k-12: the shadows

༺ drama club ༻

alexis

it had been around a week since the incident in the cafeteria with isabel. since she'd encountered crybaby in the bathrooms, alexis had been ignoring her completely;

in fact, she had been avoiding her whole group of friends, opting to spend her free time alone instead. occasionally she would talk to angelita or celeste when they shared a class together, but the words exchanged were usually few and awkward, as both parties were scared of mentioning a subject sensitive to the other.

alexis knew how desperate crybaby was to talk with her; angelita had brought it up several times. she wanted to talk to crybaby too, but was terrified of the potential outcome;
her feelings for the bicoloured hair girl she'd met on the bus had appeared out of seemingly nowhere, and alexis wasn't sure how to handle it. she'd never felt this way for anyone before.

and she didn't like thinking about it.

right now it was time for drama class, with mr cornwell. alexis settled into her seat at the back of the theatre a few minutes before the bell rang, and spent the time she had to spare shuffling idly her notes. just like her thoughts as of recent, they were jumpy, messy and made little sense, but writing them during class gave her something to do now that she had no friends to giggle over stupid shit with.

a split second after the bell rang, angelita and crybaby both entered the theatre, the doors slamming loudly behind them. alexis's heart sank as both of them almost automatically placed themselves in seats either side of her, as they would have done before they entered their current situation.

alexis felt herself zoning out again as she thought about what had happened between herself and crybaby, and she allowed herself to fully acknowledge for the first time how unfair she was being on the girl who she felt so much for. she heaved a sigh and turned around to apologise to crybaby, only to find that she was caught up in an argument with a boy sat in front of her.

"...actually, having a larger capacity to feel and express emotion is one of the many qualities that makes us superior to your kind," she huffed, backed up by supportive nods from angelita. the boy's jaw dropped in indignance.

"...if you could please turn to page four and take a look at what role you've been assigned to," mr cornwell continued from the front of the theatre.

crybaby raised a hand, and then spoke before being permitted to do so.
"uh, yeah; about that... is there any way i could get a role that's, uh, less domesticated? like- an assistant director, or president of the united sta-"

she's cut off by the same boy from before leaning back and hissing, "president? what a joke. your kind is too soft and sensitive to handle a man's job."

crybaby cast her eyes around the theatre for a moment before rolling her eyes, and muttering "fuck it" and standing up.

"all of you are so soft, and so fucking sensitive," she called; the class fell silent as they all swivelled around in their seats to stare at her in curiosity. "do i really offend you?" she lets out a bitter laugh. "keep your costumes and masks. i'm fucking out of here." she pushed her way past alexis and angelita's seat to the end of the aisle.

alexis watched crybaby's admirable exit in awe;

however, the glory was cut short as two men who appeared from seemingly nowhere each grabbed one of her arms and began manhandling her away from the exit, towards the backstage wings.