Conner's Performance

Chapter 6 - The Student Body

It was the morning of the play and Conner was sitting in class, he hadn't expected to be so nervous and couldn't focus on the lecture at all. He looked over to Brian who leaned closer and whispered. "Are you ready for the big show today?"

Conner nodded, not wanting his nerves to show. It was almost lunch time when a knock on their door was heard and his teacher answered. An older student appeared in the doorway, he recognized her as one of the stage hand volunteers. "Sorry for interrupting your class, but we need Toto to come and get ready for the performance this afternoon." She loudly asked his teacher.

"Yes, thank you for reminding me." His teacher said turning around. "Everyone, I want you to say goodbye to Toto, you will see him again in this afternoon's play!" she announced.

Some giggles were heard from the crowd and Brian shouted "Break a Leg!". Conner's face flushed red as he got up and followed the stage hand to the auditorium.

He walked up the steps to the backstage, he saw that lunch had been set out and provided for everyone involved, he grabbed something to eat first. He looked around and saw many people preparing and getting ready. The students who required the most makeup were asked to arrive first, this included him, Billy, Tom, Rayna and Madison. He waved to everyone and sat down where Trish waved him over.

"Ready for round two? Toto" Trish asked.

"Yeah, you mentioned you were changing up the makeup?" Conner reminded her.

"That's right, we have plenty of time to finish up before the play starts so we can take our time." She told him as she pulled out a few bags. "Let's start with the contacts and hair this time, then we will get into the makeup, lean your head back." She instructed.

Conner let Trish put in his contacts since he still didn't know how to and she pulled out the can of colored hairspray and applied grey streaks to his black hair. This time Conner was sitting in front of a mirror and would be able to watch as she applied the makeup.

"Okay, for the rest just hold still while I apply these prosthetics, this will give a base to then apply the fur on top of it." Trish tried to explain her process.

"Umm, okay." Conner agreed.

First thing Trish did was pull out a face cloth and cleanser and cleaned his face. She pulled out a few kits, the first was for his nose. She read over the instructions and pulled out some glue and applied it to the prosthetic and Conner's nose, she smoothed out any creases and asked him to hold it there, which he did. Meanwhile she started reading the next set of instructions.

"Have you done this before?" Conner asked.

"No, I typically do costume work, not makeup. I agreed to help out Mrs Bell though and I want to get better." she paused for a moment. "I did do some makeup at Halloween, but not for an audience of this size." Trish explained to him.

"Oh, you seem so good at it." Conner told her.

Trish inspected the nose and decided it was good. She then started to pull out strips of different colored fur. Starting at his neck she pulled off adhesive strips from the fur material and applied it to his neck and face, it took some time for it all to be applied, the only parts of his face not covered were his eyes and the costume nose. Conner looked in the mirror and his head was hidden by a ball of fur.

"Okay, now we need to give it some shape." Trish said. She then pulled out some scissors and spent the next thirty minutes cutting and giving the fur shape, occasionally she would brush and move around his head. Conner couldn't tell where his own hair began and the costume fur started, he was pretty sure Trish had cut a bunch of his own hair during the process.