Fallin' | Michael Dipnicky

weeping angel

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chapter three
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after driving all of the kids to school, mason and i show up thirty minutes early for a morning theater meeting.

"i can't believe you dragged me into this." i say as i walk onto the stage. the people who want to act sit in chairs, and i stand with honor near the curtain.

"ms felson says we have to do kennedy's play now." mason says as he grabs kennedy's scripts.

everyone is shocked. a couple of people ask 'what?'

"what happened?" one guy asks. "okay we can all bitch later, all right? we need to hold auditions, and we're already behind." mason says.

"may i?" honor asks. "yes, honor?" mason asks. "well, we could save some time if we offered the role of the duke to travis biggins." honor suggests.

something has to be up.

"oh the romantic lead? why don't we just flush the whole production down the toilet." mason says. "that guy gets cheered for every time he walks on a field. why do we need to give him more attention?" grace asks.

"well, 'cause we'd be getting ourselves more attention. i mean, girls love him. he's friends with everybody. captain of the lacrosse team might bring in a whole new audience." honor explains.

"you mean assholes?" grace asks. "i don't judge people." honor says. "this is ridiculous. he's never done theater, and we're gonna give him the lead?" brad asks.

"come on, mason. we can't just ignore our craft." todd says. "oh get off it todd you've been in three plays your entire life, two of them as captain hook." mason says. brad chuckles. "you're not actually considering this." grace says.

"well, we want as big an audience as possible, don't we?" mason asks. the crowd hesitantly agrees. "and wouldn't it be nice to do a play for people besides the arts kids and our parents?" mason asks. the crowd agrees again.

"kennedy, what do you think?" mason asks. "m... me?" she stutters. "what do you think about travis playing the duke?" mason asks. "uhh, i don't know........ who's travis?" she asks.

"okay honor, ivy, you two are probably the only people in this room who have ever spoken to him. will you two ask him?"

next thing i know mason, honor, and i are at lacrosse practice, trying to convince travis biggins to join theater.

what has my life become?

"i don't know guys. i've never really done any acting before, so-." "oh don't worry, i'll help you." mason says, interrupting travis.

travis smiles a little and looks down.

"travis! say goodnight to your boyfriend and come get on all fours!" coach biggins shouts.

"i gotta go guys." travis says and starts to walk away. "first cast meeting it tomorrow!" mason says. travis goes back to his team and looks at mason as he puts on his helmet.

"i've always wondered, do you think travis is-?" "gay, gay gay gay, gay.. gay." mason finishes.

—chemistry class

"now, at this stage of the experiment, it's really important to pay attention to the heat. keep your eye on it." the teacher says.

"like a weeping angel." i say. "what?" michael asks, whipping his head up to me. "oh, nothing. weeping angels are these aliens in doctor who. if you look away from them, they'll kill you." i say.

"yeah, i know. i just can't believe you watch doctor who." michael says. "i'm sorry, don't make fun of me." i say. "no, no, no i'm a fan." michael says. "i don't make fun of people." he adds.

i smile a little. "who's your favorite doctor? mines matt smith." i say. "yeah, definitely matt smith." michael says, as he smiles back. him and i stare at eachother for a few moments.

the experiment begins to bubble over. "michael!" i say as he quickly removes it from the flame. "i'm sorry." i say backing away from the substance. "i'm sorry. that's my fault." michael says.

he sets the jar on the table and i laugh a little bit. he looks up at me and laughs with me. "we're idiots.."

—after school

"those are awful." i say as grace tries on a sleeping beauty dress made for a five year old. "well it's not like anyones giving us any money to buy or even rent new ones, so we're stuck with these." mason says.

"it's too bad. they do such a disservice the the authenticity of the play." honor says. "we're not using these. they'll ruin everything." kennedy says.

"what choice do we have?" mason asks. "yeah, i mean, it's not like we can make new ones." honor says. "i can." kennedy says and raises her hand.

"i can make historically accurate costumes. i do it all the time." kennedy explains. "well, yeah, but not for a whole play. what about your schoolwork?" honor asks. "this is more important." kennedy says.

"okay, yes this is fine with me but we need to get going with the auditions and i think we're gonna need to find another duke, okay?" mason says.

"nah, i don't think so." i say as i see travis walking into the gym.

"hey guys, what's up?" travis asks. "well, what are you waiting for? get your beautiful butt in here. we got work to do." mason says.

—at home

[micdipnic has requested to follow you]

i smile and accept it. i really need to get going with this plan. the most i've done is talk about doctor who and fuck up science experiments.