Chapter 1
Peridot James. Drama major at ACDA. 21. Not not sweaty.
She was not late. Peri huffed as she power walked across campus. Her calves were starting to burn as she pushed them to get to each step quicker than the last. She was not going to be late for Hot Asshole TA’s class…again.
The spiral tower of the acting department came into view and Peri flung a desperate glance at her watch. Five minutes. Five minutes to get to Hot Asshole’s class. Plenty of time.
Peri’s strides grew quicker. Other students might think she was running, but she wasn’t, at all, nope. All she needed to do was make a final, mad dash when she got inside the building. For now, the power-striding was going to do just fine. Besides, she’d made this walk plenty of times before and almost always made it. If James just didn’t lock his door as soon as class started then no one would be having this problem.
Finally, Webster Building came into view and she saw Carlos rushing inside. Shit. She glanced at her watch again, three minutes. If Carlos had made it there before her then she was definitely going to be late. Better to be sweaty than locked out, Peri ran for the building.
Another student was leaving and she just squeezed through the door without touching it. Peri was hit with blessed, beautiful, cool, refreshing air conditioning that she did not have the time to enjoy. Hot Asshole TA was never going to appreciate her commitment to not being sweaty in his class, so who cares? She had all of 10 seconds to get to his class.
Peri ran up the stairs and swerved around other students. At the end of the hallway, there stood Hot Asshole James in all his not-sweaty, asshole glory. She watched in almost slow motion as he checked his watch, looked at her and went back inside, letting the door start to crawl shut behind him...and lock her out.
Oh no. Oho no. She was so not going to let him do that to her!
Peri sprinted for the shrinking gap of the doorway. Her hand slipped through the crack and pushed through. Her bag screeched and scraped against the old wood and, for what felt like forever, she stood there panting while everyone looked at her in sympathy. They’d all been on the wrong side of the door before.
But she was here. Safe. On time. Asshole. Carlos waved at her and pointed to the seat next to him. He was breathing a little heavily too.
“Nice timing,” Hot Asshole spoke to the book he was holding and not to her, “Have a seat, Miss James.”
Peri nodded still trying to remember how to breathe. She collapsed into her seat. Carlos had been fanning himself with a notebook, but now he fanned her as she tried to smile at him in thanks. Her lungs were telling her that they needed to exercise more. Ugh.
James rolled up his sleeves and leaned against the desk, ignoring the happy sighs that had suddenly filled the room, “I want everyone to finalize their pairs performance selections today. Practice ends at 4 and we’ll start rehearsals at 4:10.”
The class split up into pairs and Carlos looked over at Peri with a grim face. At least his breathing looked like it had gone back to normal.
Carlos’s Spanish accent curled around his words, “Have you picked which one you want to do?”
Peri nodded, still catching her breath. He laughed and started fanning her with his notebook again. It gave her the strength to dig out her own notebook and flip it open with a grand, billowing wave, pushing some of her hair out of her face. The breeze of the passing pages made her want to keep fanning herself until she felt human again, but she caught James staring at her and decided against it. Great, now her heart was beating quickly for a different reason.
He was still an asshole, but he didn’t make them all breathless for nothing.
“Peri?”
Oh, right, Carlos, class, discussion time. Focus!
“Uh, yeah, so we’ve got it narrowed down to Bride and Jitters and Dante’s Pizzeria?”
Carlos twirled his pen in one hand, “Can you remind me why we’re doing comedies when he is famous for hating them?”
Peri felt a wicked grin split across her face, “Because that means no one else will do it, so we should stand out.”
“What if we stand out in a bad way?”
She looked at Carlos’ crossed arms and snorted. He was right to worry, actually, she should probably worry more, but she was feeling bold. Plus, she’d eavesdropped on everyone else and they were doing totally different genres. The closest group to comedy was nobody. It was only her and Carlos. James wasn’t famous for just his looks.
“Look,” She glanced around them and motioned for him to lean in closer, “James will be so busy being furious that he’ll totally miss the performance and then you won’t be nervous and deliver the performance of your life.”
Carlos deflated, “Tonta.”
She slapped his arm, “Don’t call me that!”
“Have I taught you that one?”
“No,” She frowned, crossing her arms, “But I know it’s nothing good.”
Carlos laughed again, the last bits of his nervousness disappearing. She smiled then. If Carlos wasn’t such a scaredy cat all the time, he’d be such an amazing actor.
“Okay, let’s start. I think the dialogue in act 1, scene 4 from Dante’s is going to be the best fit for us.”
Marlohoe
P, you and Carlos free tonight?
