AJ walked down the hall, whistling to himself. He glanced around him to find that, thankfully, the hall was deserted. He started a warm up that they used to do a long time ago. Suddenly a young girl came rushing around the corner and almost ran into the dancing king.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” She continued on her way. As she walked away, this feeling in her stomach made her mind click on. She thought she had seen that guy before, but she decided to brush it off. A.J. looked at her then let out a silent sigh. He kept whistling as he opened the door that said “McLean-Drama” in bold black letters stuck to blurry glass. He stopped when he noticed a girl sitting on the small practice stage. Her arms and legs were crossed over a skirt as short as mini me, grinning a smile the size of Texas.
“Good morning, Keisha.” AJ smiled awkwardly and walked to his desk. “Why are you so early.”
"I was waiting for you...” She got up on her 2 ½ inch heels and slid towards him.
“Really? Is there something you needed to ask me?” He kept his eyes scanning through a book and his finger on a sentence.
“No...” She deepened her voice. She began running her fingers over the book as if it were his chest she was rubbing instead. “I have been in your class for 3 years...I only have one more year left...”
“And...” He raised his eyes to hers. He knew what she was doing, he just didn’t know how to react. The steam from the hormonal suarity girl was getting so strong; he had to step back. “Class is about to start. I’ll see you in 3 hours...” He hinted for her to go.
“Did I ever tell you,” She began, moving towards him inch by inch, “that you turn me on?”
“AJ got up from the seat he took on his desk and walked to the other side of his desk. He placed his hands on the enclosing girl and lied, “Keisha...you have. Plenty of times, but I told you; I have a girlfriend.”
“Then why don’t we ever see her?”
“Because she’s my personal life, this is my passion.” He walked over to the door and opened it. “Three Minutes.”
“Oh come on AJ. One time won’t hurt...me anyways.” She smirked with sparkling white teeth and dirty thoughts.
“Keisha-“
“I’m not gonna leave without a kiss.” She was up chokingly close to him now, moving her hands up his shoulders. AJ quickly opened the door and lightly shoved her out, then shut the door and locked it.
She knocked on the window and called out his name. AJ just shook his head and ignored her. Soon, the bell rang and the once empty seats were filled with brand new faces. People came in the door, one by one and took a seat in the mass of desks and chairs. AJ finished writing something on the board and turned to face to nameless people.
“What’s up?” He asked them. Everyone murmured and slouched in their chairs. “Looks like all you had a hard weekend...” He smiled and clapped his hands together. “Well I’m Mr. McLean, but you guys can call me AJ or Bone. Some people call me BA, anything you want. Well...except ass hole, or dick, or pussy, none of that.” He joked. “This hole week, the senior journalist class will be interviewing you on your highs and lows, basic stuff. I’ll start off with the A’s.” He paused to get the list of A’s. “Sue Aaron, Tim Agust, Lilian Amber, Starr Axen.” He looked up at the girl who almost ran into him earlier, walking down the stairs. She was wearing a long black skirt with a black tank top and red Chinese sandals. He finished the list and continued to the next letter.
Starr walked rhythmically down the tiled hall. She looked all around her, almost intimidated by the towering doors and checkered ceiling. A girl walked up next to her, smiling. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
“I’m Jamie.”
“Starr.”
“Wow, what a cool name.”
“Thanks.” She unoticly rolled her eyes and turned a corner.
“Where do you come from?” Jamie asked, hooking her thumbs on the back pockets of her frayed blue Jean shorts. She was wearing a gray and turquoise baseball shirt and a Yankee hat with her blonde pony tail sticking out the back hole.
“Presently, North Carolina.” They turned into a room and leaned against the wall. It was small room with 6 separate doors along the opposite wall. Each had a blurry glass. There was a table with 6 students standing around it. They walked over to the arriving people.
“Cool. I come from Louisiana.” She proved with the strong accent she spoke in. “Boyfriend?”
