Wednesday trekked lazily into the drama room.
It was no secret that Wednesday despised school. Sure, she was actually a wonderful student and often got top grades, but she still hated it. She didn't see the point of having to get up in the early hours of the morning just to go to a shabby building and be forced to learn English and math.
However, there was only one class that made Wednesday even tolerate coming to school, and that class was drama. Here, she could act out her dreams.
She took a seat in the front row, like she always did. As she sat down, a girl with jet black hair in pigtails plopped down next to her. "Hi, Wednesday!" the girl said cheerfully.
"Hi, Haruka," said Wednesday, smiling slightly. Haruka was Wednesday's best friend, a Japanese-American who was fascinated by voice acting and the art of making grilled cheese sandwiches (Wednesday never really understood that).
The two talked about random matters as students filed into the room, but things took a turn when Haruka mentioned their drama teacher, Ms. Labelle, had said she had an announcement.
"What kind of announcement?" asked Wednesday cautiously. Everybody knew Ms. Labelle's announcements usually ended in trouble.
"I don't know," replied Haruka. "But I overheard her telling the math teacher that she had something "new and creative" planned, and that she knew "the perfect person, the chosen one" that could pull it off." Haruka, despite her slight Asian accent, imitated Ms. Labelle's voice to perfection.
Before Wednesday could comment, the bell rang and class began. Ms. Labelle dramatically opened the curtains and stepped out onto the stage, facing the 30 wide-eyed faces before her.
"Good morning, everyone!" said Ms. Labelle.
"Good morning," said the class.
"First of all, I'd like to congratulate everyone on last week's performance," said Ms. Labelle. "Even if it did not go perfectly as planned, I am still very proud of you for keeping calm and carrying on, so to speak."
The kids looked at each other. It was true--the last play that was put on by the class was called "The Chinese Wonderland", which was about a lost princess who ends up in a strange other kingdom and is chased by jiangshis or whatever. The point was, that a kid who was playing a jiangshi accidentally hopped off the stage, and one girl tried doing a stage dive during a musical number. It definitely wasn't the best night ever, especially to Wednesday, who had spent half the play putting a hand to her face.
Ms. Labelle continued, "However, that is behind us now. Our next project will be another original act, which will be put on by a mystery person. I will not tell you that yet. Anyways, let us begin our acting practice."
*****
After at least 30 minutes of doing random monologues on the stage, the bell rang and class was dismissed to lunch. The class almost stampeded out, including Haruka (she knew there would be Panini sandwiches for lunch).
Before she could exit, Ms. Labelle called Wednesday to her desk. Wednesday nervously walked to her teacher's office, wiping her sweaty hands on her coat.
"Hello, Wednesday," said Ms. Labelle calmly.
"H-hello, Ms. Labelle," said Wednesday, her voice shaky.
"Do not worry, you're not in trouble." Wednesday relaxed a bit. "I have a very important task for you."
Looking into Wednesday's deep blue eyes, Ms. Labelle said, "I would like you to produce the drama class's next performance."
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