A Room With A View

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Phineas

September 19th, Tuesday

A bead of sweat rolled down the back of Phineas's neck. He coughed, feeling it shake off his skin and onto his collar. It was too hot in this room. 

He looked around. It was room 911 with a smooth black-painted wall adjacent to the door, and a baby blue wall across the way. There was a ladder on the blue wall. Phineas hoped that wouldn't be a part of the program. He had a fear of ladders.

Students began trickling in as the clock ticked toward 3:30pm. They gave timid smiles and half-hearted waves. No one spoke. Phineas had picked a chair in the far corner for the sole reason that it left only one empty chair to his right. Only one person with which to attempt some semblance of a conversation.

At 3:30pm sharp, a tall blonde woman in an a-line floral dress and knee-high leather boots strode into the room. She gave the warmest smile yet, her eyes flicking from one person to the next. Phineas watched her glancing at her Manila folder. She was either trying to guess which name was attached to which student, or how many people were missing.

There were two, if the sixteen-person class size was accurate. One of the missing was the empty chair next to Phineas. He cleared his throat and crossed his legs. It didn't bother him that no one had taken that chair. He wasn't there to make friends. He was there to find a hobby, and maybe meet new acquaintances along the way.

"Welcome to your first level of improv!" The tall blonde said. A nervous murmur passed from student to student.

"Don't be scared. God, you guys all look petrified!" she said. Some people laughed, others turned an even whiter shade of pale.

Phineas surveyed the thirteen other students. They were all much younger than he was, perhaps anywhere from five to fifteen years younger. But the instructor looked to be nearing Phineas's age. If anything, that could work in his favor.

"I'm just going to call out your names, pass out some paperwork, and then we can begin!" Every sentence the instructor said seemed to end on an exclamation point. Phineas wasn't sure if this was meant to encourage the students, or if she was in training to be a Disney princess. Either way, Phineas found himself relaxing slightly to the bright tone of her voice.

A Cameron Baxter and a Pat Swenson were missing. They were gender-neutral names, so Phineas wasn't sure how that would alter the dynamic of the class. It probably wouldn't, but he was still curious who these new students would be.

The instructor, whose name was Helen, stood up and clapped her hands together. "Alright! Let's begin! Why don't you all stand up and gather around in a circle."

The class stood as one, and clustered into a vaguely oval shape. Phineas stood with his back to the ladder.

"So, for a warm up, let's play the Name Game! We'll each assign ourselves a name and an action. For example, I'm Happy Helen!" Helen framed her face with her hands. She stood at least a head taller than everyone else, so her outstretched elbows were brushing the ears of the students on either side of her.

"Now you go." Helen pointed to the girl on her right. She was shy and timid, and looked to be the second oldest in the room.

"Shy Shaina," she said, her voice raspy. She hunched her shoulders as her action. Everyone in the circle followed.

One by one, the students introduced each other. Phineas was barely paying attention to their names. He was frantically trying to think of an adjective that would describe himself. He didn't want to appear pedantic, but he did want his word to say something about himself. Flashy Phineas? No, that might make people think he was arrogant. Funny Phineas? That would presume too much. Friendly Phineas? No one but Alice had ever used that word in conjunction with his name.