Bechloe - The New Girl

27 - Suddenly Seymour

Once the New Year had began, rehearsals for the school musical continued and all had led up to this week. Every extra rehearsal, nights practicing in front of the mirror and every walk down the street which turned into dancing the choreography along the sidewalk led to this moment.

Sure, it was only a high school production and many things were bound to go wrong, but it was the beginning of what became a successful career for many - but that part of the story is for later, much later.

Emily's nerves were piling up when the days until the show were decreasing and by this point she was turning into a little bit of a nervous wreck. She'd been on voice rest, making sure to eat what she can and avoiding all the things that Google told her could affect her voice.

It wasn't going to be a stress-free week but once the show begins all of that goes away. It's almost as if the rush of adrenaline focuses the mind and helps to forget everything that has caused worry until the curtains close and it all comes back again.

The dress rehearsal the previous day went on a little longer than expected but it was never going to be perfect when it was mainly ran by teenagers, a music teacher and a drama teacher.

But tonight was opening night and it was all Emily had talked about for the full day. So much for her voice rest.

"Emily, will you please stop pacing, it's very unsettling." Beca asked, nicely as she could, while eating her bowl of cereal. Playing in the school musical didn't bother Beca in the slightest. Trying to keep the people around her calm did. "You were great yesterday in rehearsal, I don't understand what the issue is."

Emily stopped and stared at Beca waiting for her to say she was joking or something. "You don't understand?! The issue is that people will be watching - important people. We were told very important people from drama schools across the country are watching. These performances could change everything. I'm talking full scholarships here, Beca."

She gave up pacing and collapsed onto the sofa with a sigh, waiting for Beca to come up with some words of wisdom to calm her down. "You'll be fine. I've got to see you later though because I have a few errands before I go to school. Benji is taking you today, right?" Emily subtly nodded and Beca smiled, putting her bowl away and siting next to her cousin. "You're going to be great, I promise." Beca kissed her on her forehead and grabbed her keys before opening the door.

...

An hour before the curtains opened and everyone was rushing around backstage, making sure everything was ready. Beca was fashionably late and tried to navigate her way to find Chloe amidst all the backstage chaos.

There she found her, sat ever so perfectly and touching up her makeup in the mirror. When she saw Beca's reflection, she spun round and ran up to her, wrapping her arms around her neck. Beca could feel her heavy sigh against her neck and knew she had turned up just in time to stop Chloe having some sort of mental breakdown.

She revealed the bouquet of roses that were hidden behind her back and they lit up Chloe's face. Her eyes began to water and Beca rushed in to save her mascara.

"Don't be crying on me, the flowers were to say good luck not make you cry."

Chloe lightly laughed and sniffled a little in between, "The flowers are lovely, thank you. I'm just a bit emotional right now."

"Enjoy tonight. You'll be amazing. I've got to go find Emily before I need to be in the pit but good luck or break a leg or whatever they say. I love you and I'll see you at the intermission." Beca kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"I love you too." Chloe still wasn't quite used to saying that to Beca, but now wasn't the time to get soppy. She went to find the rest of the ensemble so they could go through their vocal exercises while Beca disappeared further backstage to find Jesse, Benji and Emily in the wings watching the audience fill up the seats.