We spent most of the morning playing a lot of warm-up games, most of them were drama club traditions; games almost every theatre kid knows, but others had a Miss Jenn twist to them. I'm still trying to figure out how hula-hooping and playing with pool noodles going to help us beat North High?

Currently, Ricky and I were having a sword fight with pool noodles, well, more like Ricky kept trying to hit me with his, and I was using mine as a shield, "Okay, everybody, drop your noodle." Miss Jenn clapped her hands; just as Ricky dropped his, I smack my noodle against his arm before dropping it with a triumphant grin, "And pair up for a mirroring exercise."

I turn to ask Ricky, but it seems like he already has somebody else in mind because he turns to Gina, who stands on his other side, "Hey, G, Do you wanna...." For whatever reason, Gina's eyes widen, searching for anybody but Ricky to be her partner, "got it." Ricky nods, turning to face me.

Just as I'm about to reassure Ricky that I'll be his partner, EJ walks up to me, a cheesy grin on his face. "May I have this exercise?" He asks, holding his hand out to me.

I glance over at Ricky to see his eyes roaming the room, watching everyone else partner up. "I already told Ricky I was gonna be his partner," I nudge my best friend, causing him to look over at me, "another time Caswell?"

For a split second, it looked like EJ's smile fell, but before I could question it, it was back, "Yeah, for sure." He nods, walking away, over to Gina, who was still looking for a partner too.

Ricky shook his head at me as we walked to an emptier space of the room, "You didn't have to do that."

"You wouldn't have had a partner," I shrug; it really wasn't a huge deal, "Now, follow my lead and mirror my actions," I instruct him, moving my hands around; Ricky follows along, mimicking me.

"EJ looked pretty bummed you said no," He points out; I let out a breath; I don't understand why he's so set on EJ liking me?

"You're seeing things, Bowen," I shake my head, Ricky copies me, shaking his too, "EJ and I are finally becoming civil, but there's nothing else there." I can't deny that I don't dislike EJ like I did when I moved into his place, sometimes he really wasn't all that bad, but that was it.

Ricky hums, unconvinced, "are you serious, Ro?" He asks, dropping his hands in frustration, "Do you not notice the way he looks at you?"

"Hands," I ignore his comment, nodding towards his hands which were no longer mirroring mine, "He doesn't look at me differently than anyone else," I point out, for some reason, that makes my heart drop a little, but why?

"Aurora, you're kidding?" He asks in disbelief.

I shake my head, "Ricky, I'm not." I reply in the same tone, "can we just drop it, please."

I can tell Ricky doesn't want to, but he reluctantly nods his head anyway; luckily, for the rest of the exercise, Ricky doesn't bring up EJ; instead, we talk about what's going on in his life... apparently Miss Jenn and his dad were going on a date tonight? And while I found it kind of cute, Ricky was not happy about it... He was probably teasing me about EJ to get his mind off of it, I kind of feel guilty for shutting him down, but then again, he was speaking complete nonsense.

Once we finished the mirroring exercise, we all formed as a group once more, playing a game where Miss Jenn threw stuff at us, and we had to react as our characters... I guess it was more helpful than some of our other games, but it was still very weird.

The rest of the day seemed to drag on; once we finished mirroring exercises, Miss Jenn had us all sit on the gym mats that were spread across the floor, where she proceeded to throw dodgeballs at us, requesting that we react in character. Then, we did some improv, which was probably the only helpful thing we'd done on day one of our weekend intensive; well, after the rough start, that is; Gina and Ashlyn had gone first, and while I expected Gina to be a pro at improv, she didn't go along with anything Ashlyn said, causing the usually dedicated red-head to quit the game early and Gina to leave the bomb-shelter entirely... here's hoping tomorrow goes better.

♡♥︎♡

"Eej? Aurora?" Kirsten's voice called through the house as EJ and I entered; she was in the kitchen, cooking while Bella set the table, "How was rehearsal?" She asked; while she stirred whatever was cooking, it smelt amazing.

