I'm Scott Malkinson

9- Captivating

On Tuesdays the school's theater club met in the auditorium and surrounding areas. The auditorium was directly next to the hallway that held the music classrooms. At the back of the hall was the props closet and a door to the outside.

School let out at 3:15, but rehearsal for the cast didn't start until 4:00, so while they waited the cast was spread across the auditorium and hallway chatting casually amongst each other, occasionally breaking out into song. The tech crew technically also didn't get started until 4:00, but that wouldn't stop them from continuing work on set pieces they'd already begun.

The musical the school was putting on this year was The Music Man and currently the crew was working on painting a background for the opening train scene. Basically they were just creating flat walls painted to look like the inside of a train. There were holes cut out in certain parts that served as windows. Then there was a long roll of paper that they were painting a scene of mountains and countryside on. The plan was to rig it up on the back so when someone turned a wheel the pictures would move across the flat in a loop making it appear as if the train was moving.

Kenny and Butters (who despite being a cast member often came over to the tech side to hang out with Kenny) were busy painting a mountain together. Every now and then they would break to playfully flick paint at each other. Lisa Burger was carefully painting a field full of cows, and Sally Darson was working on a tree. Stan and Pete were leaned up against the wall, not really helping much. Pete insisted he'd only showed up because his mom made him join a club, and he'd brought Stan along with him so that he "didn't have to be trapped here with nothing but conformist assholes." Scott, as a member of the yearbook club, was busy taking pictures.

At the other end of the hall some of the cast broke out into song. Tolkien and Clyde dramatically started belting out I'm just Ken from the Barbie movie, while holding on to each other's shoulders.

"I'm just Ken, anywhere else I'd be a ten. Is it my destiny to live and die a life of blonde fragility? I'M JUST KEN! Where I see love she sees a friend. What will it take for her to see the man behind the tan and fight for me?"

Scott snapped several photos of their impromptu performance. With Tolkien's singing voice it's no wonder he was cast as the lead, but in all honesty, Scott couldn't tear his eyes off of Clyde. He was so expressive, and sang with such emotion. Sure his singing wasn't as technically good as Tolkien's, but technique aside, Clyde's singing was truly captivating. Scott could watch him for hours without getting bored. He was a natural performer.

"You two are such fags," Pete commented. Scott once again felt deeply bothered by that word, and distracted himself from its impact by picking the dirt from underneath his nails.

"What's the matter? Didn't like that song Pete? Well maybe you'd like to hear another one, per se?" Mike Makowski chimed in. He and Katie Gelson were both cast in the musical this year. If you were to draw a Venn diagram of things vamp kids and theater kids had in common it would practically be a circle.

"I swear to god if Vampqueer starts singing I'm gonna jump in front of a bus," Scott heard Pete mumble to Stan.

Of course that was exactly what Mike started doing. His song of choice: peaches, except he replaced every peach with Pete's name. It was a full on romantic serenade.

"Pete, you're so cool, and with my star, we're gonna rule." Pete rolled his eyes as Mike dropped to his knees. "Peeete understand, I'm gonna love you till the very eeeend."

"That's it, I'm out," Pete commented, getting up from his seated position against the wall and disappearing out the back door. A few moments later he poked his head in. "Raven, can I bum a cig? I'm all out," he asked Stan.

"Sorry, my mom found mine and trashed them," he replied apologetically.

"You can borrow my vape," Kenny offered, holding it up for him to see.

"Gross, I'd rather die than use one of those conformist pussy sticks," Pete scoffed before disappearing back out the door.

"So like is the vape open invite?" asked Mike.

"I thought you didn't smoke because it was bad for you," Stan commented, his voice dripping with judgment. The goth kids were known to dislike the vamps. There was a time when the vamps disliked the goths as well, but they seemed to have long since gotten over the rivalry and instead tormented the goths by acting overly friendly with them.

"Well yeah, but it's much more appealing when it tastes like fruit loops," Mike answered shrugging.

Kenny tossed over the vape and Mike caught it easily. "Knock yourself out," they said. "Just don't use it all up."

Mike took a puff and breathed out slowly, releasing the steam. The almost sickeningly sweet smell of watermelon danced in the air around him.

Scott noticed Stan staring at the vape a bit longingly before finally saying, "Fuck it, pass it over Dracula. I hate those things but I really need a hit right now." Mike didn't argue one bit as he passed it over. In fact, he had a bit of a sly smirk on his face, likely proud of himself for corrupting one of the goths into being just a little bit more conformist. Stan took a hit, and then passed it back to Kenny who took a hit of their own before depositing it back in their pocket.

Scott had never vaped before, but he wondered what it was like. How did it feel? How did it taste? Would the taste linger in his mouth long after he'd taken his last hit? If he kissed someone that vaped, would he be able to taste it off of h̶i̶s̶- off of her lips? He wasn't curious enough to give into that temptation though, and he would definitely confess about his curiosity on the subject.