First day at the theatre

This morning when I reached school, I met Richa in the main hall.

"Why are you standing here instead of going to the classroom?" I asked her but she did not reply.

She didn't even wave to me and was standing there looking at the ground, sulking as she always does.

"Tell me, what is wrong with you?" I asked again.

"I argued with Jake, and I am not going to talk to him now," She told me.

"It's fine if you argued, but why are you standing here," I said without much consideration.

"It's fine you said? It's not fine, he always teases me and makes fun of me," she got enraged.

"Okay girl, it's not fine, now tell me what happened," I held her arm, and asked her while walking towards the classroom together.

"Look it is fine with me that he teases me and makes fun of me, but this time he really did me wrong," she said with a fierce expression, I was just wondering looking at her, how come Jake is still alive after making her this angry?

"What did he do?" I asked trying to show that I sympathized with her.

"He promised me that he would come with me for a movie this weekend, but now he says he is busy that day, isn't this annoying?" she said to me.

"It is annoying, but it is just a movie, you can watch it some other day if he is busy," I told her.

"It is his birthday I wanted to surprise him; I had a plan ready for him, so I called him just a day before his birthday to spend some time with me. And look at him, he is not even appreciating it," She found it hard to calm down.

"It's all right, he might be really busy," I tried consoling her.

"April, can you please let me sit with you today, I cannot bear being next to him?" she asked me.

"Trust me, I have no problem, but do you think that girl Crystal will listen to you? She is much more arrogant than you think she is," I am pretty much sure about my judgment regarding Crystal.

"That's true too," she complied with this judgment of mine, she stayed quiet for a while and then said, "Oh! I almost forgot."

"What?" I asked.

She put her hand in her bag and took out some orange juice and ham sandwiches.

"I brought you breakfast, I was so busy sulking that I almost forgot," she handed the breakfast to me and said pointing at the bench kept in the corridor, "Sit here and eat, there is still time for the bell to ring."

I did as she told me to, I sat there opened the sandwich wrapper and took a bit, accompanied with a sip of orange juice.

"It tastes different," I said looking at the sandwich in my hand.

"Different! is it good or bad?" she asked sitting next to me.

"I mean it is delicious, I never ate such a delicious sandwich," I kept on taking big bites as it was really good, "Where did you got it from?" I asked still stuffed with sandwich in my mouth.

"I made it, this is my mom's secret recipe," she said to me.

"Oh really! Tell her that she is a genius then," I said to her and she gave me a smile.

"You know April, Jake also lost a bet with me," she said while I was still eating.

"What?" I asked without shifting my focus from the sandwiches.

"I told him, that day when you got sick, that Jose sent us back home first, because he wanted to spend alone time with you. Look he did, he dropped you home and also cooked for you," as she said this my focus finally shifted to her.

"You guys are surely very lame, and what's with sending you and Jake back home. He told me that you both had to go to the academy that day," I told her exactly what Jose told me that day.

"No, he was lying then, we already left the academy because since we joined our study group in the secret room, we improved a lot," she explained it to me.

I was surprised but all I said was, "Oh!"

We went back to the classroom as soon as I finished the food.

In every class, Crystal kept on sticking to Jose. Even when we went to the theatre for rehearsal of the drama, she never left him alone. Maybe, that is why I avoided asking him anything about the lie that Richa told me about. I simply don't want to have anything to do with Crystal.

Richa and Jake are going through their dialogues, and practicing on the stage. But if you look closely, they don't seem to be practicing for a romantic act, it looks more like an action thriller, where they are sitting and discussing the terms of settlement. I always say to Jose, that their bickering is something that I will pay for, to watch.

After their bickering and fights were over, my eyes again started to look for Jose. I don't want to be so into him, but I just can't stop. I do not see him anywhere, I while ago I saw them sticking together; him and Crystal. But now Crystal is sitting backstage and cleaning her instruments, but Jose is nowhere to be seen.

I asked Jake, he told me that he last saw Jose talking to the drama club teacher. I just wanted to talk to Jose about that day when he lied to me, nothing serious, but pretty serious.

"April," Crystal came to me calling my name from a distance.

I stopped and looked back, " What is it?" I asked.

"The teacher told you to fetch some props from the props room, they must be kept in a big red bag" she told me.

"He didn't tell me though," I wondered if she was trying something at me.

"He asked me to tell you, if you are in the management, you should help us. I cannot do both mine and your jobs simultaneously. I am supposed to handle the music, so I will do that only," She went away in arrogance after ranting nonsense to me.

Anyway, I still went to the prop's room and started rummaging through the shelves to find the red bag she told me about. I had just started, but I suddenly heard the closing of the door. I first did not think much and continued, but in a few seconds, I felt like maybe something was wrong.

I walked up to the door and tried opening it by turning the handle, but it was useless. Somebody has locked me from outside. Somehow, I even knew the person behind it, can you guess?

Who else can it be other than her? It is just too obvious.

Well, I decided to stop trying and just sit quietly. After the rehearsal is over someone will try searching for me anyway.

I was just sitting on the bench, kept at the corner of the room mostly used as a prop, when I suddenly heard some noises from the changing area of the room.

Someone was inside, and he probably did not hear me because even though I was locked inside, I did not try to scream or call anyone, I just pushed the handle down twice and gave up.

Thinking that it may be dangerous, I picked a baseball bat also probably a prop, and kept leaning against the wall, waiting for the person who was inside to come out.

