Tales from the rails

Rhys and the Stage Crew

Rhys is a major role in the play, he's head of the stage crew so he oversees everything they do. He makes sure things are made and painted and that lights work and things like that. The when the Balcony set broke, he was one of the first to work on it, making it more stable so Delilah could lean on it and DD climb it. The when that was done, they made sure other props were safe to use. It was hard work, many set piece most of the more popular girls had worked on were unsafe, especially things Mia worked on. They all also correlated with Delilah's scenes. After that long week, he was tired and wanted a longer rest. He had more work to do however, he was the engine driver of the D&D number 6 after all. The mail which was a night train did not help, he felt as though couldn't get enough sleep every night, going to bed late, waking up early and working long days. Bags began to form under his eyes and his friends were worried. "You should take off this Saturday." Said Emma one Wednesday morning. "It's fine, once the play is over I'll... YAWNNN, get back to my normal sleep schedule." Rhys said as the two entered the school. He went to his first period class and departed from Emma to his Chemistry class. He almost fell asleep during the lesson. "And remember class, we have a test this Friday, so study, study, study!" The class groaned at this as the bell rang. The students left and Rhys' day continued along. He had finally felt awake by his third class. But then the bugging began. Rhys sat down in his chair and someone tapped his shoulder. "Yes?" He asked as he turned around. "Hey Rhys, so the lights, right?" The kid, a very chatty freshman who loved to talk, babbled on about what to do, how to do it, and Rhys just say there with a miserable look. "Look, we talk about the play when we're working on it. Not in the middle of class." Rhys said, cutting her off. "Oh, I didn't know. I figured that we should talk about it everyone to plan and stuff." "Well, know you know." Rhys said as he turned back around and listened to the lesson more intently. The freshman just looked down at her desk, a little embarrassed and a little annoyed.

Rhys was eating lunch, awaiting his friends when a few of the stage crew walked up to Rhys, one of the boys tapping him on the shoulder. "So, like, are we going to work?" "What do you mean? It's lunch time." "Well, we were planning to go work there during lunch because we all brought our food." Said the freshman from earlier. "Look, I'm eating. We have time until the deadline of all the stuff we need ready and we will have it ready by then." "But-!" "I just want to eat with girlfriend, okay? I barely talked to her today and this is the only time in school where we can chat." Rhys said firmly as Emma began to walk up. "But if we get it done early-!" "We're going to do it right, that's final, now drop it." Rhys said, he grabbed his hair in annoyance as he put his elbows on the table, shutting his eyes. "Alright." Said one of the sophomores and they left to their table. "What was that about?" Asked Emma kindly. "Stage crew is up my butt about the lights and getting work done early, but I've been doing this play stuff since the seventh grade and it's gone right doing it my way!" Rhys explained, annoyed with the people trying to go against his plans. "Well, you do know best." Said a male voice. DD and Delilah were walking up to the table, they sat on the left side of Rhys and Emma and began to eat. Rhys was even more annoyed, "What's that supposed to mean?" He said angrily. "Take a chill pill dude, you do know best. Remember that time when I was struggling with solving the Algebra homework we had back in ninth grade? You showed me the best way to do it, and I was getting a hundred in that class!" DD reminisced on the event. "Yeah, I do." "And remember how you showed me how to ride a bike way back when in third or fourth grade?" Asked Emma. "You taught me how to do it and now I can ride anywhere anytime!" "I remember that too." "I got nothing." Delilah said with a grin on her face. "I think I remember that one too." Rhys chuckled as he began to eat again. The four ate and chatted as the day went on, the bell rang and the four left the table and walked into the gym. Mr. N took attendance, a few of Rhys' friends were missing and had been absent all day. "Alright, smaller class today, what to do, what to do...." He said to himself as he surveyed the gym. He looked at a ball that rolled past his feet. "Aha!" He said as he passed it back to the student with his feet. "Everyone gather on the far wall!" He said as he began to run down to the end of the gym. Everyone gathered up and Mr. N walked into the closet to get something. He returned with a few red rubbery balls. "Seeing as some of our friends are not here, we are going to play dodgeball!" He announced. "You all know the rules, shots to the head and feet count as no outs, catching the ball results in the thrower being out, don't cross the half court line or else you're out, and be nice. We don't need anyone being injured. Get into teams." Rhys, Emma, Delilah, and DD all assembled to one team and the other twelve students got onto another team. "Wow." Said Mr. N. "This is very unfair." "We got it." Said an overly confident Rhys. "You three agree with this statement?" The three looked at Rhys, he looked like he had a plan, "Yes sir." Agreed Emma. "Yep." "I'm up for a challenge." Said Delilah. "Alright, I'm going to get a few more balls and then we'll start. EVERYONE LINE UP ON YOUR WALL!" He said, the four students lined up and everyone looked at Rhys. "So what's the plan." "Dodge ball, in the name." He said with a devious smirk. "That's not a plan." "Emma said, "We've lost." Delilah said. "Take me away in a coffin." DD said dramatically. "YOU'RE GONNA LOSE!" Yelled one of the jocks. They began chuckling to themselves as Mr. N walked out, he put the balls in the middle of the room. "Grab 'em and throw them back to our side." He said as he got into a sprinting position, ready to take off like a bullet. "TWEET!" Went a whistle and Rhys darted with his eyes on the prize. His friends followed behind, and soon caught up as Rhys threw a few balls towards the walls. There were eight total, Rhys' team had six. They each took up a ball and began to aim. "Aim for one person, hit another." Rhys said, as if he was trying to form a plan. The other two players, armed with balls, aimed at one person, Rhys. His cockiness got his team into this, so they wanted to take out the leader before picking off the others. Rhys aimed and hurled a ball at one of the jocks, it curved and it hit another square in the chest. The threat went down a little bit, Rhys picked up another ball and began to aim again, but before he could, Rhys was hit in the leg and the arm. "Both of you, out!" Rhys was furious, but he tried not to show it. His thick black eyebrows angled in anger didn't hide it well. "Don't worry Rhys, we'll win for you!" Emma said "Yeah, yeah, you guys got this." Rhys said, brushing her off. The match continued, it came very close, Emma with a mystical three ball shot in a one verse one won the game, and her teammates cheered as Mr. N held her hand up in victory. This did change Rhys' mood for the better. The last bell rung and the day was over, however that was only for Emma. Rhys, DD, and Delilah all had to go to the play and practice all the lighting for the stage.

