Vivian walked the halls Tuesday morning to new whispers.

“I heard he joined The Eccentrics!”

“Is that really true? I wonder what makes him part of their group?”

“Just look at him… Isn’t it obvious? They still needed a emo or goth type.”

Vivian huddled into his hoodie, wondering what they were talking about. He didn’t like the looks though, and his inner voices started to grow louder again. See? You’re not wanted here. They only see you as a worthless emo. You’ve only been here one day and you have already screwed everything up. You’ve somehow been caught up in being associated with a mysterious group of crazies.

“You’re Vivian right?” A red head chick wearing a retro floral dress suddenly popped up in front of him. When Vivian softly nodded she continued. “I’m Rosalia Bishop. I was sick yesterday so I didn’t get to meet the new kid in the drama club.” She held out a perfectly manicured hand for Vivian to shake.

As Vivian obliged and shook her hand the whispering students started up again. Vivian couldn’t stand it and quietly spoke to Rosalia. “Umm, can I ask a question? … What are The Eccentrics?”

Rosalia’s voice rang like a small bell as she laughed. “You are new so I understand your confusion. I’m sorry to inform you that our club has a bad reputation for being full of weirdos. Such a bad reputation that our unofficial title is The Eccentrics. The most obvious crazy is Princey, but we all have our own unique characteristics that set us out from the rest of the school. The club helps us bond with others and gives us a place to be ourselves.” Rosalia smiled her perfect smile. Then she looked at her pink watch. “I would love to continue this chat and share who is who, and everyone’s eccentries, but I have to run off to class. Plus you should be able to figure them out yourself eventually.” She winked at Vivian. “I’ll see you at the club meeting, and remember to be proud that the club’s magic chose you to join us. It always has a way of finding the best eccentric people to join.” Rosalia clicked away in her black heels, briefly waving good-bye to Vivian. Each of her steps were perfectly placed in a straight line, like she was walking a catwalk. Vivian started to wonder if her eccentric trait was how she appeared to be a perfect model with every movement.

Vivian spent the day with his thoughts swirling between his usual inner demons, what made the students he met the previous evening weird enough to get such a bad rap, and why was he automatically assumed to also be an eccentric like the rest of them. He definitely wasn’t anything like Philip. What would happen if he was found to be like all the other students in the school? Would he lose the place he just found?

Then Vivian realized that he didn’t even know most of the names of his fellow club members. Yesterday’s meeting was so rushed and chaotic due to the sudden change of plans that no one was even introduced to him. He would have to remember to ask during the meeting after school that day.

When Vivian arrived to the music classroom after school he saw a completely different scene from the day before. Mr. Lawson was his normal calm and uptight self and was reading a history textbook in the corner waiting for everyone to arrive. The problem was that he wasn’t reacting to students already there and the individual scenes playing out.

The first person Vivian noticed was Rosalia from that morning. She was lecturing the guy groveling at her feet, who turned out to be the guy who wore too much hair product. The day before he had been filled to the brim and overflowing with confidence, but in her presence he was a whimpering mess. Rosalia was a totally different person as well. Compared to her model like grace from that morning, she had become a raging dragon standing over a meek sheep.

As Vivian looked around he quickly noticed what the other members were up too. “Band polo” was with a guy who Vivian assumed was one of the missing members from the day before, and appeared to be trying to teach the other guy how to play the flute, while he himself switched between a variety of different instruments. The quiet kid from the day before was waving around an anime figurine and yelling at the “Emperor’s New Suit” kid who was using a whiteboard marker as a mustache. Loralai was rifling around a rack of dresses, occasionally pulling one out and holding it up to herself to show another girl, who Vivian identified as the final missing member. The girl was only half paying attention to Loralai, and was mainly listening to music on her phone using plain black earbuds.

Mr. Lawson looked up from his textbook. “Mr. Thorpe, you have arrived. Then we are only awaiting Mr. Lancelot. You can take a seat wherever you want and we will begin the meeting when he arrives. I also believe that we forgot to do introductions yesterday.”

Vivian nodded slightly and muttered his response as he took his seat. “Yeah, that would probably be helpful.”

“Did someone call for a prince?” Philip slid into the room with one arm to the side and the other arm upward, doing jazz hands. He was wearing a medieval style prince outfit today, including the tights. In response to Mr. Lawson’s look, that seemed like he was about to lecture him, Philip quickly explained his outfit. “Don’t worry, I didn’t wear this for class… I changed right before coming here.” Philip grinned and showed his perfect white teeth.

