"I've been around here awhile," Lee said. "Senior year definitely has it's perks. Once you see all the fresh meat come in year after year, it almost feels like a right to call the new ones kids." It made sense to him. He could only hope it made sense to Lidia.
He heard his machine buzz. Lee looked down at the stub of a cigarette he had left, and then smashed it into the windowsill, watching the smoke cease. "I'm gonna go check that," he said as he jumped down from the table he had been sitting on. He opened the washer lid, and started pulling the colored clothes out.
Yes, even though he was a guy, he still separated his clothes into colors and whites. It was something his mother had taught him to do, and after turning one of his shirts pink, he always followed it. That shirt had become a rag, and unfortunately, it was one of his favorites. "So, whats' going on in the theatre department these days?" He called out to Lidia. He figured that while he was unloading the wet pile of clothes into the dryer, he'd still continue to talk to her. It'd been awhile since he had been around there anyways.
Group: Acting
Posts: 20
Member No.: 45
Joined: 8-December 08
All Lidia could do was nod at his explanation. It made sense in a way. She was younger then him and she was a sophomore while he was a senior. It only was fair for him to think of her still as a kid. When she became a senior, most likely, she would be doing the same thing to all the underclassmen. It was only fair for someone who’s had to endure those four years here to be able to do what ever they wanted.
Propping herself up against the wall, taking the last puff before flicking it out the window. Lee walked over to his load of clothes as Lidia watched. Hers still had a bit more since the washer had only been started a bit ago and the last time she checked there was still some time left on the dryer. A man who could do laundry, now that was honorable. The loads had been separated by color, the proper water temperature, and detergent, not too much, not to little. She had never seen any male do laundry like that, not even her dad.
She figured it was a skill he picked up over the years, after a few bleach spots and pink boxers, maybe he decided to learn. Who would want to ruin those nice clothes anyways? Lee dressed pretty snazzy compared to guys back home. “ Don’t know,” she admitted,” Haven’t really talked to the teacher yet. I’ve been studying independently for a bit. Got to talk to Mr. March soon. What’s this business about Fine Arts Fest?” Lidia asked, figuring it was about time she asked someone. There had been a hype around the campus about it, and she still didn’t know what it was.
Lee was surprised the girl hadn't heard about the festival. It was the most boring and pathetic display of talent that the show did all year, or maybe it was just that way for writers. He could imagine that for the performing arts kids, this could be fun. When you're a writer though, it wasn't as great.
"Basically, it's a festival around the town for our school to show off it's talents," Lee replied. "Dancers dance, actors act, and singers sing. It's an all day thing." He took a drag on his cigarette. "At least there's no classes that day."
He hated the festival. Usually he skipped out on the festivities and went out somewhere with the friends he had. It would be a bit more difficult to get out this year with the rules in place, but they'd manage to still hold their yearly poker game by the lake. Lee's friend Joe had promised the whiskey as usual, and if everything worked out, nobody would find out.
Group: Acting
Posts: 20
Member No.: 45
Joined: 8-December 08
Lidia rose an eyebrow at his explanation. It sounded like an normal day of school, only minus the boring classes and adding in the only exciting one. It seemed like an alright event, though who wanted to put on plays all day in front of people that probably held no interest in it at all. The only truly enthralling part of being a stage performer was that two hours of perfection, where the audience spent money to be there, and wanted their moneys worth. When you had rehearsed that damned catchy line till you didn’t screw it up for the millionth time. This sounded like a flop around day, a get out of class pass. It sounded alright, not the end of the world. If she wasn’t into it, nothing really mattered.
“ Sounds alright,” she muttered and thought about if she should ask Mr. March what exactly they were suppose to do, since she figured Lee wouldn’t have a clue about the Drama department affairs, as she didn’t about creative writing,” Kind sounds like a joke actually,” she added. Productions took time to get the way it needed to be, what would the theatre possibly do that would be so great? What did they do in the first place?
