[h2] THEATER CLASS

TUESDAY 

AFTER LUNCH[/h2]

Stella dragged herself to theater class after lunch. It had been a lovely lunch outside, and she was left quite happy, for various reasons. She walked into the large theater and looked around, and plopped herself into an empty seat. The theater seemed relatively empty, only about twenty-five students and one teacher. The teacher was on the stage, and had her hand out, and Stella guessed she was counting the students. She noticed a small frown on the teacher’s face. 

After the seeming last student walked in and sat down, and the bell to start class rang, the teacher adopted a smile on her face. “Hello my lovely actors and stage crew, and welcome to theater class. For those who don’t know me, I am Mrs. Wellington and I am the theater teacher, as well as the music teacher here. It is good to see some of you back, and also lovely to see some new faces! However, before I begin, may I have two volunteers? I need some of you to check the costume and prop storage for me, please,” Mrs. Wellington said.

Stella looked around and noticed a lack of hands at first and put hers up. Why not? It was a good chance to see the costumes the school had.  

A second hand shot up, belonging to one of the wiry and shifty-looking boys.  He just seemed to be grinning. Stella looked over at him and shrugged a bit. “Looks like we have two volunteers! If you both come down here, and give me your names please? A little bit of bonus credit for being so brave to volunteer,” Mrs. Wellington said. 

[color=007236]“Stella Herbalem,”[/color] Stella said as she walked down to the stage. 

“Glen Kerr,” came the response quickly after, the boy stifling a small yawn as he followed, heading to the stage. Stella noted his name in her memory.

“Alright Stella, Glen, the costume and prop storage is just under the stage, right here,” Mrs. Wellington said, pointing to a small ring hole in the stage. “Mr. Kerr, if you could please lift it for Miss Herbalem?” Mrs. Wellington added, while handing two flashlights to Stella. She took them and looked curiously at Mrs. Wellington. “Its a little dark in there,” she added.

Glen took the door, lifting the ring and pulling the door open, sneezing immediately.  “And dusty,” he added, waving away some of the dust.  “After you,”  He finished, looking at Stella. Stella nodded, and handed one of the flashlights to Glen and went into the costume and prop storage.  Glen followed shortly after, leaving the door open as he did.

After a few minutes of wandering through the aisles, stopping to take stock of the costumes every so often, there was a sudden clatter of a flashlight and an “Oomph”.  A few moments later, Glen’s voice yelled “STELLA!  GET MRS. WELLINGTON NOW!”

Stella rolled her eyes. [color=007236]“I swear, if it is a spider, I can...handle…”[/color] Stella walked over to where Glen was and saw that Glen was sprawled out over the floor, and he had tripped over a body. She was propped up against the wall, but the front of her school shirt was covered in blood. And at that moment, Stella let out a loud earth-shattering scream. Every worst fear had come true, and her powers surged, causing every plant on the campus to pause in their swaying.

Mrs. Wellington came running in to the prop room and stopped when she saw Glen, Stella and the body. “Arro…” She said so softly, but Stella caught it. “Glen, Stella, you go to the Headmistress’s office… now…” She said, looking at the two students. 

[color=007236]“But...but...but Mrs. Wellington… there...there…”[/color] Stella started stammering out, but the teacher started doing a very odd thing. She started whistling. [color=007236]“Mrs. Wellington! Real…”[/color] As Stella was about to chew the teacher out, a very odd thing happened. She started feeling unusually calm. Sure, there was a dead body in the costume storage, but, it was alright.

“Please, Glen, Stella. The Headmistress needs to be made aware of this situation, but we don’t need to panic the whole school. Please just head to the Headmistress's office as calmly as you can, and then head to the cafeteria afterwards, I’ll be with you shortly,” Mrs. Wellington said, stopping her whistling.

[color=007236]“Whatever you say Mrs. Wellington,”[/color] Stella said, and then looked at Glen. She’d seen that he’d been very pale just a moment ago, but he looked like he was pretty relaxed too. He just nodded.  

“Let’s go, then…”  He said, and with that, he headed out, momentarily pausing to make sure he hadn’t gotten blood on himself, or so Stella assumed. She headed with him to the Headmistress’s office, and knocked on the door.

“Come in.” The calm pleasant voice that belonged to Mrs. Standiford said from the other side of the door. Upon entering the room, Stella noticed that the office did not have a lot of furniture or, decoration in it, but there were some rather spiffy looking comfy chairs and a few filing cabinets. 

“How can I help you?” 

[color=007236]“Uh, Mrs. Standiford…”[/color] Stella was cut off.

“Dead body in the theater,” Glen interrupted rather rudely, though he was starting to look nervous again. “Just thought you should know.” Mrs. Standiford stood quickly.

“Thank you. You may go down to the cafeteria.” She added, almost as an afterthought. “Someone will be there shortly.” 

Stella blinked, and nodded, heading to the cafeteria with Glen and looked at him. [color=007236]“Was it just me, or did she handle that way too well?”[/color] She asked.

“... Practice?”  Glen asked reflexively, obviously not thinking.

Stella blinked. She remembered hearing about the girl from last year, hints of things. She paused in heading to the cafeteria. Her eyes went wide. Everything was wrong with this school, and she had known it from day one, and this was just the icing on the cake. 

Glen wasn’t with her now.  He seemed to have vanished into thin air between when they had left the headmistress’s office and when they’d gotten to the cafeteria. 

[color=007236]“Glen? Glen?!”[/color] Stella said, snapping back to reality. She didn’t need to lose him on top of everything else going on in that moment. She also really wished that Tobias was there. 

“Stella?” The steady voice of Mr. Johnson came from behind Stella. She turned around and did one of the most un-student like things and hugged Mr. Johnson. 

[color=007236]“Mr. Johnson! There was a body, and now Glen is missing and everything is just wrong, and the headmistress was too calm about this and I don’t know if I want to be here anymore!”[/color] Stella blurted out, on the verge of tears. 

Mr. Johnson hugging Stella back said, “Mrs. Standiford is always calm looking. I’ve seen her handle some crazy stuff without having a hair go out of place. Now who is this Glen? Where did you see him last?” He gave her a reassuring pat on the back before pulling out of the hug a way, his hands on her shoulders.

[color=007236]“Um Glen… uh… Glen Kerr. He’s in my theater class. We were headed to the cafeteria together, and he vanished in the hall,”[/color] she said, pointing back the way they had come. It was at that moment she noticed that there were mirrors in the hallway. Mr. Johnson’s gaze followed Stella’s. A look of worry crossed his face.

“Let’s sit for a moment.” He gestured to one of the tables. “Tell me everything that happened from the beginning.” 

Stella nodded, sitting down at the table with him. She did notice the rest of the class was there, looking like a mix of confusion and worry. She looked at Mr. Johnson and told him everything that had happened in the last twenty minutes. 

He had nodded along as Stella told him everything without interrupting her. “All right, now if you still want to leave, and I cannot blame you for it -” The PA crackled to life and Mrs. Standiford’s voice came in over the system.

“Would all students and staff report to the gym for an announcement.” The PA turned off again.

Stella frowned at the announcement. “I guess that means us,” she said, and stood up. Her stomach was doing flips.