It's lunchtime at MyCarthy Learner's Academy, on the day following the mysterious performer's premiere appearance on Ms. Thew's Theatre Troupe. It's all the school's talking about, much to the surprise of the Troupe's members.
On any other day, Michael and Hally would sit alone at one of the lunch tables, but...
Michael's mind was in 8th gear speeds. He knew everyone was talking about last night's performance at this point, and they were anticipating more. He sighed regret as Simone's words echoed in his head.
"It'll be simple; high schoolers don't care about improv, or theatre. As long as you're not getting booed, it'll be a breeze!"
Well, now they do care, Simone. Ugh. He wasn't sure what to make of it all. The excitement that had followed last night had given way to trepidation. Not only about the performance itself, but also the student body's boisterous reactions and Ms. Thew's praise and commendations. There was so much to process, in retrospect, and he didn't like that so many eyes were on this new alter ego, "Nicole".
Not to say these moments weren't enjoyable then —he was sure at least that the whole performance as "Nicole" was still nothing short of the most fun he had in a long time— but was it supposed to be?
And what specifically about it did Michael enjoy?
In all his troubled thinking, he didn't notice the student approaching his table.
"Hi, aren't you the one always sitting next to the new girl, Hally?" She asked.
"Mhm?" Michael replied guardedly, assuming this was another classmate trying to worm their way to speaking with her.
"She never happens to mention anything about the troupe she's working with, does she? I'd ask her, but she's so hard to find out of class."
"Not that I know of." A blatant lie; Michael just didn't think he or Hally would enjoy having a conversation based in trying to reach another person. He attempted to feign disinterest. Hopefully, you'll leave soon.
"Can I sit with you, then, until she gets back?" Drat. She moved into the seat left of him before he could decline. All Michael could do was continue to spy out for Hally whilst eating his sandwich. "My name's Alice, by the way."
"Uh-huh..."
"Well, what's yours?"
Michael hesitated at first, but acquiesced at the earnesty in Alice's eyes. "It's... Michael."
She nodded. "So, how about that performance in the auditorium yesterday?"
"It was okay, I guess..."
"Just okay? That new dancer they had was so cool, though!"
Oh, she was referring to "Nicole", too. Uh-huh... Michael scanned the room again, as if to avoid engaging Alice's rebuttal. "Well... what I meant was that I don't think they were that popular..."
"What do you mean? Weren't you at the presentation?"
"No. Or well, not for most of it." Which is true, technically speaking. "Plus, I'm sure she's just over--"
"Hey, Hally!" Alice spotted Michael's unassuming friend first, busy reading over a small book on mathematical logic. She fired her next words in a rapid yet cohesive style, "You work with Ms. Thew and her Troupe. Do you know who that masked dancer was? How can I get in contact with her?"
"Um, ah, uh..." Hally was immediately overwhelmed, not used to spontaneous conversation, and didn't know what or how to respond. "Oh, uh M-Michael would know!"
"Wha—?" That's even worse!
"Hey, I thought you weren't a part of the Troupe?" Alice's inquisitiveness was causing Michael's composure to quickly degrade.
"I'm not! It's just that not much is known about Nicole. She's a rather enigmatic person. She keeps to herself, mostly!"
"Hmm, so her name is Nicole..." Michael bit his tongue letting the codename slip like that. Alice decided not to follow-up on that line of questioning, shifting her focus to Hally.
"How does one end up working with someone like that, though? They would've had to have given some proper documentation, or something like that."
"W-well, I'm not privy to that sort of information." Hally answered. Phew, at least she recovered quickly.
"I'm just supposed to make sure the high-end acrobatics she does can fall in line with everyone else's actions."
Alice's eyes widened in astonishment. "Wait, all that was acrobatics?! It was so wild and fantastic, though!"
Uh, crud. Michael held back a grimace as he worked to uttering another reroute. "No, it's just more so improvised choreography. I'm unsure that what she does is regularly practiced?"
"But how do you know that?"
"Uhhhh... I don't." The only thing he could think of doing was to keep his eyes focused on Hally to avoid making his bluffs any more obvious. "B-but you know what weapon of hers? It's so unique, comparatively speaking."
"Hmmmm..." While Alice contemplated Michael's claim, he was slowly sinking into further panic.
Why did I mention that if I wasn't supposed to be there?!
"Yeah, I that does make some sense." She responded, causing Michael to subtly breathe out in relief. "It does make me wonder, though, how does it glow like that? It looked too firm to be something like an overglorified glowstick, I think."
Gah, why can't I just hush up! Okay, okay, let's not give up any more information... Michael attempted to mentally steel himself. With the best poker face he could muster, he said the following,
"No clue at all."
"It's special, that's all we know." Hally said at the same time with equal blankness.
Michael bit the insides of his lip, if only to prevent himself from shrieking. Hally, please! We don’t need to bring any attention about THAT.
"Oh, well that's fair enough. Someone who sounds as busy as her probably wouldn't tell you about it. If you do hear anything from her, would you tell me? I'd really like to know." The two nodded ever so slightly. "See ya another time!" Alice marched away towards the back doors of the cafeteria in an upbeat pace.
Hally and Michael waited until they were certain she was out of earshot, and fell apart the instant she was.
"I... I was trying to pretend I didn't know anything" Michael scream-whispered, hands covering his face.
"S-sorry, I thought she'd go if I told her what she wanted!" Hally scream-whispered back.
"Ah, I didn't mean—. Well anyways... It wasn't like those moves were that impressive." Michael pictured "Nicole" back on stage, doing silly motions with the aura polehammer.
"Sure, but... It wasn't bad for a first run. I didn't want to disrespect that. D-did I do something wrong? I'm sorry."
"Oh, nonono. Thanks for that, but like... It still couldn't have been that grand..." Michael twiddled his fingers, pretending the polehammer was between his fingers as it spun around like a baton. "Besides, I'm not sure I want 'Nicole' to be the new trend of the school, even if it's not 100% about her, y'know? That should be something that Simone, Ronia, and the others should get regarded for. I'm just tagging along."
Hally looked as though she had more to input, but ultimately decided to keep it to herself.
"Well, in any case we should probably start eating," Michael continued. "What was it you were reading today?"