Despite not knowing what to expect at his first real rehearsal, Theo found himself buzzing with excitement while walking to the auditorium classroom for his second day. He takes special care not to get lost, hoping to talk more with the “Drama Queens” before they start blocking, though he doesn’t know what blocking entails.

“There he is! See, I told you I didn’t scare him off,” Elena says loudly when she sees Theo enter the room.

“Thank God for that,” Val says while twisting her silky black hair into a neat bun on the top of her head, “I have no idea who else Reba would try to rope into this.”

“Don’t say ‘rope in,’ Val, you make it sound like punishment!” the very tall Quinn says.

As the girls go back and forth with their playful bickering, Theo smiles softly and sets down his bag. Julian enters shortly after, making a beeline for Elena.

“Hey, babe! Excited for milkshakes later?” she says while wrapping her arms around his middle tightly. He reciprocates the hug, but ends up setting his arms on her shoulders and holding her head due to their height difference. Theo clears his throat, suddenly feeling awkward.

“Oh, I didn’t know you guys were dating,” Theo murmurs, which startles a laugh from the group.

“Hah! Sweet, innocent, naïve Theo,” Tracy says, coming over to rest an elbow on his shoulder.

“Yeah, ah… I don’t want to freak you out or anything, but I am in fact very gay, Theo,” Julian says, and he feels himself holding his breath while waiting for Theo to react.

Theo feels all eyes turn to him, just as his eyes widen and his cheeks flush. His heart seems to pick up from a steady beat to a brisk thumping, though he doesn’t understand why.

“Oh! Oh… yeah, no worries man, I just uh… I guess I hadn’t thought of that… I shouldn’t have assumed you were… I don’t wanna embarrass you er…” Theo stutters, stumbling over his words as he tries to figure out what to say while saying it. “Um… it’s cool with me. N-not like you need my permission or anything! Just uh… you do you… love is love, right?” He finishes his fumbling with an awkward chuckle.

By now, Theo’s face is significantly blushed, and he convinces himself his cheeks are warm with embarrassment, nothing else. Julian manages an awkward smile and a mumbled “thanks” before turning away to hide the steady blush he feels blooming on his own face. The girls exchange knowing looks.

“I’m glad to see you’re all here! Let’s get started, shall we?” Mrs. Reba says as she enters the classroom. The girls make quick work of stacking the few remaining chairs and pushing their belongings up against the wall with the whiteboard, clearing out space to mimic the stage for blocking.

“Theo, today we are going over blocking. That means we’re walking through what movements happen when, what set pieces will be moved where, and stuff like that,” Mrs. Reba explains. “We’ll probably get through most of the first act today if we all stay focused.”

Theo nods in understanding, then moves to sit with Julian and the girls. It’s not long before he’s back on his feet, learning the stage directions for the opening scene with Elena, Tina and Susan.

Mrs. Reba starts saying stuff like “cross to stage right,” and “counter her on the apron,” and “move downstage.” All the words she says are pretty self-explanatory, and Theo mentally kicks himself for struggling to keep up. After maybe the seventh time the directions are put on hold for Theo to scribble them down in his script, Mrs. Reba suggests a 15-minute break.

The girls head to the hallway with water bottles and snacks, but Theo stays behind to tidy his messy handwriting and check his work. Julian approaches him and half-leans, half-sits on the tall stack of chairs next to him.

“You know, I keep track of the blocking as it happens,” Julian says, “and it’s for everybody, not just one character. So if you need help with anything, or if you miss a movement of something, just ask, OK?”

Theo takes a deep breath and looks up at the tan boy with a grateful smile. “Thanks, man… I didn’t think it would be this difficult right at the beginning,” he confesses.

“Yeah, it can be overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re getting into. But can I just tell you something?” Julian asks, and continues when he receives a nod from Theo. “Nobody here is gonna be mad at you if you ask for help.”

