Disclaimer: Don't own.
No substitutes were physically harmed in the wring of this story. We make no promises about psychologically.
:}
"Valentine" The man called, wasting time doing roll when the students had already volunteered to do it for him.
"What?" The short girl asked.
"Just here, please." The man said, trying to stay professional in an environment that, to the causal observer, was anything but.
"Kay kay." The redhead said as she stood up to go to the stage. "What am I doing up there?"
"No, you just say here." The poor substitute tried. Behind Cat, the other students reacted, mostly like the shruggers, sitting quietly and letting this happen. Only Robbie, who had already been put on warning for Rex, tried to reach for her, being stopped by his angry puppet, and Tori, who couldn't let this farce go on any longer.
"Cat, please sit." The youngest Vega girl called out. "He just needed a response when he called your name."
"Why?" Cat pushed.
"He needed to know if you were here." Tori explained. "Every teacher does roll. It's just, as small as our classes are, they tend to know us, and so can just fill in if we're missing or late."
Cat reluctantly sat down. "He could have just said that." She sniped, clearly not enjoying this mans filling in for her favorite teacher.
"Sorry about, um, her. Cat is a good student, but sometimes not always as present as we'd like." Tori tried to explain.
"And that wasn't in my notes why?" The man asked, but pushed forward. "Vega."
"It's Tori." Jade jumped in.
"I like to keep things professional." The man told her. "West."
"Really?" Tori asked the pale girl. "You're just gonna accept that she's me? I've been on television, and you just take her word for it that she's me?"
"Wait, you're saying you're miss Vega?" The substitute asked. "Then who's she? And do you have proof?"
"A, she should, but rarely carried her student ID." Jade informed him. "And B, I never said I was Vega, just that she goes by Tori. It was your choice how you interpreted that."
"But you clearly implied…" he started.
"Just like you clearly implied that Cat should go up on stage, something that happens all the time in this class." Jade jumped in. "And yet, you acted all judgmental because she wasn't acting like some zombified student at one of the other schools you've taught at." She held herself a moment. "I'm Jade, by the way. And yes, I could have said my last name, but we're one of those schools that encourages our students to use their first names, which is why I tried to help once I realized how out of your depth you were."
"I don't like your attitude, miss West." The man growled.
"Just trying to help." She insisted, even though Tori was sure the girl was conning the man. "I mean, once you've asked if I'm here, what exactly were you planning on doing. I know for a fact that Sikowitz rarely leaves detailed instructions, and even if he does, it's not that easy for someone to understand."
"This is an acting class." The man said. "I felt we could do some improve…"
"We're the advanced acting class." Beck tossed out. "No mater what you suggest, we've done it all. Even put on professional level plays, made student films, and the like."
"But I like improve." Cat protested.
"Honestly, odds are we could teach you a thing or two." Robbie added, still smarting about the mans comments about Rex.
"I've done some acting, and several acting workshops." The substitute, who hadn't even had the chance to introduce himself, said. He'd started with roll, and lost control from there.
"How many professional credits?" Andre asked.
"What now?" The substitute snapped. "I don't have to prove myself to anyone."
"I get that." Dre said. "But in this room, those credits help establish you. I mean, some of the shruggers may not have appeared in anything, but the rest of us, we have dozens of school plays, a few professional credits, and some of us even have a junior film makers award."
"Went all the way up to seventeen on the German horror film rental index this month, and it might climb." Jade said, a mini celebration taking only seconds.
"Just saying, we're old pro's by now." Beck continued.
"And I'm sure mister… You got a name?" Tori looked at the man, doe eyes begging for approval, a good grade, and maybe some relief from the fear that this would be another one who ran screaming into the city.
"You can call me Mister Burns." He informed them.
"I'm sure that…" Tori started, only to turn back to the teacher. "Wait, Burns? As in the Simpsons?"
"It's a fairly common name." The teacher felt himself losing the control he love to have.
"I'm sure he's not as mean." Cat suggested.
"Definitely not as rich." Jade added.
"Anyways, Mister Burns here probably has plenty to teach us." Tori finished, turning back to look at the man once more. "So, you wanted us to do some improve?"
"Probably wants us to keep it clean." Robbie noted.
"Like that happens in the workshops." Jade scoffed.
"I don't like it when we do dirty stuff." Cat told her friends.
"Um, did Sikowitz maybe leave a lesson plan?" Eli, one of the shruggers, asked.
"I wasn't even warned about the problem students." Mister Burns told the boy. "And we do have problems, cause far to many of you talk back when you should be quiet, waiting for instruction."
"So zero professional credits?" Andre said. "Yea, sounds like it. See, when your a professional, they do give you loads of direction, things they want out of you. But the reason they give the awards to the actors is we have to find the character. That includes questions, for the writer, the director, everyone who has influence over who and what the character will be. THEN you find the character in you, regardless of the method you use. Method actors try to live the character, be inside the emotions. Others use whatever method they have to bring out the feelings, the reality of the character so the audience believes what they see. If we just sat there and took direction, then we'd be doing the whole procedure a disservice. And yea, there are parts, really small ones, where that's what you do. You stay down, blend in, be interchangeable. Us, the main six, we're stars. Whether we want to be or not, we are, and that's because we do more then just to sit and listen, then do as we're told."
"Okay, Improve." Beck said.
"I need three, no four people on stage." Jade said. "Robbie, you're the captain. Choose your actors."
"Tori, Cat, Beck." The boy called out.
"Now, we're gonna do a slightly more complicated scene." Jade informed them. "Rob, you're the teacher of a disruptive class. Beck, you're the disruptive student. Tori, Cat, other role as appropriate. Kay, lets see where this goes….. and action."
Mister Burns stood back and watched as his class just took over, running the exercise without so much as needing him there. It felt belittling and intimidating how quickly they fell into those rolls, with Robbie being the frustrated teacher, Beck the bad boy students, and Tori assuming the roll of Beck's girlfriend, who somehow was pulling the strings from the shadows. Cat, who wasn't often nearly as good at improve, took on the roll of the counselor, and worked to mediate the situation. By the time Jade called scene, they'd managed to get Tori suspended as Cat figured out what was really going on.
'I get why so many teachers go running from this class now.' Mister Burns thought. 'Gonna love telling my boss about why...'
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Love having time to do some basic editing. Hope you enjoyed.