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Mysterious New Girl

"Hey!"

Jade had practically announced herself as she walked up to the craft services table to the side of the stage. Turning around to face her, Tara would have replied, but the sugar-glazed donut in her mouth made her raise her free hand in an attempt at a wave instead.

"It's Tara, right?" Jade crossed her arms, realizing too late that she should have waited for the girl to finish eating.

Tara nodded slowly, still taking her time with the donut and eyeing Jade carefully.

"I...just wanted to say you did a good job yesterday with the Bird Scene," Jade's eyes broke contact for a moment, feeling this was quickly becoming a one-sided conversation. "Didn't think you'd catch on to the point of the assignment so quickly."

Tara's eyes narrowed, as if to say, "What point?"

As if she could understand the visual gesture, Jade continued, "You...didn't know you weren't supposed to ask how you did?"

She shook her head, chewing another chunk of her donut.

Jade's eyes narrowed now, her suspicions about the short stack of pancakes in front of her growing all the more, "Okay, why are you here, then? You want to learn acting, or maybe you wanna 'try it out' to satisfy your boredom? What is it?"

Tara closed her eyes and took one last bite of her donut; taking her time to chew and swallow before opening her eyes and answering the now irritated goth girl in front of her, "Free food."

With a shrug, Tara turned back around to wipe her mouth with a napkin, leaving Jade momentarily stunned before she walked away as well.

Sikowitz clapped loudly as he emerged onto the stage and motioned for the students to gather in their seats.

"Good morning, class! Now, I know I said we were going to go over some more Bird Scene assessments, but first I'd like to introduce a little...exhibition, if you would!"

Half the class's faces lit up with excitement while the other half made rather disgusted faces; all of them confused on what he meant.

"Oh, relax! This is all still part of class today! As some of you may know, I was a teacher at the prestigious Hollywood Arts in California! Many of my students showed much talent in acting and singing, but only few presented extremely well in both at once!" Sikowitz raised his arms in Jade's direction as she was headed to her office backstage. "Jade! Introduce yourself!"

She turned on her heel, unsure of what to say, and raised her hand in an attempt of a wave. As she was about to turn back round to the office, Sikowitz dashed over and dragged her to the center stage; despite the furious mutters of protest from her.

"Now Jade may be my hard-working assistant here in the theater, but she was also one of my best students! When she put her mind to it, she could blow an audience away with her singing while intimidating—or charming—them with a look! Isn't that right, Jade?" Sikowitz prodded her with an elbow and an embellishing smile.

Jade just replied with a shrug and a long sip of her coffee cup. Some students applauded her while others simply nodded in acknowledgement. Tara did neither of those; instead sitting quietly with her arms crossed.

"So for today's 'lesson', I'm giving Jade the opportunity to demonstrate those dual skills in action! I'll put on a song you're very familiar with, and you'll choose someone to join you? Any takers?" Sikowitz backed up to the speaker system connected to his laptop, as Jade's eyes immediately fell on her candidate, who raised a curious eyebrow upon meeting her gaze.