Method Acting: An opposites attract, found family romance (Center Stage Book 2) by Adele Buck (web based ebook reader txt) 📕

looked around the group of students, her gaze skimming swiftly over the ones who seemed more skeptical about her message, and allowing her attention to settle for longer moments on those whose expressions were receptive. Alicia let a gentle smile curve her lips, as if these interested students were co-conspirators with her, inviting them in.

Her glance returned to the student who had remembered her Law and Order gig. “Gina, right?” The girl nodded. “What do you think makes for an engaging speaker?”

The light in the girl’s eyes dimmed for a moment, and Alicia smiled at her. You’ve got this. Alicia remembered the girl’s presentation at the gala. Gina probably needed this the least of any of them.

A spurt of confidence flared in Gina’s eyes as she said, “Connection?”

“Can you expand on that?” Alicia circled her hand between Gina and herself.

“Well…” Gina pressed her lips together, seeming to choose her words carefully. “What you’re doing,” she blurted.

Alicia laughed. “All right, then. What am I doing?”

“Well…” Gina giggled. “You’re looking at me!”

Alicia let her gaze lift off of Gina and land on the cynical boy in the back. “Yes,” she said, then let her eyes skim over the group until she found another friendly face, a boy whose large, dark eyes and tan skin reminded her of Colin. “What’s your name?”

“Ash.” The boy’s smile dimmed.

“Okay, Ash. What do you think?”

Ash’s brow furrowed as he thought. His hands came up to shape the air as he tried to express himself. “You’re…smiling a lot. You’re friendly.”

“That’s true.” Alicia glanced swiftly over the group and noticed that a couple of the skeptics were leaning forward slightly, taking more interest. “We don’t have to make this about me. Remember the things that made those TED talks interesting.”

“They’re short,” a voice from the middle of the group sounded. Alicia located the speaker, a girl with thick, black hair and golden-brown skin. Her arms were folded, but her eyes were glittering with humor.

“That’s right. They’re brief. Which means they know exactly what they’re talking about.”

Leaning back in his chair, Colin folded his arms and watched Alicia alternately charm, dare, and cajole the teenagers in front of her. She got them on their feet, moving around the room, running, then stopping.

“Your project. Tell me about it.” Challenging the student nearest to her, Colin watched as Alicia smiled at the auburn-haired girl, waiting while the girl caught her breath and then launched into an eager explanation of her project, her breathlessness seeming to cause her to choose her words with more economy. She certainly seemed more passionate about the project, eyes sparkling and hands moving with more energy than Colin’s memory of her from the gala.

“Excellent. Another circuit,” Alicia called out, and the students dashed around the perimeter of the room. “Stop!” she commanded.

Colin tensed. She was pointing at the blond kid, the closest thing to a naysayer she seemed to have in this group. Colin had noticed that the boy moved sluggishly, merely going through the motions of fulfilling her instructions.

“Your theory. Tell me about it.”

The boy gave Alicia a look that made Colin want to push the kid’s teeth through the back of his neck. He began speaking to Alicia with exaggerated care, as if to a particularly slow child. Alicia regarded him for a few moments, then turned to the rest of the group, ignoring him as he trailed off.

“Does this work for any of you?” she asked, turning to face the rest of the group, her expression calm.

The rest of the students looked at her, stunned. The blond kid looked at the back of her head with poorly suppressed rage.

“Does it?” she asked. “I mean, I’ve already told you I’m no science person, but I think I know when someone’s talking to me like they think I’m stupid.” She pursed her lips and placed her hand on her cheek in an exaggerated impression of someone thinking hard. Then her hand dropped away. Her face was no less thoughtful, but sharpened somehow. “But what if I wasn’t stupid? And what if I had the power to put your project in motion? What if I really understood what you’re talking about and I had money or influence or…both?” She slowly swiveled back to the boy and looked at him with a flat, level gaze.

“How would you communicate your idea to that person?”

Alicia’s heart was thudding hard as she looked into the boy’s face. His pale skin had turned a dull, angry red.

“What’s your name?” she asked quietly, taking slow, even breaths to try to ease her own tension.

“Ben,” he said, his eyes flat.

“Ben, if you’re not excited about what you’ve created, how can you expect anyone else to be?”

“But it’s about the idea.” Ben’s jaw was set, teeth clenching.

“Right,” she said, pitching her voice even lower. “And if that idea—the idea you came up with, your baby—doesn’t put a light in your eyes, if it doesn’t make your heart race, then it must not be very earth-shattering, mustn’t it?”

The boy still looked mutinous. Alicia turned to the rest of the group and saw many thoughtful expressions. Former skeptics seemed to be moving to her side. If she didn’t get them all, well, you never did get everyone.

“Ideas don’t exist without emotion. We’re all human beings. We live in a state of balance. The reason why TED talks are so compelling—one reason at least—is that just about everyone who gives one is utterly passionate about their subject. They believe in what they’re talking about.” She turned back to Ben. “That makes it much easier for someone else to believe in it too. Why make this harder for them? It only makes it harder for you. The only people whose job it is to believe in you are your parents.”

And for some of us, not even them.

The boy’s jaw worked and the muscles in his temple bulged, but he did seem to be listening for once.

Alicia clapped her hands together and turned to the group. “Okay,