Flightless Bird

Chapter 22 - part 1

I stepped out into the hallway, pulling the heavy wooden door of my room shut behind me. Sighing, I started down the almost empty corridor. I had never been to Jacob's room before, but I knew the number and roughly where it was. Jacob roomed with Clark, and Adam and Jayson's room was nearby. I wasn't sure if Jacob would even be there, since last time I had seen him was with Anna, and that wasn't long ago. Still, I wanted to try and find him before Jayson did, since I was pretty sure Jayson would wait to tell Jacob about what had happened. Soon, I found the room. From the outside, it was nothing special, but if Jacob was in there this could be the place where everything changed. I knocked on the door, half hoping no one would answer, but after a minute the door swung open.

"Hey Kerri, what's up?" Clark asked me as he gestured me inside.

"I just need to speak to Jacob," I told Clark.

"Oh, I think he's out with Anna right now, but he should be back soon to get some things before our first lesson. You can wait here for him if you want to."

"Thanks Clark. Can I just sit over there?" I asked, gesturing to a small armchair in one corner.

"Sure," he said, nodding at me with a small smile.

I smiled back, taking a seat in the chair and crossing my ankles to wait.

Clark walked over to the other side of the room, and sat down at a desk. He picked up a piece of paper, and began to mutter under his breath.

"Hey, what are you doing over there?" I asked. Clark turned to me with a smile.

"I'm practising my monologue for my audition later. I'm going for Mr Wickham," he told me.

"Oh yeah, I remember! Well I'm sure you'll do well, it seems like you know your lines pretty well."

"How about you, aren't you going out for Lizzie?" he asked, pulling his chair over to sit closer to me.

"Yeah, but I barely know my lines. I am so gonna fail!"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll be fine when you get up on stage," he said. I smiled,

"Thanks."

"Well this looks cosy," I heard a voice say from the doorway. I turned to see Anna, silhouetted in the frame with hands on hips.

"We were just talking about the auditions today," Clark told her, standing.

"Oh, I'm going to play Lizzie!" Anna exclaimed, strutting in and sitting down on the bed closest to the door.

"Really?" Jacob asked as he joined the party, "Kerri's going out for Lizzie too."

Anna's cold smile dropped, replaced by a sneer. Before she could say anything, though, Jacob came over to lean on the wall next to me, and said,

"Clark, could you walk Anna back to her room?" Clark sighed, so Jacob added in an undertone,

"Bree might be there..."

Clark gave Jacob an irritated look, but walked over to the door and said,

"C'mon Anna." She pushed herself up from the bed, thrusting out her chest as she did so. I scoffed and looked away, only looking back to Jacob when I heard the door close.