Tyler/Lauren: In need of a hobby

Despite the occasional unpleasant encounter with a male, things have gotten pretty simple for me. I get up, I go to school, I go home and slink out of sight until dinner time. It's not the most fulfilling existence, but it seems to be working. I have a lineup of classes that keeps me out of trouble, even if they ain't exactly the most mentally taxing courses. For a month or so I felt like I was flying under the radar nicely.

Now that I'm "basically surviving," I feel the need for more. I've always been a restless person, and honestly "doing nothing" just ain't my style. I'm not one to sit and spin his wheels. Course, this gets me in a bit of trouble now and again... has made me make some poor decisions in the past I would rather not discuss right now, and even in recent times has probably influenced a lot of the dumb crap I've done as Lauren, including but not limited to the pageant.

But I need to find a thing. Something to put my energy toward to keep me outta trouble. At first, it was all about girl-time, keeping up Lauren's social circle, but more and more that incorporates the girls' boyfriends, and I feel a little... outside that, you know what I mean? (Karlee and Dana don't currently have boyfriends, but Dana's a major flirt and Karlee is obsessed with Lauren's ex Seann, so romances still crop up when they're around.) Talking to these girls about their relationships, or even school or their other ambitions, just isn't doing it for me. I need something to do that's more my speed.

I think I found it when I saw a flyer posted in the halls looking for a tech crew for the drama dept's  production of Oklahoma.

Now, I think the faculty adviser, Mr. Foley, half expected Lauren to be going in to audition - it's a musical after all and Lauren was quite a singer and certainly no stranger to the spotlight - but I've decided that that glitzy crap isn't for me. I got up on that stage for the pageant and just about pissed myself when it came time to do anything more than answer questions. But lighting direction? Prop and set management? That's damn near real physical labor. And as opposed to autoshop or woodshop, I won't be dealing with a bunch of alpha male wannabe hoodlums, but sensitive, artsy drama kids. Hell, half the crew is women, let alone the cast. Hell, Dana got the lead. I may not have had the most glowing things to say about her a few paragraphs ago, but she's still a bud of mine, and she's cool and I'm glad I'll be spending a bit more time around her.