AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I glanced at Dorian, hoping he would like the idea. “A lot of our set pieces and stuff got ruined in the fire, mostly damaged by smoke, but still, they’re unusable.”
“Tammie told me.” Perdita’s sympathetic look gave me hope. “She can’t get any help with the funds to replace them right now, not with all of the money going into repairs on the building.”
“Right, well, everyone’s a bit put off without that stuff. It’s not only for decoration. They help us mark where to stand and stuff. I thought we could make our props, but we would need help with that, so I wondered if—”
“I’ll help,” Dorian said.
“Me, too,” Victor said, which surprised me.
“What about the rest of you?” Perdita asked. “Byron would be happy to hear you made an effort.”
Most of them gave half-hearted responses, but at least nobody said no.
“One more thing.” I glanced at Alison. “One of our group isn’t showing up to rehearsals anymore, so there’s a small role going. Maybe Alison could take over?”
Alison’s eyes lit up, but after glancing at some sceptical looking members of the group, she shrugged in response as though uninterested.
“You scared or something?” Victor teased.
She scowled at him.
“You should try it,” Perdita said. “I think you would be good at it.”
Alison cheered up, but it took more encouragement from the rest of the group before she would agree.
I let out the breath I had been holding. “Maybe after our rehearsal, we could stick around and come up with a plan?”
“If there’s no money, we could ask around, see what we can borrow to make the props or whatever,” Victor suggested, surprising me all over again.
“That’s a good idea,” Perdita said with a wide smile. “Make sure you show me the list of things you might need. I’ll pass it around myself, see what we can find.”
“Great! That’s settled. Come on, Alison,” I said. She hesitated, wide-eyed, so I reached for her arm and pulled her out of her seat. “We should hurry. Thanks, everyone!”
Alison obediently followed me, which again, surprised me. Things had worked out pretty well. If the pack teens were busy working on props, they wouldn’t be freaking out the drama group.
“Don’t be nervous,” I told Alison.
“I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“You’ll learn quick. We’ll all help you. It’ll be fun.”
She dragged her feet as we reached the rest of the drama group. I pushed her ahead of me. “This is Alison. She’s interested in the club, so I thought she could take over for Bethany. Everyone else is on board to help us. They want us to stay after rehearsal to work out what we’ll need.”
Tammie looked Alison over then nodded. “She’ll do. I’ll stay back after.”
“I’ll help Alison get up to speed,” Chloe said, drawing Alison to her side.
I glanced back at Dorian and waved. So far so good.
The rest of the rehearsal went better, but it was obvious we were all out of sorts with the new location. Tammie took it easy on all of us, sticking to some exercises we were all used to, while helping Alison adjust and relax enough to take part. She seemed happy, though she looked relieved when rehearsal ended.
Most of our group stayed behind to help. We relied so much on visual props that it was a major relief when a couple of the pack additions turned out to take part in woodwork classes at school. They had a better understanding of what Tammie needed from us. Besides that, the others offered to paint, so if we wrangled up some materials, we could start creating new pieces sooner than expected.
Tammie and Perdita discussed supplies while the rest of us worked out what we could do. For some of us, it wasn’t much, but even being present felt supportive.
Dorian and I sat together amongst the circle of teens showing off their skills, shooting grins at each other at every chance. Victor squeezed between Emma and Chloe. Neither of them acted offended by it, which was progress, while Chloe did her absolute best to coax an almost mute Alison into a conversation.
There was something satisfying about bringing the two groups together, aside from it giving Dorian and me a chance to cosy up.
