet place where I could talk to Juno in private" Legoshi explained with a deep sigh, now a little calmer "…there is no other goddamn place where I can be alone at this school! You´ve just heard yourself that people still believe I could become the next Beastar. I´m getting stared at wherever I go! That´s why I was looking for a place where we could talk in private for a minute."
"Did Haru give him a key to the garden? Or was she there and witnessed it? No, she would have told me about this if she had…"
Juno actually nodded to that in agreement. Legoshi wasn´t just telling him off right now, he destroyed him on every possible level.
"…now please, Bill" Legoshi told him, still in deep annoyance, "Shut the hell up and stop being such a salty dick to everyone. You didn´t get the lead-role, now live with it! Get your shit together. This is your last chance before I call for a vote to kick you off the actor´s team."
That hurt him so badly even I felt it a little. As much as I didn´t like Legoshi talking like he was the boss here, there was just no way I could disagree with him on that. Bill really was getting on everybody´s nerves right now, and like I knew him, this was not the first time that happened while I was gone. And now that all that got revealed, Bill really was in an uncomfortable spot right now.
But he still felt like he had something to say, apparently.
"Ha! As if you have the right to-"
Right in that moment, Juno, then Ellen and Els, and very soon later the entire ensemble each rose one of their hands.
"I´d kick you off" Juno told him coldly.
"Me too!" Ellen agreed.
"Who would betray their girlfriend for something like that?" Els asked in pure disgust.
"Idiot."
"Shut up already, Bill! You´re annoying."
Legoshi just remained looking at him with cold eyes. He didn´t even need to say anything to make his point. Bill just watched in horror as everybody was turning away from him. Even one of his best friends.
"You really should stop messing around" Aoba told him as well, shaking his head in utter disappointment while lowering his hand slowly, "Legoshi has always been on your side in case you haven't noticed it. Even though he clearly passed you as an actor, he stayed humble about it and even tried to give you the lead-role. I know you do a lot of stupid shit sometimes, but that is just childish and disrespectful."
Bill´s confidence was just destroyed at this point. Nobody was on his side anymore. He looked at the ground in pure shame, then he wordlessly turned around and left the circle, heading off towards the exit.
"Well great" I sighed after a long and uncomfortable silence, "…that´s Leone gone."
They all just had looked after him with until he was out of sight, but now they looked seriously relieved. Maybe it wasn´t such a bad thing over all if everybody felt like that.
"Any ideas who could take over his role?" I asked, honestly a little clueless right now.
"Let Kai give it a try" Legoshi suggested out of nowhere, "He really wants to be on stage again. And he had been working hard for the last show."
"Kai has not the statue of Bill…"
"Doesn't matter" Legoshi explained his way of thinking, "Just shows even more how much of a little coward Volpone really is. Acting all tough and clever but then getting overpowered by somebody much smaller than him. I think this could lighten up the story a little more."
That actually wasn´t too much of a bad idea to be honest. I hadn´t been thinking about it like that at all so far.
"Shit, he´s right" Aoba agreed with him as well, "That does make sense."
"Could be funny" Juno agreed with his suggestion as well, "And I thought he did pretty well on our little Halloween-sketch..."
I nodded a little. Since they all liked that suggestion as well, I should probably really consider it. "Alright, I´m giving it a re-think with Sanu later."
They nodded contentedly.
"Legoshi really has quite a lot to say here in the meanwhile. But they didn´t just look at him with the same amount of respect I was looked at before I left the school, he also was seen as this humble and very smooth and polite boy he was. A carnivore of that size and strength being everybody´s best friend all over sudden? Could that work out for him with his kind of fame and reputation? His nerves seemed a little brittle already."
I was really struggling to find anything to slow him down right now though. He just brought the spirit and ideas we needed. I realized that I really had to take him seriously at this point. He could mess up my reputation quite well if I wasn't careful.
The rest of today´s discussion went on quite relaxed and peaceful since Bill left. We made quite good progress and it actually was quite exciting working with them again. They had ideas, they suggested helpful little changes and it really felt like working in a team with them now. It´s never been quite like that before.
When I ended this first meetup in the early evening, they all surrounded Legoshi once again and started asking him thousands of questions. Questions I would have liked the answers to as well if I was totally honest. But I didn´t have time right now.
Originally, I wanted to talk to him alone about a few things, but since this would be almost impossible in the next few minutes, I decided to postpone that to the next rehearsal-session.