Theo twists his pencil in his hand while scraping some of the yellow paint off with his fingernail. “Are you sure? Because you all seem to know what you’re doing. I don’t even know what ‘downstage’ means, I just write it down,” he says with a sigh. He feels embarrassed admitting his confusion to someone who knows enough to keep up with the whole cast.

“Honestly, we’re all amateurs. And if you need help with the words and directions, do you want me to map out the stage for you?” Julian asks, pulling a sheet of notebook paper out of his binder for assistant director things. “It’s easier to keep track of what you’re doing with abbreviations and with a visual guide. I mean, it is for me, at least.”

“I would really appreciate that. Thank you,” Theo says while scooting his chair a bit closer to Julian to get a better look.

For the remainder of the 15-minute break, Julian sits and patiently explains the stage directions, along with some other theatre jargon Theo might need to know. Theo scooches his chair closer to Julian to better visualize the map on their empty classroom floor.

“So, downstage just means closer to the audience. Because way back when theatre first started, they built stages on a slant instead of the seats, making the back of the stage high up, or upstage,” Julian says, ignoring how he can feel Theo’s close proximity without them touching.

“That’s bizarre. The stage was like a wedge? How did they not end up sliding down?” Theo asks, turning to look Julian in the eye without backing away. Julian feels his face heat up again.

“Ah, well, the inclines were never that steep. Just enough to give the flat audience seats a good view,” Julian says quickly, turning to focus on the piece of paper sitting in his lap.

They don’t realize how close they are to each other until the girls reenter the room a few moments later. They simultaneously notice their lack of personal space and move away from one another to pretend nothing happened, because absolutely nothing did.

After that, the blocking starts happening much more quickly, and they make it about halfway through the first half of act one. They even have enough time to walk through the blocking once before having to move the chairs back to their original locations.

While the girls chat amongst themselves, Mrs. Reba calls Theo over.

“What’s up?” he asks.

“I just wanted to check in with you, make sure you aren’t too overwhelmed by the girls or the blocking,” Mrs. Reba says.

“Oh, thank you. I was feeling pretty overwhelmed earlier, because I didn’t really know what all you were saying. I started wondering if I bit of more than I could chew,” he says while pinching his earlobe. “But then Julian talked me through some of the stuff I didn’t get, and he drew me a map of what the stage is gonna look like, so I think I’m alright now.”

Mrs. Reba smiles warmly at him and slings her bag over her shoulder. “I’m glad to hear that. And I apologize for assuming you would automatically know all the theatre lingo I was throwing at you,” she says.

“Yeah! Yeah, don’t worry about it. If I don’t get stuff from now on, I’ll just ask,” he says, and smiles back at her.

“Alright. Sounds good,” she says before turning her attention to the group of Drama Queens. “Girls! I’m headed out, I suggest you do the same, alright?”

They respond as a chorus saying “Yes, Mrs. Reba” as Theo walks back over to follow them to the parking lot.

“So… to Jimmy’s?” Tracy says with a clap of her hands.

“Of course, you simp,” Susan says, shoving her shoulder playfully.

“Who’s riding with who?” Tina asks.

“Well, I can drive three others, as usual,” Val replies.

“So can I,” Quinn chimes in.

“Cool, so Val, you can take Elena, Tracy, and Julian and Quinn can Tina and me,” says Susan, pointing to each person and making a mental checklist of who will be where.

“Wait! Who’s gonna take Theo?” Elena asks.

“Oh, I have my own car, I can just meet you there if you send me the address,” Theo says.

“Well, we can’t have you riding by yourself, you’ll get lonely! How about one of us rides with you?” Elena insists. “Oh, I know! Julian, you can go with Theo! It can be the boys’ car!” Elena winks at Julian discreetly, and Julian narrows his eyes back at her.

“Sure, that’s fine with me,” Theo says. “Ready to go?”

“Yup! Julian can direct you, see you there!” Val says. The girls hurry off to their cars. Theo points in the direction of his old SUV, and the pair walk quietly to his car.