Alicia was nervous all afternoon. She did not want Theatre class to come. She wasn�t exactly scared of Sara. She just didn�t want to face her wrath. And if she saw her and Nick together�. there would be some words exchanged to say the least.
She was the first one there today. �Good, the less time I have to be in Sara�s presence, the better�
Drew and Jeff came in after her. �Hey guys, have you seen Sara today?�
�She�s in my last period class, why do you ask?� Jeff asked.
�Well, I�m just nervous what she�ll say when she sees that Nick and I are�. together� Alicia sighed.
�You shouldn�t give a crap what she thinks. She�s just the jealous ex.� Drew told her.
Megan then walked in. �Little Miss Perfect�s mad and she and Nick look to be having an argument in the hallway�
�Oh crap,� she thought. �I hope that she hasn�t seen us already�
Nick came in a few minutes later. Alicia could tell from the look on his face that he wasn�t in the best of moods. He looked over at her and smiled. �Hey Ali�
�Hey� He sat down next to her and put his arm around her.
�No PDA during class!� Jeff teased.
�Shut up Jeff� Nick said. �Class doesn�t officially start till Ms. Collins comes in and calls order. Until then, we can do what we want. I could be making out with her in the middle of the room and I�m not�
That shut him up.
Class seemed to go really slow that day. Things were going nowhere in the play. Having Sara�s beady eyes on her and Nick�s every move was not helping the cause either. Alicia wished she wasn�t in the class because it was just adding stress on them.
After class, Alicia saw Sara all over the guy she had seen with her on Saturday. They obviously were dating. She wanted to scream at them �GET A ROOM!!!!!!� But they would not. Why couldn�t she see that Nick was not hers anymore? He was not the day he found out the day he was being cheated on. Oh well, it was her problem. She went back into the auditorium.
Megan and Ashlyn were chatting in the front row. �You look disgusted about something� Megan commented.
Alicia rolled her eyes. �Sara and her new flavor. But she also seems to think that Nick is hers still when he obviously is not�
�He�s not. He got over her a while ago. Rumor has it that he now has a new girlfriend. Would you know who that is?� Ashlyn asked.
Alicia blushed. She was the new girlfriend. �You�re blushing! Come on, fess up� Ashlyn teased.
�It�s me. We kissed this weekend.� She admitted timidly.
�Awwww�. Missy told me that she saw you two holding hands earlier in the day so she knew that you were it. See, you thought at the beginning of the year you had no chance with him. And now look, you are dating!
She sighed. �Yeah, but sometimes I feel that he�s only do it to be nice and because he feels sorry for me.�
Ashlyn shook her head. �I don�t think it�s that. I�ve been with a guy that did that, and I could see right through him. Nick seems like he genuinely sees something in you. You should feel lucky to have a guy like him. He�s one of the nicest in the school�
�It�s just something I�m not used to. This is all new to me, because I�ve never had a boyfriend before.�
�Everyone goes through this kind of thing at one point. Now is your time. Don�t worry about a thing� Megan said. � Hey, now you won�t be nervous about the kissing scene!�
They laughed. �Yeah well, the next hurdle is getting over the nerves of kissing in front of everyone!� Alicia remarked. �That�s better than being nervous about kissing a guy I�m not dating or barely even know, though.�
�Exactly�
Sara came into the auditorium. She pointed to Alicia and motioned her finger for her to come out into the hall. Alicia got up, not afraid of her.
�What do you want, Sara?� she asked.
�What are you doing with my boyfriend?� She looked pretty mad.
�Last time I checked, he broke up with you a couple weeks ago. And for another thing, I saw you all over another guy like you were dating�
�When was this?�
�Just after school let out. Don�t deny it, everyone saw you. It was pretty public PDA. So I would advise you to get out of my face before something else happens� Alicia was really proud of herself.
�Gladly, you [freak]ing ugly [nice person]. You know Nick�s only with you because of the play. After it�s all over he�ll dump you and go back to me�
�I don�t think so, you hypocrite. Bye� Alicia said in a really sweet voice. She turned on her heel and went back into the auditorium.
�What was that all about?� Ashlyn asked.
�Nothing.� She looked at her watch. �I hope Nick�s coming, practice starts in 5 minutes!�
Yet again, practice was frustrating and had nothing noteworthy happen. That seemed to be the pattern lately. Everyone hoped they could get out of this block, because opening night was in 3 months. Much still needed to be accomplished in that tine frame.
Nick and Alicia were standing outside the school. She left out a huge sigh of frustration. �What�s wrong, Alicia?� He asked.
�I�m just really frustrated. Things need to be progressing faster than they are�
Nick made a noise. �I�ve been involved in worse, trust me. My sophomore year, no one wanted to do the play we were in. So we slacked off till about three weeks till opening night�
�How did it turn out?� She asked.
�It wasn�t great, but it wasn�t flat out horrible�
�Why did no one want to do it?�
Nick thought for a moment. �It was a combination that we didn�t like the director that year, and the play that was picked was too old for a high school drama class, it wasn�t a good combination�
�Sounds like it wasn�t. How long was that director there�
�Quit at the end of the year. The only reason he was hired because Ms. Collins had moved to Dayton to take a job there. She hated it, so she came back here junior year. Everyone was so happy about that. I think that she is the best director. Do you?�
Alicia nodded. �She has made me really comfortable with acting. At first, I was really embarrassed to admit that I was a rookie. To her, if doesn�t matter if you�ve acted once or a million times, if you have talent, she gives you the part. �
�I like that, too. Did you ever imagine yourself being in the lead role?�
She shook her head. �Not at all. I only did it for the heck of it. I never thought I would actually get it. There are a lot of things that I have now that I never would have thought I would a year ago� �She sighed.
Jeremy pulled on the curb a few feet from them. �Well, I need to go. See you tomorrow�
�See ya, babe� They kissed and she went to the car.
�Hey I see you were getting chummy with nick over there�
She blushed. �He�s my boyfriend now, Jeremy! Should I be allowed to kiss him?�
He laughed. �Yes, you are. I just couldn�t resist the opportunity to tease you�
�I�m sure you couldn�t� They started to head home.
Alicia arrived at school a few days later to Megan running up to her. �Alicia, someone has been spreading the nastiest rumor about�
She was scared to hear what it was. �What, Megan?