“ Eh, it’ll get me out of math for a day,” Lidia pushed herself off the wall and rubbed her eyes. Laundry was taking forever, already she felt like she was tired and she had been fine in the beginning,” What are you going to do? Read at a poet’s club or something?” it sounded logical, though if that was wrong then she’d sound like a jerk.
Lee laughed at her words of poetry reading. "I don't write poetry, mostly just fiction," Lee replied. "I don't really get into the festival. It's just a sorry excuse for Middleton to show that they have any interest in the school, when in actuality, they wouldn't be anything without Owens."
He thought about the day of the festival. "My buddies and I usually go away for a few days. It's easy to escape when people aren't watching you. Throw in a little poker and a lot of booze and you can call it a weekend," Lee said. He sighed as he rested against the dryer. "Maybe we'll even see a few girls up there."
It really was going to be great. He'd heard that his friend wanted to call a stripper for one of the nights. That would definitely be a change from years past.
((sorry i replied so late. On vacation in Florida and things have been busy with the nice weather and the holiday.))
Group: Acting
Posts: 20
Member No.: 45
Joined: 8-December 08
(It’s alright. Don’t worry about it. Hope you enjoy you’re vacation. Sounds like fun.)
Ok, so he didn’t write poetry. What was kind of a good thing considering most of the people that she knew wrote poetry were either depressed or simply a little out there. Writing books was a whole new level though. These people pretended that they had a different life, or they just simply had an imagination that hadn’t faded since the kindergarten. How else would you explain all those crazy alien science fiction books. Lidia certainly wouldn’t be able to think of something that out there. Thing is, Lee didn’t seem like any of the above. Not a depressed crazy, or a guy that had no life and developed one in what he wrote. So it was hard to see what exactly he was all about in writing. Of course William Shakespeare had been a great play writer…some of the most remembered and twisted plays of all times. Had he been a nut case? Lidia liked to think nice. Edger Allen Poe…now that was the sort of person that Lidia envisioned to be a writer. Guy who married his sixteen year old cousin and was known for his sick writing. Maybe every department had their crazies…Van Gogh…Poe…Crazy Mohan…
“ Ah, are you any good?” she asked, deciding it was best not to yell over the machines. Lidia walked over and sat a washer away from his. Invasion of privacy…and all that. Her father had been like that. So she automatically applied the spacing rule with everyone. Though she was more interested in this skipping the event party. She wasn’t a rule breaker in any sense. She refused to do anything that would hurt any one else. This seemed harmless. Maybe a few drunk kids, nor worth her time to try and set straight. Not like any of them were hurting any one but themselves. And maybe the pride of the school officials,” Because I was hoping to determine if you were one of those crazy writers, you know?” she laughed lightly at her own joke. If he had been in her mind, he might have laughed too…but in any case, he hadn’t, and that may have sounded insulting. “ You’re lucky though. If you don’t have a guilty conscience about that, then you must be one of those rule breakers all the goody suck ups have been complaining about,”
" I like to think that I'm pretty good," Lee replied. " I guess that's for others to judge though. I could write my best story, and there'll still be someone else out there who thinks it's the biggest load of shit they've ever read."
He slammed the lid of the dryer shut, and slid his card. The machine deducted the dollar to dry, and started to run. Finally his clothes were getting cleaned. It'd been way too long.
Lee laughed when she asked about a guilty conscience. "No, I don't feel guilty," Lee said. "I've been here for three years. Sure, I was into that festival the first time, but after I saw how much of a joke it was, I started making my own plans. This one should be the best one yet."
Yes, he did like breaking the rules. It's not like he intentionally went way out of the way to break the rules. Lee just wanted to do what Lee wanted to do, not what the school had set out for him. If he wanted to get a sandwich from the 7-11, then he was going to get a sandwich from the 7-11. If he wanted to stay out late, then he would. The most they seemed to do at Owens was give you detention, and Lee could sit in detention all day. It really didn't bother him, and it gave him time to concentrate on his writing. It worked out in the end.
"How about you?" Lee asked. "Are you a good actress?"
