Sugar - Charlie Dalton

11

Saturday. Possibly Clara's favorite day of the week. She got to sleep in, go into town, catch up on homework, sleep in.

Well, except for today. This Saturday, Neil banged on her door early in the morning.

"Clara! Clare! Open up!"

Groggily, the girl complied, opening the door and rubbing her eyes.

"What is so important so early in the morning?"

Her brother frowned. "It's twelve in the afternoon."

"Oh."

"Either way, I have great news!"

"Hmm?"

"Henley Hall is putting on a show and holding open auditions, isn't that great!"

This woke Clara up immediately. "Yes! Oh Neil that's great that Father is letting you apply."

Neil's face wavered, causing instant suspicion.

"He does know, right?"

"Uhm..."

"Neil!"

He groaned in response. "Clare I can't help it, I wanna act. I need to act."

"Well, how often does a lie really hurt in our family." The burnette smiled and grabbed his sister.

"Come on, let's go show Todd."

"Yeah!"

When the two entered, Todd quickly turned over a piece of writing paper. Neil hadn't noticed and just dropped the audition paper in the boys lap. "I found it."

"You found what?" Todd asked, looking at Clara as she sat down.

"What I wanna do right now. What's really, really inside me."

"A Midsummer Night's Dream?"

"This is it." Neil smiled, causing the girl to smile too. She had never seen her brother so excited about something like this before, even their birthday.

"What is this?" Todd asked again.

"It's a play, dummy."

"I know that. I- What does it have to do with you?"

"Right. They're putting it on at Henley Hall. Open tryouts. Open tryouts!" Neil said as Clara cheered.

"Yes, so?" Todd asked with a laugh.

Out of nowhere, Neil pulled the blanket out from under the girl, wrapping it around himself. "So, I'm gonna act. Yes, yes! I'm gonna be an actor! Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to try this. I even tried to go to summer stock auditions last year, but, of course, my father wouldn't let me. For the first time in my whole life I know what I wanna do." He then grabbed a fistful of Todd's paper and threw them up. "And for the first time I'm gonna do it whether my father wants me to or not! Carpe diem!"

The twins cheered as the other boy tried to interject the celebration.

"Neil, Clara, hold on a minute. How are you gonna be in a play if your father won't let you?" He said with a small smile.

"First I gotta get the part, then I can worry about that."

"And a little lie won't kill Neil either." Clara added in with a nod.

"Yeah, but won't he kill you if he finds out you went to an audition and didn't even tell him?"

"No, no, no, no. As far as I'm concerned, he won't have to know about any of this."

"Well, that's impossible." Todd said with a shake of his head.

"Bullshit! Nothings impossible!"

"Well, why don't you just call him and ask him? And m-maybe he'll say yes."

"Now that's funny, Todd." Clara fake laughed. "Our father would rather see one of us die then agree to this."

Neil nodded, giving the blanket back to his sister. "If I don't ask him, at least I won't be disobeying him."

"Yeah, but if he said-"

"Jesus, Todd! Whose side are you on?" Neil snapped angrily, grabbing the flyer back from the other boy and looking at the window.

Clara's eyes widened as her and Todd shared a look of surprise. It was silent for a beat until Neil spoke up, his energy gone.

"I mean, I haven't even gotten the part yet. Can't I even enjoy the idea for a little while?"

Not much to her surprise, Todd went silent, flipping back his writing page.

The girl sucked air through her teeth trying to think of something to break the tension. "You're coming to the meeting this afternoon, Todd?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Nothing Mr. Keating has to say means shit to you, does it, Todd?" Neil laughed dryly.

"Neil!"

"W-What is that supposed to mean?" Todd frowned, placing his paper down again.

"You're in the club! Being in the club means being stirred up by things. You look about as stirred up as a cesspool."

"So - You want me out?"

"No!" Neil frowned. "I want you in, but being in means you gotta do something. Not just say you're in."

"Well, listen, Neil. I- I appreciate this concern, but I- I'm not like you. All right? You, you say things and people listen. I'm not like that."

"But don't you think you could be?" Clara asked, with a genuine interest. "I mean, you clearly have talent if you're here at this school."

"No! I- I, I don't know, but that's not the point. The, the point is that there's nothing you can do about it, so you can just butt out. I can take care of myself just fine. All right?" She could tell this was more directed at Neil.

The girl frowned, ready to leave the room and go back to sleep. Of course, her brother wouldn't let that happen though.

"No."

Todd scoffed. "What do you mean, 'no'?"

A smile came to Neil's face. "No!"

Suddenly, Neil grabbed Todd's notebook and began to run around the room, leaping from bed to bed. Clara laughed so hard her stomach hurt as she moved out of the way of the two.

"Give me - Neil. Neil, give that back." Todd pleaded, chasing after the boy. "Clara, do something!"

"'We are dreaming of a-' poetry! I'm being chased by Walt Whitman! Okay, okay!" Neil chuckled, dropping the notebook as Cameron walked in.

"What are you guys doing? I'm sure - You see this chemistry-"

Starting up again, Neil grabbed the book from Cameron.

"Run! Run!" Clara clapped as she watched the three chase around the room.

"Hey, give me - Neil, give me - Don't be immature. Come on. I need my-"

"Give it to me! Give it to me!" Charlie laughed, appearing behind Clare.

"Charlie!" Neil smiled, throwing the book over.

Now Cameron was mad. "Let me have my book, I need my-"

They ignored him, as they all chased each other around. Neil began to play his recorder horribly while Clara danced around the room. Dancing just as equally horrible.

Suddenly, Charlie came up behind her, picking her up and spinning her around as she laughed loudly.

None of them had noticed the crowd that formed to watch the scene.