525,600 minutes.

[Lucy Hartigan]

This was the second year in a row that Lucy Hartigan was the first person to show up at the first Drama Club meeting of the year. Of course she was early; she was early for everything. She couldn't stand not doing anything, and she had to be at work in 2 hours. Her converse-clad footsteps echoed through the empty auditorium, as she headed towards the stage.

The stage. The one place Lucy could actually feel a part of something. She watched movies wishing to act or direct; she went to shows wishing she could sing or play guitar or even find a decent beat with a drum. But she couldn't. She couldn't draw or paint, she couldn't dance, and she couldn't play sports. But when it came to stage acting... Lucy shone. For once. She could take any character she was handed and run with it - male, female, young, old, rich, poor, sweet-as-sugar or cold-as-ice. Nothing as of yet had presented a challenge, which pleased Lucy, considering how mediocre she was at everything else.

She climbed the three small stairs on to the stage, and looked out at the empty auditorium. She almost broke into song; some RENT, perhaps, but thought better of it. Instead, she sat cross-legged and just enjoyed being there.

[Brody Rogers]

Sauntering into the auditorium with her usual look of self satisfaction, Brody Rogers removed her sunglasses, and gently folded them, slipping them into the messenger bag hanging from her shoulder. Another school year, another year of drama club. It was one of the few clubs that she joined, and actually remembered to show up for; maybe it was the attention, or maybe it was the fact that Lucy was in it and thus she was frequently reminded not to forget and jew out. Perhaps it was a bit of both. Whatever the case, Brody really did enjoy drama.

She wasn't near the actress that Lucy was, really, and she never thought she would be. She was more present for the chance to appear on stage, in front of any number of adoring eyes, and also for the off chance that they might perform a musical. Which she usually lucked out into getting the lead roles in, at least. Otherwise, she usually stuck to the back, acting in whatever role they stuck her with, and offering her best friend a smile and some moral support. As well as some crude jokes, but she mostly tried to refrain in drama, simply because Lucy had lines to remember, and Brody didn't want to get yelled at for being distracting.

She wasn't at all surprised to see Lucy was the first person there, and also only person there. That was almost always how it went with her and this club.

"Hey slut, thought you'd be in here. Shouldn't you be off getting ready for work?"

[Lucy Hartigan]

Lucy had been sitting with her eyes closed, practically taking in the smell of the auditorium, when she heard her friend's voice. Her eyes snapped open. "Hey hoebag," she replied nonchalantly, dishing back the slut comment in her own way. "I could be asking the same of you, y'know. I don't work til five today. I got my sched adjusted so I wouldn't miss any of this lovely nonsense." She uncrossed her legs and let them swing over the edge instead. "But seriously, who's the prez this year? I should've got it, man, fuck. Like really, we shouldn't be the first ones here, waiting for someone to show up. It's bullshit."

[Hunter Sommer]

Smirking at the other girl, Brody gave an over dramatic sigh, lifting her good hand and pressing the back of it against her forehead. "Oh, my beloved Lucy, always the bridesmaid, never the bride. It really should have been yours this year, dunno who stole it out from under you this time. Maybe you'll get it by the time we're seniors, kid," she suggested, as she moved to step up onto the stage. She didn't hesitate to go over and flop down beside her friend, allowing her own legs to swing over the side too.

"And I do mean literal seniors, like, geriatric unit at the community hospital, sixty five plus discount at Walmart. Not grade twelves."

[Lucy Hartigan]

"Fuck off," Lucy said, sticking her tongue out. "If someone doesn't show soon, I'm going to bring a complaint forward to During," she said, sighing. "So we may not be seniors in any sense, if I put up enough of a fight. Which I will," she added. "I can assure you of that."

She pulled her legs back up and started picking lint off of her jeans. "So you've made it back here another year, I see," she said, changing the topic. "I'm surprised to see you make the first meeting. That's got to be, like, a personal Brody record for you."