Mr. Lawson sighed. “Since I already know that you will refuse to change back, I will now begin the meeting.” Mr. Lawson surprisingly didn’t have to wait long for everyone to go to find seats. He must have had them well trained to behave during the actual meeting. “Since no one is absent today you can all introduce yourselves to Mr. Thorpe who joined us yesterday. Your full name and grade should suffice.”

“While we are at it we might as well share why we joined or what makes each of us unique.” Rosalia suggested, one leg crossed over the other. “Or at least give him a hint. He should know what he is getting into. Although it’s too late to escape now since he has already seen confidential information.” She smirked at Vivian. Before anyone could reject, she started her introduction. “Rosalia Bishop; junior. I’m known in the club for being secretly ‘two-faced’ since I act like a perfect girly-girl outside of these walls. In truth I’m actually a very domineering woman. I joined to keep an eye on my boyfriend.” She made a pointed look towards “Hair Gel”.

“I guess I should go next then. I’m Felix Palmer, also a junior. I’m known around school for being confident since I have a habit of chatting up women, but don’t get me wrong, I’m a hundred and one percent devoted to Rosalia.” Felix started staring deeply at Rosalia, making Vivian and everyone a bit uncomfortable.

“Anyways… I’m the other junior.” The one guy that wasn’t at the previous meeting spoke up. “Dillan Wolfe is my name.”

“And try hard is his game.” The trouble maker interjected, still playing with the marker from earlier. Vivian already knew he wouldn’t get along with the obvious troublemaker. “We call him ‘Do-it-Dillan’ or DID for short.” He laughed, getting several glares. “I’m Edwyn Walters, a sophomore like you.”

“You can just ignore everything Edwyn does, he is the attention seeker here.” A quiet voice whispered. “I’m Simon Brooks, a freshman. If you are in any fandoms I would love to chat about them later.” Vivian noticed Simon’s volume start to raise slightly, but it dropped down again after Vivian said that he wasn’t currently following any.

“But you have to like music right? Or at least know a little bit about musicals.” Band Polo spoke up next. “Linus Clarkson. I’m the closest this club has to a sound guy since the last one graduated last year. I’m a freshman, but I’ve been apart of the group since sixth grade. I just wish we did more musicals…”

“You always brag to the newcomers about how long you have been apart of the group, but don’t forget I’ve still been here a year longer.” The other girl who was absent finally spoke up. “Tara Branson, senior. I’m not big on becoming friendly with just anyone, so if you want to talk to me all friendly make sure you prove you’re worth it.” Vivian nodded, understanding her stand on friendships since he was the same type usually.

“That just leaves our two leads.” Rosalia turned to the last two club members who hadn’t gone yet. “Who wants to go first?”

Philip spoke up. “I already introduced myself yesterday, but I can do it again. Philip Lancelot, sophomore.” He was in the same grade as Vivian? “I joined since I’ve always loved storytelling and acting is just second nature for me.”

“Not to mention your obsession with princes…” Loralai spoke up. “Loralai guesses she’s last then.” Loralai seemed to have a habit of speaking in third person. “Loralai Soledad is a freshman, but she joined at the same time as Princey here. She’s actually also a transfer student as of last year.” She did a mini curtsy as she smiled brightly, not moving much since she was still sitting down.

“It was nice to meet you all. I’m Vivian Thorpe and I guess I’m in your care from now on…” Vivian did his best to greet everyone properly this time, but still ended up muttering most of it.

“Now that introductions are finished we can start the actual meeting.” Mr. Lawson wrapped up the introductions without his own formal introduction, and switched everyone’s focus on the real matters at hand. “Vivian has already informed me that the script should be ready before the end of the week, so until then we will review the original story and get everyone on the same page.”

Mr. Lawson handed out printed packets of the translated version to everyone along with a package of highlighters so everyone could pick their own color highlighter. Philip immediately grabbed himself a red highlighter and handed Vivian a violet highlighter as he passed the package to Loralai, who grabbed a yellowish green. Why Philip did that without asking slightly annoyed Vivian. Vivian didn’t say anything though, since Philip had guessed correctly the highlighter he was going to grab.