The Actor's One & Only

Chapter 16

They rode past his mum's half submerged Bug in the loch on the way to the school at the end of the slope. Jack'd accidentally crashed it into the water the last summer he'd been down in Scotland. They shared a laugh at the undying perseverance of the old, rusty car to stay afloat, just like ol Mrs. O'Donnell herself who was always out to get what she wanted, especially in terms of trying to marry her son off as soon as possible! Jack took over once they reached the top of the slope and were about to began their descent...and judging by his previous driving experience, it could only end in disaster! 

Mia rushed out on hearing a loud, leafy thud outside. He'd been too slow in applying the brakes and crashed into the pile of leaves on the playground, sending the couple flying into the brown and green heap. Mia rolled her eyes at them as they childishly rolled about the dry leaves, in no hurry to climb out! Ruthy shook her hair free of some leaves, smiling as Jack dusted off her clothes and then his own before helping her up like a gentleman. Oblivious to Mia's presence, they only realized it when she snorted a loud 'ahem' and followed her inside obediently."Occasionally, they're prone to goofin around an' boredom. An' our lead actor's super-awkward around his heroine. An' our heroine...well, she blew me away durin auditions, but she tends to over-act a bit, so there's that...!" Ruth explained to Jack, introducing the teenage cast members to their drama teacher for the day. The students, who till then, had been loafin on the bleachers stood to attention on hearing her.

