Never Let Them Define You

A STRIKING FACE

When she walks in the rehearsal space, she sees another woman, who looks several years older than her. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Scarlet, you must be the Cassandra I've heard so much about," she says in an airy, pompous way. "Many good things, don't worry." She laughs gratingly, then sighs loudly, and approaches her with her hand out.

She looks up and down at her, the straight crimson locks, the fiery red lipstick, and the bright, rose red dress that suits her curves so perfectly. "What are you doing here?"

"Straight to business!" She laughs again. "Well, I'm helping you...you're welcome."

"I never asked for you."

"Well, your manager did." She points at her manager Ronaldo, who wears a dark, black, two-piece suit with a lavender flower tucked in the pocket. "Who is looking striking, I must say!"

He waves his hand dismissively, then continues talking to some other suits completely uninterrupted.

"I swear those capitalists couldn't give less of a damn about us."

"We're capitalists."

"Well, we're not like them," she scoffs.

She squints, inspecting her features, the roundness of her face, her plump cheeks, and her smile which fades quickly.

"Stare much?"

"Just sizing you up." She laughs. "Let's get to work."

"What's the vision?"

"Make the whole world stop and think."

"Ooh, I like you! This will be a most joyous partnership."

"Okay, I have this song." She reaches for her back pocket, but feels nothing, and raises her eyebrows. "Oh, dammit, I must have left it at home."

"In a rush?"

"What?"

"Well, considering how unreasonably late you arrived."

"Oh, yes, I had quite a rough night and morning; things can fall apart in my life when I'm working on art."

"Not the best trait to have."

"Well, I didn't pick it."

She laughs even more gratingly. "You're funny."

"Thank you, but there's no need for flattery...what areas do you excel in?"

"I don't know about excel, but I've done opera for seven years, been dancing my whole life, and I won a national ballet championship."

"So, technical singing and dancing?"

"Oh, you put it so drably, but yes, my dear, I would say those are my fields of expertise."

"Do you watch a lot of opera too?"

"Oh, yes, I always keep up with the latest shows, I'm going to see a Tuesday matinee of Wozzeck. I know that's not a recent one, but God, I do love it so; I'm sure you do too."

"I've never seen it, actually."

"You've never-" she whips her head back and forth, then yells, "WHAT?!"

"I know it's famous, but-"

"It's not just FAMOUS, it's...ugh, you must have no appreciation for art whatsoever!"

"I was going to say, I haven't really seen a lot of shows, since my mom would take me when I was young, but I haven't had the urge to go on my lonesome."

"Well, maybe you should find the urge."

"I prefer to get inspiration from my daily life."

She scoffs, "How mundane! Oh, I've heard that one before-"

"What? That life is more inspiring than any opera could ever be because it never ends?"

"How could you even make a show when you don't even like them?"

"I never said I don't like them, I said watching them doesn't fuel my creative process."

"Oh, yes, those were your exact words!"

"No, they were weren't, I-"

"Ladies, calm down!" interjects Ronaldo. "If I knew it was gonna go like this, I would never put the two of you in the same room together." He laughs. "Now, what is the problem?"

"She..." says Scarlet, who quickly backs down, and loses her train of thought.

"She's mad because I don't choose to watch plays in my free time."

"That's not true! I said that-"

"Jesus, honey, calm down."

She scowls at him, puts her arms together, and utters, "Fine! I will, I'll be calm now, and reasonable..."

"As if," scoffs Cassandra.

"You absolute whore!" She charges towards her. "I can't believe-"

He steps between them and puts his arms down. "Scarlet."

She stops. "What?"

"If you don't relax, you're not gonna be able to work on this project...do you understand?"

Her face turns grave for a moment, but quickly twists to a forced look of contentment, then she smiles as widely as possible and nods. "I understand."

"Alright...now, I want to let you two do what you have to do, but if you're not gonna do it, then I'll have to work with you to ensure-"

"Oh, no, no, no!" says the women in sync.

"God, no," says Cassandra, who then laughs awkwardly, and shifts to a confident pose. "Leave it to the professionals."

"Well, I think I have an artistic eye."

She lets out a stifled laugh, then quickly throws up her arms. "Sorry, I just happened to think of something funny right after you said that; I'm sure you're perfectly artistic."

He frowns, then walks away, and shouts, "Get to it, ladies!"

They both look at him reenter the group of suits, then say something, and the whole group bursts into laughter.

"Do you think they're gossiping about us?"

"I'm sure they are." She looks at her with a curious face. "You're right, Scarlet; we're not like them."