BRUTAL • EJ CASWELL

six

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𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹
˚ ༘♡ ·˚ ₊˚ˑ༄ؘ
𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧
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STUDENTS STOOD OUTSIDE of the drama room waiting for the room to open. june leaned against the wall scrolling through instagram and responding to texts from her old north high friends. a couple feet away from them, there was nini and ej arguing. "uh hey is the door locked? why can't we get in?" nini asked walking up to them.

"oh—uh natalie bagley's missing her emotional-support hamster. he got loose. carlos and gina are helping her find her—him—it." ashlyn explained. a high-pitched scream came from the room and everyone turn their heads in concern. "uhm i think they found it."

no one came out of the room for a while. until natalie and carlos came out. "i need a moment." natalie said with a cardboard box in her hand.

"is it dead?"

"no now she thinks he's in her gym locker." carlos said as they all watched natalie quickly walk away. "why the screaming?" ashlyn asked.

"oh that was me. she stepped on my toe." carlos said "we're ready to begin, people! miss jenn just talked to ricky, he's running late." was the last thing june heard. before walking into the room. all the kids sat on the bleachers, putting their bags on the side.

june waved as she sat next to gina "i'm pretty sure they just broke up." june whispered to gina.

"what?"

"yeah i heard them arguing about ricky and it sounded like they did." june said as miss jenn tried to put nini and ej into their places. "cmon guys we're blocking this is a love story! not a sars epidemic!" miss jenn said as she tried to get nini and ej to stand closer together.

"this is going to be a messy show." gina said to june.

"oh i think that chair was over there" carlos pointed out.

"oh i can move it over in the scene!" nini said walking to the chair, but miss jenn told her it felt awkward. "no, it's light, i can lift it above my head and walk!"

"sweetie, no one is walking with furniture above their head. this isn't the lion king." miss jenn said "strike the chair please."

"nini told me this is like her first time being a lead. she said she went for the lead when they got low grade salmonella." gina said as june nodded. "yeah—so i think ej did that." june said as gina's head shot towards her.

"what?"

"he fed the girl a bad egg or something." june said continuing to watch nini and ej struggle to work together. they started to awkwardly sing 'what i've been looking for' and students watched them with their head tilted in different directions. "well, this is a choice." gina said to ashlyn.

"doo doo doo doo doo doo, woah oh oh oh!—" nini sung over ej. gina and june watched in entertainment. june laughed at the annoyance in ej's face as nini sung. gina was enjoying watching nini embarrass herself. "okay, freeze. nini, sweetie. this reprise comes at a—decisive moment in the story once your hearts have joined. it a love song."

nini shook her head "were you not getting that?"

"i'd like for you to get his heart without cracking his rib cage." miss jenn told nini.