#dramasquad

Scene 10 Act 1

{Kalea}

I was sitting in my sixth period math class, patiently waiting for it to become 11:45. It was currently 11:44, but I couldn't wait for my math teacher to excuse me for the Winter Sonnet. At this point, I had stopped paying attention to the work we were doing, but not the clock.

When the red second hand on the clock hit the twelve, I turned to look at my math teacher, waiting for him to stay anything about the Sonnet.

"Are any of you in drama club that need to be excused for the Winter Sonnet?" my math teacher, Mr. Byers, asked the class. I was the only one who raised my hand.

"Well Kalea, I can't wait to see you perform. Have a good practice!" he told me. I thanked him and practically sprinted out of the class and down the hallway to get my things.

Once I had packed up my backpack, I went to go meet Mallie, Lana, and Dan out front.

When did I see them, I waved and ran up to them as fast as I could.

Dan was wearing a casual baseball t-shirt, skinny jeans, and some black Converse. Lana was wearing a Gemini t-shirt, some boyfriend jeans, and some black platform strap on shoes. Mallie was wearing a pastel pink dress that had a white collar and some holographic shoes with vintage My Little Pony characters on them. I stopped questioning what she wore a long time ago, but I like how she is being bold, just like Lana says.

"I'M TOO EXCITED LET'S GO!" I shouted at my friend as we all raced through the parking lot. We all climbed into Mallie's car, as she offered to drive this time. I sat in the front with her and Dan and Lana sat together in the back.

By the time we left the school campus, Mallie had turned on the radio and we all belted the lyrics to every song that was on. Sometimes I think the radio pressures us to memorize the same lyrics to the same ten songs, but none the less, the songs are catchy.

Mallie tried to drive as carefully as she could, as there was a lot of ice (due to it being December) and she was driving on a highway.

When we finally arrived to the college, we ran into the building and into auditorium as fast as we could. We could barley contain our excitement for today.

More people started to file into the auditorium, and when everybody showed up, Damian stood up on the stage to guide us through the next to hours.

"Alright everyone, who is ready to practice for the Winter Sonnet?" Damian asked us. Everyone in the club cheered.

"That's great! So, here is how the next two hours are going to go. We are going to run through the entire show. After that, cast members will change back into their street clothes, as our play is the very last thing that everyone will do at the Winter Sonnet. This will give you the option to look at all the other booths and activities that will be featured at todays event. Any questions?" Damian explained. Nobody had any questions, just like always.

"Perfect! Now, go change!"

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We had just finished our dress rehearsal of Picnic. We were through our final bows, and what made we happy was that the crew gets to bow, too. They did help us with so much for the play, and I'm glad they are getting recognized.

Anyway, it was now 2:30, and everyone in the cast had changed back into their street clothes to prepare for the event that was starting in thirty minutes. Shockingly, none of the buses with the students from our school have arrived yet. They probably just got stuck out in the snow.

I was sitting in the auditorium with the Lana, Dan, and Mallie, along with the rest of the kids in the club. We kept on talking for awhile until it became time for the Winter Sonnet to start.

We all walked out of the auditorium, ready to explore the activities and for the other students to see our performance later. I was very excited for our performance. I couldn't wait for everyone else in our school to see all of our hard work and effort that was put into our production. Oh, did I mention that it was completely put together by students? Incredible.

We walked around the halls of the college to the all of the booths set up, but nobody tending them. No other students walked these halls except for the drama club kids.

"Where is everybody?" Dan asked us.

"I have no idea," I responded.

"Maybe the buses didn't start. Or they just got stuck in traffic," Lana acknowledged.

"Yeah," I responded.

We all sat around the halls of the Hawkins Community College, playing games on our phones or just pointlessly talking to each other. All of a sudden, Damian burst out of the auditorium, and we were sitting very close to the auditorium doors.

"I know why the other students haven't arrived yet," Damian nervously approached us.

The four of us stood up and other students near us looked at us and Damian.

"How come?" Lana asked.

Damian handed Lana his phone, and the four of us huddled around the phone.

Displayed on Damian's phone was a live news broadcast. Lana turned the volume up, and the woman sitting at the news desk started talking.

"One of the buses from Hawkins High School was driving along Highway 36 when the bus slid off the road and rolled over on it's side, remaining stuck on the side of the highway. The other three buses had to stop due to traffic, and there are no determined fatalities as of this moment. Some students are injured, but we are not sure how badly," the woman on the news said. While she talked, the image changed to the flipped over bus, with smoke coming out of it. Police cars and ambulances surrounded the bus.

"W-was that the bus that Grant and Luka and Jay were all on?" Lana asked with shaky breaths.

Mallie grabbed my wrist.

"We have to go."