"Oh my gosh, Kath! You looked so pretty here!" Mia exclaimed while looking at the magazine.
The four of us went to the bookstore together for the very first time to buy a copy(each) of The Vermonde Era's new edition as a form of our moral support to Katherine. Mia made it mandatory.
"What are you talking about? I've always been pretty." Katherine dramatically flipped her hair to one side.
"Pffft." We held back our laughter.
Then Trixie suddenly slapped my shoulder with her lips pouting. "I hate you! How could you not tell us about this until now? We would've loved to see the actual shooting."
Mia bobbed her head repeatedly in agreement and folded her arms. "It would have been a great chance to see our Craige in action."
"Not to see ME but CRAIGE?" Katherine raised her tone, pretending to be annoyed.
Mia laughed awkwardly. "You said you're always pretty so why should we bother to go see your normal self? Might as well watch our Craige pose for the cameras live."
Trixie turned to me with excitement. "Can we tag along next time? Katherine said that you're close with the photographer and that's how she got the offer."
I looked at Katherine who folded her hands apologetically. "I would love to bring you guys but...Joey is super sensitive and he can be really cranky. He doesn't like outsiders in his studio. You can ask Katherine, even I was not there when they did the shoot."
'I'll definitely burn in hell for all the lies I've told in this lifetime.'
The two girls turned to Katherine and she chuckled, obviously surprised to be forced to make a false statement, yet still managed to smartly evade it. "She's right. She had to go to her classes."
"What classes?" Trixie asked.
And I answered quickly. "Math."
Mia excitedly clapped her hands, completely cutting off any discussions related to studies. "Then next time he asks for someone to model, recommend us!"
Before I could think of an excuse, Katherine waved her idea away. "Not a chance. That Joey is obsessed with the idea of having Zee as his model. She was all he talked about during our breaks. He was begging ME to convince HER to model for him."
"Really?" Trixie raised her eyebrow skeptically.
Katherine made a cross sign on her chest and raised her right hand. "Cross my heart."
'And hope to die?' Even I would have not believed her if I didn't know how she hates lying to the nth degree. "I guess I'll have to bring him some apples to express my sincerest apology."
'The things I do to avoid being noticed.'
But two weeks later, my peace was once again threatened when we were asked to gather in the auditorium by Teacher Beshy. She wanted to hold a surprise audition for the play that will be performed during English Day. And if we get to be chosen, we will be automatically exempted from taking the final exam in her subjects. The groups have been decided by counting up to 10. And since the four of us were sitting together, we got separated and my number was 3. The instruction was simple:
*We are given 10 minutes to find our teammates and come up with a scenario of our own.
*Once the ten minutes is over, we have to submit a rough summary of our plot and we're no longer allowed to change it.
*We will be then given 5-10 minutes to perform and showcase our skills.
*Although we are a team, we will be judged individually.
Our enthusiasm was triggered because she said that this will also serve as a test of our creativity, communication and comprehension skills. So, even if we were not chosen, she will still give us additional points in the final exam based on our performances.
Everyone was excited to get exempted from the exams. Except for me.
They probably thought that getting selected for the play was a great deal. What they didn't know was, it would be so much better to study for the exam the night before, than to memorize the script and practice every after class until the performance. "Foolish 'hoomans'."
Trixie turned to me. "What?"
I smiled brightly. "Fighting!"
My head was running in full gear. 'Operation: Fail the Audition. Piece of cake.'
But when I went to the table assigned for my group, I was utterly perplexed.
"Nice Hedwig!" Joshua was grinning like Cheshire and raised his hand for a high-five.
I absent-mindedly received his gesture as I looked at my other teammates.
"Sit here, Zee." Ameera kindly offered me the seat between her and Joshua.
"Thanks." I forced a smile on my face as I tried to avoid Craige's worried stare across the table.
Ameera initiated the meeting. "What do we do now?"
"I think we should first make one thing clear. You all want to pass the audition, right?" Joshua asked.
"Of course!"
"Not really."
Ameera and I answered at the same time, while Craige remained silent. My answer earned a disapproving glare from Joshua. And he waved his hand at me dismissively. "You. Just shut up."
Joshua obviously wanted to be a part of this play, badly. For someone who likes to stay behind the scenes, his greed for this one was something that I couldn't understand. He turned to Craige with a raised eyebrow.
Craige looked at me then at Ameera. "...Sure."
"How could you!?" The words escaped my lips before I could stop them. So I exaggeratedly covered my mouth with my hand and made a face that showed how appalled I was. "I thought we were friends!"
I've been betrayed!
I am hurt!
I am wounded!
I slumped my head on the desk in defeat. 'I know that you like her but how dare you take her side in my face?'
"Then I guess, that's three to one." Joshua patted my back then turned to the other two. "Do you have any ideas that you want to share?"
"I'm pretty sure the others will do romance. Let's do a different genre. " Ameera suggested.
Joshua nodded. "You're right."
"What would be good?" Craige said thoughtfully.
And I could not stop myself from suggesting, "Let's do suspense-thriller!"
Joshua grinned, apparently liking the idea. "And what would be the scenario?"
