Chapter 15
Itoss and turn all night, listening to the Halloween theme on loop to brush my memory of Clint and Dinah's mating calls. In the morning, I check the forecast and groan. A severe thunderstorm is supposed to hit during the day.
When Felix and I are in the cafeteria waiting for the morning bell to ring, my legs are shaking.
“It's not that cold in here, is it?” Felix says.
“I can't bring myself to look at the cast list. I need to talk to Ms. Easterling and ask for a second chance,” I say, then rush out of the cafeteria.
Felix follows me to the teacher's lounge, which is halfway open. We peek inside and Ms. Easterling is by the coffee machine, talking to Sra. Breedlove and laughing.
“I caught some rugrats making out in the theater closet. I said, ‘Lordy, get your hormones out of my closet right this second,'” Ms. Easterling says.
“Tell me about it. Sutter leaves his window open every Friday at midnight to let in whatever girlfriend of the week he has. He thinks we don't know,” Sra. Breedlove replies. Everybody else truly is getting laid except for Felix and me.
Mrs. Wetherly enters from another door and gets in between them, ignoring Ms. Easterling.
“Kelly, your IntegriTruth values poster is real pretty, but it needs to be in English.”
“Even though I'm trying to create a Spanish immersion environment?” Sra. Breedlove asks diplomatically.
“Doesn't matter. It's not the approved poster we were given.
Besides, it's an official document, and English is our official language.” Mrs. Wetherly pulls a tray of frozen breakfast tacos out of the microwave.
“Or maybe they're letting everybody do whatever they want now.
Become animals. Pretend they're women,” she says as she takes a bite and swings the door wide open, revealing me and Felix behind it.
“Enjoy your breakfast tacos!” Sra. Breedlove shouts after her, then turns to Ms. Easterling. “I am so sorry. I'm going to report her to Dr. Collins.”
Ms. Easterling waves it off. “She's said worse to others. I've been around her long enough to know she gets more power by being acknowledged than not,” she says right before noticing I'm there.
“Wade! This is the teachers' lounge,” Sra. Breedlove says.
Ms. Easterling smiles. “Well, if it isn't our newest resident bail bondsman!”
“Ms. Easterling, about yesterday's audition…”
“I don't know if you were woefully unprepared or what,” she says, and my face drops. “What I do know is that you pulled that song right out of your butt. That shows me you're resourceful in the middle of uncertainty. And you made everybody laugh. Well, before those people crashed auditions.”
“That's what I was here to talk about. I was hoping you might give me a second chance to audition.”
“Why don't you go check the cast list first and then come talk with me? I'll admit that Daisha put in a good word for you.” She pats me on the shoulder before resuming her conversation with Sra. Breedlove.
I run over to the theater room and push through the crowd around the cast list. The good news is I'm in the show. The bad news is I'm not Captain Hook.
Stage Manager - Sita Agarwal
Peter Pan - Naz Ahmadi
Wendy Darling - Daisha Moore
John Darling - Mike Crabtree
Michael Darling - Travis Bauer
Captain Hook/Mrs. Darling - Byron Murphee
Smee/Mr. Darling - Meg Dunnstock
Twinker Bell - Darren Lam
Crocodile - Wade Mader
Sita hands me a copy of the script while Sweet Mike pats me on the back and congratulates me. “You got the best song in the show!”
Byron's also there, in the corner, scowling at me with the In Crowd.
“I guess we'll be working together closely,” I say.
That's right… because I'm going to eat him up on that stage and steal that agent he so desperately wants. And he doesn't even know it.