Chapter 5: The First Step

This morning, Eiffel went to campus for theater practice. The clothes he wore were as usual, very random but unique. He looks like a fortune teller because he wears a white baby doll, batik scarf, cloth bandana, black silver necklace, and ethnic bracelets that cover both hands up to half elbow height. Among the bracelets, Eiffel likes the bracelet given by Bintang the most which is made of seashells.

fashion sense , Eiffel often receives criticism from her friends in the same department who are 'clear' . They said, Eiffel confused the beauty of the dress. As a French Literature student, Eiffel should be aware that this department is known as the study program with the most beautiful, fashionable and organized students in the faculty.

The clock showed 9.45. In fifteen minutes practice will start. However, when Eiffel arrived at the faculty auditorium, the room with carpet, wallpaper , curtains and dark red chairs was still dark. No one has come yet.

Eiffel took a deep breath and walked towards the back of the stage. There, he flipped the light switch. For an instant, the auditorium stage was brightly lit by small lights attached to the ceiling.

While waiting for the other theater members to arrive, Eiffel lay down in the middle of the stage. His mind was still bored thinking about the events that happened this morning. Especially remembering his dream last night. He became less enthusiastic about theater practice.

To get rid of the negative thoughts that had arisen since this morning, especially Mba Eli's favorite old songs that kept filling his mind, Eiffel took his iPod and listened to songs by Anggun, his favorite singer. Among all the songs he listened to, he liked the song Comme l'été à Paris the most . According to him, the strong jazz sounds in the song encouraged his brain to imagine traEiffelng through the city of love.

While lying down, Eiffel stretched his body. Then, he looked straight ahead, towards the ceiling of the auditorium which was full of small lights. It turned out that not all of the small lights were on. Some of them are dirty and harbor spiders' nests. He just found out that this magnificent room actually had a defect.

Eiffel once read his faculty profile on the campus Internet site. It turns out that this magnificent room was built in the early eighties. This room is older than Eiffel.

As time went on, several other theater members began to arrive. When everything had arrived, Eiffel was moved to get up from his sleep. He immediately sat in a circle under the stage, joining them to wait for the arrival of the coach, Gele.

As usual, while waiting for Gele to arrive, the atmosphere in the theater club was very lively and relaxed but it was annoying for Eiffel. He felt like a snooty goat. Almost all the theater members come from the same high school, except for Eiffel and eight other people. Even if practice hasn't started or it's break time, they always sit on the stage and chat, reminiscing about their old high school stories. Because of that, Eiffel, who didn't go to the same high school as the kids, was completely blank during his free time.

"Then you're the one who's drunk! It was really bad when I was asked to sing at the pensi jamboree! Remember, don't you?" recalled one of them. Who else is the hothead?! Eiffel doesn't know.

"How are you, Mr Soeyatno?! Is he still flirtatious with girls?"

"Eh, do you remember when I got into a brawl with the school opposite?"

"So what?!" said someone sitting next to Eiffel while blowing cigarette smoke. Once again, Eiffel's very conservative patience with cigarettes is tested. His eyes sneered arrogantly at the smoker.

"Fuck! At that time my shoe got stuck on the pager. I got caught by the police..."

"Know! That pager is really causing problems. When I took it off, my pants ripped at the hem. Sexy booo.." This time the smoke started to prick Eiffel's senses. If that guy wasn't Reno, a senior in his department, maybe Eiffel would have stepped on and thrown away the cigarette butt. This lack of democracy makes him too picky when it comes to socializing.

The training schedule was busy, unintelligible conversations kept popping up, lots of people were in groups. If only there was a type of person who likes to support people like Bintang. Eiffel's training days will be more enjoyable. It's wrong to isolate yourself too much.

"HEATING begins! Run around! FAST!" suddenly Gele entered the audit room from the front door. Today the appearance of the fat man with the mustache is really interesting. He wore a pink shirt and green pants. Eiffel became thirsty. The colors on Gele's clothes reminded him of green banana ice.

