Chapter 4
Ten days later
"When are you going to know if you made the play or not?" Luna asked me from her booster seat in the back of my car. "By the time I get done with school?"
"Yeah, they said the cast list will be out by noon today."
"When is that?"
"About lunch time. I'll know something by the time I pick you up from school."
She nodded like this answer satisfied her.
I had been talking to her about the audition process every step of the way.
She had listened to me practice my audition for the last week, and she was a natural cheerleader who encouraged me.
She knew I had gotten a callback for a character named Mama Morton, and she celebrated with me and then helped me work on the song Mama sings in the play.
Yesterday was Sunday, and I had spent the entire afternoon at the high school for callbacks.
Honestly, I was in over my head. There were people who were clearly better than me.
A few of the girls really stood out in the role of Mama, and quite honestly, if I were the director, I would pick one of them.
It was a good experience, but I was in a situation where I had to sing and dance and read lines in front of a panel, and I had never done anything like it before.
It was taxing, and I was glad it was over.
The cast was supposed to be announced by today at noon, although James said it was often posted and emailed by Sunday night.
Because of this, I stayed up late. The last time I checked the theater's Facebook account, it was one-thirty in the morning.
I checked it again, twice, this morning while we were getting Luna ready for school, and there was still no cast list. James had assured me that sometimes, when the directors had tough decisions to make, they would deliberate right up until the deadline.
My phone rang as we were in the drop-off line at Lu's school.
We were creeping along, and it would be a minute before she made it to the front.
I flinched to dig it out of my purse, but then I changed my mind.
I made it a point not to use my phone while I was driving.
I liked to use that time to talk to Luna.
At home, we would hang out together, but the car was one of my favorite places to have conversations with her.
"What is it?" she asked from the backseat.
"Nothing. My phone was ringing."
"Who is it, Nana?" she asked, talking about her grandmother, Kai's mom.
"I don't know."
"Check," she said.
I was at a complete stop at the moment, and I easily dug in my purse and found my phone.
"It's James," I said nervously. I could only think of one reason he'd be calling me this early. I glanced in the rearview mirror at Luna, and she was watching and listening with wide eyes.
"Hello?" I said, answering and holding the phone to my ear.
"Good morning. Are you working?" he asked.
"No, I'm off today."
James groaned. "I forgot. You told me that like ten times yesterday. I'm braindead."
"You worked hard yesterday. And you're working today, right?"
"I'm on my way there. Collin posted the list like five minutes ago. Did you see it?"
"No. I’m in the car."
"My aunt saw it and called me. I don't even know what Collin's doing up this early. They deliberated into the middle of the night. I'm surprised he didn't just post it when they were finished."
James's tone was so matter-of-fact that I couldn't tell if he was calling me with good news or not.
"Billy Flynn?" I asked.
"Oh, yes, and you're in the show, Audrey! You made it! You got a role!"
"I did?" I asked, my heart pounding. "I made it? Are you serious?" I stared in the rearview and watched Luna's eyes widen with excitement as she did a little dance.
"I'm serious," James said.
"A named role?" I said, feeling a wave of something in between excitement and anxiety. "Or ensemble?"
"No, you're Mona, Chica! Congratulations!"
"I'm Mona!" I said, conveying the message to Luna.
She wiggled excitedly and said, "Yes!" in response.
"Mona? Is that one of the girls in jail?" I said to James.
"Yes!" he said.
I sort of knew already, but I wanted to be sure.
I had been steeped in the show all day yesterday.
There were about forty of us who had been called back for different roles, and we spent the afternoon together.
I overheard and learned enough to know that there was a jail scene with five named characters.
I had thought about those roles for myself, but I dared not wish that I would actually get one.
There were far better performers than me at the audition.
"James, are you serious right now?" I asked, glancing back at Luna with wide eyes.
"Yes. I'm serious. You're Mona!"
My mind raced as I pulled up to the school drop-off area.
"Hang on, James, can you hold for one minute or not?"
"Yeah, I'm driving."
"Okay, hang on." I muted the phone and set it down in my lap. "Okay, it's almost our turn to get out, my precious girl. I put some watermelon in your lunch. I want you to have a great day, okay?"
"Okay. I will. You made the play?"
"Yes, I did," I said excitedly.
We were pulling up to the head of the line, and one of the teachers was already approaching our car.
"I think I got somebody named Mona," I said. "I'll learn more about it and tell you more when I pick you up, okay?" She nodded just as the lady opened our door.
"Good morning!" the lady said.
"Good morning," Luna repeated to her.
"I love you, Lu!" I called at her back.
"Love you!" she said, waving at me as she walked away.
