Project: Socialize

We made our way over to the gym when it was a few minutes past 4 PM. Since the play was supposed to start at 5, the entrance to the gym wasn't opened yet and theater club members were still setting up the front desk beside the entrance to sell tickets to the play. However, since we had nothing else to do, we came anyway.

There were some people that streamed out of the lecture building's side entrance and towards the gym, but not that many when compared to the large population still present in the lecture building as well as the road filled with food stalls leading from the school entrance gates to the front entrance of the lecture building. A small portion of the people that were waiting outside the gym were mostly students from our school who were done with their shift and were here to support their friends. However, the majority of them has got to be Irina's fans since they wore her merchandise and talked openly about her and their anticipation for her work. It seemed that Irina's involvement as one of the two protagonists of the play had indeed drawn many people to the play.

"People sure are excited," I muttered to myself as I saw the crowd that was slowly building up. "Does the gym even have enough seats for all of them?"

"I would hope so," Luna answered me as she looked over her shoulder at me. "But that's why the play will be on for two days: today and tomorrow."

"I guess," I sighed. "But with this number today, I really think tomorrow will be packed as well."

"Ms. President!" a theater club member saw Luna approaching and called out to her. He then walked towards us with a brisk pace, smiling as he greeted us. "Are you here to see the play?"

"Yeah," Luna responded.

"Then we can get you in for free," the boy then said.

"It's fine," Luna declined his offer. "Besides, if Alevian and I were to enter together, that would mean two fewer seats for the guests that came all the way here to watch the play."

"Alevian?" the student displayed a confused countenance as he looked towards me. Then, the confusion seemed to have gone away after he recognized me. "You're the manager of Irina and Muria!"

Manager? I frowned.

Then, he looked back at Luna and smiled. "If that's what you're worried about, then the two of you can come watch backstage if you don't mind."

"That would be perfect," Luna nodded.

"Then you can enter through the back entrance of the gym." The student looked towards the paved road that led around the gym and to the back of the building. "I'm sure they'll let you enter."

"Thank you Jordan." Luna smiled at the boy and started down the road that the student, Jordan, had pointed to us. So she does know the name of everybody...

It was my first time being backstage since this area is usually off limits to students unless you're in the theater club or you're charged with retrieving equipment for Physical Education or for a sport. Therefore, the backstage area of the gym was extremely refreshing for me to see. It was quite clean and quite open as well in order to fit the many theater club members. Entering through the back entrance, we arrived in the area where the background objects were stored. There were plenty of them in fact, and nearby was a wheeled stand that the club members can just place the objects onto it and roll out onto the stage when the scenes change.

After greeting everybody in the storage area for the props and background, Luna decided that we were going to greet the actors and actresses of the play. Therefore, she brought me to the dressing room. Lines of tables with mirrors lined both sides of the rectangular shaped dressing room, and at the far end of it were two changing rooms. Within the dressing room, actors and actresses had all changed into the costumes for their characters and were applying makeup.

"Alevian!"

I heard Irina's voice calling out to me and after a simple scan of the room, I found her. It wasn't that hard, really, since her costume and Muria's were both the most extravagant of them all. They were seated next to each other at a dressing table near the end of the room on chairs before illuminated mirrors as female club members applied makeup onto them and did their hair. Because of this, Irina wasn't able to stand up and could only see me from the corner of her eyes.

"Why're you here backstage?" she then asked as I stood behind her so that her and Muria can both see me in the mirror before them.

"That's..." I wasn't sure how to respond to that question, but lucky for me, Luna was there to answer for me.

"Ah, the President is also here!" Irina noticed Luna as she walked over to stand next to me after she finished her simple greetings with the other performers.

"I ran into Alevian this morning," she started explaining why we were together, "so we decided to walk around before we come to see the play, and since the line is piling up at the front, we were allowed to watch the play from backstage."

"Oh," Irina said as she accepted Luna's explanations.

"The two of you walked around for the entirety of the day?" Muria then asked.

