Smile for the Camera!

Chapter 2

     That read through was, to say the least, uncomfortable. The plot was like, this one girl found a guy at the park. Apparently both were watching their younger siblings, and found each other interesting, so started talking. Once the man left, the girl had completely forgotten to ask for his number. And so, she assembles her other two friends to help her find the mysterious man. Once she finally finds him, they arrange a date at a coffee shop. Then, the girls friends help prepare her for the date. The boy and the girl show up at the date, and they both slowly fall for each other. Sadly, the girl and the boy specified are Tsukasa and Rui. Once they all finished read throughs, Emu dragged Tsukasa back stage to show him the wig he was going to be wearing. "Tsukasa-kun look!" She grabbed the wig and, against Tsukasa's will, put it on his head. She then held up a mirror to show him his new hairstyle. To say he wasn't amused would be an understatement, he didn't like this at all. "Emu this is horrendous, why am I doing this again?" Emu grinned, "Because!! You look more like a girl compared to Rui, so you're going to be the one in the wig!! We would keep you as a guy, but my brothers said we can't put on a show like that because it'll scare sponsors away..." Tsukasa cringed, he would honestly rather be the girl than be portrayed as gay, so this was his best option. He took off the wig and set it back down on the styrofoam head. "It's alright Emu, no harm done. I'm just praying for my vocal chords after this." Emu tilted her head, "Why?" Tsukasa sighed, "Doing a high pitched voice does a lot of damage on my throat, this is not going to be fun. Oh well, I'll get over it. No need to worry." The only thing he was ACTUALLY worried about was having to deal with Rui in his everyday life. Emu clapped her hands together and started cheering, "Yay Tsukasa!! I'm sure you'll do great out there! Let's go back to the others!"

While Emu and Tsukasa were backstage, Nene and Rui were left alone. Nene shot Rui a glare, "What's your deal with Tsukasa? I'm not stupid." Rui chuckled, "Whatever do you mean? Tsukasa and I are just fine." Nene raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure?" Shit, he was about to get caught. He wasn't about to ruin this whole 'troupe' thing for Nene, so he would keep lying like his life depended on it, "Of course, why would something be wrong?" Nene let out a sigh of relief, "Oh, ok. I wasn't too sure if you were lying earlier, so I needed to make sure everything was fine. You would never lie to me, so there's no reason you would." Rui nodded, "Mhm." Shit. She was close to figuring it out. Under no circumstances can Nene and Emu figure those two out. Hah, with the way he's thinking about it, it somewhat sounds like he's trying to hide a secret loving relationship. That would be stupid, not in a million years would Rui ever want to date Tsukasa, and he was sure Tsukasa felt that same way. Even thinking about Tsukasa made his blood boil, why was he all ever anybody talked about? It's always Tsukasa this and Tsukasa that, god it's so annoying. His thinking got interrupted by two very LOUD people coming back from backstage. Tsukasa struck another one of his dramatic poses and did his stupid annoying laugh, "HA HA HA! The star is back! I'd say today was a good run through, wouldn't you all say?" Emu and Nene nodded, and Rui just stayed silent. Tsukasa took note of this, "Kamishiro, you're awfully silent. Did you want to practice more or something?" Oh, oh that's how it is. Well, two can play at that game. Rui chuckled, "Hm, how did you know? I'd like to continue practice, just the two of us. I'd say Emu and Nene are done here, I just need to... discuss... a few things with you, Tenma." Emu and Nene exchanged a look, then looked back at Rui. Nene grabbed her bag and Emu did the same. She held the pink haired girl's hand and waved, "Alright, we're off then. Bye." "Mhm!! Bye bye Rui and Tsukasa!!" The two left the park, leaving the two highlighters alone.

While Emu and Nene were walking home together, they both decided to talk about what the hell just happened back there. Nene spoke up, "Rui seemed a little odd back there, kind of suspicious." Emu nodded, "Yeah! Like, the way he talked about 'practice' seemed odd. Like, suspicious. Do you think they're dating or something?" Nene shivered, "The way he phrased it... I don't even want to think about what they're doing. If one of them is limping tomorrow, we've confirmed they're dating AND taking it further." Emu tilted her head, "Why would one of them be limping if they're dati-" Nene cut her off, "Shh! Don't uh- don't worry about it. Just keep an eye on them." Emu agreed.

Tsukasa face palmed, "Why the hell would you phrase it like that?! That's so incredibly suspicious! They'll know we hate each other for sure! God, why are you like this??" Rui shrugged, "Well, maybe if you would get your god damn head out of the clouds, you would notice that Nene is onto us. She almost figured it out earlier. If we're going to work in the same troupe, we need to actually act like we like each other. So of course, after rehearsal practice seems like a good way for us to quote on quote bond."

"Psh, like I'd ever want to bond with some weirdo kid like you. I wonder how you've gone this long without friends."

"I wonder how you HAVE friends. You're so fucking loud and obnoxious, how do people stand it?"

"Well you literally giggle to yourself in class and mumble, you're one to talk about obnoxious. Not only are you weird, you're a god damn psychopath!"

"Don't worry about it."

"THAT'S EVEN MORE CREEPY!"

"Don't worry about it, it's none of your concern. Or maybe it is, you'll never know."

"Is that a threat?"

"Maybe, just make sure to close all your curtains at night."

"Ok, now you're freaking me out."

"Hm, seems to be so. I'm joking of course, I would never waste my precious resources on somebody like you. Just seeing your face pisses me off, don't think so highly of yourself now."

"You must be the first to not like seeing my face, I suppose. A star such as myself obviously has an amazing complexion and stunning facial features."

"A star? Where? I don't see one."

"HEY! You take that back right now!"

"You're not worthy of becoming a star."

Tsukasa had enough of this bullshit. He flipped Rui off before getting his bag and leaving. Rui was just left with himself and his thoughts, sitting in the audience, 'Was I perhaps too harsh?' He picked up his bag and left, not wanting to see another second of the wonder stage.

Tsukasa was fucking PISSED all the way home. 'Who the hell does that man think he is?! Don't listen to him Tsukasa, you ARE worthy of being a star! Hah, he probably just thinks he's better than you. Just because he's extremely hot and has a nice voice does NOT mean that he's better than you! Just keep going forward, he'll only bring you to your downfall if you let him!' As if his luck couldn't get any worse, he slipped over a puddle and landed HARD on his ass. "WHAT THE FUCK?!" UGGGHHHHHH, first Rui's bullshit, and now this. Getting up proved rather difficult, but he managed. Hah! Take that Rui, only a star would be able to recover so quickly! He did have to limp back home though, because one of his legs REALLY hurt.

Tsukasa slammed his head on his pillow. He thought about ways to get back at Rui tomorrow. Maybe put some vegetables in his school bag? Bleach his uniform on quote on quote accident? Put some glue all over his props? Possibilities, possibilities... until he heard a knock at his door. "Come in!" In walked Saki, she seemed a bit troubled, "Erm- remember that Rui guy you were telling me about?" Tsukasa groaned, "UUUGGHHHHH yeah I do, what about him?" Saki got even more nervous, "Does he have purple hair with cyan streaks?" Tsukasa raised an eyebrow, "Yeah... why?"

"He's uh... he's at the door."