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"Good morning, little mutants." I turn my head to see Sikowitz running in with a coconut in hand, his eye weirdly twitching, "All right! Now, it's time for... Bad news." His voice changes from excitement to sadness.
"Are you okay?" Aliana asks in worry.
"They found out coconut juice makes your hair fall out?" Rex suggests with a obnoxious laugh.
"Or that it somehow makes your eye twitch?" I point out with a shrug.
Sikowitz lets out a loud, sarcastic laugh before his face turns serious again, "No. We're going to do an acting exercise about giving bad news."
"Why?" Jade asks simply.
"Why." He repeats before explaining, "To teach you that acting often involves making choices about how to say things. For example, how do you give someone bad news, and make it seem not so bad?" He asks us.
Cat enthusiastically raises her hands and answers without waiting for him to point her, "By telling them in a language they don't understand!"
"No, Cat!" Sikowitz grins and shakes his head, "Just come up in stage here. Robbie, you too, up up." He beckons for them to go up and he, in return, walks down to stand at the side of the stage. "And now, your partner in this little acting exercise," He moves to open one of the classroom doors to reveal a little boy standing there cluelessly, "Tanner, come in! Everybody, this is Tanner. A young boy who lives next door to me." He introduces the kid, patting his head.
"Hi." "Hey, Tanner." "What's up?" We all wave at him nicely, giving him a smile to calm his nerves a bit.
After directing him to an empty seat, Sikowitz jogs up the stage, "All right, Cat and Robbie, here's a card with some random bad news for you to give to Tanner." He hands them a piece of paper, his tone hesitating a bit when he said "random".
"Got it." "Oh, okay." Cat and Robbie nod in understanding, looking at Sikowitz, the card, and then the kid.
"Good!" Sikowitz grins, standing behind Tanner, "Now improvise a scene where you have to give Tanner that bad news, in a way that doesn't upset him."
"Why do I have a feeling that he did something?" Chad questions suspiciously.
"Knowing him, that's definitely a possibility." Trey tells him.
I watch Cat and Robbie on the stage. They stare at the little boy for a moment before Cat tugs on Robbie's shirt and whispers something to his ear. I see his light up and he nods at her.
"Ooh, that's good!" He gasps in agreement, "Uhh... One sec." Robbie turns around until he sees the guitar at the corner of the stage. He puts the strap around his shoulder and looks back at Cat, "A?"
"Mm-hmm." Cat nods and he starts playing. They test out the harmonization until it works before looking back at the kid with smiles on their faces.