We’re practicing for HATs perf. Why what’s up?
This is way more important.
Uh this is only our entire grade
Chelsea Chang wrote a new play.
SHUT UP!!!!! WHEN HOW?!?!
Grapevine, but she’s going to Roxy’s tonight.
We’ll be there!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ll meet you guys there at 9.
Peri grabbed Carlos’ backpack and yanked him to her. He yelped, but stopped and regained his balance. Before he could ask her what happened, Peri squealed at him.
“Carlos! Chelsea Chang. THE Chelsea Chang wrote a new play and she’s going to be at Roxy’s tonight.”
Carlos froze like a statue, if statues had open mouths and wide eyes.
“But, but, I thought she was taking a gap year?”
Peri shrugged, quickly motioning for him to follow her as she turned around for the bus stop.
“Guess it was a gap semester! C’mon! If we hurry, we’ll make the next bus.”
They ended up having to run for their buses with barely any time or breath for goodbyes. Peri opened up messages with Marlowe again and reread them. Chelsea Chang had come out of pseudo-retirement and Peri was going to be the star of her new play.
Once she got back to her tiny studio, Peri flung her bag and jacket onto the sofa and ran to her closet. She wrenched the stubborn doors open and gazed at its content, huffing and just slightly out of breath. The amount of cardio she was doing today was not cute. And neither was that dress. Or that skirt. Or that top.
Before long, half her closet was on her bed, she was down to her underwear and her last shred of sanity. Peri shoved her hands through her hair and looked at her phone. Almost six thirty. Shit. She still needed to shower and eat something. Not to mention makeup. And jewelry! God, she was so screwed.
A loud, but polite knock came at her door, breaking her out of her downward spiral into madness. She looked around for her robe, but the knock came again, this time a little more urgently. Her sweats would have to do. She fished them out from the pile on the bed and hastily threw her jacket back on and zipped it up. It was better than opening the door in just her bra.
“Who is it?”
“I live downstairs, in 203.”
Her neighbor? She hadn’t been that loud. Peri glanced around her room. Okay, maybe a few hangers had hit the ground while she was pulling out her clothes. And…oh, her huge box of shoes had fallen over and she’d been stomping around in every pair of heels she owned for the last couple of forever, trying on different outfits. No wonder her neighbor was pissed. Well, might as well bite the bullet. She finally opened the door, apologies rushing out of her at the same time.
“Hi, I’m really sorry about…that.” Peri trailed off.
Why was James looking at her like he was as surprised as she was? She was definitely more surprised than he was!
“What are you doing here?” She blurted out.
That seemed to wake him up, “Hello to you too, Miss James. You were making a lot of noise.”
“You came to complain,” Peri realized slowly, “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.”
She caught him looking over her shoulder and she remembered what her place looked like. Embarrassment hit her like a bus and excuses started tumbling out of her mouth.
“I-It doesn’t usually look like this. I’m just. I…uh, I’m-I need to go somewhere later and impress someone. Yeah!”
James raised an eyebrow. Wow, to think one eyebrow could somehow make her feel even more embarrassed.
“I see,” He looked at her outfit, “And this is what you picked?”
She looked down at herself and wanted to be literally anywhere else other than there. Her old pajama sweatpants, a comfortable hoodie and her favorite house slippers, the ones with deer all over them. She didn’t need to meet Chelsea Chang, she’d just die, right here and right now.
“No! I’m just looking for something nicer.”
“Right,” He nodded, “I don’t think extremely casual is the best choice for impressing someone.”
Peri groaned loudly and slapped a hand to her forehead, “You’re right, I’m doomed, I should just give up on meeting Chelsea Chang.”
“That’s who you’re meeting?”
Peri peeked up at him, “Yeah. You know her? Of course you know her. She’s basically famous.”
James coughed; it sounded suspiciously like a snort, but she was willing to let that slide. Too curious about the connection between Hot TA and only the best screenwriter to ever have walked the halls of ACDA.
“She’s a friend. We met at the TA orientation.”
Peri’s mouth dropped open, “You know Chelsea Chang?”
Oh. My. God. James was her foot in the door. She looked at him in a totally different light. She’d convince him to go to Roxy’s with her and make an introduction even if she died from embarrassment.
“James,” Peri smiled, trying to channel super friendliness, “Would you like to come in? I’m going to keep being noisy, so you might as well. Plus, maybe you could help me pick an impressive outfit for impressing people?”
She would die before she let this opportunity go and if that meant inviting the sexiest human being she'd ever seen into her disgustingly messy apartment then so be it. She wasn't going to become a famous actress without making some sacrifices somewhere.