"Yeah," I responded, feeling somewhat embarrassed and nervous from the glare that she directed towards the mirror that reflected onto me. Afterwards, she let out a silent sigh.

"All done," the students responsible for their hair and makeup said as they slowly backed off from them to admire their work from afar. Then, after satisfied with their work, they said their goodbyes and walked away to continue working on other performers.

"How do we look?" Irina asked as she spun the chair around to face us. Beside her, Muria did the same but in a much slower fashion.

"The two of you look great," Luna answered her.

Then, Irina's gaze shifted towards me while Muria sighed possibly out of nervousness. Irina's eyes seemed to imply that she must hear a response from me, and with Luna also looking at me in anticipation of what I was going to say, I really have no way to escape.

"Beautiful," I muttered, averting eye contact by looking away while blushing from embarrassment of saying such a thing.

"What?" Irina seemed to be unable to hear what I had just said due to the low volume I had said it and the ambiance noise in the dressing room.

"I said the two of you look beautiful," I said while closing my eyes, this time in a raised voice that topped the background noise in order to make sure that the two heard me.

I sighed and opened my eyes once again to discover silence from both Irina and Muria. The two were blushing somewhat and remained silent as they looked down at their laps. They were probably embarrassed from how loud I had said that, but whatever. They can suffer from that embarrassment too. Then, it came to my mind that they will have to perform in front of a large audience. It was odd that Irina became embarrassed in front of such a small crowd, so I was worried whether or not they will be able to perform in front the large audience.

"How're you two feeling?" Luna asked, snapping them out of their embarrassed trance and bringing them back into reality.

"I'm feeling fine," Irina then responded with a laugh. "I've performed many times in the past already so..."

"What about you, Muria?" Luna then directed the question directly at Muria.

Muria brought her right hand to the center of her chest and sighed. On her face was a look of nervousness and uncertainty that caused her to sweat somewhat. I could imagine how fast her heart must be pounding in her chest and how anxious she must be feeling.

"Nervous," she sighed, "but fine."

Her facial expression seemed to have lost its usual powers and were now extremely tamed and timid. Her face was still somewhat red, probably from the nervousness, but it made her appear pretty cute and produced an alluring aura. Combine that with the low cut of her black laced dress that allowed her smooth shoulders and the cleavage of her milky white breasts to show along with the occasional soft sigh and the redness of her face, she appeared quite erotic if you ask me.

It wasn't only her, but Irina as well. Her dress also had a low cut, but it also included a slit on the sides of her thighs, allowing a portion of her perfectly proportioned and smooth thighs to show. Both of their outfits were quite revealing, really something that pushed the limits for school-friendly. However, since the school had allowed it, I'm not gonna complain.

"..." Irina and Muria stared at me, catching me off guard. Then, I realized that Luna was also staring at me.

"Alevian," she said in an embarrassed and timid tone of voice. "Can you stop staring?"

"You're really a concealed pervert," Muria added as she shook her head in both disbelief and disapproval. "Was he also staring at you as well, Ms. President."

"I did catch him staring..." Luna chuckled. "And you can just call me Luna."

"I knew it," Muria sighed once again at the news of my behavior.

"Everybody on standby!" The voice of the theater club president interrupted my public humiliation as the man himself, dressed in a knight's costume, peeked his head into the dressing room to call all actors and actresses to get ready for the play. "Muria, Irina," he said as he walked towards us. In his left hand that was against his waist was the script book for the play that he had rolled up. With his right hand over his shoulder, he pointed towards the door with the thumb. "Get ready," he said. "Play's about to start."

Then, he walked away to monitor the progress of the other performers, leaving the four of us alone. Irina checked her phone for the time with Muria staring at the screen as well. Then, Irina locked her phone and placed it into her school bag before setting that on the floor.

"We'll have to go now," she said to Luna and I. "Hope you enjoy the play."

"We will," Luna smiled as she waved after the two girls. "Good luck out there!"

Then, Luna nudged me with her elbows, signaling to me that I should say something as well. However, I didn't know what to say. Therefore, I just basically reiterated what she had said earlier.