[Hunter Sommer]

"Oh, baby, you wish I'd fuck off, don't you?" Brody replied, sticking her tongue out right back. She listened to her friend's plight, and nodded slowly, even managing a bit of a sympathic smile, as she leaned over to pull Lucy into a loose one armed hug once the girl had pulled her legs back up onto the stage. "My girl, you're growing up so fast. I totally got your back, if you're going to During. We'll make you campaign posters, get people to vote, make a big hullabaloo. I can sing, we'll put on a benefit show, whole nine yards. Lucy Hartigan for dramatic arts president, time for a change!"

The comment about her appearace wasn't missed, as Brody leaned over closer, lifting her other hand in order to roughly pinch Lucy's nearest cheek. "It might be a record, yeah. Don't get used to it. But really, you think I'd miss watching you wow the entire school on stage? 'Sides, you might need someone to do all of your music, duh. And I heard that we might be doing RENT, or something equally awesome, so you'll need me to siiiiiing, my little heart out."

[Lucy Hartigan]

"Quit it," she said, as Brody pinched her cheek. "You're a pest. However a very loving and helpful one," she added, smiling. "I can't see me campaigning to be prez; I really hope that's not going to be necessary. I don't have enough time off work for that shit. But if I had you to back me and sing, well, I'd win hands down," she mused. "But I hope it won't come to that. Whoever's got the position just better hurry the fuck up, is all I'm saying."

At the mention of RENT, Lucy became genuinely excited. "Oh man, I honest to god would die happy if we did RENT, and you'd be flipping sweet in it. You're the only one with the voice to pull off Mimi. Or maybe Maureen, you'd get to make out with whoever plays Joanne," she teased, smiling brightly. "I'd want to be Mark, of course, they've gender-bent roles for me before. I hope you heard this from a reliable source, my hopes are up now."

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

"Yeah, I almost forgot about your complete and total lack of drive to do anything at all. If you ran for prez, then we'd have to actually.. do stuff, when we have days off. Instead of just getting baked and watching cartoons," Brody sighed, seeming quite happy with this idea, though she smile back at Lucy for the off-handed comment that the brunette offered about her singing. "They'll show, don't sweat the jam, baby. We're like, almost an hour early. I wouldn't be here, if I didn't know you were gunna be here."

Brody paused, looking momentarily sheepish. "Well, my sources aren't exactly.. well, all of my sources are reliable, Luce. But this was just really something I heard a bunch of ninth grade girls talking about in the hallway. So maybe it's not totally rock solid, but we could.. we can suggest it! I think we need a musical this year. Although I really think you should be playing Roger, if I'm going to be playing Mimi. So we can have all of our hot and steamy moments together, you know? Although you would be the cutest little Mark I've ever seen," she replied, getting pretty excited as well. "Oh, actually, hold on!"

Turning to her side, Brody flipped open her messenger bag, digging around inside for a few minutes, before turning back to Lucy at long last. In her hand, she held the pair of glasses that she was meant to wear on a daily bases, thick frames and slightly bent out of shape from being bumped around her bag and car instead of being on her face. "Here, you can wear these, lemme see how you look."

[Lucy Hartigan]

"Who do you think you are? Barging in on me and my guitar?" Lucy asked, pouting. "Actually, maybe you should be Roger... Ohh I like those glasses. Why don't you wear them more? Could add to your tortured artist look," she mused, as she took the glasses from her friend. Careful not to bend them any more than they already were, she placed them on her face, pushing them up her nose. "So, Mark enough?" she asked, turning to Brody as she dug around in her purse for a mirror. She held it up and examined herself. "Mannn, I could pull this off. They may have to change my name though. Or would that ruin the integrity? Actually if we really did RENT, whiners might complain and like... make me be Joanne. Which STILL doesn't work, because I can't sing well enough. I'm rambling... RENT does that to me," she explained, laughing.

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

"I could pull off Roger. I'd actually get to play a bit, and I'm sure Hal would love a moment on the lime light. You know how he does love the stage," Brody mused, seeing nothing at all strange about referring to her guitar as if he [it] was a completely animate object, or another person. She watched Lucy putting on the glasses, and smiled, but made a little face at her question. "They look retarded on me. I look like Bubbles, from the Trailer Park Boys? But they look super on you, maybe we should get you to sit really close to the TV, so you can wear them instead," she suggested, with a little grin. "Very Mark," she added, as Lucy was pulling out the mirror to take her own look at the results.

