Okay so, this is something that’s trying to be a book? But one where you can clearly see the author questioning her life decisions.

Warning!!: please don’t read this if you can’t cope with real life topics and teenagers being emotionally and life smart, you’re going to hate this (what am I even doing with my life)

No beta reader unless you count the web site that corrects my grammar

Anyway, the “book” has to begin somewhere I guess, so?

-If you break your head doing that trick I’m not calling an ambulance, that’s on you-  

(Break to say than I’m listening to “suffering” from epic the musical right now, that probably gives a wide explanation of my personality and the plot of the book in general)

Yeah, no, I can’t write like a normal person, what do I even do now? This is more like a bitácora of my declining mental state 

Okay, time to lock in

-If you break your head doing that trick I’m not calling an ambulance, that’s on you-  

It was one of those warm after school hours when it felt like you had lived through a whole week already but it was only 6pm on a Monday.

The skate park was almost empty, only the two of them and a strange dude on a corner that looked like he could be a drug dealer or an addict at the same time.

Cath was sitting in the ledge of the skating rink while James was in the opposite corner clearly trying to add a new scar to the small collection in his hands.

There was music coming from her phone, something from nirvana or any of those 90s and 80s bands that he listened to, trying to be pretentious.

She watched him with an amused expression, knowing that sooner or later he’d do something stupid, and then, a loud crash 

“I’m fine, don’t worry”, James said, lying at the bottom of the rink. His skate was rolling away, far from his reach, and -just as expected- his hands were a little bloody

“told you so,” Cath deadpanned, carefully jumping from the ledge to help him up

“Wanna go get some ice cream?” He asked as soon as he stood up, like if nothing had happened 

His hair was messier than usual because of the fall, and Cath couldn’t help but run her hands through it.

“Sure. Can we go to your place after?, my mom has a night shift, and I don’t feel like dealing with my family right now”.

He gave her a small crooked grin.

“you sure it is just about that?”

She glared at him

“Okay, okay, that was a little too much. Anyway, we’re going to the place that has that weird blue ice cream you have been craving for weeks, right?”

-okay, a little bit of the future spilled here, let’s rewind-

A year and a half ago, in a school hallway

There’s a really angry looking girl standing in front of the announcements board, her hair is loose and reaches past her waist, she’s wearing a sweater that looks like it belongs in a piece of marauder’s fanfic, jeans and converse shoes, besides her there’s another girl, slightly taller, blonde hair in a messy bun and sipping iced coffee with an unimpressed look.

“There’s no way in hell I’m Penelope in this dumb play, I didn’t even audition!”

Ana glanced at her. “Yeah? then what’s your name doing there?.”

Cath scowled at the board like it had personally offended her.

“I’m going to throw hands with the drama teacher.”

“You say that like you haven’t threatened her twice this week already.”

“And who’s gonna be your charming husband anyway?” Ana asked while sipping from her iced coffee 

Cath stared at the cast 

*”Odysseus”: James Carter*

“Oh, is that guy from our class -you know, the one with the makeshift garage band”, she said, rolling her eyes “I would have never think of him as the ‘theater kid’ kind of guy” 

“Well, you sure as hell aren’t a theater kid either” 

Cath, narrowing her eyes:

“I’m serious. I didn’t audition. I’m gonna sue.”

Ana, sipping again:

“Go ahead. Maybe the teacher will cast you as one of the cursed sirens now.”

The bell rang as they continued the conversation and started to walk towards the classroom 

Down the hallway there was a very confused looking guy, tall, a little slouched and his hair had that strange style where you couldn’t tell if he deeply cared for it or just woke up and didn’t even try to comb it, he was holding a heavy-looking folder that the theater teacher had just handed him, it had the words “Odysseus” written with a bold sharpie across a piece of paper tape, he nodded to everything the teacher was saying but the confused expression in his eyes gave him away

“And I know you didn’t audition, but you were the only person I had in mind while planning this” the teacher said in a high pitched tone and waving her arms around

“Okay miss Jenner, I get it, kinda, but the thing is that I don’t know if I have time for play rehearsal, I have my band, I work at the music store some afternoons and I have to pick up my little brother after school” 

The teacher continued to speak, clearly without listening to a single word he was saying

“Oh James, the play can’t be done without you! You’re the only student that can embody this character!” 

He rolled his eyes at the dramatics and turned his head just in time to see two girls of his class passing by.

Cath looked like she wanted to bury herself underground, but Ana had a grin as wide as if she had just won the lottery. 

“Well, look who it is —Your charming husband,” Ana said to Cath, dragging her over.

“Oh, marvelous! James, I’m sure you know Catherine —she’s gonna be Penelope in the play,”

Mrs. Jenner chirped.

Cath rolled her eyes “That’s not my name”

The teacher waved it off with a flap of her hand

“I expect you both after the end of the school day for rehearsal. No exemptions”

She spun around and left before either of them could argue.

James sighed, and muttered for himself as he walked toward his classroom “Great. Guess I’ll have to bring Eli here so he can make fun of me.” 

The two girls gave each other and amused look and continued to walk

“I forbid you to come see the rehearsal” Cath said to Ana with a threatening tone 

Ana clutched her pearls “and lose the beginning of this rom-com of yours?, not in a million years” 

Cath groaned.

Later that day they arrived at the school auditorium, the stage lights were on, the hardwood floors creaked and the air smelled a little musty.

Ana was on her third iced coffee (which to be fair was more sugar than anything else) of the day and was basically jumping on the walls.

Miss Jenner and some other kids were there already, awkwardly sitting on the stage floor with scripts on their hands.

Miss Jenner stood up dramatically and yelled across the auditorium 

“Oh Kathleen, you arrived already, wonderful!, the only piece missing is our tragic hero”

“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t take him 20 years to get here” Cath said to Ana with a serious expression.

Just on cue James arrived, dragging an 8 year old boy with a dinosaur shirt and unfairly long curly hair.

“Why do I have to come to your stupid school” the kid whined 

“Well Eli, would you rather be at moms work with that lady that pinch your cheeks and call you ‘a very pretty girl’?” James muttered to him.

That was enough to shut him up.

Miss Jenner started to pace around the stage, her multicolored dress waving behind her like a very ugly flag “Great, now that everyone’s here —let the Greek tragedy begin” she announced as if she was at Broadway instead of an old high school auditorium.

The rehearsal wasn’t exactly one, it was more of that weird space at the start of things were you have to figure out all of the logistics, a dark haired girl that was assigned the role of “Scylla” suggested that they should sit on the audience chairs but miss Jenner said that the stage  floor was “part of the experience” and also insisted that Cath and James had to sit together for to “work on the chemistry”.

At one point Cath leaned towards him and said “she’s making a too big deal out of this, I have, like, 2 scenes.”

“Well technically she’s there all the time if we count the heart of Odysseus as a narrative space” he answered with a grin.

She shot him a wide eyed look “well, look who’s got some lines. Maybe you should save them for someone that’s actually interested”.

Hi, this is either the beginning of a story or the beginning of my public breakdown.
I wrote this during finals week, which explains a lot.
please enjoy these emotionally confused theater-adjacent teenagers. 

And btw, English isn't my first language