Lunch had barely finished when Carmelita led a group of us towards the auditorium, all of us following in silence like we were her disciples or something. Even though Klaus and I walked in sync, we barely acknowledged each other. It seemed that Carmelita's little scene earlier on had made things more awkward between us if that was even possible.
The worst part was that I knew, deep down, that he must know what was going on. He's not an idiot. There's no way he didn't know about my crush on him by now. And the fact that he hadn't brought it up or shown any signs that he shared my feelings, could only mean one thing: he didn't like me.
He didn't like me, he 110% wasn't interested in me and now I'd made our friendship weird.
Well done Isadora.
Nevertheless, I tried not to think about it too much. One thing I knew for sure was that he definitely didn't want to kiss Carmelita, which meant it was up to me, as his friend, to help him out. I would have to come up with an excuse to cut the ending scene short or just mess it up so badly that Carmelita would get annoyed enough to cancel the rehearsals, or even the whole play altogether. I decided to focus on that little mission of mine instead of trying to figure out the logistics of my own feelings. Feelings suck, I thought to myself before trying to ignore them entirely.
We reached the auditorium and had an awkward five or ten minutes where Carmelita just ordered a couple of her "friends" around so they could get all the props in order and set up the main scene on stage. During that time I forced myself to read my lines over and over and over again. But even as I tried my best to concentrate, the words wouldn't go in so I gave up and just watched as Carmelita got progressively more irritated with the way all the props were being set up. Maybe I wouldn't need to do anything, maybe she would just cancel everything on her own accord.
But alas, my wishful thinking came to nothing as she just directed her attention to all of us sat down and called up everyone in the first scene, including Klaus. He came in near the end of the scene so for the first few minutes he just had to wait in the wings.
He wrung his hands as he stepped onto the stage, reciting his lines perfectly because, let's face it, Klaus's memory was pretty remarkable. He said everything he needed to but his nerves were clearly painted on his face. Fear was the only emotion he seemed to express for the entirety of his interactions with Carmelita and I couldn't help but feel for him. The whole situation was obviously weighing on his mind. There I was feeling bad for myself when really he was the one who had it the worst, after all he was the one kissing Carmelita, not me. Even the thought of having to kiss her turned my stomach and suddenly I figured out first hand why Klaus looked so crestfallen.
After Klaus finished some scenes he came and sat next to me, slumping into his seat and draining his water bottle. I glanced at him, waiting to see if he would speak. He remained silent.
"You alright?" I said cautiously.
He finally met my eyes and nodded before giving a small laugh, "This is a sucky afternoon."
I nodded too, "Yup, definitely."
The two of us sighed and just watched the other scenes take place. Klaus went up on stage every so often to deliver a line here and there but the play was mostly just about Carmelita, not the relationship between hers and Klaus' characters like it had initially seemed. It was a relief but it also meant that the two of us were just sat in the audience, forced to watch each part of this monstrosity come together, for the majority of the afternoon. In other words, this whole thing was a big waste of time.
Soon it got to the penultimate scene and Klaus was needed on stage to propose to Carmelita, then it would be time for me to join them up there for the final scene. Klaus sighed again and turned to me.
"Isadora... I'm nervous," he whispered, "I don't want to kiss her."
"I know," I said, "Don't worry about it. I'll think of something, I promise."
He nodded and took his place on the stage. Did that technically count as me lying to him? I promised I would do something but I had no idea what that something was. Could I get away with pulling the fire alarm? No, I thought to myself, Carmelita would see me get up. She wouldn't let me do it.
I guess I could just read the wrong lines? No. Carmelita would just make me read them again.
I could get up and make a run for it? And leave Klaus in this terrible situation?
I could kiss Klaus instead? As if.
Suddenly I was needed on the stage. Time had run out and I didn't have a plan. This is a disaster.
"Right, Cakesniffer," Carmelita sneered, "Stand there, read your lines and don't upstage me, okay? Go!"
I cleared my throat, "We're gathered here toda-"
"Klaus!" Carmelita shrieked, "You have to hold my hands, it's in the script... stupid cakesniffer."
Klaus reluctantly took Carmelita's hands in his own and grimaced. Carmelita raised her eyebrows at me, telling me to continue.
"We're gathered-"
"Just skip to the end!" Carmelita cut me off again, "We don't have time for all this waffle, just skip to the end."
I gulped.
"The end, Cakesniffer, do you even know what that means?"
I read my last line, "You may kiss the bride."
Carmelita's face morphed into her signature smirk. She puckered her lips and closed her eyes, leaning closer and closer to Klaus. Klaus, on the other hand, was leaning further and further away. I tried to think fast, what could I do to stop this completely? It was only when Carmelita was mere centimetres away that I remembered I was holding a script and quickly put that between their mouths.
Carmelita shot back in surprise and glared at me, "Stupid cakesniffer! Stop meddling! Anyway, Klaus, where were we?"
As she leaned in for another attempt, the bell rang and both Klaus and I sighed with relief. Carmelita practically growled and had a mini tantrum before declaring that she "would get that kiss, you damn cakesniffers." At that, she stormed out of the auditorium, leaving all her "friends" to tidy away all of the props.
"Thanks, Isadora," Klaus said, his face flushed and a bright smile on his face.
I smiled back, glad I was able to help, at least for now. The two of us left the auditorium as well and headed to dinner.
"I won't have a script in the actual performance though," I reminded him as we pushed our way through the bustling halls.
"Yeah but we still have a few days to figure that out."
I agreed. We had to stay positive. We would sort out something by then, I was sure of it, even if it meant pushing Carmelita off the stage, which I sure as hell wasn't afraid of doing.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry it's late (again), my friend finally bought animal crossing and I was showing her how to play and I got distracted haha whoops. Anyways, if everything goes to plan then the next chapter will be up on Wednesday! See you then :))