I had quite a lot of other business to take care of, and this wasn´t important enough to wait for. Yet.
POV Legoshi
I wasn't quite sure where Juno had gone all over sudden, but she was the one I wanted to see the most right now. It seemed like she had places to be after the rehearsal, so I was alone being surrounded by the whole drama club. I liked how she supported me against Bill today, and I at least wanted to say "thank you" for that.
"Legoshi, is it really true that Bill put Viagra in your drinks?" Ellen asked, "This is so horrible!"
I just nodded. I didn´t want to get into detail here.
"Why…why didn´t you say anything?" Els wanted to know, "I would have gone to the principal with this right away!"
"I didn´t want to cause too much trouble" I waved it off, "And he hadn´t told me about it until recently…"
"God, I can´t believe I´ve been working with him all this time" Sheila said.
"Why would he do something like that?" Mina asked herself lowly.
"Should be quite obvious when two wolves play Romeo and Juliet and…" I somehow decided to share, not really thinking about it twice, "…and Romeo didn't have any feelings for her in reality."
I was pretty sure that they would have even more questions now I said that, but I just left it at that for now.
"Wow…" Tao said after a short moment of confusion, "…you were acting all that? You never were in love with her?"
Although I really thought different about that now, I nodded slightly. Now that I had started that topic, I had to tell them more about it as well. "Yeah…" I sighed, "…I wanted it to be a good and believable performance…"
I didn´t want to tell them about Haru right now though, so I just left it at that once again. I had said by far too much already.
Ellen and Els both looked really heartbroken right now. It seemed like they had believed in the perfect wolf-couple thing between me and Juno. I wished I had believed in that as well back then, but now it seemed like it was too late for that. I had messed everything up.
"…that brings acting to a whole new level" Zoe the white goat said.
I really felt bad for that right now. Being remembered of my own stupidity didn´t really help either.
"I´m glad you spoke up to Bill today" Ellen said, "He really deserved this."
"Yeah…" I sighed, trying to force a little smile, "Thanks."
"Does nobody want to mention that he got nominated for the Beastars by the freaking Principal?" Tao chuckled, "How awesome is that?"
"And, of course, there was that as well. She wasn´t fooling around with me in class this morning. Whatever I did, it was just getting worse. Just what was happening with my life right now? Nothing made any sense anymore."
I really wanted to leave this place right now. I didn´t want to hear any more about my "greatness" anymore. But I didn´t want to leave this place, I rather wanted them to leave it. Everybody but Aoba. I really wanted to start rehearsing with him, there was not much else I wanted to do right now.
"I wonder why he is so quiet right now. Does he feel guilty that his long friend got kicked off the drama-club? Or is he still scared of his role? I guess he always had been quite restrained anyway."
To the question about the principal nominating me for the Beastars I just smirked a little bit.
I was pretty sure they weren't really considering me to become a Beastar, I had told them often enough that this just wasn't my thing.
"Come on guys" I said, waving it off yet once again, "It´s not that big of a deal, is it? "
POV Jack
"Hey!" somebody suddenly yelled behind me in the hallway loudly, "Hey, Labrador!"
That voice already seemed familiar. And it didn't sound friendly on top of that.
I turned around carefully and found out why everybody else was looking as well.
"Who do you think you are, taking her out to a dinner outside the school?"
Him approaching me like that left me a little dumbfounded right now. It was the same guy who messed with Legoshi in the Cafeteria already, and he thought it was a good idea to make a scene yet once again. But the red fox seemed pretty confident in what he was doing.
I really didn´t want to get into a fight with him right now, even less into a physical one, but I felt like being brave right now would pay off in the end. Sebastian´s reputation was not the best one anyways, and just like when he messed with Legoshi, we had a lot of witnesses around us right now.
"What´s the matter? She is not your girlfriend, is she?" I asked him quite plainly, although the answer was quite obvious, "…and I just wanted to treat a nice girl to a nice dinner. I figured she deserved it."
"Oh yeah?" he asked aggressively, "And what makes you think you deserve to be with a girl so far out of your league?"
That question actually hit me quite badly in that moment, but I kept my cool and found quite a good answer nevertheless: "What makes you think you could become a Beastar when you clearly don't have a single clue what it really is about?"
I knew that was a really bold claim, but I knew I was in some position to make it. He really had messed up his reputation with that last incident. The people around us seemed to be on my side as well.
