The take-back of Ravenshire Prep {UNDER REVISION}

chapter 9

"Sooooo we have a special guest at our table today!" Avery started chatting us up when Ruben stopped her. "New member of the club?!" "Yeah!" "Did you force them to join?" "Believe it or not, she asked to be in the club." "SHE?!" Ruben looked like he wanted to flip the table. Jessie put a hand on his shoulder and I could see his anger dissolve. "Yes, she. And she really wants to be a part of a play. Give her a chance, will you?" She? Hmm...I wonder... "Okay...but is she a prima Donna?" "Quite the opposite, actually. There she is! Hey Quinn!" Avery waved over to a girl with platinum blonde hair and dark eyes. That's not Quinn, I've seen that blonde girl already...When I suddenly saw her look up from her congealing Mac and cheese. Oh. My. Gosh. She was beautiful. She had long chocolate coloured almost black hair with the tips dyed a reddish-orange ombre. She was tall(I knew I was taller but she was still tall) and wore black punk boots with spikes on the end. She had a choker with her cartilage pierced and a nose piercing that was silver. And her eyes. Behind her big glasses were eyes I fell into (reminds me of Addicted To You by Avicii ). They were an enchanting blue with tiny spots of grey which made them look silver. And those eyes were looking right at me. Then she turned to Avery. "Hey." "Welcome to our table of misfits and social outcasts." "Ruben's not a social outcast. Or Freya." "Besides those two." I rolled my eyes. Avery motioned for her to sit down in the empty seat next to her. The seat was also right by Ruben. But she wasn't afraid of him. She sat down and started poking at her noodles with her fork. "I'm Freya." I offered. She looked up. Shit. Her smile. She was freaking adorable. "Like the  goddess?" I didn't know what that meant. I would have to Google it later. "Uh yeah, I think so!" I nervously laughed.

"Okay. So for the ultimate test to get into drama club, you need to answer this quiz." "You don't need to get tested to get in. Ruben, stop trying to lose us members." Jessie butted in. But Ruben didn't want Quinn to join."Hit me with your best shot." She dared him. "Who wrote that song?" "Pat Benatar." "Who starred in high school musical?" "Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudges." "Who wrote Thriller?" "Micheal Jackson." "Material Girl." "Madonna." "Hamilton." "Lin Manuel Miranda." 'Iron Man." "Black Sabbath." "You say goodbye, I say Hello." "Beatles." "Isn't she lovely?" "Stevie Wonder." "Stitches." "What's Shawn Mendes doing here?" "P.T Barnum Greatest Showman." "Hugh Jackman." "Frozen Sisters." "Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel." "You'll never get this one." "Try me." "What's Puckerman's real name?" "Noah." The table was silent. "Holy shit. Nobody's ever beaten him before." Oscar was stunned. The whole table was awestruck, especially me. Who is this girl? She stared down at her milk carton like she was trying to burn a hole through it. Avery slammed her hands down on the table. "THAT WAS AMAZING!!!" Quinn jumped back."YOU WOULD KICK ASS AT JEPROADY!" One of the jaintors gave us the evil eye and Avery quieted down some. "Let me guess-you know the old host of Jeopardy?" She shyly smiled. "Alex Trebek. But that's just because my dad would make me watch with him." "Is he a producer too?" Jessie curiously asked. "No...he...is not a producer. Not his line of work. My mum is mainly the brains in the family." "I'm the brains in the family." Avery teased. "Jessie here almost failed math last year." He turned bright red and the rest of the table laughed. "If you don't mind me asking, what math class are you in?" I asked. "Advanced Maths." Woah, she must be really smart..."Advanced Maths, huh? So can you-" "Stop quizzing her, she's proved herself one of us." "I remember pretty much nothing from last year. It was a hard move." She snapped a rubber band on her wrist. "Does Ravenshire have anything fun, like a block party or something?" "Yeah, we have a pep rally every so often, a spring retreat, and this year we have the valentine's dance!" She raised her eyebrows. "You guys have a valentines dance?" "Yep. We weren't allowed to go last year, but now is our time to listen to YMCA on loop and try to spike the punch." "And I'm on the planning council!" Avery smiled. "I thought you only joined so you could recruit more people for drama club." "Well yeah, but they wouldn't take me seriously." "Are you going to be able to put on a show if you don't have enough people?" The table slumped. "So how can we get more people to join?" "Hm...we can randomly burst into song at lunch like Sharpay." "That would probably get us in trouble." "Flyers. We haven't done that yet." "Ok, I can design them. We'll just have to sneak into the teacher's lounge and use the photocopier. Any ideas how?" "Woah, uhm...pull the fire alarm?" "That's taking it way too far." "Fake a broken leg in the hall." "That would probably work." "Why don't you just make one copy and use the bullatin board with all of the other club sign ups or other announcements for maximum exposure?" "You have one of those? Great. But we still need one more defining factor that will make everyone want to join." "Like what?" "If we performed." "Okay. How the hell would we do that, we don't even have a teacher." "Wait wait wait. You don't have a supervisor? How did you start the drama club without one?" "We had one. He quit." "He didn't think we had a chance putting on a performance." "Well that sucks...either we need to find a new one or run our own play." "For now we just have to do without one." "Wait, what if we perform at the pep rally next week?" "That's a good idea. I think I can get permission from Mr. Peters." "What would we perform?" Quinn pulled out her phone and went to her spotify. Ruben looked over her shoulder. "How do you have 10 hours of songs on there?" "It's my ultimate playlist. So it has to be a. 'School appropriate', b. Include everyone otherwise the teachers will disprove it as exclusive, and c. awesome or nobody will join." She kept scrolling through. "Do you guys play any instruments?" "I play guitar." Ruben confessed. "I've played piano for 6 years." I smiled. "I played recorder in fourth grade." Oscar bragged. "Not sure how that's gonna fit in...ever tried playing drums?" "Drums? No." "I have a set you can use. Do you guys play any instruments?" She asked the twins. "I play violin and cello, she plays cello and bass." "Cool! I think we have the makings of a band!" "We're a drama club though." "The best way to draw attention is by getting a good song stuck in your head. Plus, whatever we put on we'll need music, and live music makes the show so much better." "She's right-we can't very well recite Hamlet on stage." "Do you guys have somewhere to practice?" "Normally we just meet up in Mr. Gavin's -he's the band teacher- classroom at the end of the day because he leaves early." "I'll formulate a place for us to meet."

