Chapter 20: XIX

LUCKILY FOR LAIA, BRIE WAS ABLE TO COME to her senses and continue her effortless acting streak.

The long-haired girl was acting so naturally and without any mistakes, it almost seemed as if she's been acting since she learned to walk.

Maybe she did?

Laia wouldn't be surprised at this point. Brie did ballet until she was twelve!

That was until the confession scene.

Brie was barely able to utter a single word out the moment Jake finished his line. Her hands trembled and her lips quivered as she found it difficult to even look at the boy's green eyes directly, which was supposed to be what she is doing.

Their adviser was quick to notice the awkwardness of the situation. She stands up from her seat. "Cut! What is wrong with you Brie?!"

The harshness of the older woman's words even made Laia grimace. She didn't have to be too blunt, it's not like Brie flunked all her scenes.

Just the major one, apparently.

Receiving no answer from the student she called, their adviser sits down again and gave the signal for them to do the scene again from the top.

Laia couldn't help but groan in annoyance. Her line in the scene their adviser was referring to was quite long, and she didn't like repeating it.

The short-haired girl moves from her current position and walks towards Brie, who walked back to her original position. Laia started to dramatically get angry at her friend's character, creating huge movements with her hands that all signify her rage.

Stealing a glance at their adviser who was nodding her head, Laia deems her part was quite satisfactory. She steps back when it was Brie's turn to say her lines, and just like before the actual confession, her friend was able to convey the right emotions and did amazing.

However, her amazing performance ended the moment Jake finished his part. She stammered on her words and when she was supposed to step closer to the boy she lost her footing and fell. Laia was about to push through some of her other classmates blocking her from catching Brie but Jake was quicker and caught the girl in his arms.

Thinking it was part of the play, some of their classmates even cheered and started jumping in glee. If they only knew it wasn't, Laia thinks, as she hopes that Brie was alright.

To her genuine surprise, Brie wasn't in any hurry to stand on her feet and pull away from the boy who caught her. Instead, she seemed to lean in and smell his familiar scent.

Laia was about to say something when their teacher's agitated shriek caught everyone's attention. Her jaw was already clenched and an annoyed expression was on her face.

The older woman shakes her head in disappointment. "Amazing improv," She even claps slowly but stops quickly. "However, that doesn't mean that was right,"

Murmurs filled the gymnasium, most of confusion and shock. A lot of their classmates apparently really thought that the scene between the two was real. Not that Laia could blame them, she would believe it to be a real scene too if she hasn't read the script maybe more than twenty times in this day alone.

Their adviser beckons them to head towards her with her hand, and the actors upstage immediately rushed towards her. Brie even had to awkwardly pull away from Jake, who seemed to be relieved when the girl finally pulled away from his hold.

Laia barely stops herself from scowling when he stands next to Vivi the moment they were all standing in front of their adviser.

It's almost as if he wasn't acting like a complete prince charming just earlier, the short-haired girl thinks.

Upon all the students who had roles stood in front of her and had their full attention on her, their adviser started speaking. "You are all doing good for the first rehearsal," She starts with a backhanded compliment. Laia knew the woman always did that before pointing out even the smallest of their mistakes. "However, if you want a good grade for your exam, then do better!"

Some of those directly in front of their adviser stepped back in genuine fear. Laia was even taken aback by the older woman's sudden outburst. Unfortunately, their adviser wasn't done chastising them.

"I expected more of you! I have already given you more than enough time to read your lines and make yourselves portray the emotions of your respective roles better!"

The woman turns to Brie, who visibly paled. "What was that Brie? Why are you acting like a dumbstruck girl in front of your boyfriend?! And you were so confident the last few days during the readings and you were even the first to volunteer for the play! I am very disappointed in you, Brie,"

Brie remained her gaze on the ground even when murmurs started filling up the place again, some of those who stood close to her even whispering to themselves like a bunch of market-goers. Laia rolls her eyes and wanted to speak up, but she knew doing so would only arise more rumors so she opted to just shut her mouth.

"And don't get me started on you..."

Laia didn't bother listening to their adviser berating everyone else's performances. She couldn't honestly care less for them, she was only here for her and maybe Brie. Okay, Brie as well.

