Splendid Passion. Gabrielle Queen

She should have dated someone rich so she would not have these troubles, like make money for living. She thought about this very often but at the same time she liked her independence. She had to be a robot at work for nine hours, of course, but after that she was free like a bird to do whatever she wanted to. Selena was living in a small apartment that was hers, and that was making her almost happy. Independent. The fact that she was having her own place made her avoid to pay the rent or not sleeping a during a lot of nights because she had to share a small bathroom and a bedroom when she was a student. A real nightmare! At least now she could have her privacy, silence and a lot of free time that she used for: small shopping sessions walks in the parks (she loved nature, summer and green), and mostly restaurants and cinema. For someone who does not this kind of life, it could seem a little bit superficial, but Selena struggled during teenage: her parents’ divorce, the sufferance caused by her dad leaving just like that without even calling since then, her mother leaving in another country and the moving in a new big city that made her feel abandoned between strangers. A city that seemed to her terrible, huge, tiring, where she was not able to find peace and sleep. Without hope, she often cried during the nights, but she was strong and she managed to finish university and to find a job after that helped her to become independent. And now, she had a chance to try something new, discovering that there was some fun in the world, she did not want to waste this occasion. She promised herself to enjoy youth without falling for superficiality seeking new pleasures like other girls. By taking her childhood as an example, she tried to add some optimism and enjoy life at its fullest.

      And a new acting class seemed to her the perfect occasion to have fun and make new friends. And maybe also become a celebrity. Why not?

      So, a new “professor” came in, a famous actor: his name was Mihai Bohalteanu. He was 30 and he was the star of the Romanian theater, considered the most talented of his generation. Tall, black hair, serious, charming like Johnny Depp, he was a heartbreaker. He was very handsome: when he was in the front of the camera was impossible to not stare at him. He was a powerful presence, and Selena had a little shock when she recognized him: he was the same guy that scared her in the hallway after she saved her from falling. She was intimidated now. The annoying thing was the girls around him. If he was moving, they were moving in the same direction. Selena have not seen one of his pieces (she did not go often to theater), she knew him because of his name and now she was able to meet him in person. She was a little bit attracted by his arrogant attitude. It seemed pretty clear that he was not used to talk to fangirls and who knows why he accepted to come at this class. All of them were there to learn something new, so his “Mr Professor” attitude did not like her so much, she just did not like bosses. Also because the first time he was meeting her, he basically insulted her by telling her that she seemed super distracted, arrogant and superficial. Nobody insulted her that way, not even her boss at her worst. As an answer she told him that he was arrogant without human heat, that if he was a little robot she would not even know her was an actor. Her colleagues were shocked. So what? Let him to understand that she was not a stupid fangirl he was used to.

      But his words always returned to her like an echo. Arrogant, superficial…was it really the first impression that men had about her? Was it really true?

      III A hell class

      April was almost gone. Trees were already green, spring was almost gone and summer was in the air. Selena was kind sick of her job, of her boss and she was not in the mood not even for her acting class. She was not in the mood to stay in a dark place, she wanted to see sun, green and butterflies, running in the parks and maybe someone to date. Soon she would have be 26 and she have not found her soul mate yet. This melancholy was deeper when the spring was arriving, when couples were everywhere. And yet, for her, the time did not arrive. The true is that she did not do so many efforts to find a soul mate. She always had the sensation that if it has to happen it will. She knew that the right man was out there and she will meet him eventually. Meanwhile she was trying to enjoy life and…her class. At work she was already a little star:

       Are you going to play in movies? Her colleagues always asked her

       It is true that you take classes with Mircea Marin and Mihai Bohalteanu? God, I should apply too.

      Selena made some colleagues to apply for this class and this gave her a 25% off which was nice, but she did not care so much. She was more worried about the gossips about her at the office.

      She started to enjoy more the classes and she had the impression that Mircea liked her. She knew very well that he was married and she should not think about him that way, but every time he looked at her, or talked to her she felt the butterflies in her stomach…

      Even if she was trying to hide her embarrassment and her emotions, he seemed to understand and did not try to push her away! On the contrary, he was answering to her looks and her whispers, like they understood each other, like they knew their feelings. She was not convinced, he could not trust him, he could not trust men these days...She wanted to be able to speak with him in private but there was never the occasion to do it. They were never able to be alone.

      Mihai classes became very practical. At the beginning the did a lot of theory about theater and cinema and what all that means, he was smart, she had to change her mind about him, and he was very handsome. Of course girls were always crazy about him and always behave like dumbs. She felt disgusted a little bit because she did not approve this kind of behaviour where you give up you dignity just for an autograph. And almost all the girls in the class were like that.

      One day, he called her because was her turn to tell something:

       Now it is your turn, girl with the moon name! and he smiled.

      At the moment, Selena did not know how to behave: it was a compliment or irony the thing he said about her name? His look did not show anything. He was an actor, of course. Everything was easy to hide when you had that kind of talent.

      Full of emotions, she sit on the chair in the middle of the room. 30 people were looking at her. What could she tell? Something funny, but what? She did not want to make fun of herself; mostly not in front of him… at the end she told a story that happened to her in a trip... something very embarrassing and terrible that made all the people laugh hard and Mihai answered her with a nice smile:

       Nice, our beloved with moon look. Continue to go on trips. Trips are amazing and useful, I mean I just hope not all of them are going to be like your story but still, it is nice!

      Everyone laughed. Oh God, she did not want to tell anything else in public like this. It was humiliating. Why did she need this class? So someone would just make fun of her?

      Moon look??? What the hell does it even mean? And the commentaries about the trips? It was not her fault that someone indicated her the wrong airport and she had to cross all the city of Milan to find the good one. It was not her fault, it was a terrible experience and she could have told something else, she could have invented an adventure or a lover…

      She decided to not bother too much about this, and even if he is going to make her mad she will just avoid his classes. Anyway she was already giving up about being an actress. Everything seemed complicated mostly with these kind of teachers, cold, arrogant and critics. Even if she wasn’t dying about the “Mr Teacher”, theater and cinema class became her favorite one. She liked it because she was free, she could express herself and live different situations, she could experiment new feelings and explore everything in a way she never did; but she didn’t like Mihai and because of that she wanted to challenge him, to take down his ego.

      Every time they had different little games: moving, synchronizing, attention etc. Apparently it was very important to be a team. “Teamwork” was the magical word that Mihai always used and he wanted everyone to understand that. It was important to communicate, to open up and to not be afraid to seem ridiculous. Not be afraid to express. Being creatives and originals.

      He encouraged them to free themselves and be able also able to criticize.

      One day, Mihai asked them to express