Catwalks, in the sense of a play, are bridges that go over the play. They don't rest on supports however, they are held up by either chains or steel wires. Rhys hates them for that, they sometimes will sway when a lot of people are up there. Rhys, the chatty freshman, whose name is Dakota, and a few other members of the stage crew, went up a ladder and onto the catwalks. Dakota and one of the sophomore who knew what to do went into a booth that controlled the lights for the entire stage. There were about 20 or so lights and each had an on and off button along with a dimmer for each light. "We're going to check them in number order!" He called to the booth, the sophomore gave a thumbs up from the window while Dakota chatted on. "Delilah, DD, stand on the two X's down there!" Rhys called from the catwalks. The director was gone, sick with a cold, so a substitute was in her place. But she had gone to the bathroom. Delilah took DD's hand from backstage and pulled him onto one of the X's and Delilah stood on the other one. The crew wandered around checking and dimming lights to make sure they worked, and when they reached number twenty, it happened. Rhys had it pointed down and facing the X's, Dakota was chatting on with the sophomore, and she rested her elbow on a lever. It flipped and a power surge charged through the light, the light shown brighter, and then bulb popped! "What?! Jacob!" Rhys yelled as the glass shattered. The glass fell to the floor where no one was. DD and Delilah looked up, looking at the glass. "What happened?!" Yelled the sub as she returned. "I dunno, we're down here." Shrugged Delilah. "Aye Rhys! What ya doin' up there, ah?! Tryna sabotage us?" DD called up with a laugh. But Rhys wasn't laughing. "Dakota sent a power surge into the light bulb and shattered it!" He yelled back, and Dakota's face turned white. "I-I-I-I-I dunno what you're talking about, you're crazy!" "You leaned on the lever that we get from the generator for the lights when the power goes out!" Rhys countered. "The camera can tell me!" He pointed to the camera the school had installed for security. Dakota looked at it, and then the Sophomore, "He was here with me, ask him!" "She leaned on the lever and sent the surge into the light." He said flatly. "You're meant to be on my side!" Dakota yelled. "And you were meant to pay attention to your surroundings!" Rhys said angrily. "You better hope we have another correct bulb for that light." Rhys said as he walked away, he climbed down the ladder and made his way to the storage closet, and he began to search for another light bulb. Dakota walked into the storage closet and stood at the door. "What do you want?" Asked Rhys without turning around. "I'm sorry I popped the bulb, I didn't mean to." She said. Rhys took a deep breath and sighed. "We all make mistakes. But we strive to learn from them. What have you learned from this?" "To pay attention to what I'm doing." "There ya go. Ah, there it is!" Rhys had found it, an identical light bulb that was the same color, same size, and same screw. The two returned, Rhys fixed the light, and Dakota turned on the light and checked the dimmer. It worked perfectly. "Alright, lights are done, we're done for today." Rhys said, and he began to pack his things. The stage crew and the cast all left the school, headed in different directions. DD, Delilah, and Rhys walked together. "So, you blew up at the Freshman for a mistake?" Asked DD. "Yeah." The other two laughed and snickered. "Someone's a big old bully I see!" Delilah chuckled. Rhys rolled his eyes, the three parted ways and Rhys walked to his house. He unlocked the door and walked inside. He sat down on the couch and relaxed. It had been a long while since he had relaxed, the calmness of the house was surreal. It was so relaxing, Rhys nodded off and fell asleep where he sat.