The rest of the week passed quickly easily, and as many students lament, so did the weekend. The following Monday, Julian can’t help the bouncing of his knee as he sits in his last class of the day, checking the clock on the wall more frequently than he’d like to admit.

In a neighboring classroom, Theo feels himself becoming more nervous by the minute. His mom told him a long time ago that the brain can’t tell the difference between feeling nervous or excited, but apparently Theo’s brain is very confident in the distinction between the two. With every passing minute, he feels his stomach clenching tighter as he wipes his palms on his jeans.

When the bell rings, the two boys make their way to the auditorium separately, oblivious of their proximity to the other. Theo briefly gets turned around in the hallways of the auditorium, but eventually finds his way to the empty classroom Mrs. Reba had told him about.

When he walks in the door, the first thing he notices is the absence of color. Everything is painted black, including the doors and the ceiling tiles. The room has no desks for students, but a few raised platforms on the other end of the room and a desk for a teacher. There is already a small group of girls settling into chairs that have been set up in a circle. Theo doesn’t recognize any of their faces but does remember seeing some of their eclectic and colorful clothing items in the hallways.

Their chatter quiets almost immediately as they notice the newcomer invading their space. Mrs. Reba has yet to arrive, so Julian approaches him from where he was standing by the single desk.

“Hi, you’re Theo McKraken, right?” Julian addresses him in his official “assistant director” tone.

“Uh, yeah. Mrs. Reba told me to come here for rehearsals?” Theo says.

“You’re in the right place,” Julian reassures him. “Welcome! This is the black box, we have rehearsals here since the auditorium is being used by administrators or band kids most days. We’ll start introductions as soon as Reba gets here.”

Theo nods before finding a seat in the circle for himself. He picks a chair farthest away from the group that’s chattering excitedly and comparing notes they’ve written in their scripts. He twiddles his thumbs and wonders if he made a mistake after all.

“Alright, kiddos,” Mrs. Reba hollers as she enters the classroom, “let’s get started! Oh, Theo, I’m so glad you accepted my offer,” she says, smiling at him as she sits in the circle with the students.

“I figured we could introduce ourselves and what characters we’re playing before we begin?” Julian says, preparing to take notes when necessary in his new binder for assistant director things.

“I’ll go first!” one particularly excited girl with blonde hair and a button nose says while waving her hand in the air. She doesn’t wait for permission before announcing her name. “I’m Elena Hart, my pronouns are she/her, I’m a Pisces, my favorite color is seafoam green, and I will be playing Marissa, the female lead!”

The other girls stay quiet, unsure of who should go next. After a few moments, a small, timid girl with mousey brown hair styled in a pixie cut begins her introduction while looking to Mrs. Reba for guidance. “Uh, I’m Tina Smith… I’m playing Greg, the antagonist… do I have to do the other stuff Elena did?”.

“I’m Valerie Santiago, you can call me Val. I’ll be playing Brenda, Rowan’s secretary,” a suave girl with silky black hair and long acrylic nails says, cutting off Tina before she can continue. She reminds Theo of the type of girl who would be in a spy movie.

“I’m Quinn Cook, I will be playing Mr. Luz, Marissa’s boss,” the particularly tall girl sitting next to Val says with a toothy grin. She wears athletic shorts, a t-shirt, and sneakers. Her long brown hair is pulled into a high ponytail, making her look more like a tennis player than a Thespian.

“Hi, I’m Tracy DeMarcus, I’m gonna be Harold, which is Rowan’s best friend I think,” says a girl with fishnet stockings and dyed red hair. She punctuates her introduction with a loud pop from her wad of pink bubble gum.

“I’m Susan Branch, and I’ll be playing the other antagonist,” a girl with green eyes, freckles, and brown hair in a neat braid says while patting Tina on the shoulder. She smiles wide, showcasing her two rows of silver braces.

Theo struggles for a moment, wondering how in the world he is going to remember so many names before realizing they’re waiting patiently for him to speak.

“Oh, sorry… I’m Theo McKraken, I’m playing Rowan,” he says quickly, feeling his cheeks turn slightly pink with embarrassment.

