Beechwood Academy

chapter fifteen

"We've exactly twelve days until Dracula hits the stage and I'm making it my duty to get each and every one of you ready." Miss Drake didn't even let her students take their seats before she began her lecture. Rudy took a seat in between Duncan and Sammy in order to lean towards Duncan's ear and whisper something to the boy. Miss Drake glared at the ginger and cleared her throat. "Mister Manson, were you listening to me?"

Rudy jumped and Duncan bit his lip to hide his smile. "Uh, yes ma'am, of course I was." He shrugged with a smile.

"How many days do we have to prepare for this play?" Miss Drake asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"Well, considering that all of your actors have no idea what they're doing I'm going to guess a little over a month." Rudy shot back, cleaning his throat and slumping down in his seat.

"Rudy, I understand you're uncomfortable being here but you've no right to speak to me like that." Miss Drake said, her voice grew stern and her eyes narrowed at the boy.

Rudy started to stand up but Duncan put his arm around the boy's shoulders and pushed his chest back to keep him seated. "She's taunting me." Rudy whispered.

"Let it go," Duncan warned, not releasing the boy until he felt Rudy's body relax.

"Take twenty minutes to study your lines, then we'll do a run through of scene one. Each line you forget is three points off your grade." Miss Drake turned and her heels clicked as she made her way across the stage and to her desk. As soon as she opened her book Duncan released Rudy's shoulders. Then, Sammy was in front of him.

"I need to talk to you, now." Sammy grabbed Duncan's wrist and dragged him to the back of the audience chair and gripped the boy's shoulders to keep them face-to-face. "I kissed Daisy."

"You — what? Congrats, dude!" Duncan hit Sammy's shoulder with a a smile.

"No, not congrats." Sammy groaned. "I don't know what to do now, it's weird between us and all I can think is that it was a bloody mistake."

"Okay, Sam, you forget that I've never been in a relationship so I have no clue how to help you out here, man. Just talk to her." Duncan shrugged.

"Blimey Duncan, why didn't I think of that? Just talk to her, yeah, great idea." Sammy whisper-yelled, releasing Duncan's shoulders and running his hands through his hair.

"Well what do you want me to say?" Duncan asked. "Go right up in her face and say 'I regret kissing you' because that would be the best thing to do, right?"

"You go talk to her." Sammy stated, picking at his bottom lip.

"What? Why?" Duncan asked, turning to catch a glance at Daisy who was laughing with Carlos at the back of the audience seats.

"Just go ask her if there's something going on between us or something, I don't bloody know!" Sammy practically shoved Duncan towards Daisy and ran back to where Wren and Susie were practicing their lines at the front of the room. Duncan sighed and silently cursed to himself before walking up to Daisy and clearing his throat to get her attention. When she turned to look at him he just casually nodded his head towards the drama room door and walked away, hoping she'd follow him out of the doors. She did, of course, and raised her eyebrows as the door closed behind her.

"Yes?" She asked.

"So, I have a question." Duncan mumbled with an innocent smile. Daisy looked at him with raised eyebrows, waiting for him to continue. He sighed and cleared his throat. "So, hypothetically, let's say I kissed somehow and now they're being weird around me, what exactly do I do about that?"

Daisy's gaping expression suddenly shifted to a smile and she began to laugh. "Who was it?" She asked with the biggest grin he'd ever seen her wear.

"Hypothetically." Duncan reminded her as he bounced on his heals.

"Was it Wren? No, Rudy? Do you swing that way?" Daisy asked, her smile never fading.

"God, no! I'm just asking this for future reference." Duncan yelled, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"You have other female friends, you know that right?" Daisy responded.

"Well, you're the only one that's in a relationship."

"I am?"

Yeah, you and Sammy. . .you're together right?" Duncan leaned in a little to make sure he heard her response clearly.

"What? I mean, did he say that?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"He implied it." Duncan answered.

"Oh." Daisy nodded. "Well, whoever you kissed whether it's male or female you should probably talk to them and make sure there's no hard feelings. They'll appreciate the gesture no matter what their response is."

"Oh. Okay, thanks." Duncan practically sprinted back into the room and dropped down into his seat beside Rudy. Sammy gave him a wide-eyed look and Duncan shot him a thumbs up. Duncan turned to Rudy and found his eyeing Susie and Wren as if he was lost in thought, Duncan nudged his arm and he turned to him.

"There's something going on with Susie." He whispered. Duncan followed's Rudy's gaze to Susie where she was smiling and nodding her head to something Wren was telling her but her eyes kept drifting to Sammy who was staring at Daisy in the back of the room.

"She looks fine to me." Duncan shrugged and Rudy turned back to him.

"No, she's talking, participating in conversations, she's wearing makeup." Rudy explained. "Look, I slept over at her and Wren's dorm last night because I was bored and lonely without a roommate. Susie left in the middle of the night and didn't come back for three hours. Where did she go?"

"She was probably meeting someone, kids sneak out after lights out all the time." Duncan said, eyeing the ginger suspiciously.

"Yeah but who? She doesn't have any friends other than us and she sure as hell don't comfortable enough around any of us without Wren by her side. She's being weird." Rudy bit his lip and sighed. "Nevermind, forget it."

"You're right, she's acting different but maybe she's just trying to be a little more outgoing. It's nothing to worry about, dude." Duncan said and Rudy just shrugged, obviously done with that conversation.

Miss Drake's heals tore Duncan away from Rudy's face. "Times up! Scene one characters, join me."