My Four Years of High School Went Like This

05: Bad Feeling

"Okay. That's the last one." TJ stated when the last auditionee walked down the stage. "Now it's time for us to choose. Any comments or recommendations?"

"Me." Lyla said and raised her hand. "I have a comment."

"Tell." TJ replied

"I still haven't got my thanks for making this happen." She smiled

The smile seemed fake though. Well, knowing her, it was probably fake. TJ gave no response and just looked at her as if he was so done with her.

"Don't worry Tracy, it's not your thanks that I wanna hear." Lyla chuckled and looked at me. Wait, me? "Where's my thanks, pretty girl?"

"Uh.." I looked at TJ and he just nodded at me, silently telling me to get things over with. "Thanks."

"Now that wasn't hard, was it?" She asked and smiled again

This time, I couldn't figure out if it was fake or not. But it doesn't seem like a genuine smile either. It just seemed like a smile that shows she's enjoying.

"Back to the main topic." TJ said. "Any comments or recommendations regarding the performances?"

He made sure to emphasize the word 'performances'.

"I like the first one." Alex answered. "The girl who played Romeo."

"Yeah, same here. She definitely needs to be our member." His girlfriend added

"She's on the top." TJ agreed with them and turned his head to me. "How about you? What do you think?"

"She's great." I answered shortly

They continued talking about the performances and the auditionees. TJ would always try to make me speak by asking me questions, but I answered all his questions with short sentences.

I wasn't doing much, but I felt like I was draining. I need my rest. I need my bed and my book.

"You okay?" TJ suddenly asked

"Uhm.." I was gonna say that I am, but I got a sudden idea. "I actually don't feel well, can I go home first?"

That wasn't an actual since as I have said before, I'm starting to feel drained. However, I can't say that it was totally true.

Well, I saw his question as an opportunity to leave early and I'm taking it.

"Sure. Do you want me to take you home?" TJ volunteered, which earned a teasing look from the couple

"No thanks, I'll manage." I answered

"Aw, nice try man." Alex said to TJ. "Better luck next time."

TJ just shook his head.

"Is it okay that I'm leaving you guys the work?" I asked

"It's totally okay. We'll just decide on the results and I'll have Lyla do a poster again that will be attached to the bulletin board on Monday." TJ answered. "And then you can check the results on your way to class, or you can just meet them after class."

"Okay." I replied

"Or you can give me your number so that I can inform you."

The moment he said that, his eyes couldn't meet mine.

"You want me to give you my number?"

"No. I'm not saying." He smiled. It was an awkward smile. "What I'm saying is, you can give me your number if you want to."

"He's asking for your number." Lyla interrupted

"No, no.." TJ was waving his hands, saying no. I just looked at him and as our eyes met, he dropped his hands. "I am asking for your number."

"Oh. Well, you could've just said so." I shrugged and took the nearest pen on the table

I wrote my number on a piece of paper a d gave it to him. After that, I left the three of them.

Going home is the best part of my day.

I got home quickly and walked directly to my room. The first thing I did was changing my clothes. Next was making sure that the house is all clean. After that, I locked the door and went to my bed.

It's Friday, meaning I won't have to cook because mom will buy food from a restaurant or fast food for our dinner. It's our thing every Friday.

Now that I've made sure that there's nothing I need to do, I can do what I want to do. You already know it. Reading.

I grabbed my book and opened it to the part where I stopped. Just when I was feeling and enjoying the story, my phone suddenly rang.

I hope it's not mom saying she'll have to do a double shift.

When I checked the caller's ID, it luckily wasn't her. But I don't who it is, it's an unregistered number. Could it be TJ?

But why is he calling me now? To check if I really gave him my numbers?

Nevertheless, I just chose to answer the call because it was still ringing and it was starting to annoy my ears.

"Hey Shara, it's me. TJ."

I was right. It is him.

"Hey. What made you call?"

"Well, I was worried so I wanted to check on you. Are you feeling better now?"

Hearing that made me feel guilty about lying. But what's done is done. There's no undo button in the real world.

"Yeah, I'm fine now. Thanks for asking."

"That's good to know!"

I just nodded and waited for him to say goodbye.

"So we recruited fourty members." He said instead

"Fourty? That's a lot to handle."

"Yeah. Fourty including the stage crew, but the stage crew can also act and the actors can become part of the stage crew too. It depends on the situation, or more like, it depends on us." He chuckled. "And actually, one more thing Shara."

"What is it?"

I have a bad feeling about this.

"You know how the drama club is supposed to work with directors and playwrights?"

"Uh, no?"

"Oh. Well, it's supposed to be like that."

"Okay. And then?"

"Since the drama club is new to our school, there are no directors or playwrights here. There are some outside the school but they won't work with us until we prove that we are good."

"TJ, get to the point."

I was losing my patience.

"Please be our playwright!"

This is the bad feeling I'm talking about.