“Perfect! I’m Julian Lewis, assistant director extraordinaire,” Julian says, with as dramatic a bow he can manage while sitting down. Elena giggles at him on the other side of the circle.

“Alright, now that we’re all acquainted, let’s start with a read-through,” Mrs. Reba says while reaching into her messenger bag to get her copy of the script. “I have a feeling a few of you may have already read this already, but we’re going to do it as a group to get a feel for the flow before starting blocking tomorrow.”

And with that, the group settles into quiet while Julian reads the stage directions describing the opening setting. Theo gets so wrapped up in the way Julian voices the description that he almost forgets he has the first line of the show.

Going into this, Theo thought a read-through would feel tedious. He had already picked over the script by himself almost every night, rereading scenes he liked. He had not expected to have so much fun simply reading lines with a bunch of strangers. He liked hearing voices outside of his own head telling the story to him, and he liked being able to flip a switch and become someone else.

His favorite part, however, is knowing that these strangers were just as into it as he was, enjoying simply reading along together. He likes knowing that they aren’t going to make fun of him for having fun, like many of his friends had done in the past when he was excited for things.

Unknown to Theo, Julian was catching glimpses of Theo’s excitement from his peripheral vision. He felt a little stupid for doubting Mrs. Reba’s judgement. With every passing scene, every passing line, he saw Theo committing more and more to his character than he had ever expected him to. And this was just the read-through! Julian can hardly imagine how entertaining Theo will be after three months of rehearsal.

Theo is too wrapped up in the story to notice Julian’s glances in his direction. He can practically see the story in his head, like watching a movie on a projector screen. The read-through ends much more quickly than he would have liked.

After a few announcements from Mrs. Reba about their rehearsal schedule and the plans for the coming week, the group makes quick work of stacking their chairs up to leave the classroom how they found it. The group of girls sticks around for a while, even after Mrs. Reba has dismissed them for the day, chatting and laughing and sharing their excitement about the show. Theo decides to take a minute and meet his fellow cast members.

“Uh, it’s really nice to meet you all,” he starts nervously, twisting his fingers together while approaching their huddle.

“It’s wonderful to meet you too, man!” says the tall girl. “Do you wanna be in our groupchat?”

“Wow. Theo, you should be honored. Quinn never wants to add new people to the groupchat,” the girl with dyed red hair says with a smirk.

“Well, thank you… what’s the group chat for?” he asks.

“Anything and everything,” says the girl from the spy movie. “You will be getting a LOT of notifications.”

“Val, don’t scare him away!” the girl with the braided hair says, playfully slapping Val on the shoulder before addressing Theo. “We usually talk about stuff for whatever play we’re doing. Plus hangout plans, of course,” she says with a kind silver smile that he returns subconsciously.

“That sounds nice. You guys seem really cool, I’m pretty excited about the show,” he admits, “more excited than I thought I would be, for sure.”

“We have that effect on people,” Elena says, rejoining the huddle after talking to Mrs. Reba. “We bring excitement with us wherever we go!”

“That’s not always a good thing, Elena,” says a deeper voice, which causes Theo to swivel on his heel and come face to face with Julian.

“Why wouldn’t it be a good thing?” Theo asks with an arched brow.

“We may or may have not been kicked out of a few local eateries due to outbursts and uncouth behavior,” Julian says, narrowing his eyes at Elena specifically, who smiles innocently.

Theo breathes a sigh of relief as he learns that the girls in the cast are friendly. He had a feeling they would be, but he had also heard about theatre kids being catty and passive aggressive. With a few quick words exchanged, he could already tell that they will be a blast to hang out with. Maybe he didn’t make a mistake accepting the role.

“I hope… I hope I can get kicked out of a place with you all at some point too,” Theo says sheepishly. This earns him giggles and cheers from the group of girls and a playful eyeroll from Julian.

When the girls finally disperse and head to meet their rides or get to their cars, Theo heads towards his SUV in the student lot with a grin gracing his lips. He notices a spring in his step that wasn’t there earlier that day, and he drives home with the windows down and his radio playing loud bouncy music.