LEONIE'S P.O.V

White top and blue overalls. You can't go wrong with overalls. Today's a really big day. The first day of Theatre Club. Miss Laine will be looking to me to help her. I can't let her down. Not again.

I paused as I lifted up my top, staring at the black italic tattoo on my ribcage. "Wish me luck", I whispered.

A loud knock on my door startled me, and I quickly put my top back on. "Yeah?"

"I've made pancakes!", exclaimed my Mum. She doesn't make me pancakes often- she's always busy. However, every year, on the first day of Theatre Club, she makes me pancakes. "They'll be waiting for you downstairs."

Hastily, I thrown on my clothes and comb through my long, dark hair. My fingers trace the necklace in front of me, the coldness sending a tingling feeling across my body. I gently took it and put it on, getting my hair caught about 3 times before reaching success.

I made my way downstairs, stopping in my tracks when I noticed my Mum staring at me, eyes brimming with tears.

"Mum? What's wrong?", I asked, my voice slightly high pitched. It sometimes does that when I'm worried.

My Mum shook her head, wiping away her tears. "Oh, I'm fine. I'm just being silly. It's just... well I can't believe how much you've grown."

I smiled. My Mum poked at my dimples. Apparently, I got them from my Dad. If only he'd stuck around long enough for me to see them properly. "I'm still the same Leonie, Mum. The same girl who trips over air", I said, laughing when my Mum chuckled.

Apparently, I get that from my Dad too. He tripped and fell right out of my life.

My Mum gasped, like a light had gone off in her head. She grabbed a small paper bag and gave it to me. "I've been trying new dishes. This is Knish. Would you give it to Isaac please?"

I nodded. "Aw, he'll love it!"

"There's about 4 in there, in case he wants to share it", she said, before handing me a smaller bag. "There's three more. One each for his parents and one for Esther."

I nodded, a small smile appearing on my face. "I'll make sure she gets it."

My Mum smiled. She gently kissed by forehead, something she used to do when I was a child but she never really stopped. I guess I never really asked her to. "You're going to be amazing, Leonie."

-

Weronika shoved a piece of toast in her mouth, doing everything in her power to avoid talking to her parents.

"You still haven't told us when you'll be back from school today", said her Mum.

"I don't know, Mama. I have Book Club so... maybe 6?", said Weronika.

"6? Why would Book Club be so long?", questioned her Mum.

Weronika shrugged. "Not sure. It's the first session so we'll probably be talking about our favourite books and analysing them."

Her father nodded. "Bitte rufen Sie an, wenn Sie fertig sind."

Weronika nodded. "Mach dir keine Sorgen, Papa. Ich werde."

She hated lying to her parents, but it had to be done. They wouldn't understand. In their eyes, she's destined to be a Doctor. In her eyes, she just wants to be free.

-

Isaac grabbed his tap shoes and delicately placed them in his bag. He was a ball of nerves but couldn't let his parents see this as they'd be suspicious.

Without knocking, Esther walked into Isaac's room, startling him. "Ah! Esther don't you know to knock?"

Esther rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah I know. You're a growing boy who needs space."

Isaac was about to respond but was silenced by the clump of hair that appeared in Esther's hands after she brushed through her hair.

Esther stared at the hair for a brief  moment, before looking at Isaac's horrified expression. She smiled. "Hey, I've got more to add to my collection!"

Since Esther started her chemotherapy sessions, her hair had fallen out a few times, as a side effect. She decided to keep her hair in a box to look back on and remind herself that she didn't lose her life- just some hair.

Isaac was blown away by how positive she was about her cancer. Not once did she believe that she was going to die. 3 years on and she still has it, yet she's learned to live with it.

Isaac, on the other hand, hasn't. He'll never forget the first time he saw his sister's hair fall out. He'll never forget the time he saw her violently vomit. He'll never forget.

The image still didn't leave his mind, even after he left the house. Everyone knew his sister had cancer. He thought that'd make it easier, that he'd have people to talk to about it. He thought wrong.

"Isaac!", called out Leonie, with Kennedy beside her. When the younger boy didn't answer, the pair ran towards him.

"Isaac!", yelled Kennedy, almost deafening him now that they were closer to him.

"Huh?", he mumbled, dazed.

"Are you ok?", asked Leonie, picking up on the shift in his demeanour.

Isaac nodded. "Yeah. Fine."

"How's Esther?", asked Leonie.

Isaac's eyes started to fill with tears at the mention of her name. Kennedy moved forward to hug him, but Leonie gently held an arm out to stop her. "If something's wrong, you can tell us", said Leonie, in a gentle tone. She noticed he started to fidget. "But if you don't want to talk about it yet, that's ok too."

Isaac couldn't find the words to thank her, but Leonie seemed to understand, just from the look he gave her. "Esther's fine. She's doing well."

After a long moment of silence, Leonie spoke. "But you're not?"

-

For some reason, waiting for a Club to start makes the day go by very slowly.

Thankfully, the Theatre Gods showed mercy and the day went by relatively quickly. Sort of.

Miss Laine beamed brightly as she watched the students come in, like future performers in the making.