Gele is like that, always wearing eye-catching clothes. According to him, life should be cheerful. One way to make him cheerful is to wear colorful clothes like that. Not only when guiding his students in the theater club. When teaching the French Drama Studies course in class, this lecturer from the French literature department also wore spectacular clothes. Eiffel just got dizzy looking at it.

Warming up begins. First of all, Gele gave the signal to run around the audit room three times. After that, training did not start immediately. Body exercise, voice exercise and imagination training are three points that should not be missed before theater training. Only after that, Gele told his students to run around the audit room one more time. Then, they rested with their legs stretched out and got ready to practice the scene.

Like exercise, theater practice also requires warming up. Theater is an art of expression that requires body flexibility. During physical exercise, a senior demonstrated an example of a movement that Eiffel had not been able to master until now. The movement is sitting cross-legged with the soles of your feet behind your neck. For someone who has long legs like Bintang, maybe something like this is easy to do.

"COME ON! COME ON! COME ON! DON'T BE SPOILED! DON'T BE SPOILED!" Gele exclaimed when he saw one of his students reluctantly running. Even though he likes to joke around and has a strange appearance, the trainer from the famous theater club always trains his students with great firmness.

"Hah! Hah! Hah!" and as usual, among all his students, Eiffel finished first. He's not alone. There were two other boys who followed in his footsteps. The three of them were always serious about warm-up and training. It's only natural that they won the awards for ' The Best Actor', 'The Best Actress' and 'The Best New Actor' last night.

"I knew it! You guys do have really good breath!" Gele raised his eyebrows which were colored dark blue. "That means for the drama we will be working on, I will give you three main roles."

Hearing what Gele said, Eiffel became enthusiastic. He was happy to be trusted again to play the main role in the drama by Gele. Jeanne d'Arc (French female soldier during the 100 Years' War), a lower class worker who took part in attacking the Bastille prison during the French Revolution of 1789, a living witness to the May 98 riots and Christina Martha Tiahahu (the youngest Maluku fighter who participated in defending her homeland from attacks Dutch) are some of the characterizations he has successfully played. If he is immersed in his hobby like this, he will forget his father, his depressed mother, his imaginary friends, or songs from the past.

"The three of you are already final year students, and you are no longer active in studying." continued Mr. Gele while twirling his brown mustache, "So I'll just calmly tell you to practice all the time and later send you off to take acting courses in Paris for a month for free."

Acting Courses in PARIS?! Eiffel's eyes widened. A wide smile grew rapidly on his lips. He had dreamed of visiting this romantic city for a long time.

At first, Eiffel didn't believe this good news. However, the ratio is lazy to counteract. He even fantasized about traEiffelng, visiting the Eiffel Tower and watching the opera in Paris' art buildings.

"Gra, it's free?! What do you mean, sir?" said Reno, winner of The Best Actor . Eiffel's senior in French literature was of course happy to hear the surprise. Her blagu face, which was actually rather sweet, looked happy inside the hood of her black jacket.

"YES! You will get a scholarship for an acting course from our sponsor in France." Gele spread his arms outstretched and raised one leg, like an airplane in a floor exercise warm-up. The 'unexplained' disease recurred.

"TAPPIIII...!" then he turned around, his nostrils wide open "You three must play well at the year-end festival! Watch out if one, two or all three play badly!" his eyes bulged at the three of them "You three will cancel going to PA...ris."

"HAH? Why is that, bro?!" Reno didn't accept it. "If only one plays badly, all three of them can't go to Paris?! Not fair! Poor guy who plays well, right?!" He glanced at Gilang, the winner of 'The Best New Actor' with a disdainful look. His prejudices and ego emerged. He thought that Gilang, who still had a strong reputation in the world of theater, could cancel his dream of going to Paris.

"Yes! Yes! Hi! Oui! Si! Yes! Ne! Shi De! " Gele nodded, like a chicken pecking at rice on the ground. "Already! Now hold on to the script." he gave a story script to the three of them "You three will be the main roles. Understand?"

