The WRA Draft

Chapter Five: The Drama

(the next day)

As I finished passing out the snacks, Maria began the meeting, "Alright, settle down. If you haven't already, thank Olivia for the snacks. She went out of her way to get them for us."

A chorus of thank you's came my way, so I smiled. "You're welcome. I hope you guys enjoy them."

I sat down between Toby and Taylor with my own goldfish crackers and Capri Sun.

"Okay, so I'm sure you can all agree the meeting last week was a disaster," Maria said. "So this meeting should be more organized as we don't have the stress of the parents here." Chuckles and nods of agreement passed through the crowd. "So we left off with who's idea last?"

A girl just ahead of me that I recognized as Cassie raised her hand. "I was thinking we do something about the military."

I nodded my head, thinking about the idea. It sounded kind of nice.

"Go on," Maria said.

"I thought we could do something about a soldier trying to find his way home from war. He'll go through obstacles through the way and run into conflicts and things like that."

"That doesn't sound half bad," Maria commented. Other students murmured. It did sound like a good idea.

"Then, in the end, the soldier dies due to dehydration."

I was surprised I didn't hear crickets throughout the crowd.

"Well that escalated quickly," Toby finally said.

"Uh," Maria nodded slowly. "that's definitely a good idea. Did you write that down, Clay?"

Clayton, one of the Royals, looked up from his notebook. "Yep."

"Good. Thank you, Cassie."

Cassie sat down with a proud smirk. She was on the verge of becoming a Royal, I felt it. She had built a friendship with a few of the others, which I think we all wanted at least a little.

"Alright, that was the last idea, I think. What's next?" Maria looked down at her notes.

"I bet a majority of those notes are just scribbles," Taylor whispered to me. I had to cover my mouth to stifle my laughter.

"You're probably right," I whispered back with a smile.

The rest of the meeting consisted of bad ideas and snarky remarks from Toby and Taylor.

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Due to my ankle, I walked with a slight limp out of the Gray Room to my locker.

"Olivia!" I heard Maria call me. I turned around.

"Yes?"

"Cassie told me that you and Toby were making dumb comments throughout the meeting," she says. She grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side. She spoke quietly, "You need to grow up. I get that you could be a bit angry because of the Challenge, but you have to remember that the rest of us are going through the same thing."

I ripped my arm from her grip. "A little bit angry? Dude, I'm freaking pissed! This whole law is the stupidest thing in the world. And who are you to tell me to grow up?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you're not realizing the issue at hand," I said. "How are we supposed to write a musical if you can't even work with your classmates?"

"What're you talking about?" Maria hissed. "We work together fine!"

"Look at you and I. We're arguing right now. You call that fine?"