THE PITIFUL CHILDREN ; bmc x deh

[ FIVE ]

"Evan, are you coming?"

Evan turned, looking over at Michael in confusion. "Uh... coming where?"

"Play rehearsal! Jeremy's been dying to go all day," Michael answered, with a little grin as he glanced sideways at Jeremy, who rolled his eyes.

"No, I haven't. It was your idea," he countered.

"He's lying," Michael said cheerfully. "It's because Christine's there—"

Jeremy's face went bright red, and he stamped on Michael's foot. Evan suppressed a smile, but shook his head.

"I'm not going, I have... stuff to do. Sorry."

Michael shrugged, but Jeremy looked a little sad. "It's okay. What are you even doing, anyway? Can't you even go for a little bit?"

"Um..." Evan thought for a second, chewing on his lip. "I mean, I suppose—"

"Great! Come on, we'll be late if we're not careful," Michael smiled brightly, grabbing Evan with one hand and Jeremy with the other. He yelped as he was pulled along the corridor, towards the theatre.

"Alright, you guys have fun, bye!" Michael laughed, opening the door for them both and pushing them inside.

"But— wait, you're not—?" Evan started, watching as he slammed the door, giving them a merry wave before pulling his headphones on over his head. Dancing his way back down the hallway.

Jeremy rolled his eyes, turning around to face the theatre. Evan followed suit, scanning the stands. He could recognise a few — the group of girls, Alana, two boys, and one other who he was fairly sure he'd never seen before. The one Jeremy was staring at.

"Is that—"

"Christine," he murmured.

Evan smiled a little, nudging him gently. He blinked, shaking his head. "Sorry. Come on, we should go sit down."

"Do you know all these people?" Evan asked, his voice growing a little quieter as they approached the seats. Jeremy started to lead them both to the top of the stands, near the back.

"Most of them. There's... Jenna, Chloe and Brooke there," he said, pointing, "and those boys are Rich and Jake. You know who Christine is. Right at the front," he added affectionately, as the two of them sat down. As far away from other people as they could be. Evan was more comfortable that way anyway and assumed Jeremy was too. 

Jeremy absent-mindedly played with his T-shirt as one of the teachers, Mr Reyes, stepped to the front of the room. 

"Due to certain budget cuts this year," he announced, without so much as a 'hello', "we will no longer be performing the original production of A Midsummer Night's Dream." 

Nobody but Christine seemed to care.

"Instead, we'll be doing... a different version. A post-apocalyptic version. Called A Midsummer Night..." He paused. "Mare. I'm still working on the title."

"But you can't change Shakespeare!" Christine piped up from the front row. Mr Reyes glanced down at her.

"He's been dead for hundreds of years, I'm sure he won't mind."

He turned back to address everyone. "We will now take a five-minute break so that I can eat a hot pocket."

With that, Mr Reyes turned to exit the theatre through a back door. As soon as the door slammed shut, noise started to bubble up from the stands — gossiping, chatting, humming, and people turning in their seats or running up the steps to greet their friends. Evan looked baffled.

"Is that it? Isn't there any... well, rehearsing?" he half-whispered, barely audible over the chatter happening five rows down.

Jeremy shrugged. "I dunno. Apparently, he takes a lot of hot pocket breaks."

"You've never done this before, then?" 

He shook his head. "No. I've always been too scared. But now at least I have someone with me." Jeremy smiled across at Evan. "Thanks for coming, anyway."

"I didn't really have a choice," he muttered, which made Jeremy laugh.

"True. Michael can be... pushy. But it's not really a bad thing. Now I have a chance to talk to someone other than him, and you. And Jared, but he's not that nice."

Evan nodded in agreement, leaning back on his chair.

Suddenly, there was a crash about a metre from where they were sat. Someone had fallen over on their way up the steps. Jeremy stared at them as Evan sat up in shock, before noticing who it was. Christine.

Jeremy seemed to have broken out of his trance half a second before she stood up. She didn't seem fazed at all, giving them both a cheerful wave.

"Hi! I'm just looking around because there are so many new faces here today, so hello, I'm Christine, who are you?" she rushed, without a single pause to draw breath.

"I, uh—" For once, Jeremy seemed more tongue-tied than Evan himself. "I'm Jeremy."

Christine smiled, turning to Evan expectantly.

"Evan Hansen," he mumbled. 

"Well, it's great to meet you both!" she said happily, sitting down just next to Jeremy. Evan watched him go bright red, smiling the slightest bit. "There are never that many people who come to rehearsal... sometimes it's just me, Alana and Mr Reyes." She shrugged. "Ah well."

She glanced across at Jeremy. "You look really nervous." After a small pause, she perked up. "Oh, I get it! You're a virgin!"

Evan stifled a laugh as Jeremy's face reddened even more, if that was possible. "Wh—"

"First play rehearsal," she elaborated in a sing-song voice.

"Oh, you think I'm nervous about... the play..."

"Well, why else would you look this nervous? And red? And sweaty?"

He blinked. "Oh, no, I always sweat this much...!"

They were saved from more potential embarrassment (and slightly confused looks from Christine) by the sound of the door at the side of the stage opening again. She smiled briefly again at both of them before half running, half falling down the steps back to the front of the theatre. Jeremy sighed, flopping back in his chair. Evan nudged him.

"You talked to her!"

He groaned. "I looked awful."

"Who cares? You've got weeks left," Evan said encouragingly. "Plenty of time to talk to her without telling her about how much you sweat."

Jeremy smiled weakly. "You're right. Thanks, Evan."