"... And Laia," The short-haired girl silently hoped that their adviser didn't find much fault in her mediocre performance. Surprisingly, the woman gives her student a thumbs-up. "Aside from Jake and Shane, you are one of the best performers for this rehearsal, keep it up."

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The girl's eyes widened and she wasn't able to let a single word out of her lips before the person beside her nudged her. Laia blinked repeatedly and finally regains composure, bowing deeply to the older woman. "Thank you, Ma'am Anne."

Their adviser nods and once again before letting her class leave and go home for the day glares at Brie openly. Her eyes didn't leave Brie's melancholic state as she spoke, "I expect more from everyone, especially those who volunteered first-hand. Goodbye, everyone. Enjoy the rest of your day."

Scattered goodbyes came from her student's mouths. It didn't really matter to the older woman, who immediately leaves the gymnasium. Laia was quick to walk towards her friend, who seemed to have lost all her motivation. Upon reaching the long-haired girl, Laia supports her with her hands to guide her to the nearby bench.

"That was too harsh of her honestly," Laia retorts, sitting on her friend's side as everyone else seemed to be in a hurry to leave. "She should try acting if she thinks she's so good.."

Not that Laia didn't have a part-time job to go to, but she could at least spare at least fifteen minutes to comfort her friend from what happened. Niel would surely understand, and he did tell her when he gave her the coffee shop's uniform that it's alright for her to be late sometimes.

Emphasis on sometimes, he reminds her.

Brie shakes her head, burying her head in her bag. "She's right, I did fucked up,"

Laia leans in closer to her friend to whisper. "You had a valid reason," She scans their surroundings for anyone who might have had listened in, but no one did. "She should try performing a love confession with her recently ex-boyfriend,"

To the short-haired girl's delight, her sarcastic remark manages to get a giggle from her friend. "Yeah, it does suck having to act all lovey-dovey with someone who broke up with you through a call,"

"He's an ass, Brie. He doesn't deserve your tears," Laia said as her eyes followed the said boy who broke her friend's heart, currently talking with Vivi. It's almost as if his world revolved around Vivi at this point. "He will regret what he did sooner or later,"

Brie sighs heavily as she looks at the boy as well. "I don't think so," The two friends look away when Vivi turned in their direction for a split second, probably noticing their lingering stares. "Vivi's probably a better match for him, anyway. She's confident and really pretty. She's also not clingy like me, and she's a great singer. Do you know she does song covers on YouTube? I stalked her earlier during History,"

Laia frowns at her friend's revelation. "So that was why you were suddenly in a bad mood out of nowhere?"

The long-haired girl sheepishly grins. She steals another glance at Jake who didn't seem to be in any hurry to leave alongside his supposedly new girl. It's almost as if he was staying on purpose to spite Laia and make Brie even sadder.

Maybe Laia should punch him.

Speaking of punching someone, Laia suddenly remembers how she punched the asshat a few months back. The asshat, weirdly enough, didn't appear out of thin air like an annoying pest like he always does whenever Laia happened to think about him.

Maybe he finally realized how annoying his presence is?

"... Laia? Laia?!"

Once again, Laia had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she wasn't able to hear what her friend was talking about.

Even if she was right beside her.

Laia can get like that sometimes.

Okay, maybe all the time.

"Yeah, sorry, I was thinking about something," Was the best excuse the girl could do.

Brie obviously didn't believe her, as Laia had never been good at lying and will probably never start being good at it anytime soon.

Can you blame her? She had the house rules memorized since she was three!

The first rule she memorized was "honesty is the best policy". She even remembered being the first in her class to receive one of those fake stars with smiley faces.

Back to Brie who noticed quickly that her friend has once again had her head high up on the clouds.

"Laia, honestly, I should be the one being distracted every two seconds but look at you getting distracted every single time I'm about to say anything,"

"Sorry," Laia sheepishly scratches her neck, which she tended to do when she's embarrassed. "I'll listen now, promise."

Brie looks at her with a raised eyebrow but starts talking anyway. "I was thinking about drinking coffee and binging all those delicious cakes on Brewing today, do you want to accompany me? I'll treat you, promise!"

Looks like she won't be able to keep her part-time job a secret anymore.

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