Alex walked the halls of the school, eating her lunch like she normally did. She hadn't really made any friends at her new school yet. She had talked to a few people though. There was Zoe who was in the productions class and GT ILA with her. There was also Aadya who was in her ILA as well, and there was Zoe who was in a few of her classes and they had talked a few times. Then of course there was Liam who talked to pretty much everyone, but he was nice.

Alex took a small detour from her usual route through the school and went into the fine arts hallway. She wasn't really sure why she did this, maybe she wanted to see if Mr. Benj was there to make her laugh seeing as he was just a funny person. Whatever the reason, Alex was very glad she did because she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from squealing once she saw what was posted on the theatre bulletin board. The poster in front of her read: Dripping Springs Middle School Theatre Presents: High School Musical! Auditions will be held on 10/1/20 and 10/2/20. If you are interested in auditioning please talk to Mr. Benj.

Alex could hardly contain her excitement. She had loved High School Musical for as long as she could remember and knew all the songs by heart. She used to belt them out in her room whenever her mom wasn't home, and she had watched all the movies more times than she could count. Alex knew Mr. Benj was probably having his lunch break, but she ran up to his room anyway so she could get the audition information. She wanted to start preparing as soon as she could.

Alex knocked on the locked door after seeing the light was on. Mr. Benj opened it. "Well hello Alex," he paused furrowing his brow. "Aren't you supposed to be at lunch?"

"Well, probably, but none of the teachers actually care what we do during lunch. It's kind of a free period as long as we don't go off campus." Alex replied, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Oh I should probably explain why I'm interrupting your lunch," she realized. "I just saw the sign up for the High School Musical auditions and I wanted to know what I had to prepare."

"Oh," Mr. Benj looked- relieved? The smile he seemed to normally wear was back. "Well just scan the QR code on the poster to sign up for a slot and prepare a song and a monologue. The monologue should be under one minute and for the song, prepare the whole thing, but you'll probably be stopped at some point because we sadly don't have time to listen to everyone sing an entire song."

"We?" Alex asked, and she could have sworn she saw Mr. Benj blush.

"Um yeah, me and Fabian-er Mr. Faist critique the auditions together. He helps especially with the singing portion since he's the choir teacher."

"Okaay," Alex replied, drawing out her word. Alex was practically bubbling in excitement, she couldn't wait to tell her mom, she was sure she would help her prepare.

Alex's excitement was soon replaced with unease when Mr. Benj's concerned expression returned. "Alex?"

"Yeah?" Alex instinctively started biting her lip. Some people chew their fingernails or the end of a pencil, but whenever Alex got nervous she played with her bottom lip. She did this so much that most of the time her lip was very red and slightly puffy.

"Why aren't you at lunch?"

"I-"

"I know you said that you saw the poster," he said, cutting her off. "But, lunch seems like an odd time to check out the theatre bulletin board especially since you didn't know anything was going to be there." Alex started racking her brain for excuses, ways she could get out of telling Mr. Benj her daily lunch routine. She loved Mr. Benj as a teacher, but she wasn't sure if she really wanted to talk to him about why she never went to lunch. Mr. Benj must have seen the frantic look on Alex's face because he laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and said: "Hey I just want to make sure you're ok."

Alex breathed a sigh of relief and was about to say that she was fine, which of course, would have been a lie, she hadn't been fine for a while, but Mr. Benj didn't need to know that. However, her body decided it hated her, and before she knew what she was doing she shook her head no. "Do you want to talk about it?" Mr. Benj asked sweetly. Alex shook her head again, not able to look up at Mr. Benj. She expected him to pry or tell her to go talk to the counselors if she was having a problem, but all he said was, "Okay, well if you ever do, my door will always be open. You can come and talk about anything and you won't be judged. The theatre is a safe haven yeah?"

Alex looked up at him and felt immense gratitude. "Yeah." she gave him a faint smile. The bell rang.

"You should probably get off to class." Mr. Benj said, propping the door open with a doorstop. Alex nodded and turned to leave but quickly turned back.

"Hey, Mr. Benj?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you." Mr. Benj looked confused.

"For what Alex?" Alex thought carefully about how to get the words in her head out of her mouth.

"Just- for not pushing, and instead just being there." she paused thinking of the people in her life both previously and currently. She pondered on them thoughtfully for a few moments. "Most people don't know how to do that." Mr. Benj smiled warmly at her, his eyes kinder than usual.

"Any time Alex."

***

A/N: I think everyone should be so lucky to have a teacher like Mr. Benj.

Thank you for reading this story! If you liked it please consider leaving a vote or a comment, both are always appreciated!

I love to talk with people and make friends, so don't be afraid to strike up a conversation with me!!!

Love,
Sunny <3