"Clinton!"
Zeanne's voice snapped him to attention. She had one hand on her waist and a commanding aura that reached him from all the way down the front of the stage. "Focus."
'Focus. That's right. Focus.'
They're in the middle of their final rehearsal and it was his turn to enter the stage but he spaced out again. For the third time.
'Thinking of something else at this time would be asking for trouble.'
Ameera turned around to face him and her ball gown swayed smoothly with that action. "What are you doing here?"
There was a frown on her face and she was practically glaring at him, but she still looked pretty. Her curled dark brown hair was tied up in a high ponytail. Her thin lips were pink and they looked pretty with her hazel eyes. 'Focus.'
Craige walked slowly towards her without breaking eye contact. "We need to talk."
She turned her back to him. "There's nothing left for us to discuss. Just go. Before Jake sees you. I don't want him to misunderstand--"
Ameera was cut off when Craige closed the distance between them and gently pulled her in for a hug from behind, which again earned countless shrieks from the spectating crowd. From the sound of the cheers and teasing, one might think that the auditorium was fully packed with people when it was just their 15-membered group.
"Cut!" Joshua shouted and Craige automatically stepped a good distance away from Ameera. "Craige, I want you to be more forceful when you hug her. You're being way too gentle and it's not delivering the feelings that we want to show."
Craige frowned. "What do you mean?"
Joshua turned to Zeanne and ordered her to demonstrate.
"Why me? That's a male role." she protested. The two of them always squabble with each other to a point that seeing them do otherwise makes everyone else nervous.
That's why when Joshua moved closer to Zeanne and whispered something in her ear, Craige couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
'How did they end up that close? And how could she remain calm despite being so close with someone that she likes?' He looked at his hand. The memory of her lips slightly brushing his finger, when she threatened him to chomp it off, startled him again.
'Focus.'
"And like I've said before, I don't know what you're talking about." He heard Zeanne hiss at Joshua. "Stop trying to put me on center stage every chance you get."
But before Joshua could retort, Zeanne climbed up the stage towards Craige.
'Oh? She's taking the peaceful route today?'
"Clinton." She called to him with that distant tone again that he has grown to hate over the week.
'She calls everyone else by their first name. Why am I still Clinton?'
"Haile." He curtly replied as well.
"What would Craige do if the girl he liked grew to like someone else?"
"Huh?" Her question puzzled him. "I'd let her go."
"Teng! Wrong answer." She walked towards Ameera and with a sweet smile which made his head tilt on one side, she instructed the other to turn her back. And she threw herself at Ameera and hugged her tight with her head buried at the side of the other's neck. Then her words caused Ameera to turn completely red. "I love you."
'Wah. She's really good at this.'
Chills ran down his spine when he heard the strain in her voice and saw her pained facial expression as if she meant every single word in that line. Then she took a step back and, as if nothing happened, she turned to him with a smile. "You hold on to her. Desperately. Even as you let her go. At least that's what Craige in the story would do. Let's not be a wuss and man up, shall we?"
"Wuss?" He could not believe his ears but Zeanne already made her way down the stage and stood beside Joshua with an obvious fake smile.
"Desperately." She said again with her fist up as if cheering him on.
Craige cursed under his breath.
'Fine! Stop thinking about useless stuff!'
They redid the hugging part but this time instead of reaching out and pulling Ameera to him gently, he threw himself at her with just enough force not to topple her down. Her entire body grew hot against him in an instant and her cheeks went flaming red which made him frown.
Ever since he started modeling, he became used to doing intimate touching and all sorts of skin to skin contact without much thought. But when she suddenly grabbed his hand like that and looked at him that way, it did strange things in his chest.
'That's right. This is how girls are normally. How could she make a joke like that?'
It took quite an effort not to turn his eyes on 'her' at that moment. He closed his eyes and hugged Ameera tighter. "I love you."
'Puberty? Hormones? Wah. I must be going crazy. '
The following night, after their performance ended with a large applause, he ran into Zeanne in the classroom. He didn't expect anyone to be in the classroom because their class decided to stay in the auditorium to watch performances from other classes.
