I climbed over the tightly packed rows of chairs to fall into the seat next to Seth. Simply because it happened so frequently, he plugged the earbud that wasn't in my ear into his own, the black wire bouncing against his arm briefly. My t-shirt rode up as I slid into the gray plastic chair, and the speed I used to adjust it has still to be defeated.
From her desk, Mrs. Hedder shouted, "Rose and Nero! Get up there!" The pair did as was said.
"For today, you have no planning time." Here, there was a collective hushed gasp. "So, your topic is: you are two secret agents at a theme park. Anything goes. Go!"
As if they shared a mind, Rose and Nero both retreated to the side of the aligned platforms that served as a stage. Nero ran on first, making sure he skid across the stage.
"The name's Freggenburger. Fred Freggenburger." he said in a thick British accent. Rose slid on after him, purposely bumping him a little ways.
"And I'm Clara. Clara Finlopdefrag." she said in the same accent, raising an arched eyebrow and making the eye beneath it wide.
The skit followed in much the same manner, with Rose and Nero acting uppity and suave and constantly trying to outdo each other. The class was in tears of laughter by the end of it. One by one, more pairs followed, their levels of humor (as was coveted in Bern's theater department) spanning a wide range.
As Kahla and Anna returned to their seats, Mrs. Hedder called, "Seth and Codi!"
Removing my (and Seth's) earbuds, we headed up onto the stage. I can't speak for Seth, but I know that I was scared of what was coming at us.
"Your topic is: you are two people in a very heated argument. Go!"
I inwardly cheered. The topic gave us a ton of wiggle room, and us being who we were, we were going to take extreme advantage of it. I stalked to center stage first, random words spilling out of my mouth, stringing themselves together to form sentences that I yelled with as much force as I could muster.
I think I said something like: "Oi! You tol' me apples were orange!" in a strong Cockney accent. Seth stormed on after me, his shoulders flung back. Every time he spoke, he dropped his jaw to let the words seem more free flying.
"I said nothing of the sort! Indeed, it was you who spoke such nonsense!" he said in a more refined British tone. I strangled a giggle; I knew modern British people didn't use terms like those regularly. Or at least, I didn't think they did. I retorted, "Well, maybe you should 'ave your 'earing checked then, mate!"
"Maybe you should!"
"Well, either way, one o' us spoke false 'oods to the other!"
"I'll bet it was you!"
"Positive, then, are you?"
He shoved my shoulders. I shoved him right back.
"Shove off!"
"You!"
Seth stepped forward, towering over me. I craned my neck, glaring up. There was a pause. Seth broke it first.
"I still believe you proposed to me that apples were the outlandish color of orange."
"An' I still believe I did nothin' of the sort."
I could feel his breath now. NOT. COOL.
"But would you believe that oranges are red?"
"Are they, then?"
Seth wound his arm around my waist and plucked the clementine I was going to give Lori from my back pocket. I strangled a squeal of discomfort.
"Why, certainly! Look at this orange; is it not the very shade of blood?"
"Oi! You're straight right, you are!"
I had difficulty maintaining the accent; his elbow was brushing my upper arm, and his free hand, the one concealed from view, swung to and fro. On the 'to', it struck my hip lightly. Combined with the tickle of his breath, it made me jittery. I had to remind myself that I didn't have a crush on him. It was a relief when he spoke again, flinging both arms back.
"Fool! This fruit is but an exquisite shade of orange! How dare you suggest otherwise?!"
I decided to bring the skit full circle. "Oi! You tol' me oranges were red!"
I smacked his head. We simultaneously turned completely to face the audience. "Scene!" we said unanimously. We jumped from the stage and clambered back to our spots. I sank low in my chair, not listening to Julie and Krystal's skit.
I thought-or tried to, anyway- of everything except our performance, and how close we had been forced to be for our skit to be its best. I rubbed my collarbone nervously as Seth snickered at a clever line Julie had made up on the spot; I could feel his laughter in my side.
Just as Seth asked, "Hey, are you okay?", the bell rang, and I sprinted from the class, shouting over my shoulder, "Yeah, I'm fine!"
I ran all the way down the hall, barely catching myself on the edge of the block of lockers that mine was in. I didn't stop to rest; with a few flicks of the wrist, the locker was open, I grabbed my lunch, and with one stroke, closed the locker again.
With another burst of speed, I ran again, flying past lockers and students and walls; my vision was nothing but blurred together streaks of blue, white, black, and the occasional pop of neon green. With a few stumbling steps, I slowed in the Front Hall, which was dotted with at least seven teachers. Too risky, I decided.
I walked down the hall as quickly as I could; I had always been paranoid that I would be tardy, even if I only used two of the five minutes we had to get from class to class. I broke into another run near my table, collapsing at my seat without a sound. My heart thudded against my ribcage in protest; it wanted me to run until I couldn't anymore. I dropped my forehead to the edge of the table, gulping in air and giving shallow pants. Lori's dark chocolate eyes, streaked with black, flitted over my trembling body, concerned.
"What happened today?" she said with a frown.
"He-heuh...he pulled a- a- a clementine from-guh- my pocket..." I had to pause several times for breath. I turned my head away, the table cold on my cheek. I was safe, I kept telling myself, I was safe.
Until I remembered Seth sat with us at lunch.
Chiz.
With impeccable timing, Seth fell into the seat catty corner from me. I managed to lift myself up before then, but my breath was still ragged and I had dropped my face to my lunch, trying to hide my scarlet blush. A surge of emotion overcame me as I looked up to find a worried Seth, and I filled my mouth with burrito to overwhelm my hormones. I focused on the beef and sour cream, avoiding Seth's gaze. Finally, I was forced to look up.
"Codi? You look like you just ran a mile in thirty seconds." Seth said, ducking his head so he could look me in the eye. I groaned as a wave of nausea caught up to me.
"Ugh, I feel like it," I mumbled the statement, but I was sure Seth heard me. He always heard me.
"Deep breaths, deep breaths!" he said, then promptly demonstrated. I shot my water bottle over the table, hitting him squarely in the chest.
"Those never work," I reminded him, pulling my water bottle back. He gave a lopsided smile.
"Worth a shot, right?" he said. He tried to steal a brownie from Nadia, but her cat-like reflexes swatted his hand away with enough force to chop a piece of wood.
"Owee!" he whined, massaging his wrist tenderly. I rolled my eyes.
"Man up. You should be used to this!" I said, pointing my burrito at him accusingly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nadia's tense hand. As instinct commanded, I did: I twisted my body away and tightened my muscles. My arm sliced through the air and slapped away Nadia's invading arm.
"Dang it!" she hissed, pounding her fists against her thighs. I heard a yip from her messenger bag. I eyed it suspiciously. "Not now, Axela!" she whispered. A chestnut brown head poked out, its liquid eyes curious.
"You brought you dog to school." It was more of an awed statement than anything else. Nadia gave me her best "I couldn't help it!" look.
Oh, my dear friends. My poor, twisted, psychotic dear friends.
Too long? Too short? Please tell me!
