Falling Fast (Louis Tomlinson AU)

Chapter 4

I got more and more nervous as the day went on. By the time Carli, Grace, Lola and I got on the bus to DSFB that afternoon, my stomach was in a massive knot.

“No school minibus today, then” Carli said bitterly. “You’d think they’d send cars for us, seeing as we’re helping out for their stupid play.” For some reason Carli was pretending to find the whole thing a massive drag. She’d even considered turning down the role of Juliet. “All those lines,” she’d groaned. “And I didn’t fancy any of the boys we saw the other day.” My heart leaped at this. If Carli didn’t intend to get her claws into Louis, I’d have more chance to talk to him. I was trying to think of how to encourage her to pull out of the play altogether, when Grace peered round at us.

“There’ll be other boys, Carli” she smiled “Loads in the rest of the cast, then all the ones that help backstage.” Carli’s eyes brightened

“True” she said. “And what with you being with Liam and that Lola Walker . . .” she lowered her voice “. . . looking like she’s totally up her own backside, there’ll be loads of guys to choose from for me and Tom.” She grinned. “Hope we don’t go for the same guy Tom.” I gritted my teeth.

We’d been given permission to skip the last period of the school day in order to get to DSFB by the end of their school day. The bell was ringing as we walked into the big, stone entry hall and found the bursar’s office on the left. The secretary told us to wait outside while she buzzed the staff room for Mr Nichols. We lolled self-consciously against the office door as streams of boys of various ages and sizes stumbled past, wide-eyed and gawping. There was a lot of pushing and shoving and pointing, though none of them actually talked to us.

“God, you’d think they’ve never seen a girl before.” Carli whispered to me. I swallowed, remembering what mum had said this morning. Still, none of those boys were Louis.

After a few minutes the entry hall started to clear. Harry Styles came stumbling over, a big cheeky grin on his slightly flushed face.

“Hi” he said, to Carli’s left arm. “I’m supposed to take you to rehearsal room.” I rolled my eyes at Grace. She smiled back. That was the good thing about the way me, Carli and Grace were friends. Whenever something was happening to one of us, the other two were always there to share it.

My heart was pounding by the time we reached the rehearsal room. It was another classroom. Bigger the one we’d used before, all the desks were pushed back against the wall giving space in the middle. It was distinctly shabby too – with a few posters and bits of course-work pinned up on peeling wallpaper and a large cracked whiteboard propped next the huge arch door. I look swiftly around the room. My heart beat fast. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I knew I was looking for Louis. There were at least ten boys lounging against the desks by the walls. Most of them were watching Carli – who had dragged a blushing Grace into the middle of the room and was chatting to her ultra-casually, pouting her lips and raking back her hair as she talked.

I looked along the row of boys. Louis wasn’t there. How could he not be here? He had the main part. I had a sudden and terrifying thought. Suppose something awful and happened to him and he pulled out of the play?

“You okay?” Harry Styles had sidled up to me, unnoticed.

“Mmmn” I said. “Fine.”

“Er . . . your name’s . . . er . . . Tommi isn’t it?” Harry said. I stared at him.

“Yes” I said “Why?”

“Nothing” Harry stammered. “I just wondered. You said you were Carli’s best friend and . . . and I was thinking . . . I was just curious. Well, um, everyones is . . .” He stuttered to a stop. I frowned.

“Curious about what?” I said.

Harry gazed at Carli. “One of the other guys wanted to know . . . er . . . if she . . . if you know . . .  there was . . . it’s just, um, like you’re her best friend. You said.” I remembered something Harry had said the first time we’d met.

“You’re Louis best friend aren’t you?” I said.

Harry shrugged. “I guess”

“Where is he” I asked nonchalantly. “Shouldn’t he be here for rehearsal?” Harry nodded.

“He should be. But he told Mr Nichols he had a family emergency. He had to go home straight after school.”

“Oh.” I said bitterly disappointed. But at least Louis was still doing the play. There would be other rehearsals, after all. I glanced sideways at Harry, hoping he hadn’t noticed how deflated I’d sounded. He was still staring at Carli.

“She doesn’t have a boyfriend.” I said.

Harry looked round at me startled. I grinned.

“Well that was what you wanted to know wasn’t it?”

The rehearsal lasted just over an hour. Mr Nichols got everyone to read through the first couple of acts. He said Romeos lines himself. That must have been a bit weird for Carli, but she kept her head down, concentrating hard on what she was reading, so I couldn’t see her facial expression. Afterwards some of the boys came over and tried to talk to us. I stood between Carli and Grace, feeling ugly and awkward. Carli was in her element, tossing her hair back and flashing dazzling smiles at them all. Grace looked nervous, but sweet. I could see several of the boys clearly intimidated by Carli’s hard, sexy, confidence, make a beeline for Grace. She giggled with them, looking up at them coyly from under her eyelashes. I sighed. It was just a game for them. A dance. No on was saying what they really felt. Everyone trying to be something they weren’t. Putting on an act.

A few tried to speak to me, but I didn’t really talk back. I didn’t know how to join in and was torn between envy at the ease with which Carli charmed everyone and irritation at the pointlessness of the whole thing. Soon, I slipped away and got the bus home by myself. We went back on Thursday for another read-through – this time of the last three acts. Louis still wasn’t there. The same family emergency, Harry said mysteriously. But he didn’t offer up the details and – because it was Louis – I couldn’t ask.

By the following Monday I had pretty much convinced myself he wasn’t going to be there. Even if he was, I reckoned, I’d built him up in my mind and when I saw him again I was going to see he was really no different from the other boys. It was a smaller rehearsal this time. Carli and I went on our own. Harry came and took us up to the classroom we’d used on the first day, the one in the sixth form block. Three boys were already there – a brown haired guy who I knew was playing Lord Capulet, Juliet’s father, and two shorter guys who explained they were servant 1 and 2. Harry hung around for a while, chatting to Carli’s right shoulder, then bumbled off, mumbling something about not being in the scene we were rehearsing.  Act 1, Scene 5. The scene where Romeo and Juliet meet.

The door swung open. Mr Nichols came in. He was wearing a long scarf around his neck. It trailed down the side of his rather shapeless jumper. A stocky boy with a shock of blond hair strolled in behind him. I recognised him from the previous rehearsal. He was playing Tybalt the guy Romeo kills.

Mr Nichols smiled distractedly at Carli and me, and then strode to the front of the room. He leaned against the teacher’s desk and crossed his long, thin legs.

“I thought we would tackle a crucial scene tonight” he said. “The build up to the first meeting of the Verona Two.”  The Verona two was Mr Nichols way of referring to Romeo and Juliet. He always chuckled when he said it. No one else did. Mr Nichols absently wound his scarf a second time around his neck. “Right” he said. “We’ll start with . . .” He suddenly blinked rapidly. “WHERE THE HELL IS LOUIS??” He glared round the room. All faces were blank. Then the door opened and in strolled Louis.

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                                                                            ~This is life, Not a rehearsal~

Hey guyzz. more of a filler, might upload another chapter later on, sorry for a filler chapter again xx