Chapter 19 Secrets Linger in the Arts Building
“Lacey. I’m free today, so I can join rehearsal.”
+B Pearls
Jean suddenly stepped into the group, backpack in hand, smiling with easy confidence. Her eyes drifted from one face to the next before landing on Lacey.
Then she added, just a little louder. Let’s meet at the arts building, alright? Don’t kill the vibe.”
Lacey blinked, caught off guard, then her eyes darkened with irritation.
Jean, you might want to watch your tone.
Everyone around them stared, confused-
What happened to Jean?
She used to be harmless. Now she was coming off bold–almost cocky.
“Watch my tone! Alright then. I’ll leave.” Jean arched a brow
Not like I’m dying to be in this shit anyway.
She turned and made her way toward the back door.
Lacey bit her lip, then quickly called after her.
“You stay. We’ll rehearse in the arts building.”
Jean got exactly what she wanted–she was on her way to the arts building
Sure, part of her just wanted to watch Lacey squirm. But more than that-
Something about that place felt tied to the strange metal shard I’d found Even if I couldn’t explain it, the feeling wouldn’t leave me alone.
Jean had always believed that when weird things kept happening in the same place, they were probably connected.
Of course, Jean wasn’t blind to the possibility that the building might be dangerous,
But there were a bunch of students rehearsing today. If something did happen, Lacey’s group would be the ones in the line of fire–not her
Plus, aside from Lacey’s incident, there hadn’t been any major rumors. The arts building was still open like nothing had ever happened
Jean wanted to stay out of it all. She’d much rather chill, mind her own business, and ignore the chaos.
But now, it felt like I was already neck–deep in it.
And if that was the case, she might as well figure out what she was dealing with.
The arts building at Stellarford Academy had a charming, artsy vibe to it–elegant, a little old, and full of character.
Jean walked in behind Lacey’s group as they swept into the big classroom on the first floor.
“Ms Hannals, we brought our tree, Lacey called out as soon as they entered, heading straight for the teacher who was sorting through a pale of props. She jerked her thumb toward Jean without hesitation.
7:41 PM
Chapter 19 Secrets Linger in the Arts Building
Hannah strolled over with a bright smile and gave Jean a friendly pat on the shoulder.
+8 Pearls
“I’m Ms. Hannah, your supervising teacher for the Glory of Hope Cup Finals are coming up fast, so let’s get you up to speed, alright?”
Jean nodded lazily, just enough to not be rude.
The lead teacher gave Jean a quick overview of their project for the Glory of Hope Cup finals–the stage play they’d been working on.
Long story short, it was an environmental piece.
Lacey was playing the female lead. obviously. The plot kicked off when a tree outside her character’s house mysteriously died due to worsening environmental conditions. Devastated, the heroine launched a whole feel–good. planet–saving mission filled with one motivational act after another
And by the end? The tree magically came back to life.
Yep. Big finale. Happy ending. Everyone cheered. Nature healed.
And Jean!
She had to play as the tree.
The one that died, revived, died again, and revived again.
The literal living metaphor.
Originally, they had planned to use a tree prop. But it looked too stiff and lifeless on stage.
Hannah thought it just didn’t have the emotional weight. A human, she said, could better embody the spirit of a tree that’s been through so much and still found its way back to life.
So they switched to using a person.
But no one wanted to do it. Not even after asking around in the school’s drama clubs,
In the end, Lacey was forced to return to their class and find someone to fill the role.
“When you’re actually on stage, all you have to do is put on the costume and move around a bit. Super simple. Hardly any acting at all, Hannah said with a gentle tone, pointing toward the pile of costumes in the corner.
She looked way too relieved, like a weight had been lifted. After stressing over not finding a tree actor, she’d finally landed one -and now she was clearly worried Jean might back out.
Jean glanced over at the costume pile.
There it was, a chubby little tree trunk with oversized plush leaves, and a cutout in the middle for the actor’s face to peck through.
It looked kind of ridiculous at first. But after a second look, it was weirdly cute.
Way better than she’d expected.
full, she got why no one wanted the part.
You finally get a chance to stand on a real stage, and they stick you in a leafy onesie with no lines and zero glory. What’s the point?
All that effort, and no reward. No wonder everyone said no
“Jean you are that costume, right? Want to try it on now, make sure it doesn’t throw you off later?”
Lacey appeared at her side like she hadn’t been scared at all five minutes ago. Her nerves were gone, now she was here purely
7:41 PM c
Chapter 19 Secrets
the Arts Building
waining to see her make a joke of herself
Jean just fucked her eyes toward Lacey and stayed quiet.
but with a est
“Nope. I just chill and wanth you guys rehearse I’ve got like two seconds of age time. I could deep through the and mil
She yawned for good measure
the work
Then she leaned back with a sided sigh looking like a boss on break, not a student in rehearsal
Sica
Lacey’s me cracked. Her great her sides
She couldn’t blow
watching so she held it in motioned for the others to follow her to the center of te
er ber shoulder
Yeah. Makes sense. Being a tree don’t take much bilent. You just stand there and play dead.”
Rehearsal had odically started.
Jean sar o to
painfully dull
de yawning every few
nching on snacks to stay a
ake. Honestly, the whole thing
And things weren’t going great onstage
Zare sous haven’t learned the song?” Hannah looked at her with a frown that was clearly trying to stay polite and failing
The script called for Lacey to sing an original number live, and despite days of practice, she still wasn’t hitting it. The high notes especially came out shaky or an
f
This isn’t gonna cut it. And we don’t have time to rewrite anything. That whole part is too central–changing it would throw
rything else. We’re out of time” Hannah said, sounding a lot more serious now.
I’ll give it another shot Lacey munered. She looked miserable, locked on the crumpled lyric sheet in her hands. She took a breath and tried again barely getting the first line out.
Jean cracked up from the couch.
It was a full–on laugh Loud, unfered, and absolutely intentional–like the wanted to make sure Lacey heard every second
of it.
Lacey stopped in her tracks. Her eyes narrowed as she shot a glare at Jean. The rest of the group looked just as stunned–then thear faces twisted into matching frowns
To them. Jean’s laugh was wildly out of line. It came off rude disrespectful to Lacey, and totally killed the flow of rehearsal
Tran, ahora so funny?”
ocheard so soften their tone. Their
Their wares starked on top of each other–sharp and biting.
loud an
Tha il really that funny? Or do you just have some wind laugh reflex you can’t control!”
7:41 PM ch
