“Sure,” I said, trying not to let on that I already knew the school like the back of my hand. I stood up as well, leaving my bag on the floor, and followed him out the door.
“We’ll start with the senior wing, as that’s where you’ll be,” he said, looking quickly down the deserted hallways, and then turning to the left.
“When will I start?” I asked, and he shrugged.
“That’s up to you. You can wait until next term if you wish, but ideally you can start…”
“Tomorrow?” I asked, and he laughed, giving me a warm smile.
“Sure. If you want.”
I was surprised how well we got on, one on one. When I met him before, he didn’t strike me as the type to joke around. But now that we were alone, it was like his guard was dropping.
We walked past several classrooms, poking our heads in as Liam described the subjects taught there. Eventually, we got to the theater, which was full of people.
“This is where you’ll be next term, for Beauty and the Beast,” he said, and suddenly, the conversation in the kitchen came rushing back.
“You’ll be Beast, won’t you?” I asked, and he nodded.
“Acting is an addiction, Amy, and I thought it’d be good for the school to have some publicity as well. All press is good press.” He gave me a rueful smile. “Besides, I miss being on stage. It’s where I got my start.”
“Right,” I nodded, and took a deep breath, straightening up. “Let’s keep going.”
Liam grinned, and waved his hand, indicating our direction. Soon, we crossed the barrier between the senior and junior doors, and I found myself in a sea of giggling young children, about to be let out for recess. I had never been in this part of the school, because sneaking in would have looked way too suspicious at my age. Even when I was younger, it was easier to pretend to be someone’s kid sister watching a rehearsal than be part of a small class where the teacher knew everyone’s name. Liam smiled as the kids giggled.
“This is the best age to start young actors, really. Every single one of these children acts without thinking. They don’t put method or thought into it; they do it because it feels right in their gut and they say their lines as if it’s the first time. If only all of us could remember that,” he said, and I found myself swept away by the tenderness in his face as he watched them.
“But that’s how you act,” I pointed out. “In the movies. I always believed that you were whatever character you were playing. It never felt fake.”
“Thank you,” he gave me a smile as we walked through the hallways.
“But I can see how so many classes and rehearsals could interfere with the way somebody acts.” I kept going, speaking before I even really thought properly. “I mean, you could spend so much time thinking about the method and the training that you forget to just…be the character and exist.” I was babbling and I knew it, but he smiled at me.
“That’s why I chose you, Amy. So many of these students here are trained to the point of robots. Most of them won’t have a future. But you read those lines as if you were Beauty, and nothing else around you mattered. If you can hold on to that naturalism, you will have a future in the industry.”
“Why did you leave?” I asked, suddenly. “I mean…you had a future?”
His face clouded over and he shook his head, his jaw clenching. I saw that familiar look that he wore as he often strode through the halls.