"I know there have been a few hiccups regardin the actin an' the choreography an' everythin else...but, I've got someone who's the best at his craft to help us out with our play, kids!" Ruth addressed them. "This is the bloke who's the best at his craft?! Sean Connery is the best at his craft! Not this nobody." she heard  rude Mia scoff. "Yeah, right! What's he, the best at sellin toilet paper?!" her arm candy, Mr. Clark seconded, cracking himself up. "Oh, hi-larious! Let's all focus on the TP ad, eh? Ya know, if there's gonna be humiliation involved, I don't think I wanna be part o' this..." Jack prepared to leave, hurt by their mockery. "No, no, Jack! Please stay! Mia only meant to think it, not say it. An' Mr. Clark's just a parrot an' a brown-nose who'll agree with Mia on anythin...He didn't mean anythin by it!" Ruth apologized on their behalf. "That's hurtful!" Mia cried out in protest on hearing her. "Well, now ya know how he feels. Besides, he's just got offered a role in a movie that'll be filmed in L.A., which could just be the one that'll catapult im into Hollywood. Now, be nice or there won't be a play for us to put up, ya two!" Ruth ordered, taking up a strict tone that shut her rude friend up instantly.
"Alright, fantastic! So, what're we puttin up ere?" Jack enquired, once he'd gotten over the hurtful comments. "Ere ya go. That's the script. Complete with musical numbers that I painstakingly wrote. Wrote it myself...with no help whatsoever from the unhelpful duo, of course!" Ruth replied, proudly handing him the script, before shooting daggers at her useless pal and her equally useless arm candy. Each cast member produced their own copies of the script from their backpacks, although it was unclear whether they'd bothered to read or memorize the lines. They seemed uninterested and the copies surely had seen better days- torn and crumpled,as they were! "Titanic: The musical. Mmhmm...Ambitious!" Jack read the title out loud, sounding impressed as he flipped through the pages of the script.
He got straight down to business as he walked up to Timothy Walker AKA the super-awkward, freckled Jack Dawson. He was supposed to romance the dark-skinned, utterly beautiful, lithe and doe-eyed Aurora McFayden in the interracial adaptation of the love story.  "Tim, right? Well, you've got the handsomeness down. All ya need is the charm, lad. Just imagine ya really love Aurora. I want ya to hold on to er like only a lover can, yeah?" he advised, towering over the boy as he spoke. "But, I don't love er. She's all so mopey an' cryey!" Timothy muttered. "Well, sue me if I'm only tryin to inject a bit o' emotion into the stage adaptation o' a classic love story, ya creep!" the extremely sassy Aurora retorted, raising her voice at him as she spoke. "Try not to go overboard with it, lass...no pun intended!" Jack advised. They, of course, chose to ignore him, continuing to argue. Soon, they'd pulled their classmates into the argument as well and the tenth graders were soon taking sides and resorting to name-calling! Jack sighed in exasperation.
"Make love, not war, people! Actually, poor choice o' words to say out loud to a bunch o' possibly sexually active teens. Abstinence, that's the way to go, ya lot! Anyway, back to the play." he put an end to the argument, and also a lotta strain on his voice as he yelled over the din to make himself heard. "Tim, I know ya hate er, but I'm askin ya to act like yer in love with er...well, with er character, anyway..." Jack pleaded to the young man, eliciting only a blank stare from him.
"Ya know what, lad? Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze disliked each other too. But if they hadn't put aside their differences for the time bein, they'd never have come together an' filmed the masterpiece that is Dirty Dancing, eh?" Ruth attempted to defuse the tension between her young leads by using her knowledge of romcoms.  "Dirty Dancin? Is that like a porno, Ms. Richards?" Tim, obviously too young to understand her reference, enquired after a long pause, causing his teacher to shrink back in disgust."Never mind that, Tim. It's an unimportant lil romcom/dance flick that she forced me to sit through once upon a time! Let's focus on one love story at a time, eh, Ruthy? Lemme handle this, yeah?" Jack advised his well-meaning girlfriend, asking her to step down as she threw her hands up in defeat. "Now, watch as I do the same scene with my foe. Mia, d'you mind bein my Rose for a sec?" he requested, hitting upon an idea as he  asked Mia to be his volunteer.
"Scuse me?! Me, doin a love scene with ya? In yer dreams, mate!" Mia refused, not so politely!  "C'mon, it's only actin, Mia. Or ya afraid my actin skills are gonna overshadow ya, eh?" he teased, with a wicked grin. "I'm not afraid. Who says I'm afraid? Bet I'm a better actor than ya are! Let's do this!" she agreed, deciding she wasn't going to let him get away with his mockery as she strutted towards him and sized him up.
  "See, ya just press up against er...like so. An' rest yer hand on er waist, like so..." Jack began, pulling Mia towards him in a swift motion. She felt his hot breath against her face as he lifted her chin up to face him and gazed into her eyes, leaving her frozen, as if in a trance. Unconsciously, she brought her stiff arms up to his chest and began to lose herself in his eyes, before he continued his tutorial- "Then, ya gaze into er eyes. Be sure to express through yer eyes, not just mouth the dialogue, yeah? Like so- Rose, yer no picnic....Yer a spoiled lil brat even, but under that... yer a strong, pure heart an' yer the most amazingly astoundin girl I've ever known. Yer amazin...an' I know I've nothin to offer ya, Rose. I know that. But I'm involved now. Ya jump, I jump, remember? I can't turn away without knowin yer gonna be alright." He left everyone moist-eyed at the end of the scene with his emotional dialogue-delivery.
"See? An' at the end o' it all, I still hate Mia. Hate er guts an' everythin bout er, but I still pushed all that deep down inside for the sake o' a scene. That's actin, lad!" he exclaimed, rudely pushing off Mia (who at once hit the floor on her arse with a thud!) once the scene was done, grinning at the applause he received from the teary audience, before taking a bow. "Ow! I can't believe I felt myself fallin for ya just minutes ago an' was picturin myself with ya, raisin our mixed race children together once Ruth was outta the picture!" Mia grumbled as Mr. Clark helped her to her feet and dusted her off. She'd meant to think it, but the loud mouth that she was, she'd accidentally said it out loud! "O---kay....Anyway, I wanna see that angst in yer eyes. That relentless love. From the top!" Jack shook off the uneasiness she'd elicited with her confession, shuddering at the thought of him and his sworn enemy Mia together, before turning his attention back to directing the students.
Next, came the famed Third Class party scene. The students took their positions, while Ruth put on the music and watched as Jack choreographed the scene. "Ya ever considered a career as a drama teacher instead, love? Yer quite good at it too." Ruth suggested, praising him as they watched the students reenact the scene and perfect their dance moves in one shot. Mia and Mr. Clark too felt the urge to join in, although the couple seemed to jostle more than dance, with Mia shrieking and admonishing him every time he stomped on her toes! "I dunno...Have ya considered lettin me have this dance, m'lady? Shall we?" he dodged the subject in a charming manner as he stretched out his hand to her, offering to dance with her. She laughed, nodding and agreeing to join him as she took his hand in hers, matching steps with her lover as they recreated Leo and Kate's famed waltz from the movie.
"C'mon, I really need to see some expression ere, people! The boat's sinkin, it's hit a bloody iceberg...What d'you do?! Yer runnin the wrong way, Jeremy!" he'd had a ball directing the kids, till the last few scenes when he ran outta energy and patience. "Right..that's it! Take five to run o'er yer lines an' I want em perfect, ya hear?!" Ruth ordered, cutting in and deciding that everyone deserved a break on seeing the sweat rolling down the side of her brave boyfriend's face. The relieved students returned to their perch on the bleachers once more, fanning themselves with their scripts and gossiping away. "I'll go get us some coffee, yeah?" she offered, leaving her boyfriend to catch his breath as he sat on the edge of the stage and let his lanky legs dangle. "That'd be nice, love." Jack panted, feeling the colour return to his pale, exhausted face when Ruth kissed him in a grateful manner.