High Heels and Battle Plans

Four

- a n -

Hi guys!

Here's the (slightly late) next chapter, but, before you read it, I have a bit of an announcement.

I'm going on a month-long Wattpad hiatus, because I'm going to try to participate in NaNoWriMo this year (if you don't know what it is, just google it). Not sure how that's going to go, but it will be a lot harder to balance two stories at once, so I'm taking a break from this one.

I'll continue this story in December, and I might post my NaNoWriMo story on here, too, once I start editing it.

Until then, enjoy!

- f o u r -

Unfortunately, Finn was all too familiar with comforting someone while they are crying. At least, he knew the situation well, though he was more used to the part of the one being comforted. Either way, he knew what to do when someone was emotionally suffering, and it was important information he hoped he would never have to need.

Today, though, he was grateful for his experiences, and was even more relieved that he had to use them in a less painful situation. Because he needed an elective, Finn's second class was acting, and they were acting out prompts instead of doing pointless ice-breakers and getting-to-know-you games that they had done in AP history, his first class. And, of course, the new kid ends up being in the first pair to perform for their improv exercises.

He entered the stage from stage right, and rushed towards the bench in the middle of the stage, where the girl, his partner for the exercise, had wandered onto the stage and sat down, sobbing, only moments before. Finn's card had only explained, "Group 1 (actor 2): Be a good friend to to (actor 1)." He figured her card had had a bit more direction as to what she was to do, but he couldn't ask now. The directions from the teacher ordered that partners were not allowed to interact until they were called onto the stage, actor 2 going on stage only after actor 1 was in place. It appeared that the "actor 1" of the group was in place.

One thing Finn knew about acting was that personal experiences were usually the best references, so he drew from his experience with Ria, who had almost always been the one comforting him. "Victoria!" Finn shouted, trying to sound hurt and worried, like Ria had back then. He knew there was a girl named Victoria in the class, and that she was the last one to be called for attendance, but could not remember the face that went with the memorable name. It appeared, though, that he had just given the name to the girl's character.

Victoria peered over her face-covering hands, which glistened with real tears, before collapsing back into sobs. Finn felt a flicker of nerves as he realized that he may have chosen the wrong elective, as she seemed to be a much better actor than him. He quickly dismissed the thought and, following both his instincts and his memories, reached the crying girl and sat down close to her.

He put an arm around her and said the character name again, this time with less alarm and more sympathy. "Victoria." He rubbed her back, his voice calm and gentle. Finn was surprised at how easy it was to be who you want to be while acting. If she was actually crying, Finn would have just frozen up by now, too afraid of messing up and making things worse to try to comfort her. The magic of acting, Finn was quickly learning, was that everything that happened while acting didn't affect real life. If you mess up, you can just start the scene from the top again. Once the scene is over, you can walk away from the stage like nothing happened.

The last time Finn had done any sort of acting was a spring play that every fifth grader at the school had to be in. He had played one of the main roles and considered joining drama club the next year, but had been teased so much for his acting that he decided against it. He hadn't even thought about acting since then, until he saw the class on the list of electives he could take, and much prefered it to the visual arts class that was the other choice for an arts elective. He worried his acting hiatus had only made is acting worse, and, again, felt those prickles of nerves surface.