"Take this," I lifted my bat and almost hit him.

"Stop, stop," I stopped the bat at about one inch near his head when he screamed. It was Jose.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, while he opened his eyes and looked at me.

"You almost killed me," he was panting, I could tell that I scared the heck out of him.

"I am sorry, I didn't know it was you," I said feeling guilty for him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Someone pranked me and locked me in, but first tell me what are you wearing. You look so funny," I started laughing as I said this.

"Stop laughing, it is not funny," he insisted but I did not stop.

"No, really, you look like an eight-year-old who likes to wear his father's clothes. But there is one difference, Your father might be a soldier of the sixteenth century," I started laughing more.

"I did not want to wear it, I was requested by the drama teacher to do this tiny role of the soldier in the act, and I was unable to refuse him," he explained, and I paused laughing for a while.

"You did well, not turning him down. You are going to achieve a great feat on the stage because of this," I said trying to be serious.

"Why so?" he asked with a frown on his face.

"Because you will become the reason for the laughter of the ones watching you," I said and started laughing again.

"Stop laughing at me, and talk about you, the great April Moonstone who is undefeatable usually got pranked," he smirked at me.

"They will pay for it, don't worry," I said calmly and went to sit on the bench again, after keeping the baseball bat.

"Is someone there, Please open the door," Jose started banging on the door and calling for help.

"Come and sit quietly, don't struggle in that costume. I already tried nobody will hear you this room is in the corner," I told him.

"How can you be so calm?" he kept on banging. He was not behaving like himself today, he seemed scared.

I did not pay much attention at him first and just sat there closing my eyes.

I later heard him banging the baseball bat at the door, and suddenly the light went off.

"April, the light went off, I hit the switchboard by mistake with the baseball bat, it is dark, I can't see," he said in a shivering voice, but still didn't think of it much.

"Close your eyes and sit, don't move, someone will get us out," I said paying no attention at him, until I heard him sobbing.

I tried to find him in the dark. I felt him with me leg he was sitting on the ground. I sat down next to him, not knowing exactly where to look; it was so dark.

"Jose, are you okay?" I said to him holding his right hand.

"I am not," he started crying and hugged me around my waist.

I was not able to think anything further, and I just couldn't bring myself to ask him, why is he behaving in this way. So, I just let him hold onto me and cry as much as he wanted to.

After a few minutes, we were finally able to see a little in the dark. I looked at him, but I still saw a scared expression on his face. I have never seen Jose this way, I was really shocked today by the way he behaved.

"Are you okay?" I asked him when he finally stopped crying.

"Yes," he said in a dull voice, "Thank you for letting me hold you."

"Nothing, don't think much about it," I said getting away from him and sitting, leaning back on the shelf behind me.

"It was embarrassing, crying like this in front of you," he said without looking toward me and continuously staring at the ground.

"It's fine, you said we are friends," I tried to make him feel less embarrassed.

"I did say that, but what if I don't want to be your friend anymore," he said looking at me.

"Why?" I said as he started leaning close to me, I couldn't guess what was going on.

He was close enough for me to hear his breaths, and I was not even trying to avoid him. But someone came and unlocked the door.

I got flustered and moved away from him, leaving him sitting like that, and rushed towards the door.

As I was at the entrance of the door, a hand blocked me from making an exit, I turned to find out that it was just as I thought.

"I think you know what to do now," Crystal said acting arrogantly to me.

"And what is that?" I asked her.

"Stay away from Jose, he is supposed to mine," she said and I laughed, "What are you laughing about?"

"Of course, I will laugh, you probably don't know about me because you came later, but trust me, I am not someone you should mess with," I said in a serious tone.

"Do you think he will like a girl like you?" she said to me.

"Oh! what's wrong with a girl like me? Well, it doesn't matter, for at least he will not like a girl like you too," I said to her.

"Why won't he? I will make him like me," she said.

"If he knows your reality is different from the sweet and timid Crystal, will he like you?" I asked her.

"I will never tell him, and do you think he will believe you? Get your head straight already, he spends all the time with me when we are in the school," she said.

"But I spend all the time with her after school, does that mean I am two-timing you both?" Jose came out of the room, after listening to the entire conversation.

"Oh! I forgot he was still inside. My dear Crystal, you locked us together. you probably didn't see him, right? Actually, he broke the switchboard, so there is no light inside," I said mocking her.

"April, did you know from the start that it was her, who locked us?" he asked looking at me.

"Yes, and I just confirmed it," I said to him with a smug look on my face.

"Why are you so flustered?" he said to Crystal.

"Yes, why can't you speak anything? Oh god! you are sweating so much, are you okay?" I asked her.

"No, you getting it all wrong, Jose," she said holding his hand.

"No, you got it all wrong. From the start I was only following my teacher's orders, to help new students with their studies as it is my duty as the class representative, nothing more than that," he explained to her.

She started tearing up and ran away.

"Weren't you a little too harsh?" I taunted him.

"Didn't I do it for you?" he looked at me all surprised feeling betrayed.

"Yes, sure you did," I said smiling at him.

"What? Why are you smiling like that?" he said looking flustered.

"Tell me, what were you going to do inside earlier?" I asked still smiling.

"I was doing nothing? I just came close because I couldn't see you properly," he became more flustered.

"Oh! Is that so?" I exclaimed.

"Exactly," he rushed away from me before I asked anything else.

***