CHAPTER 13

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I was jarred awake by a knock at the door. I opened my eyes, the morning sun blinding me. I squinted across the room to see that Minseok was still in bed too. Who the hell was disturbing us? There was a second knock at the door before Minseok got up and shuffled across the room. He didn’t really even bother to check who was at the door. He just stepped aside, let them enter, and retreated back to his bed.

I blinked rapidly at the blurry figure coming towards me. I closed my eyes tight hoping that the next time I opened them they would be in focus or the nightmare would go away. My stomach dropped when I felt the side of my bed dip and an arm come over my side.

“Jisoo, we’ve got thespian club in thirty minutes,” Gongchan’s voice whispered in my ear.

I was unexpectedly wide-awake. I laid deathly still beneath the boy, hoping that he didn’t decide to lean in any closer to me. What if he felt something? I cursed at myself in my mind. Why didn’t I just leave the sports bra on all day yesterday? Even sleeping in the wrap would have been fine. Was I going to have to start doing that from now on?

I kept my eyes closed, trying to stay calm. “W-what time is it?” I managed to stutter.

“It’s half past eight. Club starts at nine today.” Gongchan finally got up, giving me back my much-needed personal space.

I swung off the other side of my bed and quickly padded over to my dresser. I dug out some jean shorts and a shirt, which I managed to wrap my chest compressor in. I snagged the tote with my toothbrush and other junk in it before rushing towards the door.

I motioned for Gongchan to follow me outside. “Just wait here,” I said pointing to our steps. “Let Minseok sleep. I’ll be right back.”

I was waiting for him to protest and him to say he wanted to come with me. Thankfully he listened. It was hard enough sneaking around to get ready when I was alone. I didn’t need a shadow.

The time that it had taken me to wake up and get ready only left us with ten minutes to get to our club activity. I was kind of glad that Gongchan had shown up because I honestly had no idea where I was supposed to be going. I let him lead the way.

“Don’t you usually get up early?” Gongchan asked me.

“Usually, but I think all this physical activity is tiring me out,” I explained. “If I was at home this summer, I’d be up until three in the morning and sleep until noon. Nine hours of sleep is usually all I need. I wake up naturally, no alarm, no house calls.” I unconsciously sighed. “That’s always such a nice feeling.”

Gongchan scoffed out a laugh. “No offense, but I think you really are meant to be in thespian club.”

“Ho ho, I think that’s the first jab you’ve ever made at me.”

“It wasn’t really,” he said with a hint of amusement.

“Yeah, yeah. Try to cover it all you want. I don’t believe you. I don’t take any offense though. Drama is my specialty. I learned all my techniques from the University of Nextflix,” I joked.

I followed Gongchan through the camp, past the dining hall, the commons, and out past the offices. I was starting to get a bit nervous about where we were going. I was waiting for Gongchan to turn around at any second and pull a bag down over my head before dragging me into the woods. Blame my over active imagination, sure, but the situation was pretty weird.

“Where exactly are we going?” I asked like an idiot.

“Right there,” he said.

I peaked around his shoulder to see a bunch of wooden benches lined up in an open area. The trees had been cleared away and a slight downward slope added to the ground. It was quite similar to the main fire pit area. In front of everything was a wooden stage that had a roof and small building attached to the back. It was a little outdoor theater.

“How come no one ever said there was a little amphitheater here?”

“Did you ever ask?” Gongchan shot back with a smirk.

“Okay, so you got me on that one. Honestly though, what else is hiding out here in these woods?”

Gongchan let out a laugh as we walked to where a few other kids were already gathered. “The craft building is right on the other side of us, and just a little bit farther out are the shooting and archery ranges. There are a few other buildings out here where other clubs meet. There are a whole bunch of hiking trails out here too.”

We took a seat by some boys that Gongchan seemed to know. He waved to them as we sat.

“And out past the hiking trails is the cemetery where they bury those who don’t survive Camp Alpine,” a boy with friendly looking face leaned forward and said.

“Wait, you mean actual campers are buried there or just their hopes and dreams?” I questioned, thinking of my own summer plans that had been ruined.

The boy let out a melodic laugh. “Glad to see that you can keep up. You’re going to need quick wit if you want to survive thespian club. I’m Hakyeon, by the way. This guy here is my friend Hongbin.”

“I’m Kim Jisoo,” I said with a small wave. “Am I missing something here?” I questioned aloud. “Why is it thespian club and not drama club?” I was growing annoyed with the pretentious sounding name.

“The counselor that runs the club thinks that it’ll inspire us. She says it’s to remind us that what we’re doing is an art. You missed her whole tirade about it last meeting,” Gongchan filled me in. “You didn’t miss much else. Half the club wasn’t even here because they were still down at the lake for the swim tests. Wait till you see Ms. Jung. She’s something else.”

Speak of the devil… a middle-aged woman with long flowing grey hair stepped out onto the stage. She wore black leggings under a black and grey stripped sweater dress and a black scarf was wrapped fashionably around her neck. She looked like a stage director, or what I pictured one to look like anyway. She was overly dressed for the weather, which could only mean one thing; she had a cold personality.

She paced back and forth across the stage, surveying us, as if we were items in a shop. Her eyes landed on Gongchan and the corner of tilted up in a small smile before moving on. I thought I would just fly under her radar. There was nothing special about me compared to the tall, good-looking boys around me.

Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks, eyes burning a whole into mine. I told myself not to look away in weakness, but the longer I stared the more my eyes stared to water. The expression on her face was unreadable, but the emotion in her eyes told so much. It was like she saw me, the real me. She could see right past the Jisoo, pretending to be a boy and building back her confidence, to the timid Jisoo who had given up on defending herself. I wanted to get up and leave. I wanted to run. I knew any second she was going to call me out. My secret and all the lies were going to come crashing down on top of me.

“As you can see boys, the face has so many tools that can be used to express emotion. Let’s keep that in mind while we are acting!”

I released the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Ms. Jung smiled out fondly at all of us. Drama club. She was acting. I was getting all worked up over nothing.

“I realize that a lot of you didn’t catch on that I was just acting and playing with you. Many of you gave me such beautiful raw emotion in return.” Her eyes flickered to me once before moving on to someone else. “That’s what I want to see here. I’m not saying I want you all to be method actors, but a character is always more believable when you have your emotions involved. We will learn to harness and use them in our acting.”

“That was kind of a mind ,” I leaned over and whispered to Gongchan.

He choked on a laugh and shot me a playful look that said, “Cut it out before we get in trouble.”

Ms. Jung rambled on about acting and drama and art. That stuff was nice and all, but I just wasn’t really invested. There were about a hundred other, more important, things I should have been worrying about. Lost in thought, my attention turned to the ground where ants were busy carrying bits of leaves back towards their hill. I kicked a small twig in their path and watched as they acted like the world was ending. One of the