Conditioning The Heart

C h a p t e r 4. Scenes and Sweating 🎭😓

" You fool" I exclaim. It's the beginning of drama class and we're doing every theatre kids favourite exercise, improv.

My teacher, Ms. Wick, motions my partner, Joel, to continue. " I'm the fool? You're the one who gambled away all their money on a horse called Chicken Little" Joel fires back.

" Chicken Little was supposedly the best horse in that race! At least that's what the owner told me." I respond dejectedly.

"Keyword there is supposedly" He continues.

" I bet you couldn't pick a good horse if it had a spotlight on it," I say, starting to get heated.

"I very well could!" he responds, equally as annoyed.

I see Ms, Wick motioning with her hand to start finishing the scene up. " Tomorrow there is a race down at the beach. We'll see then who picks better" I say.

" Fine." "Fine." He said almost as if to mock me. And we both storm to the side. The rest of the class and our teacher start clapping, and we meet back up in the middle with smiles on our faces. Joel holds his hand out for a high five, and I high five him.

" Great job you two, that scene was lovely to watch. Class is almost over, and since this was the last presentation, you can all have some free time before you have to leave. I will get you marks for you in the next couple of days. Great job everyone!" Ms. Wick says.

We all clap and start talking with our friends. Joel and I walk over to our bags to pack up before our next class. " Only one more period until we can go home," he says.

" Yeah but I have math 4th," I say, crinkling up my nose. He nods his head understandingly.

" I have English next period so I'm very lucky, especially since it's with a special someone," He says with a wink.

" You have a crush and you didn't tell me!" I say dramatically, adding a gasp for the effect. Joel and I have been friends for a while, as we've been classmates since grade 4. He's really artsy and is a great writer and photographer. He's an important part of the newspaper club and he's also in Christian Fellowship with me.

The bell rings, saving Joel from me questioning him about his crush. He smiles at me knowing he's evaded it this time. I shoot him a glare, and he responds with a kiss blown at me.

I shake my head smiling, and head out of the class.

~

*Next period*

~

I'm in my seat when I see Zeke walk into my math class, I'm confused as he isn't in my class. He walks up to the teacher wearing some faded grey jeans and a pink sponge bob hoodie. He holds out his schedule and the teacher points him to an empty seat in the third row.

Naturally, it's right behind mine.

He makes eye contact with me and his face breaks out in a brilliant smile. I smile back at him.

He puts his bag down and I turn around so we can talk.

" Fancy seeing you here," I say.

" I needed to change my schedule to make my semester's more evened out. And now that I'm in the same class as you, I figure it was a good change" He says with a smile.

I open my mouth to respond but our math teacher starts talking and I turn my attention back to him.

Halfway through the lesson we're given a couple of minutes to do the work on the board, and I feel a tap on my back, I turn around to face Zeke with a questioning expression on my face.