Unwanteds High (AU)

Chapter 48

I'm back from the abyss! Even though I update rarely, I am determined to finish this fanfic one day! I am not giving up!! It's almost the end of the summer already, and time really does fly when you get older. I made it a point to get a chapter up before the summer ended so I didn't feel like a complete fail lol.  The art is by @anxiousas.alex once again! It was a January birthday present, and I'm legit awful since I'm updating the fic in August. Please go follow Alex on Instagram. Legit Alex is amazing and does incredible art. Please please! Literally begging y'all since he literally keeps me motivated to keep going with the fantastic art. Everyone's lovely and sweet comments make me motivated as well. I love seeing new people react to different parts of the fanfic, and I read all the comments (even if I don't respond oof I'm sorry). I hope you enjoy this update! 

((Alex's POV))

The talent show was getting closer and closer, and I still was nowhere near ready to perform the monologue Sam wrote together.

He was naturally gifted with everything theater. Helping backstage in the crew, helping to lead with directing, and of course acting. Samheed was so good that he brought me to tears occasionally. In comparison, I had a lot to improve on.

He was at my place after school, script in hand. He truly wrote a fantastic piece with heartbreak and yearning. He was portraying that perfectly, like a rose in a pristine vase. Meanwhile I was like a dead weed in a backyard.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get this," I said, putting the script down. It was all a lost cause.

"You're almost there," he reassured. "You know way more than you think you do. Trust me, I would tell you if you were a lost cause."

"I'm just not as good at this as you are," I said, sighing.

"Well, I plan to go into theater for a living, so I would hope you weren't better than me," he snickered.

"Wow. Thanks asshole," I grumbled.

"Sorry. That was really mean," he said.

"It's fine. It's the truth," I said. "Seriously. I'm going to choke on stage."

"Hmm," he said. "Well, maybe you can have an aid on stage," he said. "No shame in that. We can write your character Ben as reading out of a book. That way if you forget, the script will be written inside it. It will look natural."

"An aid sounds dumb," I mumbled, not looking at him. Instead my gaze fell to the script with so many highlights on it. Highlighted lines my brain refused to fully remember.

"Aids are never dumb," Sam said. "Some people do have brain fog and literally can't memorize lines. Trust me Stowe, it'll be fine. We would just need to rewrite a few lines."

I was still hesitant, but considering we were running out of time, it would take a miracle for me to memorize everything. Perhaps an aid wasn't as bad as it seemed.

"Alright. We can try it," I said.

It would have to be enough.

* * *

Ms.Morning one day on the week of the show would be happy. Then the next she would be clearly more nervous than ever. It was confirmed that the superintendent would be there, Eagala, to see for herself if the board had made a mistake with cutting the arts. Ms.Morning didn't talk about the talent show during class time, but she had a countdown on her board. 4 more days. Friday night.

At lunch, Meg sat down with her lunch tray, but she had sparkling pink fabric in her hands.

Lani gasped, "Is that your costume?!"