Separian - Book 1

Chapter 4: Slow Descent

Staying focused was a pipe dream as the rest of my day passed. When classes finally let out, I found myself attempting to pin the voice I'd heard coming from my counselor's office on one of the faces flooding the hallway. After the first few waves of bodies, I gave up. It was either that or risk being late for my next period.There were too many new faces that I didn't recognize. Too many freshman.

I wasn't surprised when I didn't hear the voice again. Don't misunderstand, I did not find comfort in that fact.

Second period all the way through seventh, I'd been listening for it; ready to jump on whomever it belonged to. Before long, I grew bored of trying to uncover the mystery and began reasoning with myself. You won't find the voice away from your counselor's office because that's where you'd heard it. Her joke won't be funny unless she is there to see it firsthand. She probably told whoever she'd had hiding that they could stop once I left. Or to continue with the poor girl who'd entered after me. I didn't think too hard about the plot-holes in my explanation. I moved on, quickly and definitively.

When school eventually ended, I fell back into my old rut. A few mindless minutes of roaming the halls, seeing what new clubs and faces would fill the spaces between classes, followed by drama rehearsal. Rehearsals had been going for several weeks, now. I'd auditioned before the summer break. Mrs Meyer, or 'Meyer' as we called her, was less than impressed with my absences. I'd managed to avoid her most of today, but at lunch, she'd made it a clear mission to seek me out and inform me that if I did not attend today, my part would be given away.

"Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch. Again."

It wasn't the easiest way to pretend I didn't exist -drama class- but it was the best place to avoid judgment. The people here were kind, warm even, all but harmless unless provoked to an unreasonable degree. I didn't feel so out of place when I was around them, unlike the rest of my school. Sarah and I had promised we would audition for the next show together. And we had. We'd both been accepted into the show. Now that the day was over and rehearsal was already underway, her absence left the experience empty. I'd swung by our agreed meeting place two more times, in the even that she'd forgotten when we'd agreed to meet, but nobody I knew had even seen her today. She'd flaked.

Our instructor had taught us the same count of 8 more than 20 times now. The same steps, over and over again. I could practically dance with my eyes closed at this point. If this was the entirety of what they'd been rehearsing over the break, I had missed nothing and Meyer was overreacting. I was sure to get a lead in this play. Was anyone else was as bored as I was? While waiting here with nothing to do but mindlessly follow the instructions our teacher gave, I could have already learned the rest of the dance and begun practicing lines.

A few others were slowly but surely losing their minds, thankfully. Having them here was a nice balm from our director. It took much of the attention off of me standing around doing nothing and placed it equally on all of us.

"Everybody got it?" A student said without waiting for a response. It took me a moment to realize he was rehearsing a line from the very play this dance number came from. "That connects with turn, turn, out, in, jump, step, step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch." I'd heard the words, but I'd been too focused on the others as they fumbled about that I completely missed the steps. For a bunch of kids passionate about drama, they weren't terribly coordinated. "Again: Turn, turn, out, in, jump step, step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch. Got it?" No response. Apparently that meant it was time to move forward. "Going on. And turn, turn, touch, down, back, step, pivot, step, walk, walk, walk. Again. Turn, turn, touch, down, back, step, pivot, step, walk, walk, walk." This count of eleven was longer but in reality, the steps were easier than the first eighteen combined. One of the others just standing around like me was now helping two of the other girls who hadn't quiet gotten it yet. I didn't know if she'd been asked, but the smile on her face said she was happy to do it.