Meredith entered, without her boyfriend Dayton. She gingerly approached Miss Laine. "Thank you for giving me a chance, Miss Laine. And, again, I'm really sorry about shouting yesterday. You're more experienced than I am and I trust your judgement. If you say Dayton wasn't good enough for the production, then I believe you."

Miss Laine gave her a small smile. "It's alright, Meredith. It was a perfectly understandable response. Dayton just needs more time, that's all."

Darius marched into the Theatre Hall, a grin on his face. "Ahh, the sweet smell of Theatre!"

Eli and Maxon shook their heads at him, whilst Stanley nodded. Maxon looked at Eli. "Are you his part time baby sitter?"

Eli nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. Are you the other one?"

Maxon nodded. "You bet."

The pair looked at Stanley. "You're another baby sitter, aren't you?", questioned Maxon.

Stanley shrugged. "Nah, I think we're more on the same wavelength."

Eli and Maxon looked at each other as if to say 'there might be 2 Darius'?'

Camryn walked into the Hall, trying to look away from the sea of faces. Ok, maybe not a sea. A sprinkler?

Just as she was about to back away, she collided with someone, only barely grabbing onto them to stop them from falling.

"Oh! I'm sorry!", exclaimed Leonie. Once she steadied herself, she let go of Camryn's hand. "Thanks for the save, Camryn. One thing you'll learn about me is that stability is not my friend."

"It's about the only friend she hasn't made", joked Kennedy.

"It's ok...", started Camryn, letting her words trail off. She knew her name but wasn't sure if she should say it. Would it seem weird? They've never had a proper conversation but she's obviously heard her name before, so it wouldn't seem creepy, right? Wait but Leonie said her name so maybe-

"Oh, it's Leonie", smiled Leonie.

Just like that. She answered so casually that Camryn wondered why she was stressing out in the first place. In her defence, the most interaction she's had at school is from Eli, a History Fanatic, and Darius, a walking bag of sugar.

"Knish?", offered Isaac, holding his bag out, a little too enthusiastically. It may have almost hit Camryn's face but I mean, who doesn't want a face full of homemade Knish?

On their way to school, Kennedy had told Isaac to try and be more energetic and out there, to help him make more friends.

"Oh!", exclaimed a startled Camryn. "I mean, sure", she said, taking a now freezing cold Knish.

"I urge you not to eat it", said Leonie. "My Mum made it and she's a great cook, but they've been in that bag since about 8 in the morning."

"Yeah. But I mean, you could always use them as door stops?", suggested Isaac. He immediately regretted it when he said it, but was pleasantly surprised by Camryn, who laughed at his joke.

"Speaking of food...", started Kennedy, looking at Leonie. "...I didn't see you at lunch. You said we'd eat together."

"Oh. Yeah, I was just going through some ideas I had for the Musical.  I'm sorry", said Leonie.

"That's fine, but did you eat?", asked Kennedy.

Leonie's silence said it all.

"Leonie. Cleo. Smith", said Kennedy, taking small pauses in between each part of her name.

Next thing you know, she breaks out into full sprinter mode and surges for Leonie. Leonie started running, weaving her way past Eli and Maxon.

"Spare me!", she exclaimed, a bright smile on her face.

Not too sure about what's going on, Darius ran alongside Leonie. "I don't know what we're doing but I'll never surrender!"

Weronika, who arrived late due to her parents calling her about 500 times, walked in on this mess. Unsure about whether this was a Theatre exercise or not, Weroniks shrugged off her backpack and joined in, running alongside Darius.

"Yeah!", exclaimed Darius. "Join the resistance!"

A little too excited, Darius collided with someone. "Oh, my God! I'm sorry Amethyst!"

Amethyst's eyes widened and she clenched her jaw. "What the h*ll? What kind of animals are you lot?", she asked, before looking at Miss Laine. "Miss, why aren't you stopping them?"

"Ok everyone!", exclaimed Miss Laine. "Why don't we all just take a minute? It's clear that we all need more bonding time."

"I don't know, Miss. I think I bonded with the floor pretty well", said Leonie, earning laughs from some of the others.

Darius raised his hand. "Nice on, Leonie! I liked that."

Miss Laine bit her lip and looked down.

"Miss Laine, are you ok?", asked Eli.

"Did we upset you?", asked Stanley, not wanting to be the reason someone was upset. Especially not a teacher.

When Miss Laine looked up, it was evident that she was trying not to laugh.

"Wait, you liked that?", questioned Maxon.

"I'm sorry, it just reminded me of my first time in Theatre Club", said Miss Laine. "But it's very clear that we all need to bond. The show can't work without a unified team."

Leonie raised her hand and waited for Miss Laine to nod at her. "I have a suggestion."

-

So, what are your thoughts? Sorry there wasn't much dialogue from all characters, this will improve as I continue.
-

Weronika's conversation with her Dad: He said 'please call when you are done' and she replied 'Don't worry, Dad. I will.'

-cherrysvalanxe

ATHENA-yeonnie

CaptainHermioneSwan

DoodleYeet

gillioddities

LiaHook_Descendants

starryeyedturtle