"Now Iris, try to project your voice some more. That's it! I can hear you great from back here!" Ms. Laura was coaching the crew on volume and speaking clearly. Some were getting it better than others.
Thanks to the fliers, there were a couple more people than usual. Now, two girls who'd moved over the summer had decided give acting a go.
On the other side of the stage, the crew was just as busy putting things together. Auriana had begun taking stock of the fabrics available in the storage closet. Meanwhile, Mephisto sketched out scenes on smaller pieces of paper while Matt layed them out for him on a background.
As they were working, Auriana called over to Mephisto, "Psst, are you going to that party tomorrow?"
He scrunched his eyebrows, "Party? You mean Lev's?"
She nodded. "He invited me and my friends a couple of days ago."
"But you know he didn't mean that right...? He was probably just said that to get a reaction out of you guys."
Maybe he should've said that with more tact. Auriana flinched at his words.
"Oh," she contemplated his words a moment,
"Why would he do that?"
"Hard to explain. It's just what he's like I guess." He tried to think of what else to say, "He's like a jokester more or less."
Auriana noticed he still hadn't answered the question. "But will you be there?"
He scoffed, not looking up from his work, "Not unless I get stuffed in a bag and dragged there."
~~
When practiced was over, Talia stepped out in the hall to get a drink. She hadn't really gotten the technique down. It just felt like she'd been shouting for an hour.
"Talia! Hey!"
She turned to see Nathaniel waving at her from down the hall. "Hey Nathaniel! How's it going?"
"Between lunch and now, it's going about the same." He rolled his eyes, "I figured I would've gotten my big break by now."
He chuckled at his own joke, and Talia cracked a smile at the fact.
"Say, I was wondering, are you guys free to hang out today? I'm off this evening, and you're almost done with practice right?"
Talia hesitated, not wanting to get his hopes up, "Well I don't know they're still busy. I know Ms. Laura made Iris to stay back to rehearse with Praxina, and I'm sure Auriana will be a while getting everything put away."
"Yeah, I know." Nathniel dropped the subject, "What about you? Aren't you in play too?"
Her smile faltered, "Uh yeah, but I don't really do much. I kind of just have a background role and try not to get involved too much."
Nathaniel sat down on a step and patted the seat next to him. Talia took it. "So why did you join?"
"I don't really know. I guess-" she let out a sigh, "I guess I just didn't want to lose touch with them."
"Have you told them this?" Talia shook her head no, "Well, I'm sure if you did they'd understand. The three of you are always so close."
Nathaniel brought up his knees, resting his forehead on top, "But if you keep avoiding them they'll get lonely." He stared away from Talia.
"Do you mean Iris?"
He sighed, "Yeah. I haven't talked to her much this month. After that day with the smoothies, we keep promising to meet up, but we never do. I mean between my job and the play, we never seem to both have time."
Even though she hung out with them almost every day, Talia felt much the same way. Like they were seperated somehow. She got up and held open the door that led back to the stage.
"I doubt it'll be that much longer. We can wait for them in here."
~~
Later that evening, Auriana was in her room to trying to pick out an outfit for tomorrow. She thought about wearing her usual orange, but that would stand out too much at night. Right now she had black leggings, a black T-shirt, and orange accessories laid out on the bed.
Just then, Jodan knocked on the door, "Hey Auri, are there any more paper towels? Mom ran out downstairs."
"Uh, yeah just give me a second." Auriana swept the clothes under her bed and reached for the shelf above her door. There were bandages, toilet paper, and one more roll of paper towels. With five kids and two bedrooms, it wasn't exactly a bedroom as much as a storage closet.
Jodan's room was the basement, and her baby brother slept with her parents. She used to share a room with her two younger sisters, up until last year when she practically begged her parents for a room of her own. Of course, there were no other rooms, so she ended up in the closet, which however cramped, she much prefered to sharing a bigger room.
She grabbed the paper towels and handed them to Jodan. "Here you go, and tell mom these were the last ones."
"Will do!" Jodan went back downstairs and Auriana took the clothes back out from under her bed. She straightened them out a bit to get out all the wrinkles, and hung them on a rack for later.
Next, she tested her window to make sure she'd be able to open it. It was an old house and her window in particular usually got stuck. It didn't seem like it would budge until-
Creak
Perfect! She'd already written the address down when she overheard some other kids talking about it earlier. Tomorrow she'd just have to double check the route and make sure she had it memorized.
They only thing missing really was- her friends.
The four of them had gone over to Iris' house today, but Auriana hadn't mustered up the courage to bring the topic up. Especially after they'd seemed so against the idea a few days ago.
She yawned, looking over at the clock, it was only 9:30. Maybe she should think her plan over tomorrow with a clear head.
Yeah, that would be best.