FicWad

“ALIXZ!”

That was the first thing I heard when I walked into the theater. Evie was sitting on the edge of the stage, talking animatedly to a crowd of people standing around her, including Zeke and Lindsay.

I waved lamely as I followed Gerard up the ramp and into a row he selected.

I sat down next to him and dumped my bag in the seat next to me.

“When did you become so popular?” he said.

“I guess I’m prettier than you are or something,” I said.

“ALIXZ!” Evie shouted. That girl has quite the set of lungs on her, believe me. Her mom likes to tell stories of how Evie rattled the windows in the house when she screamed as a baby. “I WAS TELLING THAT ONE STORY. REMEMBER?”

“There are a lot of “one stories”,” I said.

“NO, THIS IS THAT ONE WHERE WE PRETENDED TO BE THE DIRECTOR AND CALLED EVERYONE AND TOLD THEM REHEARSAL WAS CANCELED.”

The group started laughing.

Lori, the redheaded auditioner and director of Bob, walked in, talking on her cell phone.

I hoped to God she hadn’t heard what Evie had said.

I mean, that prank wasn’t even my doing. I just happened to be there while Evie was making the calls.

And now she was saying I was involved?

“Nice one, Stevenson!” someone in the group shouted. I couldn’t tell who.

“Evie’s being generous,” I said. I could have said “shifting the blame,” but I was trying to be nice. “It was all her doing.”

Everyone turned to look at Evie.

She snickered and shrugged modestly.

“Kay, people,” Lori said, climbing up onstage. “Warmup time.”

She led us through a vocal and physical warmup, then made us all move to the first few rows so we’d be able to come onstage faster.

As far as I was concerned, that made things worse because then you had to pass all these people on your way out. I found myself sitting between Zeke and Gerard in the fourth row.

“So, have you been acting for a while?” Zeke said.

“Yeah,” I said. “I mean, it’s been mostly school plays, but yeah.”

“Those count,” he said, and smiled.

He had a gorgeous smile.

“What about you?” I said.

He shrugged. “Yeah. I go on and off. I have a band, but we’re, like, constantly trying new things, and then some of the members will leave.” He rolled his eyes.

“What kind of music do you play?”

He shrugged. “You know . . . Like Escape the Fate, Bring Me the Horizon . . . That sort of thing.”

“I like Bring Me the Horizon.”

“They’re awesome.”

I nodded.

“You know what? You look like that girl who did that monologue at the talent show last year.”

I blinked at him. “That was me.”

“That was you?” He seemed surprised. “You were really good.”

“Thanks.” I suddenly felt self-conscious, and I tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear.

“HEY, UP THERE! FOURTH ROW!” Lori shouted. “I need Alixz, Lindsay, Zeke, and Gerard.”

We got up and went onstage.

“You two,” Lori said, pointing to Lindsay and me, “stand back to back, please.”

We did.

“Wow,” she said. “You’re quite a bit taller than she is.”

She meant that I was somewhat taller than Lindsay.

She waved a hand at Zeke and Gerard. “It’s obvious with you two.”

There was a general snicker in the room. Zeke was obviously much taller than Gerard.

“Okay,” she said, “Alixz with Zeke, Lindsay with Gerard.”

Lindsay and I walked over to our respective partners.

“Okay,” Lori said, “You two over here” ---to Gerard and Lindsay--- “and you two over here” --- to Zeke and me. “Now, you guys should know this song already. Now we’re going to learn the dance.”