dancing queen (beck oliver)

4. sleepover at sikowitz's

*3rd person omniscient p.o.v.*

it was another boring day in sikowitz's class. tori and andre were doing a scene, but no one was really paying attention. cat and jade were slumped over their chairs in the front, and beck had just slung his arm loosely around indie, both of them trying not to blush even though he'd been doing it a lot lately.

"but what if i'm not fine?" tori was asking tearfully. "i have three--"

she was interrupted by sikowitz walking between them and staring at her.

"i have three--" she tried again.

"oh, i'm sorry, children," said sikowitz. "excuse me. i don't mean to interrupt the scene, but tori, look at the red dot i drew on this index card."

tori squinted at it.

"BOO!" sikowitz yelled all of a sudden.

tori fell over in surprise, and indie jumped in her chair. beck chuckled and tightened his arm around her.

"sikowitz! you scared the fudge out of me!" protested tori from the floor.

"why did you stop crying?" he asked, getting down on all fours to talk to her.

"what?"

"you were playing the role of a crying woman who's just been told that she's going to have surgery," said sikowitz. "why did you break character?"

"'cause you interrupted our scene and screamed 'boo' in my face," said tori. 

andre nodded like it made sense.

"tori and andre, take your seats," commanded sikowitz. "i'm trying to teach you kids about method acting, and that means whatever character you're playing, you must stay in that character the entire time, no matter what happens. whether on camera or off camera, on stage or off stage, you've got to understand that--"

the bell rang, and everyone gathered their things.

"until tomorrow," said sikowitz in defeat. he sat down on the stage and sighed in disappointment.

everyone left except indie and her friends. they saw that sikowitz was disappointed, and went back into the room to console him.

"look, i'm sorry we disappointed you," said tori. 

"yeah, it's just that we think method acting is kinda dumb," said robbie.

everyone chorused their agreement.

"well, of course you think method acting is dumb," said sikowitz slyly. "it's too challenging for you."

indie's eyebrow raised, and tori furrowed her brow.

"yeah, i really don't think that's the issue here," said jade. 

"staying in character no matter what happens is something only true, professional actors can pull off," said sikowitz. "sometimes i forget you're all just children, you know, amateurs."

everyone looked at each other, offended.

"he called us amateurs!" gasped cat. 

"your whack-job teacher just called all y'all out!" said rex gleefully.

"oh, i'm sorry, i didn't mean to hurt your little amateur feelings," said sikowitz, smiling to himself.

"if you really think we're gonna try method acting just because you called us chicken," said indie, putting a hand on her hip, "then you're absolutely right. bring it."

"i issue a challenge," said sikowitz, miming pointing a sword at her.

"what kind of challenge?" asked indie, unfazed by his fake sword.