"Sorry, bro." Eiffel raised his hands enthusiastically. Maybe the excitement came from hearing that he was going to Paris. "How come the title is 'Rule or Love' ? Wasn't it a few weeks ago, Gele said that we would play a historical drama from Greece?"

"Already! Just read it first!" Gele stomped his foot, "You can protest later."

Eiffel felt bad for a moment. He felt that the title of the drama was a bit unfriendly. He is lazy when he has to stage theater plays that contain many elements of his love.

Eiffel read the script carefully. Like this story or not, he must be able to play well at the festival later. After all, he had to go to Paris, the city he had wanted to visit for a long time.

' Rule or Love ' is a fictional story written by Gele which is set in Europe around the 18th century. In the foreword to the script, he said that he was inspired by European tragedy dramas and Greek mythology. He hopes that his students can compete with other coaches' students from other departments. "Reno, Eiffel and Gilang, if you can win tickets to an acting course in Paris, I as a coach will be very proud of you." That was his handwriting which he added to the manuscripts of his three students.

'Rule or Love' tells the story of a king named Alfred who was known to be very ambitious, smart and good at war. His colonies expanded over time. The people are becoming more prosperous day by day and the region's natural products continue to increase every year.

Behind all his achievements, Adeline, his wife, is very loyal to accompany him. His gentle, friendly and animal-loving nature is in stark contrast to the king who was firm and harsh. However, because Alfred really loved his wife, he always obeyed everything his wife said, including her prohibition against killing the enemy's war horses when fighting. Likewise his wife, she really loved her husband who had raised her rank from a commoner to an empress.

One day King Alfred will go to war. He entrusted his wife and family to his right hand man, Rozlard. Rozlard is a reliable soldier and the greatest soldier in his special forces. However, the king was willing not to take him to the battlefield because he was worried that the palace would be attacked at any time by the enemy.

Alfred went to war for many years. However, during that time, he never informed his wife. The soldiers only returned home if they were injured or ordered to do something by the king. Ironically, all of his trust letters were only given to his mother and siblings. Adeline, who was very disappointed, thought badly that her husband no longer cared about and loved her.

Adeline often expresses her feelings of disappointment to Rozlard. Over time, forbidden love grows in their hearts. Adeline betrayed her husband who had forgotten his love.

When Alfred came home, he was shocked to hear the story about Maronet, her arrogant sister who had caught Rozlard in the king's room. Alfred gets angry and fires Rozlard. After that he gave his wife two choices. Her choice was to end her relationship with Rozlard or leave the palace. Unexpectedly by Alfred, his wife chose to leave the palace and live happily with Rozlard. Even though they live a simple life, Rozlard and Adeline live happily. Meanwhile, King Alfred, who was frustrated at being abandoned by his trusted people, became easily emotional and short-sighted. One day his kingdom fell into the hands of the enemy.

The common thread that can be drawn from the story of this tragedy is disloyalty. I don't know which infidelity. Was Alfred's disloyalty towards Adeline because he prioritized rules for war? Or Adeline's disloyalty to Alfred because she prioritizes her forbidden love with Rozlard.

Pretty good too... Eiffel thought to himself. I'll just be a Maronet! Your face is already dirty! This is natural talent. Hehe... Eiffel flipped the script from the first page and studied Alfred's sister's dialogue.

A few moments later, Gele clapped his hands " Okay ! Now we will divide the roles. I will appoint each of you to your role." His voice echoed throughout the auditorium.

Gele's words immediately made Eiffel's chest tight. He was worried if his role was chosen according to his coach's wishes. At this moment, suddenly a bad feeling took over him.

"Your Rozlard!" Gele pointed to Gilang, the winner of the best new actor who was tall and big but his face was too innocent.

"That would be your Alfred!" Reno nodded his head after Gele pointed at him. It looks like the quiet and mysterious guy is ready to play that character.

"You're Adeline!" Gele pointed to Eiffel, his proud student.

WHAT?! Adeline?! And it seems, Eiffel is not ready for his role this time.

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