𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭 - noah schnapp

t e n

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september 3, 2019, tuesday

I was walking to lunch among a large crowd of people when someone tapped on my shoulder. I looked back. It's Noah. He was carrying a lunch box and what looked like a paper booklet in his hand. He gestured over to a bench on the side of the hall and I followed him back to it.

"Hey! What are we doing?" I ask.

"You'll see," he says with a sly grin.

We sat on the bench for a few minutes, waiting for everyone in 3rd lunch to get to the cafeteria. I got a couple rude stares from people every now and then, but not one of them would dare to approach us, which was good I guess. When the hall was clear, Noah got up, grabbed my hand and started jogging.

"What are we doing?"

"You'll see"

While we hurried down the hallways, until he eventually stopped in front of the door to the courtyard.

"Can we go in here during lunch?" I asked nervously.

"As long as we don't get caught."

He let go of my hand and opened the door. Immediately, the bright sun shone down on us and warmed my whole body. He started walking along the concrete path that lead to the center of the courtyard.

"Come on!"

I was still unsure, but I followed him anyway. We stopped in the middle of the courtyard where four benches met in a square.

"I thought this would be a great place to run lines. We went out here during theatre for a little bit yesterday. The cafeteria's just so awkward and loud. If you want to go back..."

"No, you're right. It's great out here," I responded as I sat down. He sat down next to me and we started eating our lunches. Then, he handed me one of the paper booklets he was holding. It was a thick packet that had "Romeo and Juliet" in grand lettering on the front.

"So this is the script?" I asked.

"Yup." He started flipping through his copy and stopped on a page. "I think page 19 is where Romeo's part starts."

"Ok. Do I just read all the other parts?"

"Yup."

We spent the rest of the lunch period reading lines, me taking the parts of Benvolio, Montague, Capulet, Paris, and the servant. He insisted I read each of the characters in a different funny voice, which made us burst out in laughter. Sometimes one of us would misread a line or stumble on a word, which made both of us laugh even more. I never knew just reading words off a page could be so entertaining.

After a while, he paused and said, "Thanks for doing this with me, usually I make Chloe read lines with me and she gets annoyed because it's so boring."

"Oh it's no problem, it's actually pretty fun."

He laughed. "Well thanks for making it less boring!"

"You're welcome." I smiled back.

Just then, the end-of-lunch bell rang and people started filling the halls. We got up and quickly gathered up our stuff. As we walked down the concrete path to the door, his tone was more serious again.

"Hey, thanks for being a good friend."

"And you too," I replied. "Anytime you want to run lines again, just ask." He opened the door for us and we stepped into the hallway.

"I will. Bye, [y/n]!"

"See you later!"

See, I thought, he said "friend".  I exhaled a sigh of relief. I was so happy that we were friends again. That also clears up Emily's suspicion that he likes me, I thought.

And I was content with that. Being friends again was more than enough.