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“You’re keeping awfully quiet back there,” notes Ms Joy frolasses, which she has pinched between her ring-decorated fingers “You got sosley’s journey in the play?”

All the faces at the table turn to me, Toby’s included

I shrug “It sucks”

Frankie stifles a laugh by slapping a hand on his mouth, his eyes wide Kelsey sucks her lips in, shocked Toby quite suddenly avoids eye contact withred

Ms Joy, however, seeestures toward lasses “Why does it suck?”

“It just does”

“Alright ‘It just does’ Hlasses “For the sake of encouraging a e us Tell ot all night”

After a tense spell of silence passes, I realize she’s serious The curious onlookers still lurking in rando I give the script a swat of sley is an indecisive cock-tease who uses the word ‘fricking’ too ’ Danny still sounds like a wo, at that Hell, even in the original script as a woman named Danielle, the character is so flat, uninspired, and predictable that it makes me not want to return after inter to breathe life into a blow-up doll The women at this table should be offended Danielle ever existed”

Silence rings out over the table, the auditorium, and maybe even the entire school for all I know Spruce itself just hushed up atto criticize the work of one of Ms Joy’s most prized students

She picks up the script in front of her and frowns down at it, appearing to read the title page over and over

Then: “You’re right It sucks”

Everyone at the table turns to Ms Joy, shocked

She takes in everyone’s faces, then looks up at s “The script is stale Trite Pretentious at ti Danielle to Danny didn’t do their story any justice No, this script needs a truth bo Frankie a look for so an odd explosion sound from her mouth “—truth bomb? Anyway, I want this to be a lesson: a play is more than just the suent But they’re just words on a page until you breathe life into them Don’t let it just be a blow-up doll, Vann It’s your job to strengthen your character If Kingsley feels flat, give him dimension Are you dissatisfied with all of your frickin’ this, frickin’ that?” Ms Joy eyes me with an amused smirk “Own the frick, ht not ever say fricking, but Kingsley is saying it, not you, and it is your job as an actor to be Kingsley Make hie Otherwise, where’s the effort in acting? Have you ever actually read Ro characters ever written, and look what actors do with him I dare you to find someone who doesn’t know Ro said, I will talk to the playwright about … soue and shakes her head “That lazily gender-swapped Danny is an insult to the gay coot to do better”

With that, we’re then diso home Toby catches me halfway to the door “Hey, uh … Vann?”

I tug on my backpack strap and lift an eyebrow “Sup?”

“I was just wondering if, if …” He hugs his script to his chest as his eyes search the ground adorably, looking for the rest of his sentence, I guess “Well, you said you wanted to ithAnd it gotif, uh … if that means …”

“Yeah?” I proet to the point

He clenches his eyes shut, then finally pulls theo over lines, like, after school one of these days? To, like, y’know …” He shrugs and lets out a sh, then does air-quotes as he finishes “… ‘make these characters ours’ or whatever?”

I frown at him “Isn’t that what rehearsal is for?”