Group: Acting
Posts: 20
Member No.: 45
Joined: 8-December 08
That was true, Lidia only knew that there was always the one bad review out there for a fact. There was always just that one critic that just refused to like you. Change up your game and performance, they hated you all the more. Give it your all, and they were never satisfied. It was what Hollywood was made up of. You couldn’t survive with or without that person that hated your guts and everything you did. You had to look at it on the bright side, they were only pumping more fuel into the fire, making you look better to your fans. Or…if you were unlucky, they became the reason your career ended. Though normally that biggest critic was always yourself. It allowed the individual to work as hard as they could to achieve anything. It didn’t sound like that in Lee’s case. Though she had only known him for a brief time. He had confidence in his stories from the sound of it.
And if this Festival was as much of a joke as Lee was saying it was, she’d probably hide out in her dorm room and hope Yasmin didn’t rat her out. Yasmin didn’t seem like the type to do that though, the older girl marched to her own beat, that was for sure.
“ You know, they’re only going to become stricter and stricter with all the backlash you guys are giving them,” Lidia said, resting her chin on her hand, leaning forwards. If she tried a little harder, she’d be in the same position as the Thinking Man,” Government bodies and power houses don’t like that,” ‘I’m turning into a hippie on him,’ she thought and straightened up. ‘ Next topic…’
“ Any ways…If I were as good as you were right now pretending to be interested, I’d already be in Hollywood,” she laughed,” Nah, kidding. I do alright I suppose. I’m not into all the flashy broadways or anything, but I’d do good in movies that had a more serious note to them,” Lidia wasn’t sure if this was interesting him at all, and she really didn’t want to bore the poor guy to death with it.
Lee smiled when she talked about breaking the rules. "I don't break the rules because I think it's cool to do so or anything," Lee said. "I just want to do what I want to do. If I want to get a sandwich off campus, I'm going to do it, despite the professors say."
Lee didn't really hate Owens. He hoped he wasn't making it seem like that to Lidia. He just hated that for three years he could do what he wanted, and all of a sudden, he felt like a juvenile. His friends didn't have to deal with this bullshit at their school. If anything, he just thought it was unfair. Therefore, he ignored the rules.
"Why do you think you'd be better in serious roles?" Lee asked. "Why not stupid chick flick movies?" Lee asked after she talked about her acting.
Group: Acting
Posts: 20
Member No.: 45
Joined: 8-December 08
“ Oh no!” she laughed and squeezed her eyes shut,” Me? In a chick flick?” it was almost enough to make her laugh. Her a giggling Barbie? That had to be the worst comparison of the year. She liked having a brain. Romances weren’t fun either. Sure kissing a hot guy would be nice, but Lidia didn’t believe she was pretty enough to get a lead female role like that in a romance. It was always the strange best friend that was clueless in the ways of love, or the one girl that wanted to ruin everything because of her own infatuation with the male lead part. Boring and so not fair,” No. I play in tragedies. The ones that doesn’t have a happy ending or anything,”
Lidia understood where Lee was coming from for the most part. It wasn’t great to be confined, have all your freedoms taken away, but Lidia had gotten here after all the rules had been enforced. She didn’t have to worry about adjusting, she had come in completely aware that there were expectations to live up to and rules to follow. For Lee that had been different, he didn’t have a choice.
“ So you write fiction huh? What kind? Scifi, historical, realistic?” yeah, she knew these terms. Surprisingly, but she did. She loved reading books, but mostly just non fiction. Learning about knew stuff and about people,” I’ve never been around the writing department before actually,”
"It's not really a surprise that you haven't been around there," Lee replied. "Most people don't even know where it is. That's what happens though when you join the art with the smallest group of students."
He started to think of what to call his fiction. It wasn't really historical stuff. It was stuff in present day. "I just call it realistic fiction," Lee replied. "I've been writing a lot about my brother lately. He's in the war right now."
It had been awhile since he had heard from Joe. To some degree, he still resented the fact that Joe decided to go back for another tour in Iraq, especially since he had been hurt on the last one. Lee just couldn't wrap his head around why he would want to go back out there after seeing what a horrible place it was.
Fresh Pine And Spikes
Help
Search
Members
Calendar
