Jack & Ella Designs: "Poppy"

Handmade large flower brooch - BIG POPPY BLOSSOM

“Okay class, today I am going to break you up into pairs to work on a short scene. You will have until the end of class today to work with your scene partner, and we will start performing them tomorrow. You can hold book or not, it doesn’t matter. The point of this exercise is to connect to the emotion in the scene. What are these characters trying to express? How are they feeling? What other emotions are hidden beneath the surface? I will be coming around the room if you have questions, or need some help with your scene.”

Eva stuffed her purse and books under her seat and took a long hit from her Kleen Kanteen. As Mrs. Suter started a numbered list on a yellow legal pad, the class broke out in nervous, excited whispers about who would be partnered with whom, and the shock of only being given one class period to prepare before performing in front of the class.

“I hope we get picked to do our scene together,” Poppy whispered. “If I get stuck with Doug again, I swear to God, I’m gonna barf.”

Poppy and Eva had grown up together and had been best friends since kindergarten. Poppy was popular – pretty, smart, funny, captain of the pom squad and an amazing dancer. She started ballet class at the age of three, and was going to start training with the Royal Ballet that summer. Poppy wasn’t part of the popular kids’ clique so much as she was her own clique. Everybody loved Poppy. Her parents owned property in the affluent neighborhood of Lindenwood, and it was no secret to anyone in Raven Park that they were loaded. ‘Old Money,’ they called it. The Fieldses were heirs to one of the Silver Kings’ fortune, and although Poppy’s father, Daniel, never needed to work a single day in his life, he pursued a career in Venture Capital, and made a fine name for himself financing a number of now very profitable dot com companies in the valley. Poppy’s mother, Emelia, had studied early childhood development in college, with an emphasis on children with developmental delays. Having gone on to receive a Master’s Degree in clinical social work, she now donated her time to a learning facility for children with autism. Poppy was an only child, and her parents doted on her. For her sixteenth birthday, Poppy’s father surprised her with a new Volkswagon Beetle (convertible, naturally) – candy apple red with a tan interior. This exciting new gift did not come without its own set of rules, however. Poppy was not allowed to drive the car to school, and they were very strict about the laws pertaining to teens driving on provisional licenses. They needn’t worry, though. Poppy was a good girl. Her biggest vices were makeup, shoes and gossip. She had the 411 on everything happening at RPHS.

“Yeah, me too. You don’t suppose that little chat Mrs. Suter had with Doug last semester has changed anything, do you?”

“The ‘you need to shower and brush your teeth every day’ chat? Not likely,” Poppy said with a delicate sneer. “I don’t think he’s seen a bar of soap since the seventh grade.” Poppy rooted through her purse and checked her cell for messages before shutting off the ringer. “Ryder has been blowing up my phone for the past two days, and it’s starting to get annoying. He sent me a text last night at 2:30am! My dad’s going to freak when he gets the bill.”

“Have you talked to him at all?” Eva asked.

“NO! He needs to chill out. If he’s going to get all jealous and act like an infant whenever I so much as say ‘boo’ to another guy, then he can just suffer.”

“True story.”

It was at this time that Mrs. Suter started dividing up the class into pairs for the scene work. “I’m going to pair you all up with someone you have never worked with before. Expand your horizons – new people and new experiences make for more honest performers.”

Poppy and Eva simultaneously groaned under their breath. Not only would they not be doing a scene together, but Eva now had the added dread of being paired up with Doug and his halitosis.