My Firsts With You

Chapter 7

RACHEL'S POV

It has been three days since we started practicing and we were given a week to practice for the musical play that will be on Monday. To be honest, I'm not really quite satisfied with their performance since most of them don't have a talent for singing and acting, but we can work on that and I will make sure that this play goes well as expected.

"Let's go over it again. You're still kind of confused with this part," I told Martin as I showed him the part in the script that he keeps getting wrong. We are currently practicing our duet where the female and male lead are having some kind of "showdown" in the school's hallway. I think just like High School Musical? Martin nodded and I started playing the instrumental to our song. We were doing well for the first part and now is the part where Martin gets confused. By the way, he gets confused because it was our lyrics and we adopted tunes from popular songs. For our duet, we are singing to the tune of 'Painkiller' by Jason Derulo featuring Meghan Trainor.

"Yes! Finally, you did it," I exclaimed as I gave him a high five. After a few times of practice for our duet, I called on our backup dancers who had the extra role as students in the play. I also taught them the dance that I got from the internet. Don't blame me, I'm not in the mood to make an original choreography, although I revised some steps that would be easy for my classmates. "I don't quite get this part," Allison said and showed me the part where she gets confused. I taught her the move slowly until she got it and I kept watching the dancers practice with hawk eyes.

After practicing the songs and dance choreographies, we continued practicing the whole act itself and improved some of our classmates' emotions when delivering their lines. We practiced it exactly 3 times and fortunately, we are seeing improvements. "Okay, guys. Let's take 10!" Paula yelled and we all dispersed around the room to rest. "Why am I an extra again?" Kenneth asked as he sat down beside me while giving me a bottle of water. I took the water from him and drank more than half of it in one gulp. I feel like my throat is drying.

"You're an extra because you're making it obvious that you are not confident with your singing and you suck at acting," I explained and stuck my tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes and drank from his bottle. We just sat there while finishing our water and looking tired from the continuous practice. "Where are Jessica and Jeremy?" I asked Kenneth while looking around the room, but I didn't see any sign of the two. Since when did they leave the classroom?

"I don't know. I just saw them walking out the room as soon as Paula announced the break," Kenneth said tiredly. He then rested his head on my shoulder and whined, "Why do I feel more exhausted than you?" I sighed and while patting his head, I replied, "Maybe because you spent all night going with Jeremy to their club," he then made a 'hmph' sound. I chuckled and stopped patting him to let him rest. This is normal for us, so no need to think there's something. I've been doing it since we were 8 and at first, he finds it gross, but as time passed by, he became used to it and does it too.

"Shall we continue practicing now? It's been 10 minutes," Paula asked after checking her watch. "Okay," I said and slapped Kenneth's cheek lightly to wake him up. Yeah, he actually fell asleep. "Ugh, your head is heavy," I complained while massaging my shoulders and he flicked my forehead lightly. He knows that if he hits me hard, I'll hit him harder. Just as I was about to ask where Jeremy and Jessica are for the second time, they had already arrived. "Where have you two been?" I asked Jessica as she went to her place in the first scene. "Canteen. We were starving," Jessica answered and I nodded. If you are wondering about Claire, she's in charge of the props and the backdrops since she can't sing and she doesn't want to act. Also, on the actual play, she will be in charge of playing the music.

"Let's try to keep doing what we did earlier, okay? We need to see improvements, guys," Paula reminded everyone and we all nodded. We started practicing the whole act twice and went to practice the songs one by one to improve their singing and the parts where they get confused. I also have a short duet with Jeremy wherein we will be singing 'Beautiful' by Bazzi featuring Camila Cabello. It was at the scene where Martin and I are having some kind of 'riff off' like in Pitch Perfect and we were separated into two groups, those who think Martin's character will win and those who think my character will win.

"Let's just lower the pitch so it won't be hard for us," I suggested and Jeremy nodded in agreement. "You're more like a singer than a model," Jeremy suddenly blurted out and I narrowed my eyes at him. Wanting to be a model was already hard since my father only wants me to take over his company in the future, so mom and I convinced him so hard to let me get into modeling. If I still want to be a singer, I bet it's going to take a lot more convincing. Jeremy raised his hands in defeat and started singing his part. We continued practicing our duet until we were satisfied. Jeremy is also a music lover and his specialty is playing the guitar. Surprising, right? He's a player who plays the guitar but has never played it for one of his girls.

"And that's a wrap, everyone! Thank you for cooperating today! Let's keep this pace and we are going to smash the musical play," Paula exclaimed in satisfaction and we all said our goodbyes. "I think my team is doing good as well," Claire proudly said as we all walked together. "That's good news, then. You won't be stressed," Martin commented and we all laughed. Stress or not, Claire is still Claire. She doesn't show if she's stressed and just smiles.

"Are we playing at your house again, Kenneth? It's been a while since we played video games," Jeremy asked and I rolled my eyes at the same time as Jessica. I thought they were done with playing video games since they're always at Jeremy's club. Jeremy's family business is clubs and he's going to own one of them after he graduates. "I don't know. You guys can play. I just want to sleep today," Kenneth answered and yawned. Wow. How long were he and Jeremy out last night?

As we continued walking to the parking lot, the skies suddenly turned gray which means- "It's raining!" Jessica exclaimed and we all stopped in our tracks. The parking lot is already in front of us but the rain stopped us. I'm even surprised that it's raining now in Chicago. "I'm almost going home with my baby and now it's raining!" Kenneth whined and Martin patted his back lightly. This guy is so dramatic. We are just standing here while watching the rain, not knowing what to do.

The three boys started sitting on the floor, so we followed and as soon as we sat down, I opened my bag and rummaged through it. I know I always bring an umbrella with me because I don't want to be burned by the sun. I then saw my umbrella and jumped in happiness internally. "You have an umbrella?" Jessica asked and I nodded. She also took out her umbrella to be followed by Claire. Yeah, my girls and I are always prepared. Unlike the boys with us who only think about unnecessary things instead of bringing an umbrella with them every day.

"You have an umbrella too?" I asked Martin who got out his umbrella and nodded. Jeremy and Kenneth looked at us in shock, as if we were ghosts. "You traitors! You all have umbrellas!" Jeremy exclaimed while pointing at our umbrellas. I rolled my eyes at him and stood up. Jessica, Claire, and Martin also stood up and dusted off their clothes while Jeremy and Kenneth are still looking at us. "Look, don't be stupid. You can just share with us, is that wrong?" Jessica sassily told them and they both stood up at last. "I'm going with you then," Jeremy told Jessica and they both left first. "Go share with Martin," I told Kenneth before he could ask me. Claire and I also left, leaving Martin and Kenneth on top of the stairs.

END OF CHAPTER 7