"Tiring," I sigh, ruffling my sister's hair; I hadn't gotten a good enough sleep last night to be woken up early, though the coffee EJ had brought me was a total lifesaver, "Do you need any help?" I ask, though it looks as if I'm too late to do anything; I tried helping out as much as possible; I figure it's the least I could do considering how much Kirsten has done for me and Bella.

"I'm alright sweetie, thank you," She shook her head at me, turning the stove off as if he could sense that dinner was ready; Cash Caswell strode into the kitchen; I only ever saw the man at dinner, besides then he was either at work or working in his study.

Dinners at the Caswell's were awkward at the beginning of our stay here, but Bella warmed up quickly, and despite my strange relationship with EJ, I really liked his mom; she was easy to talk to; ever since the whole EJ not getting into Duke thing though... dinners had gotten awkward again, Cash barely spoke to his son; it was like he didn't know how to talk to EJ if it wasn't about Duke.

"What'd you get up to today, Bella Boo?" EJ asked, sliding into the chair beside me, across from my little sister. As Kirsten brought dinner to the table, Bella rambled about her adventure to the park this afternoon; almost all of us listened intently, even if her story about the dog she got to pet wasn't the most riveting tale... Cash, on the other hand, read something off his phone, not partaking in the conversation.

"This is delicious, mom," EJ complimented his mother once Bella was finished telling her story.

Bella hummed in agreement, "I've never had sticky rice like this before."

I shook my head at her, "this is actually called Risotto," I inform her, but honestly, she was close enough.

"Risotto," She repeated me, mispronouncing it slightly, "sounds fancy."

Silence fell over us once more, the only sound coming from the keyboard on Cash's phone. I could see EJ out of the corner of my eye, watching his father, hoping tonight would be the night his dad finally broke the silence, "Did you hear EJ joined the AV club?" I asked, deciding if he wasn't going to break it, I was going to force him to talk, "Isn't that great, Mr. Caswell?"

EJ glanced over at me, his eyebrows knitting together, silently asking what I was doing, "That is great." His dad responded though it didn't sound like he meant it. "not that it matters anymore though, you've already gotten word back from schools." He finally looks up from his phone

Geez, EJ's dad really sucks, "Well, I think it's really cool," I inform him, and honestly, I guess I kind of did; I watched the video he made for Carlos, he put a lot of work into it. "Did you tell them about the video you made for Carlos?" I ask, nudging him.

His mom perks up at least, "He didn't," She informed me, "you'll have to show us, honey; we'd love to see."

EJ's tense shoulders relaxed slightly; at least one of his parents was supportive, "Yeah, I'd like that; I had a lot of fun making it."

"It's a waste of time," Mr. Caswell responded, taking a bite of food; EJ's smile faltered as soon as his dad spoke up, "you should be working on getting into Duke, not adding more clubs to your schedule and having fun."

I should stay silent; Mr. Caswell doesn't look like the kind of guy who steps down from an argument... but I'm not the kind of girl who steps down from an argument either, "but if it makes him happy, that's not a waste of time, right?"

"Aurora," EJ warned me, shooting me a look.

"And what do you want for the future?" His dad asked me, his brows knitted together, "to have fun and be happy... or do you wanna make money and have a job? Because my son is not going to get roped up in your nonsense; he's going to go to a good school, preferably Duke... I will not let this silly little musical and AV club get in the way of my son's future."

Cash's voice was full of venom as he spoke, EJ's demeanor faded, he grew tense again, so much for making things less awkward. Without thinking too much about it, I brush my fingers against his, hesitantly linking our fingers together under the table.

EJ doesn't stop me though, he just holds on, his shoulders releasing slightly at the touch, "thank you," He mouths to me; his father's attention was back on his phone, and his mom had started a new conversation with Bella, trying to break the tension in the room.

I shrug, squeezing his hand; surprisingly, I didn't want to let go, not only because holding my hand had somehow been able to comfort EJ, but also because his hand felt comfortable in mine. Moments ago, I was fully prepared to yell at Cash Caswell about how terrible of a father he is, but now? I felt grounded and surprisingly calm... what is happening right now?

The rest of day 1 of the "weekend intensive." And family dinner at the Caswells... what did y'all think?