"Hey." She greeted him awkwardly as if caught off guard.
"Uhm... Hey." He replied, not quite sure what to make of this situation. But since she smiled, he smiled back.
'Why is she being awkward?'
He looked around the empty classroom.
'She's not going to do anything weird again, right? Could it be… she found out?'
He shivered at that thought and slowly walked towards his seat.
'There's no way…'
Before Zeanne could notice that his face was turning pale, he went to the dressing room to change out of his costume. He was starting to feel itchy because of the dried sweat and the fabric and buttons that kept sticking to his skin. Only after he took off his top did he realize that he forgot to bring his bag with him.
'Aish.'
He swung the shirt over his shoulder and went out of the dressing room. It wasn't until he grabbed hold of his bag that he realized that he still had company. He froze for a second. And without turning to check if Zeanne saw him, he walked back inside the dressing room in a very composed manner that made him want to tap himself on the shoulders.
But today was probably not his day.
He opened his bag and saw only his soda-stained shirt and nothing else. He completely forgot to bring an extra shirt that day and also forgot that he spilled soda on his only shirt right before changing into his costume.
'Why is nothing going my way today?'
He contemplated between wearing the badly stained shirt or putting back on the silk costume with elaborate frills on the neckline. And he shook his head in shock for even thinking about it. He put on his stained shirt and stuffed the costume inside his bag. As soon as he got out, his eyes met a disagreeable stare.
'What now?'
Zeanne looked at his shirt then back at him. "Nothing else to wear?"
The image of the frilly red silk inside his bag made him squirm and hastily shake his head. Zeanne grabbed a big paper bag from the chair beside her and rummaged through it. Then she tossed him a P.E. shirt with bold letters printed on the back.
"HAILE." He read out loud and doubtfully turned his gaze towards her.
"Don't worry, it's already dark outside. Besides, it won't show once you wear your backpack." She reasoned.
"That's not-" He stopped himself when he noticed that the shirt was exactly his size. "Isn't this too big for you?"
"I don't like wearing tight shirts." She shrugged. That's when he remembered that for the entire Foundation Week, when all the girls pulled out their most fashionable clothes hidden in their closets, Zeanne was probably the only one who wore oversized shirts and shorts. "Just tell me if you don't want to wear it."
'Lending me your own shirt means that we're friends, right? So why am I still Clinton?'
"It's not like that." He quickly took off his shirt and changed into her shirt. But as soon as he was done changing, he earned a wry smile from Zeanne.
'What is it now? Why is she being like this with me again?'
"I'm not sure if I should be flattered or offended by that." She said while looking at him dubiously.
"What?" He sat on a chair opposite hers feeling tired all of a sudden, probably because he's been running around all day.
"You waltzed around topless as if I'm not here and even changed shirts in front of me like it's nothing." She pointed out, looking pissed. Then she held up her fingers one by one as she added with the same wry smile. "A. It's because you don't even see me as a girl. B. You're flaunting how much of a professional you are that you don't mind me seeing you naked. C. My opinion about seeing a guy without a shirt on doesn't really matter to you. D. All of the above."
'Why is it all negative?'
He heaved a sigh. "E. I'm being careless. I was not thinking properly. I'm sorry."
She bit the inside of her cheek as if trying to stop herself from saying a million things. Then she massaged her eyes while taking a deep breath. "Accepted. I'm sorry too."
"Huh? For what?"
"For enjoying the view." She raised her head with a mischievous smile on her face and put her thumbs up. "Thanks for the meal."
His jaw dropped. "Ya… how can you say something like that?"
"I think I got addicted to teasing you." She shrugged then her eyes sparkled as she smiled at him. "By the way, you did really well today. Your acting was very impressive that I was almost convinced you're seriously in love with her. I'm so proud of you."
He was about to say that that was all thanks to his great 'acting coach', when a mischievous thought came to him.
'It's payback time.'
He raised an eyebrow at her and smiled. "Who said that that was just an act?"
"Huh?" She froze.
"What makes you think that I was just faking those emotions?"
***
Dear Dairy Milk,
… I feel weird.