Compatible, In an Incompatible Kind of Way part 6

The following day at practice was the first time Peter and I spoke to each other since the, "Hello." Well, we didn't technically talk to each other, but rather our characters. We spent the day going over two scenes: Clay Gephardt's initiation, and Landon and Jamie's bus drive home from Saturday-morning tutoring. The differences between the play and the movie were that the bus drive was not a bus but simply walking home. Jamie walked in front of him before, but then slowed down so she could talk to him. When Landon blew her off, she sped up again and walked in front of him. This was a hard scene to play out on a stage, where their really isn't that much room to be walking home. I found out during this practice that there would most likely be more time in this play dimming the lights and moving set pieces that there would be actual acting. Mrs. Kimple was upset that the students hadn't cut out more scenes of the movie, but the students who had written the script insisted that everything they left in was necessary.

"Hey!" I say to Peter, feeling strange addressing him. He glances at me but doesn't take his headphones off. "Do you want to buy some raffle tickets? I'm trying to raise money to buy Jefferson's new computers." Peter looks at me in a mocking way and says, "No." I can't help but feel this strangeness in me, having him say something to me directly. Having him address me as if the only strange thing about us talking is that I'm Jesus freak Jamie Sullivan and he's popular Landon Carter. "So, I saw you in there with Lewis, and I know it can be very difficult, but maybe you should try backing into it from somewhere else." He glances down at his CD player. "Are you gonna go visit Clay Gephardt?" I ask him. He scoffs. "That would be a no," I say in response to his scoff. I continue in persistence, "Do you know that they moved him from the hospital to that rehab place on Oak Street?" Peter pulls his headphones off quickly, in obvious irritation. "Is this your idea of small talk or something? Because if it is, your social skills need some work." He practically spits our the word work, treating me just as Landon treats Jamie- as if I am lower than him. I can't believe what a good actor he is, and I only hope I'm doing half as well as he is. "No one forced him to jump," he says, rolling his eyes. "It's called peer pressure," I reply, "And how would do you know about that?" Peter asks in annoyance. "You read it in that precious book?" he asks, motioning his head toward the bible I'm carrying. I pull the bible up toward my chest in protection and smile down at the floor. "Please don't pretend like you know me, Ok?" I ask softly. He laughs, "But I do. I do. We have all the same classes and same schools since kindergarden. Why, you're Jamie Sullivan." He says this all in a mocking tone, and then he smiles. "You sit at lunch table seven-which isn't exactly the reject table but is definitely in self-exile territory." He snickers, "You have exactly one sweater. You like to look at your feet when you walk. Oh hey and yea, and for fun, you like tutor on the weekends and hang out with the cool kids from the Stars and Planets." He laughs, "Now how's that sounds?" I shrug, "Thoroughly predictable. Nothing I haven't heard before." He raises and eybrow and eyes me, trying to look casual but obviously curious as he asks, "You don't care what people think about you?"

"No." I smile and walk ahead of him. He scrunches his eyebrows and pulls his headphones back on. "Perfect! That was perfect!" Mrs. Kimple says in excitement and she claps her hands together. "That was amazing. Now, tonight I want all of you to watch the movie- because I know you all have it- and say all your lines along with your characters. If you mess up, start the scene over again. Do this up to the scene we just practiced. Tomorrow, we are literally going to run through that entire portion of the play, without the sets or props. You got that?" Everyone starts murmuring in horror of the idea of having to have that many lines memorized by tomorrow, especially since many of the kids haven't practiced that much up to now. Peter and I do exactly as Mrs. Kimple told us when we get home, and it feels strange to be talking with each other, even just at parts when our characters talk. This is going to take some getting used to.

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