"If we change names, people would get pissed. And I think it ruins the integrity, personally, but I'm sure you theatre dorks would care more about that than I would. It's not like I've seen anything other than the movie. And you can sing, I know you have it in you, just need some confidence. We could practice together, jam sessions, like when we did that bit from Rocky Horror, for the talent show last year? It will be splendid."

[Lucy Hartigan]

"A trailer park's no place for a kitty, Ricky," Lucy said, grinning. "And Rocky Horror songs don't exactly need a wonderful range to sing, y'know," she said, taking off the glasses. "And if you did get to be Roger, they wouldn't let you use Hal as a prop, he's too pretty. Remember how beat-up the guitar was in the movie? It wasn't even varnished!" She looked impatiently at her watch. "Ok, this is ridiculous, we're definitely not beyond early now, and we're still alone. People don't know shit about committment," she said irritably, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Anyway, if we don't end up with RENT, what would be a good second choice? I'm pretty sure no one is remotely as vocal as the two of us, so whatever we picked would probably go."

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

"Quiet, with your blasphemy. I wouldn't.. no, I couldn't play a guitar other than Hal. It just isn't happening, so maybe I should just go for Maureen right off, if we're picking roles. And assuming we're even doing RENT, which isn't confirmed, we're just being wishful here," Brody mused, leaning back onto her hands, as she peered toward the doors of the auditorium. Lucy had a point, where was everyone? It was never this much of a ghost town, even in their lame high school drama club. In fact, Asswright's brother was usually there before anyone, so what was the deal?

"They'll be here, hold yourself, gorgeous," she said finally, turning her head a bit to look over at her friend with a little smile. "I, personally? I think we should do Mama Mia, obviously. It has to be a musical, and I know you dig Abba, so this way, we could both be happy, right? There are others to choose from, I just wanna sing.. and maybe dance a little. I can break it done hardcore, you know it to be true."|

[Johnny Wainwright]

Johnny was late for Drama club, and it was a little bit frustrating. He had been set on being early;he was always early, and this shouldn't have been any different except for Jude. He was sometimes tired of taking care of his twin; while he was smaller and two minutes younger, it seemed that Jude was the delicate one, always needing someone with him, always sick or depressed or lonely. He had run into him in the hallway, the other teen looking frail and ill, and had at once decided that he ought to take him home; though Jude argued that he should go to his club, and they had spent nearly ten minutes arguing in the hall before Jude had nearly dragged Johnny to the auditorium.

"Jude, you're sick, I should take you home." Johnny's voice preceeded him as they entered the room, and Jude shook his head.

"No, you should go to club. I can wait."

[Lucy Hartigan]

"Speak of the devil," Lucy said quietly, nudging Brody with her elbow. Sure enough, not only "Asswright"'s brother had just entered the auditorium, but Jude Wainwright himself. "There's no way he joined drama, right?" Lucy asked hopefully. Though she didn't have any problem with him, personally, she knew Brody would lose her mind if he tried to infiltrate the club. It was bad enough his twin brother was there, but Brody would tolerate him, and Lucy could save her sanity. This, however, she knew Brody wouldn't stand for. "Seriously, he has enough on the go, right? He doesn't need to be here."

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

Making an over-dramatic 'oof' at the elbow she received in her side, Brody was all but smiling in a very good natured manner, until she turned around enough to see just who Lucy was actually talking about. Eyes settling on the twins, smile turned into a scowl, as she looked away quickly and leaned over to practically hiss her reply to her best friend, keeping her voice low and confidential. "He better not be in fucking drama, but I will quit. Johnny is okay, not as cool as Ophi, but like.. god, no. Not in one of the clubs I really like," she muttered, eyes scrunching closed in frustration. She felt a headache coming on, and almost rubbed her forehead and the bridge of her nose to will it away.

But then decided she'd look too much like Stan from South Park, and Lucy would rip on her immediately for making an indirect reference to one of their favorite cartoons. "He's definitely just here with Johnny, he's not staying.. no way, he can't be. Everyone will get him to be Roger, and they'll want me to be Mimi, 'cos we can sing, and I am neither kissing nor shooting up with Asswright, sorry."