“Not for two months. I’ve been to busy with stuff to even THINK about the male species.” Starr answered with exhaustion.
“Then you need too. There are tons of hotties here. Especially that Drama Teacher.” Jamie excreted a breath of hot air through lips shaped into an ‘o’. She nudged Starr with her shoulder and smiled. “I know you think he’s cute. Come on.” Starr just smiled and walked towards a young woman who signaled her over. She followed her into a small room that had a chair, video camera, and a small table. She pointed to the chair and Starr sat down.
Jamie growled as she told Starr about her reporter. “He was so fine. After she was done bragging, Starr complained about hers, which had been interested in her... Jamie just laughed hysterically and stopped when she saw the look on Starrs’ face. They were headed back to the classroom and were giggling uncontrollably as they stepped in the door. AJ looked up as he heard them come in the room. He smiled to himself. He loved that so much about girls’ they laughed about everything and they always had the cutest little laughs. The girls took a seat by each other, still grinning. The bell rang through the room and the flood of people squeezed out the door. Starr waved bye to AJ, who returned the friendly gesture. “What dorm number are you?” She asked Starr as they walked across the courtyard of the UCLA campus.
“277.”
Jamies’ eyes widened and she squeaked excitedly. “I’m 273!” Starr smiled and opened the door. They walked up the 3 flights of stairs they had to climb to get the their rooms. Starr comfortably adjusted her messenger bag strap and opened the flap to get out her key. She stopped in front of a door that was identical to the rest. As soon as she opened the door, aromas were all around her. She loved her roommate. She was raised in India with her American parents and Indian sisters and brothers. She was totally spiritual and looked to aromatherapy candles and special little posions to heal her every ache and depression. Jamie said bye and walked to her room. Starr smiled at Sai and dropped her bag on the floor next to her bed. She plopped down on the cushiony mattress and looked around her. There was a picture of her mom and dad and a cruise they took 2 years ago in a silver picture frame that was sitting on her desk. They looked so happy and comfortable...what happened? A purple cheetah skin pillow laid contently against a plaid pastel colored bedspread. There was a ‘Moon and Star’ mirror on the wall over her side table. A neon pink CD rack stood boldly in the corner. She leaned back, staring at the picture of Marilyn Monroe on her ceiling. Starr adored Marilyn. When she was two, she would dance around the house in a white summer dress with a fluffy white wig that her mom had bought her. She even dressed as her for Halloween five straight years, till her mom made her change to The Little Mermaid. She had all the movies Marilyn stared in, even just appearances, and magazine articles, a collector lunch box and a replica of her famous skin-tight dress. Monroe was who inspired her to become an actress. She aroused some sort of desire to become someone she wasn’t. She had always dreamt about appearing on an award show, wearing the same dress Marilyn did, and sing “Happy Birthday Mr. President”. Starr used to perform for unknown talk shows, family get-togethers, church plays, and won roles of main characters in the big high school plays. When she was 12, she began going to auditions for movies, commercials, TV shows, cartoons, anything she could. Even though all she would do was be an extra or sometimes nothing at all, she still had that fire burning down in her soul that kept her going. Starr slowly drifted off to sleep as the soft hum of the Indian flutes and the pat of bongos cleared her mind and slowly closed her eyes.
Starr jerked up as she was awoken by someone screaming her name and banging repeadily on the door.
“Starr?” Hollered a muffled voice. She could hear people outside her room laughing and running. She put her hand on her forehead and got up to stretch. She checked her hair and make up in the mirror and opened the door.
