How We Wrote Us

five

I found Jacob Warner already waiting for me by my car as I emerged from the school building and maneuvered through the parking lot. Once I reached my little hatchback wagon, I opened my mouth to greet my newfound friend. However, I thought twice about speaking to him when I noticed how agitated he was. He was focused on a small piece of paper in his hands, and whatever secrets the paper held, I could tell he didn't agree with them.

"Have you ever made a huge mistake?" He asked as I unlocked my car before we both climbed in.

I wanted to tell him that I originally thought drama would be a huge mistake, but I refrained. We had enough tension this week for the rest of the year. I didn't want to bring up our spats from earlier.

"Yeah, I guess," I shrugged. I put on my seatbelt, started the engine, and waited for him to tell me what was bothering him. I was curious, but I didn't want to seem too eager. I hated overbearing people, and I refused to be one of them. If he wanted to tell me, he would. If he didn't, then I would just remain curious.

"I think I made a mistake," he hummed while rubbing his chin. "I don't think Milanie should be the Tin Woman," he admitted. "I think she would make a better Scarecrow."

"Who do you see as Tin Woman then?"

"Candace. I think their roles should be switched. I know Candace really wanted to be Scarecrow, but I think she would be better as Tin Woman. I want our casting to be perfect, but the only choice I'm 100% comfortable with is you as Demetrius. The rest of this list seems wrong." He crumbled the list between his hands before he unfolded it and continued glancing over the names. "What do you think?"

"I agree with Candace as Tin Woman. But with her sass, I think she would make a great Cowardly Lioness too," I shrugged. "She has the personality to match either role."

"Yes!" He shouted so suddenly that I almost swerved and hit a parked car nearby before we even exited the lot. "Candace as the Cowardly Lioness is perfect! I can't believe I didn't think of that. And with her hair, we could make her costume a brighter red to match."

Immediately he pulled a pencil out of his pocket and started taking notes on his crumpled list. "Do you think that's the only role we should switch? I still think Milanie would make a better Scarecrow."

"Well, at least the play is in the beginning stages, so nobody's too dedicated to their role. If you think Milanie should play Scarecrow, go with your instinct," I encouraged. "You are the director after all."

"Yeah," he nodded. "You're so right."

As much as I hated it, the rest of the car ride to the mall was silent. Jacob spent the whole twenty minutes penciling names and rearranging roles. He wrote on the paper so much that by the time we reached the mall, he filled the entire paper front and back with scribbled writing. It resembled a horrible doctor's note.

"If you weren't absolutely amazing in your role, I would cast you as the co-director," Jacob informed me as we entered the mall. I knew the play we were working on was practically his baby, but I didn't want to talk about it anymore. If we were going to only talk about the play, I would've rather had us not talk at all. Just because I didn't hate drama anymore didn't mean it was a part of my life outside of school. This was an opportunity to get to know each other more, and he wasted it on small talk about a gender-bent play.

"Can we talk about something else?" I suggested softly. I was blushing and embarrassed. I didn't want to upset him or make it seem like I didn't care about the play, but we weren't at school anymore. I wanted to talk about something else, anything else, and I was only embarrassed because I didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"Oh, yeah," he whispered. "Sorry. I can get carried away too much. It's just kind of important to me, but I can totally see how it could become annoying," he shrugged. I noticed he seemed to take a step away from me leaving a greater distance between us as we walked. I hated how betrayed I felt by this. All because I didn't want to talk about the play anymore? It seemed unfair. My life wasn't dedicated to this stupid play, and I didn't understand how that could offend anyone.