"How come you want to do this so badly?" Ruben interrogated her one final time. "I am so. Freaking. Bored with my life right now. I miss being a part of something and doing dumb stuff with friends and breaking the rules and having fun." He nodded, satisfied with his answer. Quinn happily popped an apple slice in her mouth. "Have you been in a play before?" Jessie asked. "Yeah. My most recent play I was in was A Wrinkle In Time. That was pretty much the best experience I'd ever had in my entire life." "Who'd you play?" "Meg. It was in seventh grade but they let me audition anyway because I practically begged to be given a shot." "Do you still renember your lines?" She laughed. "No. I had to take the final standardized test early because I was moving right before the testing started, which was right after the play. In a mad rush of studying, I forgot every single line. Sorry guys." "So for the song...I'm Walking On Sunshine?" "Katrina and the Waves?" "Nah, I can't sing that-too high." "What about Halo by Beyonce?" "Never heard it. What does it sound like?" I sang a verse. "Everywhere I'm looking now, I'm surrounded by your embrace. Baby I can see your halo, you know that you're my saving grace." "Oh yeah and then it's like 'I can see your halo-halo-halo-" "HaLo~" Oscar's voice cracked and we all laughed. "How about Arcade By Duncan Lawrence?" "That song is the definition of emo." Jessie gave Ruben a concerned glance. Ruben scoffed, clearly offended. "Good 4 u?" "It doesn't really fit with our theme. Probably shouldn't sing songs about romance." Avery pouted. "I'll keep brainstorming song ideas." "And I can ask Mr. Peters for permission." "Hey, are any of you guys good at choreography?" They all turned to look at the twins. Quinn gave them a questioning look. "We're the Campbell twins-the duo that always takes home the top prize in dance competitions." Avery explained. The bell rang. "See you later!" "Bye." "Adios." "See you tomorrow!" We all threw away our compostable trays and started to go to all of our separate classes. But I couldn't help but stop for a moment to look at Quinn exiting the cafeteria. She's so smart, pretty, and sweet. Why would she choose to like me? I bet she isn't even...She turned, feeling my eyes on her. And she gave me a tiny wave.