endlessly

33

"Okay, so like, don't freak out when we get there cause that will make me freak out," Tatum says to Jules. The two girls are heading to the house to go over their mid-term monologues.

"Freak out? Do you forget that I also work for an actress?" Jules asks. Tatum takes a deep breath. She's really nervous for this. She honestly feels fine about performing for her class, but for her bosses who happen to be her idols and now her girlfriends? That's just too much.

"You're right, you're right. I'm freaking out over nothing," She sighs. She pulls into the driveway and both girls grab their bags. Tatum opens the girls, finding only Sadie and Jenna on the couch, "Hey! Everyone, this is my friend, Jules, from the Academy."

"Hi, Jules!" Sadie waves from the couch.

"Nice to meet you!" Jenna stands up. She walks over to give her a hug.

"Where are Mikey and Emma?" Tatum asks nervously, wanting to get this over with.

"Mikey's getting a snack and Emma's in the bathroom," Sadie answers. Jules walks over and starts casually talking to Sadie. Tatum furrows her eyebrows at how she isn't nervous at all.

"Jealous?" Jenna mutters to Tatum.

"What? Uh, no, I just.... I don't understand how she can just... talk... a-and not feel anxious at all," Tatum rambles. Jenna nods.

"Yeah, she's lucky," She comments. Emma comes out from the bathroom.

"Hi! I'm Jules," Jules says. Emma walks over to her to give her a hug.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Emma!"

Mikey joins the group in the living room, "I brought snacks!"

"Oh, boy," Jenna laughs. Mikey sits down with an assortment of snacks. She, Sadie, and Mikey look like a panel of judges, waiting to tear down Tatum's monologue. Well, at least that's how Tatum envisions it.

"You ready?" Jules looks at Tatum.

"Uh, ye-yeah, of course," The brunette stutters. She and Jenna walk to the couch, "So... we had a free choice for our monologues, and we both chose monologues from the show End of the F*cking World."

"Oooo, I love that!" Emma smiles.

"Okay, so... I'll go first," Tatum says. She stands in front of the couch, with the others staring at her. She has this monologue memorized. She knows it. Her anxiety is trying to get the best of her, but she swallows whatever fear she has and takes a deep breath.

When picking out the monologues, Jules and Tatum spent a lot of time trying to find ones they thought would work well. They quickly found out, Tatum can come off as a creepy character really well.

She looks down and mentally prepares herself. Her face comes back up with a blank expression that gives her girlfriends an unsettling feeling. A side of Tatum they've never seen before, "I'm James."

Her voice even comes out different and all of the girls are shocked, "I'm 17. And I'm pretty sure I'm a psychopath."

Alex Lawther is an incredible actor, all of the girls have seen the show. But Tatum's take on the monologue is even more unsettling than Alex makes it.

"I was eight when I realized I didn't have a sense of humor. I'd always want to punch my dad in the face," Tatum continues. She shows no emotion and barely moves her body. Her posture is slightly shrugged but it almost makes her look like a predator, silently watching her next victim, "When I was nine, he bought a deep-fat fryer. He saw it on an American shopping channel."

She lifts her hand up to look at it, "One day, I put my hand in it," Tatum rubs her fingers against her skin, "I wanted to make myself feel something."