Shield Me From the Storms

The one thing in my life that I felt I had at least a small sense of control over, was drama. I may not have been particularly good, but I enjoyed it. And I needed something like that, that I could just do without having my mum nag at me. She didn’t know that I liked acting, I wouldn’t tell her in case she involved herself. I’d been in the drama club at my old school too and my mum had despaired at the fact that I did something that she didn’t know about. But I wasn’t going to tell her. I wasn’t going to let her take it away from me.

When I saw the small poster on the noticeboard, I couldn’t help but smile slightly. It was just after 4 o’clock and school had finished a few minutes before, but the halls had pretty much immediately emptied. No one wanted to hang around in school any longer than they had to. I didn’t blame them, I was the same, except I had to take my time to get my bearings a bit so I didn’t have to completely rely on Sophia when it came to making my way from A to B.

When I’d seen ‘DRAMA CLUB’ on the poster, I immediately went to the noticeboard to get a better look. It was after school on a Monday, today. I bit my lip, wondering if maybe I should wait to get a bit more settled before I joined a club. As I was thinking, I got a text from my mum. Have you taken your pills? I sighed and rolled my eyes, putting my phone back in my pocket. Why would she think I wouldn’t take them? I know I have to, she knows I know I have to. My phone vibrated again but I ignored it. The drama club was meeting in the school’s theatre. I vaguely remembered where Sophia had said it was, because I’d been impressed at the fact that there was one – not many schools I knew had their own theatre – and I headed in that direction.

As I walked, I took out my phone to text my mum that I was staying late and I’d be home by 7. She immediately texted back asking what I was doing. I didn’t reply.

I took a few wrong turnings but eventually I found the right door. The ‘DRAMA CLUB MEETING’ sign on the door was a dead giveaway that I was at the right place. I hesitantly opened the door to the theatre and immediately heard my name. “Dani!” a familiar voice shrieked. I turned to the source and found Sophia grinning at me.
“Um, hi,” I said quietly.
“I didn’t know you liked acting,” she said, crossing the room to stand in front of me. There weren’t many other people there, only about 10, despite there being quite a few more on the sign-up sheet. But I guess people just put their name down and don’t follow through. Everyone was sitting on chairs on the stage.
“Uh, yeah.”
“That’s awesome,” she grinned. “Welcome, I’m head of the drama club this year.” I just nodded. I’d kind of wanted to meet some new people and I knew that wouldn’t happen with Sophia here. She was okay, but kind of loud for me. “Sit, sit,” Sophia said, motioning to the 15 or so empty seats. “We’re gonna start in about 10 minutes.” I nodded and went to sit in one of the chairs next to a small blond girl.

It was silent for a moment before I turned to the girl and decided just to break the ice. “Hi, I’m Dani,” I said with a smile. The girl turned to me and smiled, partly in relief, and I guessed she was hoping someone else would speak first.
“I’m Becky,” she said.
“What year are you in?” I asked her.
“12,” she said and I nodded. “You?”
“13,” I told her and she smiled and nodded.
“Are you new?” she asked and I nodded. “How are you liking it so far?”
“Not too bad,” I smiled. My mind jumped to Josh and I bit my lip to hold back a grin. He was so cute. I didn’t want him to be, but that didn’t change the fact that he was.
“So what subjects do you take?” she asked.
“English lit, Maths and Biology,” I said and she grinned.
“I do Maths and Biology, too,” she said. “And Business and Psychology.”
“That’s cool,” I smiled.

We chatted for the next few minutes and I knew that Becky and I were going to be good friends, despite the fact that she was in the year below me. “Okay,” Sophia said loudly, pulling everyone’s attention to her. “Mrs Lyn is the supervisor for this club but I guess she is running late or something.” No one said anything so Sophia just continued. “I figured we’d have everyone introduce themselves first and then we’ll do some warming up exercises.” The door then opened suddenly and everyone’s attention moved away from Sophia. My eyes widened when I saw Josh enter and sit down on one of the empty seats, keeping his eyes low. Sophia then continued to babble about something, but I didn’t catch it, my entire attention was now on the boy only a few feet away from me. Everyone started moving suddenly and I guessed Sophia was getting us to do the warm ups that she’d mentioned a minute before. Josh suddenly raised his head and his eyes met mine. We gazed at each other for a moment before I quickly looked away, my cheeks a bright red, and turned to Becky, hoping we could work together.