"Who do you think you´re talking to?" he asked loudly, becoming really pissed off now.
"I think I´m talking to the guy who thought it was a good idea to start messing with a wolf" I kept standing my ground, and I got a lot of vocal support for that as well. "…who by the way is a really nice guy and could easily crush you in the Beastars-voting as well."
"Now excuse me please, I-"
"This has nothing to do with Romeo, Bitch!" he growled.
"I know" I told him, still managing to stay calm, "…but it will be when he finds out that you still go on like that."
"You little pussy" he said, "Are you really trying to hide behind that wolf now?"
"I have no interest in getting in a fight with you" I told him loud and clearly, "Just as little as you have actual interest in Anita. You just want attention, that´s the only reason you try to mess with other students."
Now that seemed to make him shut up for a moment. The other students around us nodded in agreement to what I said. He just remained growling with a really angry expression.
"Please get your shit together and stop annoying everybody. Have a good day."
I gave him another little smirk, then I turned around and just went on my way. I didn´t stop and I didn't look back anymore either. I just left him standing there and he actually didn´t follow me.
I went on all the way back to my dorm and felt really relieved when I closed the door behind me.
Then I realized what I actually did there. I pissed off a quite famous student.
I may have gotten away with this for now, because a lot of people were around us, but I really had to be careful when I was alone in the campus now. I wouldn't get away that easily when I didn´t have a few people around me.
I already had the first doubts coming up about this when I walked away from him in the hallway.
"Should I just have backed off? Should I never even had gotten this close to Anita? Was I really this far out of her league?"
I knew he was just trying to bully me, but it actually really made me think about it.
"Did she maybe just go out with me because of pity? Did she just want to make herself more interesting to him because he didn´t give her the attention she desired? Or did she just stay the whole afternoon because Legoshi lived in my dorm? Maybe that fox really just wanted beat me up because I went out with her. Maybe I really was that far out of their league?"
I still kept thinking about this long after I had gotten back to the dorm.
"No! This is not true. We both had a good time yesterday. You can´t fake something like that. And she even went for a dinner with me. Why would she do that if she found me totally disgusting?"
I couldn´t solve this all on my own and even less right now. I hoped I could talk to Legoshi about this when I came back to the dorm, I was sure he could boost my confidence a little more, but it turned out he still wasn´t done with his rehearsals yet. Pretty unusual it went on this long, it was almost 6PM already.
"Come on, Jack" I said to myself, "It´s not as bad as you think, that guy is just an idiot."
POV Aoba
"I´m sorry I didn´t tell you about it that night" I told him with a serious expression, after the others finally had left the rehearsal-room and we were alone, "I still feel like a real idiot because of that."
We were sitting on the floor in a relaxed pose in the meanwhile, because we really had to wait a little while until everybody was gone.
"About what?" he asked, seemingly a little confused, "What night?"
I was so nervous right now. I knew Legoshi usually was perfectly reasonable with his actions, but I had seen what he did to Bill when he told him about it.
It wasn´t really my fault, but I felt guilty about it nevertheless. I just had to tell him.
"Bill told me about the Viagra just after he put it in your drinks. I could probably have told you about it in time, but not soon enough so you wouldn´t drink it…"
He nodded understandingly. "Don´t worry" he said, "I´m not mad at you for that."
He was even more relaxed about this than I thought he would be. He immediately waved it off and even chuckled a little about it.
"Thank you" I told him with an honest and also relieved little smile.
"…It´s not like we didn´t enjoy ourselves that night…" he added with a little smirk.
I couldn´t hide a little grin hearing that from him. I never thought he would ever talk about something like this.
"I just don't get where Bill got Viagra from in the first place" the wolf wondered.
"He told me he stole it from his parents once" I explained lowly, "But I even believe he tried it for himself in the meanwhile…"
"What, why would you think that?" he asked curiously, "Nobody in our age really needs Viagra, do they? I mean…" he said with a little chuckle, "…it really does its job that stuff."
"Don't know, man" I sighed with a little smirk, "I just know that Sam doesn't seem to be totally satisfied. At least that´s the impression I get when I hear him talking about it."
The wolf now just shrugged his shoulders about it. It still didn´t feel like he really wanted to humble Bill about anything. He was just annoyed by him earlier, that´s why he told him off like that.
"You know him since quite a while, don't you?" Legoshi wanted to know.
