Miss Perfection Personified

6. | An Opening

6. | AN OPENING

I REALISED I might have stretched myself too thin when I agreed to join Anastasia's play. Waiting for my university offers to come through, studying for the grades that I actually needed to get in, my journalism club and doing the play all at once suddenly seemed didn't seem like the most brilliant idea in the world.

Nevertheless, when Anastasia handed me the script for the play, I found myself excited to join in. I wasn't a theatre connoisseur per se but I liked it well enough to do Drama for my A-Levels. And Anastasia's concept for her Shakespeare play was really interesting, I had to admit.

It was a little nerve-wracking having to introduce myself to all the Drama students who were taking part alongside Anastasia, all of them switching subtle smirks with each other as they eyed me up and down. I felt like a nepotism baby who'd kicked the real talent to the curb.

"You have big shoes to fill," a girl called Tetiana said, eyeing me a little warily.

"Literally," Anastasia snorted. "I don't think we even need to get him a new costume."

My first rehearsal wasn't so bad - if I ignored Anastasia's sighs and eye rolls everytime I said a line wrong or my cadence messed up. Even Tetiana eyed me with a little less contempt by the end of it and Soraya Ali gave me a smile as we packed our bags ready for home.

I'd just walked out of the Theatre Hall when I glanced up to find Kitty, who was leaning against one of the lockers across the corridor, straighten up and look at me nervously. I stood there for a moment, unsure if I should keep walking or wait for her to make the first move. I didn't need to wait long and she was walking towards me with, I observed suddenly, her hands balled together into two nervous little fists. She stopped in front of me.

"Hey," I said quietly.

She did a half-shrug in response. Inexplicably, I found my leg reaching forward, giving her shoe a light kick. That seemed to break the tension between us a little bit as Kitty's lips suddenly twitched and she let out a nervous giggle. I covered my mouth, trying to look serious.

"Stop," Kitty said, trying to smother it down.

"I can't fight with you, I'm sorry."

Before she could change her mind, I reached forward and wrapped my arms around her.

"Missed you, Kit," I whispered. I felt my body relax as I felt her reciprocate with her arms around my waist. "Let's stick to a two-hour limit for fights, okay?"

She pulled away, biting her lip.

"I heard you're in Anastasia's play now," she said.

"That quickly? It's been less than a day."

"Daisy Gallagher posted on the school confessions site," Kitty muttered. "And about how Anastasia's a total bitch to work with."

I shook my head. "So much for wanting to stay out of drama."

Kitty suddenly looked down at her feet. She always did that when she needed to address something uncomfortable. I waited.

"I have the slam poetry thing this weekend," she muttered, still looking down at her shoes. Her hands were balled into fists again. "You, um, still coming?"

The guilt I'd been feeling over neglecting Kitty seemed to triple. Truthfully, I had completely forgotten I'd agreed to it months ago. Poetry wasn't really my thing and slam poetry really wasn't my thing. But it was Kitty's greatest pride and joy. She'd been writing poetry since she was thirteen and had found this ramshackle little family pub last year that often hosted mini-events. I'd managed to weasel my way out of coming to every single one with some excuse until I ran out of them. She'd been looking forward to it for so long.