𝐈𝐕𝐘 | ɢɪɴᴀ ᴘᴏʀᴛᴇʀ x ᴏᴄ

ᴀᴄᴛ ᴏɴᴇ: ꜱᴄᴇɴᴇ ꜱᴇᴠᴇɴᴛᴇᴇɴ

ᴀᴄᴛ ᴏɴᴇ: ꜱᴄᴇɴᴇ ꜱᴇᴠᴇɴᴛᴇᴇɴ

We crept through the El Rey theatre, with flashlights from mobile phones and and torches showing where we walked. I gave Ash a concerned look next to me as we continued on, with Miss Jenn calling to us all.

"Right this way! Follow me!" She said. I could hear her take a deep breath in in front of me. "Ah! Smell that smell, the theatre.... Mold." Glancing over at my sister behind me our drama teacher continued. "It's a sign of life."

"What kind of life?" I murmured as our teacher turned our way, walking backwards.

"Everyone, watch your step... And let me know if you haven't had a tetanus shot recently, okay?" Eventually, we ended up on the stage. A fake statue of a Greek hero, along with other really random props like chariots and bricks were all left on stage as we walked around, shining our lights to see better.

"Hey you two, how you holding up?" I turned to Kourtney's voice, seeing also Nini turn to look at her best friend. I shrugged, glancing up at the ceiling, seeing the dust that had been building up for years on some of the stage's foundations.

But, when I heard Nini exhale in an exhausted, an annoyed way, I turned to her. "Okay, my sister-senses are getting- annoyance, sympathy and for some reason... guilt." I say to her.

"I don't know, Case." She tells me. "I feel weirdly guilty, almost like I caused this?"

"Na-ah. I am the arsonist sister." I tell her, causing a light chuckle to escape my sister. "Seriously, how on Earth could you have caused this?" I asked her.

"I kind of had a strange weekend, as you know..." She says to the two of us. "And started thinking about applying to this performing arts school..."

"Hold up, performing arts school?" Kourtney asks, as if reading my mind. I felt a smile being to grow on my face slowly as my sister spoke.

"When was I going to hear about this?" I asked her.

"It's called the Youth Actors Conservatory. It's slightly amazing- and also totally unimportant right now. I don't know what I was thinking-"

There was a moment of silence between all three of us as me and Kourtney thought about what my sister had just said.

"So, you were just... gonna leave us?" I asked, then realising how much of a dick I sounded.

"Look, grandma really did get into my head at Thanksgiving about the finding new shores thing." Nini tells me, making me nod a little, and seeing a now more smiling Kourtney. "But that's over now. And we have a show to save. This whole fire thing could've been a lot worse anyway."

"Yeah, yeah. For sure." Kourtney agrees with my sister before Nini smiled, walking away finally. The two of us stood there, though, still taking in what she'd just told the two of us. Kourtney gave me a look before walking on, leaving me to fend for my own as I continued to think.

⊱⊰

"How am I going to paint this whole thing over... on a new canvas?" I ask myself as the rest of the cast tried to work with what they had on stage. Some danced, some chatted, and some had no idea what was going on. Me, that last one was me.

"Buy a big canvas?" Ashlyn asks me, making me sigh to the ground a little before Miss Jenn cut in.

"OKAY." She shouted to us all. "LET'S HAVE SOME REAL TALK." Some of the cast moved pass me with a fake tree, trying to get it off the stage while Miss Jenn walked in front of us all, as we all continued to group together just by her calling. "Welcome to tech rehearsal! I don't know if you've noticed, but most of the tech in this particular theatre appears to be hand cranked. NATALIE BAGLEY? My deer, my stage manager, this is your chance to be a hero." She called for the girl but there was silence.

I sighed as everyone looked around for Natalie. "She's kinda getting her wisdom teeth out..." I murmur to the drama teacher.

"Okay... Okay, so, I'm down a stage manager, my 'Taylor's' MIA-" Miss Jenn begins to list all the problems that we were currently dealing with.

"Gina's okay." Ricky suddenly spoke up. I looked over at him, starting to wonder if the boy had received a response from the girl.

Not that it would matter, or anything. It's not like I care.

"She's a fighter, and she'll be back for opening night." He tells us.

"Did she text you?" I hear Nini ask as I looked to the floor, hands in the jacket's pockets.

"No, you?"

Suddenly, a sandbag flew down from above us, only a few feet from where Miss Jenn was stood. All of us screamed, most stepping back and letting out a shout or two before realising it was a sandbag. We then all subconsciously looked up at where it came from, thinking about how safe this really was.

"Totally normal..." Miss Jenn tells us, trying to lift our spirits. "Just, heads-up, from now on." She says as I continue to glance up at the ceiling. "All righty, Big Red, do you know how to hang a light?"

"I... I know how to hang out..." Red says, very anxious about the reply, yet most of us laughed.

"Cool..." Miss Jenn says, seeming to go slightly more and more insane as time went on. "Carlos." Her head turned fast to look at the boy. "Let's set marks to light Status Quo." Carlos was already nodding, walking in the opposite direction. "Troy and Gabriella, find somewhere quiet and run the rooftop scene. It's been a while and I need you opening night ready by dinnertime, okay?" I stood there awkwardly, much like the other two before they picked up their stuff, beginning to walk off stage to find that quiet place.

"Um, we're staying through dinner?" Ash asks. "I have baking club tonight..."

"That's tonight?" I ask her, my head snapping up to the girl, of who nodded. Miss Jenn looked back at the two of us with a near-insane look. "Well, it's not even closely relevant to the tragedy we are in." I add on, getting a nod from the drama teacher.

She smiles and sighs. "This is going to work; I can feel it!" She says, but I was getting the feeling that Miss Jenn definitely needs a therapist... The teacher clapped her hands together, calling all of us left to get to work. "Clear the stage! Let's go!"