"…yeah…" I sighed, "And I never thought he would end up like this someday…"
"Come on" he chuckled, "It´s not like he´s murdered anybody or something like that…"
"I don't mean…I don't mean it like that" I clarified with a little sigh, waving it off, "Bill was always kind of an over-achiever. Always wanted to be the best at everything…"
Legoshi nodded understandingly.
"I was never like that..." I began, taking a deep breath, "I had often doubted myself because I didn´t push it that far. I always was the quiet one…kinda like the voice of reason…"
He nodded, not interrupting me, still listening with great interest.
"…so when Bill was trying to push it all the time, I was kinda just the bore…you know…trying to stop him overdoing it yet once again."
"You know…" he said, thinking about it for a moment, "It wasn´t so much different for me. I always tried living in the shadows, tried not to get too much attention or into trouble with anybody…"
"But you joined the drama-club nevertheless?" I asked ironically, since I always wanted to ask him about this. I loved that he was so relaxed and willing to openly talk about it.
"I had to join a club" he chuckled, "And I always was fascinated by the things that scare me the most."
"Attention?"
He nodded a little.
"But now you enjoy it, right?"
"Not all the time" he sighed, "But I like that I don't just scare people when they meet me. Not anymore."
I had never looked at it like that. But it kinda made sense looking at his body size, the veiny muscles, those really scary teeth. No wonder smaller animals and especially herbivores were looking in fear at him.
"Honestly" I told him lowly, looking right at him this time, "You joining the actors-team was the best thing that ever happened to the drama-club…and to me."
"What?" he asked in surprise, and I noticed how his tail began wagging slightly.
"I…I never had this much fun acting on stage before. Seeing you with that confidence, the polite wolf-boy who was hiding behind his lights, cables and faders all these years, just motivated me to give it all I got. And seeing you put out that energy on stage was just the coolest thing ever."
He nodded with an honest little smile. "I´m glad about it too" he agreed, "And I think you really did good on the stage as well."
"Yeah, but it was you who elevated it to that whole new level. We even got to play in a real theatre!" I chuckled excitedly.
He just remained smiling about it humbly. "I´m really glad we can perform on the stage together once again" he said, "I´ve had a lot of fun too."
I loved how he still was so down to earth about it. He was so much more encouraging and just so much more mature than Bill as well. And I really respected and appreciated him for being able to talk so openly about his fears and about his feelings.
I truly believed that was what made him so good, so much more believable on the stage as well. He really felt the emotions while acting them out. A little did it feel like he acted almost everything about his life.
"You know…" I told him, just because it came back to my mind in that moment, "Bill sent me the picture of your back, although I never asked about it. It seemed like he really wanted it to get around."
He just nodded about it with a little shrug.
"You don't really mind about it anyways, do you?" I asked with an amused chuckle.
He just shook his head with a little smirk. "I was half naked in the performances, half the school knows what my back looks like."
I nodded understandingly. It made sense he thought about it like that. He didn´t have anything to hide anyway. I´ve heard a lot of people talking about that already.
"…I just wonder…" he said, "…I just wonder if he could mess up his reputation even more at this point."
"Well…" I chuckled, "He could try to get nominated for the Beastars vote… …and then he could try to mess up your breakfast."
"Hah…yeah…" he sighed with a little smirk, "Don't remind me."
I shook my head with an ironic little wink and waved it of then. I had the feeling that Legoshi wanted to start practicing as well at this point.
"So…" I said, going through my script searching for the parts I had highlighted earlier, "Where do we start?"
POV Bill
This whole day was just a continuous nightmare. Why did Legoshi know about that already? Why did he have to say it out loud in front of the whole drama-club? Why haven´t I thought about that before?
This really was a stupid idea in retrospect. I couldn´t deny it. This was really fucking stupid.
But how could I know he wasn´t interested in Haru anymore?
"Or did he just make that up? Maybe he said that just to look smarter. Maybe it really did get to him and he just didn´t want to show it."
Whatever it was, I looked like the biggest douchebag of this school right now.
But this nightmare wasn't even over yet, it still got worse. Sam came rushing into my dorm, very much to everyone´s annoyance, and instead of her having a good day and being nice to me for once, she was even more bitchy than normally. All my hopes for sex or love tonight were gone with the first moment she came in.
"What the fuck have you done again?" she yelled at me, instead of at least greeting me first.
"Huh?" I asked with a deep sigh, "What…what have I done?"
