Story, An Untitled

Copyright Julia Bydulia.

Part XII of an unfinished story.

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Practice was exciting. Mr. James read off the cast list.

"Lee will be playing Jo. Joanna will play Meg. Mary will play Beth. The two Amys will be played by Elena and Tayler. They look alike, right guys?" He laughed that big fake laugh and looked around the room, expecting a response. A few people smiled. "Kayla as Marmee. Keith came back to help us out and play Professor Bhear. Lee's friend Peter is going to come from another school to play Laurie." The list was going on and on, but, Michelle heard her name nowhere on it. Mr. James went on. "Charlie will play Mr. Laurence. Daron is going to play John Brooke." He turned the page on the packet he was holding. "For the scene about the newspaper--"

"Weekly Volcano Press," Lee told him, smiling.

He nodded at her and then went on. "We'll have Tina as Clarissa, our other Tina as Rodrigo 2, Summer as the first Rodrigo, Michelle as Braxton, Gerrard as the troll, Tanya as the hag, and Daron as the knight." Michelle's heart stopped and when it started again, it felt as if it was beating in her feet instead of her chest.

"Everyone else will be chorus members or dancers or whatever, right?"

Everyone nodded and Lee clapped her hands, standing up. She turned to Mr. James. "Auditorium?" She asked, cocking her head to one side.

"Sure," he answered, seeming uninterested in what she did.

Elena and Michelle turned to each other. "Amy! I'm Amy!" Elena cried, jumping up and down. "I'm young Amy!"

"Braxton! I don't know who that is! But now it's me!" Michelle squealed, spinning around in a few tiny circles.

In the pit of her stomach, she felt a tiny thrill. She couldn't help but think, I got a part and Ande didn't! before she walked with everyone else into the auditorium for warm ups.

Little Women would be great. It would be grand! Michelle could feel it in every step she took, every swinging or swaying of her arms. Her heart was smiling with the rest of her. She had a part.

Everyone was on the stage already when Michelle finally climbed on. The whole cast formed into an uneven circle. Michelle stood with Elena on one side and Kayla on the other. Ande was a few people down from her. She could see her and Gerrard out of the corner of her eye. Keith was standing next to Charlie, directly across from Michelle, near Lee and Joanna.

"Let's warm up!" Lee announced. "Quiet time! Reach for the cookie in the sky," she instructed, reaching her arms as far over her head as she could. Everyone else followed her lead. "Aaaaaaaand flop over like a rag doll." She and everyone else flopped over loosely, doing their best to touch their toes. "Slowly roll up, one vertebrae at a time, and count backwards from ten. Ten...nine...eight..." Michelle counted along in her head and followed Lee's instructions with everyone else.

They followed that up with a few vocal exercises. "Whether the weather is cold, or whether the weather is hot, we'll be together whatever the weather, whether we like it or not!"

"We'll probably just play some games for today. I wanna see if Pete can come in tomorrow. Whether he does or not, we'll start our read through." Lee stretched a little. "Let's introduce ourselves!"

The names didn't surprise Michelle. She recognized most everyone from the halls or knowing them through other people. A few of them were new, but, they wouldn't be too hard to remember. She laughed at the prospect of any of them actually committing her own name to memory, but, she said it anyway.

They all played fun little theater games for the full two hours. She and Elena paired up for the Mirror Game. Their new catchphrase became "of one mind" as they did their best to follow each other's movements and match each other's thoughts.

Of one mind, Michelle whispered in her thoughts as she watched Keith out of the corner of her eye.