Four letter word

23. Overwhelmed. (Part 1)

AJ rushed down the stairs with books clutched onto her chest, since she couldn't fit all of it into her satchel, and went into the common area. She was feeling very nervous and not at all ready for the day. Dana had caught her unarmed the other day signed her up for the theatre group. They were putting on A Midsummer Night's Dream this year and AJ, who had managed to avoid all the plays for years, was now forced to participate. Of course, she wouldn't be acting in the play, but she would have to help out with the props and the costumes, as well as the auditions.

The reason Dana had wanted her in the group was because AJ would be able to cast the perfect people for the play. Lindsey had blabbered on about how AJ was a very well read person and knew how all the characters in all the books felt, how they looked and acted, she had a personal connection to every fictional character, not to mention that she loved Shakespeare. Now Dana was convinced that she needed to be in the group.

The last thing AJ needed was to be involved in this play in any way. She had no time for this. She had to start getting ready for the exams which were rumoured to be much harder this year and all the professors were drowning the students in homework and new material.  There was no time for a stupid play, especially now, but the students insisted that they needed something positive to take their mind off of all the stress they were under. Even if the thought of waisting a second on something that wasn't studying stressed AJ out even more.

The common area was mostly empty since it was very early and most students were asleep. It was still dark outside so the warm light were on to lit the large room.

Five students sat on the two red sofas that were placed in the middle. None of them noticed AJ come in, since they were all too busy looking at stocks of papers. And... also AJ had a very quiet step.

"This is an outrage!" One of the students exclaimed suddenly and stormed off of the couch. He walked around the plaided armchair and rubbed his nose as he tried to calm himself, "we don't have enough students auditioning this year. How will we put on the play if there's no one to cast?!"

AJ recognised him from the other day. He had been standing next to Dana when she practically jumped AJ in the hallway. His name was Jeffrey, Jeffrey Colson.

"That's because most students are too busy with the exams to care about the stupid play" Dana huffed and crossed her legs on the sofa.

'Well said' AJ thought. Not that anything written by Shakespeare was stupid, it's just the timing was awful.

"Please, Dana, if you're gonna be negative then don't help" one of the other girls, a redhead with green eyes spoke. AJ hadn't met her before, so she didn't know her name.

"I'm just saying, if we had started working on this play in the first semester then we wouldn't be having this problem now" Dana replied, she seemed very annoyed and kind of tired. Which was weird. She never looked tired.

"Well there's nothing we can do now, is there?" Jeffrey scoffed.

AJ realised she still hadn't said a single word and none of them knew she was in the room. This was creepy of her, but what the fuck would she say. Just a simple 'hey' seemed to hard for her. The problem got solved when Dana looked up and noticed AJ standing there.

"Oh, you're late" she said in a stern expression.

"Eh, sorry, my alarm didn't work" AJ said and sat down in a hurry.

"So we can't count on you to ever be on time?" Dana raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, fuck off, Dana, it's not like we're doing anything productive. Just complaining and insulting each other is all" the last girl spoke. AJ recognised her too. She was one of Riley's friends. Angie, from the party.