"Cut the crap!" she said, and by her expression I could tell that this really was worse than the usual bullshit. She really was furious.
"What do you want from me?" I asked back a little louder as well.
"Juno started grinning at me when she passed me in the hallway earlier. She wouldn´t have done that if she didn´t know something! And she´s in the same club as you! Start talking!"
"What do I know why she grinned at you? Maybe she was just being friendly? Ever heard of it?"
"Juno hates me" she clarified the obvious, "And you know that! She thinks I was the one who sent that photo of Legoshi around the school!"
"Well, it was you, wasn´t?"
"I sent it to you! And you sent it to some people as well!"
"Okay, good…" I sighed, "And now? What do you want me to do about it?"
"Why did she grin at me like that?" she asked stubbornly, "Cut the crap, Bill! I´m sick of your shit!"
My roommates had already began closing their curtains one by one. It sadly wasn't unusual that Sam was getting a little louder from time to time.
"I don't fucking know why" I told her, "Can you shut up now, please? My entire dorm is annoyed!"
"Fuck your dorm! And fuck you! You either tell me what is going on or I´m going to find somebody who will!"
"Fuck you too" I came from behind one of the closed curtains.
"Oh yeah?" Sam asked aggressively, "Why don't you come out and tell me that to my face?"
"Sam!" I told her, "Calm down."
"Don't you fucking tell me to come down!"
I just sighed deeply.
"You have got one last chance to start talking" she told me, "Or I´m fucking out of here!"
"Oh nooo" it sarcastically came from another bed. It was not a secret here that we had a complicated relationship.
Sam just ignored it though and just stared at me with furious eyes.
"I don't know what you want to hear" I said while shrugging my shoulders.
She just shook her head in pure rage and disbelief, turned around and headed for the door. It seemed like she didn´t believe me on anything anymore.
"Babe" I tried to stop her from leaving, but she wasn´t listening. She just left and slammed the door shut behind her.
"Fuck."
That was followed by a long moment of silence.
"Dude" my roommate Liam told me, opening his curtain slowly, "This is not getting any better with her."
"Ya think?" I sighed ironically, ripping apart my script of Volpone and tossing it into the trashcan, "Tell me more about it."
POV Legoshi
Just when I got around the corner and into the hallway, I saw someone waiting at the door to my dorm already. I already saw from the distance that it was a tiger, but it wasn't Bill as I noticed when I came closer.
"Samantha" I greeted her lowly, "What are you doing here?"
"Legoshi!" she said, "Good you´re here! I need to talk to you about something."
I couldn´t help but smirk a tiny little bit when I heard that question. I knew this would be coming eventually, but I hadn´t expected it to come right now or even this week.
"About…something?" I asked curiously, and she had noticed that I was a little amused about this. It made her feel a little insecure already.
"There is a reason Juno grinned at me like that when she walked past me in the hallway earlier, isn´t there?"
My smirk widened even a little more, but I couldn´t help it. I didn´t even feel sorry for it.
"I´m not quite sure if you really wanna know all that right now" I told her dryly.
"I do wanna know. The truth is the only thing I want to know, because I´m really tired of his bullshit in the meanwhile" she said coldly.
I sighed deeply, looking at the door to my dorm for a moment. "Can I take a quick shower first?" I asked her, "I´ve just been working out with Aoba and really-"
"He cheated on me, didn´t he?"
I sighed deeply once again, looked her deep in the eyes, and then I nodded. "Yeah…he did. But it´s not as easy as you think…"
She nodded like she hadn´t even been expecting anything else.
"Tell me about it. Everything you know. Please, I beg you, don´t leave me hanging there."
I kinda liked the situation I was in right now. Seeing her begging like this felt quite special somehow. The tables have turned in terms of coolness, and I couldn´t say I didn´t enjoy it.
"…okay…" I sighed after thinking about it shortly, "Just let me take a quick shower first…"
She nodded with a thankful smile.
"Meet me on the roof by the swimming-pool in fifteen minutes" she told me plainly, as I already opened the door to my dorm, "That´s a good spot to talk."
"Alright" I sighed with a little yawn, giving her another little smirk, "See you then."
You´re right, the king of bad cliffhangers is back! (I´m very sorry.)
Anyway, hope you still enjoyed it a little.
Tell me what you think, I´m reading every comment and try to answer them as well!
Have a good time, see ya all later!
much love,
~furr