~Ding, Ding, Ring, Ding~

The chimes of the school bell resonated through Bruma’s Heart Charter, signifying the end of today’s classes. One after another, classroom doors open to the halls, freeing the students to do as they please. As everyone made their plans for the rest of the day, one student’s plan was already in action as he quickly strolled through the crowded pathways. With his green binder bouncing on his leg with every step, Vincent headed towards the northern exit of the school with a script in hand. He glanced down at the script every once in a while, trying to complete some last minute memorizations before he reached his destination. 

My name is Ernest in town and Jack in the country… The boy internally recited as he exited the doors. Preparing to go down the steps, Vincent looked up from his papers, only to be met with someone troublesome coming into his line of sight.

At the end of the stairs sat the C.L.U.B vice-president, Seina Douglas. Leaning against the railing, the young girl seemed to be scrolling on her phone, unaware of anything else around her. With a grimace, Vincent stood there wondering about what to do at the top. I can’t go around, I’ll be late! What if I walked very slowly…

Deciding his next move, Vincent tilted himself very heavily against the opposite railing from his source of avoidance, going down the steps little by little. As if he were stepping through a minefield, the student landed his feet as softly as possible. To ensure his plan was working, he took a glance at the freshman. Sure enough, the girl’s eyes were still on her phone screen. So far, so good… 

At the exact moment he felt that the world was going his way, all of his hopes went down the drain with a resounding SNAP. Vincent quickly looked down at his feet, finding that on the last step lay a small bush twig he overlooked when he first examined the stairs. His heart full of dread, Vincent slowly looked back at the other student.

As he expected, he found Seina fully looking back at him with a blank stare, her attention fully diverted from her phone. After a moment, her lips slowly curled upwards, giving the boy an innocent smile as she waved at him. With defeat, Vincent nervously smiled back.

Damn it.

–OD!–

Vexation.

For some reason, vexation was all Veronica felt at the moment as she leaned against the hallway, outside the auditorium. She didn’t know why she felt this way, strangely enough. When she reflected back on today, the redhead couldn’t find anything peculiar that irked her. No cramps, no annoying people, no him. All things considered, today was a pretty good day. So why… Whilst the gears of confusion continued to turn in her head, Veronica found herself becoming even more irritated. Ruffling her auburn hair, she silently cursed at her own brain. Great. Now I’m pissed because I don’t know why I’m pissed… 

Before being completely thrown into her cruel mental cycle, the redhead noticed footsteps approaching her. With a sigh of relief, she turned her head to greet the source. “Hey.”

“H-hey!” Vincent greeted back. “I thought you would be in the auditorium with the rest of the club already.”

“Eh. Didn’t feel like dealing with them yet.” Veronica shrugged back. As she took a better look at her friend, she noted the nervousness that was emanating from him. Not only that, she also saw that there was someone standing behind him. “What’s with you? Something wrong?”

Ah, well…” Vincent stalled as he avoided eye contact. “I ran into someone coming here, and she wanted to tag along so…” As if she was performing on cue, the spectacled girl’s head popped into view from the boy’s shoulder. “Hello!” Seina loudly announced, her voice echoing off the walls of the near-vacant hall. 

Right as she laid eyes upon the freshman girl, Veronica’s current mood took even more of a nosedive, her face contorting back into annoyance. “What are you doing here?” She asked brusquely with her arms crossed. “I already told Oliver we’re not interested in joining your C.L.U.B.”

“Oh, I’m not here for that!” The younger girl waved off the vicious assumption. “It’s my day off. I just saw Vincent walking here, so I followed!”

“You did that, why?”

“I always wanted to see what was the big deal about Theatre Club, that’s all.”

Veronica squinted her eyes in suspicion. In all honesty, she would rather just kick Seina out now to avoid the trouble. However, the girl technically hasn’t done anything wrong yet, and the Theatre Club wasn’t really private; there’s no justification to kick her out yet . With a disappointing Tch, Veronica relented. “Fine, go in.” she said, pointing at the doors behind her. “But if I hear even a single mutter about C.L.U.B, I’m kicking your ass out, got it?”