I grinned menacingly. "I kill you. The end."
He put one finger at the back of my head and slowly made me lie down on the table again. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. But that genre is a nice idea."
Ameera snapped her fingers. "That's actually a great idea. Why don't we do this? We'll draw lots for the roles: A stalker who turned into a killer, a celebrity who got killed, a bereaved lover and an infamous detective."
And so we did just that.
Joshua opened his paper. "I'm the detective."
Ameera giggled and held up her paper as well. "Stalker."
Craige folded back his paper and put it in his pocket. "Celebrity."
I frowned and checked my paper again. But the word written was clearly 'Celebrity' too. 'How?'
Craige avoided my eyes when I looked at him and that's when I realized what he did. 'Did you just steal my role?'
Call me a softy, but I was seriously touched. He's still a loyal friend after all. 'I forgive you!'
"That means, Hedwig will be the girlfriend." Joshua grinned with satisfaction. "Do your best, okay?"
I was stupefied. 'Wait. What? That role will be the most dramatic!'
A few minutes later, the first group went up the stage. They were already in their characters as soon as they reached the center of the stage. And Ameera was right with her guess. Their genre was romance.
Teacher Beshy read their scenario. "Group 1 Scenario: Katherine and Jake are married. But Jake cheated on her with Vina, without knowing that Vina was already betrothed to Brian."
Joshua grinned. "We made the right choice to avoid the pure romance genre. Good job, Hedwig."
I rolled my eyes, still sluggishly resting my head on the table. 'Whatever. I don't know anymore.'
But to everyone's surprise, they started their performance with a bam!
Katherine slapped Vina.
For real!
We all gasped in shock and I sat up with my hand on my cheek. "That must've hurt a lot."
Ameera turned to me, also holding her cheek. "You felt it too?"
I dazedly nodded. "I experienced it first hand before."
The three of them looked at me in disbelief.
Katherine haughtily flipped her hair with the same hand she used to slap Vina. "You dare to steal my toy? Do you think you can handle the consequences?"
"I thought Katherine was the protagonist?" Ameera whispered to me.
I put my hand on her shoulder while shaking my head. "Kath hates playing the weak party."
"Ah..." Joshua and Ameera said in unison.
Vina had tears in her eyes. "Kath… I'm sorry but we love each other."
"And I'd bet my entire allowance that those are real tears." I muttered and Joshua caught it.
"Did it hurt that much?" He whispered.
I turned to him with a blank expression. "Want me to demonstrate?"
He quickly covered his cheeks with his hands. "I'll pass."
The next scene was Jake breaking up with Vina.
Jake hugged her from behind then said, "I love you."
My eyebrow rose because of the familiar scene and my eyes turned to Craige of their own accord. He was watching the scene intently with his hand on his chin.
Vina tried to turn around but Jake stopped her. "But I have to let you go."
"Why?" Vina looked dispirited.
Jake's voice was shaking. "Because that's the right thing to do."
"What's the meaning of this?!" Brian furiously exclaimed as he entered the stage.
That's when I heard Joshua vehemently curse beside me in a hushed tone. "Damn it. Why is everyone suddenly so good at acting?"
"Because nobody wants to take that exam." Ameera answered him with an equally grave tone.
"Except for one." Craige muttered with his eyes glued on the stage while the other two turned to me with a frightening look in their eyes.
"What?!" I quietly exclaimed.
The first group finished their stage after 12 minutes and received a round of applause. Teacher Beshy was looking really pleased by their performance too. And that's probably what made Joshua start fidgeting beside me.
"Will you stop that?" I hissed at him. My heart was beating really fast from the excitement. A little devil in my head kept whispering and taunting me. 'You know you want to go all out too.'
Then Ameera suddenly held my hand which caught me by surprise. "Zee!"
"W-what?"
"You love Craige. You love Craige. You love Craige. You don't want him to die. Seeing him die will break you apart. You love Craige. You love Craige. You love Craige." She wriggled her fingers in front of me as if trying to hypnotize me.
I caught her hand in horror. "Cut that out!"
To my surprise, even Craige turned to me. "You don't have to force yourself. But at least try not to sound too robotic later."
'Don't try too hard. But don't make it too obvious.' was how my head interpreted his words.
"Why are you guys being like this to me?" I whined. Frustration was bubbling inside me.
"Haile. Can you come closer for a minute?" Joshua's tone was grave. And him calling me Haile made me even more anxious.
"We're not allowed to change the story." I warned him when I recognized the familiar look in his eyes. He was brainstorming how to make our scenario better and have more impact.
He stared at me for a long time. Then he nodded and moved closer to whisper in my ear. "But don't you dare think about purposely failing this... unless you want me to reveal what you've been trying to hide."
My brows creased. "What are you talking about? Was that a threat?"
I have no clue as to what he was getting at, but that pretty much sounded like a threat to me.
He shook his head and put a hand on my shoulder. "No. It's a promise."
It didn't sound like he was just bluffing too. But I didn't let my worry reflect on my face and smiled at him instead. "Ts. You expect me to be scared by that?"
He smiled back. "No. I expect you to do something you're awfully good at."