“Come on!” Jamie yelled. She looked behind her hyper friend to see two guys streaking past wearing tennis shoes and hooting with their hands flying in the air. Starr burst out laughing and slammed the door as she stepped into the corridor. She followed Jamie down the hall. Soon, they ran into a huge dorm room. There was music blasting and lights flashing. She creped in and looked around cautiously. She began to loosen up as her hips moved and she drank a little. Jamie grabbed her hand and led her to the middle of the living room floor. The chairs and couches that used to be where they were dancing, were now against the walls with horny couples who were either showing their love for each other or were having a contest to see who can get their tongue down their throat the farthest. They danced and danced, for what seemed like 2 hours, was only 45 minutes. Starr noticed Mr. McLean walk in the door and was instantly surrounded by frat guys. He sipped from a cup and moved his body to the music. He looked over her way and smiled. She smiled back and kept dancing. Her and Jamie began freak dancing to “Sexual”, getting some of the guys’ attention. When the song was over, they walked to the kitchen, laughing. There was a girl and guy...obviously a couple...standing in the corner. She realized they were from her second hour class (drama). Starr and Jamie stood at the counter; munching on ships and combing back their hair. 10 minutes later, they heard cheering coming from the living room. Starr looked at Jamie, who looked at her at the same time and they rushed in the room together. In the middle of the floor, they saw all the people at the party circling around someone. They scooted towards the front to see who was so special. They saw AJ break dancing. Starrs’ mouth almost dropped at the sharp moves he showed off. Her body relaxed and she watched his body turn and twist. He noticed her watching him closely, He started popping, then slid towards her, almost gliding on air. Her heart began racing and a smile appeared on her face. She almost fainted at the sexy smile he gave her. That feeling in her stomach she got was like the feeling you get when you stare at a poster of a famous star...you want them so bad, you can almost taste it. You know their real, but you never see them. When the song ended, Starr and AJ laughed and walked out into the hall. An occasional student coming back from a hard nights' work at the library, passed by. “You are an awesome dancer.” She leaned against the wall. He stood by her and put his hands in his pockets.
“Thanks. I’ve been dancing for 10 years.”
“Jeez. You know what, you look so familiar...” She squinted, almost thinking that he was like one of those pictures where it’s a bunch of shapes and you have to squint to see what they really are.
He just laughed and nodded his head awkwardly. “I used to be in a band with some friends.”
“What was your guy’s name?”
“The Backstreet Boys.”
She was confused at first then snapped into shock mode. “Oh! I used to listen to you guys! I can’t believe I didn’t know that’s where I’ve seen you from...” She stopped, then decided to continue talking, since AJ wasn’t. “When I was 12, I kinda lost interest in music. I was so involved in my acting that I had no personal life!” She laughed softly and short. She looked down and smoothed out a crease in her jet-black silky skirt. “Wow, this is so weird. I always thought you would go solo or be dancing.”
“It’s ok, most people think that too. But I’m happy with what I’m doing right now.”
“Do you miss being in the public eye?”
“It’s a good experience to be in a band, but after you get past the glamour of it, it’s horrible, almost like being in a gang or something. You’re always in deep crap everywhere you turn. There’s no way of clearing it up.” He shook his head slowly and watched his feet. “You say one wrong thing, and you’re dead. Ugh...it’s really stressful. When you see me on stage, practically shouting out lyrics, I’m letting off steam.”
“I didn’t know it was so bad. I mean, I knew it was stressful, but then again, a lot of jobs are.” She felt her heart rip. She didn’t know how bad it was until now.
“Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of cool things to do and remember. That feeling you get when you hear from your manager that you sold 108 million CD’s in the first week, is so unexplainable. Just to know that all of America knows your name and almost everything about you is amazing. To put it in vain, it’s awesome.”
“Why did you decide to teach Drama?”
“I’ve always had a passion for acting. It’s what I started out doing. It’s just...me.”
“I know what you mean. I’ve ALWAYS loved acting. It’s kind of like a get away from you and the world. Everything can go the way you want it, say things the way you want to say them, have characters play personalities that you create. Acting is a chance to be someone you’ve always wanted to be.” Starr looked into his eyes and felt nothing but love coming from them. She was starting to like this guy.