“Yes Ma'am, understood!” Seina mock saluted Veronica before heading into the auditorium. When she was out of sight, the redhead quickly glared at her friend.

“Don’t look at me like that!” Vincent whined. “She wasn’t taking no for an answer!”

“Did you even SAY ‘no?’”

“...I like to say I tried.”

Rolling her eyes at the response, Veronica went to open the doors that were beside the auditorium entrance. “Whatever, she’s your problem now. I’m going backstage.” Without waiting for a response, she headed inside, leaving the boy alone in the hallway. After spending a moment in self-pity, the actor finally went inside to follow the C.L.U.B Veep.

–OD–

Within the spacey auditorium, the two students walked down the aisle, passing through the numerous rows of empty seats to get to the front. In the air, they heard a cacophony of echoing voices bounce around the room, with the main source coming from the front of the auditorium.  At the front, a group of students hung around, with most of them sitting at the front row while a few stood on the stage itself. Right in the middle of the stage, a posh-looking boy with a noticeable cowlick stood out from the rest, shouting out nonsensical statements that the group repeated back.

“BOOM CHIKA CHIKA BOOM CHIKA BOOM!” He hollered to the room.

“BOOM CHIKA CHIKA BOOM CHIKA BOOM!” The small group shouted back.

“Give papa a cup of proper coffee in a copper coffee cup!”

“Give papa a cup of proper coffee in a copper coffee cup!” They once again copied, with some students stumbling in their words. Observing them, Seina retained a look of curiosity. “So… what are they doing?”

“They’re just doing vocal warmups.” Vincent explained. “Exercising our voices and tongues.” As they walked closer to the group, the boy once again spouted out a statement.

“Friendly fleas flew with fifty fireflies! Friendly fleas flew with fifty fireflies!”

Along with the rest of the small crowd that repeated the tongue twister, the girl decided to join in. “Friendly fleas flew with fifty fireflies! Friendly fleas fle-GHCK!” Seina winced as she covered her mouth. “Ow! I bit my tongue!”

Becoming aware of the unknown voice behind them, everyone at the front turned their attention towards the duo. The posh boy was the first to speak out, putting one hand on his hip. “Look who finally decided to show up!” 

“Hi, Harrison.” Vince replied weakly. Harrison gave him a stern stare. “Hello to you too. You seem to have brought an outsider with you as well.” He replied as he looked to Seina, who waved in response. Hopping off the stage, the posh boy went to introduce himself. “Harrison. What appears to be your name, Mademoiselle?”

“Je m'appelle Seina.” She answered. Impressed by her display of French, Harrison lets out a hearty laugh. “Ho ho, someone knows their languages! Pas mal! So, what brings you down our way?”

“She wants to see what the Theatre Club is all about… I guess.” Vincent jumped in, subtly muttering the last part. Harrison's eyes filled with intrigue. “Is that so?”

“Yes, it is so!” Seina replied happily.

“Well then, Seina the Outsider. Before I can consider your entry, you must answer a question…” Harrison said in a low tone, as if he was going to ask the meaning of life. Vincent began to shift his eyes to the side in second-hand embarrassment while Seina perked up with curiosity. “What is it?” she asked.

“Have you ever heard of… Hamilton?”

Seina crossed her arms while she looked up to the ceiling in contemplation. “Well… I haven’t seen the show, but I heard a couple of songs from it.”

“Which one’s your favorite?”

“Honestly? The Reynolds Pamphlet!” she excitedly remarked. Everyone in the room made confused faces, Harrison included. “Really? The Reynolds Pamphlet?”

“Yup! I really love the drama and the spiciness in it. Ten out of ten for me!” 

Harrison rubbed his chin. “Hmm… That is an interesting answer… I LOVE IT! Welcome to the family, where all the devils are!” With that, he excitedly pulled Seina into an embrace as he walked her over to the rest of the club members. Vincent stood on the side, surprised at how quickly she was accepted. I guess I should have listened to Hamilton before I joined, he thought to himself.

