Story, An Untitled

Part VIII of an unfinished story.

Copyright Julia Bydulia

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After school, Michelle went to the hallway outside the chorus room to wait with the other kids who were auditioning. She sat down on the floor and set her books down next to her. The floor was cold and she shivered as she shied away from everyone else, all girls who she knew of, but, didn't actually know.

Mr. James busted through the locked doors of the chorus room, a stack of paper in his hand, his hair disheveled. "Come on in, you guys," he sighed, rushing back into the room.

Kayla, a girl that Michelle liked talking to in chorus class, scoffed at Mr. James's attitude and stood up with everyone else, gathering her books and heading into the chorus room. Michelle walked right behind her and sat next to her when she picked a seat.

"Do you have a pencil I can borrow?" She asked Kayla, when Mr. James gave them each an audition form to fill out. It was the first audition she had ever been to, and she was feeling more nervous than she ever had. She spun her CD between two fingers and ripped the corners of the paper with her monologue on it.

Kayla nodded and pulled a pink led pencil out of her bag. "There ya go," she said. Kayla always seemed polite and sweet and talented to Michelle. She'd never really seen anything below the surface.

"Thanks."

Mr. James ranted for a few minutes, as they all expected him to. A short girl that Michelle didn't quite recognize sat on the other side of the room with a smile plastered onto her face. She wondered what it felt like to be her, with long and dark hair and very round cheeks.

"Whose first?" Mr. James finally finished.

Michelle volunteered reluctantly.

I hope that someday this will be something I laugh about where I do well or not, Michelle thought to herself.

When it was just her and Mr. James in the room, it was even more nerve wracking. She wrung her hands and swallowed hard. "Ok. Song or monologue first?" She asked him.

"Whichever," he said, his tone bored and cold.

So, she started with her song and sang two verses of Penny Lane. Her monologue went off without a hitch. Her heart was still pounding as she waddled toward the door and reached for the cold, metal handle.

Laugh today, she told herself in her head as she grabbed her bags and headed down the hall, preparing for the wait for her ride to get there. That wasn't so bad. Just had to do it like a band aid.