The Turmoil of Time

Chapter 6 - Damien

"Can I help you?" Mr Peters asks her.

Addison draws her attention to the teacher, "Sorry, there was a mix-up in my schedule and the class I was supposed to be in didn't have any free space. Are you Mr Peters?" She hands him the piece of paper in her hands.

With a nod of his head, he beckons, "Come along, we're just assigning roles for the school play! Do you have any preferences?"

Her mouth pops open, "Um, I don't really know. I could help in behind the scenes stuff, like making props."

"Nonsense!" Mr Peters interjects, "Prop-making? Ha! Everyone will be doing that regardless." He gives her a quick once over, taking in her blue checkered shirt, black undershirt, and dark jeans. When his eyes land on her dark leather boots, I see the light bulb go off in his eyes. "You'll be Natalie, Ronaldo's somber acquaintance."

Addison looks too confused to say anything. She simply nods, and heads for a chair towards the back of the group. She never reaches it though, because Penelope calls her over to us.

Addison looks like she's about to ignore her, but then smiles, heading towards us. Penelope scooches over to make room for Addison.

"Hey, Addison right?" Penny definitely knows who she just invited to sit with us, but I have to give her credit for her acting skills.

"Yeah," Addison nods her head, confused, "How do you know my name?"

"We went to elementary together. I'm Penelope – Penny for short." Then she gestures to me, "And this is my boyfriend, Damien."

This would probably be a good time to tell Penny about last night. But for some reason, I can't bring myself to say it. 

Instead, the words that come out of my mouth are, "Nice to meet you, Addison." 

Addison throws me a questioning look.

"Penny..." Addison thinks aloud, "Penny who ruled at handball?"

"Yeah!" Penny practically screams that Addison recognized her. "You must remember Damien, then? You and him were neighbors."

As expected, she apologizes, "Sorry, doesn't ring a bell."

I conceal my irritation with a grin, "That's fine. I don't remember much of you either."

Mr Peters claps his hands to get everyone's attention, "Alright, everyone, form small groups of three to four," He hands out copies of various scenes from the play out to each person, "In your groups, I want you to try and become a character from the scene you'll be given. It doesn't have to be the one you'll be portraying on the day. Essentially, this is just good practice to take on a completely different persona and walk in someone else's skin."

As soon as Mr Peters finishes talking, Penny says, "Addison, be in our group."

Addison bites her lip, "I was planning on skipping this one."

Penny stands up, "Mr Peters won't let you skip," She says as she pulls Addison up too. I hear Penny continue, "Take off your overshirt, it's boiling in here." But Addison doesn't make any move to do so. The pair walk to a different corner of the hall, with Penny leading the way. I sigh, deciding it's best not to leave them alone – in case Addison brings up last night's events. I normally tell Penny about everything that happens in my day but I haven't told her about my run-in with Addison last night. I mean, there's no reason to hide it but if I mention it now, after acting like I only just met Addison two minutes ago, it will seem unusual.

Penny points to herself, "I don't mind being Natalie for this task. After all, Peters did say we should try and mix it up."

That means Addison is Jules, and I, the only guy in the group, am Ronaldo.