Esther put a hand to her head and blinked the sensation away.  "Huh.. Deja Vu.." she muttered.  She turned back to Hallie, who was on her way from awkwardly bemused to actually concerned in a hurry.  Esther shook her head and smiled.  "No worries, just saw this happen in a dream sometime a while back."<br/>Hallie gave her another "You're weird," followed by a more pronounced "We gotta go or we'll be late."  Esther nodded and they both trotted off down the hall to get to the Auditorium.  Esther was never this excited about getting to class, least of all to drama class.  But until her loathing of the course material finally took center in her mind, her thoughts were elsewhere.<br/>What the hell just happened.  Some girl was.. pitching..  doing something..  wasn't I just in the bleachers?  I don't even have a class that takes me outdoors this year.  And how did I forget Hallie?  And what..  did I hear...<br/>By the time Hallie had thrown open the doors to the Auditorium and the circle of snooty looking nerdlings sitting there, Esther had dismissed the thought from her mind entirely.  The drama teacher, Nathanial Bacon, was a talentless, overweight gentleman who appeared to owe his entire acting career to hazing in college and his prestigious last name.  None-the-less, the boys chummed up to him like he was their hero, and the girls.. well, Esther had heard things.  Like one-on-one after-school lessons that changed the meaning of "Get Ahead."<br/>Each member of the circle eyed her condescendingly, and Esther felt at home for it.  None of them liked her.  It wasn't like these people knew what acting really meant, on stage or in the lifestyle.  Esther did.  It gave her comfort, the same kind of comfort that girl throwing.. whatever it was, in her day dream, had given her.  But in Drama, it was lonely at the top.  More than anything the class taught you how to suck up to the big names, and Esther would never, NEVER, suck Bacon.<br/>Hallie was an exception.  Esther almost liked her.  She was a bubbly, sprite-like little blonde, that tended to try to lose herself in the magic of the fantasy, as opposed to trying to perfect the method.  She wasn't good, and her happiness could be annoying.  But she had the raw stuff, if she really wanted to use it.  Not bad, for a school partner.<br/>They sat down in the circle, literally seconds before the bell rang.  Bacon gave his usual speech about something or another blah blah blah and had her drifting off in under five words.  She caught a nasty glare from Cynthia Orlono as she zoned off.  Cynthia was that tall brunette you saw on posters everywhere.  She had it all: singing, dancing, beauty and the desire.  All she was missing was something that made her stand out, and until she got it, she would be sadly, but skillfully, ordinary.<br/>She was in contest with Dupree Haxbury, the slutty girl with the fake red hair and the laugh that made you want to claw your fucking eyes out with shrapnel, for being the teacher's pet.  Bacon played the two against each other, whether they knew it or not.  Neither of them was going anywhere.  Dupree wasn't an actress at all, unless you counted pseudo-intellectual films about school girls.  But the fact that she was willing to play that role to the apogee meant Cynthia had to play her game.  Like today, Cynthia's shirt was cut so low that she could shower in it.  Cynthia may not have had the spark, but Esther didn't like watching her over-look her skill to go slut for a teacher, who was not only scummy, but fundamentally unimportant.  Esther had told her so, once.  Now Cynthia apparently hated her, for being the stuck up girl that didn't dance for teacher.  Esther sighed, shrugged, and looked up at the lights, candidly bored.  It was lonely, at the top.<br/>Hallie was sitting next to Peter Wick, or it was more appropriate to say he had moved so he was sitting next to her.  He wasn't a bad guy.  He belonged in band, not in drama, but he was nice.  His only vice was having the hots for Hallie.  She seemed too innocent for that kind of thing.  Maybe that was why Esther almost liked her.  Like a kid, you couldn't help but want to steer them right, even if they had no clue on their own.<br/>Finally, it was time to split off and practice scenes.  Hallie ran ahead of her to their corner, with a look on her face like a mad scientist about to craft unseen wonders.  It brought an indulgent smile to Esther's, and she walked over, catching the jealous look in Peter's eyes as she went.  She smirked, cocky in the knowledge that she could probably have Hallie if she wanted her, and walked on.  Between that cockiness, the anger at Bacon, Cynthia, and the rest, and the afterglow of some daydream she could no longer remember, she was willing to get fully into the work.