"This is all your fault, director's pet. This is a play. I'm not falling in love with you, and I would never ever go out with you, Jack Garrison."
Jack and Shayna can't get through a rehearsal without fighting.
Cheerleader Shayna loathes perfect Ja...
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Standing alone on stage at the show's end as the rest of the cast got ready for curtain call was always nerve-wracking.
"...If I were a woman I
would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased
me, complexions that liked me, and breaths that I
defied not: and, I am sure, as many as have good
beards or good faces or sweet breaths will, for my
kind offer, when I make curtsy, bid me farewell."
Bowing, I rose to applause, and the spotlight went out. I scrambled backstage, where everyone else waited in the wings. The lights came back up, and we walked out two at a time.
Kai, Novah, and Carson went first and bowed, followed by Jules and Hugh. Juan and Samantha moved into the middle to bow. Rita took the stage to bow solo since she had the most famous monologue, and Jack and I took the stage.
Parker stood in the audience on his feet, cheering as loud as he could. He stood beside my father and his new family.
Jack bowed first. Jamie whistled, and Carson's bandmates started hooting. He seemed unbothered by the attention, and he soaked up the praise for his stellar performance this afternoon.
When he was done, I curtsied. When I looked up, I saw one of the judges had stopped writing and started clapping along with the audience.
"That's my sister!" I heard Parker shout, and I felt my face heat.
As we made a chain, I took Jack and Rita's hands, and the entire cast bowed together. We gestured to the lighting booth, and Lilly blushed from where she stood over the control panel. Then, we all walked off the stage together.
It wasn't over yet. We had to get all the trees and props off stage to strike the set, and we had about five minutes to get it all done. Juan gave directions and assigned Rita and me to roll up the backdrops and get them on the truck.
"You nailed the final monologue," Rita said as Emma Kate set up a ladder for us to move our roll of backdrops.
"You brought the most famous speech," I said. "I'd say that the play was a success overall."
"I'm not even sure I'll care if we lose," Rita said. "Did you know right before the show started, Hugh kissed me?"
"Wow," I said as I unpinned the right half of the backdrops. "That's great."
Rita unhooked her half, and we rolled it up. The two of us carried it back to our loading zone as Rita told me all about her kiss with Hugh.
"He said it was for luck," Rita said. "I mean, that doesn't like make us an item, right?"
"Hugh likes you," I said. "He was probably just embarrassed."
"Hurry up, girls," Juan said as we walked back on stage. "Those three trees need to go, and we have less than two minutes."