The teacher closed my back door, and I slowly merged back onto the street while picking up my phone. I knew I'd be driving at a normal speed, so I pushed the button to put James on speakerphone.
"Can you hear me, James?"
"Yeah," he said.
"Okay, thank you for calling me. I'm going to stop and look at the Facebook page in a minute. But I need to know what you got. Did you get Billy?" We both knew he wanted to play Billy Flynn, and I didn't even have to say the last name.
"Yes," he said, with a smile in his voice.
"You got it?"
"Yesss!"
"Oh, James, congratulations!"
"Congratulations to you, too, Miss Mona! I can't wait to see you at rehearsal."
I let out a tiny shriek of excitement, and he laughed.
"Who got Roxie?"
"Meredith. Oh, there's Allie calling in. She got Velma."
"So cool, tell her I said congrats. And thank you, James, for calling."
"Of course. I can't wait, chica."
"Me neither!"
"Oh, and Drew is Mama."
"I knew it, she was amazing."
"I know. Okay, bye, talk to you soon," he said in a hurry.
"Okay, thanks, bye," I said, equally as quickly.
I went straight home to check everything for myself.
I went inside and made my coffee before looking at my phone.
I was nervous to see it, and I held my breath as I stood in my kitchen and stared at my phone.
I went to my email first because I could see that I had some new ones.
Sure enough, there was an email from Collin with a subject line that said: Congratulations to the cast of Chicago!
My heart pounded as I opened it and began to read.
Hello to the beautiful cast of Chicago! I am delighted and honored to direct you all in what is sure to be an amazing show!
I want to thank you all for doing such a remarkable job this weekend at auditions.
You worked so hard, and I want you to know that I have not taken these casting decisions lightly.
I know it is going to be a beautiful show, and I look forward to working with each and every one of you.
I've included the names and contact information of our creative team.
I am completely pumped to be your director!
Here's to Chicago! I'll see you at our first rehearsal on Tuesday.
Sincerely,
Collin Koontz
I read it thoroughly before opening the link that was pasted below his name. There was a series of four graphics, and my name was near the top of the second one. I blinked in amazement at my name, Audrey Wells, written in fancy font next to the name Mona.
I had a role.
I had responsibility in this play.
I knew about Mona from being around these people all day yesterday. She had a solo section in one of the songs. She had singing and dancing to do by herself, and my heart pounded at the thought of it.
I got a role.
It took several minutes to sink in, and after that, I found that I wanted to tell everyone I knew. Carly and the rest of my crew at the restaurant would love to know, but I would give them the day to sleep late and wait till tomorrow at work to tell them.
I called my sister, and she was excited for me.
She was interested, and she asked me a few questions, but we were off the phone within a few minutes.
I went to my computer and watched the jail scene with Mona about five times in a row after that.
I was a bit intimidated by it, but I had to remember that I had a couple of months to learn my role and rehearse with my co-stars.
I stared at the cast list again, remembering all the different names from yesterday and feeling excited about how good this play was going to be.
I knew the choreographer for our show would have something different for me to do, but that didn't stop me from watching the other version again and trying some of her moves.
I was excited, scared, and all the things that came along with trying something completely new.
It was a little while later, and Luna was still at school when I decided to text Ash Adams and tell him the news.
Me:
Hey, it's Audrey. I had talked to you about it before, so I wanted to update you that I got a role in Chicago. It's a side character, but I'm pumped about it!
I hit send without thinking too much about it, and my phone dinged a few seconds later.
Ash:
Way to go, Audrey! When's the show? I'm coming!
Me:
The last weekend in February. I think it's playing Thursday through Sunday.
Ash:
I'll be there! Send me the link to tickets when you can.
Me:
I will!
I added a heart after those two short words.
I didn't hear back from Ash for long enough that I went on doing other things.
I was making myself some French toast for lunch when I got a text back from him.
I had just stirred the egg mixture, and I paused to read the text before I dipped the bread and started to fry it.
I temporarily moved the frying pan off of the burner as I looked down to read his text.
Ash:
Have you eaten lunch?
Me:
No. Why?
I didn't add that I was already in the middle of cooking, because I wanted to see him. But then I remembered that I shouldn't let myself get butterflies in my stomach over Ash. I typed an honest addition to my text once I thought of that.
Me:
I was about to fix myself some French toast.
I sent it, feeling better about being honest.
Ash:
Do you feel like making me some?
Me:
Sure. Are you coming over?
Ash:
Yes. Send me your address.
I did. I texted him my address, feeling even more flustered and affected by the news that he was coming over than I had when I saw the cast list. The morning had been full of all sorts of feelings.
Ash:
I'll be there in fifteen minutes.