Bright: DEH/BMC Fanfic

Chapter 6

Zoe looked into the drama room hesitantly. She saw recognizable faces sitting in a circle on the stage. They were eating their lunches and chatting away. Brooke saw her and waved her in.

Zoe walked into the room as the same group of people from the diner welcomed her. She smiled at them as she sat down next to Brooke, "Hey guys."

Jenna Roland was the first to speak up. "So," she leaned forward, "how was your first day?"

"It was fine," Zoe said. She looked longingly at everyone's lunches. "Hey Michael, are those Cheetos still up for grabs?"

Michael was sitting next to Rich, who's arm was around him. Jeremy was a little more upstage, near Jake and Chloe. "Yeah, sure. I've got half a bag left." He carefully threw the Cheetos bag at Zoe, and she caught it.

"Well," Jenna began talking again, "my day was busy. I had to spend all of fourth period interviewing some freshman who want to be apart of the school blog. They couldn't seem to understand that it's not about how good you can write. It's all about connections." She bit into her sandwich angrily.

"That's nothing." Chloe spun her fork into her pasta. "Brooke and I are already planning Homecoming and trying to get sponsors for our play. You know how hard it is to get sponsors to fund Shakespeare? Impossible!"

"Ahh babe," Jake put his arm around her, "You guys will figure it out. If my parents were here, they'd help for sure."

"They're still gone?" Jenna asked.

"They came back over the summer." Jake explained. "But the feds are still after them, so they had to jet again."

Brooke leaned over and whispered into Zoe's ear, "His parents laundered money and now they're on the run." Zoe's eyes widened but she said nothing.

"Still," Chloe brought the attention back to herself, "I don't know how we're going to afford to put on the show. Why can't we just do West Side Story or something?"

"Because this school is predominantly white." Michael said monotonously. This made Zoe realize that he was the only person with dark skin in the whole group.

"Then why not Grease?" Brooke put in. At this, Mr. Reyes stepped out of his office; of course holding a Hot Pocket.

"You want to know why we're doing Romeo and Juliet?" He stepped closer to the stage. "Because this school can't afford to pay royalties!" He stood there for a moment, one hand on his hip, the other holding a cheese and ham Hot Pocket. "If you want to pay $2,000 to put on Grease then be my guest." Without another word, he walked back into his office.

A minute passed before anyone spoke again. "That was weird," Rich whispered.

"Speaking of Romeo and Juliet," Jeremy spoke up, "Who's auditioning on Wednesday?"

"Brooke and I can't because we're too busy with leadership." Chloe said.

"Wait... I thought you all were in leadership." Zoe said, confused.

"No, only Chloe and I." Brooke replied. "Everyone else just volunteered for volunteer hours. All seniors need thirty hours worth before the end of the year."

"Christ," Zoe muttered.

"Well," Jake looked bored, "I am. I still need 20 more volunteer hours and I can knock 'em out with this play."

"You can get volunteer hours from being in the play?" Zoe asked. Brooke nodded.

"I'll be too busy with the school blog." Jenna said.

"These two losers are doing it." Michael pointed at Rich and Jeremy.

"So... that makes three of us." Jake looked disappointed.

"Wow! You can count!" Jenna said sarcastically. Jake rolled his eyes.

"There'll probably be more people at audtions." Brooke reminded, then looked at Zoe. "Are you auditioning?"

Zoe had a cheetos in her mouth, "Ahhh..." She tried to gulp them down. "I don't know. I've never acted before. I won't be any good."

"Don't worry! No one at this school is any good." Brooke tried to explain.

"Except Christine," Jenna said, looking down at her lunch. The whole room got quite as everyone stared at her. She looked up to face them, "What? You know it's true. She's going to acting college or whatever next fall."

"How do you know?" Chloe glared at her. She kept twisting her uneaten pasta.

Jenna gulped nervously, realizing her mistake. She looked at Jeremy and apologized, "I'm sorry. I know you don't want us talking about her."

He shook his head, "It's whatever." He looked down at his backpack sadly. Zoe felt the sudden urge to hug him. She knew what it was like for people to constantly talk about her ex while she was in the room.

No one spoke for the rest of lunch. When the bell finally rang for sixth period, Zoe walked up to Jeremy. She waited till everyone was out of the room before she spoke.

"So um..." She wanted to ask if he was okay, but thought it'd be too weird. Instead she said, "Do you know how the auditioning process works?"

He looked at her stunned, "I thought you weren't going to audition."

"Well," she held onto the straps of her backpack, "I need thirty volunteer hours and this seems to be the easiest way to get them."

Jeremy nodded, "Alright, well... you come here after school on Wednesday. You don't need to bring anything, just try to work on your Italian accent at home." He paused to zip up his backpack. "There are gonna be other students watching you while you audition. Try not to focus on them. It's hard, believe me, but just focus on the lines."

"Will Mr. Reyes be giving me the lines?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah," Jeremy confirmed. "He'll give you lines for a character he thinks you'll be best as." He began heading towards the door and Zoe followed. "You're gonna make it in the play no matter what. Barely any people audition."

They walked outside the drama room and Jeremy pointed to the sign up sheet on the door, "Just sign up. You'll do great." He smiled softly and then walked down the hall to his next class.

Zoe stared at the sign up sheet for a few moments, then took the pen that was dangling on a string near the paper. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she sighed as she wrote Zoe Murphy on a line. She was fifth on the list, underneath Christine Canigula.