Dear Ocean Sky

Chapter 2 | Alex

Alex held her binder close to her chest instinctively. She took a breath as she passed through the double doors leading to the fine arts hallway. She glanced down at her schedule, making sure she was in the right place.

Course: Theatre Productions

Teacher: Toro, Benjamin

Period(s): 1

Alex walked into the classroom and found a seat at a mostly empty table. The only person there was a boy wearing a button-up shirt and jeans. Alex set her stuff down as the morning pledges started. She placed her hand over her chest, and her other arm behind her back rigidly as she turned to face the flags. Alex mumbled all the words quietly but no one took notice as everyone's voices were joined in a chorus of words, drowning out any one person.

After the pledges were done, Alex sat herself down across from the boy, trying to avoid eye contact, hoping she could get through the class without having to make conversation. The boy, however, had different ideas. He extended his hand out to her in a silent attempt to get Alex to shake it. Alex took his hand hesitantly. She was mildly confused by why a middle schooler would want to shake hands to introduce himself, and she looked curiously at the outstretched hand the boy was offering.

"Hey I'm Liam, you must be new to the theatre program," he said sweetly with a smile. His smile however was not one of those cheesy 'oh-I'm-doing-this-to-be-polite-I-don't-actually-care' smiles, it was genuine.

"Uh yeah, kind of, I'm Alex," she replied with a tiny smile of her own as to not appear rude. Liam dropped her hand and laughed.

"Uh yeah, kind of?" he asked. Alex shrugged.

Liam looked as if he were about to continue their conversation, but Alex saw the teacher, whom she assumed was Mr. Toro, stand up and look around the room. He smiled cheerily the whole time yet a hush fell across the students. He clapped his hands together. "Hello my Productions class of 2016!" he welcomed, which was followed by a chorus of 'hellos' and 'good mornings.'

"So," Mr. Toro said, "Let's get to that whole introducing ourselves thing. I am Benjamin Toro, but you can call me Mr. Benj, and you should all know me already considering this is our top theatre class, but I know we have a few new students." Mr. Benj then went on to explain that he hated when people called him Mr. Toro because it just sounded so wrong to him. He also didn't like being called Benjamin because that sounded like such a proper name and in his words he was 'in no way a proper person.' He also went to say that the Mr. was merely a formality as the school district hated it when students were able to call teachers by their first name, whereas Mr. Benj thought it knocked down some walls and made teachers more approachable.

"Now I'm not going to make you all sit through one of those boring powerpoints about my life, if you really want to know all of that, you may ask me at a later date, but for right now I want to get to know each of you." Mr. Benj said, smiling. "I would like each of you to say your name, the first word that pops into your head, and a lyric from one of your favorite songs."

This method of "getting to know" people seemed to work very well. You could tell somewhat the crazier kids from the more practical kids. While there were some people who said thoughtful song lyrics, others were more chaotic.

Mr. Benj finally came around to Alex. "Alright, your turn," he said to her. "Your name, the first word that pops into your head, and a song lyric." He smiled warmly and made Alex feel right at home, maybe that was why she ended up speaking with more confidence than she knew she had.

"Hi, I'm Alex Cairney." Alex rolled her r's making the Irish name sound somewhat Spanish. "Uh, I guess ocean is my word and my song lyric is 'Oh how wrong we were to think immortality meant never dying' from Our Lady of Sorrows." Alex choked on the words as they came out of her mouth. She hadn't listened to that song or even that band for months. Some kids gave her a funny look and Alex felt like she had to say something to cover up her sputtering. "Or 'the things we do today will be tomorrow's news.'" After that, everyone diverted their attention back to Mr. Benj who had started talking soon after Alex had finished, saving the poor girl from anymore awkwardness.

After everyone was done the class played improv games up until the bell when everyone stampeded out the door, leaving Alex trailing behind in their wake.

***

A/N: This chapter actually used to be the start of the book! It also used to be about five times longer!!!

I know chapter three isn't that far into a book, but if you're still here reading this I am so very thankful for you!

Love,
Sunny