 After brief introductions and compliments among the group, Harrison dramatically hushed them into silence. “Now! Since the greetings are over, it is time for your next experience, Mademoiselle.” Harrison delivered the statement with a glint in his eyes, making Seina feel a bit awkward. 

“Next experience?”

–OD–

“W-What am I supposed to do again?” Seina questioned with a little nervousness as she stood on top of the stage. While everyone else looked up at her from the front row, she and Vincent were the only ones standing on the stage. Sitting in the middle of the row, Harrison answered her question. “Anything you’d like! That IS the best thing about improv!”

“Okay, but why am I up here? Vincent questioned, but the posh boy simply rolled his eyes at the query. “Well I can’t let the neophyte do it alone now, can I? Besides, you missed the vocal warm-ups, so consider this a punishment!”

“Oh.” Vincent slumped his shoulders. 

Harrison then turned his head back to Seina. “As I said before, just act out a scene in your head! It can be a movie scene, for all I care. However, do hurry up, we ARE on a schedule!”

“Okay, just… give me a second!” Seina shouted back, attempting to come up with some type of performance. Vincent shuffled next to her, whispering in her ear. “Okay, what about this: I start it off and you just follow my lead?” The girl slowly nodded her head in agreement. Walking a few steps away, Vincent turned around, staring at the girl for a sign of readiness. When she gave a thumbs up, he pretended to open a door and walked in.

“I’m home!” Vincent projected, walking back towards Seina. Processing what he said, she stammered out her next words. “W-Welcome home! How was your day?”

“It was tiring, but I’m fine. Yours?”

“Good! It was… busy! Very busy! …yeah.”

“That’s good.” While Vincent continued to give the freshman easy lines to follow, he wondered if he should try to take it up a notch. Even though it was her first time doing improv, she wasn’t doing too bad at it. Also… it would be nice getting a little payback for my lost classroom…

Making up his mind, Vincent started to walk past the girl, heading towards an imaginary kitchen. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to make dinner.” A bit confused, Seina followed along with his plan. “Not at all! Go on ahea-”

“WHAT IS THAT?!” Vincent suddenly exclaimed, pointing at nothing. Surprised, Seina sputtered. “What?!”

“THAT?!”

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT! WHAT?!”

“HOW CAN YOU NOT?! LOOK AT IT!”

“I-I…” Seina looked down at her feet, not knowing what to say next. For the next couple of seconds, she stood still like a statue. At this point, guilt started to swirl in the boy for putting her in that position. Attempting to ease the pace, he began to speak. “Sorry, just kid-”

“...a body.” The girl mumbled. Vincent stood there silently, thinking he misheard the words that she said. “I’m sorry. What was that?” He asked.

“IT'S A BODY, OKAY?!” Seina shouted out, stunning everyone around. “I was nearly done, but you came home early! Why did you come home?!”

“I-uh, wait, hold on a second!” Vincent put his hand out in pause. “What are you talking about?’”

“I… sacrifice people for… protection?” She stumbled, still going with the idea.

“‘Protection?’ From who?”

“Him.”

“Him?”

“Him. Look, I don't have time to explain. I have to finish it before-!” Seina ran to Vincent, intending to pass him. However, she abruptly stopped, craning her head behind her. “Oh, no…”

“What? What?!” Vincent asked quickly, finding himself a bit hooked to the plot.

“It’s… too late. He’s here.” As she said that, Seina pretended to be pulled away violently. “No, NO, NO!” She screamed. Unexpectedly, she grabbed Vincent’s arm and tugged him with her, much to his bafflement.

“Why are you pulling ME?!” Vincent yelled.

“I’m sorry! I don’t wanna die alone!” Pull after pull, the two students shimmied across the stage. With one final pull, the girl took herself and the boy down to the ground, The two let out one final scream with their long fall.

“AHHHHHHHH!”

Just like that, it was done. With both Vincent and Seina on the ground in pretend damnation, the improv session came to a close, leaving nothing but a silent crowd. The club members neither cheered or jeered, they simply sat there, exchanging uncertain glances. Harrison opened his mouth, but his voice lagged behind a couple seconds before speaking.

“That was… something. How about we just go straight into rehearsals, hm?”

TO BE CONTINUED!